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Home.
It's the first place we know.
The first place we run when things are terrible.
The first place we find shelter.
Our haven.
Well...that's what it's called that until things go array.
"So, you are saying your mom sent you to give out leftovers to all the tenants in this motel and you obeyed without knowing what's inside it?"
The boy nodded and winced when the cotton soaked in antiseptic touched the injury on his skin.
"Sorry." I give it a slight dab. "You are lucky to be alive. That woman did a lot of damage to you. Who is she anyway?"
"I...I don't know."
I stop and pick up a needle. "You don't know her?"
He nods. "My mom and I just moved into the motel a week ago. She never let me inside the kitchen or goes outside to meet the other tenants."
"But you go to school don't you?" I ask forcing the needle into his skin.
He arched his back in pain.
"I am sorry but you have to hold still," I say. "The injury she gave you is pretty deep and this is the only method I know since there are no bandages around."
He sniffs and stops moving until I was done. After cleaning up the rest of the blood, I help him put his shirt back on and look around the room.
It was a mess. Dead bodies, someone unconscious sitting in a corner tied up, a broken bathroom door, and worse of all, disposable plates filled with pieces of human flesh littered across the room.
Yeah, I opened them.
"How many people did you give this to?" I ask.
"I don't...." the look on my face made him hang his head in shame. "Ten."
'Something is off.' I stare at him in silence and stand up. "Say, can you introduce me to your mother?"
He looks up at me in shock and hesitates so I lean closer to him and whisper. "Don't worry. I won't tell her what I had just witnessed."
"You...you promise?"
I nod.
"But...but what about them?" he asks pointing at the dead bodies.
I bite my lips in thought. "Don't worry. I will think of something. Besides, I am only popping by for a quick visit."
It was a lie and I knew it. I also knew it was a bad idea to confront someone about a heinous crime but what choice did I have?
'Maybe she can make this night interesting.'
So taking him by the hand, we walk into the darkness. Nothing was out of the ordinary except the unexpected tongue-clicking sounds we were hearing and it stopped when we turn to look for the source.
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
We follow a fleet of stairs leading to another hallway with different doors and stop by a door no.15 which was my room.
"What the..." Upon opening it, I see the room was clean except the dead bodies and Togo were gone.
"Is it a mistake ma'am?" he asks.
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
"Click"
I look around. "Yeah. Do you see anything?"
He shakes his head and the sound goes faster.
"Click."
"Click."
"Click,"
"Click."
It slowed down once we continued to walk, going down another fleet of stairs only to come across doo no.15 on it. So, we go up a fleet of stairs but find ourselves face to face with the same door.
I hum and look at the boy. "You still have your mother's 'leftovers' don't you?"
He nods and hands me the plate. Taking it from him, I place it near the door and we walk away going up another fleet of stairs but a few minutes later, we appear at the same door with the plate next to it.
"A...are we lost?" the boy asked terrified.
"I hope not." I give him my flashlight and take out the Imperial Blade which turned into an ax.
The clicking sound was close.
Too close.
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
Suddenly, I was knocked flat on my face and when I look up, something was crawling around the corner taking the boy with it.
"HELP!" he screamed.
I pick up my flashlight and follow the sound but come face to face with demented sickly figures with wide eyes, pale skin, and mouths hanging wide open. I wait until they attack before cutting them down to size and running down the hall.
"Hey, doesn't this place have stairs or something?" I ask myself because the corridor was long and narrow with the demented figures springing out of the darkness to grab me. Looking back, I see a horde of them chasing me and keep running until I collide head first with a huge spider web.
'What on earth?' I touch it and it was tough; not feeble like a natural spider web. So I use the ax to cut through it.
"Little boy! Where are you?" I call out.
"HELP ME!"
His voice lead me to a door and upon opening it, I was greeted with a room full of huge spider webs and cocoons stuck on them. In front of me was a huge spider web and on it lay a small cocoon that wiggling furiously. The eerie thing about this room was the old cocoons in different shapes and sizes, piled up in a corner along with the putrid smell of decaying flesh.
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
"Click."
My eyes scan the room until I see a huge humanoid creature with long limbs and long hair which covered its eyes holding something that was moving violently in its grasp. It screamed when she bit into it, sucked violently, and tossed it away.
I shudder and tighten my grip on the ax. "What are you?"
It climbed higher still making the dreaded clicking sound and pounced on me but I move out the way. It tried grabbing me again with its long arms but clawed on the wall making a huge scratch but I dodge the attack and use the ax to gaze at her arm. It growled and gave a loud screech that echoed through the room forcing me to close my eyes because of the dust and I was grabbed by it. Luckily, my ax turned back to the blade and I use it to stab her hand causing it to scream and drop me.
