Shudders

Chapter 39 - The Unexpected

Violence and blood warning ⚠️
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It's been over an hour since she last saw Akai.

(Y/N) has debated leaving the closet to find the two demons but refrained from doing so in fear of finding I9 instead. Still, her anxiety was through the roof and only grew more and more the longer she sat in the dark closet. Not knowing what was going on or if Ki and Akai were alright was bugging her greatly. Who knows how long it'll be until they come back for her or if something else does...

Gripping her knife, (Y/N) decided to just take a small peek outside. She wasn't leaving, just getting a quick look.

Her fingers laid against the door as she pushed it open slowly, cringing at the squeaking sound the old hinges made. When the door was slightly open, she looked between the opening at the barren hall and the hole in the roof above. She can see the bright afternoon sky and the top of a tree the moved around near the building. The hall seemed safe enough to enter.

She opened the door some more and took light steps till she was fully out of the closet. Lucky for her, the floor was more so a maintenance area, so the only other room around was another closet at the other end of the hall. A locked door that led to a set of stairs going down was next to the far closet and the carpet around it was stained in a dark red color that looked faded from years of rain pouring inside from the roof. There was only one window on the floor that was on the wall to (Y/N)'s right, she tiptoed her way over to it first and peaked her head out to see outside.

The direction she and Akai came in was blocked by a similar apartment building of the same height. Two stories tall. She looked down at the ground below to see a tanker truck parked right underneath the window. The trailer was tipped over its side and was leaking a fluid that she started to smell the closer she got to the window. It was gas and probably a lot of it. Akai didn't choose such a safe spot for her to hide...

What was she going to do? Just sit here alone and wait for her rescue or demise? Or actually go out and try to find them? Possibly helping them too. She has her knife. Both plans sounded like a bad idea but she needed to pick one.

Moving away from the window, she readjusted Ki's trench coat that was close to falling off her shoulders. The extra clothing did keep her warmer in the cold weather but his coat was reaching to her lower legs. She could trip on it if it decided to slide down while she was moving. She returned to the closet and grabbed her backpack that was propped up against a bucket.

'I'll just wait another hour and if they don't come, I'll go looking for them...' she settled on this plan but hoped that she won't have to leave by herself before then.

The stairwell door down the hall started to shake, making (Y/N) quickly jump back inside the closet and close the door quietly. She crawled back to the farthest corner and held up her knife at the door as she heard whatever was shaking the door started to bang on it.

It continued banging on the door until the lock started to give out then the sound of the door being forced open and hitting the wall made (Y/N) start to sweat.

Rough footsteps entered the hall and stopped. She could hear low gruffs that didn't sound like Ki or Akai. The thing started to sniff around until she heard claws on the one window in the hall, indicating that it was getting close. The claws scratched at the window until it gave up and proceeded to trudge down the hall.

(Y/N) kept a hand over her nose and mouth and tried to settle her rapid breathing down with one hand while holding her only weapon out with the other. If Ki or Akai were going to show up, now would be a perfect time!