Hunger Prison

It was dark, but Ray Jones could see that the iron door was partially open, and the walls were covered with black slime. He shuddered and stepped across the damp ground as a cloud of fine dust fell on his shoulders.   Here was Busan.   Ray had been here since a month ago, and there was a girl who lived next door to his place. But after the girl was found dead, he was considered a suspect and sent to Busan Prison.   "She rarely talked and looked quite withdrawn," Ray explained and stared intently at the officer sitting across the table from him.   The interrogation room was dimly lit, so the officer watched Ray closely as if a vulture was staring at its prey. He then said, "Tell me about her."   "I have no idea... I didn't have much contact with her, to be honest," Ray murmured, feeling like he had repeated it a hundredth time.   "And?"    "And? And what? And she died!"   People saw that girl's body in the locked bathroom with Ray; of course, they would think that Ray had killed her. After all, his fingerprints were all over the scene.   **   Busan Prison appeared a little odd to Ray. It was located in a vast forest and looked to be more like a sanatorium than a prison. The U-shaped, single-story building was a creep place, especially when the wind blew through the leaves. Ray could swear he heard footsteps echoing in the woods.   To add to Ray's discomfort, the air in his cell was filled with the faint smell of rotting meat. The guards at Busan Prison would patrol the dimly lit corridors several times a day. However, the time for their regular patrol was long gone as Ray checked the pocket watch in his hands.                            The seemingly endless corridor was looked deserted; the janitor probably forgot to turn on the lights.  But still, Ray could tell there was something else wrong; the iron door at the cellblock entrance was gone. He could see the dust blowing through the halls of the building.   He was confused; there would be no reason to steal a gate inside a prison. Ray was relieved to find that the door was still attached to the frame, yet it was unusual for it to be left open. The entire situation was making him even more uncomfortable.   It made no sense to think the guards forgot to lock it. Regardless, he was curious about what was happening, so he took small steps down the seemingly endless corridor.   The floor was slippery, and the air reeked of decay. Just as Ray thought he might be the only one alive in Busan Prison, a man in a blue and white prison uniform rushed toward him.   "Come with me, you… must get… out of here..." the man gasped painfully. He couldn't stand straight, and his limbs were bent at strange angles.   "Why? What am I trying to escape from?" Ray was shocked and froze for a moment.   Without further explanation, the man yanked Ray's wrist, dragging him further into the darkness.   “...Get out of here..." The man repeated.   Ray found the man's voice increasing bizarre, sounded hoarse and ear-piercing.   "Where are you taking me?"   Ray's voice trembled as fear flooded into his mind; he felt paralyzed and stabbed by thousands of sharp needles. He wondered if his brain was going to explode.   "Get out of here…before…it's…too late…."   “Let me go!" Ray screamed hysterically.   Ray's brain was frozen by fear and consumed his rationality; he began to swear and break free. When he was able to run away, he panicked and ran in the other direction. However, it was not long before an iron gate stopped him.   The sharp iron frame pierced his left arm, and the smell of blood mingled with the rottenness around him, the blood-soaked his blue and white uniform.   The loud clang of the frame startled him to the point that he forgot about the pain of his arm. His heartbeat was the only thing that Ray could hear, along with his gasps in the dead silence. He thought he had to be dreaming, or else he was heading straight into a death trap.   The disgusting smell of rotting flesh in the air had intensified as he advanced. He had to rely on the phone that he smuggled into the prison to light the way. His hands kept trembling as he turned on the flashlight.  Eventually, he reached a human figure, but it was no human.   Ray couldn't comprehend what he was looking at; the figure looked human from afar. Yet, its body was twisted grotesquely; its face had no eyes or nose; instead, there was a massive mouth in the center of its head. The exposed teeth appeared to be razor-sharp, and there was some kind of green liquid dripping from the roots of its teeth.   The creature was pulling on the iron gate, trying to breakthrough.   "What are you waiting for? Run!" A female voice shouted.   He looked toward the sound and saw a human. But, the sounds of the creature banging on the gate had attracted even more horrific beasts.   Ray snapped out of his daze and rushed toward the woman's voice. He didn't know how long he had run, but he didn't stop until he could no longer hear the sound of the gate rattling.    He used his phone for light and saw that he was in an underground garage. He sighed with relief, then quickly looked around for the woman who called to him.   He had been running wild in the dark and forgotten that woman. He didn't know if he had passed her or run in the wrong direction and therefore didn't see her.   The air felt damp, and he was getting used to the unpleasant smell, but there was definitely something wrong in the prison.   He felt something drip on his head a few moments later, and he knew it wasn't water. He held his phone tightly and looked up to see he was face to face with a deformed human-like creature. It had no eyes, but Ray knew it was staring at him, and the only way out was to go back the way he came.   Ray took a deep breath as beads of sweat poured down his forehead.   "To the right, there is a door behind the boxes on your right!" The female shouted.   "To the right?" Ray questioned, but he had no choice but to charge toward the boxes.   As he ran, the dust he stirred was hovering in the air like it wanted to seal him in enteral darkness. Sure enough, he found a broken wooden door as he pushed all the boxes aside.   The moment he opened the door, he could see the forest. He was sure he had to be dreaming as he stepped outside of the prison. But he was also determined that he was not going back inside. His only mission now was to follow the tracks deeper into the woods.   As he put distance between himself and the prison, Ray was puzzled by the fact that the rotting smell had not dissipated. He slowed his pace, though, wondering how the entire situation could be real.   The gloomy sky appeared like a giant beast, with the rotten branches buried in the filthy earth acting as his feet.   "You won't make it out. There's something wrong with this forest."   It seemed that a voice of a young girl was coming from behind him.   "Who the hell are you?"   He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about this girl.   “You've been wrongfully accused, right? Most of the prisoners there are."    "What do you mean?"   "It's an illegal human experiment site."   "Still, you haven't told me who you are."   He tried hard to identify the direction of her voice, yet he failed; her voice seemed to come from all directions.   “Come to the center of the forest since you are so keen to know me."