Board Thread:Writer's Showcase/@comment-27007772-20150306184421

Prologue
Jackson opened his eyes in a desolate void, with no remark or existing evidence of any location he has ever heard of. Pure blackness stretches in every direction like an ocean of nothingness. The simpleness that was his mind began to trigger itself, and thoughts reached back into him.

"I can't be alone!"

He thought to himself. Then suddenly, he wasn't. Right beside him grew a horrid sight. Pale white skin with vertebrae stretching the very skin of its back. The long nails for claws it bore resembling that of which he'd only seen in horror movies. Black, beady eyes matching the void in which he was floating, with the same morbid shade.

Back legs stretch from it just as well, with the same terrible claws on its back legs. His mind faded again after seeing it, only to recover immediately. This was death? This is what he had been praying for? The black void of no existence but himself and a twisted figment of his own conception?

The right hand of the creature stretched forward, and his own life flashed before his eyes. His friends Joseph and Natalie, his mother and father, and events that make up every bit of him, revisited. The talons made a small cut on his forehead, and surprisingly, he still bled.

"Is this the end? Is this death?" He thought to himself.

As if reading his mind, the creature smiles and nods its head.

"Is this creature God"?

His mind asked nearly seconds after seeing the creature's apparent response. The being gave no movement or sign of any response.

"Satan?"

The creature looked at him again, but didn't move a single muscle. The shock of the recent arrival filled him with nothing but fear and self remorse, and the blood from the cut on his forehead reached the bridge of his nose. The creature seemed fully intent on watching the blood drop, as it dripped clean off his nose.

The blood seemingly went down forever, disappearing out of his eyesight. Jackson went to move, but the creature let off a blood stopping snarl as he made his attempt. A few seconds passed, and a small dose of warm liquid hit his head, shocking him into closing his eyes. Upon opening them, the creature took a swipe directly for his neck.

A cold chill went does his back, and warmth seemed to touch everywhere but his head.

Genesis
Freezing rain and snow blew in the strong winter wind, through the thick of Cook Forest State Park. The trees moved and swayed with the wind; the snow and freezing rain covered their naked branches, as the snow and freezing rain pushed forward. The cold elements started to reflect the light pollution of a small town, Marienville, as they began to brush up against a white, seemingly 1950's era home. The snow and rain were halted, but the chilled wind carried on through the cracks of the window frame.

The chill pushed its way into the bedroom of Jackson Wilkerson, as he pulled the blankets even higher to his ears to stay warm. While his eyes were closed, Jackson began to hear a creaking noise from his darkened room- his door.

The creaking sound of walking came into his room. It sounded like too many footsteps to be a normal person. The lights flicked on just as he opened his eyes. It took a few seconds, but his eyes adjusted. There stood Natalie Sutton and Joseph Kaufman, long time friends of Jackson's.

"Wake up, lazy bastard. Just because school's canceled doesn't mean you get to sleep until 4pm." said Joseph, stepping closer to Jackson's bed.

"You two would not believe the dream I just had. Creepy as hell, I swear."He said, still laying down with his eyes fully peeled.

"We wouldn't care to hear either, come on, stand up. We've got plans to hang out today." Natalie said, still standing beside the door.

With a comical sigh, he stood up slowly from his bed, stretching his back. He was almost fully clothed and only missing his shirt. Joseph tossed him one he had laying on the computer desk to the side of his room. He caught it, putting it on right away. With tired eyes, Jackson spoke up.

"I should probably catch a shower before we go anywhere."

Natalie cocked her head to this. "As if not showering ever stopped you before. Come on, you promised we would get outside today, and Joseph and I waited for like, 15 minutes outside your door. It's not even noon yet" she exclaimed.

Jackson stared forward for a second, before walking forward and grabbing his hoodie that he had hanging on his door, and putting it on.

"Fine. Let's go, then" he responded, even more annoyed.

The trio walked down the stairs, conversation with the walk.

"So, I've was watching this show today from my recordings, and it was talking about how people have a built-in recognition for a god, or deity. It has me thinking, you know?" Natalie said, out of the blue.

"Well, maybe it's just our minds not capable of understanding the universe, or us wanting to believe that we aren't the greatest thing out here. Think about how big space is, Natalie. Think about how much time has passed, too. It's safe to say almost everything possible, has happened somewhere out there. Maybe we're the deity to something else? Some day, that is." Joseph added, with a breach of care.

Jackson laughed at the two. "Getting all philosophical already? A bit to early for that, guys. I chose the strangest friends".

