Fourteen: The Encounter

"Wait a minute. How do we know this isn't a trap?" Sunghoon asks as he peers over the crates, watching the nurse lead David down the hall.

"It's not. Chelsea saved my life, I need to return the favor." I say, slowly rising to my feet. I help Pastora up to hers and look down at Sunghoon who's glaring up at me.

"Come on Sunghoon. What do we have to loose?" Pastora says softly.

"What do we have to loose!?" Sunghoon mocks, slowly rising to his feet. "What has gotten into you!? We hardly know this guy and you're obeying him like you're his pet dog! Have you forgotten that Chelsea betrayed us and was willing to blow our heads off if it meant saving her own skin!?" Sunghoon towered over her as he glared down at her.

Pastora went silent, I could see a small tear form in the corner of her eye. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before shrugging.

"I-I just think we should help and protect others...give them another chance and just get rid of this monster. I want to help Chaeyoung...nobody deserves to face this terror alone..." She spoke in a soft whisper. "Can't we just give Chelsea another chance?"

"What!? So we could get ourselves all killed!? No. I won't allow it." Sunghoon shook his head.

"Sunghoon, I know you're afraid. We all are, but we need to try and get over our fears and focus on protecting ourselves. You have those smoke bombs still, right? We could probably use that against David. I have an idea, if you two just shadow me we'll be just fine." I say, even though I had no idea how we were going to save Chelsea.

"Yeah!? How are you so sure!?" Sunghoon growls, focusing his dark eyes on me.

It was obvious that he didn't trust me yet, and I can't say I blame him. I really shouldn't blame him for not wanting to save Chelsea. He was just trying to protect Pastora and himself, I was really lucky that he didn't just shoot me on the spot. As much as I didn't like him, I still understood him.

"Because there is three of us and one of him. The nurse is too frightened to hold a fight and she's unarmed, as far as we know. You seem to know a lot about weapons and the medications we have so maybe we can blackmail him or something." I say, looking at Pastora who was wiping tears off her cheeks.

For some reason, it was really painful to see her cry.

"Whats in it for me?" Sunghoon sneers, raising an eyebrow at me.

I shrug.

"More food?" I suggest lamely. I really didn't have much to offer. "I don't know. I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise."

Sunghoon stared at me for a few moments as he considered it.

"If something goes wrong with this objective, you're going to pay." He says, jabbing his finger roughly into my chest. "If anything and I mean anything happens to Pastora....I can promise you I'll kill you before that monster does. Got it!?"

He took a step towards me and grabbed my shoulders tightly as he stared into my eyes.

I nod slowly. "Nothing bad will happen to Pastora, I promise you."

I look over at Pastora who was looking up at us with glassy eyes. She slowly reached for Sunghoon and pried his hands off of my shoulders.

"Come on Sunghoon, let's go..." She gave me an apologetic look as she took his hand in hers.

Sunghoon shot me another warning glare before following Pastora out into the hallway. I looked down briefly and spotted another flashlight, right by my foot.

I wonder why I didn't spot that earlier.

"You coming!?" Sunghoon called out to me.

I look up to see Pastora and Sunghoon waiting for me paitenty in the open. Probably not the best idea. I nod and bend down to grab the flashlight and follow after them.

"Keep moving but keep quiet. I don't trust our surroundings even if they're quiet and deserted..." I say softly.

"Yeah, yeah. We know the drill." Sunghoon replies with a roll of his eyes. He held Pastora's hand possessively as we continued down the hallway. We would stop every few minutes to hide and listen to our surroundings for the monster, but so far we haven't heard anything.

"Wait!" Pastora cries, before we could step back out in the hall.

"What is it, Pooch!?" Sunghoon asks, looking down at her with concern.

"Another ID tag." She replies, bending over to pick it up.

"Great, is this going to take us into another room with a dead body!?" Sunghoon asks with a roll of his eyes.

"It's possible." Pastora says, before slowly stepping back into the hall. "There may also be more computers we can hack into for more information as well."

"We got lucky that last time." Sunghoon reminds her as we carry on through the hallway. "That nurse was foolish enough to use her own birthday as a password."

"True, but there are other ways...I'm sure I can find a way...." Pastora trails off, looking up at the open ceiling vent above.

I looked up too. The ceiling grate was missing leaving a huge dark hole in the ceiling. The vent was similar to the one that the monster broke through back in the cafeteria where it took Caleb. That means...

"We have to get away from this vent. NOW." I say, grabbing them both by the arms and carefully stepping away from the open ceiling vent. I cried out as something sharp dug into my ankle, I look down to see a ceiling grate.

Pastora looked down at it too. "That thing's been here already hasn't it?"

