2: Chapter Two: 'A Warm Welcome'

Hello again, I hope the first chapter wasn't too bad, and I hope that this one is good as well. For the moment my chapters will be quite short, I apologize for that, I'm not gonna lie; this story is a bit of a free style. I have a plot, but I'm just writing it as I go, so it might be a bit rough, and if it's really that bad, I'll go back at redo it. Anyway, you didn't come here to read the author's note. Here's the second chapter! Reviews are much appreciated, and I hope you enjoy it! :3

Chapter 2: 'A Warm Welcome'

Anna, Max and Mira followed the strange woman who had visited them during the
night through the forest, they had been walking for hours, and every bone in their
body ached as they walked. Each of their bodies were coated in a thin sheen of
sweat, but it seemed that the woman who led them still retained her perfection.

"We've been walking for hours...!" Mira groaned, hanging her head low as she
struggled to keep up with the group. It was a beautiful day, but the sun and the
sky was hidden from view, the growth was thick and damp, the air around them
smelled musty and ancient. Not a ray of sun dared to peek through the trees, they
were completely concealed, the strange, robotic messenger led the trio along an
invisible path; she just seemed to know the way, on occasion, she would stop and
look around, then continue walking.

Eventually, there was a clearing, which revealed a massive steel fortress that
stretched for what seemed like miles. The structure towered over the small group
as they approached.

'This is our stop...' Thought Anna to herself as she lit up a cigarette, blowing
out the smoke in a thick cloud in front of her.

The woman led them to the front of the building, and pressed a button on an
intercom, it seemed like there was no entrance, the three wondered how they were
going to get inside.

"Welcome home, Hotoke, I see you've brought our guests." Came a crackly voice from
the other side, it sounded aged, and filled with confidence.

A part of the wall opened up with a soft 'whooshing' sound, the visitors saw
nothing but blackness from within. Each of them hesitantly followed the woman now
identified as Hotoke inside the strange fortress.

The door behind them had closed, and it was pitch-black. After a few moments, the
room was suddenly illuminated, it was completely empty, and about the size of a
school gym. Not a speck, not a dent was seen on the floor, the walls or the
ceiling; everything was perfect. In the centre stood a man in a white suit, he
looked to be about 50 and wore a sly smirk as Hotoke stood beside him, gesturing
to the visitors as if she were presenting them.

"Welcome." The man beamed, extending a hand for Max to shake, Max looked at his
hand for a moment, and hesitantly shook it. He gave Mira and Anna both a kiss on
the hand, and stood before them with his hands behind his back.

The trio stood there silently, not knowing what to say. The man took this as a
sign to continue, and his smile seemed to grow wider, if it were not wide enough.
He spread his arms out either side of him, "This building is absolutely
astonishing. Don't you agree?" He pulled a flask out of his jacket, unscrewing the
cap, he took a long swig, wiping his lips with the back of his hand, and then put
the flask away. "I invite three people at random each year to take part in... Life 
Changing events."

His expression suddenly changed, his dark eyes turned to look at Max, with a
wrinkled finger, he pointed, "But, before we begin there is a matter to attend
to." He said as he turned and walked towards him, standing in front of Max,
glaring sternly, "I clearly stated in the invitation that this was secret, and
somebody found out." He clapped his hands together and from a hidden door in the
far side of the room, stumbled out Max's girlfriend, her wrists were tied and had
been beaten near death. She was gagged and blindfolded, as she stumbled over to
them, Max ran towards her, but was stopped by Hotoke.

"No." She said commandingly, her grip was surprisingly firm.

"What did you do to her?!" Max shrieked, struggling against Hotoke, he watched
Melissa collapse to her knees. Mira and Anna watched from afar, horror on their
faces as the scene in front of them played out. The old man stood beside Melissa
and pulled a silver revolver out of his jacket, he pressed it against the girl's
temple, pulled back the hammer, and shot her in the head. The gunshot caused all
three of them to jump back, startled, it reverberated around the room with a sharp
crack. Melissa lifelessly slumped to the ground, a pool of dark red blood forming
around her head. Mira screamed and staggered backward, trying not to be sick. Anna
covered her eyes with her hands, her breath caught in her throat, she felt faint.

