AN: Since I had it done a day before, I thought, might as well upload it now. No reason to wait a day.

So here's a light chapter for you. Not much going on here, just a normal chapter with our main character familiarizing himself with the new environment.

Just as before, SCP-173 was in the corner, with the two D-Class looking at it.

They were alive. For a brief moment I contemplated trying to save them before discarding the idea. There's no way they would listen to some random D-Class telling them they were going to die and that they need to do exactly as he said. I certainly wouldn't listen.

Besides, I had to worry about saving my own skin in the first place.

The doors shut behind me with the same metallic clang. I kept my eyes fixed on the statue.

"Blinking." The leftmost guy said.

"Also blinking." I added. I blinked after a short moment and a brief pang of terror. I don't think that I'll ever keep my eyes away from SCP-173 after what I've gone through.

"Gotcha." The D-Class to my left said. "You seem experienced with Billy. You been here before?" He asked, before stopping for a short moment. "Blinking." He said, and ran his hands down his face the same way he did previously.

"You could say that." I responded. A sudden thought struck me as odd. Why name it Billy of all things?

I asked.

The guy hummed. "Billy? That's just how we call-"

"Yeah, I already know that. But why Billy of all things?"

The guy paused for a second.

"Well," He started, "I sure wasn't the one to name it but here's how I see it."

"Calling it by its official classification, apart from being a drag to pronounce, personally leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Giving it a nickname makes it seem more human in my head, or whatever. I guess you could call it a coping mechanism. I feel a lot less afraid of a Billy than an SCP-173, personally, even if they're names for the same thing."

That... both did and didn't make any sense. Using nicknames to humanize unknown entities in order to gain an illusion of controlling the situation? It doesn't exactly remove the danger or make the reality any less different. Well, a fake peace of mind is a peace of mind nonetheless.

It seemed as good a reason as any. Billy, huh... I'll have to get used to that.

The speaker turned on. "Please approach SCP-173 for testing." And the doors opened once again.

Guess it's my time to move. I sent a mental apology to the two as I slowly, but surely, started to back away from them, inching towards the door.

"Uh... There seems to be a problem with the door control system. The doors aren't responding to our... uh..." With a deep breath, I exited the containment chamber, and looked up to the guard.

He had his gun set on me. "Hey! Did you think you could just walk out? Get back in there!"

I didn't comply. I started moving back towards the door.

"This is your last warning! Get back in the containment chamber!"

"Attempts to close it, so, uh... Please maintain direct eye contact with SCP-173, then..."

At that moment, the lights cut off and I sprinted to the corner, hiding behind it. When the light returned, I peeked out in order to see SC- Billy having killed the two D-Classes. I'm sorry...

I quietly backed away, hoping for Billy not to see me. If I made a run for it towards the door, I risk catching its attention, and I don't even know how long the second blackout is.

This is when I died last time. Let's see how it goes this time.

Not a moment too soon, the lights turned off again. I heard scraping noises and, in a flash, the lights were up again.

And then there was gunfire above me. I instinctively ducked, even though I couldn't see what was going on, but I could hear a loud curse from where I presumed the guard was at.

Then the lights turned off again.

From this point on, all I could really hear was blaring noises from the facility itself. But that wasn't my biggest issue as of right now.

The lights all shined a fraction of what they used to before, too dim to light up the room properly. Looking through the door I could see the same effect there. It was just short from total darkness, the kind of scenery you'd normally see in a horror movie.

Since when did my life become a horror flick?, I pondered as I finally made my way through the door, not hearing nor seeing signs of Billy activity around here. It seems he's moved on to the control room.

How incredibly lucky for me, since it meant I could move unnoticed.

And this brought an interesting thought as well. A most interesting thought indeed. If this was truly a facility-wide blackout...

Then they probably wouldn't notice a lone Class D escape during the whole chaos, now would they?

It was worth a shot, anyways. Such an opportunity would likely never come up again.

I made my way through the door and immediately spotted the open door leading to the bottom floor, where I saw the scientists working. It seems there were guards there as well now with the other personnel.

I prayed to whatever being was listening that the door I came through with the other guards would be open at the end of the hallway. I sneaked my way there and saw that it was closed. I tried tampering with the controls a little, but quickly realized that it was futile. The door was locked and it was staying that way.

