HetaOni: Italy's Story

Chapter 16: Sacrifice

Chapter 16: Sacrifice

The trip down to the Basement, and subsequently the Tunnels, is appallingly smooth. We don't run into a single Thing on the way there, and I find myself restless and on edge. My gut screams at me that something's amiss, but I can't find anything out of the ordinary, aside from the unnatural stillness and quiet that I've long since grown used to here.

"So... what're we doin' down here, anyways?" He tilts his head like a confused puppy.

"I need to check on something... The Things have been far too quiet for my liking..." I cautiously approach the crack in the wall. I motion for America to stay back, which he obeys with little hesitation. After a moment of plucking up my courage, I carefully peer through the crack, blade drawn. I see no movement.

Listening to my instincts, which are being rather quiet for the moment, I push in part of the edge, widening it. I peer around in shock, before stepping inside, motioning for America to follow.

"It's a... cavern?" He looks at the charred circles around us, baffled.

"No. It's a Fire Thing Nest."

"You mean they nest?!" He hisses in horror.

"Yup. And it's never been empty before. This confirms my suspicions... the Things have left the Mansion. Or, at least, the bulk of them have. Adelchi must have ordered them elsewhere, or to guard the place from the outside... what I don't understand is why? He's never used such tactics before."

"So you mean that instead of several dozen of those Things crawling around this place, there's only a couple?"

"Haha. It's cute that you think there were only several dozen of them." I chuckle. "There are hundreds of those Things, America. Hundreds." His eyes widen as he gulps.

"Uh... so there's a literal army of these hellish monsters waiting outside for us?"

"Looks like."

"And... what can we do against that?"

"I'm working it out..."

"So you don't know." He deadpans.

"I'm sorry I've never encountered this kind of situation before, weed breath."

"Hey! Only a few states smoke weed!"

"I saw you in the 80's."

"Fair enough." He shrugs. I take a good look around. I've never actually been inside of the Nest before, due to the Things being far too over protective of it. I see egg shells littering the area around the burned circles. So they lay eggs? Reminds me of Jurassic Park. I shudder.

The cave is nothing special. No entrances or exits visible aside from the crack in the wall that we entered through. I click my tongue in thought, and the echoed sound bounces back strangely. I tilt my head, holding up a hand to quiet America when I see him open his mouth.

I click my tongue again, closing my eyes. All those times I went blind, along with a temporary stretch of blindness in my childhood, have taught me how to use echolocation. And there's surely something that appears to be there, but is not...

I walk forward, my hand outstretched. Where there should be a wall, I find air. I open my eyes to find that my hand has phased through the stone. "Well, fuck." I curse.

"Woah... how did you do that?"

"Bat sonar." I state absently, as I cautiously click again. But the other side comes back without any sign of Things, so I carefully walk through, America following behind me.