No Title - Chapter 1 Scene 2

Renee grabbed his arm. "What?" she asked. "What did you see?"

He turned to her, frustrated. "There was an eye."

"An eye?" inquired Lee stepping forward.

"Yeah," returned Joe running his hand through his hair anxiously. "There was an eye on the other side, staring in."

His friends looked at each other confused. Joe watched them, his frustration rose. He turned back to the door and kicked it again.

A bone-chilling scream rose from the other side of the door. The whole group flinched and retreated from the noise. The scream grew. Renee covered her ears. Dave walked over to her and put his arms around her, never taking his eyes from the door. Joe wheeled around, staring back at his friends.

The worst possible thing happened next. Another scream joined the original. Slowly the group turned and stared down the hallway. The new scream came from behind them. Another scream quickly joined in. Shea looked to her right. No, she thought, it's not there. She pivoted to the left. Not that way, either. Then it hit her. Slowly she lifted her head. The others followed suit. Damn.

Joe covered his ears and sat down cross-legged. "Perfect," he muttered to himself, since nobody else would be able to hear him over the noise. As he did this two more voices were thrown into the mix. These two seemed to be chanting something, but the voices mixed as one. "In-my-to-dark-the-depths-ness-you-is-waiting-will-go-in-my-to-dark-the-ness-the-depths-you-is-waiting-will-go."

The doors of the two nearest classrooms began to shake and rattle. The group turned and sprinted away from the door. Lee ran kind of ran sideways, so that he could look back and see if anything would come from the other side of the doors. They didn't stop until they got back to the spot where they had "reached an impasse" earlier, where they could easily hear each other. Nic was the first to speak.

"I don't think we should go any further in."

Lee looked at her like she was an idiot. "Well, you're welcome to go right on back," he said annoyed. Nicole looked away offended and defeated.

Dave started to say something, but Lee held his hand up for quiet. They slowly turned back towards the entrance. The screams were following them. Renee buried her face in her hands, as if she was going to cry.

"Screw this," said Joe, who was closest to the horrid noise, sliding through the group in his awkward way. After making it through he turned left and jogged, awkwardly, down the hallway. His friends shook their heads at their friend, and followed Joe down the hallway more composed than they were a few seconds earlier.

They followed the hallways twists and turns. The group passed dozens of doors, all leading to the rather familiar school principal style offices. Lee now led the crew onward, deciding which path to follow when they reached an intersection.

Soon, the group was out of breath and needed to stop. Everyone stood there panting. They needed the break.

"Come on, guys," begged Lee. "We need to keep moving."

"Not everyone can run five miles a day, Lee," snapped Shea, or rather, she would have snapped it at him if she hadn't been on the ground gasping for breath.

"Try harder," countered Lee, whose breathing wasn't even slightly strained.

"Fuck off," added Renee.

"Shut up," shouted Dave, "all of you."

"You guys should take lessons from me and just lie down to die," mumbled Joe, who was laying face-down on the floor. "Much more productive."

Nicole kicked him. "You be quiet," she muttered, with a depressed look on her face. She had regained her composure.

"Beastly gorilla woman," Joe muttered, rubbing his side. Nic kicked him again.

"You're not helping any," she said loudly. Her voice was a bit strained.

Without standing, Joe threw his fist in the air and shouted "Go team!" Then he looked at Nicole and asked, "Better?"

Nicole kicked him in the stomach. Hard.

"This isn't the time to be funny," she stated clearly.

"Then leave me hear to die," he coughed out earnestly. "It's all I'm good for."

"Both of you shut the fuck up already," seethed Shea. "Especially you, Joe."

"Bite me," replied Joe.

"I'd rather kick you," countered Nicole.

Joe paused, then mumbled "Gorilla woman" again. He managed to roll and dodge her kick.

"We need a plan," Lee stated forcefully, preventing Nic and Joe to fight anymore.

"You guys go that way," Joe pointed down one of the halls, "I'll stay here and be the rear guard." He rolled into a ball. Dave heard him mutter "Comfy."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll 'guard' our 'rears,'" Renee stated.

"Pssh! It'd take like three linebackers to guard your ass," countered Joe.

"You’re such a-" Renee stopped dead and stared back down the hallway they had come from. The horrid howl they'd been trying to escape.

Dave pointed down the hallway perpendicular to the one they had traveled down to get here and suggested that they go that way.

