Locked Away

Chapter 18

Cory's POV

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For once since I first ended up in this cursed place, I woke refreshed and energized. I left the dorm powerful, but there was a small part of me that worried that my plan would go south, and we would all die. As I went to the main hall, I tried to convince myself that we'll get out, and everything will go back to normal. Ah, who am I kidding? We can't go back to normal, and never will with all that's happened here. This will follow us until we die, and it'll get into our "normal" lives in the form of nightmares and flashbacks so real you'd think you were reliving those events. Soldiers of war aren't the only ones who can get the disorder, after all. I tried to rid of this mindset, but the sheer truth behind it made it hard to rid of. Not to mention, it wasn't 100% negative, so it kinda stuck for a while. I stepped into the hall, and saw the most terrifying thing I've seen since I watched Ian get murdered through the door by the cat with the chainsaw.

It was...gruesome. There were two corpses lying against the wall with their heads missing, as if they were cut off by something. The stubs were red with blood, and some of it had trailed down to stain their clothes at the chests and stomach levels. One of the bodies was eaten into, with the torso torn apart and organs missing or displaced. What made it worse was when I checked under the table and found their heads lying there upright. It took me a second to realize who it was.

It was the guys who were missing last night: Leafy and Keemstar.

I'll admit that I wasn't too sad to see Keemstar dead, I mean he tried to kill me, but Leafy...Well, he was the nicer of the two, so to see him dead...It haunted me. I couldn't think on it long, though, because back where I came from, someone screamed. I raced without thinking back to where the scream came from, to see a terrified Anthony looking into a dorm. I looked into the room, and saw Delirious lying on the ground face down, not moving an inch. I panicked, thinking he was dead at first. The others had joined us, but the person with black shirt with an 'M' on it was the only person who was brave enough to approach the collapsed body and check his pulse. The guy turned to us, a look of relief in his eyes.

"Thank god, he's not dead, just passed out. Unfortunately, if we don't get out of here soon, he could die of blood loss. Who volunteers to help me carry him?" The guy asked.

"I'll help," said a guy with green hair and grey hoodie, walking over and helping support the passed out Delirious.

"Uh, thanks Jack," The guy with the 'M' said.

"No problem, Mark. I mean, you and I are the strongest of the bunch, so.." Jack said. The two half-dragged Delirious down to the main room, only to get the same nasty surprise I got when I went down there. I realized that I'd forgotten about those two dead guys when I went to check on Delirious.  They started yelling and freaking out over how the bodies were mutilated and torn apart. But something was there that wasn't when I checked: or maybe it was there the whole time, and I wasn't paying attention.

It was a message, written in what I could assume was their blood, which read 'Final Round, no holding back. Ready?'

I guess that meant that if we failed, not a single soul would be spared; we'd all die or be turned, like Ian... But if we succeeded, no one else would die. We would be free, and could return home. Sure, we'd have to explain why we were gone for so long, and in some causes, explain how we got hurt, but other than that, we would be able to go back to what we used to do. Well, then again, you can't just "go back to normal" if you suffered something like this. It's just impossible. But on the nice side, I've made new friends. Sure, this might be the last time I see them again, but there's also a chance we might talk to each other over Skype or discord or something about this event, the people who died during this, or maybe just life. Honestly, I don't know what's next after we get out. I don't think any of us do, but I guess I'll figure it out when I get to that point, if I get to that point.