Cracked Mask

Chapter 4

His grip was so hard that his fingernails unintentionally dug into my skin. 'Is that how tough he is? I'm not strong enough to fight back too. Ouch... the pain is unbearable but I will not let him do as he pleases.'
    
I jerked my elbow with all my strength and delivered a strike to his abdomen along with a punch on the face; wait no, it was his mask that I landed my fist on. It was the same odd cracked mask. Well, I'm not that surprised anymore.

He wavered back unsteadily, causing him to drop to his knees. 'Now is the chance!' I took off and on to the door. I saw his weapon. It was an axe.

"You ass! Not on the face! Not on the freaking mask! LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE! YOU'VE MADE SCRATCHES TO MY MASK! GET BACK HERE!" he barked aggressively, so basically, he blew up.

'Crap! I'm in a deep shit of danger.' I glanced behind and saw him getting up, balancing himself. I had finally reached the door and went behind it. I locked and blocked the door with anything large that I could find.

'Okay, just like this, I'll at least have some time to think what to do next. Bringing this steel door down is plainly a difficult task to do, not even he with his axe can break through.'

I climbed down the staircase that was ahead of me. The stairs were cemented with sticky and gooey blood. Bones and skeletons were to be found too. 'Oh, it reeks like shit here. Is it because of the blood or maybe there are corpses somewhere around here? Well, I wouldn't know because I've never smelled anything like corpses.'

"BAM! BANG! BAM! BANG! BAM! BAANG!!!" my thoughts were interrupted by the echoes of a banged door and of a door crashing. This showed a sign that he had successfully brought it down.

At top speed, I raced down the stairs carefully not to trip. "I FOUND YOU!!!" the man roared.

'Anyone would've gone deaf with that being so ear-piercing. Despite him being slim and tall, he can really yell that loud.'

'Crap! He's almost right behind me now. If he catches me, I'm done for.' I turned right and to the left, trying to make him lose his sight of me but it wasn't going well as planned. 'What is this place? A maze?' He maintained his speed and the gap between us. 'AND HE'S LAUGHING? He's mentally insane!'

"COME ON AND LET ME CATCH YOU ALREADY! ONCE I'VE HAD MY EYES SET ON YOU, YOU WILL HAVE NO WHERE TO GO AND NO WHERE TO HIDE! YOU WILL SUFFER! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA!" he burst into a fit of laughter. 'That should've reduced his rate of breathing and speed but how can he still manage?'

Suddenly, I was pulled into a dark room when I turned to a corner. I tried to wriggle free but failed miserably. A hand covered my mouth and I was pressed against a hard figure. 'What is it now? Another masked man?'

"Shhhhh... if you don't want to be caught, shut up." the person whispered into my ears. I stayed still. Footsteps were heard coming in this direction.

"Damn! Where the hell did that girl go?! She must have not been that far. That brat!" he cursed and the sound of his footsteps slowly died away.

The person released me and we let ourselves out of the room. "You can now handle yourself." he said, leaving.

"Wait! I..." I blinked once and he was gone next. I just wanted to thank him but he disappeared on me.

'He was wearing a mask too but his has black stripes on it. Maybe he's not one of them. No, no, I shouldn't bother about that and waste time. The main priority right now is to find a way to get out of here.'

There were signboards everywhere now that I noticed. I wandered around attentively, wary of my surroundings and not making a single sound. 'What have I got myself into?' I found a signboard with the word 'exit' written on it. 'Great! Great! This is just great! The exit must be around here somewhere.'

'There! I foun... BULL! The emergency exit door's been chained up!' all the doors to the outside were all either taped or chained up. 'Does that mean the bridge... is the only option?'

"So you were here all along."

'Wow, what timing...'