The Protective Entity (A Buzzfeed Unsolved AU)

15

"Well, at least we got a change of scenery." I said sarcastically.
I turned to face the other side of the room, which had a vacant office desk and chair. There on the corner sat an old rotary telephone.
Behind me, I heard Sara grunt and the shattering of concrete. I whirled around and saw she had smashed a brick against the wall.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"What does it look like?" she responded.
"Uhh...smashing shit?" I answered.
"No. I'm looking for hidden clues. Like an escape room." she said.
"Sara...I don't think that's what's happening here." I told her.
A sudden shrill tone hit my eardrums. I slowly turned to face the desk. The rotary phone rang out, echoing against each wall.
Sara and I exchanged looks.
I cautiously walked towards the phone, my hand delicately picking the receiver up.
"Uh, hello?" I said.
"I see you've found the foyer." a low, male voice spoke.
"If that's what this hellhole is called, then sure." I replied.
"Mhm." he muttered, "I'm assuming you're looking for someone, am I right?"
"Drop the act, jackass. How do we get out of here?" I said impatiently.
"Well, I can't just give you the answer. I'm trying to be nice and give you a hint." his voice became distorted.
"Fine. What's your hint?" I questioned.
"You're standing behind a desk. I put it there for a reason. I wanted to make it a little fun. I would look around and see what you find." he said, "But, make sure you search it well."
"Alright then. You're being very predictable and cartoonish. I can't take you too seriously." I joked.
"Oh? Well I can show you how serious I am." he warned.
I knew what was coming, so I decided to put a stop to it.
"Wait just a second. You don't have to hurt him. Listen, I guess I'm sorry?" I said with a questioning tone behind my voice. I didn't want to apologize to him but I felt it had to be done so he would stay away from Ryan.
"Shut up. You have three hours. Better pick up the pace." he said.
The other end cut off, leaving the dial tone vibrating against my cheek.
I turned to find Sara standing behind me with her arms crossed.
"What was that all about?" She asked.
"Oh, just a little bitch with a fragile ego getting offended way too easily. You would think for a serial stalker, he would have thicker skin." I said, rolling my eyes. "He was decent enough to give us a push in the right direction. I'm starting to think these little charades are fun for him. I just want to find Ryan and get the hell out of here."
I picked the top drawer behind the desk. It rolled out smoothly and I saw a stone in the shape of a loose square, like a weird coaster. There were small symbols etched into it.
I raised an eyebrow, but I didn't touch it just yet.
Sara pulled open the large bottom drawer and two more coasters were in there. It had curved lines, a certain one with angled shapes.
The more drawers we opened, the more coasters we found.
Eventually we had opened the entire desk's contents and found up to 11 coasters. We lay them out on the desk side by side, in the order we found them.
"Looks like some kind of puzzle. Original." I scoffed.
Sara seemed to be scanning the room for any type of clues we could use.
"Hey, wait..." she said, "There's a pattern, near that pillar, on the ground." she said.
She started to walk towards it, walking faster and faster. I picked up my feet and jogged after her.
When I caught up, she was leaning over a round pothole.
"Look. It's probably a door. You can only move down here. This might be where he's trying to lead us." she noted.
I walked back to the desk with the picture in my mind and arranged the squares to try and match.
It seemed to fit, but I didn't feel it looked right.
As I tried to rearrange the parts, I heard a light humming tone above my head.
After a few seconds, I heard a loud hissing noise.
I looked up and saw a plume of fire spout from the vent on the ceiling. Across the room, another vent spewed an explosion. Soon enough, the room was becoming overwhelmed with bursts of heat, the smoke building up.
I tried to ignore it and continue working.
"Shane..." Sara called in a worried tone.
I kept my head down.
"Shane...!" she called again, urgent.
I didn't look at her.
"Shane!!!" she cried.
I looked up and noticed the fire was spreading. It ate away at parts of the wall and the floor. Beneath it was an inky abyss, a rip in the time-space continuum.
I swore under my breath and kept trying to rearrange the symbols. Nothing worked.
"I think we're missing pieces." I said.
"No shit! That asshole lied!" she yelled.
My eyes met the telephone on the desk.
"Maybe not." I said, directing her with my eyes to the phone.
She smiled in agreement.
"Hell yeah. Let's smash some shit." she beamed.
She stepped towards the phone, grabbing it by its cord. She lifted it high above her head and threw it against the ground, laughing hysterically.

That was when my ears caught the sound of a deep, harsh growl from the corner of the room.
I glanced up and snapped my head to that direction, and my heart dropped to my feet. A large pack, maybe of about a dozen, creatures bounded towards the both of us. They were hairless, their skin wrinkled and veined. It reflected in the fire that continued to flare up above us.
Whatever this was, they were trying to make us speed up and get the hell out of there.
It was almost like the Watcher was helping us. It didn't make any sense to me at all, but I hurried to fit the pieces together.
Nothing happened. The beasts finally caught up and leapt in our direction.
I felt it's claws dig into my right arm, and with that one cut, the floor broke apart and we tumbled through it.
I hit another flat surface hard, rolling a long distance when I did.
I lay there with my eyes closed, sweat dripping down my face, my arm burning from the wound.
I heard another thump beside me and I assumed it was Sarah. I tried to sit up as best as I could.
I looked down and noticed a trail of blood from my injury. I looked down at my arm and saw three slashes in my skin, blood gushing from them. I groaned lightly and touched it tenderly.
We both got back onto our feet and saw we were in front of two doors. They had translucent windows and a soft, orange light shone above them. The handles were two different shapes, appearing like crystal.
Me and Sara exchanged looks.
"This must be it." Sara stated.
"Yeah..." I mumbled, contemplating, "Funny how we got here so quick."
Sara noticed my wound and sharply inhaled.
"Shit, Shane...are you okay?" she asked, touching my arm tenderly.
"Uhm, I don't know. I think I had some bandages in my bag..." I looked around for our luggage but it was nowhere to be seen. "Where the hell did our stuff go?"
My eyes met the door, where I saw the silhouette of my backpack leaning up against the tinted glass.
The second door had Sarah's bag facing towards it.
"Those fuckers." Sara whispered.
We both stood up and tried to figure out what to do next.
My arm still dripped with blood and hurt to make any movements with it. It stained the floor, my shirt and my arm was a total bloody mess. I had to stop it before it got worse.
"Come on, let's just do it." Sara said.
I stopped in my tracks and didn't take a step closer to the door.
"What if this was all some fucked up trick?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Sara asked.
"What if this was just a ploy to try and turn me to their stupid little cult. Ryan might not even be in there at all. They didn't want us to fail. They wanted us to show up here so we could be a part of whatever creepy shit they have going on." I said bluntly.
"Shane, you know that's not true..." Sara sighed.
"No, it could be. I'm not going to let them drag me into their delusions. I'm going to ring the bell and I may never leave again." I replied.
I started to pace.
"I don't know what the right thing to do is." I said. "For once, I'm stuck."
Sara scoffed, "Shane Madej, you are bleeding out. You walk through that door and you take that bag and get it done." she commanded. She walked up and grabbed my hand, "And don't worry. We will do it together."