Which meant my only escape would be through the room underneath, where literally everyone was right now. Just as I sneaked back to the door and peeked down, the lights shut off. I felt a brief flash of terror before the lights turned on again, and I struggled to control my breath as I saw SC- Billy exit the door underneath, conveniently sitting between me and the rest of the room. Suddenly I wouldn't mind being discovered by them so much. If it sees me I'm screwed no matter what.

Luckily it was not to be. There was a lot of commotion down there, everyone speaking at once. I didn't dare too look out of fear that it would see me.

But what if it's going your way now?, my mind supplied as the lights turned off again.

There were gunshots fired, and I heard a voice shout. "Move back! Go to the door!" Before the lights flickered again under the crescendo of rushing footsteps. All too soon, the noise ceased, leaving a dark and ominous atmosphere behind.

I dared to look down, and I saw that both the people and Billy were gone. It was too dark to see where through, though. I would need to go down there too if I wanted to escape.

I took a deep breath, and slowly moved down the stairs, eyes trained on as much of the room as possible. The last thing I wanted was find out Billy was in the room and I didn't notice. After getting into the room, I finally let out a sigh of relief. It turns out the room was empty after all. Another stroke of luck.

Though it only takes one stroke of bad luck and I'm toast.

Does it, though? How does my apparent pseudo-immortality work, either way? Is there a specific amount of lives I have? Was it a one-off thing and this was my last life? Whatever the case may be, I wasn't eager to find out.

That got me to think about something else, though. Since this is a facility-wide blackout, or whatever it is... and Billy has been let out of his containment chamber...

Doesn't that mean that other dangerous SCPs are most likely out and about as well?

Oh. Oh crap. This is no ordinary blackout.

This is a containment breach.

The familiar dread rose up within me once more. That makes a lot of sense, actually. My legs suddenly felt very weak, and I quickly propped myself on a chair before giving up and dropping on it, legs quickly giving out. I felt lightheaded. I took the moment to recover from my momentary stupor, before getting a grip on myself. I won't need to worry about other SCPs if Billy catches me first. I'd best not linger in one place too long, especially one that's basically a dead end.

That last thought spurred me to action. I got up from the chair and was about to make my way towards the door, before I noticed the huge chunk of musky black material in the floor. The table seemed to be completely missing while a chair was flipped around.

This looks like the work of another SCP, and one nearby. Great.

I started moving towards the door, content with my observations, before I hesitated, feeling an otherworldly tingling spread from my shoulders to my back, before a powerful feeling rose in my chest.

Hope. Excitement.

Hope because I had a chance to escape this hellhole. So many people didn't. I had control over my own fate now, and I would make the best out of it. The excitement is a bit harder to explain. It feels familiar, nostalgic even... It was a daredevil-ish drive for knowledge of the unknown, an almost carnal desire to understand everything around oneself, once muted with the boring expanse of daily prison life, but now rekindled.

How can Billy move so fast? What is his average speed per blink, and what are the best strategies to counter it? How did the breach happen? Was it an intentional sabotage?

What different SCPs are stored in this facility? Are there ones I could use to my advantage?

And like an old machine being turned on again after a long rest, my mind started whirring once more.

I opened the door.

The moment I stepped into the room, a bestial roar could be heard across the whole facility. I think I handled it rather maturely, by screaming and sprinting back inside the room and closing the door, breathing excessively as I felt my life flash before my eyes.

Well, that's one theory confirmed. The facility seems to have become quite the playground for all your local SCPs. Hopefully I would never encounter that thing, yet something tells me that I'm going to have plenty other things to worry about.

Slowly, deliberately, I opened the door once more. No demonic roars of rage followed, so I guess that meant I wasn't cursed. That was fine.

There were two doors at the sides, the left one being opened and presumably where all the people went to, along with Billy.

Naturally, I turned to the right door.

/*/

After around 30 minutes of exploring the empty facility, the feeling of dread I had before was replaced with irritation. Just how do the people manage to find themselves in this place? I was here probably three times already, as evidenced by the plethora of open doors I went through that let me keep track of where I was and where I wasn't.

Quite the smart idea, if I said so myself.

There was so far no sign of any distinguished rooms that didn't need authorization to enter, except one corridor where I managed to snag a gas mask. I lost myself quickly afterwards, and saw that I ended up at the beginning.

I also, luckily enough, encountered no SCPs in the process. Who knows, I might even be able to escape this place without encountering any SCPs at all!

