- Revelations

Arthur's world morphed into a mess of swirls and merging shapes, he struggled to focus as he gripped onto Martin to try and gain some balance.

At least he thought it was Martin, as when he now tried to look at his face, he only saw a blank mess of flesh.

He lurched back in surprise as the world around him gained some sense of physical reality back. However, the vague light from the candles around the chamber were gradually being snuffed out by an unknown force one by one.

Darkness invaded around him as he started to panic, Arthur didn't appreciate how his situation was evolving, he now found himself in a less than desirable position.

He began to shuffle around the catacombs, trying not to trip up on anything in the total darkness.

His head felt thick, barely capable of stringing logical thoughts together, he headed for a faint object he could just about make out in the distance.

It turned out to be a rotting wooden door. The last thing Arthur wanted to do was walk through the door, but the growing sound of laboured breathing in the distance forced him to carry on…

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Martin caught Arthur as he fell towards him, he looked into his eyes, only where there was once a deep brown, a cloudy black and grey swirled around his pupils.

Arthur started talking nonsense, and before long his eyelids closed as he fell into a feverish sleep.

Martin carefully laid him down on the cold stone floor and resolved to come back for him later.

After a few more turns in the dilapidated underground, he managed to make out a light in the distance.

Martin headed towards his possible salvation. The tight and winding pathway gave way to a large chamber.

He thought the chamber was empty at first, but from the shadows came an unnerving chant; "I don't fear you", "I don't fear you".

Martin gulped as he realised this is how Arthur described the receptionist in the church. The large chamber Martin found himself in was surrounded by multiple other pathways, but they too were enveloped in darkness.

From the sea of chants and darkness, came a solitary woman, she was dressed in typical clothes but her hair and face were a mess.

She briefly paused before picking up a metal pipe from the floor next to her, her expression steeled as she looked Martin dead in the eye "I don't fear you", she spoke softly as she rushed toward Martin.

He already had his gun in hand, all he had to do was aim and shoot, he lightly squeezed the trigger as the force of the bullet stopped the woman in her tracks.

Martin knew he wasn't out of the woods yet as three more women came from a different pathway. They were equally easy to dispose of despite the fact that one of them was carrying a knife.

The chanting had not decreased in volume however, and Martin knew this could only mean one thing: there were many more still to come.

Roughly ten more came from different pathways this time, making it harder to deal with them, he fired a few shots to take care of a small grouping, but missed a couple.

"Fuck sake", he seethed as he heard the familiar clicking of an empty magazine.

He deftly flicked the spent magazine out of the gun and loaded in another one that he had pulled from his pocket.

He only had a couple more and the sea of chanting seemed endless, he knew he would soon run out.

As the women continued to encroach on him he took a few steps back before firing some more.

Bodies dropped to the floor but it wasn't enough, two had made it all the way to him. One of them jumped on top of him and Martin was tackled to the floor.

The gun flew from his hand as the woman stabbed her long nails into the soft flesh of his cheek.

"Ahhhhhhh", he let out an angry cry of pain as he pulled the same standard-issue knife that Arthur used from his pocket.

He stabbed it in the neck of the woman on top of him. "Cop for that" he said as he started to roll her off of him.

Before he had time to regain his thoughts, the second woman smashed a metal pipe into the side of his knee.

He let out another guttural shout as he shifted his legs out of the way of another incoming attack from the pipe.

He crudely brought himself onto his feet, trying to block out the fact that one of his legs was feeling intense pain.

He caught the arm of the woman as she raised it up for a third attempt, before shoving the knife into her stomach.

She wheezed as she limply fell to the floor.

Martin hobbled over to his gun, but didn't have time to even regain focus as roughly twenty women this time emerged from the shadows.

He limped back to the path where he came from, only too aware of the encroaching tumble of footsteps behind him.

Rather than leading the mass of women back to an unconscious Arthur, he took a different turn that he passed on his way to the chamber. No light was able to illuminate his journey as he bumped and banged into different walls, not aided by his ailing leg.

He had completely lost his sense of direction in the pitch-black maze. There were no candles like in the previous catacombs.

He felt like he had travelled far enough, knowing there was no way he could find an exit, even if there was one, without the torch that he left with Arthur.

He sank to the floor defeated as the sound of the footsteps increased. "Hahahaha", he heard a frightening cackle, "We can smell fear". "Join us…", the voice had an otherworldly terror to it.

Martin clamped his hand over his mouth to hide the sound of his frenzied breathing. The footsteps continued to increase as he could even hear the erratic breathing of his oncoming attackers.

He could've sworn one of the women was right next to him, but the dread-filled silence was shattered by echoes of gunshots in the distance.

That seemed to attract Martin's attackers as the sound of the women faded into the distance.

Martin released his hand from his mouth as he heaved a deep sigh, he knew however that his reprieve would only be short lived…