"yeah. YOU chose US. Alright." Natalie remarked sarcastically.

They made their way through the dining room, to the living room, and opened the front door to leave. As the door opened, it allowed a small gust of freezing wind to brush against them. Joseph gave a small shiver before allowing a small laughter to escape him. They closed the door behind him, and started to walk off the porch. A small metallic cling ticked under Joseph's shoes, which he responded too by lifting his right foot and looking for whatever he stepped on.

A shimmer of light reflected off whatever he was looking at. Bending down, he picked it up. A seemingly brass, flat object sat in his hand, roughly the size of his palm without the fingers. He studied it, while Natalie and Jackson stood beside him.

"It kinda looks like a face, right?" Natalie asked, confused.

Joseph responded with the same tone. "I don't know, but I swear it wasn't here when we were waiting on the porch."

Jackson came and grabbed the object out of Joseph's hands, and tossed it as far forward he could, down the long road.

"Whatever it is, it's just litter someone tossed from their car. It happens here." He said unamused.

"Strangest piece of litter I've ever seen" corrected Joseph.

"Well, you aren't the one who has to deal with it all the time. Now stop it, it's gone."

Joseph snarked at Jackson's surprisingly hostile responses.

"So, are we going to Natalie's place, or mine?"

"Yours. It's less of a walk" added Jackson with a smirk.

The trio stepped off the porch, and began to walk down the stone sidewalk next to the only main road in sight. The walk was mostly silent, with Jackson occasionally stretching, and Joseph and Natalie talking about another one of their friends, Richard, behind his back comically.

They took a left to the dirt and cobblestone path that acted as a shortcut through the entrance of Cook Forest to Natalie's house. This path was commonly used by everyone, not only them, as it lead right to the other side of town. The cobblestone peaking out of the packed dirt clicked with each of their feet stepping against it.

"This walkway's always so serene. I feel like it's only place to really get away from it all, you know?"

Jackson said with a light laughter at the end. He tilted his head back, and of course neither one of them heard it. To busy talking away their life, he guessed.

Amidst their laughing and joking, a light clink sounded beside their feet. A ringing, metallic sound clicked beside Joseph's shoes. Looking down, there it was again. The bronze face, mocking him.

"Jackson, what the hell?" He yelled, annoyed.

Jackson spun around. "What the fuck are you blaming me for now, Joseph?"

Joseph bent down and grabbed it, holding it up over his head. "Look what found its way back to us. Why would you keep it? Thought it was just stupid litter".

Jackson seemed even more angry, but his eyes showed a small amount of shock.. "I'm in front of you, genius, you would have seen me throw it backwards, you dip-"

He cut his sentence off halfway through the incoming insult.

"Jackson?" Natalie questioned, turning to see what he was looking at that was apparently so important. Nothing caught her eye, so she turned to ask what was so shocking. Before you even could ask, Jackson opened his mouth.

"The sun is setting? We left no longer than 15 minutes ago!"

Joseph and Natalie had the same idea at once, and pulled their phones out to check the time. Joseph threw the small bronze face to the ground to reach into his pocket.

"7 pm exactly" Said Jackson, with a traumatized tone.

Still looking at her phone and not knowing how to respond, Natalie looked around confused. "There is no possible way, guys."

They stood there thinking about the last 15 minutes, or 7 hours according to the rest of the world, until the silence was broken by the sound of snapping twigs. Joseph twitched his head to the sound, feeling extremely uneasy.

"We need to turn around, now." Said Jackson, disgruntled.

Without so much as waiting for a response, Jackson started walking back where they came from at an escalated pace. Natalie and Joseph both followed close behind him. Natalie acted as the voice of reason, where it had been gone.

"It's possible our clocks were wrong when we woke up Jackson, he slept it, and the sun was actually beginning to set and we, for some reason, thought it was right above us, guys. Come on, why be so panicked? We can go back to the main road and continue our way to Joseph's house, and just stay the night or something."

Joseph answered to Natalie, with a very direct and critical tone.

"That's all extremely unlikely as well. Look, it's all just a coincidence of some sort, but it doesn't change the fact that it makes us uncomfortable as hell."

There was an echo in the woods that sounded like wood being struck with a solid object. The echo sounded one more time, followed by more twigs breaking. Looking back, the bronze face was gone yet again from were Joseph had dropped it.

Natalie was the first to sight the strange man in the woods. He wore blue jeans with a varsity jacket, and a silver mask resembling that of a Halloween costume. It looked like a hockey mask in a way, but with prison cell-like bars covering the mouth and eyes of the mask. The man said nothing.

