Ethan tackled the bloodied ring on Mia's doll, the dial lock that appeared on the entry door, and puzzles mirroring cherished memories—like the music box from home.
≪"Ethan, I'm sorry…"≫
"Eek! How many times do I have to hear Mia's voice!? I'm starting to hate her!" Eveline shrieked.
"No time to jump at every sound. …But Mia was definitely hiding something," Ethan muttered.
Ignoring Eveline's flinches at Mia's remorseful voice echoing from radios or phone calls, Ethan reached the deepest part of the basement. At a well, he grabbed a breaker box key. Then, a crash of splintering wood and the sound of rushing water preceded a baby's cry.
"Trying to say that's Rose? Sorry, my daughter's cries are way cuter!" Ethan snapped.
"I'm done! I wanna go home! But I can't leave you!" Eveline wailed, flailing her arms and legs.
Returning with a sobbing Eveline in tow, they found the dimly lit room empty—Mia's doll gone. A radio played Mia's anxious voice. A trail of blood and amniotic fluid stretched from a soiled pedestal, an umbilical cord—or intestine—snaking down the hall.
Both fell silent, following the trail. From the shadows, it emerged with a slithering squelch—a grotesque, infant-shaped mass of flesh, an abomination that defied birth itself.
"What…!?" Ethan gasped.
Papa~!
"Eek!" Eveline screamed.
A slurping sound came from the side, but Ethan turned and bolted. That thing was death. Its massive form brimmed with malice, its innocent yet sinister cries echoing as it crawled, eager to destroy its new toy—any life but its own.
"It's so, so, SO scary! And I wet myself!" Eveline sobbed.
"Don't follow me all wet, that's gross!"
"That's harsh, Ethan! I'm a hallucination—you won't get wet! Don't leave me! I mean, I'll follow anyway!"
"You've got it easy, never tiring! Do something! Watch my back!"
Papa~!
"No way! It's too scary to look at! You can't see it, but its feet are on backward! It's slimy, a fleshy blob, its right eye's crushed, its voice is creepy—it's gross and terrifying!" Eveline cried.
"Stop describing it! I'll picture it whether I want to or not! Mia's doll vanished, and this shows up? They saying this is Rose? Screw that! My kid's no monster!"
"Not the time! I'd never forgive them if that's Rosemary! …Wait, it stopped?" Eveline said.
"What?"
Thinking they'd outrun it in the straight corridor, Ethan glanced back. In the dim light, the Baby wasn't moving. Maybe it could only go so far? Then it crouched, its backward feet coiling like springs, and lunged at terrifying speed.
"GYAAAAH! It's coming!" Eveline screamed.
"Damn it!" Ethan yelled.
Ogya~!
Ethan dove aside as the Baby smashed through a phone table at the corridor's end, slamming into the wall. It writhed, shrieking in pain. Seizing the chance, Ethan ducked into what looked like a dining room, hiding under a table.
"Here, we're safe…" he whispered.
"I'm invisible, so I'm fine, right…?" Eveline whimpered, trembling on the table.
As Ethan held his breath, the Baby slunk in, circling the table. It let out a gleeful laugh, as if spotting something.
Wehihihihi!
"What? Can it see me?" Eveline gasped.
Dada dada da~!
"Gah!" Ethan shouted.
"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Eveline screamed.
Fixating on Eveline atop the table, the Baby charged, smashing it—and Ethan—into the wall. It latched onto her ankle, sucking her in as she screamed. Eveline thrashed, pummeling it, but the unflinching monster swallowed her bit by bit.
"No! No! NO! Why can it see me!? Why can it touch me!? Don't eat me! I don't wanna die here! I finally got Ethan to call me family! I have to kill whoever did this to Rose! No, no, NO! Stop, stop, STOP! I'm not tasty!" Eveline wailed.
"Damn it… Eveline!" Ethan roared.
Oishii~!
Pinned between the table and wall, Ethan reached out, helpless as Eveline's pleading form was devoured from the feet up. Was she… dead? Could that thing eat hallucinations? With a desperate heave, he kicked the table, slamming it into the Baby, staggering it. Grabbing a splintered table leg, he advanced.
"You bastard Baby… How dare you eat Eveline!"
Pa~pa~!
"I'm not your father! I'm Rose and Eveline's dad!"
It felt like half his soul was gone. This thing had to die. Gripping the pointed table leg, he charged, driving it into the Baby's uncrushed left eye. He snatched scissors and stabbed its skull. An otherworldly scream erupted.
OGYAAAAAAAAAH!
"Damn it, how do I kill it?"
Holding the scissors like a knife, Ethan thought fast. All he had was the breaker key. Escape, buy weapons from Duke, and come back? Decided, he ignored the Baby—clutching its eyes and rolling in pain—and ran to a lit room with a breaker box. Unlocking it revealed a fuse.
"The elevator's fuse was missing…"
This was his ticket out. The basement darkened as the fuse was removed. Heading for the elevator, he saw the Baby reappear down the hall, poised for its dash. No escape now!
"Damn it!"
Papa~! Bube!?
Bube!? As it grazed him, the Baby's grotesque form swelled and exploded, splattering blood and flesh across the walls and ceiling. From the gore emerged a black-haired woman.
"Huff, huff…" she panted.
"Eveline!? You're alive!"
It was Eveline, now an adult, older than her usual child form. Tear-streaked and flushed, her tattered black dress told of a close call.
"Somehow, it could touch me as a hallucination. So I grew to fit its body and unleashed a shockwave," she explained.
"Shockwave?"
"Yeah, this."
She released an invisible gust. Neither Ethan nor the corridor budged. It was the same shockwave from three years ago, seen in Mia's video destroying a tanker and used against Ethan. It didn't affect him but worked on monsters like this one. Her punches had landed too—somehow, her hallucination attacks worked.
"Ugh, so slimy… I'm done…" Eveline groaned, then perked up, twirling her dress. "Look, look! I'm your and Mama's age now! Hot, right? You falling for me?"
"You're pretty, but I know you too well to be charmed. Mia's prettier."
"Don't get all lovey-dovey… I'm a blood-soaked bombshell!"
"Like a splatter flick heroine."
"The kind with lots of hot girls? So you're saying I'm hot? Right?"
"Shut up. Let's get out of here."
"Totally agree."
Back in her child form, Eveline followed Ethan to the elevator. Donna, wherever you are, you're not getting away with this.