The fire doors slammed shut. Stone grated all around them, signalling the shifting of the corridors. Eerie silence followed. Mia heard her heart hammer in her chest as Andrew pulled her forward by the wrist. Gale had died because of this whole ghost hunt. Any of them could be next to be eaten by that thing.

“Keep running!” Andrew shouted.

Jacob hyperventilated, stumbling along the toppled carts in the corridor. “It ate him. Gale’s fucking dead. Oh God. Oh Jesus Christ. Oh God no, Gale.”

“Shut up and run!” Mia yelled. Maybe he got away. He seemed to know everything and how to get out even if none of this made sense to her. The thing ignored all physics at how humans or animals could move, should move. It even grew a fucking fifth limb.

Ahead of them, the corridor stretched forward. Their flashlights bounced wildly along the walls as they continued to run. Nowhere to go. Lost all direction. The temperature had no longer dropped, it had stayed at probably zero. Their breath was a constant fog in front of them.

“The exit should be this way,” Andrew pointed straight ahead. “We came in through the main doors.”

“How do you know that?!” Mia shouted. She didn’t have to snap. That was true. But nothing made any sense.

“Gale said take the second left, and that’s the second left. We go straight to the end that should be a set of double doors, and we made it,” Andrew said.

Right. Right. She remembered that’s what Gale said, and he had always been correct in which way to go in this place that had defied reality. They followed Andrew, but then came to an intersection. The set of double doors wasn’t there.

“Fuck the layout!” Jacob shrieked. “This place isn’t real! None of this is real!”

Mia’s flashlight caught a broken toppled over wheelchair. “This way. That wheelchair’s familiar.”

Following her, Jacob continued his whispered prayers. The once damp walls had now formed frost as freezing temps stayed still.

Mia touched the frost. The part where she touched immediately melted and turned warm and damp instead. Picking up her fingers again, the frost formed seconds later. “This breaks every law of thermodynamics.”

“Who gives a shit about that right now?” Andrew hissed. “We need to get out!”

“Stay together. Keep moving.” Mia led the way down the corridor, passing a patient room. A noose hung at the centre of the room, and the flashlight revealed a shadow on the floor hanging from that noose.

Jacob whimpered. His prayers grew faster and faster. The next room had the same pattern. Except this time, it had 6 nooses hanging from the ceiling. 6 shadows hung from the nooses.

Suddenly, all the doors closed all together. Mia jumped back and held onto Andrew’s arm.

“Looks harmless,” Andrew said. “Let’s keep moving.”

The group moved again. This time, no longer privy to what’s in the rooms. Each door had a number on them.

“Guys, wait.” Jacob stopped suddenly, pointing his flashlight at the wall. “The numbers are wrong.”

“What?” Mia looked where he pointed.

301, 302, 303, 117, 118, 456, 457.

“What the fuck…,” she whispered. This wasn’t some old government building that had mismatching door numbers. This was an asylum that was long gone.

“I told you!” Jacob shouted. “This place isn’t real! We’re already dead! We died when we walked in, and this is hell!”

Andrew grabbed Jacob’s shoulders. “Get it together, man!”

“Maybe there’s a logical explanation. Multiple wings connected to it and we’re just learning about it now because we didn’t explain this much before,” Mia said, definitely sure she didn’t believe the words she said herself. “Right. We just need to find the exit.”

She pushed Andrew forward making him lead. Mia and Jacob behind him. But before they could move, stone grating could be heard everywhere again. The floor tilted under their feet.

“Watch out!” Andrew pulled Mia back and also pulled Jacob, who held on to Mia. The ceiling collapsed where they had been before. Rubble and rebar littered the floor where they were before.

“The building’s just old, right? Falling apart and all,” Mia said. “It’s just an old building. Watch the walls too.”

The group continued, going around the corner just ahead of them. However, Andrew suddenly stopped.

“Wait,” Andrew said. “Something’s wrong.”

They arrived at a corridor that looked exactly like the entrance hall, except there was no entrance door and the wallpaper was pale red instead of green.

Andrew walked over to where the entrance door should be, feeling around for the door. Mia did the same, looking for a doorknob or any switch that could be activated.

“The fuck? What the fuck is this?!” Andrew kicked the wall.

Jacob started hyperventilating again and said, “We’re never getting out, are we? Never getting out. Never getting out.”

“Buildings don’t just change their architecture.” Mia started hyperventilating as well.

“This ain’t science class no more, Mia!” Andrew punched the wall again, and as soon as his fist met the wall, a deafeningly loud thump shook the whole corridor.

“That wasn’t you, right?” Mia asked.

Andrew shook his head.

The same thump shook the area again. This time, they heard the wall in front of them crack, webbing along the centre of the wall.

“Get away from it, now!” Mia shouted. The others followed her to behind the reception desk.

With a sound of a truck crashing into a wall, it exploded inwards, rubble flying past them, and some breaking off part of the desk they used as a shield.

