Shudders

Chapter 31 - The Surprise

Art by D. Is on Artstation
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    (Y/N) watched from behind Ki as Akai kicked in a glass door to an apartment building.

    The glass door fell in but didn't shatter to pieces to both the demons' reliefs. The noise could have drawn in any other enemy demon nearby.

    As Ki walked inside to do a once over of the place, (Y/N)'s eyes wandered over the building's exterior and the plants growing around it in fascination. The building held a modern look but it was severely outdated compared to the buildings in the zones. The plants caught her attention the most since majority of them didn't grow underground. These weren't biologically manipulated and didn't require a special light to keep them alive, they were in their natural habitat. She picked a leaf off of a vine growing along a pole, flipping it around in her fingers as she observed it.

    Akai watched her weirdly but found her curiosity cute. "Why are you so fascinated by ivy?"

    She flinched when he spoke. She was still shaken up by what he did earlier and hasn't said anything since. Ki didn't notice her unusual silence yet but Akai did. All he did was kiss her, why was she being so weird about it?

    He started walking up to her which made her take a step back. He grabbed her wrist before she can take another step which made her gasp.

"You're lucky it isn't poison ivy." Akai took the leaf out of her hand and tossed it away before releasing her. Her eye's widened and she quickly wiped her fingers on her jacket at the mention of poison while Akai snickered at her reaction. "I said it wasn't poison, idiot."

    She looked at him with a glare that he loved.

    Ki teleported back to them, scaring the lady, and he pointed upwards at a floor that was about ten stories up. "This building should be clear. We can stay up there for the night."

"Why's it so high up?" Akai huffed. He wasn't in the mood to have to climb ten flights of stairs.

    Ki shrugged, taking (Y/N)'s hand and leading her inside the side door of the building. "We'll have a better view of the city from there." Based on what his portal showed him, half the building was caved in with only one surviving staircase and the tenth floor had the only intact apartment while the rest around it were all caved in as well. 

    The three walked in and entered a sort of cooking area. Stoves and refrigerators lined the walls, pots and pans surrounded a kitchen island on the floor, and the years' worth of dust, grime, and twigs decorated the place and gave it an eery feeling that the Keeper didn't like.

    The next room they entered after leaving a hallway was a grand hall that took her by surprise. Based on how the building looked from outside, she didn't expect this large of a room. It was similar to the kitchen, trash littered the place and it's obviously seen some days but many of the furniture and decorations were still intact. Even the chandelier hanging above still looked like it worked... minus the skeleton hanging off of it.

    She shivered at the gruesome sight but wondered how that person could have gotten u-. 'Nevermind... I don't want to know...'

    Ki led them to an elevator and pressed the up button. The lights above the doors flickered a bit and a rough scraping sound coming from deep inside could be heard. Akai eyed the elevator unsurely as the scratching sound got closer and closer rather quickly. "You sure this works?"

    Ki pointed to the flickering light. "Probably. It beats taking the stairs."

    (Y/N) listened as the sounds got louder and rougher and she started backing away. "I don't think i-"