Walking into the building, Mono registered it as a hospital from the layout of the first room. There were cots laying and other medical supplies laying around, and Mono wondered if it would be a good idea to take some for later. From what he could see in the dim light, there appeared to be no life or movement, which didn't make him feel any better. He grabbed back onto Seven's hand and walked slowly deeper into the place.
Seven didn't know why Mono wanted to explore this gloomy looking building, himself not feeling up to it in the slightest. Though when Mono grabbed onto his hand, he didn't say anything or try to pull away as he was dragged along. This hospital felt off to him, like it wasn't all as it seemed to be. He couldn't let Mono explore by himself.
That was proved to Seven when he and Mono pushed open the door, only for him to stumble forward and almost fall off into the dark abyss below. Luckily Mono grabbed onto him and pulled him back up before he fell, holding Seven worriedly as the paper bag boy looked cautiously over the edge. He was starting to regret coming into the place, but he felt as if he couldn't go back, so he glanced at the oddly hanging beds and got ready to jump. If he needed to do this so that he and Seven could be safe, he would.
Seven didn't waste any time to follow Mono, not daring to look down as he did. Hopping from one bed onto another to climb up like a ladder, Seven was already starting to get tired. It feels like the sleep he had earlier already wore off, but he wasn't going to quit now, not if Mono was to keep going.
Jumping into the wide open door, they were finally safe from the hanging beds. Going down the dark hallway, Seven didn't think too much as he walked close to Mono. That's when Mono realized it was a dead end, the electric door not buzzing like the last one. The other door down the hall was unreachable, meaning that they needed to find a way to get the door to open. Remembering seeing a battery like thing close to the fist door they came in at, Mono knew that it had to be the thing powering it, especially with most places no longer having electricity due to multiple reasons.
Running back down the hall to try out his theory, he gestured for Seven to stay where he was and wait, since he was only going to be gone for a second. He got back to the door and walked over to the wall with the bright battery sitting inside it, and took a minute to study it in case of anything that may be dangerous. When he found nothing, Mono grabbed onto the handle and yanked it out, the battery easily slipping out, made to be moved from one place to another. The door beside him closed, no longer having the energy to keep its doors open.
He came back over to the door, with Seven giving him a weird look as he was packing around something that he had no clue about. Though it all seemed to make sense when Mono plugged the battery in and the door began to humm, opening up for them. He gave Mono a goofy grin and a small nod, which made Mono smile back, too bad Seven couldn't see it.
What they both thought was just a door, was actually the opening to what appeared to be an elevator, though the actual elevator was stuck below them. Mono having to jump down, Seven coming right down with him, making the elevator slip a bit and the rope to loosen. Neither of the boys liked that one bit, knowing it could be dangerous if the elevator really did fall, so Seven cautiously made his way to the vent close by to open it. Mono rushed to help as the elevator began to creak and move from the extra weight and looseness of the only thing holding it there.
They barely made it in the small vent when the elevator was completely detached to the cord, causing it to fall, sparks were flying as it scraped the walls all the way down. Instead of there being a loud bang from it finally reaching the bottom, the scraping noise faded, making Mono wonder just how far deep the elevator actually went, and glad he wasn't going down with it.
The room outside the vent was practically pitch black, no outside light able to reach it. Making it a good thing that Seven found a flashlight in the middle of the room, handing it over to Mono for him to use. He's had enough experience with flashlights to know that he didn't like trying to use them, especially when he needed to run or hide. It didn't take a genius to figure out how to use it, so as soon as Mono grabbed the flashlight from Seven, he pressed the button, the light instantly lighting up part of the room. Mono was relieved to know that he and Seven weren't about to try to explore this place in the dark, that would just be a nightmare and a headache.
As Mono continued to walk through the grim looking hospital, Seven stayed close by, not liking the dark all too much. He would never admit it out loud, but he hated being in the dark, not liking how well it could hide monsters. The place was very dusty, and all the medical equipment and supplies seemed to be either rundown or unusable. It was clear that nobody had used the stuff in a long time, if anybody was here, which both boys had a feeling that at least something was. Afterall, they were never truly safe in the world were they?