Jackson and Joseph both saw him at this point, and slowly started to back away, step by step. The man raised his right hand, and threw something into the sky, which all three raised their heads to look at. When the object started to come down, they lowered their heads and notice the man was gone as well. The object hit right were he was standing.

Joseph was the first to walk forward, the other two only moving behind him. Observing the spot, he sighted the same bronze face item as two times before, on top of a wood board. Joseph decided the item was obviously worth keeping due to it's continued appearance, and placed it in his hoodie pocket.

"Jackson, help me move this board" He said sourly.

"Natalie and I both want to just leave, and sort everything out. Don't stall that."

"And we will, but I just want to see what's under this. It's like he was pointing us to it, you know?"

"You've got five minutes."

They stood on opposite ends of the board and began to lift. Lifting as hard as they could, they noticed it wasn't lifting off the ground, it was tilting backwards. Rattling metal also created a sound during this.

"Guys! It's not a board. It's an entrance to something. There are two chains connecting the front to the ground, but they leave enough room to go through." said Natalie, as she watched.

"So, a trap door?" Questioned Jackson.

"I guess you could say that" she added.

"What's under it?"

"I think it's just a stone room. Cement grey is all I can see,"

"I just want to leave right now" asserted Joseph, aggravated.

Jackson responded. "Yeah, that's probably the best idea. I just hope everything gets sorted out when we get there."

"Yes! Lets go!" Rushed a panicked Natalie.

Jackson and Joseph dropped the entrance back to the ground, creating the same echo they heard earlier. a bear-like deep growl came from across the dirt road, with a very low definition of sound.

"Is he coming back? Questioned Jackson.

"Shut it" Natalie said, stuck were she was standing, unable to move excluding some shakes.

A loud screech filled the air across the dirt road. The screech was so animistic it caused the three to scream out in pain. Jackson opened his eyes only to see blood leaking from his nose, dripping unto the ground.

The noise caused Natalie and Joseph to panic extensively. Joseph raised the trap door entrance, struggling to do so. It seemed they regained a sense of logic as the screech stopped, and seemingly both decided it would be better to just run the rest of the way home. Just as they both went to stand back up, they saw it.

Jackson laid acrossed the floor with a bloody spot on the right side of his ear. The man with the mask stood right beside them, holding a steel rod with a sharpened end. Swinging the non-sharp side towards the pair- it was lights out for them.

Premature Burial
Joseph slowly recovered. His vision was blurry, and his hearing was just a ringing sound. He stood up very fragile, and his vision and hearing began to recover. Stone and Cement is all he could see.

"He's up, Jackson" said a very familiar female voice,

Joseph's eyes wandered down, were he saw Natalie and Jackson both sitting on the ground, Jackson in a fetal position.

Natalie had the light of her phone out, pointing it around. Before them was a single large, concrete hallway, with two wooden, decaying doors ahead of them, and other hallways splitting off of it. It resembled an underground house and a cave both at once. Above was an all-to-familiar sight. A wooden stab with two metal chains preventing it from opening. Iron lamps being held by steel chains were the source of light, and they hardly performed their job.

The three sat still and quiet under the trap door attempting to keep noise to a minimum. What seemed like an eternity passed, and no sound was heard from above at all. Joseph stood slowly and carefully, and placed both hands on the trap door, as he was just tall enough to reach it. Pushing as hard as he could with both hands, he couldn't get it to budge.

"What's the matter? Won't it open?" Asked Natalie.

"It seems two thousand times heavier than it was when we first lifted it" he responded quietly with a whisper.

"Let me see" said Joseph, matching his tone.

The two of them worked together to try to lift the trap door, the chains holding the door closed had a lock in the center, thus they were only getting it to open about a split inch before the lock forbid the door from opening anymore. All they saw through the small hole was blackness.

"That's just fucking great!" Joseph exclaimed kicking the wall in anger. He stayed silent for a second, before coming up with an idea. "Look, there are rooms like, right down this hallway that we can see the doors too. Jackson and I can go check them out. You just wait here and call somebody. Jackson and I as a pair could overpower someone if we aren't alone. I think this is the best plan we got so far."

Natalie simply put her finger over her mouth and turned off the light of her phone.

"I'm coming too. I'm not sitting here alone, Joseph." Said Natalie, aggravated.

Natalie shook her head, and began testing for a connection. Jackson and Joseph walked forward, Natalie behind them, talking about possible ideas on how to open the trap door.

