【ＭＡＮＹ ＳＥＣＲＥＴＳ】

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ７】

[M/n] and Ashlyn were now fully awake. It was quiet, too quiet for the two who had super hearing. They stepped off the bus and looked around. It was dark, with a red sky and everything was almost colorless. There were only pops of red whereas everything else was in the grey color scale.

[M/n] pressed his lips into a thin straight line, guard up. '[At first, I thought the color was toned down but instead, there's no color at all]' He thought. "What should we do?" Ashlyn asked softly. "Walk around." Was [M/n]'s response. "Look at areas we know, see if anything is different." Ashlyn looked around as if she was going to say something but she decided not to.

"Here, give me your arm" He demanded but in a soft tone. Ashlyn gave him her arm and didn't realize that it was bleeding. Carefully tearing a piece of cloth from his shirt he managed to bandage her arm.

"What about your arm?" Ashlyn asked, pointing to his fake arm, which was bent and torn. It still worked though so he wasn't too worried. [M/n] licked his lips and shrugged before speaking "It's okay. Fake anyways, a friend can fix it." He explained. Ashlyn nodded as they walked around.

Through the colorless streets, in the eerily empty restaurants, and even the lamp store. In the carriage, the colossal statue things and the face paint stall. In the end, they went to the Sorrel Weed House as well. Ashlyn was quiet but she was thinking and [M/n] didn't want to disturb her thoughts.

"[Oh, I have this.]" [M/n] said as he took a pocket knife out from under his shoe. He had a plain [color] one. He even had a white-colored one in his other shoe and handed it to Ashlyn. "For protection," He said but she shook her head.

"How does that work?" She asked as she pointed to his shoes. They went to the side and [M/n] took off his shoe to show and explain it. There was a cut mark on the bottom of his shoe that was the size of the knife. He showed her by using his nail to get it out. There was a rectangle-like cup that fit the hole and had sort of walls to keep the knife inside. (Drawing at the bottom for visual explanation)

"Oh that's cool," Ashlyn said. Then she showed [M/n] the knife in her shoe. "Oh! Like wheelies but with knives!" He concluded. Ashlyn nodded in agreement before turning her head. They were back on the bus. It confused both of them as they looked around the area again.

"Huh..?" Ashlyn questioned. [M/n] sat down on one of the seats and Ashlyn sat across from him. She thought for a moment before she slapped herself, probably to wake herself up. He gave a light chuckle before he sat down next to her. They were quiet before something grabbed their leg. "Hey don't tou-..." "Hey-!" They looked down and saw it.

That thing.

The gooey, black-inked, humanoid-looking thing.

And it yanked them down.

.

.
.

[M/n] bolted up from the bed, breathing heavily. His [eye color]ed eyes dart around the room as he tried to catch his breath. Tyler also got up, confused. "[M/n]?? What happened?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes. Realization hit him hard, as he scrambled from the bed, tossing Tyler's arm off of him.

"Ashlyn!!" He yelled, scrambling for the door. He jiggled it and swung the door open. Then he heard a loud scream, making him internally panic. Tossing on his shoes, he bolted out the door with the other guys behind him.

"Ashlyn!! Yin! Taylor!! Answer me, are you guys okay??" He called as he ran to their rooms. His heart thudded against his chest as he tried not to seem too worried. No one else went out when they heard that scream which confused [M/n]. Where was everyone else?

He placed that thought in the back of his head as he easily lock-picked the girl's door. Tyler burst in before [M/n] could, calling Tay's name and ensuring she was okay.