Prologue
Thunder erupted through the shell of his ears as he bolted down the hallway, trying his best to keep his head in what felt like murky water. Attempting to keep any sense of himself seemed all but possible, throwing himself onto the wall as he felt a gush of wind fly by him followed by a harsh thud of metal meeting the rotting dry wall feet away from him. His pale hazel eyes looked about the decrepit building, feeling the world seem to seep further into madness. Anxiety and adrenaline in his system shouting at him to get moving yet stay there, his flight or fight instincts just all around out the window. Tears welled up in his eyes as he slowly turned around letting his eyes look through the dark corridor as whimsical whistling came from the other end. The tune seemed to go along with what he swore he had heard earlier on the radio prior to the group embarking into this godforsaken place. Sweet dreams, is what he felt himself recalling the dream before shaking his head as he felt a warmth gushing down his leg as the silhouette of the predator came more into view.
Black rotten teeth similar to sharpened coral poked through the almost putty-like lips as they seemed to be permanently wet and melting all at once. Not helping the unsettling feeling and, over all, fear over filling his body as he began bolting back down the corridor and taking a sharp right. His lungs begged for a longer break as his folds bounced along, weighing him down as he began crying, desperately wishing at that moment he had just stayed home. Staid home and just waited for the Hobbit to come out, not caring at that moment, he had willingly let peer pressure and the wrong head do his thinking. This wasn't supposed to end this way, they were supposed to just come in and do the same bullshit they had seen a few of the ghost hunters and urban explorers on YouTube do. Maybe impress Sarah and not seem like a complete dweeb. Not this. Not running for his life from these things, not wondering where he went wrong with his life choices, and definitely not seeing the horrors he had seemed for what seemed like weeks in the few hours they had been there. The need to hurl came to him again as his body was unused to this much movement and this many different chemicals and levels of anxiety and panic rushing through his system. "Oh please, please, I swear to my mother if I get out of here, I'll study, I'll be more involved, Hell I'll go to church with her. Just please if there is a god save me!" He bellowed out tears and snot covering his round face as he kept running through the corridors, glasses falling from his face. A sharp crack in the glass collided with the broken cement and tile flooring below his feet as they pounded skidding a bit, as he'd come across the loose tiles on occasion. Ahead, the morning light broke through from the crack of the boarded-up doors to the back entrance. A glimmer of hope came forth as he couldn't help but make a small whimper of glee as he tried to push himself further, will himself to go faster.
"Tony! Help!" The shriek came from his left as the high-pitched wails were followed by terrified screaming from another female. Whimsical whistling continuing as the beat to the song seemed to be picking up, almost swearing he could hear the late eighties' song as a sharp fiery pain threw, his spine followed by warmth. Was this really how it was all going to end? He sobbed out a cry as his body felt as if every nerve in his body was on fire, his body covered in was perspiration, blood, among other bodily fluids.
The cries kept echoing throughout the halls and corridor as banging could be heard, almost as if adding to the beat of this deranged creature whistling. If this had been a movie he'd been kind of laughing to himself at the absurdity of the whole thing. Unfortunately for Matthew, this wasn't a movie, this wasn't a bad dream, as he felt his heavy footsteps beginning to wobble and fail him, he launched his body forwards onto the door. He began slamming himself against it, hoping his weight would do the trick and get him to the safety of the outside world. Away from this hell, as he continued to sob, the female voices in the chaos of it all screaming and pleading as the panic began to heighten in their voices frantically beating against whatever door or wall they were against before the pounding of their footsteps separating down separate corridors. Their pleas echoed along with the whistling that seemed to be joined with a sinister laugh, the gravel bravado from it sending chills down his back as he kept throwing himself into the door. The door began to give way to his weight as he was abruptly shoved through it, falling and rolling onto the dirt outside the building. Quickly looking back behind him to see what had shoved him from the building, he couldn't help but look in both absolute relief and terror to see Anthony standing there. His eye was swollen shut, leaking what looked to be orange jam mixed with dirt and a red mixture. The normally attractive young man standing six foot three gave his friend a forced smile, with teeth missing from his mouth as he stumbled into the door frame. His normally bright green eyes, so filled with life, filled with mischief, were devoid of anything but maybe a small glimmer of hope, if anything. The free hand was holding strongly against his abdomen as if keeping its contents from leaking out onto the ground below him. In true Anthony fashion, trying to keep things light even in such dire straights that he and his companions currently found themselves in. Matthews' pale hazel eyes, already welled up and puffy from the nonstop crying and terror he had experienced, tried desperately to focus on his friend. Hoping beyond everything he wasn't a hallucination, or maybe that this was the end result of him passing away, if anything. But no, the whistling in the background as the adrenaline still spiked throughout his body told him a very different story. Unfortunately for the two boys, as Matthew felt his lips tremble, he wanted to run up to Anthony and make him go with him, get away from this hell, and go back to the prior day when they were discussing lord of the rings.
"I told you Matty, … I'll always have your back" he managed to wheeze out as the whistling crescendoed loudly behind him as he put his paling tanned hand onto the frame to try and push himself forward. His forearm was feeling the pain of the events from earlier. He wasn't a doctor, but he'd broken his arm only last year during a football match with his company. He would never forget that pain… He knew that, among other things, he would need immediate medical attention.. But at this rate he severely doubted anyone or anything would be taken seriously as he wheezed a bit. He knew he wasn't going to make it out of this ordeal, but at least he tried.
"Tony.. I thought" he began as he tried to stumble to his feet to get to him, but he fell flat onto his face wincing as he looked up. The vision blurred, but he could still see his friend's silhouette as the dirt from the ground below him stuck to his face.
"Mat.. You.. You need to get help." Anthony's voice trembled through the adrenaline leaving his body, as the whistling behind him grew louder. The silhouette behind him came closer, a shiver running down his spine as he felt the warm fluid run down his face. "I'm so sorry I brought you here..." he trailed off as Matthew struggled to his feet...