This chapter starts off during the events of chapter Six, when Changjo and Ricky encountered the monster.

L.Joe cautiously crept through the halls, his fingers locked with Chunji’s – the two had become more comfortable around each other during their trek through the mansion, as twisted as it seemed. Chunji hadn’t let go of L.Joe’s hand since they left the library, his grip getting especially tighter as the halls around them became darker and darker.

“L.Joe,” whispered Chunji, “H-Haven’t we been here before?”

L.Joe sighed, “I-I don’t know. These halls all look the same to me.”

Chunji bit his lip, cautiously looking around as his mind continued to play tricks on him as they trekked through the darkness that had fallen over the mansion, he swore countless times that he could see something lurking the shadows, something moving in front of the dirty windows that permitted very little sunlight – well, he couldn’t actually tell if it was sunlight – into the hall.

Just as he was about to speak up, he flinched, hearing the eerie groan of a door as it opened. He automatically ducked behind the younger who froze in his step – peering at the door that had suddenly opened. At the first sign of movement, L.Joe shoved Chunji into the closest room, where they ducked down into the shadows – both holding their breath as they suddenly heard something throwing itself at the door – trying hard to break down the slowly rotting wood. Chunji pressed himself up against the younger’s side, both watched through the darkness in the direction of the door – neither could tell if it was breaking, but from how the wood was groaning, it sounded as if it was slowly giving out.

Chunji and L.Joe both pressed themselves against the wall, both terrified as to what was to come – after their encounter with the monster and insane man in the library, they knew that if one encounter, just one, goes wrong they would be joining those who were in this mansion before them wherever they rested. They both knew that they had no spaces for mistakes. Just as the door was about to give in there was a sudden pain filled scream that reverberated through the halls, ringing in the duo’s ears.  The monster that stood outside the door let out a bone chilling groan and took off running in the direction of the scream. L.Joe jumped up and peeked out the door, his heart racing as he saw the pale figure sprinting down the hall.

The younger of the duo turned towards Chunji, “That guy is a crap load faster than the last.”

They heard more groans and footsteps coming from the dark depths of the hall, L.Joe silently cursed closing the door so that he could see just barely out into the hallway. He watched as more pale figures passed and his heart pounded in his chest.

“There are more of them coming – either way we go, we’re going to be running into them,” muttered L.Joe, feeling Chunji grab ahold of leg in the darkness.

Chunji bit his lip, “What are we going to do now?”

“We go towards the scream of course,” stated L.Joe, peering through the darkness to where he figured the older male’s eyes would be.

“Why towards the scream? Do you want us to be killed?” questioned Chunji, his grip tightening on the younger, “You’re crazy.”

“We have to go towards the scream, because what if someone sane is in trouble?” questioned L.Joe, “You read the letter. We need ten people to get out of here. We only have three strikes – if we get a fourth all of us are dead because we’ll be unable to escape – there will be one too little.”

Chunji looked at him in shock and worry, “We can’t just go out there…we can’t run to someone who we think needs help. We have three strikes as you said, we can risk losing one.”

“Chunji, we can’t risk losing one because we don’t know how many people are left,” muttered L.Joe, “We have no means to communicate with the other groups – we have no possible way of knowing if anyone else has died – what if three people are already dead?”

Chunji faltered, opening his mouth to speak, only to freeze as they heard a groan that sounded as if it was approaching them.

“Damn it,” muttered L.Joe, grabbing ahold of Chunji and pushing him against the nearest wall, pinning the older male as they heard the door to the room in which they were hiding break open.

Chunji felt his heart leap out of his chest as he was pushed rather harshly against the wall, he flinched and shied away from the younger’s touch – memories of when they were in school plaguing his mind. He was terrified that he had done something wrong and had angered L.Joe – he was terrified that the younger was going to beat him down and leave him alone in the dark.

A whimper escaped from between Chunji’s lips as L.Joe pushed himself closer to the elder.

