Infectious Devotion (Yandere M. x Fem. Reader)

The Sterner Splasing

A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

"Not hiding, not hiding, not hiding, not hiding," the chilling voice continued to call out behind her as she dashed all the more. She felt her crimson stain her thigh bandages, and she did her best to avoid having the lantern hit her left leg. (F/n) would've carried it in her right hand, but she didn't wish to put too much strain on her right arm either. That wound ultimately was deeper than the one on her thigh, and she didn't want it to start bleeding again.

Behind her, she heard booming footsteps. They echoed down the hall, and the scratchy voice never stopped its assault. It kept repeating that phrase over and over again to the point she wished to cover her ears and curl up in a corner. Something scraped along the stone wall, and she desired to protect her ears all the more. The noise screeched like a dying animal or a heavy blade dragging itself across the floor. She wouldn't be surprised if her ears began to bleed.

Swiftly, she reached the curving wall. The noise of the steps behind her seemed to bounce off of the walls, and she saw a rat scurry in front of her before it crawled away into the safety of a hole in the wall. She wished that she had such a safety mechanism. With the closeness of the thing behind, though, she didn't even have time to glance at the map of the tunnels. (F/n) recalled what she could from memory.

If she didn't take the path to the pool, the other path led towards a cafeteria, which branched off into other hallways. Her mind foolishly drifted to her last experiences with cafeterias. Both were in Cankerfell tunnels: one led to despair and the other her freedom. Then again, her freedom could be questioned given everything that had happened as a result of her escape. Laura's deceased state popped up in her head, and she nearly gagged at the memory of her friend's gruesome death.

She managed to push the image away, however, and she noticed that the split paths were nearing. Her ears, though, caught onto the fact that there no longer were any footsteps behind her. Cautiously, she slowed down and checked over her left shoulder. Nothing was there. The light in the lantern flickered and cast ominous shadows across the stone walls. All of those surrounded her own shadow, and she felt a dreadful chill creep through her veins.

Averting her stare from them, she looked forward and chose the path that led to the cafeteria. Before she started down it, however, she checked the lantern. It would be better to replace the candle while things were quiet, and that way, the candle would last longer before she had to switch it out again. Quietly, she seated herself on the ground and opened the lantern. She removed a new candle from her backpack and lit it with the old one.

After she blew out the old one, she waited for the embers on the wick to die out completely so that nothing in her backpack would be set on fire. Once it was safe, she placed the old candle in her backpack since she didn't know how many replacement candles she would discover in the tunnels, let alone how many she would require. Getting back to her feet, she started down the path towards the cafeteria. Her steps grew quiet, and she listened for anything behind her.

Occasionally, there were little feet running across the floors, but she figured rats to be the source or other small critters inhabiting the tunnels. The voice didn't return, much to her relief, and her heartbeat was steady. As she advanced towards the part where the path began to become straight once more, she held the lantern up higher, hoping that she was imagining things. In the distance, there was ... there was a blockage.