The door at the end of the hall was boarded up, something that Seven never liked to see. Mono turned around and decided to go down the hallway, wondering if they could find another path that way. He may have made the choice to explore this dump, but he really didn't want to stay in there for longer than he had to. The end of that hallway was strangely blocked off by a locked up gate, so instead they entered the room with what Mono thought was blood in the doorway, never a good sign. Seven looked at the blood with disgust, but waved it off, it wasn't uncommon for places to have blood in it, as people tended to be rather violent.
Again, there was a dead end, but this time there was a button that Mono could see that would open the gate. He attempted a jump to try to reach it, not even getting close enough to press it. He couldn't have Seven boost him up either, so they would have something to throw at it instead. There didn't appear to be anything in the room to grab that would be heavy enough to actually cause the button to press in, so Mono was about to backtrack to look in the other places.
Seven, being the smart boy he is, looked at the extremely old snack machine next to the door, and pulled on the lever. Grabbing the outdated can, he walked back over to the button and threw it at it the hardest he could, successfully opening the gate with a loud buzz. Mono stared at him with wonder the entire time, questioning how Seven knew what the weird machine was.
Mono walked right into the next room and immediately felt that it was off, it only took another step for him to understand why that was. He took one glance at the television in the middle of the room and everything started to distort, having to cover his ears from the terrible noise that was being emitted from it. He saw that Seven wasn't behind him, or maybe he was, he couldn't really tell as the world around him bended to the offtune signal coming from the television.
There was a loud ringing sound mixed with other horrific sounds that made his ears want to burst. It seemed to force his feet to continue closer, wanting desperately to just fix it or something, just anything to make it stop. He didn't know why he was like this, or why his powers did this, but he wished it would go away. He didn't want this.
When he got close enough, he shakily raised his left hand to the television, causing it to quickly shift to that one odd screen again. He didn't dare look at it too much, instead focusing on the floor as he used his powers to tune the signal. Everytime he felt like he was getting close, he would lose it and there would be a forceful and somewhat painful push on him, forcing him to try again. Eventually he did get it, the world honing in on the television and the ringing getting louder, until he was finally teleported to the hallway he frequently dreamed of.
Again, the world seemed to slow, his footsteps sounded distant. The only light there came from the door and as he inched closer the world began to shake and the ringing increased once more, almost like it was trying to kick him back out. He was so close though, he couldn't leave now! Not when he was finally about to figure out why he kept seeing this place, or why he felt like it was so important!
He didn't even get close when he was pulled out of the television from Seven, it going off much like the last when did, the signal no longer torturing his mind. He and Seven both landed on the ground, and he attempted to sit up, his head pounding. That's only when Mono really gave the room they were in a good look at. He saw several wheelchairs with fake severed bodies sitting in them. There were stairs going up, most likely leading where they were going to have to go to next.
Mono stayed on the ground for a moment longer, trying to wait for the world to go back to normal completely and for his head to feel better. Seven, who was already back on his feet, had walked over to Mono. He was looking worriedly at Mono, wondering why he did whatever that was, especially since it seemed like it hurt him. He didn't want to force Mono to say anything he felt uncomfortable doing so, but he really didn't like how this was affecting the boy, whatever it may be. He could only hope that Mono was taking care of himself.
Reluctantly, Mono got back on his feet, knowing that they should probably get moving again. Running up the stairs, the boys both figured out that they were going to need a key before they could keep going. Sighing, Mono went back down the stairs and into the other rooms to search. One room was an X-Ray room with several pictures hanging up on the wall. Which he didn't pay much mind to, since there were some with broken bones that he didn't like to look at. That's why when Seven continued to study them, Mono went to the room connected to it, being a play area with several toys and bookshelves in it.
Mono was touching the stuffed bunny when he looked up at the wall to see children's drawings. Except, the drawings on the wall weren't the cute small drawings that you would expect of a child, instead they were creepy sketches of eyes and other indescribable things. Mono didn't like the thought of them, a shudder going through his body as he tore his eyes away, walking back into the other room with the bunny in his hands.
He didn't know why he did it, but he was curious to see if the X-Ray could make it where you could see through the bunny like it could do with people. That's why he sat the bunny behind the X-Ray screen and called onto Seven, who had just walked into the other room to explore. "Hey, Seven, could you turn on the X-Ray for me?"
