I backtracked and hid Agawa out of sight from any hallway creepers.
Then, with her safety secured, I returned to the macabre operating room.
I peeped inside to see the crazed girl still gleefully waving the violet heart back and forth above her head.
'She's distracted; If I breach the room now, I can just knock her out.' Despite her apparent insanity, I wanted to avoid killing if I could help it. Call it my attempt at remaining as human as possible.
I brandished one of the two worn daggers I looted from the guards.
The blade was nearly worthless, but the hilt was still thick and sturdy enough to deal a decisive blow. It could render those with even the toughest skulls unconscious.
She turned away from the doorway, giving me a brief opening to exploit.
I made a wild rush inside and, once upon her, I struck her skull's temple with the hilt.
The blow was decisive, and she fell to the ground with a thud akin to a feather.
Her grip loosened as she lost consciousness, dropping the organ she previously cradled with zeal to the operating floor. It grotesquely splattered across the ground before settling in a small pool of blood.
A fleeting sense of relief entered my heart. I was thankful the confrontation went so smoothly. Knowing I avoided killing even just one person comforted me.
I couldn't relish it, though. I had to keep moving. So I turned her over to check for anything useful.
Despite the girl's demented behavior, her appearance was quite ordinary.
Her black hair was arranged in a medium-length bob cut. Unlike Malgam, she hadn't had on a bloodied lab coat or tattered trousers. Instead, she wore pristine black jeans with overalls clipping over a pure white, buttoned blouse.
The cleanliness of her appearance was remarkable, considering the surgery she had conducted just moments ago.
"The mark of a pro," I muttered.
There was a fact about her that eluded me until now. I must've missed it due to her disturbing activities. The fact that this girl was exactly that, a young girl.
She couldn't have been any older than the age of ten, and yet she happily killed and carved up another person.
The image of what type of parents would allow their daughter to perform such atrocities forced me to grimace.
An impulsive thought of taking her with me did pass my mind. I was always an avid supporter of the nurture argument when rearing children.
I put that idea to rest, though.
Caring for such an unknown variable was beyond me. Besides, I was in no position to try raising a kid. Especially not while I was in the process of escaping death.
I apologized to the girl and hoped she would improve her mental state from here. But, even if she tried, the road to recovery after taking a life was long. The source on that was me.
I stepped away from her after searching her pockets. 'I can't believe that I just looted a child...' A distinct feeling of shame formed a pit in my stomach.
My only solace was the situation made it a necessary action. Not only that, but my effort wasn't fruitless, which justified it a bit more.
I found a small, folded map of the mansion's floor plan in the girl's pockets. I was irritated that even the residents needed a map to navigate this place.
I stuffed the paper into one of my two holsters and searched the rest of the room for anything useful. There were various carving utensils, but I had enough weapons. The only other thing was a familiar but unused trough for collecting blood.
'Which reminds me….'
I glanced at the fresh corpse on the center table. A tinge of regret seized my chest when I realized who lay there.
Though I never liked him much, I pitied him the most. Overflowing blood soaked into his hair, making it even redder than it was naturally. It was the one who'd been the most excited of all of us...
'Kids killing kids?... What the hell is wrong with the world?' I cursed under my breath, clenched my aching fists, and lamented reality.
I was used to corpses by now; I'd seen enough to fill up a thousand morgues. That was why I trained myself to accept that there are just some people you can't save, no matter the effort you put in.
I said this, but the frustration…it was suffocating.
"I'm sorry, Tachibana… If only," I choked, "if only I got here sooner, you'd still be alive." To my regret, I struck the metal table he lay on, bruising my knuckles raw.
After my vent session, I discovered a few prisoner's shirts in a drawer and blanketed Tachibana's body. It was the best I could do in place of burial; my hands were already tied with helping someone still alive.
I said some words of prayer and began leaving the room.
My body became heavy, and my vision blurred when I reached the doorway. Briefly, I lost my balance and staggered forward, requiring me to temporarily support myself on the wall. It was only for a moment, so I wrote it off as fatigue.
I hadn't hidden Agawa very far away, so it was just a little jog before I returned to where I'd left her.
After seeing that she hadn't moved, I couldn't help but be relieved.
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ "Good, she's still unconscious." It was an alarming thing to say out of context, but I didn't want to subject her to another knockout strike.
I fished out the map from where I stored it before grabbing her by the hand. It took a bit longer because of my wounds, but I eventually hoisted her onto my back.
I had to angle her awkwardly this time. Otherwise, I couldn't read the map in my hand.
Everything was in place, so I continued my jog down the hall with Agawa in tow. After looking at the paper in my palm, a frustrating detail set in.
"How is this supposed to be useful to anyone?" I grumbled, remembering this was the map of a ludicrously symmetrical horror house.
After some time running, I came up to a split in the hallway. It went in four directions, and, as usual, they were all symmetrical in appearance.
"What do you think, Agawa?" I rhetorically questioned, knowing there'd be no reply.
I scoffed at the useless piece of paper in my hand and resolved to pick one randomly. Everything looked the same, so no amount of strategy was going to help.
By chance and impulse, I landed on the left hall. Then, nodding to myself, I continued my advance in that direction.
There weren't any cells lining the walls, oddly enough. Instead, there were open rooms illuminated by sparse candlelight. They all had luxurious bedspreads and well-crafted furniture, such as dressers, desks, and elaborate tables.
"At least they treat some of us 'cattle' well." I joked under my breath.
After sighing to myself, I left the room and continued ever onward.
However, I only managed a dozen steps before fatigue again assailed my body. I barely managed to support myself against the wall before I collapsed.
"That was close…." I said, resting my clouded head against the stone. I found relief in its freezing embrace. Then, I lightly bashed my head into the wall to keep myself lucid.
My pep session was interrupted by a group of rapidly approaching voices and footsteps.
I took refuge in a nearby room and dove out of sight with Agawa. We sat in deathly still silence as I waited for the group to pass us. Then, posting myself against the door, I placed my ear on it to listen as they traveled by.
"Goddammit, who let this guy out of his cell!" complained one guard.
"I heard he just broke out and beat the shit out of his guards!" responded another.
"What?! Didn't you fools collar him?!"
Between the clattering footsteps and shuffled voices, I could guess maybe a group of four to seven guards was passing by. It was difficult to discern during the hysteria. Still, I gleaned a tidbit of helpful information from them.
"We did collar him!" Another man exclaimed. "But his kicks and punches are inhuman! It's like he's a wild beast!"
From the sounds of their conversation, one of the other captives must've broken free and was running amok. They undoubtedly had some skill if they were causing this much of a ruckus.
I figured we could free the others and escape if we teamed up.
Once the footsteps passed, I exited the room and followed the guards. They were flinging insults and accusations of blame toward each other the entire way.
"Camaraderie sure is different here," I muttered.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter