Run. That was the first thought that popped into my mind.
Of course the invisibility wore off at the worst possible moment.
Looks like Lady Luck did not favour me or the workers.
She favoured the side of the creatures. How was that fair? Lady luck isn't meant to have favourites.
One creature licked his lips in delight as if he was lucky that we would be dessert.
"SCRAM K" Toby shouted.
My senses were brought back. My legs moved like they had nothing to lose.
Fortunately for us adrenaline kicked at the right time.
Toby got up immediately and dashed to the staircase whilst ignoring his bloody nose.
Groans behind our backs, the creatures following us as they wanted to pursue their tasty snack.
Thankfully we reached the stairs and didn't hesitate to climb the first dozen steps.
In front of me Toby stopped, looked back and spoke,
"Go on ahead Kei I have an idea".
He was aware of my injured wrist which made it difficult for me to grip the rails.
I nodded in response but also made a concerned face. I looked at him and I saw the panic in his face.
At the time I thought he accepted his fate and was going to commit a suicide mission.
The first creature already reached the stairs slamming itself to the wall since it was pushed around by the other creatures.
The others simply stepped over its body and followed us.
Toby then reached for his pockets. What's a shard going to do I thought.
I was then humbled later as he proceeded to pull out a hand grenade. Activated it. Dropped it. And ran.
Seconds later a huge explosion befell at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ooh looks like I received MP" Toby laughed hysterically.
"How much did you get?" I asked, panting out of breath.
He gestured three fingers. 3 MP? That was it. That didn't seem fair since the cost of danger did not amount to the reward of the MP.
Thankfully we made it to level six.
Me and Toby stopped for a quick break. I was wheezing since I could barely breathe from running up the stairs.
My wrist was pleading at me to tend to its needs.
I wish I could but the groans of the creatures were only getting louder and louder. Looks like the grenade only took out a few.
I was struggling to speak, my lungs refused to embrace oxygen. It felt like an inferno fuelling more and more.
I could only speak in spasms. "Hurry. We. Must. Carry on"
"I know Kei I know" replied Toby.
His hands were on his knees, he was also running low on steam. His face was filled with dread as he realised that his life might actually end.
Screams filled the staircases. Our cue to bolt out of here. Our legs ran on autopilot.
How long did we run for I wondered. The corridors felt like it would never end.
Eventually we manged to arrive at the courtyard with the corpses.
I noticed something glowing purple in one of the bodies, but I didn't have time to inspect it.
A literal zombie horde was approaching us.
They certainly looked like zombies as they had the urge to eat the workers. But who gave them the ability to run.
That's not how it's meant to work. Also since when did they know how to use weapons like a spiked club?
Alas we reached the exit of level 6. The stairs greeted us once more. I look behind me and saw the courtyard being empty.
What I did notice was shadows approaching the huge door.
Another cue not to hang around.
Toby and I continued to go up the stairs. We didn't have the luxury to stop for a break.
I desperately wanted the break to be a necessity but circumstances prevented that.
Light. Fantastic we made it to the next level. Noises. Oh great there were two creatures up there.
What made it worse was that I noticed that they carried some sort of sword.
"Toby prepare a smoke grenade" I panted.
He went out of his inventory without hesitation and brought it out.
Ok we're ready for our next challenge.
I take back what I said. When we arrived there seemed to be a puzzling scenario.
What wasn't puzzling was that the two creatures we had initially seen did indeed have weapons.
The puzzling bit was that they were having a face off between the college kids.
Yet we interrupted their situation. So many pair of eyes. All desperately not wanting to die.
The whole room froze. The five college kids didn't budge an inch. One boy's arm was bleeding.
I assumed that they confronted each other and headed upstairs. Additionally the hoard is getting closer and closer.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"The fu--".
Then the two creatures split up and charged. One towards us, One at them.
Me and Toby dived to the side as the creature swung its sword. The force of it making it stumble.
I heard the sounds of swords clashing. One boy was holding the creature off. One girl held a pistol.
