The Legends: Sinister Intentions

Part 9: The Silence, the Worry

As Emily followed the long stretch of road - displayed by the tunnel lights - she knew she had to avoid Chad at all costs. He was definitely not going to let her go this time.

Slight banging and scraping sounds were heard in distant areas. Chad was close...too close. Emily had to get out of there, so she ran - until her tiny little legs couldn't take it anymore.

A few minutes passed, until she found herself standing at the edge of the tunnel, however, the road seemed to stretch on forever. The trees lay scattered across the sides of the road, swaying their branches as frost covered their delicate leaves.

The snow blanketed the forest floor, while it seemed to give off a slightly bright hue - from the morning sun.
The beauty of Emily's surroundings made her think of Chad's caring personality...but sadly, he didn't seem to be who he had once been.
He was completely different now.

Emily sighed, knowing she had to keep moving forward - escaping a now-murderous used-to-be friend.
As Emily followed the endless road, she passed a truck which seemed to be stuck in a hole - sticking halfway up from it, diagonally. This was the entrance to the underground mall.

Emily asked why Chad put a mall underneath the ground, he responded with: "because it adds to the apocalyptic atmosphere. It'll make the role-players think about why the mall was built there, specifically; was it used for anything other than shops, or was it just for architectural purposes?". But Emily expected this was just his excuse for wanting to add an underground mall there - because why not?

It was a pity Chad didn't talk about it when they were with Allyssa, especially since they took this exact road - when they went back to the entrance a few hours ago.
Even if Emily knew the route back to it, Chad would probably be roaming around - hunting her down...he probably ignored Emily's escape and went back to the entrance - expecting her to try and get back there.

Emily passed the truck, kept following the road, and eventually ended up at the Western Town District. It seemed to be abandoned, but Emily already knew it was because of maintenance purposes - officially frozen in time due to Chad's murderous frenzy.

As Emily approached the inner town, blood seemed to be stained in the snow around the buildings and roads. No people were seen, though. Chad must've been here a couple of hours ago.

When Emily walked into the nearest building - right beside the destroyed Soup Shark - which happened to be a near-destroyed supermarket - she heard groans coming from the right corner - closest to the entrance of the building.

As Emily walked towards the groaning - just realising she still had the metal pole gripped in her hands - she came across a man in white armour. A security guard.

His helmet lay beside him, while blood dripped from a hole that ran down the side of his chest-plate. He coughed up a splatter of blood.

"W-who are you?" He said, slowly turning his head to face Emily.

"I-I'm a friend of Ch-Chad. My name is Emily. I'm trying to escape this region."

"Me too, kid...me too." He said, resting his head on the right wall and closing his eyes. His breathing dimmed a bit, but he still had enough oxygen to keep him alive...for awhile.

"D-do you know anywhere - where I could get out of here?" Emily said, feeling sorry for the guy. A few seconds passed before he responded.

"Yes, the vents. They will take you to either side of the walls' edges. The only problem is, you'll have to deactivate the fans inside them.

"The main administration room will have a panel that has a big button on it: that can deactivate and activate the fan systems. It lays on the right edge of the main controls - where Chad usually sits.

"If you can manage to deactivate the fans, get into the ventilation system and escape - you will be safe. He won't go after you."

"But what about the entrance? Can't we just try and escape through there?"

"Sadly, no. I don't know how he can...but for some reason he knows when someone gets close to the entrance. It's like something is watching it - telling him when someone gets too close to escaping." He said nervously.
Nivitrie, Emily thought to herself.
"What about you? Can't we both get to the entrance? Can't we both get passed Chad?"

"Sorry kiddo, but I can't go on...I've been through enough. You, however, you might make it passed. You are a close friend to him, so he might not care that much. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch your back. I still recommend you go for the vents." He sighed.

This was it. Would Emily risk getting to the control room without being spotted? Would Chad be waiting there, displaying that disturbing smirk of his? Emily had to take the risk. This was probably the only chance she would have of escaping.
"Alright, I will try." She said quietly.

"Good luck."

"Thank you." Emily responded, smiling at the man.

"Also, before you go...my name is Micheal Travensii."

"Alright, Micheal Travensii, I hope we can both get out of this."

"I hope so, too - Emily...I hope so, too."

As the sun stretched across the morning sky, Emily slid across the Western walls edge, trying not to be seen, even if Chad wasn't there, which - hopefully, he wasn't.
A few minutes later, she arrived at the tunnel entrance.

Emily took a deep breath, walked into the tunnel, and eventually made it to the doors. Amazingly to say, Chad didn't seem to be anywhere around there. Though, she wouldn't take any second chances.

Still clutching the metal pole - she approached the machete-bent door. It had been slightly locked to the side - just enough for Emily to manoeuvre through. When she looked through to the other side of the door - she expected Chad to lunge at her from the other side...but nothing came through.

As she walked through the door and towards the door Chad had blocked - and directly into the endless halls once more, she eventually came across the administration room.
As she activated the panel and slipped through to the other side, the familiar cold lingered into her skin like a parasite.

She approached the right edge of the control board - that lay on the far side of the room (near the opposing door) - then looked at the buttons displayed on it. A large black button lay in the middle of the panel. That was the button to deactivate all the fans.

Just before she could press it, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the panels.

"Uh-uh-uh, you're not suppose to touch that." It was Chad. He must've been watching, even following her!

He pulled Emily towards him and pointed the sharp side of the machete towards her neck, "Did you really think you could get away from me? I know your ways, Emily...I know you were going to come here, eventually.

"So I waited - and here you are." He said into her right ear.

"Please!" Emily cried, struggling to get free of Chad's grip.

"I'm sorry, but you're not going to accept my ways...so I'm going to have to kill you. Right here, right now."

"NO!" Emily screamed, trying to get free of Chad by using even more force. But before Chad could slit her throat, something flew into his right side. Chad weakened his grip, letting Emily slip below his arms and away from him.

Chad seemed to struggle saying anything. Slight twitches of sound came through his mouth, while he stared at the thing that flew into his side - then at Emily. He dropped his machete, stumbled back - then collapsed.

Emily felt a slight pain in her right side. Her vision started to blur - until her body weakened, forcing her to collapse. Before she blacked out, lights started to appear around her, while radios emitted the sounds of people talking. A massive blur stood above her, and just as the darkness consumed her vision and mind, a female voice came through.

"Don't worry, Emily. You're safe with us. We will protect you." Darkness.