April 4, 2023
We hid, quaking and sweating with fear as the footsteps – all too familiar to us – were on the hunt for more souls. We could hear the clanking of heavy steps just outside the door to the Theatre, then it bashed open, all the debris was sent flying. We were hiding in the room, and I dared not look, making sure not to give away my position.
"The Wolf is hungry." I could hear him pacing around the rows of seats and debris. "Under normal circumstances, The Wolf is not picky with his next meal. Whoever is seen when the hunger sets in is who The Wolf devours. But today is different for The Wolf. Today, The Wolf craves three spirits in particular."
Isn't The Wolf only supposed to be able to roam the Employee Ward? I thought, my heart and brain running wild.
Every cell in my body was screaming for me to flee. I gazed across to the side of the seat I was behind to see Kaylee and Blake hiding in fear. The footsteps neared, and furniture and piles of trash were swatted to the other side. I heard spirits scream, and some ran past us into the next hallway.
"No, no. The Wolf doesn't seek any of you worthless meals. I want the ones that call themselves Kaylee, Blake, and Troy."
My heart jumped into my mouth, and my body turned to stone. The sound of my name being spoken by that ungodly creature sent my neurons in a flurry.
"The Wolf seeks revenge. The serial killer was mine," he growled. "The Wolf let him kill in peace - let him fulfill his rancorous desires for blood, because he gave The Wolf a food source. It was win-win. Then the spirits of Kaylee, Blake, and Troy tipped off some heinous adventurers seeking a bit of thrill. And that led to the serial killer being taken from me."
I felt the urge to run. Seeing Kaylee and Blake share my expression, I signaled for the door. They nodded. I took a breath and bolted, followed by my two friends.
"There they are. There is my food," The Wolf growled.
His footsteps bashed the ground in rage as he dashed towards us, each step shaking the hall and having the spite of a fire under them. My breath came in rapid spurts, fearful and exhausted, which is crazy considering I'm just a spirit. At my sides, my fingers curled into sweaty fists, swinging forward, as if that would make me sprint faster. Behind us, I heard the baying wild howls of The Wolf and jeering growls of his hunger. Dust smacked my face as sweat dripped from my intangible hair.
"Please God, let us live," I cried aloud, throwing myself forward with even greater abandon.
Faster. I had to run faster. My lungs and heart were pumping, yet I felt like I lacked enough air as I sprinted forward, panic trembling in my exhausted limbs.
I saw a corner close by and gazed back to see Blake right on my tail, pulling Kaylee along with him. Only a few meters back was The Wolf.
My feet slipped outwards on some loose paper as I rounded the corner, the burning hot air scorching my throat and lungs as I inhaled deeper, faster. My heart beat frantically, all or nothing. Fail, and I'd pay the price, with my very soul being devoured. By now, I knew this asylum like the back of my hand. I knew we were nearing the unenterable room in B-Ward, and I knew an old lady was there. It was our only chance. If she let us in, The Wolf wouldn't be able to enter.
I could hear my friends panting as if their lungs were about to burst. I was no better. But the growls of The Wolf's stomach drowned out everything else. That was how freaking noisy it was. It wanted food now.
I wondered if The Wolf could fathom the fear of the chased, the fear of us. I felt the screaming of my lungs and will of my muscles go far beyond what exercise could ever demand. Despite my bodiless state, I felt the exhaustion as if I still had my old body in the first place.
Almost there!
Smack!
That was the sound of something being bashed into the wall right behind me.
"AHH! HELP!" The voice belonged to Kaylee.
"Let her go!" I heard Blake scream.
I halted instantly and turned to see The Wolf had caught Kaylee. He held her against the wall, with his hand stretched over her abdomen. Blake pounded his fist into the side of The Wolf, but he might as well have been spitting at him. His strikes did nothing, and the creature ignored Blake altogether.
The Wolf looked into Kaylee's petrified eyes. "Fear is a powerful and paralyzing tool. And it is man's nature to fear what they don't understand. See, every spirit will try and figure The Wolf out, and by the time they think they do so, The Wolf already has them in his clutches. Any hope of conquering that fear has simply left this Earth. See, what happens is they take one look into The Wolf's eyes, and they don't like the abyss that stares back at them. Because it unveils a truth - a truth about themselves - a truth that allows them to fade to black. That is the truth, the cycle all spirits meet when facing The Wolf."
His mouth opened to four times the normal size, and inside was a black abyss of darkness and terror. I could see the arms of others reaching out from a cage within his throat, and the screams of tortured souls echoed in the hall.
"Let her go!" Blake begged.
"Please! PLEASE!" Tears were streaming down Kaylee's face as she kicked and struggled in The Wolf's grasp.
Multiple arms sprawled out of The Wolf's back like a spider and were mummified with bandages. The untrimmed fingernails of his new hands tore Kaylee limb from limb as she screamed in agony. I watched in horror at the scene and felt the warmth of tears fall down my cheeks. The Wolf took her body parts and shoved them into his mouth all at the same time, and her screams joined the rest as he closed his mouth. Blake stepped back in fear and panic as The Wolf laid his eyes on us.
"Your turn to fade into nothing," The Wolf growled.
He motioned different signs with his hands and chanted. From nothing, he created a black sword out of thin air, engulfed in blazing red flames. He took the blade and shoved it into Blake's gut, carrying his elevated body past me and into another wall.
"ARGHHH!" Blake screamed as the sword speared him against a wall as the flames licked at his wound.
In a panic, I charged at The Wolf and kicked the back of his knee. This forced him down to that same knee, and I then wrapped my arms around his neck and feet over his waist and pulled him to the ground. He fell on top of me, and we rolled over and over again. We went further down the hall, away from Blake.
"Get… off… me!" he raged and sent a devastating elbow into my side.
I was forced to let go as the impact took away all the energy from my spiritual body. It felt like getting hit by a sledgehammer.
The Wolf stood over me, staring down with hate and hunger in his eyes, panting and weakened. I could see him heading back to Blake to finish the job. I was all that was going to be left. Seconds passed, and I begged for my body to move. It refused.
Then the hallway lit up and I fell unconscious.