Mansion in the Forest

I KNOW THE EXIT

"Where's everyone?" Jisu asked, looking over her shoulder and squinted her eyes to adjust her vision and see the other teenagers that was supposedly running behind them.

"Don't worry about them, we should go and hide." Chantelle said, pulling Jisu to continue their run, while the latter held Herlie's hand tightly.

"No, we should go back." Jisu suddenly stopped running as if she had some handbrake in her feet as she stopped so suddenly. "I need to go back." She was about to turn her body but Chantelle didn't let her. She looked back again with crinkled eyebrows. "What?" She asked, confused as to why Chantelle stopped her.

Chantelle didn't say anything, just staring at Jisu's earthly orbs. Then she shook her heads. "Nothing." She sighed softly, letting her go. "Let's go." She said and that's Jisu's cue to run back from where she last seen her friends, but while running, she could hear small footsteps from Herlie and none from Chantelle, so she looked back again, that's when she realized that Chantelle wasn't running behind them.

"Jesus Christ! Where is she?!" Jisu groaned gutturally, battling if she should run back or find Chantelle. She looked down at the kid and contemplated for a moment. "Okay, let's go back." Jisu decides and she runs back to where she left Chantelle.

As the night deepened, they continued to search for each other. Jazen and Uncle Sam looking for Lexi, Lexi looking for Herlie and Jisu, Jisu and Herlie looking for Chantelle.

"Uncle Sam, right here!" Jazen yelled when she saw a silhouette of a person that she assumed was Lexi. She waited for the old man to get near her before they both ran towards it but was surprised when they saw Chantelle.

Uncle Sam pulled Jazen in reflex and they both leaped off. "Thank God, you guys are here. I lost Jisu and Herlie." Chantelle sighed in relief.

"Where are they?!" Jazen asked, pulling out her gun and pointing it to Chantelle.

"What are you, Jazen?" Chantelle asked confusedly, her head tilted down in what everyone would call an intimidating posture.

"Oh please, stop pretending that you are a human!"

"Because I really am." Chantelle scoffed.

"You're not and everyone already knows!"

Chantelle's eyes darkened, her face grim and she suddenly burst out into loud demonic laughter. "I see, Lexi told you already?"

"So Uncle Sam was right." Jazen hissed past through her teeth as they slowly retreated back.

"There's no point to hide anymore." Chantelle said, her voice deep. Jazen and Uncle Sam felt a sudden fear crawling into their bodies as they could witness how Chantelle slowly revealed her true identity. A real monster, just like the ones they encounter in the mansion and the ones who killed people close to their hearts.

"I knew it." Lexi said behind them, glaring at Chantelle, who's now a huge monster and no trace of that tall blonde girl.

"I swear to God, Lexi. This will be the last time you'll leave me or I'm going to blow your head's off!" Jazen threatened, but her eyes never left Chantelle — the monster.

"It's ironic that everyone wanted you to die, Lexi." The monster chuckled but it came out as a snarl.

"Whoa, that was amazing, the monster could talk human language now? What's next? You guys can fly?" Jazen asked mockingly.

She's trying to lure Chantelle so that Jisu and Herlie, who were hiding behind the monster, could escape. They witnessed it too, the way Chantelle transformed into a horrifying monster.

And to be honest, she's not just an average monster, she's bigger than those in the mansion and the ones running after them that they assumed got lost in the forest.

"Well I guess, you will never know because all of you are going to die tonight." Chantelle said as she prepared for an attack.

"Let's see then." Jazen accepted the challenge as she pulled out from her back the shotgun. "If I tell you to run, you should run." She added but it wasn't for Chantelle, but to the two people hiding behind her.

"Let me handle this, babe." Lexi stepped out from behind and she unsheathed her sword, looking up to Chantelle.

"Did she call me babe?" Jazen asked Uncle Sam who nodded his head vigorously. "Great." Jazen smiled radiantly amidst the danger in front of them.

"Then I guess, you chose to die first." Chantelle said and without waiting for Lexi to respond, she charged forward, digging her claws on the ground as she ran towards Lexi, who was just waiting for the right timing to make an attack.

