TRAPPED (Remaster Coming Soon)

Chapter 13: On the Hunt

Charlie and Max continued walking down the long, dark corridor. Messy cob webs hung down from the ceiling and the entire floor was ripped apart. Stacks of wood rested against the dirty wall and dust slowly drifted around the two friends. The Female Ward really was abandoned.
"Why do you think Agostino hid that door from us?" Charlie asked while walking down the long hallway.
"Because he's a jerk and he wants to confuse us," Max replied.
Charlie shrugged, "Maybe."
When they finally reached the end of the hallway, they were greeted by two staircases. One went down and one went up. There was an old elevator in the center that separated the two staircases. In the middle of the room was a broken light hanging on a single wire on the ceiling. The light slowly swung back and forth, creaking loudly every time it moved.
"We need the third floor, right?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah," Max replied in a casual voice.
"We need to go up then. I wonder where the other staircase goes," Charlie said.
"Let's check it out then. We can go the other way after we explore the basement, or whatever is down there," Max replied.
The two friends slowly crept down the stairs while shining their lights around. The stairs went down into a dark room closed off by a small gate. Charlie approached the gate and pushed it open causing it to creak loudly.
It was a medium sized room that was full of old, rusty washing machines and small carts full of dirty clothes. There was also a broken laundry chute attached to the wall on the far side of the room.
"This must be the laundry room," Charlie whispered to herself.
Max overheard her and replied quietly, "Yeah."
Charlie walked over to the laundry chute and examined it. A fuse box sat right next to the laundry chute. Charlie opened it and discovered that it was completely empty.
"So that's why there's no power down here. Some moron stole the fuses!" Max replied angrily.
"I guess so," Charlie replied while chuckling at Max's comment.
Suddenly, there was a loud clanking noise behind them. Charlie and Max quickly turned around to see what it was. Charlie shined her flashlight around the room and saw one of the laundry carts slowly rolling towards them.
"The hell? Who's there?" Max asked.
Footsteps suddenly echoed off the walls and approached the two friends. Charlie yelped when someone appeared out of the darkness. She quickly recognized the person and was relieved.
"Agostino," Charlie said, exhaling in relief.
"Oh dear, I didn't mean to frighten you two," he said in a playful voice.
"It's fine. Are you here to help us?" Charlie asked patiently.
"Of course, my dear. I'm also here to tell you that you guys are getting very off track," he told them.
"Uh, that was Max's fault! Ooh, darn you, Max. You got us off course," Charlie pretended to blame Max.
Max furrowed his eyebrows and said, "What?! You agreed to come down here with me!"
"Ah, that doesn't matter. You guys aren't too far off course. You just need to head back upstairs," Agostino replied, trying to calm the two friends down.
"Right, sorry," Charlie replied while scratching the back of her head.
"Oh dear, I am very sorry, but I must go. I left more messages for you upstairs. Good luck," Agostino quickly said before teleporting away again.
"Well, that was fast," Charlie said while turning to Max.
"Whatever, let's just go upstairs," Max replied.
Charlie followed Max back upstairs and headed to the other staircase. Max walked up the staircase and then stopped when he discovered a large hole in the stairs.
He put an arm out in front of Charlie to stop her and said, "We have to jump."
"Oh man, I don't know if I can make that jump," Charlie said in a worried tone. She was staring at the large gap while clinging on to one of Max's shirt sleeves.
"You'll be fine, Char. I'll go first, okay?" He replied while softly patting Charlie's head.
Charlie quietly nodded and let go of Max's sleeve. Max then backed up and quickly ran towards the gap. He grunted when he slammed into the other side of the stairs and then proceeded to throw himself over.
Charlie clapped and then yelled, "My turn!"
She took three long strides back and then charged towards the hole with confidence. Everything was going just fine until she rolled her ankle while jumping, causing her to trip. Before she fell through the hole, she quickly grabbed the edge of the stairs with only a few of her fingers clinging on.
"Oh shit, Charlie!" Max yelled while running over to her.
Charlie was panicking. She could feel her fingers losing their grip and she could feel her arms getting tired. She was lashing around, trying to keep her tired arms from giving out. However, her quick movements caused the key to the third floor to slip out of her pocket and fall down the dark hole.
"Max, the key!" Charlie yelled while still wiggling around.
"Forget about the key! I need to save you first!" Max replied.
He quickly grabbed one of Charlie's arms and easily pulled her over the edge of the stairs.
"Are you okay, Charlie?" He asked worryingly.
"I'm fine, but the key isn't!" She yelled back.
"Alright, calm down. We'll go back downstairs and see where the key went, okay?" Max asked in a soothing voice. He was trying to calm Charlie down.
Charlie nodded while panting and then turned back to the hole. They had to jump back down.
Max easily hopped over the hole and so did Charlie. It seemed that jumping down was easier than jumping up.
They both ran past the hanging, flickering light and then ran down the other staircase that went to the laundry room. Charlie checked the staircase hoping that the key would still be there, but it was nowhere to be found.