They went into the first door to the right, roughly 40 feet ahead of the entrance. Natalie used the light of her phone to let them see in the room. Looking around, there was an old, torn up couch with something wooden peaking up from the top, a rotted table, split pipes, and some empty pill bottles, as if this was a hide out for drug addicts at one point.

"Useless crap" said Jackson.

All three grew silent, as they heard Jackson's voice echo through the pipes, and slowly fade away.

In absolute awe, Jackson spoke.

"Guys. You heard that go towards the trap door, right?"

"Yeah, I think" both of the others said, confused.

"That screech we heard, imagine if it was through a pipe like this. An attempt to get us to run away- or come down here. When we didn't that guy just showed up."

Joseph stood in shock for a second, and Natalie began looking around furiously for anything out of the ordinary.

Without a word, Jackson went acrossed the hall to the other door. Opening it, he let out a terrified scream. Joseph let out a small scream too, and tightened his grip on Natalie's hand, and now Jackson's shoulder.

Natalie moved her head to see what the big deal was, and lost all color in her face.A rotten body, nearly a skeleton. Long since it lost all color. Blue pants and gray shirt both rotted away long ago, hardly able to tell what their original color was. A silver mask, with bars over the eyes and mouth, covering the face of the corpse.

A head-hurting screech filled the cement cave system of twists and turns, and Jackson's nose started to bleed like a running sink. Joseph panicked and dragged the other two into the room and slammed the door behind them.

The room was kept lighten with one single oil lamp, right in the center of the room.An old metal locker, rusted to all hell was to the right of the entrance, and a bed was to the left. Jackson and Joseph instinctively went under the bed, hardly able to both fit. Natalie ran for the locker, closing the rusted door that made snapping sounds as you moved it. The shutters allowed her to see out of it.

The door creaked open, and she had to fight back the tears and will to scream by biting her own finger. The smell of filth filled the room as an unknown being crawled into the room on all fours. First, only the hands were visible. Long claws that she estimated to be around a 5 inches long stretched off of them.

The head was next. Black, beady eyes, and a slot nose plagued what should have been a face, and the mouth had teeth so out of place and jagged, some of them prodded out of the closed moth.The creature was fully in the room now. It's back legs were exactly like the from arms, but with two joints, like a dog. The pale-white skin was covered in peeling points and brown spots, present in skin diseases. It's tail looked as anyone would expect, but with a single, long, thin barb at the end.

The creature twitched it's head, looking directly at the locker. Sprawling it's body to the right, the slow moving animal slowly stretched its right arm forward, pulling the rest of its body behind it. The nails drug on the ground with a knife-on-metal sound, echoing through the stone room.

Each scrape sent a recoil through the three watching, as Joseph put his fingers in his mouth and bit down just to avoid any noise, if that was even possible. Natalie had no room to move, watching this beaded-eyed wretch make its way to her. The shutter-shade of the locker supplied a small viewing area, but the foul body of this foul demon couldn't be countered with a solid wall, let alone a shuttered viewing area.

The stench was unforgettable. It reminded Natalie of burning saw dust, or pine wood. Closing her eyes for a split second to try to keep as much of her sanity as she could in her confined coffin, she opened them only to see the black eyes, lacking pupils, looking right through the shutters at her very own eyes. Just then, a raw stinging pain occurred in Natalie's right arm.

Hardly able to move it up, she decided it would be easier to slowly shift he head down. When she did, she was met with the sight of worms, no shorter than 4 inches, crawling on her forearm. Twirling around in seemingly their own world, Natalie stared in horror as she saw them begin to disappear- or rather burrow into the inner section on her arm.

No longer concerned with the confined space, she began brushing it with her left arm in a fit, which caused the locker to slightly open. Jackson seemed to slightly jolt in his spot hard enough for Joseph to notice. Joseph could begin to taste the semi-metallic taste of blood from his finger.

The pale being let out a very familiar gnarl, resembling the growl from the woods exactly. The creature rose its arm to the opened locker door and punctured it with its long claws. This forced Natalie to refocus on the being. Panic like no other shot through her body as her eyes began to sting. Water slowly fell from them unto her cheeks, and the tormenting mouth of the being stretched oddly to each side, as if mimicking her crying face. The only thing missing was the tears, though they had been replaced with the protruding fangs.