Joe yawned. "You guys go. I wanna see what we're running from."

"This isn't the time to be stubborn," seethed Shea, obviously annoyed.

Joe glared back at her. "I'm going to see what we're running from. If it's some kind of fucked up chicken I'll call you guys and you can come back. If it's something that I believe is worthy enough to run from, I'll come bolting down the hallway screaming like a little girl." Joe had decided. His friends wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise.

Dave grabbed Joe under one shoulder. Lee took the other, and the two of them dragged him down the hall as the girls led the way.

"Unamusing," Joe said.

"I agree completely," stated Lee.

"Then lemme go, asshole," Joe returned.

Lee tapped Dave's shoulder. The two dropped him simultaneously.

"Then let's go," Lee said as he jogged after the girls. Dave was right behind him.

Instead, Joe slid over to the wall and sat there upright. "How 'bout not," he said quietly to himself.

The group had been running from the scream for half an hour now. The factory was huge. The gang figured they hadn't even seen half of it yet. The five of them hadn't heard anything from Joe since he stubbornly refused to follow them. He hadn't called, but of course, none of the remaining five had any service.

They had stumbled into a large room with rows of long, narrow tables stretching the length of the room. Large broken windows stood immortal in on the left side of the room, overlooking a ragged and desolate courtyard. Everyone sat down, scattered around the central table.

There was an awkward silence.

Dave was the one to interrupt the eternal silence. "Oh come on. It's Joe. What could happen to him?"

Everyone looked at him. Their sad expressions didn't change. There was no depressant stronger than wondering if a friend you've know for years was even alive.

Dave put his arms around Renee. "Come on. The screams haven't come after us since Joe left, but we still need to find a way out."

Lee got up, nodding. "Alright," he stated in a cold voice. "Let's go."

The others got up, and followed Lee into the halls that would haunt their dreams, if they ever got to sleep peacefully again.

They drummed on slowly, not in any hurry since they weren't being chased. Time moved slowly. Every time Shea checked the time on her phone it had only changed by a few minutes. "It's a lot quieter without Joe," she stated.

The group shifted uncomfortably. After a long pause, Dave softly muttered, "Yeah."

"It really seems to hit you now that he's gone, doesn't it?" questioned Renee. "The depth of the situation."

No one answered.

Clang!

Everyone froze.

The sound came from the hallways behind them that branched off to the left. They moved towards the source of the noise. Nicole peered around the corner.

It was a child. He was slightly chubby, wearing torn clothes. He was holding a metal rod in his left hand. It was resting on an old-fashioned metal radiator. He was staring down at it. He lifted the bar and smacked it against the radiator.

Clang!

The kid was the source of the noise. But something told Nicole to wait. She watched the kid longer.

"What is it?" hissed Renee. The kid looked up. His eyes were pure white.

Nicole whipped her head back with a gasp. Her breathing had sped up. Her heart pounded a warning in her chest.

"It's a kid," Nicole whispered. Her friends could tell she was scared, but they couldn't tell why.

"A kid?" asked Lee. "What's he doing?"

"He was hitting a radiator with a metal bar," she answered.

Clang!

Good, Nicole thought relieved. He hasn't moved. He's not coming after us. She peeked around the corner again. The kid's pure white eyes stared straight back at her. Nicole stopped breathing. Her heart pounded harder than before.

Clang! He hit the radiator again, and started forward. He moved in front of the doorway. Nicole saw a wide, artificial grin of black teeth, aimed at her.

She squealed and retreated behind Lee. Dave moved up and peered around the corner. The kid continued towards them with his artificial grin, swinging the metal bar at his side. He whipped back around and mouthed the word "Move," pushing Renee away from the hall. The group moved quickly and silently. They skittered through the halls like a pack of rodents. They turned right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Left. Straight. Left. Right. Then they continued on this path for a while. Dave led the group this time. He shot to the right. He stopped dead in his tracks. The others followed suit.

There were two kids, who both looked exactly like the one with the metal bar, at the end of the hall. There was something on the floor next to them. It looked like a body. One stood back a ways, watching silently. The other was kneeling down next to a lump on the floor. It looked like a body. Dave muttered aloud, "It couldn't be..." The things looked up with there large white eyes at this. Both grinned their slimy black, artificial smiles simultaneously. "Dammit!" Dave shouted turning. "Run! Run! Run!" He bellowed driving his friends the opposite direction. The things took chase.