Mansion in the Forest

THEY WANT US DEAD

After they buried Han's body using lots of blankets and left him where he died, they decided to go down to the kitchen to eat, but none of them had any appetite. Lexi settled with a cup of coffee while looking at the table, thinking deeply about something that Iris mentioned earlier.

"Will it be fine?" Trevor asked, but he didn't got any response from Lexi. "I don't think that it'll be safe." He tells her again with a nudge of his elbow this time to get Lexi's attention.

"That's what I'm thinking." Lexi replied, her voice in a minimal volume so their company won't hear them since they were all busy mourning. She doesn't want to add any more worries as they all have it as of this moment. "You know that we have to go through that room before we get to the exit."

"What room?" Trevor asked confusedly but Lexi just looked at him meaningfully and didn't utter any word. "Oh that room." Trevor remembered it. He nodded his head and smiled bitterly. "There's no other way but to face our fears."

"We all have fears, Trev. But this is different." Lexi sighed as she sipped on her coffee cup. "We should get going while still early, it's safer now than later." She said and stood up. Everyone looked at her and even if she didn't say anything, they all stood up as well, picked up all of their weapons and started marching out of the kitchen.

Jisu decided to slip some snacks in her bag just in case they got hungry and since no one even touched the food that Jazen cooked for them except Siena who had a bite in her sandwich and shove multiple spoonfuls of food in her mouth before standing up and approaching Iris.

Lexi looked around the mansion as they stood in the living room, then she pointed at the surveillance camera on the corner. "We have to take down every camera in here so we can move freely." She said.

"Okay then." Jazen said and she shot the CCTV at the two corners of the living room.

"I just know that monsters could hear us but they were afraid of sunlight that's why they couldn't attack." Siena chuckled but since no one joined her, she immediately shut her mouth.

They continued their way and continued to break every CCTVs in every part of the mansion. Until they reached a dark hallway at the far end of the mansion leading to the backyard. There's a room that they need to go through before they reach their destination and that's the only way to get there.

Lexi stopped, her feet started to feel heavy, she couldn't take any more steps and everyone noticed it.

"We don't have to go if you're uncomfortable." Trevor said as he squeezed Lexi's shoulder.

"We can't back out now." Iris said low on her throat. It sounds like a warning but Trevor didn't even bat an eyelash as he kept telling Lexi to retreat.

"It's fine." Lexi finally spoke and with heavy feet, she took steps towards the dark hallway. Siena remembered that she had the cellphone she found last night. So she used it to light their way.

As they went deeper, Lexi's breathing became unstable, she's having difficulty breathing. She was heaving deeply and will sigh exasperatedly as if she's losing oxygen wherein there are a lot of small holes along the way which gives them air. She suddenly felt a hand on hers, she looked back and saw Jazen, looking ahead but there's assurance in her face that she will not let go of Lexi's hand.

"We're here." Trevor announced as they stopped in front of a two way door at the end of the hallway. He looked back at Lexi and gauged her reaction before opening the door.

"Open it, let's not waste time." Iris insisted but Trevor ignored her and waited for Lexi to give him the permission.

Lexi sighed deeply before nodding her head. And so Trevor pushed the door open, creating a gritting sound that hurt their ears. Siena moved to the front to light the room but the light didn't reach the farthest corner so they couldn't see what's inside.

Except for Lexi and Trevor, because they know what's in the room. Bones of every child who lives in this mansion and is killed by those monsters. The room where everyone was hiding at the night of the chaos and the room where they led those monsters which caused everyone to die.

"Let's go—." Iris stopped when she heard a noise. "Give me that." She stole the phone from Siena as she moved forward and lifted up the phone above her head then she squinted her eyes to see better. "What's that?" She asked as she pointed at something on the darkest corner. Then she stepped forward again but she froze when she saw what's in the corner and the monsters came to her sight. They are all growling while looking at her.

"What is it?" Lexi asked as she walked towards Iris but the latter held her hand in the air to stop her. "What? What's going on?"

"Shut up." Iris whispered hard while slowly backing out. "If I say run, please do it. Run as fast as you can till we get out in the dark hallway."

"Why?" Denver asked confusedly but his question was answered with a loud growl from one of the monsters. "Oh s**t!" He hissed.

"Run, now!" Iris yelled when the monsters started to move from their spots. And so everyone ran as fast as they could. No one dared to look back as they could hear lots of heavy footsteps running after them. They could fight but they were inside the monster's hideout and it was so dark that they couldn't even see their way out.

One monster leaped off and was about to land on Iris, luckily Jazen saw it and she shot it with her shotgun then ran again.

"We're close!" Trevor yelled and he let everyone out and made sure that Lexi made it before he moved in front to cover the girls behind him. The monsters stopped at the end of the darkness, one of them accidentally crossed the light and its body started to set on fire when the sunlight coming from the window glass hit him.

He let out a grating sound and everyone covered their ears. The monster's body became bloated before it exploded and all of its remains scattered on the floor along with its greenish blood before it sizzled and burnt into ash.

"That was close." Lei gasping for air while they are watching the monsters walking back to where they're hiding and to their safest place in the mansion.

"What now?" Denver asked, looking at Lexi and waiting for her answer.

"For sure you know another way out, right?" Iris asked too.

"There is another way out." Trevor said and he pointed at the main door of the mansion. "There."

"We can't even open that door." Chantelle scoffed and she turned to Lexi. "I know that there's another way, so tell us now." She demanded.

"There are a lot of exits, but all of it we're already blocked outside and the only left was there." Lexi pointed at the hallway where they came from.

"There's no way in hell I would go back inside, there are a lot of monsters inside!" Lei exclaimed.

"That's literally their hideout. I thought they are in the basement?" Siena asked.

"Wait, maybe there's a way out in the basement! We should check it!" Iris said and they felt a bit of hope upon hearing it. But Trevor and Lexi know that there's no other way aside from the main door and the hallway in front of them which leads to the backyard.

"Let's just search the whole mansion." Jazen suggested. "After all, we were not the only ones here."

"She's right, they must be hiding somewhere safe and they must have an affinity outside." Jisu agreed to her and so even Trevor and Lexi disagreed with their idea, they just decided to go with the flow while thinking of some other way to escape other than fighting those numerous numbers of monsters.

As they continued to wander around the mansion, they found several doors leading outside but just like what Lexi said, it was all blocked from outside and they couldn't open it whatever they did try breaking it.

"It's getting late again, I think we should find a room to hide." Siena said when she noticed the time on the phone she was holding.

"Just make sure that we break every CCTVs in here so they won't find us." Lexi said. They went upstairs and found a room to hide, they settled in the room where Lexi, Trevor, Jazen and Jisu were hiding last night. It was more spacious than others in the mansion. They took beds from the other rooms to use it to block the door to make sure the monster wouldn't get in, but before they hid, they went inside one room and pretended that they were going to hide in there. Trevor held his middle finger in the camera before smashing it with his bare hands. Then then move to the said room.

The night started to approach and they could hear low growls and muffled footsteps. They knew the monsters were looking for them. They were silent, no one dared to talk, just listening to their surroundings until they heard someone talking outside. Lexi held her hand in the air to stop whoever wanted to speak. Then the conversation stopped and followed with a loud ringtone of a phone, followed with running footsteps and the monsters arrived, started banging on the door across them.

"They want us dead." Lexi said.

"I have a plan." Jisu whispered and they all gathered around her to listen to her plan.

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