Jackson, in a startling strike of either courage or stupidity, crawled out from under the bed and kicked the scrawny stalker in its back. The creature let out a shriek that showed more anger than pain, but by this point Jackson had already fled the room and ran down the twisting halls. The fiend looked back at Natalie but seemed to have already made up its mind on its prey, and bolted out of the room after Jackson. The door slammed closed, though it was obvious that no one had touched it. Natalie fell to her knees as she fell into a panicked fit.

Joseph crawled out from under the bed, and approached Natalie carefully.

"The worms! I can't get the bugs out of me, and Jackson's gone because of it!

Joseph knelled down beside her and grabbed each of her shoulders at once.

"Jackson's going to be fine. He ran before that thing even though of running after him. Remember our little races? How we would always see who could run the fastest on our way home from school? Jackson always won, and he's going to win again"

Joseph tried his best to reassure her, but focused more on her obsession to her right arm. Moving cautiously, he put his hand over hers and nudged them out of the way so he could see what she was talking about. Before he was done, she was practically shoving the arm in his face.

"The worms, Joseph! The went inside and I can't get them out! I can feel them moving and crawling inside of my arm! Please help me, please!"

Joseph stared, trying to locate any abnormality he could.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing on her arm. No signs of a cut, no entry wound, and certainly no worms moving around. Looking back up at her eyes, he could see Natalie was just as confused as him, breathing heavily through her nose to calm herself down.

Just One of Life's Doors
Joseph nudged Natalie to move away from the door in case anything decided to come in. The pair stood back up on their feet slowly, observing their environment. The corpse of the masked man was out of place, hunched over on its side. The mask was missing from the body, but neither could be bothered enough to talk about it.

The only thing running through their mind was getting out of this death trap. Though neither one would admit it, Jackson wasn't even on their minds at the time. Joseph approached the door and pushed on it slowly with both hands, prompting it to open with only a slight creak.

Upon opening the door completely, Joseph could easily notice that the other door they had visited before was not in front of them. Instead, light wood floors reflected light straight into his eyes. The pale white color of the walls was a welcome change from the cement and stone environment he had been used too.

A bed and computer were the only things that stuck out of place. The fan of the computer was louder than his heart beat, which was a shock, because at this point he could feel his own pulse from his entire body. The bed had a shift in it as it became apparent that someone was inside of it.

The sound of footsteps caused Joseph to panic and close the door fast, but quietly, and Natalie stood silent behind him. They leaned against the closed door considering whether or not to open it again, as a voice was clearly on the other side.

"Wake up, lazy bastard."

That's all they could listen in on before the silence returned, or at least the sound of their pulses ringing through heir bodies muted the rest of it. Natalie whispered in Joseph's ear loud enough that he could hear, but whoever was on the other side couldn't.

"Joseph, it's people! A room with people in it! We have to take the chance!"

Joseph didn't bother debating with her. He took in one deep breath and whispered to himself, while opening the door with his eyes closed, ready for anything.

"In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, please protect us from evil. Be the patron we need. Let this please be the end of our torment. In love and in trust, ame-"

The end of his quiet prayer was cut off by a jumping Natalie, who had rushed to the other side of the stone room, practically hugging the rotten corpse in fear. Opening his eyes in a jolt, he say what had disturbed her. In front of him was the pale creature, waiting right outside on what looked like someone's porch. Its claw had red marks old enough not to dip, but new enough to leave a coloring.

The creature stretched its mouth to a deformed and soul-tearing open, surely a warning of attack. The worst was yet to come, as the mouth started to move again. Joseph heard his own voice bellow from the vocal cords of his personal torturer, a perfect mimic to his distinctive sound.

"I am the patron you need. Let this please be the end of our torment."

The creature had now been given a name in Joseph's head. The Tormentor. The Tormentor stared Joseph down as if it was ready to pounce at any time. Joseph had an idea that could easily go wrong. A distraction. Slowly and carefully placing his left hand on the door nob in case of something going wrong, he reached into his right pocket and grabbed the bronze mask from before.

The Tormentor paused at the sight of the mask as if it was a treat it had wanted for a very long time. Joseph drifted his hand to the right to make sure the tormentor had been looking at it, and just as he wanted to see, it moved its head with the mask.

It was at this moment he realized where he was looking at. It became very apparent that the door, the second like it was opened, was looking straight at Jackson's porch. Every detail was perfect to the touch. Feeling as if he was about to vomit from the tension, he tossed the bronze face straight at the Tormentor.

To the dismay of all sense and all logic, the Tormentor simply vanished into a light gray smoke- or mist, and the face landed right outside of Jackson's door. The feeling of vomit left his body as he slammed the door shut, mostly do to the fact he was vomiting. The bile leaked out of his mouth on to the hard cement floor, and he opened the door again in a rush.