"Run!" Jazen shouted and the two people started to run, and it caught Chantelle's attention, she took a 360 turn and ran towards Jisu and Herlie's direction.

"s**t!" Lexi exclaimed and she quickly ran after Chantelle. She used the stump tree to jump higher than her usual jump and landed behind Chantelle's back, her legs squeezed in the monster's neck and locked them into a figure four submission hold then she tried to stab her nape with her sword but it didn't even scratch the monster.

Chantelle swung her arm to grab Lexi but the latter fell back on her half body to avoid her hand and let her body drift on the ground. Lexi caught herself, landed on her feet.

"Herlie!" Uncle Sam shouted as he met the two halfway but only grabbed Herlie's hand and tugged her up then ran again. Jisu unfortunately stumble at the fallen tree that she didn't noticed which gave Chantelle a chance to caught up with her. She leaped in the air and fall at Jisu's top but too careful not to hurt the girl.

Jisu screamed in fear, Jazen moved closer to make sure she wasn't gonna hit Jisu and fired her shotgun. Chantelle snarled, but it was not because she got hurt, but because she's afraid that Jazen might accidentally hurt the girl underneath her.

"Get off of her!" Lexi shouted and she was about to attack Chantelle but the latter avoided her by leaping above the tree and took Jisu with her. "No! Jisu!" Lexi shouted.

"I c-can't shoot her, I might hit Jisu!" Jazen said frustratedly, the butt pressed on her shoulder, one eye close and trying to lock her target but Chantelle hid inside the lush leaves and she out Jisu in one limb and made sure she's not gonna fall off.

"You're crazy, why did you come back?" Chantelle hissed at her, making Jisu stop screaming and she looked at the monster's eyes. "I already let you go, why do you have to be so stubborn?!"

"C-Chantelle?"

"I'm not Chantelle, isn't it obvious?" The monster scoffed at her sarcastically. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, so please, once I put you down, run to the north then left, when you reached the hill with weird sculpture, take right and you'll see the starting line of the path, just follow it and it will lead you to the entrance of this forest."

"W-why do you want me to escape? Aren't you supposed to eat me?"

"Then consider yourself lucky because I'm choosing to behave." Chantelle said while looking down and she could see Lexi trying to climb the tree.

"Is that a lyric to a song?" Jisu chuckled, though it is not really the right time to smile, chuckle or giggle.

"Yes, but I mean it. I'm not in the mood to eat a girl with heart shaped lips and innocent face, so before I change my mind, do what I say and save yourself." The monster said.

"I'm not going to leave my friends here."

"You have to or all of you are going to die, Sakura is one of us, she's the queen's daughter, and so is Herlie, so you have to stay away from them as far as you can."

Jisu almost fell back from the revelation she heard from the monster, actually, it's not even normal to speak with the monster, but since the monster saw how great Jisu is and a nice person, she decided to protect her.

"One more thing, the real Chantelle who became your instant girlfriend? She's still in the mansion, she must've been waiting for you there to save her." The monster said and she tapped Jisu's head before falling back and on her way down, she grabbed Lexi, they both fell on the ground with heavy thud, but both quickly recomposed themselves.

"Duck!" Jazen shouted and shot the monster. She successfully hit her at the back of her head and she dropped on the ground. Lexi rolled away while Jazen continuously shot the monster. It keeps snarling and growling while trying to protect her body using her arms.

When Jazen noticed that the monster was getting weak, she finally pressed the muzzle of the shotgun into the monster's head. "It was nice knowing you, girl." She said before pulling the trigger and it blew its head off.

"Jisu! Are you there?!" Lexi shouted while looking up to the tree.

"Y-yeah." Jisu shouted back to inform her friend, she wiped her tears quickly and calmed herself before jumping off of the tree and landed on her feet, right exactly in front of the dead monster without head.

"Are you hurt?" Lexi asked worriedly while scanning Jisu's body.