"Oh my god!" Max cried out, Hotoke released him, and he fell to his knees, staring
at his now dead girlfriend. "Oh my god!" He repeated, his mouth hung open in
shock, tears formed in the corners of his eyes. Melissa was gone. His love was
dead. Max pressed both palms on the tiled floor and choked back a sob. The old man
put the revolver away and cleared his throat.

"So that's that solved." He said uncaringly. "We can get on to business, if you would all follow me, please, we can continue."

3: Chapter Three: 'Into the Labyrinth

A/N:(These author's notes are from fictionpress so you don't really have to pay attention to those until chapter 5 comes out) Hello! I see I've gained a bit of attention, yay c: This chapter should be longer. But I must inform you that there's a little bit of blood and guts and stuff, so if you don't like that, you should probably stop reading now. 

Otherwise, read on and hopefully enjoy! Reviews and such are much appreciated! :)

Oh, and I apologize for any spelling mistakes I make, I'll probably go back and fix it up.

Chapter Three: 'In The Labyrinth'

"You can call me Doc." Said the strange man as he led the group through multiple hallways. Within a a few moments, neither of them knew where they were. This building was like a labyrinth. There was a strong smell of disinfectant, and the air around them was freezing.

'What the fuck just happened? Why are we still following this guy around?' Anna bit her lip as she followed behind, she heard the soft padding of shoes from behind her, turning her head over her shoulder, she looked at Mira; who's face was dirty and stained with tears. She had a bruise that had began to fade under her right eye. The mother in Anna just wanted to take her in her arms and soothe her. There was so much she didn't know behind this young woman's bright emerald eyes.

Doc led the group into a small room, like the main room at the entrance, this one was bare too, save for a small wooden table sitting in the corner, on the surface were several objects.

"This is where you will be starting." Doc informed them as he walked briskly to another door on the far side of the room. A sadistic smirk crept on his lips, he turned back towards the group, hands behind his back, he watched them shuffle into the room.

'They all look so terrified, I don't think the boy will last long.' He eyed Max with a brow raised, he had gone pale, his lips were almost blue, his almond-shaped hazel eyes were rimmed with red, and he was still softly sobbing by himself, separated from the girls.

"Why did you kill her?" Max choked out as he looked to Doc desperately for an answer.

"Because you failed to follow the rules." Doc replied nonchalantly, brushing invisible dirt from his collar; he simply didn't care at all.

"The rules?! That's fucking murder!" He cried back, his voice coming out in a shrill shriek. It was clear that he loved Melissa, she was his life. Now, there was just a hole. Max didn't know why he didn't just run over and beat the guy. Now he had truly lost everything. His friends, his family, they were all gone. They all moved away, or died, or they forgot about him.

Doc didn't reply, instead he disappeared through the door. Max slumped pathetically against the wall and let out a sigh. Anna stood beside him and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"I understand how you feel." Her skin was much darker compared to Max's. and her brown hair was messy and fell over her shoulders. She looked afraid, but tried her hardest to stay calm, but how does one stay calm when they don't know what's going to happen to them?

Mira was studying the objects on the table, there was a map of the building, but there were no exits marked; so there was no way of escaping. And this place was huge, there were so many rooms and hallways, a lot of them were unmarked. Some had red X's in the middle of them. There was also an orange flashlight, two batteries sat beside it. There was a machete, it looked deadly sharp. And finally, some rope. Mira arched a brow at the contents, and wondered what it could all be for, but suddenly, from a black speaker bolted up in the corner of the room, came the crackled voice of Doc.

"If you would all reach into your pockets, you will all notice a slight change in those puzzle pieces."

All three of them reached into their pockets for the porcelain puzzle pieces, but when they felt the shape of a puzzle piece, it was soft, cold and rubbery, kind of like... Skin.

