I opened my eyes slowly, my clothes still drenched from the rain. My ankle is still pretty sore, but it doesn't hurt as much as before.
I look out from the alleyway I'm in.
'What time is it…?'
I groan, and with a bit of effort, stand up. I keep myself against the wall and limp outside, onto the street.
I feel terrible. Even worse than when I was sick before my infusion formed.
"Ugh…"
I resist the urge to keel over, and just keep trying to walk. The ground is soaking wet, but at least the rain let up a tiny bit.
"Hm?"
I look up toward City Hall, still somewhat close, but a decent distance away from it.
'Where did everyone go?'
It's empty now. Nobody's rioting, nobody's throwing things at the building. It's just… quiet.
I see a figure open the large door in front of City Hall.
It's Grant.
I smile a bit, hobbling over to him.
"E-Elder Grant…!"
He stops and turns to me, his usual big grin appearing on his face, "Ah, Fault, what're you doing here so early, kid?" His eyes shine like normal.
"Uhm… nothing much… say, do you have any spare clothes in there? Just anything relatively my size works… my clothes are drenched." I glance around behind us and turn back to him.
"Hm. Let me see, come in, come in." He beckons me inside with his hand.
We enter City Hall together, and I lean against him for a bit of support.
"Huu… thanks again, Elder Grant."
He only nods with a little smile as we head upstairs.
…
After a couple flights of stairs, we enter the third floor of the City Hall, and I step away from him to sit down on a little cushioned bench.
"Stay right there, kid, lemme see if I got anything for ya."
I nod at him and watch him walk out of my peripheral vision to my left. Meanwhile, I sigh and take a look around the floor.
It's pretty cozy, actually. I heard Grant uses the entire floor as an office area for him to work. Velvet red carpets, matching cushions along some benches and even a couch in the center with a bookshelf behind it.
Toward the right is an open door to what I can only assume is the study area, or something like that.
I can't see all that well to my left still, but I can guess it's where he lives, bedroom, bathroom, and other necessities.
I let out another breath of relief after taking the weight off my ankle, my foot still hurt from spraining it however long ago that was.
Speaking of…
"Oh, yeah, Elder Grant?"
…
"Elder Grant?"
I blink for a moment and lean back against the wall the bench next to.
'Okay, guess he can't hear me right now.'
I wipe my nose with the back of my hand, feeling my eyes get a bit heavy.
"Hm…?"
I look down at my hand, the part I wiped is covered in blood. I feel more drip down from my nose to my lips, causing me to raise my eyebrow.
"Huh…?"
■■■■■
A harrowing sound, a mix of screeching and static, soon floods my ears. I feel my head throb in agony as my eyes roll back into my skull.
Thump.
*****
Hale has been stressed out of his mind the past week.
First the order to stay indoors, his grandfather disappearing to god-knows where. The other people in town throwing tantrums and raging outside City Hall. The kids who live in the tavern with him having to be constantly checked up on and cared for.
It was too much for a twelve year old kid.
He'd gotten barely any sleep within the past couple of days.
Now Fault hadn't come home last night.
Hale was sure to reach a breaking point sooner rather than later.
Splash
Cupping water in his hands, Hale splashes it on his face, cooling himself off.
"Huu… okay."
He takes a deep breath and looks at himself in the mirror, soon leaning back away from it and exiting the bathroom.
He had mostly stayed indoors with the rest of the kids. They treated him like an older brother, and he loved them all like his own siblings.
The only one he saw differently was Fault, who he did respect a fair bit, but he did find him a bit odd at times. He didn't quite understand the other kids' behavior toward him.
With a sigh, he glances outside the window next to the bathroom door.
"Hah… hm…? The hell…?" He raises his eyebrow as he sees a figure outside.
His eyes adjust to the night time darkness, and he soon makes out the form.
Kain.
Hale smiles a good bit as he immediately heads downstairs and out the front entrance of the tavern.
Walking around the side he saw Kain on, he spots him on the road.
"Gramps…!" His smile turns into a grin.
