Chapter 3

All they could hear was the agonizing sound of suffering, as the creature's claws tore through the woman's skin. Her every scream etched itself into everyone's ears. Actions didn't seem like an option. They had all been frozen, frightened by the unknown.

Her lasting moments weren't for long, and when silence descended, the creature turned its head. The creature's piercing gaze locked onto Darius, and the sight of its razor-sharp teeth and saliva tinged with blood ignited a surge of adrenaline within him. 

His foot swung through the air, slamming into its head. The small and frail creature's body was propelled through the air, landing a short distance from the officer's body. Quickly scurrying back up, growls left the creature's mouth. 

Without hesitation, Darius arrived and forcefully stomped on its head, bashing it against the ground. He couldn't stop his feet, fight or flight had activated. He kicked down a second time, again, another time, once more, one more time.

Startled by the incessant banging, George directed his gaze towards the sound. "Darius!"

The creature had long stopped moving, but Darius didn't. Darius composed himself and shifted his focus to George, taking a moment to steady his emotions. "I'm fine."

George approaches the officer's body. Despite having just met her moments ago, he struggled to recognize her. The horror made him want to puke right there on the spot, but he had to keep it in.

With a heavy heart, he could only stand there, feeling the weight of helplessness as the monster brutally ended her life. He felt weak and defeated, for if Darius didn't act, what else could have happened? However, he needed to stay calm in all future situations, as he still had something to protect.

"Sarah, what was that?" Jean made her way towards Sarah, who had been standing by the door this entire time. "Sarah?" Sarah's intense stare remained fixated on a single body, a small creature responsible for the chaos. Her eyes trembled as she gazed at it.

"Samuel." She desired action over contemplation, with no need for thoughts. The realization that something like that lurked around, while the screams outside persisted, left no room for doubt.

"Sarah, where do you think you're going!?" Jean yelled at her as she ran off. Sarah sprints down the hallway, bypassing everyone.

"Damnit, I'll go after her." Darius picks up the police officer's pistol and chases after her.

Instead of instantly following them, George grabs Jean by the shoulders. "Listen up, beautiful. Head back inside and stick with your mom, aunt, and cousin. I'll go fetch them both, and we'll return shortly, I assure you."

With no further explanation, he spun around, gathered any useful items from the officer's belt, and hurriedly departed. Jean was in a daze, staring at her father's back.

The storage room door shook as something forcefully collided with it. "Akiyoshi!?" 

"Yeah, I know." 

the girl approaches the wall and picks up the bow resting against it.

Akiyoshi looked at the older man whose gaze was still on the door. From the obi around his waist, he removes something. "E, Catch!"

The middle-aged man looks away from the vibrating metal and notices an object approaching him. He awkwardly grabs it from the air and examines the item Akiyoshi had given him a wakizashi, but something lingers in his mind as he stares at it.

"E?" The thing Akiyoshi had said seemed strange to him.

"So, what should I call our back-alley rattler?" While he tried to decipher the meaning of the E, the girl walked up to him. He did have a lingering idea in his mind, but he couldn't recall Akiyoshi.

"Oh right, it's Eiji. Goda Eiji, a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm Watanabe Suki, I was wondering Eiji do you happen to be good at running?"

Utterly confused as to why she would ask him that, he stared at her. "I'm not that bad, I think."

His words prompted her to take off the quiver from her back. "What are you doing?"

"Put this on." He stared at it while she held it in front of him. "Won't you need it?."

"Oh, don't worry if I need an arrow. You can give it to me." Dumbfounded, Eiji pulls the leather belt over his head. 

A strange scent caught Eiji's attention, prompting him to turn to the once-green metal door that separated them from the creature. On the flat rectangular surface, a reddish tint grew in size as time passed.

"Get on."

"What?" Without giving Eiji a chance, Suki swiftly squats in front of him and grips the back of his legs. Eiji laid his left arm that held the short sword on her shoulder and held her with his right hand.

Suki had no trouble carrying him at all. She didn't grunt or encounter any issues. Without hesitation, she quickly chased after Akiyoshi.

When Eiji looked back, the door had melted into a boiling liquid on the ground. The calm and collected gaze that terrified him had vanished, replaced by fury. In the time he hadn't seen it, the creature had gained a scarred eye and blood-stained fur, but his attention was all on its faintly open mouth. Within it, he could see a slowly fading reddish glow.