Hearing the relatively loud whimper, L.Joe pressed his hand against Chunji’s lips – silencing the male, who felt panic rising up within the depths of his chest. He squirmed and attempted to get L.Joe off of him.

L.Joe shushed the older male, whispering in his ear ever so softly, “I’m not going to hurt you, so calm down…please just calm down. I don’t want to be mutilated by these monsters.”

Chunji, hearing the younger’s words, tensed up and pressed himself even farther against the wall, his eyes frantically darting around the pitch black room. Between the news of them having yet another encounter with a monster so soon after their previous one as well as the reminder he was with someone who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him made Chunji’s mind sink even deeper into paranoia.   

L.Joe, feeling the older trembling against him, pulled the older male close to his chest, cradling the said male.  Chunji fought against the younger’s hold; however, he eventually weakened and rested his head in the crook of the younger male’s neck. The two sat there for a couple of minutes, both had their eyes closed.

Once the room fell silent again – free from the groans of the monster – L.Joe peered at Chunji through the darkness surrounding them, his hands tracing the way to the older’s face as he spoke up, “Let’s go now, the person who screamed could be in danger.”

Chunji nodded, using the wall and L.Joe’s hand to haul himself up onto his two trembling legs. Both males were terrified, to say the least, as they peeked out into the hall to see that the coast was clear – L.Joe took Chunji’s hand just as they exited the room and led the way, alerting to keep an eye out for anything behind them.

Chunji – who could barely hear what the younger was saying due to how loud the blood pumping through his ears sounded – hummed and was constantly glancing over his shoulder as well as keeping his eyes glued onto L.Joe’s back out of fear of suddenly being attacked by the younger.

“Chunji,” whispered L.Joe, pointing towards the group of monsters trying to break down a rather large door, “We can’t get through there…we need to find another way to get through before they realize we’re here and come after us.”

Chunji nodded, glancing around, slightly panicked. However, the elder calmed down as he quietly pushed open the door into a dining room like room, which was lit by the moon’s pale rays – making the room look rather majestic but also creating an eerie atmosphere. L.Joe closed the door behind himself before looking at Chunji.

“Help me barricade this door with the tables,” whispered L.Joe, “We need to make sure they don’t sneak up on us from behind.”

Chunji nodded, releasing the younger’s hand and aiding him in stacking two of the six tables up by the door – after they were finished, they moved to the door on the opposite wall. However, they froze, hearing two people speaking on the other side of the door, their voices muffled by the thick wood. One of the two voices sounded as if they were crying.

Chunji looked at L.Joe, “It seems like we found the person you were so concerned about.”

L.Joe nodded but shushed the older male, trying to listen in on the conversation. They both stiffened up as they heard a thud and a wail come from within the room.

Chunji looked at L.Joe, but the younger missed it as he opened up the thick wooden door and peeking into the room – watching as a stranger exited the room. L.Joe looked at Chunji, “The coast is clear – is seems like the injured one was locked away in the closet there.”

Chunji hummed and the two cautiously wondered into the room.

“I’ll check the closest, you keep an eye out,” muttered L.Joe, again, Chunji hummed and moved towards the open door, through which the stranger previously left.

Chunji peered into what seemed like the entrance hall – he held his breath, peering out over the room. His eyes then caught sight of the figure L.Joe previously saw exiting the room. He watched as the male snuck up the stairs, however, his breath caught in his throat as he saw the monster heading his way.

“L.Joe, w-we have trouble,” whispered Chunji, his eyes glued to the horrendous creature heading straight towards him.

“Just a little bit longer,” whispered L.Joe, moving the last box out from in front of the door – opening access to the room.

“Don’t open it yet,” whispered Chunji, however, L.Joe ignored him and opened the door – slipping into the room and spotting a young male who was curled up in a ball – sobbing silently.

“Shh,” mutted L.Joe, “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The younger looked up at him with frightened eyes, however, seeing as how L.Joe was slowly approaching him as if he was approaching a cornered animal and not like he was a predator ready to attack its prey, the younger relaxed. Relief ran through him, however, fear of what happened to his companion haunted his mind.