There was the missing other door. There was the rest of their premature burial grounds. Along with it, the entirety of the terrible hunting grounds that they were locked in. Everything was back to as normal as it was probably going to get, and the door finally led back to where it was supposed too.

We're Gathered Here Today
Joseph looked down and held his knees to catch his breath and calm his heartbeat, whilst Natalie just noticed her being so close to the corpse. Kicking it over, she jumped up and jogged over to Joseph. He made sure not to let the door close again They looked eachother in the eyes as if to ask if the other was ready, but they both knew they weren't.

Joseph grabbed on to Natalie's hand and held it tight as they walked out of the room together. Joseph looked to the right, where the trap door that lead to the surface was supposed to be. Natalie looked to the left, where wall was supposed to be. Neither one of the two saw what they wanted. Instead, both were met with wall. Pitch black space and wall. Outside of their door was wall on every side, as if it lead into a cabinet. Before Natalie could even begin to question it, she had to shield her eyes from blinding light.

The ceiling right above the walls glowed brilliantly, taking the darkness away. As it turned out, there was a trap door, just not where it was supposed to be. This one was being lifted from above. Joseph thought about the freedom of the walkway they came from and was hardly able to contain himself. The trap door above finished opening, and staring down at them was an all too familiar face- or mask.

The silver masked man from the woods was on the other side of the trap door, and he was looking straight down at them. He extended his hand down as if to lift them to the surface. Joseph, seeing no other option, reluctantly took his hand and hand on as tight as possible, letting go of Natalie. Using his feet to scale the wall, he was lifted to few feet until he was completely through the hole. Next, the Masked man put his hand down for Natalie. She looked around for another option before grabbing it, but couldn't find one. He lifted her up as well, and much faster due to the weight difference.

Upon both of them reaching the surface, the masked man kicked the trap door's top, causing it to slam closed with a loud echo. Joseph recoiled through his body when he heard the noise, sending a shock wave through his entire body. With his back against the wall, he curled his fists and began an attempt to slowly walk around the masked man and make a run for it. This was, of course, before the man placed a hand on Joseph's shoulder. Natalie saw this, and instantly shouldered into the man, knocking the mask clean off. Both Natalie and Joseph fell into complete silence, before Natalie worked up what it took to talk.

"Jackson? You're fine!"

Jackson gave her a simple look of "no shit", before opening his own mouth to talk.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I found this mask while I was gone, and decided it was worth keeping as a souvenir."

Joseph then asked his own question.

"How did you survive? That thing was right behind you, man!"

"I ran and ran as fast as I could, before I found a metal door with a lever lock. Pulled it, and it couldn't chase me any more. I found a way out, but decided it was worth it to come looking back here for you two."

"You found a way out? Perfect!" Said Natalie, stumbling on her words, obviously not recovering from her fear. "Do you remember where it was? Can you lead us?"

"Yeah, I remember where it was. Actually it's not that far from here at all. Just stick close, and we can be out of here in a few minutes, tops."

Jackson bent down and grabbed the steel mask and put it back on his face. Without any further delay, he turned around and started to walk straight down the single corridor, avoiding all the left and right turns. This corridor was much colder than the other, as if there was an opening or two somewhere.

Eventually, Jackson took a sharp right, and didn't even seem to wait for the other two behind him. Joseph was at a light jog to even stay with them. Jackson grabbed Natalie's hand, who in turn grabbed Jackson's hand as an immediate reflex, as he sped up a bit more. Now jogging, he took one more right, where there were only two options. The crudely painted red door to the right with yellow paint showing from underneath, or a small case of metal stairs.

"Are we going though the door, or-" Joseph went to ask, but he was cut off by Jackson.

"Stay away from that door at all costs. Follow me, just like I said. The surface is the only goal here."

His stern tone and very direct, seemingly aggravated voice caused Joseph to shut his mouth, as he started walking up the stairs. It wasn't long before they work their way to the top, with a metallic *ting* after each of their steps.

From the top, there was no options. A dimly lit hallway with a single, wide open, steel door. The room on the other side of the door was lit very well, illuminating the hallway. They could all see the lever bar to the door, which was the locking mechanism once pulled downwards.

The trio began walking forwards, until they heard a long creek from behind them. Joseph turned around to check his surroundings, and that's when he saw the red door about half way open, and still opening. Jackson held Natalie's hand even tighter, whom had let go of Joseph's hand, and bolted for the metal door as fast as he could. Joseph struggled and struggled, but was slowly falling behind the two.

