The Reason For His Scars

The hospital corridors weren't so dark anymore. The faint light coming from the lightbulbs beside the doors of the nearby sickrooms illuminated the corridors. Calvin took out a walkie-talkie that he had in his hand all this while. He turned to look at Hugo and said, "Why did you not use this thing when you realized that you had strayed away?"

Hugo shook his head, "I don't know... I can't seem to remember why... Maybe that thing slipped past my mind? To be honest, I was so scared earlier that I didn't even know what to think anymore." Hugo revealed a pitiful expression and Calvin couldn't help but sigh.

"Perhaps..."

"Are you afraid of ghosts because you dream of them every night?"

Hugo's deep footsteps came to a halt.

"No... I'm not... That's not true!" Hugo suddenly flailed his hands in a panic.

Madness appeared in his eyes as they went bloodshot.

Calvin furrowed his eyebrows and let out a low growl, "Calm down! Calm down, Hugo! I understand! I believe you." The hospital suddenly became quite noisy, all sorts of rapping noise and the sound of something repeatedly banging on the walls could be heard from the distance.

But Hugo seemed to have ignored those noises as he stared right at Calvin.

"I believe you..."

Calvin spoke.

"Actually, we are not so different from each other. We both have a past that the two of us do not wish to bring up. That is why you don't have to worry about me finding out your true nature. I won't disdain you because of that. I mean, who in this world can say that they are clean?"

Calvin shrugged as he said these words in a matter-of-factly voice.

Hugo dramatically calmed down. The madness in his eyes had disappeared and was replaced with seriousness, "To tell you the truth. I came here not because I have a lot of debt."

"It's because I am being pursued."

Calvin was astonished that Hugo was suddenly willing to speak about his past.

But he didn't say anything about it. He just stood there and quietly listened.

"I'm a hired mercenary from Africa. My job involves looking the other way when something happens. It gives me good money, but several years of working with those bastards took a toll on my mental health. In the end, I was dishonorably dismissed from the service for some reason still unknown to me."

"But I have an idea why..."

"My immediate supervisor should be the one that dismissed me from service. I know... Because that night, I saw him! I was the only witness! I saw him taking several girls from the nearby ethnic tribe to his underground dungeon! There were four of them that went into the dungeon but he was the only one who came up..."

"When he came up, he noticed my presence and immediately gave me a warning. Of course, I was obedient. I never said anything to anyone. In fact, I tried forgetting what happened that night, but they..."

"They appear in my dreams!"

"Those girls..."

"They visit me in my dreams every night!"

"I can see from their wretched faces that they wanted justice!"

"At first, I thought that I was just thinking about it too much, but eventually..."

"Those hauntings started affecting me outside my dreams."

"I would sometimes find my shoes in a different location than I remember, and my car keys, as well as the remote to my television, would suddenly disappear from the place where I thought I placed them."

"In the end, when they realized that such subtle hauntings weren't enough for me to notice them. They became even crazier! Whenever I'm about to sleep, they would pull the sheets covering my body down to the floor! When that happens, I would vaguely feel a chill slowly creeping up my spine!"

"It was so scary that in the end, I became a whistleblower!"

"After I was dishonorably dismissed, I turned into a whistleblower."

"That is the reason why I am being pursued."

"I know that what I did was stupid, since what can a few ghosts do to me? A hired mercenary being afraid of a few ghosts? What a joke!" Hugo's eyes went bloodshot, "But I didn't care anymore! I told the world about what was going on in that company. I managed to shut that company down, but I also lost my home."

"Thankfully, before those bastards found me... Madame Ria discovered me and gave me another chance to survive."

"And that is the reason why I am here..."

Hugo let out a sigh.

He seemed to have been greatly relieved of his burdens when he told Calvin his past.

Calvin let out a smile, "I didn't realize that you have such an adventure."

Hugo also smiled, "I may be afraid of ghosts, but I am not afraid of the living! Since you told me that the ghosts here are patients who are masquerading as ghosts to scare me, then let me handle them!"

Calvin nodded his head and revealed a smile of reassurance.

But inwardly, he was now in a panic, [Are you sure that you can prevent those demons from turning intangible? I bet that Hugo will be so scared if they suddenly discovered a patient disappear from his eyes in a blink of an eye! You better do this properly, all right? Hugo is an indispensable asset to us. At least, until we get that keycard!]

[I know! Stop telling me what to do!]

Dandelion replied with irritation.

The noises around the hospital suddenly stopped.

Calvin pressed on the walkie-talkie.

"Hello, hello, hello... How do I use this, Hugo? Ah... It's working now? All right..." Calvin tested the walkie-talkie and asked Hugo for confirmation if he was using it right. When Hugo gave him the thumbs-up, he cleared his throat and started talking.

"This is Calvin, I've already found Hugo and we're coming to you guys so we can regroup. Can you all tell me where you are? Have you already discovered Arthur Chase? I hope you all remembered what I said about not engaging him when Hugo and I still aren't with you! That person is incredibly dangerous!" Calvin sternly warned.

Only static came out of his walkie-talkie.

He couldn't help but frown.

But in the very next second, a distressed voice came from the other line.

"I-I'm near the decontamination chamber where we first came to the hospital... I don't know about the others... Everything suddenly became crazy, and fire engulfed us all. Philip went crazy too and he rushed towards the corridor next to the medical ward..."

"Scarlette had gone crazy... She's unconscious right now, and she's with me..."

"Calvin, please help... I don't want to die... I'm with Zahra right now and we don't dare to move..."

"Please find us."

Jane's voice was mixed with sobbing sound as she stifled her cries.

This was the first time that she got into a situation like this, so it was normal for her to have a nervous breakdown.

Calvin listened and frowned, [A fire engulfed them? It must be those protective charms! As for Scarlett going crazy... She must've been possessed by one of the demons in this place. Thankfully, they used the charms that I gave them. I guess Scarlette must be fine now apart from the fact that she's still unconscious.]

"Let's go get them, Calvin," Hugo spoke up when he saw that Calvin fell silent.

Calvin nodded his head, "Yeah... She said that they are near the decontamination chamber. They must be hiding behind the receptionist's desk. That's only about thirty meters from here. All right, let's go and fetch them."

The group started walking, Calvin led the way as both he and Hugo headed for the receptionist's desk.