I watch her hand shrink to size and plan my next attack. Then charging forward, I swipe my ax on her legs but missed for she jumped to another corner on the ceiling and started tossing cocoons from the pile at me. I dodge some and use my ax to block the rest causing a lot of dust and grim to explode on me. This allowed it to squash me with its oversized hand but open my eyes just in time to dodge and give her an injury on its other arm. Pissed, it climbed to another corner and threw more of her cocoons or can I say past victims at me.
The sequence continued for a while and I memorized most of her attack patterns and this helped me to dodge them. An opportunity came when its hand got stuck in its spider web and I quickly chopped it off. She screamed as white orbs rushed out and flew into my ax and she tried using her feet to crush me by jumping and stomping. After rolling around and jumping out of her way, I stab its right leg with the Imperial blade, forward roll, and stab the left leg. It screeched shrinking as it shrunk leaving only its torso and head.
I waste no time cutting it down.
"Mmmph!" the cocoon on the spider web wiggled again. I quickly go over and cut it wide open releasing the boy who coughed, gasped, and spluttered.
"Th...thank you m...ma'am," he said wiping his eyes.
I nod and drop to my knees exhausted. Seeing this, he gave me a bottle of water from his bag to drink.
"We should get going," I say wiping my mouth and standing to my feet.
He nods and we open the door showing the dark corridor with flickering lights. This time we climb up the stairs leading to a door labeled no.16.
"Is this your room?" I ask.
He shakes his head and we hear a moan behind us. Looking back, I see a horde of those sickly things staring at us while swaying from side to side.
I grab the little boy and run up the stairs where another horde of those things, and looked vicious welding a knife in their hands.
"Sh!t!"
'No swearing!'
"Ms! They are coming closer!" wailed the little boy.
Pissed, I swing my ax at the horde of those things and we climb up the stairs until we hear the sound of someone laughing maniacally along with the sound of a chainsaw.
"Found you little b@stard!"
Suddenly the horde of those things was sliced into chunks revealing a demented woman wielding a chainsaw in one hand grinning like a maniac and shaking violently. "YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR MAKING ME EAT THAT SH!T!"
I pick up the boy and make a run for it down the stairs pushing through the horde who surprisingly didn't attack us. It was as if they knew who not to mess with. Once in a while, the woman would take huge leaps jumping in front of us while swinging her chainsaw and using my knife, I block the incoming attack, push her off and try running up the stairs but she jumped again and landed in front of us again.
"It would be wise to stand down and let me kill that little b@stard." she gave a twisted smile. "If you do, I might let you live."
I drop the boy and pose for battle as my knife transformed into an ax. "Over my dead body."
"FINE! DIE WITH HIM!" she shrieked lunging at me. Our weapons clashed and I use that opportunity to kick her in the stomach causing her to double down in pain and bring the ax on her but she vanished and appeared a few steps away from me. Then she jumped landing behind me to attack the boy but he moved out of the way, allowing me to push her down the stairs.
"Ms!" screamed the boy as she grabbed my weapon taking me with her. We tumble down the stairs until we get to a clearing with me on top of her. Just as I was about to bring the ax on her, she disappeared again.
"Where is she?" I ask looking around. "Where is she?"
Then I see her behind the boy holding her chainsaw in the air. Quickly I yell "duck!" and throw the ax at her. It hit her right on her temple and I rush forward to give the final blow but she vanished again only to appear behind the boy again.
I block her attack and push her down the stairs and grab his hand. "Come on! This way."
But we hear the sound of the chainsaw and looking up we see her a few steps above us grinning from ear to ear as blood flowed from her forehead.
"Ms?" the boy tugged my shirt and I look back to see her there making it two of them. "What are we going to do?"
Picking him up without a second thought, I climb over the railing and jump down the fleet of stairs landing on my side. Something cracked in me sending raw pain through my body and my right hip was rendered immobile.
At least the boy was safe.
He looked up for a split second, grabbed my ax which transformed into a knife, and dragged me out of the way. I stagger to my feet despite the pain but the boy continues to drag me along the dark corridor as we hear the sound of the chainsaw echoing behind us. This forced me to limp faster until we reached a door labeled 97.
'97? But this motel is a three-story building!' Nonetheless, we open it and run inside and lock the door behind us.
The woman growled and screamed banging the door over and over until she gave up. After making sure she was gone, the boy looked at me with eyes full of concern.
"Ms? Are you okay?" he asked.
I shake my head failing to rise to my feet and take my knife from him. Feeling something flow in me, the pain in my hips began to subside and I staggered to my feet again.
"Son?" a voice called out.
The lights turned on and a woman wearing striped black and red sweater with a blue skirt matching her blue apron stared at us with a knife in her hands.
The boy only had one thing to say. "Mother?"
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