Better Left Forgotten

"What if walking back is suicidal?" Gabe asked, "This place is all topsy turvy."

"Well, we don't know that," Noct said, "It could have a regular layout."

"Even if it did how would we know if we're just being teleported around?" Gabe asked, "Like Mortal, and Sab, and Aroma!"

Noct just shook her head, and looked at Eve, "The thing has a way of ruining electronics I think. It messed up my phone too once."

--

Sab screamed as if Roatha was a zombie, leaving Mortal to try and calm her down.

OOC: FUCKING RUDE!!!

*Nero glares at Sab. Aroma glares right back, but frowns at the ground when he starts talking, feeling guilty.*

N"Well, that's a fine way to greet a guy who damn near died for you."

*Roatha pushes hard against the sides of his forehead*

R"Oh yeah...I remember seeing the Shadow right in front of me...then I blacked out...I was dragged here...man in a mask...had green eyes, seemed familiar...&...still here...still here! We have to get out, now!"

*Euryale grabs his shoulders, smiling.*

E"Hey, relax. Yeah, I know the masked guy is still around. He's cut me up a few times. But we have him on the run."

R"No, you don't understand: They're ALL here."
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T"Whenever it gets near something electronic, it starts to malfunction. I've heard that you might also hear voices from any speakers."

L"Well, that's just creepy. But let's not assume monsters. Wherever the others are, they might just not be getting any reception."

*They hear a scuffling & a breaking of plaster moving down the hall behind them.*

Azuma: "All? What the hell are you talking about? How many of them are there?"

Taiyo franticly shines her flashlight about.

Sab frowned too, both at the judgement, and implication that they were surrounded by all sorts of things.

Mortal was less worried, "I beat up a room of these guys. I suppose building is just the obvious next step. Do you know which way leads out?"

--

Noct pondered that for a second, "Maybe they're underground then. They could have fallen into a hole in the floor or something and we might have missed it as we were rushing."

Gabe thought about that, then jumped a bit, and looks down the hall.

*Eve and Cameron shine their flashlights down the hall*

R"I don't know if there are other people here. I'm talking about the monsters."

*The frantic flashlight pointing exposes another room past the dividing wall, with a silhouette standing beside the staircase.*
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*They see large red eyes near the floor, a thin, dark arm stretching out as the beast crawls along the floor towards them.*

Eve:<I guess it's forward we go!>

*And so Eve and Cameron run away from the monster, assuming everyone else follows*

Taiyo: "That's just a...normal shadow, right?"

Astarte, still holding Noct's hand with an iron grip, took off up the hall away from the creature as fast as her legs could carry her. Hector and Eduj also ran away, the former trying to extract a flare from his backpack as he did.

*Aroma jumps & looks around wildly. More lights focus on the shape, & the ascending staircase beside it.*

N"It's a wire manikin. You think those stairs lead out?"

R"Where else would they lead?"

N"Good point."
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*As they run, natural speed differences cause them to split off into roughly 3 groups. The group who is the furthest ahead starts to come back into the light, coming from a broken window with bars over it that are not broken, though quite rusty. The hall is a dead end at this point, save for a few closed doors that lead who knows where on either side of the hall.*

Upstairs they go.

*Eve starts trying various doors, while Cameron tries to break the bars*

<Guy, need your help over here!>

Sab freaked out as she saw the shadow, but calmed slightly when it wound up being benign.

Mortal shook her head on the way up from the basement,, "You people are going to work yourselves into a panic." She then mumbled dismissively, "Monsters..."

--

Gabe begins to help check the doors, and looks up at the guy trying to break bars off a window, "Do you really think that'll work?"

Noctis is dragged, and nearly trips, but maintains her footing, and dashes off with her girlfriend, and soon to be lover.

*Most just lead to empty rooms with more bars on them, but a door on one side leads to a stairwell, while a door on the other side leads to another hallway. Thiera shines her light down it, & it seems to branch off in different directions.*
==========================
R"She doesn't know? And you brought her here?"

