Heart part 1

Chapter 11 - The Blood Guzzler part 3: Self-serving Savior

With a sudden kick, the door thrust open. A pale, crooked-neck woman came stumbling out with an axe swinging in her hands. As she came wobbling towards them, Heart could see that the woman's eyes were glossy and lifeless.

Without saying a word, they ran past Cyclops and Van Gogh while gesturing for them to follow. Hastily, they followed Heart and they lead them to the pile of boxes and barrels that they had seen earlier.

Opening one of the barrel's lids, after checking that it was empty, they gestured for Van Gogh to get in. As she began to put a foot in, the shambles of the woman became louder. In a panic, Cyclops ran to another, popped the lid open, and hopped inside. Just as the woman came creaking around the corner, Heart jumped into the barrel Vam Gogh had gone in and closed the lid over them.

Without waiting for another second, the three held their breath and went silent. From around the corner, the woman with the crooked neck came shambling in over toward where they had hidden. Nodding left and right, she sniffed the air like a dog. Through a hole in the barrel, Heart could see that the woman's eyes weren't even staring down at the barrels, let alone in their general direction.

They could tell that this woman was no longer alive.

After a few moments of holding their breath and remaining as quiet as they could, from inside, they could see the woman begin to shamble away towards the other door. Right as she was about to turn the corner however, from their side, Heart and Van Gogh heard a sudden thud.

It came from the barrel Cyclops' was hiding in. Although they didn't know it, the barrel she had jumped into was being used to store some of the leftover parts from one of The Blood Guzzler's previous victims. When she looked down and saw a sack beneath her feet with blood oozing out from it, Cyclops instinctively attempted to jump back. Her arm banged into the barrel's wall as she did this, creating a loud thud.

The next moment, the three could hear the woman start shambling back. Her axe scraped against the floor the whole way as she paced back over. Tripping across the stone floor, she began to tear the lids of the barrels off one by one. Eventually, the woman tore the lid of the barrel Cyclops was hiding in and threw it to the floor. As Cyclops let out a shriek, the woman jammed her rotten pale hand in and pulled her out by the strands of her hair.

From inside the barrel, Heart and Van Gogh watched the woman drag Cyclops across the floor, toward the room she had burst out of. Kicking and screaming all the way, Cyclops was dragged around the corner and a moment later, the two could hear the door creak open and then shut with a bang. After that, when the sounds of Cyclops' screams faded, silence permeated the room.

A moment after they had watched Cyclops get dragged away, Heart and Van Gogh popped open the barrel's lid and hopped out. Taking a step forward, Heart was about to chase after them when suddenly they felt Van Gogh grab their arm.

" Wait! W-where are you going? Didn't you say the secret passage is through the other door? Come on, let's go before that thing comes back!" Van Gogh said, letting out a panicked huff.

" I'm going to go save her. Don't you remember? I promised to save you two." Heart responded, looking as unfazed as ever.

" What the hell are you talking about?! Come on! It was probably her own fault that she got caught, forget her!" She responded. Without any warning, Heart proceeded to punch Van Gogh clear across the face. She stumbled back a step. It happened so fast, that she wasn't even able to react.

" When I say I'm going to do something, then I mean it. Even if what I said was meant more as a joke. After all, I don't lie." Heart responded. " Even if you decide to come, don't bother, I won't be needing your help. Just go find the secret passage I mentioned before. It's hidden behind the toolbox. Press the second brick on the bottom right to open the hidden door. It's pretty obvious to spot, so you should see it. Once you exit the secret passage and end up in the upper portion of the house, find a safe place to hide and wait for me to get back. The ground floor is (most likely) going to be more dangerous than down here."