Luckily she aimed it at the creature instead of us. She took aim and fired twice. The recoil sent the pistol flying.
She missed the first bullet completely.
The second bullet hit the boys lower leg.
He screamed in agony. He clutched at his wound. Ignoring the creature entirely was a grave mistake.
It raised it's sword to decapitate it but a ball of fire halted it's attempt. Another boy rushed in to drag him away
Seeing this opportunity me and Toby ran towards the fight.
We had a reason for it, before when we dived to dodge the creature I whispered to Toby instructions.
"Let's run towards it and chuck a smoke bomb so we can escape".
Toby proceeded to throw a perfectly placed smoke bomb in the middle of the creature and the college kids.
"What in the world is going on?" cried out the injured boy.
Using this as a perfect distraction we used the smoke to sneak past the fight and escape that death trap of a room.
A creature then slashed randomly. Unfortunately for the wounded boy, it sliced right at its gut.
"You bastards, you won't get away" screamed the girl with the gun.
She fired bullet after bullet at us. She missed all her shots and hindered herself more as she couldn't even handle the recoil.
The noise exposed her to the creature that was chasing us. It managed to grab the girl's neck and snap it instantly.
The girl with the short wand noticed it and tried to use fire to her advantage but she was too late.
Even if she tried to intervene it would just lead to her friend burning to death.
Two firework bangs. Two casualties. Two less competition. Two less treacherous people.
They had the idea to use us as sacrificial pawns for them to play around. The world will be better off without them.
The chaos in that room tripled as the horde arrived in that room.
Before we took a turn to the right, I recognised a glimpse of the creatures with weapons fighting off the hoard,
The remaining college group seizing this opportunity ran away and chased at us.
"Catch them its their bloody fault" hissed one of the girls.
She had such venom in her voice that it encouraged me to go even quicker.
"Take a right" I panted.
We took a right at the intersection. My wrist throbbed and my legs were weeping as it desperately needed to rest.
Behind us one shouted "Over here".
We ran past the area where the mirror was.
The quickest route to the upper floors was to continue going straight and then turn a left.
This is it, we can make it. I looked at my map for reassurance and all it gave me back was reality.
The path we were heading had a trap ahead of us.
"Wait Toby pause for a second" I shouted.
He stopped abruptly. I believed he was centimetres away from the trap.
"Why?" Toby replied.
Before I could answer a cylinder suddenly landed between us.
"Cover your eyes K" Toby shouted.
During that moment my exhaustion caught the better of me. I misheard Toby and thought he said cover your ears.
BANG
An intense flash of light pierced my eyes. It blinded me instantly.
Damn it was a flash grenade. When did these college kids get a hold of that.
I fell to the floor. Powerless. I noticed that Toby was well, he must have acted instantly.
My vision was heavily impaired but I noticed that something was off about the ceiling above us.
The area showed a lot of cracks.
Was that the trap. For the ceiling to cave in and crush anyone foolish enough to enter.
"Alright answer us, what the hell did you do" asked one of the girls.
She was holding a machete towards us. Next to her was the girl that probably used fire somehow.
Next to her was a boy who was brandishing his knife towards us.
"Why should we" Toby replied.
"Don't bother acting brave, we can see through that façade of yours" one of the boys replied smirkingly.
"For real, your evil, using your friends fear to alleviate your own fear" the girl with the machete laughed mockingly.
"Never I would never" Toby shouted back.
That alone comforted me. I knew Toby would never leave me behind.
"If that's the case then why are you quivering" asked the girl with the wand.
Wait what. I thought Toby was confident about that.
The girl continued "Think about it, you knew that it was a flashbang yet you told him to cover his eyes."
"But what about the ears".
Toby stood there, Stunned to speak.
Wait, that has to be a lie. No. It's the truth he only told me to cover the eyes and not the ears.
Did he purposely leave me behind?
Maybe escape was possible.
But I was truly meaningless.
Was it me?
Did I prevent my own escape?