Chronicles of Insanity: Laughter - Chapter 5 Scene 4

Alright, so this is my first time adding to this in about 5 months. Sorry about that. Hell the only reason, I'm adding now is because I got an idea for the story. It's about to do a 180 from the original game plan, and get a lot more twisted. This should be a series too. However, I'm still not sure about the ending. I have a couple of ideas I'm just not sure which one to do. It'll depend on if I can make this long enough. If I can't it'll have two parts, but still be the first of the series. Also, from now on this series will be called "Chronicles of Insanity: Laughter." It'll make sense later. Anyhow, let's go.

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Joe groaned. He'd been laying on his back on the cold hard floor for a while now. After he hit the wall he found himself tumbling through some kind of vent and landed on his neck, which removed any ambition to explore or even get off his back. The place was dark, but his eyes had long since adjusted to it. He was lying in a small metallic room, from the looks of it. He rolled his head as he looked around the room. There were no exits that he could see, at least, no real exit. All he could see was another square on the floor of the other side of the little room that looked exactly like the one above him. Joe sighed lightly as he rested his eyes on the vent above him. "Damn," he groaned and stood up.

Joe walked over to the vent in the floor. He leaned over it and peered into its depths. Joe clicked his teeth and raised an eyebrow at the hole. "Down, down the rabbit hole," he said as he sat on the edge of the vent. He raised his head and closed his eyes, preparing himself for the twists and tumbles ahead. "'Why, oh why, didn't I take the blue pill?'" Joe jumped in.

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There was nothing. Nic sighed in relief. The door had held absolutely nothing; it was a janitor's closet. She felt silly for the suspense she created because of her suspicion of the door. She was now trying to regain her breath after holding it for so long. She had her back against the wall, feeling exhausted. She slid down the wall and rested her head on her knees. Her breathing had slowed but she still needed some time. She chuckled a little to herself and shook her head. Needed time? For what? Opening a door? Nic felt pathetic.

"Alright." Nic slapped her hands on her knees and stood up. She stretched both of her arms. "Let's do this."

Smash!

Son of a...

Nic jumped. She found herself pressed against the wall again. Her heart was racing, her breathing quick and shallow. She had just regained her self-composure and now this. Christ, she just couldn't catch a break. She gulped and let out a breath. She pushed herself off the wall and strode towards the middle of the room. She had a feeling she knew what the source of the disturbance was. Nic found herself standing next to the desk that only had beakers and tubes on it. She found that the tank was no longer on the table though. It lay shattered on the floor. Nic knelt down next to it. Once again, she just felt that something was off.

Nic bit her thumb as she debated the situation in her head. Suddenly, it clicked. The shadowy item in the tank that she could never make out didn't seem to be on the floor. There was just shattered glass, the murky liquid and the metal frame of the tank. There was nothing there that could've been that shadowy item. Nic stood up and slowly stepped back from the tank. She looked around the room for more doors. She didn't know what that thing was but past experiences told her she needed to get out. Now.
Nic ran over to the closet door that wasn't the janitor's closet and yanked on the handle. Shit. Locked, she thought to herself. She whipped her head around and ran counterclockwise around the room to the next door.

Locked again. Nic started to panic. She needed out. She had never wanted something so badly in her life as she wanted out of that room. Nic continued going counterclockwise and this door gave a little when she pulled it, but it did not open.

"Fuck!"

Nic reamed on the door. She pulled with everything she had, and since Nic worked out, she had a lot. The door kept giving little by little. She hadn't even seen the enemy, but that just terrified her even more. She didn't know what she was up against. However, she knew it was no bigger than a basketball and could be anywhere in the room. She tugged and tugged on the door. It was now open about two-thirds of the way of what she needed to squeeze through. "Come! On!" She grunted at the door, each word had a tug to go with it.

Smack! A slimy, fleshy being with four protruding tentacle-like arms slammed against the wall right next to the door.

Nic screamed and jumped back from the door as a tentacle whipped at her with a surprising reach. This thing could apparently stretch. It whipped at her twice more as it shimmied down the wall. Nic squealed as she got back up. She took quick glances around her to ensure she had space to move, and to find anything she could use to defend herself. She just glanced back in time to watch the tentacle creature raise itself on its four tentacles, bend down, and launched itself at her.

Nic screamed and dodged to the left.

Nic got up and ran again. She continued the counterclockwise pattern and stopped periodically to make sure the creature was following her. She was luring it away from the door. She needed to get out of this room. She needed to find a weapon, something to defend herself with. As she ran around the room she looked for something - anything - but she just couldn't find one. That door had budged. It was almost wide enough for her to get through. The creature was now positioned on the opposite side of the room from the door. Nic bolted.

Nic reamed on the door with everything she had and it quickly gave. She rushed inside and closed it as much as she could before she heard the sticky tentacles on the other side. Nic jumped back and had a moment of relief. The door had just slammed shut. She doubted that the creature could open the door.

