You Are My Ally, Right?

Then swung it open again.

'...The f*ck?'

Nothing.

Apart from the burns, there was nothing. No blood, no corpse, no skeleton, just a burnt, scorched room.

The hell?

"Hey! What's in the room?..."

Mike gawked at the sight and fell silent.

Light flooded the room from the gaping opening in the wall, revealing the floating pieces of dust and silvery webs. Half the room had been decimated and rubble was all that remained of half of it. A large canopy bed lay in the middle of the room and no Lord's corpse lay upon it. No blood stained the wooden floorboards and there were certainly no eight skeletons. The only truth in Mike's story was the burning house. Drawers, well, what remained of them, overflowed with moth-eaten clothes. It seemed that the story was fake. On the peeling beige wallpaper, however, were two large portraits. One of a high-class looking lady and the other of a stout, finely dressed man. The masters of the household...

Lukas stared long and hard at the room, trying to find the reason for his uneasiness. A tall wardrobe buried under a pile of rubble caught his attention. It was large and quite deep. Its doors were ajar and something green poked out of it.

A few hard claps to the back woke Lukas up from his stupor.

"Well, looks like there was nothing to worry about. Let's go now. Just being in here gives me the creeps." Mike was already at the doorway. As he made to leave, Lukas tugged harshly at the scruff of his neck, startling him.

"Woah. What's wrong man? There's nothing... What? What do you want to do?" After releasing himself, Mike happened to catch sight of Lukas's chilling smirk. He prepared himself for the worst.

"Open that wardrobe." Lukas jerked his head in the direction of the wardrobe and stared at Mike who had already fallen to his knees.

Though he seriously doubted there was anything bad in there, Mike really didn't want to open it.

"Please bro, don't make me do it."

Mike pleaded for Lukas to be merciful. Digging through the remains of a potential murder scene was frightening.

"Do it." There seemed to be an invisible pressure pressing down on Mike.

"Fine!" Refusing to listen was one option Mike dared not take. The risk was too high. Besides, the rumors had proved to be false so what was there to fear?

Mike took four long strides to the wardrobe and cleared the rubble trapping it. Shutting his eyes tightly, he pulled the door open. One eye opened, then the other. Then?

He stood there unmoving, his glazed gaze fixed upon one thing.

'Strange.' Lukas called out to Mike many times but received no answer. He decided to go up to him. As he tapped on Mike's shoulder, Lukas spotted the green thing he had seen earlier. He froze. It was a gown. That was not what froze him however. Wearing that green gown was a shriveled, scrawny creature.

A dead corpse. Its eyes, still open, reflected the hate and fear it held towards its murderer. Its skin was eaten by maggots and its arms seemed to reach out towards something. Towards the boys.

Two more sat behind it.

One second passed. Mike came back to life.

Two seconds passed, Lukas stumbled backwards.

Three seconds passed, the corpses seemed to move under their relentless stares.

"AAAAAAAARGH!!!" Both boys ran for the door.

A sudden gust of wind slammed it shut and revealed the horrors hidden behind it. Another corpse, a male one, lay there, its limbs strewn about on the ground. The wind rustled its clothes and startled the boys.

"AAAAAAAARGH!!!" The boys tripped and fell to the ground. Coincidentally, their eyes locked onto the scene above.

Splattered on the ceiling was dried, brown, blood. How it got there was a mystery. A mystery they'd be better off not solving. Their blood ran cold.

The howls of the wind grew louder and louder. A silent scream wailed in their ears. The pleas of help and the curses of the dead grated at their eardrums, creating a dissonant sound. It echoed and echoed and echoed. The souls of the dead seemed to whirl about them, staring at them with their hollowed eyes and sucking the life out of them.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!" They wrenched the door open and ran out into the corridor. Breathing heavily, they slammed the door shut behind them and slid to the ground, the scene still fresh in their minds.

The wind thumped on the door, demanding to be let out. Its growls seemed to grow stronger until the door creaked under its pressure.

Lukas half-ran, half-stumbled in his haste to get downstairs. Meanwhile, Mike crawled on all fours to the staircase and slid down the banisters, falling to the ground in an undignified heap.