I was finally starting to make some progress. As I opened another door for the thousandth time, I saw a hallway which was different than the others. Apart from a door leading to other areas on the opposite side, there was a room, but my pondering was cut short by a sudden feeling of anxiety. It felt as if I was missing something important.

It felt like I messed up, and I was going to pay the price soon.

The indescribable feeling filled me with dread, but for the life of me I couldn't understand why. I thought I heard something, but I chose to ignore it in favor of the current situation. I started to make my way to the end of the corridor, where the two doors lay next to each other. A picture was on the wall next to the door to the left, and a skull was on it.

I was about to go closer, were it not for that same noise, only louder. It sounded almost like... was someone moving concrete somewhere?

And my instincts were screaming at me. That previous feeling of fear came back with full force, apparently directed at nothing. It was honestly starting to get irritating, past all the anxiety. I couldn't be that much of a scaredy cat now, to jump at nothing?

I thought I heard something behind me, but it was probably my paranoia. Maybe if I satisfy it, it will go away?

"Worth a shot." I turned myself idly, only so much so I could see behind me and hopefully lay my rampant paranoia to rest. So far, I was expecting it to be... harder? Trying to escape, I mean. But the only real issue I've discovered so far was- I turned completely and my train of thought crashed and burned instantly.

Billy was directly behind me. His arms stretched out and almost touching my neck.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed and, through a mixture of instincts and terror, started running towards the door. I immediately realized my mistake, but I already turned my head away from Billy.

Just enough to not be able to see him.

Class D-9341's neck snapped under the force of SCP-173's stubby arms, bringing the human's life to an immediate end. He was dead long before he impacted the ground.

/ Loop 2

This time I didn't scream, but I did convulse suddenly and ended up falling to the floor regardless. At least I didn't bring the blanket down with me this time.

I picked myself up and laid down on the bed, contemplating the latest scenario past the adrenaline, which was slowly dying down now that there wasn't any danger present.

So Billy managed to sneak up on me and I, in my panic, tried to do the usually most sensible thing in a situation where there was a predator behind you. Run.

Apart from that, I've come to the realization that Billy is more silent than I expected him to be, although I probably did hear him. Was that why I was so paranoid?

And another problem pops up there as well. If Billy is able to get so close to me in so short a time, how will I be able to escape him? Since the doors are always open-

Wait a second...

Oh. I facepalmed. Of course that's it! By keeping the doors open, I allowed Billy not only free reign of the facility, but I might as well have put a blaring red neon sign saying 'Hey! I'm a human, running around the facility and keeping the doors open! You better come find me!'

Which means that I'll need to start closing the doors behind me. And that means I'm gonna lost again. Crap.

Well... considering the long-term picture, wouldn't it be better if I simply memorized the layout of the place? After all, when I probably die again, I'll know my way around for the next time.

And that was a wholly different can of worms that got opened. It seems that my first death was not a one off thing, and, as far as I can tell, this trend is likely to continue. I might even be able to use my pseudo immortality to aid my escaping for the next time.

After all, I'm not in a rush.

And then I just laid on my bed, waiting for the guards to come in. I knew I was in for a lot of work, so I wanted to preserve my mental energy as much as I could.

Without the busy thoughts I usually had, I managed to hear a dim voice speaking. "Hey, could you open cell door -?"

...Huh. Was that always there? Did the guy always say that?

The door opened, and I tuned out the rest, already knowing what was going to happen.

/*/

This time, I felt brave enough to watch Billy as he approached the fleeing personnel from the relative safety of the upper hallway. A few blackouts later, the room was empty once more.

This time, I checked the whole room for useful things I might use. There didn't really end up being anything useful there, some random documents and a desk lamp I briefly contemplated bringing along with me to use as a whacking tool, but abandoned the idea as soon as it became clear that it was fastened onto the table.

Somewhere around the end of my little scavenging tour, I heard the same roar, though it was muted. Past a brief startle, I mostly payed it no mind.

I went on to explore the facility once more.

/*/

I followed the route I followed before, to a partial success. I managed to recover the gas mask, but I didn't manage to find the room with the skull on it.

Instead, I found people.

They were speaking on the lower floor, and I was about to announce my presence and go through the open door when the lights turned off again.

I heard the familiar sound of necks snapping. I felt a quick pang of terror and started to walk backwards, but otherwise keeping my eyes in the direction of the noises. Billy won't catch me off guard this time!