The three of us jump as a low growl ripples from above the vent. We watch as thick droplets of drool began to fall from the vent opening. One after another like a ceiling leak.

I could feel my heart starting to race and adrenaline race through my veins. Without a word I lead Pastora and Sunghoon into the nearest room, ignoring the pain in my right hand. We had to get far away from that thing before it spotted us.

"Hide and stay quiet!" I call to them in a whisper as I sink to my knees and crawl under a computer desk, I pull the chair up in front of me and lay on the ground hoping with all my life that this small refuge will hide me well enough from that monster.

Pastora watches me with a shaken expression before grabbing Sunghoon's arm.

I squeeze my eyes shut as I hear it's deafening footsteps as it marches in our area.

"Sunghoon....I'm scared, I don't want it to kill us.." Pastora whimpers.

I open my eyes to watch them quietly. Pastora is holding onto Sunghoon's arms with tears in her eyes.

"It won't get us, Pooch. I promise. I'll always protect you. Now hide. I'll be right here." Sunghoon says as he gently pushes Pastora in a locker. He hushes her as he closes the door for her and then hides under a desk besides it. He gives me a nod as he sinks behind a couple of crates that were placed in front of the desk for storage.

I peek by the chair just as the monster steps into the room, its long tail trailing behind it. I could feel my blood run cold as the monsters lips curled back upwards as if it were smiling. The scary thing was that its teeth were almost identical to a human beings.

It stomped further into the room, growling deeply under its breath. I pressed myself against the backside of the desk as the monster made it's way toward me. My heart was slamming against my rib cage as if it were trying to break through each and every bone.

I swallowed hard as the monster stopped right in front of my desk, giving me a close view of it's oily grey legs. The desk shook as it slammed its hand onto it, causing me to jump. I clapped a hand over my mouth to hold back a scream as I watched the monster slowly begin to sink to its knees.

It inhaled loudly and hissed through its large teeth as it descended to the floor. Droplets of drool fell from it's mouth, it's breath reeked of decay and flesh. I watched as it raised a long slender hand to the chair before seizing it in a tight grip. Its sharp claws dug into the material of the chair, puncturing multiple holes in it as it pushes the chair away.

Now nothing stood between me and this monster. The monster's smile grew as it leaned closer to me, I stared back at it in horror as my mouth went dry. It didn't even had eyes, so all I could stare at was its bland elongated head...or its human like teeth.

Just as I thought that this was my fate, my last sight, my last moment alive, a loud bang echoed from outside the room. I watched the monster as its mouth dropped into a sneer. A shrill shriek left it's mouth, rattling my ears before it scurried out of the room racing on all fours to inspect what that noise was.

I exhaled loudly and slumped against the desk. My entire body was shaking violently from the traumatizing encounter with the monster.

"Chaeyoung!? You good?" Came Sunghoon's voice from behind the crates.

I could only scoff in response. If it weren't for that noise, I would have been dead.

"Thank goodness you build that smoke bomb!" Pastora added, she had opened the locker door just enough for me to see half her face.

"Wait...so that's what it was?" I asked, in a bouncy voice like I've just been electrocuted.

"Yes! What else could that of been!?" Sunghoon snapped, as he crawled out from behind the crates. "No offense but you couldn't have picked a more terrible hiding place. A desk facing the front of the room, seriously?"

I crawl out, with little strength I had left from under the desk and glare at Sunghoon.

"Look, I really appreciate you saving me and I owe you big time. But right now is not a good time for a lecture. That thing is still nearby so I suggest that you keep your voice down and stay out of sight." I say, taking in mouthfuls of air. My lungs felt like someone has sucked all the air out from them and my heart continued to pound and do painful somersaults in my chest.

"Right, my bad." Sunghoon sneered with a roll of his eyes. "Pooch, you can come out now. The monster's gone."

"For now." I mutter.

Slowly Pastora steps out from the locker and crouches low to stay leveled with us.

"I think we're in a research room." Pastora says, holding up a few papers in her hands. "While we were hiding from the monster, I kept my eyes on these papers taped to the door of the locker to keep myself calm."

"We'll discuss this later, right now we need to keep moving. That monster will come back looking for me if we stay here any longer." I say gently even though I was completely freaking out on the inside.

"I agree..." Sunghoon pauses and looks up at the observation window.

Pastora and I look too to see nothing but black smoke linger through out the corridor.

"Well, you weren't kidding about what that bomb is capable of." I add a bit amused.

"Of course not." Sunghoon replies. "I know what I'm doing. Which reminds me, are you still up for saving Chelsea?"

I nod in response, looking down at my feet. I was standing right on a floor vent, the one that I fell through back in the second tower with my first interaction with the creature.

"Hey guys, I think I've found a safer route." I say just as the door of the vent opens up from beneath me.