"What the fuck?" Mira yelped as she held the puzzle piece in front of her face, it was human flesh. The edges now looked jagged, as if crudely cut from the victim, the skin was pale, almost grey. Mira dropped the puzzle piece on the floor and inched away from it.

"That's disgusting, I'm not touching that." She shook her head and looked away, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

"Who would do this to a person?" Anna stared at her piece, horror on her face.

"My lovely wife, you all met her, she's gone missing you see. And all I have to find her are what you three have in your possession. " Doc continued, he seemed so relaxed by it all. Well if he did this every year... Did he have to replace the woman? And kill her?

"How did..." Max mumbled as he looked wide-eyed at the speaker from which the voice came from.

"Now, whatever has taken my wife is also here too. And they are hostile. They will attack and attempt to kill you on sight."

Anna's heart almost stopped, she gasped. "W-what? We're fighting for our lives?"

"Yes." Doc replied. "Those rooms marked with the X's are the rooms which are important to your escape. You must collect the puzzle pieces, and find your way back to the main room." Doc took a long pause. " If you can survive."

There was silence, and they were left alone. Little did they know that Doc would be watching their every movement.

"What... What the hell is wrong with this guy?" Mira finally stammered.

"I don't know, but I guess if we want to get out of here alive, we'd better get moving." Max replied, he looked a little better, well he'd stopped crying so it was a start.

"Are you okay now?" Anna turned her head to look at him concerned, she managed a slight smile.

"Well... No... But I think I can do this." Max nodded his head, pulling his hair back over his head with his hand. He took a breath. "So what now?"

"Well... Who's the strongest out of us?" Mira looked to Max, she leaned against the wooden table, and looked down at the map.

"I don't know." Max shrugged. "Why?"

"Well, because that Doc guy told us that whoever cut up his creepy wife is here and that they'll kill us." She glanced back at Max. "And we only have a machete to protect us from them, so I figure the strongest out of us three should hold onto it... And lead the group."

"Oh... Well, I don't know if I'm very strong. I exercise and stuff... I guess." He shrugged, looking to Anna. She looked pretty tough. Her eyes turned to look at him and she arched a brow.

"What? You think I'm stronger?" She had a heavy latina accent, Anna reminded Max of an actor he liked, she even looked the part. With a black tank top and jeans, a silver crucifix hung at her neck on a chain, the only difference was that she had a tattoo of a 'Pokemon' on her upper arm. Max wondered if she was sober when she made that decision.

"I didn't ask anything!" He replied defensively. But it was true, he figured that she was a tough woman.

"I knew what you were thinking." She said with a laugh. "Whatever, I've used a machete before, let me use it." She said with a shrug as she reached over to take the machete from the table.

"Are you sure? I mean... I could... I don't want you guys to get hurt or anything."

"Max, is it? It'll be okay. You're a mess anyway, hang back with her," She said, pointing to Mira as she picked the machete up and tucked it into her belt.

Max took the map and Mira had the flashlight, she felt a lot safer with something that could offer light, and a blunt, yet effective weapon if things got really hard.

"I hope Danny is behaving for the babysitter." Anna mumbled as they walked over to the door they came through, and opened it, it was suddenly different from before, it was pitch black, and when Mira flashed the light around to see their surroundings, the walls looked like they were made from flesh, poorly stitched together in places, in other places it seeped what looked like blood. The smell was strong, purifying. They held their noses as they walked on.

"What... The fuck?" Max said in a hoarse whisper as he looked at the walls, horrified. Under their shoes was a wet squelching sound, something felt soft. As Mira shined the torch down, they found that they were walking on corpses, mutilated, rotten and blood soaked, they covered the floor in its entirety. Mira narrowly avoided crushing a brittle skull, as she looked, she saw what was left of the face of a woman. The only eye left in her head stared at Mira as if desperate.

"Help me!"

Mira screamed and fell backward, it spoke. The corpse said something! "T-these people are alive!" She stammered, backing away to the fleshy wall, only to cry out in revulsion and stand back up, unable to escape the horror. She turned the light off, and froze on the spot.