The lights turned on.

Nothing was in front of me. I kept my eyes open, fighting against the urge to blink as I looked through the door. Two people were dead on the floor, Billy between their corpses.

Anger surged within me. If I were faster, I could have warned them. If anything... I know for next time.

I would be faster next time.

For now, though, I contented with closing the door connected to Billy, as my eyes were starting to burn. The door closed, and I blinked.

The door opened a moment later. Billy was behind it.

"Oh shit..." He can open doors!?

Of course he can. As long as he can push the button, why would it be a problem?

"Hmm..." I closed the door and blinked fast once it was closed. Immediately afterwards, the door opened.

...This had potential.

"You must really want to get to me, huh?" I said, and closed the door again.

It opened again.

"How about this?" I said, and closed the door.

I waited until it opened again and I was facing Billy that I continued.

"I'll stop closing the door on you if you'll wait for me to make my way out of the room, ok?" I stood for a moment there, before shrugging and closing the door.

The door remained closed. This is most interesting. Does it mean it's sentient?

I started to make my way towards the door, not trusting the thing and made my way towards the door I came in.

Billy opened the door. I opened the door once I reached it. I stepped inside, closed it, then turned to sprint to the door opposite to me, keeping my ears out for the door behind me. It seems Billy was slower, but I definitely heard the door opening just as I closed my door.

/*/

We continued this until I finally lost Billy, who likely took a different door.

I passed an elevator with a dead body along the way, and a few rooms with SCP tags I didn't bother to read.

I was in one of the circular rooms, taking a breather.

"Not... even close."

Yeah.

At that moment, a desecrated body fell to the ground.

"AHH!" I jumped and was about to run if I didn't notice the thoroughly dead body in front of me.

It might be an SCP...

I doubted it. This looked more like the victim of an SCP than anything else. He looked to be a scientist, disregarding the unnatural decay on his face and clothes. He fell from the ceiling, where there was the same type of decay or blight that consumed the tables in that one room I used to access the facility.

I felt a pang of empathy for him, but there wasn't anything I could do for him right now.

I turned to leave the room after checking him for valuables.

I continued onward until I ended up in a room that appeared to be at the corner of the facility, because there were no further doors heading in the direction. There was a second elevator, however.

This was good. The elevator might lead somewhere to the roof, and it would definitely separate me from Billy. If the elevator worked. I stepped inside it, then pressed the button.

The elevator doors closed. I grinned.

Such a great idea.

Well, I thought as the elevator started going down, so much for an easy escape. Although maybe there is a sewage system I could go through to escape? It would be dirty, but likely far better than most things I'd encounter in the facility anyways.

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. I was met with a dark room filled with what looked to be boxes. So, not an area where I can escape, but something possibly just as good. A storage room.

I stepped cautiously to one of the crates and was about to inspect it, were it not for a noise I heard. It was an elderly man's voice.

"H-Hey! Is anyone in here? I can't see a thing!" My heart stopped. There was another person here. For some reason, that didn't make me feel any easier. Memories emerged from before. Two people, dead because of Billy.

I made my mind up. I started to make my way towards the person who no doubt went here for refuge but ended up losing themselves. They were close to the exit though. That makes it easier.

"Hey!" I raised my voice.

There was silence for a moment too long. Perhaps the man didn't hear me?

"I can't see a thing!" The man repeated. The voice was a bit closer, though.

Close enough for me to go and lead him out of here. I followed the voice through the darkness, coming to the end of the boxes and turning to look past them, where I presumed the man was.

A large reptilian with translucent red skin stood in front of me. Its jaws and teeth glowed a bloody red in the dark, making it look all the more terrifying.

I didn't have time to stand around in terror as the beast started running towards me. My instincts flared up and I was sprinting in the other direction, suffering a nasty blow to the head from a pipe which I, in my terror, failed to avoid. Adrenaline kept me focused and running as fast as possible, but I could hear the predator running behind me.

"Ah, there you are." I heard the elderly voice from behind me, catching up. I ignored the pang of terror that rose up within me at the familiar voice as I sprinted ever closer towards the elevator.

Once I was inside I immediately slammed the button of the elevator, praying fervently to whoever was listening that I was fast enough. I turned around to look at one the single most terrifying thing one could see.

