Escaping

In the pitch-black basement, Rune, Nate, and Miko cautiously descended the stairs. Nate took the lead, guiding them with a lamp, while Rune followed closely behind, clutching a flashlight. Miko and Duke stayed in the middle.

Rune shone his flashlight on the basement door and turned to Nate, questioning, "Did you ever expect something like this to happen? Has a monster ever attacked this house while you lived here?"

Nate replied casually, "Well, believe it or not, this kind of thing happens almost every two weeks."

"Every two weeks?!!!" Rune shouted, shocked. "Living under such conditions must be terrifying. You could be peacefully sleeping one night, only to wake up with a monster hovering over you."

Nate shrugged and explained, "Well... after the first incident, I quickly realized that I needed to find a house with either two doors or a basement. Luckily, I stumbled upon this place that had both."

After Rune heard the news, he pondered for a moment and responded, "Wait, both? I only saw one door when I came in and looked around."

Then it hit him - the second door must be hidden down here in the basement. They needed to escape quickly before those monsters found them again, as it was inevitable that they would destroy the passage leading to the basement.

As this realization sank in, Rune reached the bottom of the stairs. He directed his flashlight towards Miko and asked, with concern in his voice, "Are you alright? I can imagine you must be scared."

Miko turned towards him, her face expressing her emotions, but she remained quiet. She then shifted her gaze forward and followed Nate.

Although Rune was worried about Miko and how she was coping with the situation, he knew that their immediate focus should be on survival. So, he kept his thoughts to himself and trailed behind Nate.

Finally, we made it to the bottom of the stairs. Rune used his flashlight to illuminate the dark room as he followed Nate into the basement. In there, he could spot numerous brown boxes and some equipment like fans and tables scattered on the floor.

Suddenly, there were loud bangs echoing through the basement!

Startled by the noise, Rune cried out, "Oh no, that sound came from the basement entrance, didn't it?"

"Damn it, they already found us! That escalated quickly," Nate grumbled, turning around with his lamp to brighten up the dim space.

"Looks like we need to pick up the pace," Nate declared, urging them to move faster. Without hesitation, he spun around and hastened his steps, and Miko quickly followed suit.

They finally reached the wooden door, and just as Nate reached into his pocket to grab the key, his eyes widened in surprise as he turned to Miko and Rune.

"Oh no, please don't tell me…"

"Sorry, but it looks like I somehow dropped the key. You two stay here, I'll go back and find it."

Hearing those words, frustration began to creep up on Rune as Nate leisurely walked towards the stairs, searching for the lost key.

"They stood there, waiting for what felt like an eternity. The silence was heavy, and with each passing moment, their fear intensified.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom that shook the entire room. Startled, Miko instinctively moved closer to the basement exit, her heart racing with fear.

Rune couldn't help but worry. "Is he dead? Why hasn't he returned yet?" he thought to himself. However, he didn't voice his concerns aloud, understanding that it would only add to Miko's already heightened fear.

As they waited in the darkness, realizing that nothing was happening, Rune decided to hand the flashlight to Miko. She looked at him with confusion etched on her face as she asked the obvious question.

"Why are you giving me this?"

Rune took a deep breath. "I'm going to find Nate and help him," he assured her. "You don't have to be scared because Duke is here to protect you. I'm certain that nothing will go wrong. I'll just fetch the keys and we can escape together."

Upon hearing these words, Miko's emotions welled up. Tears threatened to overflow, but she gathered her courage and managed to ask the burning question that lingered in her mind.

"But what about Nate?"

Don't worry about Nate, we'll escape with him too; Rune set off into the darkness using his memory of the room's layout to guide him without tripping over any boxes. Even though he was scared of navigating without light, which could turn out badly if the monsters had made it inside, he kept going.

He ran his hand along the wall as he ascended the stairs and after ascending four steps, he saw Nate standing with his gun pointed at the wooden door of the basement which was on the verge of breaking due to the monster banging on it from outside.

Recognizing the imminent danger, Rune started to step back and Nate lifted his hand before throwing the key towards him.

"I'll do my best to hold them back for as long as possible. You need to make a run for it and find Miko and Duke. Time is running out, they'll be here any second now. Hurry and go!"

Wait a second, I can't just leave you behind! I'm pretty sure the people trying to escape from this dangerous city need your skills more than they need mine.

BANG!

Right after saying that, the entrance door was shattered, and the monstrous creature, resembling a caterpillar with eight human hands, slithered in and climbed up the wall like a spider.

SKREEEK!

The sound echoed as the other corrupted creature, the lady twisted in appearance, entered through the broken entrance door.