After a moment of silence, from around the corner came a sound, like the cracking of limbs, it sounded like it was approaching.

"Mira, could you please turn that light on?" Max said, staring straight ahead at the noise, his heart began to thump wildly in his chest. Anna gripped the machete in both hands.

"Now would be a perfectly good time!" Anna cried out, the creature that approached them was now inches away, it screamed at them, it's scream making their ribs shake, it almost took their breath away - in the bad way. Mira screamed and turned the light on, revealing a horrific creature, it had the body of a woman, but it didn't have a face, only what looked like a horrible scar in its place. Its skin was dull and pale, it was shirtless, its breasts looked torn and deformed, it's legs were positioned awkwardly, they looked broken in multiple places. Anna let out a terrified shriek as instinct kicked in, she slashed at the creature, it continued to scream out as it flailed around, Anna circled around it, avoiding an attack from the monster. Max and Mira had backed away, Mira was finding it hard to keep the light on Anna and the monster while she tried to kill it. It slashed at her with elongated claws, cutting into her flesh when she was too slow to move out of the way. Anna cried out painfully, but pressed on. She had no very little fighting experience, and just slashed her machete around wildly, hoping to hit the target. She panicked, it lunged at her, Anna just moved out of the way in time, and then took her chance while it staggered around to regain its balance.

"Die! Die you fucking monster!" Anna screamed as she sunk the blade into the creature's skull, pulling it out and stabbing it again, the creature screamed and awkwardly fell down, it had stopped moving. Anna let out a sigh of relief and turned to the other two, black blood dotted her shirt and jeans, it had smudged on her face. Suddenly, the creature grabbed hold of Anna's leg, she cried out, alarmed, and kicked around, falling over, Max was the one to come to her rescue, he didn't even think, he saw it's already weak head and with his shoe, stomped violently on its head. The skull cracked and popped as it was crushed. Blackened blood exploded from its head as it finally died.

"T-thank you..." Anna stammered, breathing inwardly as she tried to find her heart beat again.

"We need more weapons." Max looked away from the now dead creature, and turned his gaze to Mira. "Is there a place on the map that says we can get more?"

"No... But, we're fairly close to an X marked room, maybe we could find something in there." Mira replied, pointing her torch in the direction of the room, it was around the corner and further down the hall from where the monster came.

As they walked, they were all on high alert, listening for any sign of more creatures, by now they had grown used to the smell of decaying flesh and blood that surrounded them. Eventually, the nausea had subsided. "This is so horrible." Mira said quietly, pulling her dirtied hood further over her head. If Mira knew that she was going to be here a few weeks ago, she would have favored staying with her step-father, even if he was a cruel, disgusting bastard. At the thought of him, Mira felt so much hatred course through her, and she hated her mother just as much for letting him into their lives, they were fine without him. Maybe her mother would still be alive if he had never come along. Mira wouldn't be the way she was if it wasn't for what he did to her.

At the end of the hall, they came to a baby pink door with wooden letters stuck to the door, coloured rainbow, they spelled out Lisa, Max's daughter. But Lisa had died when she was only 2 years old, she had contracted a disease that took her life much too soon. And this door was the door for Lisa's room. Max remembered painting the letters with Melissa, they had so much fun together. Thinking about her made him want to cry again, but he couldn't be weak, not when there was so much at stake here.

"This has to be some kind of sick joke." He looked at the door, mouth agape.

"What does this mean?" Mira looked up at Max beside her, arching a brow.

"I had a daughter once..." Max began, taking a breath, he looked away from the door, turning his gaze to Mira. "She died, uh, last year."

"I'm so sorry." Anna looked away. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her son Danny, he was only 8. Anna and Danny only really have each other. On occasion they would visit grandma, and a few friends. But aside from that, it was just them against the world. And Anna didn't really mind, because Danny meant everything to her.

