Chapter 26
With Caroline and Jason’s help, Brian and Adam were finally able to stand up, they were a bit traumatized by the experience of facing ghosts this close up and the ash and broken rags on the body. But they still could move and with the help of Branston they were able to keep up with Caroline and Jason.
“Dude, when we’re back, this is gonna be so viral.” Branston joked.
“Yeah, let’s make it back and tell the whole story. This is some sick stuff.” Brian agreed.
“Hey, Jason, Caroline. How did you know how to fight these… ghosts?” Adam asked.
“We can tell you all about it later.” Jason sighed, “We learned it from our cheap ass boss, believe it or not.”
“Yeah, and we’re gonna have a real serious talk with him when we’re outta here.” Caroline said, shaking her head.
“And your weapons, what are they made of? How did you get them?”
“I don’t know. But I think they might be the mirrors we brought.” After thinking for a short while, Caroline answered.
“Mirror?”
“Yeah.” Jason agreed, “It’s a mirror we used for meditation and visualization...”
“Hehehehehehehe...” a sudden sound of laughter made all five of them flinched, they were getting closer to the end of the hallway, the path to which felt much longer than it looked. But they still could not see clearly what was at the end, it was still covered in shadows.
“What is that? Did you see it?” Jason frowned and asked.
“No.” Caroline answered: “This time it sounded closer though.”
“Thump”, “Thump” sounds of bodies dropping on the floor came from behind.
Jason and Caroline turned their heads and checked back, and they saw the three young men behind them dropped on the floor, foaming their mouth with no sign of consciousness.
“What the hell - ”
A shockwave erupted in front of them, and it hit both Jason and Caroline the moment they turned their heads back and knocked them into the air.
Both of them were able to land on their feet, Jason had more trouble balancing himself due to the wounds on his thigh.
And it was at this moment that Jason and Caroline had a clear vision on what was behind the creepy and eerie smile, yet they didn’t really have the words to describe it.
The thing was a big spider-shaped thing, but its body parts were not at all like that of a normal spider. Instead its body parts were formed from human bodies, or human-like bodies - each leg was made of a few pale and naked human with different kinds of extreme facial expression, and these bodies were twisted and bound together to form the shapes of spider legs; and the body of the spider was formed by two layers of human bodies in similar pale and twisted condition interlocking with each other with their out of place and horribly bent limbs.
An uncontrollable and freezing chill almost took over Jason and Caroline’s body, as they watched the giant human-formed spider extending its legs beyond the confines of the wall and window in the hotel, and charged at them bringing the same shadows that obscured the backgrounds with it.
It was more than obvious to Jason and Caroline at the time, that there was no way out, and the source of this limbo had shown its true face.
“You should go to hell.” Jason whispered through his teeth.
“Hehehehehehe!” this human-formed spider’s eyes - which were actually eyeless human heads with long, messy hair, no ears and no jaws, emitting laughter the core of its body, ramped up its speed of its charge.
Jason and Caroline stood firm and braced for the clash, yet they were far from strong enough. The human-formed spider did not even crash into them directly - it just let out a high pitched scream from inside of its body, and another shockwave just exploded point blank and it sent them flying.
“Kill me … Kill me!” “My eyes … please give me back my eyes… ” “... I am tasting my blood… so bitter …. so cold … ” all kinds of incoherent, grim and even gruesome whispers started resounding in their ears.
The wounds from the previous slim humanoid monsters began burning and itching from the shockwave, and their weapons straight out flew off from their hands. Jason was then pinned on the wall while Caroline was pressed on the floor.
The spider legs made of human bodies that got a hold of Jason and Caroline started oozing black smoke from the human’s mouths, eye sockets, nostrils and ears.
The chill in their bodies became numbing and paralyzing, the black smoke also exacerbated their loss feelings from their legs, arms and then their whole bodies.
It was only a few seconds before their vision started blurring and darkening - the black smoke was like a slow and sensory devouring tide, and it just drowned both of their faces in it.
“I shall be the fort. I shall be the rock ...” right before the black smoke reached his eyes, Jason heard Caroline’s slow and painful, but resilient low chant.
This hit Jason like a bolt of lightning, as he started his own low chant at the same time: “My heart will harbor fast wind, my eyes will pierce the highest sky ...”
“... Sticks and stones and blades, firm stand till I fall.”
“... My ears will hear what’s buried under thick earth, my mind will sense the waves of the lakes and rivers.”
Then they could no longer hear each other, they could barely hear themselves.