- As it turned out, the sentiment was false and there were many more equally terrifying scenarios awaiting me in the future. -

The beast was running as fast as it could towards me catching up. Its jaws were spread open and it was growling in an otherworldly, eldritch noise that didn't sound like it belonged on anything sane or normal. It also seemed like the elevator door wouldn't close in time, but as the beast closed the distance, the incredibly slow doors closed just at the right time - There was a mighty pang as the elevator doors were smashed against by the demonic creature.

The elevator started moving upwards.

I fell to the ground, exhaling a massive sigh of relief.

That... was terrifying. And now that I wasn't running for my life, I could properly focus on the migraine that was building up from the left side of my head and spreading. It hurt to have my eyes open. So I closed them.

Just in case, I was going to open them when the elevator doors opened. Before, I wouldn't have done such a paranoid thing, but if there was anything I learned right now, it's that you do not take chances in this place if you want to survive.

That meant that I needed to get up as well.

I groaned, before slowly, painstakingly got up into a standing position. My head was throbbing wildly. It felt as if a circus monkey was told that he'd get as many bananas as he wanted if he played the drums on my brain as hard as possible.

Regardless, I felt somewhat relieved as the elevator stopped and the doors started to open. Now the danger was most likely over with and I could take a brief moment to rest. While I wasn't going to risk my eyes closed, the chance of Billy actually being in front of the door would be just-

And the doors opened...

.

.

.

"Oh, son of a bitch! You have got to be kidding me!"

I wasn't believing my luck, or lack of it at the moment, but I sure as hell wasn't going to clear my eyes and look again to see if what I was seeing was true.

Billy stood in front of the door, and my head waspounding.

/**Need refreshments? Don't forget to take a 5 minute break for every 30 minutes you read!**/

I couldn't stay here for long; With my headache getting ever stronger and my eyes already burning, I had to move.

At the time, I didn't realize that I would be applying what was, in hindsight, a laughably simple but very effective solution to dealing with Billy, trivializing its influence marginally in the future for me.

I walked past him.

I kept my eyes sharp on him even as my eyes started to water and the urge to blink almost overwhelming. I made my way to the door and opened it, but I couldn't hold it any longer.

I blinked and Billy was directly in front of me. He was also blocking the entrance by standing directly in the door, which removed the possibility of walking past him again or closing the door.

I started moving fast once again, and the chase was on again.

/*/

It was much harder to lose him now than it was before. I think it took twice as long too.

Honestly, I was impressed that I managed to lose him, what with my staggering and migraine, which somehow got even worse in the time, but as I was making my way to the other room, I saw that Billy didn't open the door after me, which meant he must have thought I went the other way.

I went through a few more rooms before allowing myself to relax. I was panting and my migraine pounded as hard as ever, but I could finally get a breather.

Finally, a chance to res-

An unnatural noise filled the room from the center. I turned to look at a slowly blackening floor with abject horror and, I realized rather anticlimactically, a fair bit of exasperation.

It was the same kind of black and corrosive hole as the one from the ceiling. Namely, the ceiling from which a

And a black man was rising from it.

Literally black man. As in, completely black. I noted, with terror, that it looked like a heavily atrophied naked corpse.

I was shocked into a stupor, feeling far too tired for the running I would need to force myself through.

"Are you serious!? I just finished running! This- This is insane." The thing, to my absolute horror, reacted to my words. As it completely emerged from the floor, it just stood there, and tilted its head in response to my words.

Then it grinned.

I gagged at the expression. It was morbid and twisted, yet sharpened with human intellect. It looked like it was the predator, and I was the prey.

I was as alert as my exhausted state allowed me, though I wasn't moving yet.

It wasn't moving yet as either. It seemed to be contemplating me.

I took a tentative step backwards.

And then it started walking towards me. That was the cue I needed to turn tail and start running once again, both brain and body running on fumes. I closed the door behind it, but to my absolute horror, he simply walked through it, causing the door to get infected with the caustic material, destroying the door and leaving a hole in the door.

A big enough hole for Billy to fit through.

"Oh, SON OF A BITCH!" At this point, I started walking fast because I felt too tired for running.

My eyesight was getting blurry, and I must have lost focus because I felt a sudden sharp pain in my lower abdomen. Damn. It must have caught up to me. Oh God, the pain was unbearable.

Then something unexpected happened.

I was pulled through the floor.