Max looked back at the door, he swallowed hard and held the door knob, twisting it slowly, he pushed it open, it squeaked softly, and they were greeted to a dull pink room, the walls peeled and blood streaked along them, there were crude children's drawings finger painted with blood on the wall, and at the back wall there was a wooden crib, the wood looked old and rotten, from the crib they could hear crying, but it didn't sound like a normal baby... It sounded demonic.

Max looked at Mira and Anna both before the three of them took a breath each and stepped into the room completely, the baby's cries made their skin crawl.

4: Chapter Four: 'Sweet Child of Mine'

A/N: And here we are with the fourth chapter! I hope you're liking it so far. I wouldn't know because I'm not getting any reviews. hint hint. ;D I just want to know what you think, if there's anything I could do to improve, stuff like that. I'm not a very experienced writer so I could really use the help, much appreciated.
So enjoy chapter four, and the fifth one should be out pretty soon. And again, I apologize for the short chapters, they should be a bit longer later on. 
Enjoy!

Chapter Four: 'Sweet Child of Mine'

As Max, Mira and Anna entered the room, the smell suddenly hit them. It was like that of the gore outside, but it seemed... Fresher, almost as if whoever or whatever it was had just been killed... Mira couldn't help it, she doubled over and vomited, a putrid yellowish vomit spilled out of her mouth and onto the floor, she coughed and gagged, falling to her knees, it just kept coming. Max looked away, trying to keep his own sick down. Anna was used to vomit, she could handle it no problem, and knelt beside Mira, pulling her hood off and bunching her hair up behind her head, she gave the teenager's back a stroke.

"I-I-I can't d-do this." Mira whimpered, looking at Anna with tears in her eyes. "The blood, there's so much blood... Oh god... Oh... God... I can't..." She let out a choked sob and fell into Anna, clutching her tightly. "I... Can't..."

"Shhh, dear. We're here together, and we'll work this out. All of us will get out of here alive, and we can go back home." Anna was doing her best to reassure her, but she wasn't even sure herself if they were going to survive this.

After Anna had done her best to help Mira collect most of herself, they moved on. Slowly coming up to the crib, the 'baby' had stopped crying, only cooed and gurgled when it noticed that the three were looking down at it. It had pale grey skin, its eyes were glazed over and it looked blind, its mouth hung open, and in its mouth had tiny, needle like teeth. The baby looked bloated, a rusted key hung around its neck, and then suddenly it started to cry again, louder, more horrifying than before. Anna turned away from the child, unable to look at such a creature. Mira spotted a bit of paper taped to the crib and read the writing scrawled upon it out loud;

"There is a child - a baby - who long since kicked off her blankets. Her skin is ashen and her mouth open in a perpetual yet silent scream. She isn't old enough to roll over, to sit up, to climb. So she lies there kicking her fat legs against the footboard of the crib, eternally calling for her mother. For food. For flesh."

"What...? Do they want us to feed the baby a person?" Anna looked at Mira with wide eyes.
They did want them to feed this demonic infant human flesh. Its dinner sat in a sack that rested on a child's drawing table, crayons scattered the floor around it, some broken and crushed into the blood soaked carpet. Max stared over at the sack for a time, and then looked back at the baby, it peered up at him with wide eyes, falling silent once more. He glared at the infant,

"You're not my fucking daughter." He spat at it. Almost as if it understood, it started to scream again, thrashing around in its crib, bloody tears started to trickle from its eyes. Max's upper lip curled in revulsion.

"Come on, I just want to get the hell out of here." Max said as he walked over the to sack. "If one of you could look around for a weapon of some kind, that'd be-" Max stopped short as he looked in the sack, inside it was the remains of Melissa, on her hand she wore a ring that Max had given her, she had her eye on it for some time, and he wanted to make her happy.

"No." Max said, turning away, he shook his head. "No. I'm not feeding that little shit my girlfriend. She deserves a proper burial, I'm not doing this!" He felt the grief come back again, he bit on his lip to hold back tears, he broke skin, a small droplet of blood trickled down his chin.

"Wait what? They expect us to feed that... That thing... Your girlfriend?" Mira gasped as she joined Max beside the table.

