Endless

cHaPtEr SiXtEeN

I've been waiting for this moment...

...

The number of bugs were multiplying, the noise was getting louder with each one that flew in. It was so unbareable that I started to get an intense headache, and I couldn't decide whether to hold my hands on my ears or head.

Eventually, the painful noise finally ceased, but the swarm of disgusting large bugs were still hovering close to us, almost mocking us as we were cowering in fear.

I was afraid, but Claudia was horrified by this situation. I never expected to see her like this, it was unlike her to look so afraid. Then again this wasn't actually the real Claudia, but a fake one made for someone's sick and twisted desires. Who knew how many more there could be...

All those grotesque bugs merged together to form a human shape. A sphere of black sludge materialised in the centre, eventually enveloping the entire swarm.

I heard a menacing laugh come from the disturbing black figure. Hundreds of those bugs appeared from everywhere across the room, all of them merging with the figure.

Thomas finally found me.

The once black and grotesque slime became shiny red armour, the figure was now Thomas in his new form, ready to fight. Once the process was complete, he chuckled quietly. The only thing missing was large battleaxe, but even without it he gave off an intimidating aura. The fake Claudia certainly looked terrified and he hadn't even made his move yet.

"You really are bad at this game, aren't you?" He taunted. "You're supposed to hide in a place that isn't so obvious."

"I don't even know where the hell we are!" I retaliated.

"I knew that wherever Claudia was, you would be there. It's almost hilarious how you would care about someone as worthless as her."

The fake Claudia almost broke into tears at those words. As much as I wanted to comfort her during these difficult times, now I had to focus on survival, and my mission.

"Worthless, huh? You seem to think she's worth something if you would make multiple clones of her."

"They're all just puppets, they're easily replaceable."

"If the original Claudia died, it wouldn't be possible to make any more clones of her now would it? Admit it, you do care about her and she is worth something to you. Not that it matters, since you don't deserve her."

"Y-you..."

Without hesitating, he raised his hand, and swarms of bugs merged together in his hand to form the bloodstained axe that would make anyone shudder in fear at it's majesty.

Claudia ran towards Thomas with tears in her eyes. I was hoping that she would have tried helping me to stop Thomas, but what she did was...the exact opposite.

She went down on her knees and started begging for mercy, her voice couldn't be easily understood due to her sobbing.

"P-please...d-don't hurt m-me...Owen m-means nothing to m-me...you're the o-only one I love..."

That...it was at that moment I started to doubt what my priorities were. I did everything I could to try and help Claudia, and she stabs me in the back like this? Although this was a clone, I wouldn't be surprised if the real Claudia would do the same thing in this situation...

Thomas looked down at Claudia, who was still begging and sobbing, as if she was some kind of inferior creature and he was it's god.

"So, you've finally learnt your place...I guess you're not as stupid as I thought."