Chapter 2: [Ephialtes] (Remade Ver.)

"Congrats, tomorrow you'll be officialy discharged. How do you feel?" Michael said with a smile as he ate an apple.

I ignored him and continued to walk through the corridor where there were barely any people.

"Oh I almost forgot, you don't feel anything do you?" Michael said sarcastically and I hummed before saying, "Partially"

"Really?" Michael mumbled as he squinted his eyes.

"Doctor Michael, someone is looking for you" The familiar nurse named Elise who had been beside Michael before appeared and informed him about a new patient's arrival.

"Alright" Michael sighed tiredly as he said to me, "Im off, see ya" before finally leaving with Elise.

I looked at their fleeting back for a moment before my hand reached out to the counter of the hospital and took the paring knife secretly before going back to my ward.

****

At midnight, the hospital was eerily quiet, with only distant chirping of crickets breaking the silence.

Lying in my hospital bed, I closed my eyes but dared not drift off to sleep. For days now, I had been unable to rest between the hours of midnight and 2am, consumed by a sense of impending doom.

With the ability to foresee the fates of those around me, a vision had revealed a chilling connection between a young patient and the hospital itself. In my mind's eye, I saw the little girl standing in a desolate corner, surrounded by rubble, with a broken clock frozen at 12:30am.

The scene hinted at a violent attack, but not one carried out by humans - in this world, creatures known as Outer Beings roamed freely. As the clock ticked closer at midnight, I braced myself for the inevitable. As I waited in silence, a bone-chilling sound pierced the air.

Heavy chains clanked and something scraped against the walls, sending shivers down one's spine. I steadid my breathing and made it as silent as possible to not alarm the intruder. I waited for the noise to subside before cautiously approaching the door of my ward.

Peering out into the darkness, I saw nothing but flickering lights. Moments passed before I retreated back to my room, only to be met with a sudden darkness that engulfed the everything.

A crimson eye, dripping with malice, appeared in the void, stared at me. Lacking emotions such as fear, I was able to think in such dangerous situation and immediately, i brandished a paring knife and shattered the window of the door.

As soon as I did, my sight was back to normal and I heard countless of screams as well as walls breaking from every corner of the building. Realizing I was no longer safe, I fled while clutching the knife in my hands.

I ran towards the exit, but encountered another terrifying creature bocking my way. The sound of bones being chewed filled the air as I saw the creature eating a fresh, bloody arm.

The creature had a spider-like body with a human figure on top, white and fleshless, with a giant mouth full of bloody teeth like a chainsaw. It's tongue and white spike arms made it even more horrifying.

I tried to back away silently, but the creature noticed me and stared. I wondered how a normal person would react in this situation.

'Trembling in fear, wide-eyed and trembling lips, right?' But I knew reacting like that would lead to my death, so I stayed emotionless. We stood in silence, staring at each other.

I tested my theory that the creature was blind by waving my hand and foot, which it ignored. Confident it relies on sound, I tried to escape, buit the creature's head suddenly turned towards the approaching footsteps and screams.

From the corner behind me, two people ran towards my direction, chased by another creature.

"Help! Save us!"

They begged for help, but I knew I couldn't save them. In an instant I jumped to the side where the blind creature instantly rushed towards the two people. With nowhere else to go, the two people could only watch in despair as the creature headed straight towards them.

"AHhhhhh!"

Their screams echoed in the entire corridor but in just seconds, the screams faded. The creatures devoured the two people, leaving one woman crawling towards me with a broken body, pleading for help.

"S- Save me..."

The creatures then noticed each other's existence, and turned on each other, accidentaly killing the woman as their spider like legs pierced the woman, instantly killing her as they fought.

I just stared at this scene calmly and without hesitation, ran towards the exit, encountering more creatures, narrowly escaping their attacks. I reached the stairs, dodging tentacles and slicing through them with a paring knife.

A tentacle grabbed my ankle, pulling me towards a gaping mouth that is that of similar to a void. I struggled to reach the knife that slid towards the side knowing that it was my only hope.

I couldn't fight it. Alone and with no help in sight, time was running out. I saw the clock read 12:21am and knew no one would come in time. The creature's mouth loomed closer and my eyes instantly turned cold. With great force, I reached out with all my strength towards the knife and finally succeeded. Grabbing it, I slahsed the tentacle that was grabbing my ankle and broke free as the creature screeched in pain.

Standing up, I looked at the creature.