/*/

When I came to my senses, I wasn't dead like I was expecting to be, although I wasn't feeling that much better.

As I looked around me, I had a stray thought that I was in hell. The whole environment seemed to be made out of a similar material that the... whatever its name is made out of, and there were hallways branching out in all directions.

I looked around dazedly, hoping to find an indicator of which way I was supposed to go. Against all odds, luck was with me, and I saw a piece of paper on the ground. I stumbled along and picked the paper up.

It seemed to be a change of codes for one Dr. Maynard's office. The number wasn't charred out.

Four-two-five-eight was the combo. I didn't know if this would be relevant for me in the future, but I took the time to memorize the sequence. Perhaps it would do me good one day. I spared a thought for Maynard, who likely got killed by... ah, screw it, I need a nickname for the old naked man.

...Old Man works, now that I think about it. I'd rather not think about his lack of clothes every time I'm thinking about him, so Old Man it is.

Now that I think about it, though... That scientist that fell through the ceiling...

Was that Maynard?

Shouts out to you, Maynard. You died but you probably served a higher purpose in your life.

You were probably a good person. Probably.

I continued down the path, even though I knew I wasn't getting out alive. Even if there might have been a way out of this place, I doubt I'd have been able to reach it in my current strength. Even now, I could feel my strength getting sapped away second by second.

Eldritch laughter resonated against the walls. The Old Man's. That didn't sound good.

As I continued, I found myself on a narrow road where it was very easy to fall down into the abyss, and to make it all the better, a piece of rock was floating along the road, likely to pick off anyone who tried to go through, but still giving them a chance.

I slowly trekked towards it. I stopped when it almost hit my face and, the moment it left, I started going as fast as I could. Which was still slower than the fast walking that got me in this dimension in the first place.

I managed it in just the time, as I felt the rock brush slightly against my back. Phew. Now let's just try and balance ourselves and everything should be fine-

There were more rocks. Of course there were.

Or was there just one? Against my will, I turned around and tried watching its pattern. It seemed as if the rock was moving in a peculiar shape, cutting off yet another path out of my sight if I understood the pattern correctly.

I started moving again. This time, the jagged rock scratched its surface on my back. I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it, and in a twisted, morbid way, I was looking forward to falling down and dying.

I just wanted to sleep now.

I made my way to the last part where the rock flew, before stopping in front of it again. My energy was growing ever dimmer, and I could just end it here... It was so tempting.

I mustered all of my strength and, after the rock went away, started moving forwards. I staggered halfway through, my legs buckling under the pressure, but I pressed even harder on, knowing that to stop now was to accept death.

I was never the type to give up, really. It's an attitude that got me in trouble every once in a while when I was a kid.

This time, I managed to get past the rock without it touching me, but that was about all the strength I had. My feet buckled and I fell on the bridge, robbed of all energy in the legs.

The hallway continued onward just a few meters away from me, I could tell with my blurring eyesight. It would be oh so easy to give up - To succumb to the burning pain permeating throughout my whole body, to the exhaustion and through the migraine.

I started crawling with my hands. It took a massive amount of willpower but I was getting closer to that alleyway, inch by inch. If I die here, I'll at least have made it past this obstacle.

I heard laughter resonate through the dimension from the Old Man, though it sounded a bit different. Morbid, yet it had a certain light quality that sounded like the eldritch being's version of laughter. Did I please it?

As I got almost fully inside, I noticed something lying in the middle of the hallway.

It looked like a first aid kit. I could survive.

Not for much, though. I wasn't a fool to not realize that he must have put it there, most likely amused at my efforts and wanting to give me hope before it was crushed.

Jokes on him. I don't care about this life at all.

How could I when, in my dying breath, I'd just end up in a comfortable bed a moment afterwards?

I finally reached the first aid kit. On closer inspection, it was corrupted by the caustic black material, one side more prominently blackened than the other. I propped myself slowly into a sitting position, then took the first aid kit and opened it. It was filled with supplies and even some food.

I took what I felt was my well deserved rest.

/*/

After eating up, bandaging myself in some places and applying a spraying medicine that somehow managed to return feeling in my legs in moments and dull the pain (and applying the spray across the majority of my body afterwards), I got up.

Even though it was only around 15 minutes, I felt significantly refreshed. I wasn't about to be running anytime soon, though.