"Shit, it's gone," Charlie said.
Suddenly, a loud banging noise came from the laundry room. Charlie ran down there and was greeted by a well-lit laundry room and a guy standing by the laundry chute. She saw something that made her angry. The guy who was standing by the laundry chute had the key dangling in between his deformed fingers and he was smirking at them.
Charlie ran towards him, but he threw the key into the laundry chute and then pressed the button. The small elevator sitting inside carried the key up to another floor.
"You piece of shit," Charlie whispered under her breath.
The man then proceeded to rip the fuses out of the wall causing the lights to go out. Charlie yanked her flashlight out of her pocket and flicked it on. The guy was gone and so were the fuses.
"What? Where did he go?" Charlie asked, her voice was full of confusion and anger.
"I don't know," Max said, "let's check the second floor. The key might be up there." He grabbed Charlie's arm and then pulled her up the stairs.
They walked up the other staircase and quickly jumped over the hole. Charlie almost fell backwards, but Max was there to pull her back before she could fall.
"Man, where's Agostino when we need him?" Charlie asked, hoping that he would show up after she said that. Unfortunately, he didn't, so the two friends were on their own for now.
When Charlie and Max reached the top of the staircase, they were greeted with a fairly large room. It was about the same size as the laundry room.
Max gasped when he saw a laundry chute on the far wall. There was an object glistening inside and Max immediately knew that it was they key. However, the laundry chute was closed and couldn't be opened unless they found the two fuses for the fuse box.
"Charlie, we need to find those fuses," Max said while turning to Charlie.
"Do you think he hid them somewhere?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know if he hid them up here," Max replied.
"Well, looks like we're gonna have to hunt them down," she replied.
They both looked around the room and saw the gate and stairs that led to the third floor. They also found a hallway on the right and a hallway on the left. Charlie decided to head right first.
The hallway on the right was very messy. The flooring from the floor above them, littered the hallway and the light was flickering like crazy. Water leaked out of a rusty, broken pipe and left mold on the wall.
The two friends carefully walked over the broken wood and reached another hallway that went to the left. A small room was at the end of the hallway. The room was full of small candles that were scattered across the room. Some sat in the corners of the room. However, there was one that caught their eye. The candle sat on a small desk with wax that dripped onto the black and white tiled floor. Next to the candle was a small, cylindrical shaped figure. Max approached it and discovered that it was one of the fuses.
"Charlie, I found a fuse," Max whispered to her. He grabbed it and quickly stuffed it inside his pocket.
Now they just needed one more fuse. They quickly ran back to the room with the laundry chute and stuffed the first fuse inside, then proceeded to head down the other hallway on the left. This hallway was less messy compared to the other hallway. Rubble still covered some spots of the hallway, but the floor above them wasn't falling down.
The hallway led to another hallway that went right. There was another small room sitting at the end, just like the other hallway. Charlie and Max hoped that the other fuse would be in here.
Charlie reached the small room and slowly pushed the wooden door open. They were greeted with something eerie. A dead body was laying in the center of the room with the same white candles carefully placed around it.
"What. The. Hell?" Max asked as he slowly walked into the room.
Charlie walked up to the body when she saw a small object resting in one of the body's hands. She gasped. It was the final fuse.
"Max, I found the fuse!" She exclaimed happily.
Max walked over to the body and crouched down next to Charlie. He quickly snatched the fuse out of the body's hand and then stood up along with Charlie.
They turned around at the same time to walk away, but were frightened when they saw a tall man standing in front of them. It was the same guy that stole the fuses except he was holding a long piece of wood with nails that were messily hammered in to the tip. He turned it into a weapon.
The guy was shirtless, showing off huge scars that covered his entire chest and stomach. He also had a few scars on his face, but those were definitely less noticeable.
Charlie screamed when the guy lifted the piece of wood into the air and brought it down. Charlie covered her face and waited for pain to take over, but it never did. She slowly moved her arms down and saw something, no, someone, holding the guy's arm back.
A familiar voice spoke from the darkness, "Ah, Ah, Ah, we can't have violence now. I have something important set up for these kids."
The guy's arm was suddenly twisted back causing him to scream in pain. The guy fell to the floor and cried in pain as a familiar person appeared from behind him. It was Agostino.
"Kids, run to the chute and put the fuse in. I'll take care of this guy," he said while smirking down at the guy.
Charlie and Max quickly ran past Agostino and ran back to the laundry chute. Max quickly shoved the last fuse in and then grabbed the key before it could fall down again. They ran over to the metal gate that led to the third staircase and quickly unlocked the door. Max practically threw Charlie through the door and then proceeded to run through while slamming it shut behind him.
"Alright, we should be safe now," Max said while panting.
Charlie nodded breathlessly and continued to walk up the stairs. She was just happy that Agostino was there to save them.
When they reached the top of the stairs, they were greeted by another bloody message that didn't surprise them this time.
"Follow the arrows," they both whispered under their breath.