Finally making it to the door, Jackson pulled Natalie inside and let go, sending her into the room. He spun around and grabbed a hold of Joseph. The rushed look on his face was terrifying, but no more terrifying than the hardly visible mass dashing behind him. Jackson closed the door shut and pulled the lever bar down, locking it, regardless of Natalie's plea not too.

Without thinking, she made a rush towards to door, to which Jackson shoved her back. She fell unto a steel table in the center of the room, holding her face with both hands. Jackson walked over to the only other object in the room, a leather and mixed skins bed, and pulled a long, metal pole out from under the mixed blanket. Beside the bed, a rotting wooden door.

A New Hunter
Joseph sat up against the metal door, unable to see anything with the only light source being locked. He looked to his right, not wanting to even see a dark glimpse of the Tormentor's foul shape. The scampering noise of nails on cement came to an end, and he felt the hot, rancid breath brush up against his neck. He heard claws click against the cement as if being lifted, and then felt them brushing up against his forehead. With a sudden, sharp pain, he felt warm liquid rush from his new cut down his nose, and eventually drip off.

Once it dripped off of his forehead, he heard a terrible voice form right beside his ear. In what seemed like two voices, one with such a pitch it hurt to hear, and the other so deep it rivaled wild bears, the Tormentor seemed to quietly whisper right into his ear.

"Pueri Diabolum"

With these words, he seemingly passed out, leaning against the door.

Natalie looked up from her hands, expecting to get a move on to reach the surface as fast as possible. She knew that the Tormentor was on the other side of the door, she kept her voice very low, talking between panicked sobs.

"Where is the exit, Jackson?"

Jackson fell mute for a few seconds, facing away from her. That's when he turned, revealing the steel pole he was holding. Just like the one from before, one side was sharpened to a point.

"Through the wooden door beside the bed. Leads behind the torn up couch from the first room we explored down here."

Natalie felt guilt, but was relieved that the exit was so close. She began to shift her body to move towards the door, before Jackson walked forward and dropped the pipe. He placed both hands on her neck, and pushed her back into the metal table.

Natalie grabbed his hands with her own, attempting to pull them away from her closing throat. Her eyes began to feel as if they were drying out, forgetting all about the tears pouring out of them in a rush of panic. She could see the difference in Jackson's eyes, now showing more pity and remorse.

"I made a deal, Natalie. I saved your life, remember?" He said through a voice that seemed to be an attempt at comforting her.

"Sometimes life forces you to take a path you were meant to take, but wouldn't have on your own. We're humans. Humans murder-" He said, glancing over to the pipe on the ground.

"They lie-" He said looking down, before evening his head back up, looking her in the eyes.

"And you know what else humans do?" He questioned.

Her tongue felt like fire in her own mouth, and she felt her thoughts start to fade away. One of Jackson's hands left her neck, and in a brief second, she was able to catch a new breath of air. His hand immediately relocated. She felt his hand press up against her womanhood, and she kicked and struggled to escape. Kicking at his stomach, he lowered himself even more unto her.

Her teeth felt as if they were shifting now, and her ears had popped from the struggle of the situation. Her own saliva had begun falling from her mouth, out of the side of her lips. With one last desperation, she kneed upwards. She'd apparently hit something precious or special, as he loosened his group. She took the chance to take a deep breath, and roll to the left.

Leaving the table, she nearly blacked out from the oxygen intake being so sudden. Her first response was to rush right for the door, where she grabbed a hold of the level lock mechanism and pushed it up as fast as she could. She kicked the door, whilst Jackson had grabbed a hold of her, lifting her into the air. The door swung open from her kick, creating noise throughout the entire chamber.

On the other side, she saw Joseph, laying still on the ground. Never had she felt such dread and loss of hope, but she ran on the small amounts she had left. She leaned forward, causing Jackson to drop his grip on her. Hitting the ground, she grabbed the metal pole on the ground that he had dropped, and spun around with it.

Jackson's eyes widened, and Natalie felt the blood rushing back into her head, nearly dropping the pole. Jackson tried to take a step further whilst talking.

"Natalie. You have absolutely no idea what you are messing with here. Certain events are meant to happen."

When he finished the sentence, Natalie closed her eyes and flung the pole forward, sharp side first. There was a lot of resistance at first, but soon, none. She opened her eyes to see Jackson holding the pole which had been stabbed into his shoulder. He feel to the ground, and a *click* noise filled the room. Out of his pocket slid a single key.