"I'm fine, Lex." Jisu assured her friend and smiled at her but barely reached her eyes, which Jazen and Lexi noticed but didn't ask.

"What did she tell you?" Lexi asked, looking at her meaningfully.

"Nothing, she was about to eat me up there but I didn't let her." Jisu lied.

"I'm glad you're fine, let's go back with the others." Jazen said while refiling her shotgun.

"Where's Herlie?" Jisu asked as they started to walk back to the cave but carefully since there are still monsters around.

"She's with Uncle Sam, they probably went back to the cave." Jazen replied.

"That monster." Jisu paused, gulping thickly to choke back her tears that's threatening to fall. "Told me something."

Lexi stopped walking and she turned around. "What?"

"The real Chantelle was still inside the mansion."

"Great, now we have to go back there and save her, am I right?" Jazen asked even though she already knew the answer when Lexi and Jisu chose not to answer her. "Okay, let me clear some things first." She heaved a deep breath with her eyes closed and when she opened them, she looked at Lexi. "Take back your words."

"What words?" Lexi asked.

"All of the things you said earlier when you broke my heart."

"Jazen."

"Take it all back or you're going to die right here right now!" Jazen pointed the shotgun's muzzle to Lexi. Jisu backed away quickly while Lexi put her hands on her side, as if she's surrendering.

"Fine, fine! I'm taking it all back, I'm sorry. Okay?"

"Okay." Jazen shrugged her shoulders and put back her shotgun on its sheath and she clung onto Lexi's arm like she didn't threaten her girlfriend's life a while ago.

"What a lunatic." Jisu chuckled while shaking her head in disbelief.

They continued their way to the cave and were expecting everyone to see there, but after hiding, rolling and crawling on the ground just to hide from all the monsters, they finally arrived at the cave.

"Where's Herlie?" Jisu and Lexi asked in unison. They looked at each other then back to their friends.

"I thought she's with you?" Iris pointed at Jisu.

"Yes, before Uncle Sam took her from me and we thought that they were going back here."

"We've been here all along but Uncle Sam and Herlie did not come." Denver tells them he's sitting at the end of the cave while Trevor lays on his lap.

"What the hell." Lexi mumbled under her breath. She already informed Sakura that she already have Herlie, but it seems that she needs to find her again. "We have to find her."

"Why? We are already here, Lex. All we need to do is wait for tomorrow and get the f**k out of this place." Iris tells her but Lexi shakes her head.

"If you want, you guys can go, I'm not going to leave without Herlie."

"What does Herlie have and do you have to sacrifice your life just to get her?" Siena asked, genuinely curious as to why Lexi was so eager to save the kid rather than saving herself.

"She's my sister, okay? So I'm not going to leave this place without her." Lexi answered.

"Then find her on your own, I'm going out of here." Denver said. He leaned back his head and closed his eyes. "I already lost my brother, there's no reason to stay here."

"I'm going with you." Blake said too.

"Me too." Iris said and she looked at Siena. "We're going out by the morning."

"Can you bring Trevor with you?" Lexi asked.

"Sure, and we'll also tell him that his best friend is already dead." Iris shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes, do that." Lexi agreed to it, which Iris was just trying to make a joke in their situation.

"You're nuts." She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to stay with you, I have to save Chantelle." Jisu said, everyone looked at her ludicrously.

"She's a monster." Denver stated like it was so obvious but Jisu still wanted to save her.

"The real Chantelle."

"I'm going to stay too." Jazen shrugged her shoulders and she pulled Lexi to the corner and tugged the girl down with her. "We should take a rest for now."

Jisu stayed on her spot while looking at everyone, and Iris noticed her. "Do you want to tell us something?" She asked.

"I know the exit."

"How did you know?" Siena asked.

"That Chantelle monster told me."

"Really? That's great then! Let us all go—."

"I will only tell you once we found the real Chantelle and Herlie." Jisu cuts off Iris. They all looked up to her in disbelief, as if she just grew another head. "If you don't want to help us, then find the exit on your own." Jisu added and she turned her heels, walked towards Jazen and Lexi and sat down.

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