The men did their best to comfort the distressed brunette, her eyes watching everything beyond the protective dome Monk had erected over the top of them. A white tentacle peeked out from behind a thick bush and raced for the barrier before it shattered on impact like porcelain.
A yelp escaped her as it hit, the sound of tortured screams tearing through the air as it's shards evaporated. It was out of place, heart breakingly loud and oh so chilling Monk barely kept the barrier up as it wavered against the force of the blow. Naru clutched Mai closer to him, feeling her hands clench over the paper she held, taking in her quivering as best as he could despite the intensity of her fear. He tried his best to calm her, pull the twigs and leaves from her hair and remove what dirt stains she had on her face with his handkerchief. Small flakes of blood littered her skin and she winced whenever he brushed over a forming bruise in the darkness.
The moon cast an ominous light across they're field of vision, making everything glow an eerie blue. The darkness encroached on the faint light, their only salvation from the night, and made everything seem darker than it should have been.
"We have to leave! Now! We have to keep going!" Mai's sudden outburst startled the two men, their confusion growing as she struggled to escape Naru's hold, the page still crumpled in her hand. Monk tried to reach for it when she shrieked, making both he and Naru fall back. Her eyes were wild as she held the tattered paper to her chest.
It was like there was someone completely different before them.
She was crazy, her eyes mad and her hair a mess. Blood and dirt was smeared all over her exposed skin and her clothes were torn. She tucked the pages close to her chest, "No! Don't touch them! Don't! Only I can do it! No one else! Don't let him take you too!"
Her voice was there, but it echoed, as if thousands were trying to speak through her at once. It was terrifying for them to watch her so scared and possessive. Never had they seen her like this. And they prayed that after the case, they would never have to see it again.
"Mai... It's ok. We're here for you." Monk tried to calm her. Never had he seen her so scared, not even when they found Eugene's body. Or the truth about Naru had been discovered... Not even when she had faced her own death during the Urado case.
"No!" Her voice was shrill as she tried to pull away, but Naru's firm grip on her hands kept her in place. He managed to pull her into his lap and he held her there, waiting till she calmed down to speak. A warmth filled his palms and he did his best to pry her nails out of her palm.
"Mai. You need to calm down. Now, tell us what happened." His voice was firm, but as Mai focused on his eyes, even in the darkness, she could see the warmth in them that she had been hoping to see for years.
And so she told them. About how she was separated from John and Masako and had wandered around with Dazo before he was taken away. She explained the pages and the things that had happened after she found each one. To having seen their torches and had run towards them.
"I shouldn't have come towards you. I've just put you both in danger." The regret was heavy in her voice as she stared off into the darkness, her muscles tense as if she were about to take off running.
"Mai. We knew the kind of cause we were coming into. And it was of our own volition that we came looking for you. So, let's go from here." Naru did his best to leave all concern out of his voice as he spoke to her, taking in the way she shivered against him.
"Exactly!" Monk pitched in, "And with me around I can keep up a barrier, so we should be safe."
"The only thing now is, where do we go from here Mai?" Naru asked the brunette.
She paused for a second, her eyes narrowing in thought as she focused on the dirt at her feet. There were a lot of things they could try do, but there was only one solution she could she that would work.
"I think... I think I need to find the last of the pages. I feel like that's the only way we could possibly leave here..." Her words were shaky, barely above a whisper as she looked into the darkness around them, dreading the thought of going out into the shadows of the night, and potentially facing the faceless monster again.
"It'll be fine Mai. You have us!" Monk cheered, holding is Tokkohoshi in his hand as he held the other out for her to take.
She allowed a small smile to flutter across her face briefly before taking his hand and allowing him to pull her up. Naru rose after her, brushing off his suit of the leaves that had clung to it.
"Well... Let's go. The sooner we find the pages the sooner we can leave this whole damned place behind!" Mai yelled, crumpling the pages in her pants pocket and taking the lead.
They walked in silence, the night silence and unbroken; even the sound of their footsteps seemed to be muffled by the earth itself, protecting them from whatever stalked them.
The brushed aside bush after bush, having chosen to avoid the main path in hopes it would lessen the chances of them being found, thought Mai though it was pointless. She could feel it. The hairs on the back of her neck raised as she constantly jerked her head from side to side. Her nerves were on edge, adrenaline coursing a trail of fire through her veins as she stepped through the underbrush.
'This way...'
Mai's head snapped to the side, the voice echoing through her head, but quiet, gurgled, almost as if through water. It was chocked and young, like when a young child would try to talk under water. But it wasn't rushed. No... It was eerily slow. Each syllable drawn out, almost as if the speaker had to think about the words it wanted to say.
'Hurry...'
"Mai?" Monk asked, tapping the brunette on the shoulder. It was only then that Mai realised she had been holding her breath and took in lungful’s of much needed air, gasping as she spun around, trying to focus on where her mind was telling her to go.
"This way." She said quickly, pointing off in what must have seemed like a random direction.
"Uh... Mai?" The bassist asked and he was about to tell her to keep going forward when Naru grabbed her wrist.
"Then let's go. Stay between Monk and I and if you sense anything, let us know." It wasn't a question, and Mai had to refrain from yelling at his demand when she noticed the tenseness of his shoulders.
"Ok..." She whispered, not knowing what else to say as the dark haired man started pulling her in the direction she had pointed. Despite it all, Monk followed closely behind, his Tokkohoshi close at hand should he need it as he muttered a prayer under his breath.
They kept stumbling through the underbrush until they came across an opening in the trees, a dark mass in the centre of it. The air seemed colder in the opening, causing them to shiver violently. Nothing sturred as they slowly made their way towards the mass in the middle of the opening.
It was a large metal tower, rusted from age and rain and as tall as an the SPR office. It reeked like death and Monk held his nose from the foul stench that came from it.
"Give me your torch." Mai said, pointing at the small light that hung on Monk's hip. Wordlessly, he handed it to her and watched as she walked close the tower.
"It seems to be a water tower. A silo. Though I don't think it would have been used for years by the looks of it." Naru mused aloud, using his own torch to take in the massive structure before them.
"Guys!" Mai yelled from the other side of the silo, forcing the men to sprint around to see her tugging at something white sticking out of a latch in the rusted metal. Or what should have been white.
A page, yellow and brittle, poked out of a hatch near the bottom curve of the water tank. Without a sound, Monk and Naru started trying to loosen the hatch, pulling at the rusted handles. They creaked ominously, threatening to break under their combined efforts when an all mighty crack echoed through the clearing.
The men fell back as Mai screamed, her voice gurgled and subdued as they tried their best to right themselves. The sight before them was horrifying.
Mai lay in a pool of red liquid, a corpse laid over the top of her and the paper clutched not only in her hand... but also that of the corpses’…
