Phantom Of The Labyrinth (the World Below)

friends

B and James had soon arrived at the base. B led James inside, there were many people, some were tending others' wounds, some were trading and some were sleeping. There were many supplies scattered around the facility.

Once they entered, B turned around and started to exit the base. James looked behind him and saw B leaving, he got a little confused. B was leaving him behind? Just like that? no goodbyes.

B soon disappeared out of sight. James was starting to feel a bit lonely and he wanted to go back home. He ran out of the base and went looking for B.

B was nowhere to be seen. James started to panic slightly, he didn't want to spend the rest of his life here alone. Despite his disliking his job, he finds it overstimulating at times and it causes him to have meltdowns after returning home. He much preferred doing that instead of being stuck in this almost endless hell.

Eventually, James saw B in the distance.

James ran over to him. Suddenly he noticed an almost hound-like creature, it had beady eyes, its legs were distorted and it had long back hair that was draped over its face, at least what hair it had left.
James looked extremely startled he jumped back as he screamed. James started to back away and noticed that the abomination was following him, he started to walk faster before breaking off into a sprint.

B was about to clip into another level before James approached him. He quickly pulled himself out of the wall and ran over to James.

Once he got to James he stood in front of him. B stood tall, his chin slightly raised, his arms apart from his waist, he seemed to be making himself look bigger. The creature soon backed off and walked away.

"Oh. So it just leaves you alone like that? Did you like to train it or something?" James was still a bit frightened.

"No, that was a hound, your running made you its target it's best to stand in front of it and try to appear as big as possible to scare it off." B chuckled a bit at the thought of training one. "Anyways why aren't you in the base, with the way you were acting you could have killed yourself, you aren't exactly the smartest."

James got slightly offended by the comment. He crossed his arms before answering. "Well, I didn't stay in the base because why would I just, want to be back home, I'm really tired and I don't like it here. I'm not going to listen to some guy I've only known for a couple of minutes to decide if I get home or not." James huffed.

"bloody hell mun, no need to take the fact I left you in a safe place and just happened to leave you." B paused. "You didn't even tell me about wanting to get back so urgently."

James huffed again. "Still! You don't seem like you want to be here but you seem like you've been here for a year, if you are so good at knowing what those fucking things are why are you still stuck here, Mr. Know it all." James sounded quite annoyed.

"Even with me being trained, I can't just get out of here just like that!" B seemed to be able to control his temper well he hasn't muttered a single cuss word or shouted.

"Trained in what being a dick!?" James seemed to be upset at the moment and wasn't able to control himself. "If it wasn't for you I would probably be out of here within an hour," James grumbled.

B sighed. "If you want me to help you you need to stop acting like you're better than me, okay? You are starting to get on my nerves a bit. And I can reassure you, I've had the training to work in this field of work for about 3 years, I started in university, and I know what I am doing, it's just sometimes difficult to get out." B sounds calmed down a bit despite this heated exchange.

"Fine." James tried to calm himself down a bit.

B reached his hand out. "Truce?" He asked.

James reluctantly shook B's hand. "Truce."

They continued walking after a while. B and James were very quiet most of the time, especially B, he never often spoke voluntarily.

After a while, James turned to B. "B?"

"Yes." B looked down at James.

"Why are you always so quiet? Is it like a disability, mental illness or like trauma linked?"

B paused for a moment. "It's kind of a trauma-linked thing and a mental illness as a result of that."

"Well whats the trauma that caused that?" 'Wait that is actually really disrespectful.' James thought.

B was silent, he didn't answer James. He just stared blankly.

"Sorry..." James sighed.

"It's fine, really, I just really don't want to talk about it. Please never mention that again."

'Well, I've messed up the chance of him trusting me.' James looked down.

They continued to walk, now in awkward silence.