Feet slammed into the soft dirt ground, leaves and sticks flying up from the force. Panted breath reverberated through the woods around them as they charged on.
"Stop! Naru, stop! We're going blind here. We have to get our bearings." Monk stopped dead, catching his breath as he looked through the breaks in the trees.
Darkness had set on them faster than they thought possible. The whole feeling of Nadoru camping grounds had changed, turning menacing and evil without the breaks of sunlight through thick canopy. The tree limbs looked like long arms and the eyes of the animals glowed ominously in the gloom.
Naru came to an abrupt halt, his shoulder heaving but no breathing audible to Monks' ears. He could see how tense the young man was, fear and anger radiating from him.
"I know." Defeat was thick in his voice and he turned to look at the older male, showing Monk a look he had never thought he's see on Naru's face; despair. "But we can't wait. Mai's out there… alone. Vulnerable. There is a malevolent entity out there with her and we have no way to combat it."
"I know Naru. I'm worried about her too. But we'll only put ourselves in danger by running headfirst into it." Monk explained, realising just how panicked the young CEO was if he was the one to explain the situation to himself.
Silence grew between them before Naru released a heavy hearted sigh, "I agree… But Mai…"
"I understand Naru. I do. I'm worried about her too. We all are. But we have to put our heads together." Monk said, his tone soft, "So then… If I were Mai, what would I do?"
Naru thought for a moment, his finger tapping his chin before he crossed his arms and shook his head, "I would run around until my unnatural luck either led me either into trouble, usually life threatening, or back to base…"
Monk blinked at his boss before he released a strangled groan, "Fantastic! That means Mai will run into whatever is kidnapping the children, find out how to stop it and need us to save her so that we can stop it."
"However," Naru started, eyes narrowed in concentration, "Miss Hara mentioned Detective Dazo following them because his wife, Mrs Nadoru, was taken. He wanted information."
"Since when were those two married? They showed no signs… They didn't even say anything!" Monk yelled, wincing when it reverberated through the dark forest.
"I questioned Mrs Nadoru's parents after she was taken. They didn't want to disrupt the police investigation, so they didn't mention it beforehand." Naru's explanation was rather flippant to his usual fact sharing moments. Monk just nodded slowly, digesting the new information.
Monk opened his mouth to reply when a sudden and deafening boom echoed through the quiet forest, the gun shot so close to them they would have sworn it was right next to them. All the remaining wildlife in the forest fled with the sound and Monk and Naru took off in the opposite direction.
"Mai!"
~With Mai~
She looked down at the page in her hand in terror, she could feel the evil that radiated from it calling to a greater source of malevolence. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't put it back down. She could swap it into her other hand, she could put it in her pocket but she couldn't put it down. Time passed and she had no grasp of how long she stood there, but it was only when the chill passed down her spine that she was being watched did she snap out of her thoughts. With a quick glance around, she shoved the paper into her pocket and took off into the dark woods again, ducking under limbs of trees and skirting around thorny bushes. The night was silent aside from her heavy breathing and the sound of her feet pounding into the ground.
In the back of her mind she could just imagine the thing that attacked Dazo was chasing after her. Following her easily with its long and terrifying limbs. She shivered at the thought of how a gun couldn't even take it down. How could they stop it? Exorcise it? Burn it? Destroy the forest? No, nothing would work.
It was then, after ceaseless running, that she stumbled across an opening in the trees with a large structure in the middle of it. Stepping closer cautiously, Mai inspected t further running her fingers across the surfaces.
It was a tree, the bark rough and spiky, dried with age and killed by years in the sun. It fit into the forest with ease.
"What in the world?" Mai whispered as her hand brushed over something that was dry and brittle. With careful hands she plucked it from the tree and moved away from the imposing structure and into what light she could get out of the shadow of the tree.
It was another page, the words 'No eyes…' scribbled over the yellowed paper and an oval face with the eyes crossed out marred the surface. Another, stronger chill, went down her spine and the feeling of being watched took over her.
And then she knew no more…
It was dark, and she realised she was in dream. But there was no Eugene to guide her. There was no other person in the dark forest to help her.
"Where am I?" Mai asked, looking around as her voice echoed softly. The leaves behind her rustled and she spun around to see a young child, probably no older than ten, pushing their way through the shrubs. It was a young boy, with light brown hair and vibrant green eyes. He didn't look Japanese.
"Oh Mama. Wo sind Sie?" Mai blinked as the boy spoke, confused by what he said.
"It's German. He asked where his mother was." The new voice cause Mai to jump as she looked for the source and a smile broke across her face.
"Eugene!" She ran up to the dead man and hugged him, over joyed that there was finally a familiar face around.
"Hello Mai." He wrapped his arms around her and gave a brief squeeze, before he hesitantly released her. "Now… Watch."
Mai turned to look back at the little boy and watched as he wandered into the same field she had been when she fell into her vision. The little boy walked slowly, casting worried glances around the area, the darkness seemingly closing in on him. He stepped closer to the large tree like structure, his small arms high as they pulled the paper from the bark and gazed at the yellow page.
It was then that a dark figure appeared at the other side of the clearing, hidden from the boy's point of view by the tree in front of him.
"Was ist das?" His voice was quite, his small frame shaking in fear as he took in the sight of the drawing, "Oh Mama. Warum haben Sie, hierher zu kommen?"
Mai tilted her head and looked at Gene who sighed and quickly translated, "He's asking why his mother brought him here. Their on holiday." The brunette released a small gasp of understanding before looking back and almost screaming. The tall figure was right behind the little boy, its shadow drawing the German child's attention as he spun around.
He had no time to scream as the tentacle like limbs captured him like they had Dazo.
"Oh… God…" She gasped, taking steps backwards till she was pressed against a tree.
"Mai. Listen to me. Quickly!" Gene's voice was urgent, but she didn't take her eyes off the creature as it turned to look at her, its' face missing and taking her breath away.