Hale jogs over, "Man, am I glad to see you… have you seen Fault anywhere? I think he went to clear his head for a walk this afternoon, I haven't seen him since, thou-"
As Kain's face becomes clearer, it's… off. Distant, like he's looking at something that isn't there.
Hale's face begins to pale a bit as he presses his lips together nervously.
"Gramps…?"
His eyes begin to blur, and what looks like a shadow forms behind his grandfather's figure.
"W-wha…"
Hale loses balance as his consciousness fades.
Thud
*****
I wake up in a cold room, and it feels like my back is on the floor.
SEAR
"Ngh..!"
My hand flies to the side of my head. It feels like someone hit me, and I can feel it throbbing.
"W-where am I…?"
I look up the best I can and try to glance around. It's a dark room so I can't make out much of the details.
Stone, some wooden framework, barrels, and that's all I can see.
'A wine cellar…?'
I put my hand on my knee and stand up, my other hand still rubbing the left side of my head.
"Ugh…"
I turn around and look at the room I'm in. A smaller room off to the side from the rest of the cellar.
"...!!"
I hold back a wretch.
'The smell…!'
It's disgusting! The smell here is horrible!
I tug on the loose collar of my blouse and pull it up around my nose, trying my best not to retch. I keep my eyes trained down at the floor I could barely see, slowly looking up-
"..."
My small breaths hitched at the sight. Mounds of… pieces. Pieces I could only assume were once people in front of me.
I couldn't hold myself back this time, and fell to my knees.
"B-bleergh!" I vomited at the sight.
'W-what the hell!? W-what happened here!?'
Rotting piles of what I could only assume were discarded body parts lined the walls of the cellar. Blood soaked the floor and filled the room with a tang of iron that mixed with the scent of decomposing corpses. So much so that I swear I could even taste the blood, and maybe I did.
I gasped as I clutched my chest.
'The missing chasers… the other missing people…'
"Hah… haah…"
I help myself back up and turn my head away from the gore, covering my nose again with my shirt.
I begin to walk. Step after step.
Careful, measured walking.
I couldn't tell why I was trying to walk so quietly…
…but it felt like I was being watched.
Gazed upon.
I look for an opening along the wall and see one, a few stairs that head up into a just-as dark upper floor.
I sigh inwardly and take another deep breath as I put my foot on the first step.
The wooden floorboards creak beneath my feet.
Step. Step.
I felt sweat flow down my brow and drop off the tip of my nose.
'Why am I so tense…?'
Just before I made my next step.
Creak
I froze. A heavy step that made more wood creak up stairs. Too heavy.
"..."
'That last step wasn't mine.'
My thoughts raced. My heart picked up.
I stood completely still, my foot hovering just over the next step up.
I slowly craned my head up to where I heard the sound.
Blink. Blink.
Two small red dots greeted my vision, paired with a shape I could barely make out in the darkness.
Or is it getting darker?
I can't… tell.
I blink. Again.
'I can't see…'
I swallow a mouthful of saliva. I can't see.
My breathing picks up.
I can't…
Panic sets in.
I can't see…
I try to take a step back.
"A-ah!"
Thud
I tumble down the few stairs I walked up and land back on the bottom of the cellar, it felt like the dried blood on the floor breaks into my shirt.
"A-ah… ahhh!"
I wave my hand in front of my eyes.
I couldn't see it.
I couldn't see my hand. The walls. The barrels. The corpses.
I can't see anything.
"H-help-"
I gasp as I feel a presence loom over me.
Or maybe it's my mind messing with me.
Until…
"Mmm."
A grumble from above makes me immediately shut up.
A deep grumble, something large, inhuman.
"H-hah… hah…" I kept my panting to a minimum as I stayed still on the floor.
'Run! Run! I need to run!'
I felt my eyes blink dozens of times, looking for any semblance of vision.
Nothing.
"Ha." A single, deep-voiced laugh comes from above.
A mocking laugh, a knowing laugh.
"My game is almost won."