Chapter Nine

2.5K 82 62
                                    

Arriving in front of a door with a skull on it, Zack put his hand on the handle before Rachel interrupted him. "That room is obviously dangerous." She stated, but Zack started complaining as usual. "We're not gonna get anywhere by wussing out!"

"Let's just be a little more careful, alright?" You said, and he turned your way before sighing and nodding. "Fine, but it's faster to keep moving instead of screwing around." He told you while opening the door. He walked in first, followed by Ray and then you. As soon as you were fully in the room, the door shut itself behind you, making you jump and turn around.

"Great. And now we're locked in. Not that it surprises me. It stinks in here, gross." You uttered. The three of you split up to investigate the room. Walking over to a corner of the room to try to find anything, Zack once again tried to hit his scythe against something way too hard. In this case; the glass.

"Hi! Greetings, Zack!" It was her, again. The irritation was evident on yours and Zack's face as you walked over to stand next to him. "I'm going to explain how this room works. Listen well if you don't want to die. I got a little extravagant when I set up this room!" Now that's just awesome, you told yourself. You heard Rachel walk over to stand behind you as you continued to watch Cathy's face on the screen.

"It's completely airtight, so no air can get outside. And the window glass is reinforced, so you can hit it, but it won't break. And I'm going to.. fill this room with something wonderful! If you breathe it in long enough, it'll grant you a peaceful death." Now that got your attention. Wasn't a peaceful death all you wanted? But you also cared for Rachel and Zack now. Did they care about you though? You didn't know if you wanted to keep going or not. Your chain of thoughts was interrupted by Cathy's grand reveal, "Poison gas."

"Of course, I'm not saying there's no way out of the room. Plus, I'm showing mercy by providing a gas mask! Do your best to get out, okay? Oh wait, it'll be boring if you last too long without dying, so I've set a time limit! And when the time is up, I'll give you the gift of a poison gas so powerful that the mask won't work!" Followed by her usual crazy chick laugh. You turned to see Zack staring at you and you gave him a look that said 'We'll figure something out.'

"Now then, have a delightful time!" That was the last thing she said before the tv screens changed to sand timers and the gas started entered the room. "So what do we do?" Zack broke the silence. "Well, she said it's not as if there's no way out, so there's surely something we have to find." You stated.

Rachel walked over to the gas mask and Zack told her to put it on, that she needed it more than he did but she refused. He gave up and say that we'd better tell him when it gets hard to breathe so we can trade. You started looking around the room before your eyes landed on the corpse Ray was looking at earlier. Walking over to it, you suspected that it had something to do with getting out of here. You soon noticed the writing underneath the body and moved it to have access to the full message.

"Both of you, come here, I found something." The two of them soon stood behind you as you began to read the writing out loud. "The man with the unsightly foot. Foolish murderer who stomped out life with your right foot. If the awareness of your sin causes you to suffer, you need only to get rid of your right foot. When the punishment is matched to the crime, it may even invite a light to shine in Hell." Ray began to cough and Zack immediately put the mask in her face, scolding her that she didn't tell him before it got too hard to breathe. That made you realize that it was hard to breathe for you, too. But you were still considering letting this gas be your way out of your suffering.

You thought about what the message said before you noticed a scale in front of you. 'When the punishment matches the crime.. If this guy killed with his right foot, then is getting rid of it the solution?' It doesn't hurt to try, so you crouched down and grabbed the foot and placing it on the scale.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zack exclaimed. "Trying to find a way out of here, what about you?" You glared at him and he rolled his eyes. You asked him to get you one of the small bags on the ground in attempt to match the weight of the foot on the scale. After a few tries, you found the right bag and placed it, but nothing happened.

"Damn it, nothing happened!" You cried out. "I don't think that's true." Rachel spoke. "There must be a mechanism somewhere." She continued before throwing the gas mask on the ground to get a better chance of finding said mechanism. You picked it up and handed it over to Zack, who shook his head.

"No, you put it on. You haven't worn it ever since this gas started leaking." He stated. He was right, you did need it, badly. You were doing everything you could to not cough as it could indicate them that you needed the mask. But you didn't want them to know. "I'm fine, I swear. It's better for you to wear it then for it to serve no purpose." With that you walked away to help Rachel. He shook his head before putting on the mask.

"There." Ray pointed to the ceiling where a tile was now gone. "But it's too high, none of us can reach it-"
She was interrupted by Zack grabbing her and throwing her up in the hole. She was frozen for a few seconds before Zack told her to get searching and she went further in the passage.

Your head was getting fuzzy, your vision going foggy and the air was getting thinner and thinner. You couldn't breathe at all. You still resisted the urge to cough but soon enough you began passing out. Right before you hit the ground, Zack caught by the arm and placed the gas mask on your face, keeping you from going unconscious.

"'I'm fine, I swear.' My ass. I knew you were lying." You didn't have the force to respond and just let him scold you. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you couldn't breathe?? You got a death wish or something? You're so stupid it's impossible to deal with you." You chuckled at his words. "What's so funny, huh?" He asked. You got up and turned to him. "I didn't know you cared about me, Zack." You said.

"In your dreams, I don't give a damn about you. But I need both you and that little girl so I can get out of here, so make sure you stay alive until then." He spoke.

"Keep denying how you feel, it's funny to watch." You laughed.

"Go to hell!" He yelled out which made you laugh even harder.

————————————————————
A/N: im finally back who missed me

Long sleeves hide scars (Zack X Reader)Where stories live. Discover now