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Total words 1828
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"S-Six..." Mono whispered.
"The hand! It's gone!" Six said in a frenzy. Clattering echoed all around them, and before long, pieces of fingers and broken prosthetics started falling from the ceiling. They looked up and saw the animated hand ballooning from the limbs overhead, swaying left and right, hopping from one end to the other and creeping towards them. Soon the hand jumped and landed on the shelves and disappeared among the other wooden prosthetics, making the pile rise and fall as it slithered between them.
"Hurry! We need to leave, now!" Mono cried as he went back to pull the basket out of their way. Six joined in the struggle. They pulled together, grunting and panting all the while. They could hear the clatter of wood upon wood as the animated hand inched closer towards them. Once the basket was out of the way, Mono grabbed Six by her hand and hurried her towards the exit.
More and more limbs fell and shattered around them, then came the sound of screeching and the shadow of something pouncing from the shelves. "Watch out!" Six said, pushing Mono out of the way. The hand landed inches away from him, screeching and wriggling as it tried to get back on all five wooden fingers. Mono shrieked at the sight and cowered away. His back slammed against the shelf stacked with prosthetics.
Without warning, something grabbed his arm from behind, cold wooden fingers pressing down on his skin, so hard that it may bruise. Mono screamed in pain and tried wrenching his arm free, but its grip proved too strong for him. "MONO!" Six screamed. Armed with a crude piece of wood with a blunt edge, she halted next to the hand gripping Mono and swung her weapon down with all her might upon it. The hand cracked with the first blow, but its grip held on to Mono's arm. Mono struggled again to wrench his arm free, and with a final desperate attempt, Mono let out a cry and broke free. The animated hand tore from the wrist and went flying across the room, landing in the middle of the room and sliding against the floor until it stopped under the metal shelving. The other one was already on its fingers and ready to pounce.
There was no time to think. Mono ripped a wooden limb out from the pile behind him and stood at the ready. "Come on then," Mono said and assumed his stance, feet planted firmly in the floor, his hands crushing the handle of his stick. The animated hand reared back and leapt, fingers stretched like claws and hungry for flesh. Mono hurled the stick, sticking the hand and sending it flying upwards. It slammed against the ceiling and fell on the floor with a loud clack. It struggled and trashed around, "Finish it off!" Mono said.
Six sprang from beside him and halted next to the screeching hand. She lifted her weapon behind her head and brought it down upon it. Smashing it inwards and sending its wooden fingers flying everywhere. And still, the hand struggled. Six let out a growl, and lifted her weapon once more and hurled it on the hand, again and again, screaming all the while. Until it stopped moving. But Six never ceased her merciless bashing and kept on going relentlessly.
"STOP! YOU GO IT, ALRIGHT! YOU GOT IT!" Mono grabbed her from behind and knocked the weapon out of her hands, "THAT'S ENOUGH! WE NEED TO LEAVE." He cried, he took her by her hand and led her towards the exit. Before the other hand, which was struggling in the corner of the room, could recover. He shouldered the door open, suddenly aware that he did so with his bad arm, it began to hurt miserably. He moved Six away then placed his back against the door and slammed it shut. He slid down and sat there for a moment, trying to catch his breath, "What the hell was that about?" Mono said.
But Six didn't answer, he only heard her heavy panting in the darkness. He reached for the torch in his pocket and flicked the switch. There she was, as tiny as she was, her form cast a very large shadow across the room. She stood there with her back against him, shoulders drooped and fists clenched by her side, trembling madly.
"Hey... Hey!" Mono said, crawling back onto his feet, he tossed his torch on the floor and grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him, "What's the matter, calm down!" for a split moment he saw that deep red glow in her eyes before it faded away and became nothing more than deep crimson.
Six blinked twice, "Sorry... I-I don't know what happened. Where?" She looked around in perplexion. "Where?"
"We just passed a room full of crawling hands." Mono looked at her worriedly, "Are you still with me, Six?"
Six blinked again, "Yes the room, your-" She said, and paused for a moment, "Your arm!" she cried, "Are you alright!? Are you hurt?!"
Mono was quiet for while then stretched his hand, "A bit." he admitted "It just surprised me. That's all. Is the power cell still in one piece?"