As the dust settled, Mia peeked from above the desk. She saw a blurry outline of something moving through the dust. Shining a light on it, there was nothing there, but the rays of the light didn’t make sense. It was as if the light bent around what it was shining through as it cast no shadow. Whenever the thing moved, the air distorted like heatwaves that was clearly not possible with the current freezing temps.

“What is that?” Andrew backed away, tripping over Jacob.

Mia couldn’t answer. She kept swiping her flashlight through the distortion, but nothing solid ever came into vision. There was something there, and it could only be seen if it moved.

“Run!” Mia grabbed Jacob’s arm, pulling him up to his feet. “Now!”

They turned back and ran the other way, no longer caring where the correct direction was. Behind them, walls cracked and exploded outwards into rooms. Wood splintered and pipes burst as they passed by. The invisible thing was chasing them.

“What is that thing?” Andrew shouted.

“I don’t know!” Mia yelled back. “Don’t look at it! Just run!”

Jacob suddenly screamed, “It’s death!! It’s the grim reaper! Andrew you dumbass! This is your fault! We’re gonna die!”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Shut up! Keep moving!” Andrew shouted.

The group rounded another corner. The corridor had changed again. A janitorial office and broken shelves replaced the patient wards they once passed.

“Fuck!” Andrew panted. “This wasn’t here before!”

Mia’s lungs burned. “Shit, not again.”

Walls continued to break behind them. The floor cracked as the invisible thing stomped, tearing through the building itself.

They reached another intersection. Mia pointed right. “This way!”

The new corridor stretched ahead of them. This one had windows lining the left, showing the moonless night outside.

In other words, it was freedom if the two boys worked together to break the glass.

“Break it!” Mia shouted.

Andrew picked up a metal chair fallen over on the floor. Grunting and sprinting at the window, the chair bounced off the glass. It didn’t even make a sound when it hit the window.

“What the fuck!” Andrew charged again, this time with his elbow. Upon hitting the glass, his elbow bounced off, causing him to stumble backwards.

“It’s not glass,” Mia touched the window that was supposed to be glass. “It’s not anything I felt before or… I really don’t know.”

Jacob grabbed a metal tray on the floor and threw it at the window. The tray bounced back, also not making any sound as it hit the glass.

“We’re trapped,” he whispered. “It’s playing with us.”

Behind them, the sounds of destruction came closer. Walls being ripped apart with ease and floors cracked, getting closer by the second.

“Keep moving!” Mia pushed them forward. “There has to be a way out!”

They ran down a corridor filled with crates scattered throughout the ceiling as the lights hung upside down on the floor they ran through. Behind them, craters formed at every step they took. Just up ahead, a door creaked open.

“Where’s my mom?” a voice called.

The first thing they encountered from before walked into the corridor in front of them. It was the monster that killed Gale. Five limbs, walking like a spider, triangular teeth, and a mouth that was half of its face.

“Fuck. No, no, no,” Andrew whispered.

The group slowly backed away, retreating as one. The thing tilted its head.

“Where’s my mom?” it asked again, taking a step forward.

Behind them, another wall exploded inward. The invisible thing caught up to them. They were now caught between two nightmares.

“This way!” She grabbed Andrew and Jacob, yanking them toward the broken wall.

“Are you crazy?” Andrew resisted. “We don’t know what’s back there!”

“And we know what’s in front of us!” Mia pointed at the end of the corridor, scuttering around with jerky steps clacking along the floor. “Choose!”

Jacob didn’t hesitate. He bolted through the broken wall, disappearing into the darkness beyond.

Andrew looked between the approaching creature and the hole in the wall. “Fuck it.”

He followed Jacob through the opening.

Mia glanced back one more time. The thing had stopped, tilting its head 270 degrees, watching her.

“Where’s my mom?” it asked one more time.

Mia turned and leapt through the broken wall into darkness. She hit a wall and tumbled down through a slide, landing sideways and hurting her shoulder. Lifting herself up from the floor immediately, she pointed the flashlight ahead of her. Settling dust blocked the light, but she could see two shapes running ahead, Andrew and Jacob.

“Wait!” she gasped, getting to her feet.

They looked back at her as she caught up to them.

“What is this place?” she asked.

Concrete floor and pipes ran along the walls. Water dripped somewhere, echoing in the concrete tunnel. It looked like a maintenance tunnel. However, what mattered was the invisible thing tearing apart the building hadn’t followed them, nor did the other nightmare.

At least not yet.

“Keep moving,” Andrew grabbed her arm. “I don’t think any of those things can fit through here.”

They ran down the narrow corridor, and the air changed. Drier and dustier, slightly warmer, enough so that their breath didn’t fog anymore.

The maintenance tunnel curved, then split into a T-junction. No signs. No markings that tell them the exit or entrance, just identical concrete passages going into darkness.

“Which way?” Andrew’s voice cracked.

Mia hesitated. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

“Left,” Jacob whispered suddenly. “No, right. Wait, hold on. No. They’re lying to me.”

Mia turned to him. “Jacob? What’s wrong?”

Jacob’s shoulders hunched, eyes darting all around, tracking something in the dark. He pressed himself against the pipes, pointing his flashlight at Andrew, then Mia.