"Thank...god," Nic breathed. She was out of breath from the panic and running. She wasn't sure if she could take much more. She looked around the room. There was a one-way mirror on the opposite side of the room of the door, accompanied by a door of its own on the left. There was a large metal table in the middle of the room, with heavy metal chairs around it, and desks on each wall that didn't have a door.

Nic wandered over to the desk on the right and rummaged through it, still determined to find a weapon. There had been a lot of strange things happening, and weird creatures around. It was time to get proactive. She had also noticed a lot of noise coming from behind the door she'd closed. It must be trying to get in, she thought to herself. Suddenly the noise turned violent, and she could hear ripping wood. Nic scrambled through the drawers.

"Nothing." She ran to the other side and searched that desk. She found a gun in the top-right drawer. "Yes!" It was an old .38 pistol with only six shots in it, but it would have to do. Nic flipped over the metal table, got behind it, and aimed at the door. The creature would probably break through soon. The creature was still ripping at the door. The door rattled and shook. Holes appeared. It wouldn't be long now. Nic felt a drop of sweat fall down the side of her face. The suspense was killing her.

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Joe turned around. He'd heard something, something far away. It must have been loud, whatever it was. Possibly... gunshots? He wondered if he could reach them. Joe chuckled to himself and looked around.

"I have my own problems to deal with," he said aloud.

Joe was standing in a large, cylindrical chamber. He had no idea what purpose this area served. It had a very high ceiling, the walls were all metal, and there were six doors. A door for each person trapped inside, Joe thought. He turned around again, to stare through the door the shots had come from. It was the door just to the right of the one he'd entered. It was the only clue of any of his friends that he'd found.

Joe repeated, "Down, down the rabbit hole," and went in search of the noise.

As Joe walked the metal walls disappeared and it looked like he had reentered the part of the facility that he'd first been in. However, as he looked through the rooms he could see that this area was used for something else. The first area had offices and possibly classrooms; it seemed more like a school. This part looked like a lab. These rooms had complicated machinery or strange chemistry sets. He continued moving, while he kept an eye out for any sign of his friends.

Bam! Joe stopped. Apparently he needed to keep an ear out. The noise came from behind him, from somewhere on his left. He ran down the hall glaring through the windows to the rooms for a door. Bam! The sound was still muffled. He'd have to go further in to reach it. As soon as he found a room with another door that led into the unknown, he bolted inside and through the other door.

Joe froze. "What the fuck..." The room was destroyed. Desks were flipped, one was somehow smashed into two pieces, one of the lights the hung from the ceiling had a chain broken and swung slowly, with the memory of events transpired. Someone had been here, but they were gone now. Something had been here too. Joe moved forward, and something caught his eye.

"Is that a... tentacle?" Joe asked. He continued forward and there, on the other side of a flipped desk, laid a strange creature with four tentacles. It had a bullet hole in the large, center part of its body. A black bile bubbled from it, and pooled on the floor. Joe made a face at it.

Joe got up and looked around again. There were three doors in the room. The one Joe had come from, a shattered door across from it, and one last door that was slightly open. Referencing an old book series Joe had read he said, "'Hobey-Ho, let's go."

The next room looked like it didn't see any action. It looked like his friend didn't get to put up a fight this time. A.38 pistol lay on the ground just past the door. Joe walked steadily over to it and picked it up. He checked the rounds, and saw that it still had two bullets in it. Why didn't they fight? Joe looked across the large room in front of him. There were four various doors around the room. All of them were still open.

Four doors. Four enemies. Two bullets. Joe nodded and tapped two fingers on the gun.

"Know when to fight. Know when to quit," Joe told himself. Joe wandered over to each door and examined the rooms within. The first two doors were empty rooms. He wondered if their only purpose was to hold whatever enemy his friend faced. The third door, however, held a long catwalk. He couldn't see what lay on the other side. The room didn't have any lights, just a vast amount of machinery on either side with various workings: readouts, surging electricity, large pistons. "Do do do, do do do," Joe hummed to himself.

Joe continued to hum to himself as he walked down the catwalk, playfully swinging the gun around. Joe had a quick thought that he may be getting a little too comfortable with this place - a little too used to the strange happenings. He looked horrifically creepy as he sauntered down the dark catwalk, with only flashes of electricity lighting his way, and his unnatural smile.

"Maybe, I'm craaazy." Joe chuckled to himself. He'd reached the end of the catwalk. A large metal door with a security lock stood before him. Joe leaned in to inspect it. As he did the security box clicked, flashed green, and the door popped open with a breezy "pssh." Joe looked around confused.

Joe spotted a camera on the ceiling to the right of the door, above the security box. Joe smiled. "Oh, why thank you, dear. Very kind. Very kind, indeed," Joe drawled in a strange voice. He opened the door and walked inside. As he did he reminded himself, "Maybe I'm crazy."

The first thing Joe noticed as he entered the room was another camera blinking at him. Joe waved politely. Next he walked over to the large window on the other side of the door. A large screen flashed static in the room beyond. "Oooh, what's playing," Joe commented with a bright smile. As Joe studied the room more carefully, his smile faded.

"Fuck. Nic."