Guns & Roses

Chapter 14: Sleepy Quisling

[Sheriff]

The three all stood there ahead of him, none spoke, though he needed no words to know what was going on. 'How the fuck do they know?!' Sheriff found himself panicking, not only had they somehow found out, he couldn't recall how or where he'd slipped up. He heard the familiar click of a gun's safety, he couldn't tell which had it, but he knew the sound too well to be mistaken. He turned away from their glares and bolted in the other direction, he didn't know where he was going, hell he hardly knew where he was, but he needed to get away. Somehow.

He sprinted through the twisted hallways, making sure he didn't make any turns that would circle him around, but somehow the building kept on going, 'the fuck is going on? We don't have facilities this big, do we?' He managed to think through the panic, sharply turning another corner, and his heart dropping further when it only revealed more hallways. Sheriff paid no more attention to where he was going, if they had something this big surely he'd be impossible to track by now. He took a sharp right and faced into a dark void, he turned back around to try and run in a different direction, finding that the void now surrounded him, much to his horror.

He turned himself around a few more times, trying to spot anywhere he could escape from, only for his terrified gaze to fall upon a familiar set of red glowing eyes in the darkness. "You failed your mission, Sheriff." A deep voice boomed, seemingly coming from every direction, Sheriff tried backing away, making two steps before realising he had nowhere to run. He stopped for a second, rapidly trying to find a way out of his predicament, realising the only was was to convince The Auditor to let his leave. "No.. I- I swear, I don't know how-" he began trying to plead, cutting himself off with a surprised yelp as the darkness around him had manifested itself into a somewhat physical form, holding him in place by his wrists.

"You remember the deal we made, Sheriff. It's time for me to fill my end of it." They'd stated rather calmly, only causing Sheriff to panic even more. The tendrils of darkness yanked him down to his knees, he tried his best to fight against them, only to find they were far too strong for him to fight against. Sheriff watched in terror as The Auditor started walking towards him, "Wait, please!- I can still be useful!" He blurted out, unable to think anything through.

He felt powerless, nothing was working to get him out, not only that but The Auditor had already stopped in front of him. Sheriff looked up to meet their gaze, which as usual, gave away nothing, 'Am I... going to die here?' He wondered, tearing up a little at the thought. "At the very least, you better amuse me while you're dying." They said, Sheriff almost bursting out in hysterical laughter at the irony, despite the situation presently. Giant pillars of shadow rose from behind The Auditor, the highest points becoming sharper the further it rose. After a minute of watching in horror as they rose, they all stopped, the points facing to the Sheriff. He sat confused for a second, before realising too late what was about to happen as the pillars began to move back slightly to prepare to impale him.

At the realisation he found himself filled with desperation, 'no.. I don't want to die here! I'm not going to.. I'm..' He thought, hardly able to keep his thoughts to coherent, shouting out a final time in a desperate attempt to be spared.
"I won't screw up again! I promise just- please give me another chance!" He watched in terror as the pillars started barreling through the air toward him, their sharp points ready to pass straight through him, taking his life with them.

Sheriff's muscles spasmed, forcing him to wake from the nightmare. His eyes darted around the warehouse, looking for any immediate danger while he tried his best to quiet his shaky breaths. After a few minutes he finally managed to convince himself he was safe for the time being, allowing himself to lean back against the wall he used for support through the night. From what he could tell, it still seemed to be far into the night, based off the stillness and the slightly cooler air that came with later hours. Sheriff still couldn't understand it, it had been weeks since he'd been threatened, nothing else had come of it either, and yet, somehow, he still ended up having a nightmare each night.