E"We didn't really have much of a choice."

*She goes to the stairs. Roatha shakes his head, following.*

R"You have no idea what you're in for, lady."

*It's a short but narrow climb. When Euryale reaches the top, the door doesn't want to open. She rams it with her shoulder, stumbling through into even more darkness. As her flashlight flails wildly, they catch glimpses of a wide hallway. Occasionally, an odd object is lying around; a broom snapped in half next to the wall, an overturned trash drum in the middle of the floor, & some chicken bones are readily apparent.*

*Cameron runs over to Thiera*

<Hallway or stairwell?>

Astarte kept frantically pulling Noct as far from the creature as she could, without even knowing if it was still right behind them. Hector dropped a flare as they moved up the hall, leaving it illuminated, and looked back a moment later.

Gabe looks down the hall as she notices the light from the flare. Noct is too concentrated on getting away to look back either.

--

Mortal used her phone flashlight to help herself make her way over to Euryale to help her up, "Are you alright?"

E"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. It looks like the old employees got lazy, & used this hallway to store their broken junk. Guess it wasn't cleared out because it wasn't useful."

*She shines her light on a stack of partly shredded newspapers, & then sweeps it over to some old VHS tapes.*

N"Let's just get the Hell out of here."
============================
*Thiera shines her light down the hallway, not seeing anything.*

T"I'm not sure. I don't even know where it is."

L"Well, if we said they might be in the basement, maybe we should try the stairwell. And if it's down there waiting for us, well, that's what the Emergency Machete is for."

*Nero is supporting Roatha, since no one else seems to want to bother. Aroma clings to Sab, uncomfortably close to the back of the group, & keeps glancing behind themselves.*

Azuma: "That'd be a good idea. Assuming anyone knows wjere we are in the building."

*Eve nods then she and Cameron head to the staircase*

Gabe nods, and begins to sprint towards the stairs. Noct continues on her pace to the staircase, as well.

--

Sab notices Aroma's panicked glances, and begins to freak out herself, so she moves up ahead through the group until they're back to where Mortal was.

*And so they make their way into the stairwell. Lilith shines her light up, casting deep shadows along the upper floors. Near the top, part of the staircase is simply missing.*

L"You've got a--"

*Everyone abruptly stops to listen after the chamber amplifies her voice to the point where it might as well be a scream. Lilith keeps her flashlight trained up above, while Thiera keeps it trained down below as the last reiterations of her question fade out.*

L"(...You've got a floorplan, right?)"

T"(Hold on. We haven't heard anything, so I don't think anything's coming. Let's just keep moving.)"

*She starts walking. As does Lilith, after shifting her light to look forward.*

T"(...Most of one. A lot of records for these abandoned buildings have disappeared, & of course decay & trespassers have changed the story. I've also got some maps & photos from self-entitled urban explorers.)"

L"(Really? Anything weird?)"

T"(There were some orbs of light in a few, but they might have just been dust.)"

*Lilith glances at a door as they reach a landing, visibly unsure of what to do.*
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E"Okay, great. Which way?"

N"Pretty sure that's the same direction as where we came in from."

*He points left, & as soon as he does, they hear warped footsteps clanging from somewhere down the hall in that direction. Aroma, naturally, clings to Sab. Euryale steps closer to Taiyo, but is currently making a fist at her waist & holding a flashlight, & so can't really grab onto her.*

So Taiyo hangs on to Euryale, shining her flashlight straight ahead while Mimiru shines hers in the direction they came from.

*Cameron opens the door, while Eve takes a step back*

Gabe and Noctis both look into the newly opened room.

--

Mortal shakes her head, and balls up her fists. She begins walking down the hall towards the sound, "I've had enough of this."

Sab, similarly clinging to Aroma, tries to stop her, "Wait, wait!" Mortal does not heed the warning, however.