Joseph began to move, and holding his head looked into the room, since the door was open. Joseph saw Jackson on the ground, and Natalie standing over him, and jumped up. Before he could question anything, Natalie ran and grabbed him by the hand, and ran back into the room. At this point, Jackson was attempting to take the pole out of his shoulder, and he began to scream with it. The watery, mud like sound of the metal being ripped out of him was more irritating to the ears than the Tormentor's own voice.

"We can't just leave Jackson here!" Joseph yelled as the ran passed him.

"He tried to kill me, and he would have killed you, Joseph, the key was in his pocket!

Jackson made progress in the removal of the pole, yelling "Liar!" on the top of his lungs.

The two reached the wooden door, and Joseph kicked straight through it.on the other side of the door was solid wall, and worms. The worms fell through the hole, and stayed on Joseph's shoe before he kicked it against the wall.

Natalie's phobia started to play with her mind as she spun around nervously. Joseph then had an idea to get them out of here. The answer was obvious.

Revelations
Joseph took the lead as they turned around. Jackson had apparently made more progress than first thought, because he was standing beside the table, holding the bloody pole with both hands. His shoulder wound looked as if it had been dealt months ago, already scarred up. He went to swing the pole, but Joseph put his arm up. The sharpened tip cut through Joseph's shirt and arm, recoiling Joseph with pain. Joseph kicked Jackson's left knee as hard as he could, and a loud crunch assured he had hit a sweet spot.

Jackson couldn't even regain his balance before Joseph and Natalie had left the room. Sprinting through the hallway, they practically jumped down the stairs, and immediately took a right, through the crudely painted red door.

The door was still open from the previous event, and in front of them was a beautiful site. They had no idea how this room now connected to the original corridor, but the hanging lights and doors to each side assured that this was the correct way. They heard foot steps behind them, though it seemed as if there was more than one person.

Jackson and Natalie bolted forward, as Natalie looked into the room to her left as they ran past it. The old couch seemed to mock her in the single second she saw it.

"If the room with the couch is over here, a small stairwell down, where did that door Jackson show me lead too?" she questioned to herself in her mind.

The two reached the end of the road, as the familiar hatch door was above them. Natalie raised her right hand, still holding the key, which was rusted all over, and lifted it. She wasn't tall enough to reach, so Joseph pulled it out of her hand and unlocked it. The rust brushed into Natalie's skin, but she didn't even notice with the adrenaline.

Joseph pushed on the door, and the chains fell loose. The door flew open with his push, and the cold air rushed in. Natalie saw behind them that someone, and something else, was running down the hallway now. Lights showed her the metal mask and pale skin of the two. Joseph jumped up, and hoisted himself up, on to the snow. The fresh air nearly caused him to fade away, underneath the moonlit sky.

He snapped back into reality, as he lowered his hand for Natalie, When she grabbed, there was no waiting, as she was instantly pulled up on to the surface. As the air hit her, she was felt with such joy, even without all the fear being out of her.

Looking down into the trap door, Jackson, wearing his mask, was standing. He was tall enough to push on the trap door earlier, but just short of being able to jump and grab the surface level to pull himself up. The line of lights that lit up the entire hallway began to flicker on and off, until they finally shut off for good. Darkness filled the void, as they heard Jackson speak one last time.

"We had a deal!" He shouted, making no sense to either of the two on the surface. "Please!" He yelled again, though this time, his shouting seemed fearful.

Natalie walked over to the other side of the trap door, and flipped it closed as hard as she could. The two began the long sprint home, but this time, stuck to the roads after cutting straight through the entrance of the forest.

Purgatory
Jackson pressed his back against the wall, feeling the breathe of the Tormentor against his neck. He thought of the deal he had struck with the creature after saving Natalie by kicking the Tormentor in the back and running. When the creature had finally caught him, he got lucky, and got an alternative.

He remembered the Tormentor sending him back to ambush the past trio in the woods and put them in the trap door. He remembered being told to kill Jackson behind the lock of the metal door, and spreading the seed of the Tormentor through his own biology.

Worst of all, he remembered finding the body of the second Jackson, who had stuck the same deal and failed, and the Tormentor sending it a bit back it time so that it would be rotten before he put the trio down there and the past him realized it as well.

He remembered failing the deal.

He felt blood drip down his forehead from beneath the mask. He couldn't see anything at all in the darkness.

He felt the claws of the Tormentor slash his neck, and himself dying of blood loss and air deprivation.

He saw a void of desolation.

And then he saw the Tormentor. 