Horror Story

[Gildarts]

“I have a bad feeling about this… Let’s turn back,” Mitchel said as he heard the silent scuff of Jamal’s shoe against the rough stone.

“We can’t, we have to try and find bleach, and anything else that could be useful,” Emily glared at him, her expression of scorn however, was lost in darkness. “Plus, if we were gonna stay here all night, wouldn’t you like to know what lays below your pillow?”

“I feel it too, Mitch,” Jamal finally admitted, “But we can’t turn back. Not now. Let’s hope we find something useful down here and then get the fuck out.”

Emily frowned as next it was her toes cresting the final step. Jamal could’ve put it in a much more nobler frame, though even righteous goals weren’t enough to motivate cowards like she was beginning to think Mitchel was. Mitch nodded in response to Jamal, a smile of relief formed on his lips, “You got that right.”

Em regarded the hope Jamal had tactfully placed in Mitch’s mind, and her jaw dropped in awe. Like magic, or a miracle, it had been enough. Astounding. Away from their humanity, Emily continued her look around, inquisitive with her dim phone light beaming across the darkness like it were a cloud of dense smoke. It didn’t go past a foot or two and as the girl stepped forth, she felt her body grapple with tension. Whether it was instinct, or her human mind’s natural calibration to be weary of the unknown, it held her back, nearly paralyzed.

“Do you feel that?” She managed to express hoarsely.

“Yeah,” Jamal said. Mitch was hovering on the last step of the stairway.

“What… Is it?” She managed to whisper.

A sound penetrated the darkness. Not sourced from her, Mitch, or Jamal, but from across the way. It sounded like a bucket had been knocked over, the cacophony of metal against stone scraped in their ears and Mitch and Em gasped simultaneously. Jamal kept his lips buttoned.

“Th-there’s something down here,” Mitch said hastily.

“It was probably a rat,” Jamal said. But both he and Em knew he wasn’t so sure.

They could turn back. They could go right now. Run and never look back. But their mission would then be incomplete. And their curiosity would never be sated.

Mitch, the most cautious of the three remained on the stairs, “I’m not so sure…”

“Well, stay there, I’m going to keep looking for the lightswitch,” Emily stated, she was kind of tired of his bullshit, even if her gut was telling her to do the exact same thing. Jamal was courageous. Emily was honor-bound. Both would die for their causes. Sad part was, cowards got to run for theirs. Running seemed like it was the best possibility to survive, too. Pretty fuckin’ sad.

But she had to keep up her face of strength, even if it killed her.

Curiosity, along with her feet, finally delivered her to a wall with a desk on it. “I found something!” she announced to the guys as her eyes scanned the old liquor boxes that had been piled on it for anything useful.

“Anything good?” Jamal echoed.

“Hmm,” she said extending her hand to rustle through empty paint cans, a rusted cookie sheet, and some miscellaneous items. “A small shovel, pretty dull and rusted though, along with… What’s this?”

“Guys,” Mitch’s voice sounded perturbed, “I just… Stepped on something squishy…” Mitch announced, “And it wasn’t my own shit.”

“What?” Jamal said, doubling back, hoping to find a clear answer beneath his rattling friend. Jamal followed Mitch’s light and was there, kneeling below his fellow college student’s waist and seeing if he could figure out what had been stepped on. “Lemme see…”

“Can you see what it is?” Mitch asked eagerly.

“Disemboweled dead rat. That’s probably what’s causin’ the stench.” Jamal said.

“I didn’t see any cats around here, how do you know it’s disemboweled?” Mitch began to worry once more, anxiety filling him, his worst nightmares were being realized. What if a monster was living down here, eating rat guts and waiting for bigger prey?

“Cause I’m lookin’ at em, and I don’t think you would’ve caused this just by stepping on it.” Jamal waved his phone over to the trail of dried blood along the floor, it was maroonish black in this light.

“What do you think would’ve caused that…?” Mitch questioned, seeking a logical answer that would keep him down here with his allies.

“Cat, like you said, or a snake. Though a snake would’ve tried to eat it whole.” Jamal stood back up and continued on his path, hoping to find something like Emily had. “Anything else Em?”

“Nah, just some old toys and stuff,” she noted.

“Agh, a metal cobweb just dangled in front of my nose,” Mitch announced.

“That’s the light switch chain! Pull it!” Emily said eagerly, and then raised her knife again, bracing as the little Chin-Click! sounded off.

However no light was brought. “Raise your phone up to it,” Jamal instructed and then determined, “The bulb’s fried. Filament is gone. Was probably left on by someone, keep looking, cellars like this are good places to store flashlights.”

There it was, hope again. It unnerved Emily, who was beginning to worry that hope was meant to combat a truth that Jamal wasn’t ready to admit to himself, nor them.

Her steps followed the wall, which now turned a corner. So far, she’d ruffled through the few boxes and found nothing of use. No water, no canteen to store water, no bleach, no flashlight, no weapon, just useless garbage. It was like an overflowing of stuff in her parent’s garage. None of it was useful but all of it was hoarded only for memory’s sake. They needed food to survive. Maslow’s pyramid had taught them that much. It hadn’t, however, taught them how to acquire it in an apocalyptic situation like this.

Her faith was faltering, and her mood was getting a little bit grouchy. Perhaps she was irritable from the hunger, another part, told her it was likely the fear of being helplessly ripped apart or obliterated by the unknown that lurked in the shadows.

“I found something!” Mitch announced joyously.

“What is it?” Jamal asked, “Even if it is a jacket I could use one once it gets dark out. Temperatures and all that…”

Jamal tried to assign importance to Mitchel to keep up his purpose and vigilance, it was smart, they needed the manpower. But Emily was getting eager, “Well? What is it?”

“I can’t… Quite make out the letters…” Mitchel smeared the grime of gray dust off with the side of his thumb.