After coming down the stairs, Sarah hurried towards the restroom. When she was opening the door, a figure appeared in the corner of her eye. 

At the bottom of the stairs, the sound of something clocking back could be heard as a metal cylinder-like object blasted through the air. It was but an arm's length away from her when a bullet pierced the creature's skull. In a manner that closely resembled its previous course, the lifeless body forcefully collided with Sarah, pushing her to the ground.

"How could you shoot that!? What if you hit her!?" Just as George reached the staircase, he was startled by the sudden sound of a gunshot.

"What else should I have done? Let it take her head?" George quickly ran down the stairs and passed Darius. With a worried expression, he went to Sarah and pushed the creature's body off her. "How could you run off alone like that? What if we weren't here?"

"We? Wasn't I the one who made sure she was safe?" George turned to Darius with an annoyed expression. In response, Darius sighs.

While helping her up, Sarah's pupils dilate. George's eyes widened as he noticed this, causing him to quickly turn his head. Darius's body is suddenly overcome by a sharp, searing pain, causing him to cry out in anguish. The pain was so intense that it felt as if someone was ripping his back apart.

George swiftly helped Sarah to her feet. Before he came down, he had taken a baton from the officer's corpse. he uses every ounce of strength and violently slams the rod against the monster latched onto Darius's back. While being thrown off its claws, scrape even more over Darius's skin.

With swift movements, Darius locks eyes with the creature, his grip firm on the gun. When the trigger was pulled, there was not a single sound that escaped its mouth.

Sarah was overwhelmed with heavy emotions when she saw her uncle's blood-soaked back. "I'm sorry."

Sight towards the ground, she felt like crying. Both of them looked at her, but neither said anything. Darius shifted his gaze and fixed his eyes on a particular door. "I'll go get him. You stay here."

Darius places the gun in George's hand and walks by him. "Won't you need this? What if-?"

Darius cuts George off, finding what he wanted to say idiotic. "What, do you really think these things are smart enough to open a door?"

"It's just. You should take care of yourself, Darius."

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Blood dripped steadily to the floor as he grasped the door handle and exited the room.

Two firm hands got ahold of me as the door slammed open.

When I opened my eyes, I could see Darius standing right in front of me. "Uncle?"

"Have you been here this whole time?" Awkwardly scratching the back of my head, I respond to him. "Yes." 

"Did something happen?" Darius' eyes looked at mine.

"No, I'm doing great." I didn't want to burden him with all the needless details, but there was an inexplicable sense of unease lingering within me today.

"Samuel, you don't always need the answer from the beginning. If you can't wrap your head around it, then take some time to take everything in."

Upon hearing this, my mouth fell open with questions. Why would he say something like this? It felt off, and it wasn't something I felt Darius would say. Or would he?

A warmth plunged my head like when you start a fire. It was abrupt, coming out of nowhere. The heat picked up, causing my vision to violently shake. A pain worse than before traveled through my whole body. It was like something was squirming and contorting inside me.

The world around me began to change. The room opened up to a vastness that I couldn't see the end of. "Samuel?" Someone called out to me. They didn't sound like one of my family members. Their voice was clearly of an older person but oh so familiar to mine. "Samuel?"

A tar-like substance seeped out of the floor, soon covering the ground as far as the eye could see. Images of myself made of tar emerged from the blackness beneath me. Their soulless white eyes shone from underneath the black ooze. As they approached, their mouths moved as if they were screaming at me, but I couldn't hear them.

"Samuel, when everything around you seems out of order and you can't seem to put your finger on it. Don't reason with it."

These figures grabbed my body. I didn't know what they wanted from me, but I struggled to get out of their grasp. I screamed, bit, pulled, pushed, and tried anything, but they never let go as their hands moved over my body and face.

"Samuel, life is like a roller coaster. It's a set path laid out before you where you don't know what's to come. You can try to steer it, but it almost feels inconsequential. After all, you are but a passenger on a ride. You can never stop, but change is needed. We you need to escape-" Before he could finish his sentence, my whole world turned black. 

As my eyesight regained itself, I could hear a door in front of me close. When I'm clearer of mind and body, I find myself staring at a door. It was a familiar one; I was certain this was the door to the main hall.