Guns & Roses [Discontinued]

Chapter 29

                                   [Sheriff]

Unable to properly focus anymore, he marked his place by folding the corner of the page, putting the book down on the table next to him. He'd found himself a comfy spot, a room with no bodies, it was small, basically only a bookshelf, a cushioned chair and a tiny side table, but it was enough. The fact he was bone tired might've been enough to fall asleep there, if it wasn't ruined by the looming sense of remorse. It was a shame though, the book was actually starting to get interesting.

With nothing else to do, he got up, he felt shaky, but he reasoned that he might just be hungry. After all, he didn't sleep, so he wasn't exactly in any position to fast properly overnight. Plus, he'd pulled an all-nighter, it felt like it anyway, so his body was probably as exhausted as he was.

Sheriff made his way to the door, opening it to step out into the hallway. It was littered with bodies, which had the occasional gun accompanying it. This wouldn't have bothered him before, but now it just served as a reminder of the stranger. His feelings of guilt amplified, constricting his chest and making it feel full, yet like he somehow never had enough air.

He moved onward, eager to see if the others had woken up yet. He blinked rapidly a few times as he made his way to the stairs, hoping to get rid of the glaze over his vision which made everything look fuzzy, but it did nothing. If anything, everything seemed slightly more blurred each time he tried.

On his way down, he used the railing, not trusting himself enough to trip without it. He still needed to be decently careful though, as blood had proven to be slippery at the worst of times. After descending two floors, he started going back down the corridors, trying to recall where they'd decided to camp out for the night.

He stood at the base of the stairs for a few minutes trying to hear where they were, however he was met with dead silence. Sheriff wondered where they might be, fuzzily remembering 2B saying something about the basement, so, he once again began his decent.

Upon getting closer to the bottom, he realised the lights seemed dimmer and the walls switched from a smoother concrete to one that was rough and felt more jagged. At the bottom was a large corridor flanked by doors along each side, most were closed, with a few wide open ones scattered throughout. That mixed with the dull humming of ventilation units made the place feel off-putting.

He kept up his pace, though he tread much lighter down here, given the irrational fear that he would somehow disturb the building itself. Sheriff peeked into the open doorways as he passed by, from what he could gather the rooms only had enough room to home a bed, side table and a closet. Each room had been arranged slightly differently, though they still held an odd melancholy to them.

An intersection was laid out before him, looking to the left held a hallway identical to the one he just walked down. He turned to the right, caught off guard by a looming figure highlighted by shadows. He jumped, before it registered in his head that he recognised them. It was Hank, it didn't make him feel any less uneasy, but he could at least breathe a sigh of relief, clutching his chest to lower his heart rate.

"You scared me..!"
He tried to give his words a humorous undertone, but they didn't return a hint of... anything. They just looked at him, holding him under that expressionless gaze.

"Do you know where the others are?"
It felt safer to just get to the point, seeing as the previous attempt to start small talk only seemed to be drawing out their patience.

"They left."
Under their usual flat tone, he swore he could hear some sort of strain.

"Already?"
Somehow, it didn't feel right to think he'd let that much time slip. He briefly hesitated before realising he didn't even know how much time that was.