I made my way towards the end of the room before something happened. One moment I was in the hallway, the other I was in the facility again, more specifically in a hallway which looked different than what I was used to from the facility. Here it looked more like a bunker than, well, a facility. I turned around and it wasn't the charred black floor that I was expecting - It was the containment zone again.

That made my mind trip a little bit.

Unsure of this new development, I pressed on, and was about to go through the door were it not for the black expanse of nothing that awaited me there. I heard a shriek as well.

No, I was wrong. Upon further inspection, there appeared to be a narrow bridge down below.

With a jagged rock going in what looked to be an eight from this perspective.

Interesting.

Out of curiosity, I went to look at the other door. When it opened, I saw a red floor, but not much else. After deliberating between the two, I finally decided to bet my luck on the red floor. The drop was at least lower than the other room.

Instead of jumping, I hanged from the ledge of the door and tried to go as down as humanly possible before I jumped off.

My legs strained under the impact, but that was about it. The hallway was very dark, and as I started moving forward, I noticed one disturbing detail.

This wasn't a hallway. It was a room.

I looked at the unreachable door I came from. So this had been the wrong choice after all?

Ah well. I looked at the room for any peculiarities, but the only thing that stood out was the long cubic shape. I got closer to it, but my eyes were drawn irresistibly towards the top of the column.

Golden eyes gazed back at me. Mocking. I suddenly noticed that my energy was disappearing much faster than before.

Is this where I die?

After several seconds of eye contact, I heard a voice in my head, which I assume was the Old Man's.

KNEEL.

He wanted me to kneel?

I found, rather uncharacteristically, that I didn't exactly mind doing the one inane action if it meant a less gruesome death. And the Old Man was somewhat nice to me.

He didn't need to give me a first aid kit!

Well, he probably felt it'd be more fun to watch me squirm more longer and finally succumb under my own agony.

But hey, if you have the option to take the less gruesome death... The lesser of two evils, eh?

I knelt.

/*Don't forget to take a short break and drink some water. You're probably dehydrated right now.*/

For a moment, nothing happened. I was kneeling in front of the sadistic creature and all of a sudden I was assaulted by the sounds of loud airplanes. I appeared to be located in a trench of sorts, and this looked like a war broke out.

Seeing no other option, I started moving down the trench. I heard an airplane start to come in towards me from the far right.

My head was whipped out of my control, the same effect from before that forced me to look at the Old Man but much stronger now. I was looking in the direction of the plane.

I knew I was going to die. I accepted it even, which gave me a strange, but not unwelcome sense of apathy towards my situation.

It still didn't stop my abject horror rising from that... thing up there.

It sounded like an airplane. What it actually was was something that couldn't be farther from the truth. An eldritch horror I knew I would be seeing in my nightmares over. It was an absolutely humongous bird of purest black, with bones adorning the majority of its face and the outer layers of its body, including a rib cage on the upper part of its torso.

The middle, however, slowly opened up to reveal a blood red eye easily two times my size, maybe three, with a black iris and white in the middle. It was staring right at me.

The worst, however, was being forced to look in the eye as it flew to the other side. The eye contact made my blood boil, but not in the metaphorical sense.

It literally felt as if my blood was boiling inside my body, and my eyes were the conduit. I tried closing them, but that only intensified the pain somehow.

It also felt like the longest time until the abomination flew out of sight, and the burning stopped, but the damage had already been done. I felt much weaker, and it felt like I was scraping my skin by just walking with my shoes.

I tried my best to move under to the planks, and I almost made it, but it was not to be. It was coming again.

The telltale sign of my head snapping to the direction of the thing was enough of a cue. And, as if on a signal, the infernal burning continued.

It was pure, unadulterated torture. And the burning was getting even worse. Oh God, it was unbearable, staring at the thing and feeling my insides burn out.

It lasted for too long, and I was too injured beforehand, regardless of the first aid kit. As it flew out of sight, I collapsed on the floor, face facing the sky.

The planks were only a few meters away from me, but I couldn't move. I've lost all my strength at this point, the exhaustion proving simply too much for my body.

I heard the plane move back towards me and this time, I prayed as hard as I could to God to save me, because I couldn't take it anymore.

My head started moving.

I screamed.

AN: See? Like I said, nothing much going on. Such a boring chapter.

Cue "This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage for added effect. The first ten seconds or so are enough to understand how our main character feels in this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed.

Next Chapter: 18th August, 2018