Breathing unsteady, they remained in silence, the recent events replaying in their minds like a broken record. The sudden appearance of a curious Tingting nearly made them bolt for the exit.

"What's wrong?" Tingting heard their screams and took in their pale, clammy appearances. Something definitely happened.

"Nothing." The boys answered immediately, ending the conversation there. Neither of them had any wish of recounting their experience. With tacit understanding, they silently promised to never speak of what happened in that room.

"Okay then~ By the way, guess what I found!"

Whilst the boys experienced a live horror show, Tingting had already scouted all the rooms and informed the boys that more than half of them were in non-living conditions. Well, to be exact, everything under and next to the master room had been burnt to the ground. That meant that half the mansion was uninhabitable. It was no problem though, there were still rooms on the other side.

Miraculously, even after all the devastation, the water still ran. This meant that they could still clean themselves off and deal with other personal business.

A low, rumbling sound broke each individual's concentration.

Forgetting his past grudge, Mike led them all to the kitchen, all too eager to be further away from 'that' room. Luckily, the fire had not reached this area so save for a few bugs and grime, the kitchen was completely intact.

Mike reached into a somewhat clean cupboard and pulled out a can of... soup? He poured the contents evenly into three bowls and passed it to Tingting and Lukas. One glance at the thick brown substance was enough to make even the strongest man retch. Lukas grimaced and eyed the soup with caution. Chunks of something bobbed grossly in the bowl. It resembled a slimy swamp.

"What's the lumpy stuff?" Lukas could not bring himself to touch it.

"Oh, don't worry, it's just chicken bits. Go ahead. It's fine. Trust me." Mike reassured him casually.

"Are you really sure?" Even Tingting seemed to have her doubts about the food.

"Don't worry, I ate this just a few days ago. It's fine!"

Tingting took his word for it and wholeheartedly scooped up the clumpy meal and placed it in her mouth. After a few chews, she swallowed. All went well until she felt her stomach churning. Everything just went downhill from there. Leaving no room for questions, she stood up and dashed for the bathroom, her stomach already cramping in pain.

Lukas, who had also scooped up a spoonful of the gunk, felt his hand shake. His head swiveled round to find Mike checking the can confusedly. His spoon clattered on the floor, the contents seeping into the cracks in the tiles.

"...Hey."

"...Yeah?" Mike could feel the goosebumps rising. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to get out of this situation very easily.

"Where did you get that food from?"

"...The cupboards..."

"These cupboards... You don't mean... you didn't place them in there yourself?! These cans were here when you came?!"

"...They were ok when I ate them last month!... Sh*t." Mike realised he misspoke. A snowstorm seemed to be building up in the kitchen.

"Last month? Give that can to me." Lukas snatched the tinned can out of Mike's grasp and searched for the expiry date. Finding what he was looking for, Lukas's expression turned deadly.

"Were you, perhaps, gravely unwell last month?"

"Wow! How did you know?... Oh..."

"Yeah. This went off last year. Last year." Lukas took a deep breath before yelling, "Bits of chicken?! It's f*cking mold man! It's fine? Trust me? You've got to be kidding me. Do you want to kill us?! You, your body must have developed some god-level resistance if you haven't dropped dead yet. How long have you been eating these for?"

"A whole month..." Mike finally saw the light. In truth, his body was still rejecting the food he pushed into it but he had thought that it was the side effects of living in such poor conditions. All those trips to the toilet, all those days lying on the floor, it was because of this?

Lukas scratched his head furiously. He hadn't forgotten that the earlier event was due to Mike's cowardice. Okay then. Maybe he was at fault too but that was besides the point. If Mike had gone in alone, he would have been able to safely retreat downstairs and spare his eyes from witnessing something so chilling. He scowled at the cowering Mike and sighed. Lukas jabbed a single finger at Mike's chest and demanded,

"You. Get us some proper food. Some real food."

"But-"

"Now."

"Yes sir."

Mike scampered off leaving Lukas to clean the mess off of the floor. While he was at it, he decided to dispose of all the expired food once and for all. With a clatter, the cans fell to the bottom of the trash can. Never to be consumed again.