The Sound of Steps On A Path

Chapter 2

Italy and Romano walked along, listening to others make their way through the maze. Italy glanced back. "What's wrong?" Romano asked. Italy turned his gaze back to his brother and shrugged. "I thought I heard something, that's all." Italy glanced back once more. "There it goes again..." Romano sighed. "This isn't a funny joke." Romano suddenly jerked his head back, hearing the noise also. It was a quiet, but multiple, pitter patter. In the distance, the older brother could see something coming closer to the two. Many things. "Run!" Romano yelled, and sprinted off, Italy following not so far behind. Cockroaches, millions of them, scuttled quickly towards the two as if charging. The Italian brothers ran, as up ahead a wall slowly began to rise, as if to trap them. The wall was slow to rise, and was about 50 feet away. Romano shuddered at the thought of what the cockroaches would do if they got caught. Italy tripped, falling 15 feet short of the wall. The cockroaches had started to crawl over the younger Italian's feet. Romano reached the wall and looked back, only to see Italy on the floor. "C'mon! Get up Dammit! Get moving!" He yelled. Italy got back up slowly, the cockroaches right behind and underneath him. The extra weight of the insects and the trip causing him to be slower. "Get here!" Romano yelled panicky, now sitting on the wall with a hand reached out for his brother. The younger of the two was now about 4 feet away, reaching for his brother. The insects were up to his waist by now, and rapidly continued to climb. "Almost there!" Romano yelled. Italy reached for his brother's hand, which was above his head now due to the wall still rising. His fingertips grazed the eldest brother, before Italy was dragged to his knees due to the weight of the roaches. "No! Fratello! Get up!" Romano shouted, tears forming in his eyes. Soon he would be out of reach, much to the eldest brother's despair. "R-Reach dammit, get up! Don't you want to see the others again?!" Italy looked up at his brother, a sad smile on his face. The younger brother let his arms fall to his sides.

"Tell them I said hi, Eh?"

Italy looked up to him, the roaches at his neck. "No! You tell them your fucking self!" Romano shouted, shaking slightly as tears flowed from his eyes. "Go.... Run..." Italy said, before the roaches covered him up completely. He fell to the ground, struggling against the bugs as more and more layers of roaches came.

"VENEZIANO!"

Italy eventually stopped struggling. Romano sat on the wall, frozen, watching in pure horror and demise as the bugs crawled all over his brother. You couldn't even recognize a human body underneath. All you could see that signalled Italy was indeed there was his curl, which was crinkled in terror and pain. Romano couldn't think. He just let out another scream, sobbing uncontrollably. He got of the wall, unable to watch any longer.

The older Italian walked along the rest of his path until he reached a dead end. He frantically began too look around, knowing the terrors of this place too well. He sunk to his knees, having no more energy or will to continue. "It should of been me.... Why did he have to trip dammit."

England continued his walk, America on the other side of the wall, talking with the English man. They continued on side by side. "What time do you think it is, Iggy?" England looked at the sky. "Judging by the sun, it's about noon." The two continued to walk, until England suddenly stopped in his tracks. "America... I've hit a dead end..."

Germany continued down his path, walking now to conserve energy. He thought about his allies, hoping they were alright. He walked along. To the right of the German man, about 10 feet ahead, he heard a scream.

"VENEZIANO!"

Germany froze in his spot. "No..... ITALY?!" Germany ran over to the wall. "ITALY CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" There was no voice that called back, just many pitter patter noises. Suddenly a loud scream ripped through the quiet and the German suddenly found it hard to breathe. It was Italy, screaming in pain. Germany didn't hesitate to start climbing the wall.

Russia, China and Canada could hear the screams in the distance, they walked in complete silence, each thinking of the different possibilities what could be happening to the others.

Spain could hear the screams also, particularly the one made by Romano made him worry. He continue down his path

Japan took a break, resting due to a headache that had began to form from the stress of this situation. He rested on the floor, listening to the others. He sighed.