“Where is Changjo?” whispered Ricky, “He was just here.”

“He’s out there,” muttered L.Joe, “At least, I think the person we saw is the kid you know as Changjo.”

Ricky hummed, tensing up as his eyes fell on the horrified Chunji.

“Who is he?”

“He’s Chunji, I’m L.Joe.” stated L.Joe, smiling rather broadly, “Who are you?”

“R-Ricky,” stated the male, a slightly insane glint in his eyes.

“As nice as it is that this duo has become a trio,” whispered Chunji, “Now is not the time to be talking normally…now is not the time to be doing this – we have a monster heading right towards us.”

Ricky looked up in concern, crawling towards the older male – L.Joe following close behind. The trio peered out into the room just as a blood curtailing scream echoed through the vast and empty halls of the mansion.

The trio watched as the two monsters that were in the room – including the one who was previously heading towards them – flew up the stairs, making noises as if they were chasing something.

“Changjo,” whispered Ricky, fear rising up within him as he saw that the youngest prisoner in the mansion getting chased by the monsters. To add onto the fourteen year old’s worries, the door that Chunji and L.Joe were originally going to go through finally couldn’t take anymore abuse and just crumbled – allowing twenty some more monsters into the entrance hall and up the stairs – following the other two and Changjo. Sure, the monsters were slower than the two before them, but were just as deadly.

“I think that is our cue to leave this hall,” whispered Chunji.

L.Joe nodded.

Ricky, however, protested despite feeling like the youngest had abandoned him, “What about Changjo? We can’t leave him to fend for himself…even if he left me here.”

“There is nothing we can do now,” muttered Chunji, “There are too many monsters – we can’t make it to him.”

L.Joe nodded, “I’m sorry Ricky, but he’s right – we can’t follow him. It’s just too risky. There are over twenty of those monsters that stand between us and him.”

Ricky looked at the two older males with teary eyes, “Where are we going to go then?”

“That way,” muttered Chunji, pointing towards the door that the first two monsters broke down, “Or we could head back towards the library.”

L.Joe shook his head, “That way would be best, we can’t take an injured person to the place two of us almost got killed – we can’t take them back in the direction we had encounters with countless monsters.”

Chunji hummed before turning towards Ricky in shock, “You’re injured?”

Ricky nodded, “A monster got ahold of my leg.”

Chunji hummed, “That’s even more of a reason to get you out of here. If those monsters come back – if any more show up, we’re sitting ducks with you, there would be no easy way for us to escape this area with your leg being that bad.”

“Did Changjo say where he was going?” questioned L.Joe, suddenly changing the subject, feeling as though they needed to get out of the room as soon as humanly possible.

Ricky nodded, “He said something about going up to the second floor – something about finding bandages and medicine for my wound – or something like that.”

“Then it’s settled,” muttered Chunji, turning towards L.Joe, despite the fear he was feeling he took lead, “We head through the hall over there and hope to find another way to get to the second floor to find the medical wing and maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to meet up with Changjo.”

Ricky hummed in approval and L.Joe automatically stood up, throwing the youngest of the three’s arm over his shoulder. Chunji watched the duo – feeling something stirring up in his stomach as he did so, but seeing as how this wasn’t the appropriate time to be thinking about something other than survival, he pushed it to the back of his mind. The trio then moved forward, Chunji taking lead – despite the terror that still lied within him. 

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Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter - I know I promised to post it up like two days ago...I'll stop making promises that I can't keep. 

Anyway, I'm going to be going out of town for a bit - I'll be camping, which means that I will have no internet access nor computer access - so for the next week and a half there will be no updates. 

P.S. Thank you to the commenters and subscribers, I love you all. Just knowing that there are people reading this story makes me happy...again, thank you all. ^^ Also, I feel as though this chapter isn't as good as the others - so forgive it's crappiness. Oh, and for you WooGyu/YaDong and MyungYeol/Jong fans - they will be making an appearance in the story again in the next two chapters. ^^

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. ^^