“Stop it,” he whispered. “Stop whispering to me.”

Andrew took him by the shoulders again. “Nobody’s whispering, man.”

“LIAR!” Jacob screamed, shaking off Andrew’s grip. “I hear them! They’re telling me what you are!”

Mia stepped toward him slowly. “Jacob, there’s no whispering. It’s just us.”

“Get away from me!” Jacob backed away slowly, throwing his hands at them. “You’re not Mia. You’re not her, you goddamned mimic!”

“The fuck talking about?” Andrew moved closer.

“Stay back!” Jacob pointed his flashlight at Andrew’s face. “They told me what’s happening. Both of you. Both of you are just skin walkers. Yeah, that’s it. They were warning me about you.”

“Jacob,” Mia said softly. “Your brain is trying to process trauma. We are real. We’re not skin walkers or mimics or whatever you’re talking about.”

“Shut up, you skin walker!” Jacob laughed, high and brittle. “They also told me you’d say that. Pretending you’re my friends, and then… and then EAT ME?!”

Andrew stepped forward. “Dude, you gotta chill, man. You’re not really making the situation any better. We’re all scared, get your shit together.”

“STAY BACK!” Jacob swung the flashlight at Andrew. “You skin walking bitch! You’re not the real Andrew! No you’re NOT!”

“Jacob, I studied this in abnormal psych. Your mind is creating a story to process trauma. It’s trying to rationalize the impossible things happening.” Mia said.

“Shut up!” Jacob shouted louder. “You’re the worst one! Acting all scientific when you’re just a thing wearing Mia’s skin!”

The air around them rippled suddenly. Heat waves but without heat. A distortion moved along the wall nearest Jacob.

Jacob saw it and screamed. “THERE! SEE? IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN!”

The distortion rippled around them, then disappeared down the left corridor.

“What was that?” Andrew whispered.

“Another trick!” Jacob backed away. “They’re everywhere! Eating and then wearing the skins! Everywhere!!”

Maybe it was pressure changes. Gas leaks with these pipes everywhere causing visual tricks. But Mia knew none of it made sense, and blaming Andrew for this whole thing wouldn’t solve anything at this point.

“Jacob, stop being an idiot!” Mia tried to slap Jacob across the cheeks, but it was caught by his hands.

“No!” Jacob threw away her hand and backed away even further. “Get away from me, you monsters!”

The moment Jacob finished his sentence, he bolted down the right corridor, his flashlight disappearing into the darkness.

“Jacob!” Andrew shouted. “STOP!”

“We have to get him,” Mia said.

Andrew nodded. “Fine. Split up. You go after Jacob. I’ll check the other way, see if there’s an exit.”

“Split up? Are you crazy?” Mia grabbed his arm. “That’s exactly what gets people killed in horror movies!”

“This isn’t a movie! And Jacob’s losing his mind!” Andrew pulled away. “Look, I’ll just check quick. If I find an exit, I’ll come right back. We can’t let him run around alone.”

Mia wanted to argue, but Jacob’s footsteps echoing in the tunnel were already fading. “Fine. Five minutes. If you don’t find anything, come back to this junction.”

“Deal.” Andrew squeezed her shoulder. “Be careful.”

He headed down the left corridor, his flashlight beam getting smaller until it went around a curve.

Mia turned and ran after Jacob, holding the flashlight at the front steadily. The tunnel went on, no turns, just straight.

“Jacob!” she called. “Jacob, wait!”

Her voice echoed in the concrete maintenance tunnel. The sound of grating stones started again. Dust fell from the ceiling as the layout changed above.

“Fucking idiot,” she whispered.

The concrete tunnel she expected turned into a corridor filled with pale green wallpaper. A clear line of a seam appeared where the hallway and the concrete tunnel bordered. But that was where Andrew was, and now it was gone.

“Andrew?” she called, voice shaking. “Jacob?”

No answer. Just the drip of water somewhere.

Mia put her hand against the wall. It felt solid, real. She saw the building rearrange itself, like a puzzle box. What about science? Physics, chemistry, quantum mechanics. None of that can explain what the fuck she was experiencing right now.

She forced her leg to move, following the new corridor. It was the only thing she could do.

The air rippled. Just ahead of her. Distortions that looked similar to earlier. It stayed near the walls, passing through the walls every now and then as if they weren’t there.

A ghost.

Mia froze. The ripple moved forward, then seemed to wait. It returned to her, hovering at the wall.

“What are you?” she whispered.

It moved again, then suddenly the wall beside her exploded into debris, opening up the way to another corridor. It was… herding her.

She shivered. It would kill her if she didn’t do what it wanted.

It led her through the corridors, more like breaking through the walls and not following the laws of this place itself. Each time they encountered a wall, she’d have to close her eyes and cover her ears.

After what felt like hours, the ripple stopped in front of a door, seemingly untouched by decay and age. Above the door, a nameplate plate that said “CHIEF PHYSICIAN.”

The entity passed through the door, then the lock clicked. The door creaked open inwards.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep