Edit: It seems the notification for chapter two didn't go through for some people; rest assured, it was uploaded yesterday and is showing as publically visible on my end, so make sure to read that one first if you haven't already. If you're still having trouble navigating to it here, the chapters are also available on AO3 (Myou) and Tumblr (Myouki).
Chapter Warnings: Blood (and marrow), swearing
***
"Goth!"
Palette shoved Goth to the ground; the smaller latched onto his sleeve and pulled him along as the flashlight slipped from their hand, creating a strobe effect against the walls of the foyer as it rattled against the floorboards. No one else had time to react to the rough treatment as a rain of knives flew down the hallway, sinking themselves into the closed door as one sliced across the taller's back on the way past. He gasped, falling on top of his companion as a small red spot welled up around the slash across the back of his jacket.
Lotus gasped as Rurik glanced between the skewered door and the hallway, demanding, "How'd it get past us?"
Palette sat up gingerly as Goth quickly pulled himself to his knees. Worry danced in his eye light as he took in the wince of pain from the taller, "Palette? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, it's just a scratch," the injured monster attempted to soothe them with a smile; a thump down the hallway had everyone tensing up. Shuffling toward them was an emaciated woman with flat, stringy black hair, angry red lacerations winding up her left arm and around her neck, milky white eyes, and a toothy grin smeared with blood that was also splattered across a light brown spaghetti strap dress. Trying to struggle to his feet, Palette grunted, "We have to go."
"Upstairs," Goth quickly barked, slinging Palette's arms over his shoulder to help them up; Rurik rushed over and joined in with the other arm as the four monsters thundered up the old stairs.
"Here!" Rurik pulls them into the room directly to the right of the stairs. Lotus was the last one through, closing the door behind them as the taller quietly urged, "closet, now."
Everyone quickly piled in despite the close quarters as Lotus pulled the slatted doors shut, hiding the flickering flashlight inside his coat and shuffling as far from the doors as he could manage. There was a collective sound of panting within the closet, but any noise abruptly died as the stairs began creaking. Worry and uncertainty passed through glances between the four monsters as the noise rapidly ascended the stairs. Palette wrapped his other free arm around Goth, who reached up to grip the sleeve, as he leaned into the left corner.
Lotus clamped his sockets shut, hunching in on himself as the room's door creaked open; a guttural croak filled the room and Rurik eased the shaking monster behind him as the door slammed shut. No one dared to breathe as their pursuer shuffled across the carpet, around the bed, and stopped in front of the closet... after what felt like an eternity, the shuffling resumed and the door creaked open again.
The group let out a collective breath as the door to another room creaked open. Rurik reached for the closet door, but Lotus's hand darted out to stop him; lifting the flap of their cloak, the monster revealed the light proving the Oni wasn't done hunting yet. The taller balled his fist in frustration, pulling it back and crouching a bit in an attempt to peer through the narrow slats in the door. Palette let out a soft exhale of pent-up nerves, resting his cheek on Goth's skull. The smaller looked up, squeezing the arms around them; a weary smile was their answer.
"... It looks safe for now," Lotus cautiously whispered after another minute; every skull snapped to him as he revealed the solid beam of light before stowing it away in his pocket.
"Then we should get out while we can; the closest exit's the front door," Rurik matched the hushed tone, his eye lights flicking between the group and the closet door.
Palette shifted his skull so his chin laid on Goth's hooded skull and whispered, "Can we make it to the front door without running into the Oni?"
"I don't think running into it would be the biggest problem," Goth softly pointed out, "you heard the stairs earlier; one wrong step would give away our location and potentially set off another hunt."
"... We might be able to do it...," Lotus mumbled; every eye light focused on him again as he explained, "we would need to stick close to the wall since the foundation's more solid there... we would also need to move slowly and crawl down the stairs to keep our weight distributed evenly."
"Crawl? Where's this coming from?" Rurik whispered pointedly; Lotus dropped his gaze in something akin to shame, but was saved from answering when a creak went off in the hallway; a door slammed from another room, causing the group to jump as the smallest buried his skull into his companion's green jacket. Gritting their teeth, the skeleton hissed, "Look, if we're going to make a break for it we should go while that thing's behind a closed door; that's our best chance."
Lotus nodded into his shoulder and the other two agreed as well; Taking a breath, Rurik reached for the closet door and slid it open. Peeking his skull out into the empty bedroom, he stepped out with the group following behind him and crept over to the doorway. Checking around the corner, it looked like the door across the hall was closed again; the soft whine of the abandoned EMF reader could be heard from the other side.
