Emerged In Darkness

Chapter 10

She was absolutely lost.

Saran hated to say it, but it was true. The dark, plastic-covered hallways were beginning to blend together and look the same. It felt like one giant circle just smearing together until her vision was gray. Finally, she allowed herself a moment to stop and lean against the wall.

Everything that had happened within the last couple minutes still had her shaken up. That and the pain of her broken hand. The range of emotions that were running through her at the moment was mixing together with her physical pain and it was quickly becoming more than she could handle.

Saran felt angry. Not only had she almost died and let herself die, but she was angry at the fact of what had happened with her brother.

Mason was forced into a path he didn't choose. He was forced to become a monster that he never wanted to be. And for him, Saran would make sure no one else fell into the same fate. Not her, not Mia, and certainly not Ethan.

With renewed determination, she pushed herself off the wall and began to walk again except, there was someone in her way.

It was the same old woman from earlier.

Her pale, colorless eyes stared at Saran as she went around the wheelchair and past her. It gave Saran the chills but she ignored them and went about her way.

Finally, the maze of hallways gave way to one large room. The darkness made it hard to see if there were any of those monsters or not. Slowly and cautiously, she glanced around the corner she had come to.

At least four of those things were walking around, twitching every so often.

Saran edged herself out of sight and unloaded the clip. Ten bullets.

She remembered seeing another box of twenty she had put in the bag too. That meant there should have been more than enough to kill those four and a few more. She reached in her bag, grabbed the clip, and shoved it into her back pocket.

With a deep breath in, Saran whirled around the corner and shot the closest one to her.

The bullet lodged into its head and it fell with a dying screech. The others, upon hearing the noise, whirled around to her. They began lumbering over to her, sharp teeth glistening. Wickedly dangerous claws winked at her in the dim light. Saran knew if she let them touch her, she was as good as dead. Luckily for her, she wasn't going to let them even get close.

She shot off two more bullets. One hit the second monster in the leg, crippling him, and the other just barely missed another monster.

Three more bullets flew. Two hit their mark, one hitting the monster she'd missed directly in the chest and the other bullet knocked out the other leg on the crippled one.

Saran shot her last two bullets into its neck and head, killing it, before reaching for the clip tucked in her back pocket to kill the last one.

Shakily, she dropped the used one and tried to put the other one in.

Patience is always key when loading a gun. Take your time. Rushing it can end up taking the few moments you could have used to spare your life.

Mason's lesson drifted through her head, effectively calming her enough to load it correctly. Finally, at last, the gun was loaded and she shot off one last round into its mushed, disgusting face.

She let out a long sigh and lowered the gun. Saran took a few minutes before she shoved it into the waistband of her pants with the safety on.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't Mason's little sister! Just the person I was lookin for!" A voice exclaimed over the expanse of the small room.

Saran's face twisted up in a snarl and she gave a low, audible growl.

Lucas.

"I have a game for you!" He sing-songed happily.

"I don't want to play your stupid game, Lucas!" She spat out.

"Now don't be like that," He tsked," all ya gotta do is find the right key to unlock the door in front of you."

With a start, Saran turned to look in front of her. There was indeed a door there. She ran to it and began pulling on the knob, but to her dismay, it wouldn't budge.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did ya?" His southern voice inquired with sick enjoyment.

Saran gritted her teeth and glanced around the room.

"What do I need to do?" She ground out, digging her nails into the palm of her good hand.

"Glad you asked. All you need to do is find the key. It'll unlock that door in front of you and get you to Ethan. The catch is that they're inside Eveline's molded." He paused to giggle and it made Saran sick.

"Have fun, and remember, don't cheat!"

The room fell silent as Saran looked around her.

The hallway behind her filled with the sounds of footsteps, and lots of them.

She turned to find another ten monsters or molded as Lucas had called them, lumbering toward her. A small curse flew out of her mouth and she grabbed the gun from her waistband. Saran readied herself for the fight and waited for the hoard of molded monsters to come at her.

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Saran fell back against the wall, exhausted. She didn't want to think about the fact she'd almost been overrun with the molded, that she'd almost died. Now, unfortunately, she had to dig around in their bodies and find the key. She put her gun up and began the nasty business of doing so.

Kneeling down at the first body in front of her, Saran pulled out the pocket knife she'd found. With a jagged cut to the abdomen, she plunged a hand into the sticky mess of goo. Bile edged to the back of her throat and she gagged as her fingers dug around the mutilated mess. When she felt nothing, disappoint, dread, and disgust filled her stomach.

Saran pulled her hand out of the body, took one look at the disgusting mess on her hand, and threw up. Her body heaved and gagged up what little contents she had in her stomach. When she was done, she wiped her watery eyes and mouth, spitting out the sour taste. Right about now, Lucas was probably watching her, laughing, thinking that this was it for her. She wouldn't doubt it if he assumed that she was going to die. But he was wrong. She wasn't going to be discouraged from puking because of this stupid challenge. No, she was going to get up and do this.

Slowly, she pulled herself together and got up to search the rest of the bodies.

About her sixth one, Saran felt something hard and metallic. She wrapped her fingers around it and pulled it out.

The key was covered in the mess of goo and it was cold to the touch, but it was her way out. If it hadn't been covered in so much gunk, she would have kissed it.

Her legs ached and complained as she stood up and stretched. Lucas remained oddly silent as she inserted the key and turned it. A soft click sounded, indicating that the door was unlocked. Saran breathed out a sigh of relief and pushed the door open.

All she heard next was a loud bang and a hot, burning pain flying through her chest before she fell to the ground. All she could think before she succumbed to darkness was, "I can't seem to catch a break."