Frightening Thought

It was hard for Thomas to try and escape with Ashley, she was weighing him down and appeared more unwilling to move to stay alive than embrace death.

"Come on, run!" Thomas yelled while pulling Ashley's hand even harder than before.

However Ashley fell down onto the ground and was still heavily sobbing.

"What are you doing?! Get up!" Thomas kept shouting.

"I cannot… it is all over! Just let me be!" Ashley cried out.

She must have realized their chances were close to none. If Emily and Tim did not stand a chance against the demon, why should they?

Thomas sighed, there was only one thing left for him to do.

"Ashley, hold my sword for a second, will you?" Thomas crunched down and handed her sword and she held it, with both hands shaking as the demon was closing in from behind.

There was something Thomas still had not tried yet, and he was not willing to try suicide in order to attempt to activate "Redo" in case it would not work.

"Sorry Ash," Thomas ran into the sword, piercing his chest.

He coughed up blood immediately and felt he only had a few seconds longer to live from all the hemorrhaging and impaling his internal organs.

"Wh---aat, are you d--ooing?" Ashley trembled with her voice upon looking up and seeing Thomas impaled meanwhile his blood dripped on her face.

"It is okay, I am going to save us all," Thomas smiled and then kept coughing up blood.

Thomas' eyes came to a close and everything vanished, he could barely hear Ashley anymore. She was screaming his name, over and over in tears for him to not go.

"I am so sorry…" Thomas apologized within his mind before reaching a void state.

Then in the blink of an eye he was back with everyone standing in front of their corridors prior to entering them.

"It is okay to be scared Thomas, you can run back and scream my name for help," Corbin joked poorly before slowly heading inside.

"Wait…" Thomas screamed and Corbin came back.

But as soon as Thomas uttered the word he collapsed and his heart felt like it could explode.

"Head back onto the corridor, I am fine, go!" Thomas screamed out in pain and everyone rushed to him.

"Thomas are you okay, talk to me mate!" Corbin put his hands on Thomas' shoulders.

This was bad, the event had already been altered too much by making everyone stay. Thomas could feel his heart being crushed. He could already tell from how his heart was being squeezed dry it would explode and there was already a lack of oxygen going to his brain since the blood flow was halted.

"Dammit…" Thomas' consciousness began to fade.

[Arcane System]

[Thomas Rosemary]

[HP 8/10]

He had to check his HP before his next death which was in the matter of seconds. Corbin shook Thomas to no good use and before he knew it, he was back in front of his corridor again.

"It is okay to be scared Thomas, you can run back and scream my name for help," Corbin joked poorly before slowly heading inside.

Thomas took a firm grip of his chest and squeezed it tight, breathing heavily. His entire body felt heavy, and every time his heart took a beat, it felt like he was about to vomit. Corbin caught a slight glimpse of it.

"Are you alright Thomas?" Corbin turned back around for a second.

"Splendid, just a stomach bug or something!" Thomas lied.

"Haha, it is okay to be nervous, just take it slow!" Corbin said and everyone headed their own separate way.

Thomas headed on inside and immediately checked his own HP again.

[Arcane System]

[Thomas Rosemary]

[HP 6/10]

---

[You will not be able to regenerate HP until tomorrow]

This was similar to the first event. In response Thomas punched the wall.

"Eww…" He forgot about the dark liquid for a second and waved his hand to get the liquid off it.

Thomas had to think fast, at best according to his own estimate he would have three more attempts at this.

Why did the demon show up early?

What did the bodies reveal with their different decays?

Why were they hours apart in terms of the smell alone?

He replayed his second death in his mind. How much time elapsed before he chose to exit his corridor to go and check on Ashley and Emily? How much time did he spend talking to Tim? It was only a couple of minutes on all ends, perhaps equating to little over a quarter of an hour combined.

This made the thought about considering the smell of the decay even more peculiar. The smell alone would indicate that it had been hours since their deaths.

"Think Thomas, think!" Thomas hit his forehead with two of his fingers, "What am I possibly missing?!" Thomas pondered deeply.

Time was of the essence, something was really off and Thomas could not wrap his finger around it.

It was then something came to mind. Everything the demon had said to them, his movements, his actions. Even the liquid on the ground and walls, and not to mention last, the different sets of corridors.

"It cannot be…" Thomas reached into his bag and found some rope.

He swiftly took out his pocketknife and began shedding the rope out from top to bottom to extend it a few times and made sure there was enough for each corridor.

"If I am right… there is little time left and something frighteningly at play here," Thomas uttered and headed for the exit.

Back at the camp, Tim greeted him and asked if he found anything. Thomas shook his head quickly once while walking over first to Corbin's corridor as it was next to his.

"Cannot explain! There is no time! I will brief you on it later," Thomas said in a hurry.

He rushed to set up to test his new idea before it would be too late again, hence if what Thomas feared to be true, time is of the essence.