The Evil Within: The Detective

The Fall

The Fall

There was a surprising about of damage to the building and so it took us far longer to get anywhere than it should have. I had gotten my hands on a flashlight but I was starting to doubt there was any food around. Hopefully we wouldn't be in STEM long enough to need it.

Joseph was always close by me, and he was acting overly protective. If so much as a rat ran past he would jump in front of me as if to defend me from it. As much as I thought it was cute it was slowing us down more than anything.

"Joseph, maybe we should split up. We can cover more ground that way." I offered.

"No way." He rejected immediately, as I expected him to. I sighed and stood my ground.

"Then you need to stop being so protective. It's sweet and it's part of the reason I fell for you, but it's slowing us down." I told him and he sighed, pushing his glasses up on his face.

"Alright." He agreed after a long pause. "But if anything dangerous actually does appear..." He started.

"You will take care of it long before I will need to do anything." I interrupted as I walked past him. I ducked under a piece of the building and waited on the other side for Joseph. He quickly joined me and he took my open hand, the other holding onto the ax resting on my shoulder.

"So, how do we get out?" I asked him after a moment.

"If we can get to Beacon Mental Hospital we might be able to figure out something. That place is where all of this started." He added.

"I know that." I told him with a smile. "I actually went to the hospital to try and find you."

"So in that world we're at the hospital?" He asked and I nodded.

"We are." I nodded and then I heard the sounds of moaning. "Joseph?" I asked and he pulled me closer before drawing his gun so I knew he heard it to. We stood still and silent until the haunted appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Run." Joseph ordered and I did exactly that. Joseph was slower than me since he occasionally paused to fire off a shot. He got off four before the gun clicked. "Out of ammo." I heard him muttered.

I glanced back to make sure he was okay, he was just running to catch up to me, and when I looked forward I slammed to a stop. The walls of the building were missing, leaving a drop that went several stories into blackness. I had already found that there were no alternative paths by the time Joseph caught up.

He paused as he expertly reloaded his gun and then started firing once again at the Haunted, who were still approaching us. "What do we do?" I asked him.

"I don't know. I don't have enough ammunition to finish them all off." He said just as his gun clicked again. He swore under his breath and I knew why. The haunted were so close he wouldn't have time to reload, not fully.

I shifted my grip on the ax and got ready to start swinging. "Joseph, I'll buy you time so reload quickly." I said then stepped forward, only to have him catch my arm.

"Em..." He started to say then pulled me aside, blocking me from one of the Haunted. "You can reload right?" He asked suddenly and I nodded. He shoved the gun and bullets into my hands then grabbed the ax and started swinging.

For a moment I simply stared at him. This was someone I knew, but at the same time the ruthless violent man I saw before me was a stranger. I quickly shook my head and got to work reloading the gun. He was still Joseph and I had a job to do. I was slow at loading the bullets, slower than Joseph by quite a lot, but he was doing a better job with the ax than I ever could have.

"Emily!" He shouted suddenly and I looked up to see a Haunted about to attack me. I jumped aside, barely managing to get out of the way, when the ground began shaking. Violently enough it knocked Joseph and the Haunted off balance, some even off their feet.

The ground stopped shaking just long enough for Joseph to take out the nearest Haunted before it shook again, more violently this time. It was accompanied by an ominous creaking, then the ground started splitting and a chunk of the floor fell. It took the Haunted who had attacked me with it.

The ground beneath my own feet started tilting and I scrambled towards solid ground. "Joseph." I called, just as the ground started to give.

"Emily!" He was about to help me, only to be attacked by the Haunted. "Hold on, Emily." He called as he fought to get rid of the Haunted. The ground shifted and began steeper, to steeply for me to climb, and I did my best not to slide too far down it.

"Joseph." I called again, this time panicked.

"Emily!" He shoved a Haunted back then another earthquake hit. The roof collapsed on top of the Haunted and the slab of floor I was on suddenly dropped several feet, leaving a gap between me and the floor Joseph was on.

"Emily!" He ran to the edge and reached as far as he could, offering his hand to me. I reached up to take it, but couldn't quite reach. I shifted closer, feeling the platform below me shifting once again. My fingers brushed his then the floor gave way, taking me with it.

"Joseph!" It took forever for me to actually fall. Slowly I tipped backwards, getting further and further inch by inch from his hand. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could grab, to stop myself from falling.

I felt something hit me on the side of the head, a piece of the building, that left me dazed. "Emily!" I heard Joseph scream, heart wrenchingly and painfully desperate, just before I blacked out.