Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph3 Ch25: The Infected Quarters

Mono didn't know where the knight went, but as soon as he heard the music box, he knew exactly where to go. He followed the music through a series of rooms, reminding him of the Signal Tower. How funny. He followed the music box to save her once, and now he would follow the music to save her again. Eventually, the sound of the music box lead him to a metal wall. It was too hard to break through, although there was a way to open a hole. Not too far away, there was a lever that could open a door into the room.

This must've been a trap for the ones who got too close to escaping. Mono thought. He jumped up to the lever, and yanked it down with all his strength. Slowly, and portion of the wall began to move down, revealing the room behind it. Mono looked inside the room, and saw the happiest sight yet.

Six and the knight were sitting together, listening to a pale white music box. Even the knight seemed to be humming along with the melody. As the door opened, both of them looked through the opening, and saw Mono standing there, with the biggest smile on his face. The knight stood up without concern because it knew Mono would find them, but Six looked shocked. Six slowly stood up, staring at Mono in disbelief. She looked down at the knight, as if to ask if Mono was real. The knight nodded, then motioned it's hand saying, "Go ahead".

Six looked back at Mono, and slowly walked towards him.

"Hi Six," Mono said.

"H-hi Mono."

Once Six got closer, she reached into a pocket of her raincoat. "I... I have something for you," she said.

She pulled out Mono's paper bag, and handed it to him. Mono took it, and pulled it over his head.

"Thanks Six," he said.

Suddenly he felt his body being squeezed extremely tight. He looked down, and saw Six, hugging him tightly, while sobbing.

"Am- *sniff* am I still your friend?" She asked. "Even though- *sniff* even though I killed you?"

"It wasn't your fault Six," Mono said. "I didn't listen to your warning. It was my fault that you killed me. I should've been a better friend."

"Mono," Six said, hugging him tighter. "You're already the best friend anyone could ever have."

Mono smiled under his bag, and hugged Six back. "I'm glad you're still you Six," he said.

The knight walked up to them, and they both let go of each other. "Now, any idea where we are?" Mono asked.

"This is right under the guest's quarters. There should be a way in nearby," Six said.

"Alright then, lead the way Six!"

Six lead Mono and the knight back through the corridors they came through, all the way back to where Mono found a sausage. Six pointed to a hole in the floor above, which was small enough to get through. The knight got under to hole, and boosted Six and Mono through. But once they landed on the wooden floor above, they both stood still, in complete shock.

All over the guests quarters were bubbles and vines, glowing the orange light of the infection. And not just on the walls and floors. The infection had completely consumed the all the guests, and gluttonous husks in the area. Some were alive, and eating rotten meat and rancid eggs. The rest of them sat dead on their seats as the infection grew from their bodies. Mono and Six didn't believe what they saw. The knight jumped through the hole, and laid its hollow eyes on the sight in front of them.

"I didn't think it would be this bad already," Mono said. "The Radiance must've gotten stronger, and spead up the infection rate. That, or we're getting close to the source."

"What do we do?" Six asked. "Does the knight have anything about creatures like this in it's journal?"

The knight flipped through the hunter's journal, and found the pages about the infected bugs. After reading through them, Mono got an idea.

"The journal says that all these bugs explode when they are either attacked, or defeated, " he began. "So if the guests are similar, then they'll blow up as well."

Mono put that theory to the test, by throwing one of the glass bottles nearby at one of the guests. The guest's skin burst open as the bottle hit him, exploding out all the infection inside.

"It worked!" Mono said.

But his celebration didn't last long. The explosion alerted the other guests and husks, and they all laid their eyes on the three small, ripe, and delicious specimens in front of them. Without a single word, the guests and husks started crawling and jumping towards all three of them. The knight sent out a shade soul, which tore through most of the guests and husks, but some of them survived. The surviving guests crawled even faster towards the group, chomping their mouths as they did so.

"Okay, those guests are like the vengeflies, so RUN!" Mono yelled.

Everyone started running through the corridors, jumping over chairs, and crawling under tables. The guests and husks followed close behind, relentlessly. At every chance they got, Mono, Six, and the knight would strike one of the guests or husks with their weapons, knowing they wouldn't explode if they were attacked. Once one of the enemies was dead, it exploded, destroying even more guests and husks. Pretty soon, only a few hungry foes remained. Mono thought that he and his friends were close to safety, but all of a sudden, he was struck by a burning bullet of infection.

He fell to the ground, and Six quickly came to help him up, while the knight fended off the guests behind him. Once on his feet, Mono continued running, and he looked up at the table next to them. Guests and husks were sitting there, welded to their seats, and barfing up infection bullets. Mono grabbed Six's hand, not wanting her to get hurt, and they both swerved around every attack that fell towards them.

"Look!" Six suddenly yelled.

Mono looked ahead, and saw a lantern hanging by a chain over a large gap. On the other side, was more rooms, with no guests or husks inside. That was their way out of this chaos. Mono let go of Six's hand, and she ran as fast as she could to the lantern. She jumped up, grabbed the lantern, and used it to swing across to the other side. The knight ran ahead as well, and jumped onto the lantern, and used the leftover momentum from Six to jump to the other side.

Mono ran as fast as he could, but just when he was almost there, one of the guests caught on to their plan. The guest spit out a single orange bullet, which hit the chain the lantern was hanging from. The chain broke, and the lantern fell all the way down to the bottom of the gap. Mono saw what happened, but he couldn't stop running. He ran to the ledge, and made a desperate jump to the other side of the gap. As he was about to fall down to his death, Six caught his hand.

"I promised I'd never drop you again," she said. "And I intend to keep that promise."

Six pulled Mono up to the ledge, and from their safe spot, they all watched as the guests behind them fell down into oblivion.

____________________________________________________________

Okay! I finally found the motivation to write this chapter!

Something I just want to say, THANK YOU ALL FOR OVER 1000 VOTES! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHDGVDTEFWTHGFEWQWGVCXZNOPOKUUNBBGHLLJUGBFRBFFGJKHGGEYUFBVXXCJKPOHIOHNGDRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Sorry, got carried away back there.

Once again, I'd like to thank you all for being patient, supportive, and dedicated to this story, just as much as I've been. I am truly thankful for you all.

See you in the next chapter! ; )