Seven nodded his head, quickly handing the toy he was holding to Mono before going over to the switch. He jumped and grabbed onto it, his weight able to pull it down for him, turning on the X-Ray. Mono, still holding onto the lever with his weight, twisted his head to look at the humming machine. He first was surprised by seeing Seven's skeleton, not expecting him to be standing there still. Though what really made his eyes widen was the fact that there were things inside the two toys that Seven was beside, the stuffed bunny having a key while the toy Seven was holding had something else. Curiosity can really help sometimes.
Letting go of the lever, it slowly going back up and turning the machine back off, Mono went to pick up the bunny. Seven followed suit by keeping his toy, which he already knew had something inside of it from studying the pictures on the wall. He already knew that some toys had items in them, because one of the images was literally of a stuffed animal with a key inside it. That's why he went inside the playroom, investigating every toy until he found one a bit heavier than it should be.
Going back down the hallway, they took the toys with them on an old looking elevator, nothing like the one they almost died on. Both knew that they needed to find a way to get the objects out of the toys, so exploring a bit more for something that could work would be helpful. What they both weren't expecting to find was a practically empty room with an incinerator inside the wall. Why would a hospital have that? The two young boys could only hope it was used for heating and not anything else, but it was hard to believe with a cot nearby with what looked like a body bag on it.
After burning the toys, with some awfully alive sounds emitting as they were turned into ashes, they were able to get the key and go back on the elevator to the story above. Using the key to unlock the door, they entered an extremely disturbing room. There were fake limbs hanging on hooks like meat in a slaughterhouse, most of a mannequin on a chair that looked like it belonged to a dentist office and not a hospital. Mono didn't like it one bit, so he held the flashlight steady and kept moving, not wanting to look around the room for anything. He may have also grabbed onto Seven's hand, of course to keep the smaller boy safe and not to just make him feel less scared.
The first door he saw was locked, but it was a good thing that further down there was a door with the window busted out, allowing Seven to boost Mono into it. Seven never liked separating, knowing that Mono could be rather careless at times, but knew that he couldn't come with him at this point and would just have to trust him. Not that he didn't already trust the odd boy more than he ever did anybody else.
Mono also did not like leaving Seven behind. They may have not seen anything that would remotely put them in great danger, but that did not mean that this gross place wasn't full of unsafe secrets either. There was no telling when something could pop out at them, and now they didn't have each other to back them up. He would have to get over it and just try to get back to Seven as soon as possible, since that's all he could do.
All seemed fine in the quiet room, until Mono began to move a box of mannequin parts and heard moving from what he thought to be a fake body strapped to the table in the middle of the room. He glanced back for only a second to see the whole thing twitching as if trying to escape its binds, but then a hand popped off crawling away. Mono knew that what just happened wasn't a good sign, and started to fearfully move along, now having more than one motivation to hurry up.
He could hear the hand cracking and crawling on the floor, and then he saw it lunge at him, he was hardly able to avoid it by jumping over it. He ran, climbing up a shelf to a vent, hearing the hand right behind him, using it's fake joints to follow him up. Mono dived into the vent, right before the hand could latch onto him. The vent door closed behind him when he jumped out from the other side, keeping the weird hand stuck there.
He would be lying if he thought he was safe, as that didn't stop the hand for long. As he sprinted down the hall and into a large room, he could hear the hand following him in the vents. It broke through landing right in front of him, which caused him to flinch back in shock for a second before jumping over the small malicious hand once more. He continued to run from the hand until he found a hammer in the middle of the floor, and Mono couldn't believe his luck. He grabbed onto the hammer tightly and slammed it right into the hand that was about to lunge an attack.
Too bad the hand was tougher than that, and one hit was not going to be enough to break it. After a tense few minutes of having to wait for the perfect moment before hitting the hand, Mono was finally able to kill it in three hard hits. He never in his life thought he would have to fight a doll hand, and then it hit him. He left Seven with tons of mannequins, there was no telling if Seven had to fight any of them right now or not. He knew that Seven could easily take care of himself, but there was no way anybody could defend themselves from an army of things that were not supposed to be alive in the first place. The deep worry in Mono festered as he grabbed the battery to break a window and exited the place of new nightmares he didn't want.