Unbeknownst to me, another one appeared behind me from the walls, passing through like a ghost. Just as it was about to devour me, a gunshot sounded and the creature fell to the side with a 'thud'.

Blinking my eyes, I turned around blankly and found a dead creature behidn me, instantly realizing that I was saved.

I looked to the side and saw a person with blonde hair and a cigarette in his mouth holding a shotgun.

"Seriously" Michael said, clutching his hair and looking at me in annoyance, "You're really troublesome, you can't even protect yourself properly"

Doubts flashed in my eyes, unable to comprehend the reason once again. 'Why? Just like before...' The familiar images of the three people appeared in my mind and how they died. 'Why would sthey save someone like 'me'?'

Discarding my thoughts, I just hummed and Michael felt even more annoyed at my calm demenour, his teeth breaking, "Huh? You're really annoying, you know?"

I ignored him and looked at the time again. It was 12:28am. I knew at that moment that it was about time and was about to move when Michael halted me. Then, throwing the shotgun, I was able to catch it and looked at him. With a scoff he said, "Take it, you'll need it more than me" before turning around walking in the opposite direction as me. I just stared at his fading back. I didn't know where he was going or what his plans were, but...

Recalling the vision I had from Michael, I fell silent and turned around without looking back, running towards the exit once again.

--

After running for several minutes, I finally reached the exit and discovered that a large portion of the building was in ruins.

There, I encountered a man and a child, both leaning against a wall, with aterrifying creature facing them.

The creature had a body of a tadpole, dyed red, and lacked eyes except for it's mouth, long tongue, and four arms.

Although it was blind like the one I had previously encountered, I could tell this still has a sensitive hearing.

The creature screeched, causing for the man to panic and push the child into the corner, drawing the creature's attention. As everything seemed to slow down, I raised my shotgun and aimed it-

-towards the man.

When the man finally noticed me, his expression twisted in fear as he attemtped to stop.

The child, however, gazed directly at the creature with her trembling eyes. Despite the slow-motion effect, everything happened quickly. Before anyone could react, I pulled the trigger.

'Boom!'

Smoke billowed from the shotgun, but neither the man nor the child was harmed.

A young man with brown hair and eyes now held my shotgun, pointing it upward. A girl with brown hair and green eyes brandished a staff, emitting green auras that struck the creature, causing it to float in the air. Lastly, a woman with black hair and eyes stood before the child, aiming a shotgun at the creature. With aclick of her tongue, she fired, and the creature instantly perished, it's head splattering with green ooze.

As the creature fell to the ground with a 'thud', the man attempted to flee, only to be subdued by the young man beside me as he threw something towards the man which made the latter fall down.

I looked from the unconscious man to the trio of strangers: the youth, the girl, and the woman. When I tried to claim my shotgun, the young man refused to let go, leaving me puzzled, "What are you doing?"

"Tsk, that should be our question! What the hell do you hthink you were doing?!"

"You decide to just kill a person and let another be killed when you have the chance to save them, what's the matter with you?!" The young man's words confused me. "What do you mean?" This seemed to agrravate the young man, causing him to growl and tighten his grip on the shotgun, causing for it to bend slightly from the strength of his hands.

An honest response from me led to further tension. "You were going to save her anyway, and he committed a sin, so I wanted to eliminate him, is there something wrong with that?"

The young man's anger escalated as he questioned my motives. "Enough" The woman said. Despite her intervention, the situation remained tense. She turned her attention to me, raising her shotgun and inquiring, "You're a patient in this hospital, correct?"

I remained silent, prompting her to aim the shotgun at me. "Wait! Jey, don't do it!" Despite the protests from the other two, she persisted, questioning my decision with a cigarette in her mouth, "Why did you make such a choice?"

Calmly I met her gaze and confessed, "Because I don't understand"

Her eyes widened, baffled. I just stared at her and thought 'What could you be feeling right now? You just saw a person neglect one's life just to take another. You must be feeling angry aren't you? You must be feeling sad for seeing such a monster like me'

I continued to speak calmly, "I don't comprehend the valeu of her life, but I know the man's life is insignificant and unimportant to this world."

My words shocked everyone, evoking horror and disbelief. The girl viewed me as a monster, unable to comprehend my callousness. The woman, filled with hatred, spoke solemnly as if she is trying to hold back something.

"Value of life? What kind of bullshit is that?" She said with a laugh that is filled with hatred as she glared at me. With her shotgun pointed at me she placed her finger on the trigger before declaring, "Someone like you does not deserve to live"