Nodding to himself, Rurik stepped out into the hall and directed Lotus to start down the stairs. The smaller skeleton silently sat on the top step by the inside wall, then tested the step below his foot before easing himself carefully down to the next step; this continued for two more steps before the taller moved to imitate him.
Goth made room for Palette to go ahead but found himself being ushered into the hallway; when he gave them a look, he received a shake of the skull as they glanced at the closed door and mouthed the word 'go'. Reluctantly, he complied and sat down to follow the other two in their excruciatingly slow descent, relieved when he turned to see the skeleton getting into position as well. About two-thirds of the way down, the step under Rurik groaned a bit and everyone froze as a door joined in upstairs; the reader got louder, then fell silent as they all turned to watch the empty landing above them in trepidation. After ten agonizing seconds of shuffling and creaking floorboards, another door down the opposite hall slammed open. Lotus took a deep breath after five more seconds of silence, getting a nod from the skeleton behind him to keep going.
Reaching the bottom landing, Lotus carefully got down on his hands and knees to crawl past Goth's barely functional flashlight toward the door covered in knives; the others followed suit until they were all standing by the front door. Rurik stood and slowly twisted the handle, nodding to the other three to confirm it worked; meeting their eager expressions, he mouthed 'on three' and held up three fingers.
Once everyone was in silent agreement, he began the silently count... one... two... three!
Rurik threw the door open, sending out an abrupt creak and a few knives clattering to the floor as he quickly braced it against the wall with his shoulder. Everyone else lept forward as a loud slam and a gurgling croak echoed ominously upstairs.
Everyone managed to clamber through just as the door swung shut violently, hurling Rurik into the group and sending them all into a panicked heap on the paved walkway. The skeleton rose from the top of the pile, taking in the crisp night air and the starry sky as a hysterical laugh slipped from his mouth, "Hah, we escaped! Suck it, bitch!"
He was immediately cuffed by Lotus as the monster sat up and snarled, "Would you stop trying to provoke her already?!"
"Sorry...," Rurik recoiled a bit, rubbing the spot, "force of habit." Lotus blinked owlishly at the apology.
"Ngh...," Goth groaned, gingerly picking himself up off the ground now that he was free from the pile and gently flexing his scraped hands.
Recovering from his shock, the black-clad skeleton narrowed his sockets, "That's new... are you possessed or something?"
"What, I'm not allowed to be sorry?" Rurik quirked a socket, getting to his feet and crossing his arms defensively.
"No...," the monster replied, joining him in standing with a slightly guilty look, "I'm not used to hearing it from you is all."
"I for one wouldn't mind a more humble Rurik...," Palette grunted from the pavement.
Goth turned to the skeleton next to him; the large, dark red splotch on their back that he was only now seeing got an immediate reaction, "Oh stars, we need to-!"
"It's okay," Palette waved the concern away, struggling to his knees with some help from the fussing skeleton, "really, I am; I'm a little tired and sore, but I'll survive. I'm just happy we made it out."
"Yeah, we got everything we needed, and then some," Goth chuckled, helping the injured monster to their feet and turning his skull to the other two, "I say we leave to get Palette patched up and compile the report."
"Best thing I've heard all night," Rurik grinned, jogging to the back of the truck before stopping short, "Shit, I left most of my equipment in there..."
"I'm not going back for any of it," Lotus asserted, walking past the monster up the ramp and depositing the lone flashlight from his pocket onto the shelf while pulling off his headset, "the Oni can keep my noisy reader and the broken crucifix as parting gifts from hell."
"Yeah, a couple of pieces of equipment aren't worth it," Goth agreed, pulling the UV light from his inside pocket.
"I didn't lose anything...," Palette emptied his own pockets, holding up the photo camera that sported a large crack in the case with a grimace, "but I think I landed on the camera during that second fall."
"The photos are already saved on the computer; it's no big loss," Goth assured him, taking the skeleton's still-functional flashlight, thermometer, and headset to switch the items off and return them where they belonged.
"Make sure you actually turn off your headset this time," Lotus jabbed on his way past Rurik to the ramp, hopping off the side on his way to the truck's passenger door.
"Yeah yeah...," Rurik groused, removing his hat so the camera was facing him; Goth walked farther into the cab to check the computer as the camera feed cut off.
***
So if you haven't guessed already, I tried something a little different with my writing in making it a found footage-esque format; on the plus side, I get to be a bit more loosey-goosey playing the pronoun game since it's not solely one POV... but on the negative, I have to rely more on each character's actions and words to convey their feelings in the scene rather than relying on the narrative to detail their emotions.
Regardless, our group hasn't reached the end yet... stay tuned~
Word Count: 1,767