Seven could tell that Mono looked a little shaken but relieved as he saw him alive and well outside the glass, and could only imagine what just happened to the poor boy. Nonetheless, Seven picked up the battery and walked out of the room to the place in the wall that needed batteries near the elevator. He put it in but was disappointed to see that the thing needed yet another battery. Mono took the battery back out and carried it over to another gate that required a battery. Placing it in, there was the signifying sound of a buzzer before the gate slowly creaked open. They were going to have to go even deeper into the building now, which Mono no longer felt like doing, especially with the spook he got from the sort of alive hand.
Having to leave Seven once again, something that Mono didn't want to learn was that some of the mannequins could apparently move in the dark. Mono was even more grateful for the light source in his hand, which was practically the only thing keeping him alive as he traversed the area. It was nearly impossible to keep multiple of the cursed things away at a time, which stressed Mono out to his core, trying to keep the light on every one of the moving things. He was glad that Seven didn't have to endure this now, he wouldn't even wish this on his worst enemy, well perhaps The Hunter.
Mono was glad to finally make it out of there, and when he got into a hallway that seemed completely empty with every door shut, he felt like he would be okay. All that hope was ruined as soon as he walked past the first door, swarms of desperately reaching hands tried to grab him from every door, peaking out in the broken areas. He was terrified to say the least, running down the hall, feeling the ghost of hands that were so close to grabbing him. If he hadn't been quick enough he would have surely just got caught.
That wasn't even the worst of it as one of the lousy doors broke, allowing the creepy inhabitants to escape, going straight for Mono until he flashed the light at it. More appeared and he had to crawl underneath the bed backwards to keep the light on them, until he heard another one behind him. None of them had legs, so he panickingly jumped onto a file cabinet and climbed his way up it, glad to see that the monsters couldn't follow him. Though the popping and creaking from them didn't lighten up the slightest as he crawled through the vent, still echoing as he crawled.
He was breathing heavily at this point, wondering how in the world he just survived. This was almost worse then The Hunter, actually scratch that, this was way worse. Still, he had somebody important waiting for him and he couldn't keep them waiting. That didn't mean he couldn't take a small break, catching his breath and gathering his wits.
It was a good thing he did because soon he was having to spin around in fast circles just to ward off the horde of mannequins coming at him now. There were more than a dozen of those creepy monsters in the dark room, all moving towards him whenever he accidentally forgot to shine his flashlight at them. The constant sound of shifting of fake joints and popping of material made him think that he would rather deal with the teacher again. Why in the world did he decide to come here?
Finally making it out of that room, hands and arms peaking out of the boards to make a last attempt to murder the boy. Hearing the noise, Seven whipped around, scared at first that it would be some kind of monster. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was Mono, who had made it out alive and was currently getting the next battery. Seven had been waiting for a little bit now, and was starting to get more than a little anxious that something had happened to his friend. After all, this place was not good, he knew that for sure.
The shorter boy gave a good look at Mono, seeing how fast he was breathing though how glad he seemed whenever he looked at Seven. It looked like Mono went through a lot just then, and Seven decided that he would be the next one to leave this time, as Mono couldn't keep going like this. Obtaining the battery from Mono, Seven allowed Mono out of the room and they made their way back to the elevator. Mono grabbed the other battery and they both put them into the places on the wall, allowing them to go to the next floor below.
It felt tense and strangely quiet waiting for the elevator to stop. Just how deep did the thing go? Mono was still on edge, even more so with the feeling he was getting. Seven's nerves weren't faring any better, feeling like everything was just going to get harder from here. It would be likely, since nothing in the world was ever easy, having to always be alert of danger. Honestly a life without danger around every corner seemed like a fantasy, and more hopeless every hour they endured whatever came their way. Maybe one day they could be at peace.
Seven saw how lost Mono looked in his thoughts, staring at a wall with his shoulders slumped but also weirdly stiff. He didn't know what to do, so he just grabbed the boy's hand like they did so often. Mono was snapped out of his deep thoughts when he felt the warmth in his palm. He looked at the shy boy next him, and couldn't help but smile, glad he was here. It really was comforting to know that you weren't alone.
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Ack- This is so late, and I'm sorry. There was Thanksgiving and I was sick and I also felt super lazy- I promise that I'll still post another chapter this Friday so I don't mess up my schedule. Not super proud of this chapter because I wrote most of it either sick or half asleep, but I still hope anybody who reads it enjoys. Also comment about what you think, or maybe even consider leaving a kudos? I don't know, I guess I like to know if people are enjoying this or not.