Six drew back and fiddled in her pockets, growing more uneasy by the moment, but then she felt it in the front pocket of her raincoat, she pulled it out and examined it in the light, "It's good."
Mono heaved in a sigh of relief and picked up the torch, "Right," He said, shining back at the door from where they came from, he could feel something crawling up his spine as he thought about the animated hands, "That was unpleasant." He added, stretching his arm and pulling inwards and outwards to soothe the pain. Now that it was over, Mono shone the light of the torch around the room, it looked like they had ventured into an operating room as there in the middle stood a gigantic table covered with a sheet stained in puss, with surgical tools scattered all about it. Just above the table, a giant iron lamp with many lightbulbs hung from the ceiling.
They wandered around the room, discovering more and more as they did. Something moved and Mono snapped his torch in that direction. A wheelchair stood there in the corner, and Mono nearly gasped as he saw the harrowing figure sitting in it. A crooked wooden mannequin with both arms bent backwards and legs replaced with pegleg. Its face was entirely wrapped in bloodstained bandages and it wore a threadbare patient robe. Mono looked at it nervously, did that thing just move right about now? He couldn't tell, he couldn't even trust it, not after what happened a few moments ago.
"Mono..." Six whispered, "What are you doing? We need to get out of here..."
Mono looked back at her, then back at that horrific thing. She's right, there's barely any light around here and he couldn't afford to waste the battery and get lost in the dark. "I'm coming." He whispered back, taking the light off the mannequin and starting to look for an exit. As he opened his mouth to say something to Six, that same unnerving sound came from the corner. Six made a small gasp and Mono shot the light of his torch once more on that spot. IT MOVED, IT DEFINITELY MOVED. The light quivered as Mono could no longer keep his hand steady, sweat beaded on his forehead and his breathing became laboured. The mannequin's hands now shot out inwards, as if it was trying to reach for something, and its head was now bent backwards. Mono heaved in a small breath a decided to try something, he flicked the switch of his torch off and enveloped the room in complete darkness.
Violent trashing and clacking of wood bounded off the walls, making Mono turn the light back on in a panic. He almost screamed at the sight, the mannequin and left the wheelchair and was now standing on both feet, frozen stiff with its arms reaching for both him and Six.
Mono turned to Six and told her in a trembling voice to take out her lighter and look for a way out, as this thing seemed to move only when darkness is present. She nodded nervously, and took out her lighter and went to look for a way out of this cursed room. He thought about using some of his energy to blast that thing to smithereens, but then again its limbs might actually come after him and didn't think he'd have much strength left to deal with those things. "Any time now, Six..." Mono said.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" She said, pacing from one end of the room to the other. "There! I'll try to get it open!" Mono looked back and saw her pushing the door open by herself with the lighter sitting there on the floor by her side.
Mono drew backwards slowly, keeping his grip firm and the light steady. His back reached the door and he began to push it open with her. They were almost through when upon a sudden all the lights in the room came to life with a loud bang. They let out a gasp and stopped what they were doing. "What happened?!" Six cried.
"I don't know!" Mono said, turning off his torch. The mannequin stood there frozen and motionless. Moments later they heard rumbling coming from the other room where they were heading, slowly but surely the rumbling sound grew louder and louder, so loud that now they felt the ground shake below them. Without thinking Six grabbed Mono by the arm and ushered him across the room, skipping past the surgery table and hurrying to hide behind the small gaps of the shelves. The door at the far end of the room burst open and slammed against the wall violently.
Mono snuck a peek from beyond the shelf, he didn't see anyone step through though... but then suddenly an old blackened puss-stained hand reached and held the upper doorframe from the other side, fat rolls of flesh came into view, heavy ragged breathing echoed around the room and with that came the sight of something truly grizzly. It wasn't a man and resembled nothing of those mangled creatures of the city. It grotesquely made its way to the room, squeezing its fleshy body through the doorframe and plunging its plump hands into the ceiling as it did, Mono couldn't fathom how it was capable of doing that with a fat body like this. it crawled against the ceiling and perched there handing from the giant lamp just above the surgical table.
It let out a long growl and began to scout the room.