"I don't think we were randomly selected for this..." Max looked down. "They targeted us."

In a dingy room lit up only by multiple computer screens, sat Doc in his chair, hands clasped together as he observed his contestants. "Hm, the boy is smart. I had my doubts about him." He mumbled to himself. "But they're taking much too long." He said as he reached over to flick a switch, leaning over to the microphone, he spoke.

"I must tell you that if you take too long to complete a task, I will have all of you killed." He paused, a smirk on his face. "The baby wants her mother, who are you to deny that? Be a good father Max, give your little princess what she wants,"

"Why are you doing this to us?" Mira screamed at the speaker in the corner of the room, causing the baby to cry louder. "Don't make him do this! He wants to give her a funeral!"

Doc threw his head back and laughed a throaty laugh, leaning back in his chair. "He can bury the leftovers if he really wants to. Now get moving." The switch was flicked once more, and the trio were left alone with the screaming baby.

"I can't do it." Max said, heading back towards the door. "I'm not doing this. We can find our own way out of here... There must be an emergency exit or something. Maybe we could even find this Doc guy and force him to release us or something, there's no way I can-"

"Max." Anna had cut him off, grabbing his arm as he started walking away, her grip was firm, she looked straight into his eyes. "I know this is hard for you. No person should have to go through something like this. This guy needs to be put to death, all three of us can get our justice once we get out. But you must do this, Max. We'll all die otherwise."

"Fuck you, I'd rather die!" Max yelled back at her, ripping his arm away from her grasp.

"Stop this, please!" Mira cried out at them from a distance, clenching her fists, her legs trembled and threatened to give out.

"Max, please, you have to underst-"

"Shut the fuck up! You wouldn't understand!" He screamed now, upsetting the baby further. Mira huddled in the corner, blocking her ears.

Anna had suddenly punched him in the face, she felt a crack, Max stumbled back, clutching his jaw where she had hit him, she had broken a tooth and it cut his mouth, all he could taste was blood. He was dazed, and blinked blankly a few times.

"Fuck you. My husband was killed defending his country, my first daughter was kidnapped and killed. You saw that on the news? That psychopath that kidnapped little girls, rapes them and kills them? One of them was my daughter. I think I fucking understand. I don't know about you, but I want to stay alive, I want to get back to my son. You can leave and go die if you want to so badly, but that poor girl and I are getting the fuck out of here."

Max looked down and away, his hand dropped loosely by his side as he stood there silently. "I... I'm sorry." He approached the sack in which his late girlfriend was put into. He looked down inside it again, she was cut up into all these pieces, if it wasn't for the ring on her finger, he wouldn't have recognized her. He swallowed and reached in for a hand, tugging the ring from it and putting it into his pocket. "I'm so sorry Melissa, but I can't let any more people die. I know you wouldn't want that. If I had a choice... I'd go find that guy and kill him myself. But I don't, that's not how the 'game' works or whatever... But I just wanted to say... That I love you, I'll always love you Melissa... But at least Lisa will be with her mother now, hey? She won't have to be alone any more. I hope you take care of each other."

"That was well said, Max." Anna said, placing a hand on his back. He tensed and pulled away from her.

"Don't... Don't touch me... Just... Go sit with Mira..." He replied softly, not looking back at her.

Anna said nothing else, only turned and found Mira sitting on her own in the corner, sobbing softly. She sat beside her and hugged her own legs, occasionally her eyes would flick to the crib, just getting a glimpse of the fat, cannibalistic infant. It still cried loudly. She felt sick, and stared down at the floor.

Max dragged the sack to the crib, reaching back inside, he took out part of Melissa's torso, blood leaked out of it and stained his hand, Max gritted his teeth and tossed the lump of flesh into the crib. But the baby didn't reach for it and take it, it only cried louder, knowing food was there for it, but not being able to get it itself. Max had to feed it. He groaned, pulling a disgusted face, he reached into the crib, shakily taking the flesh in his hand, he hovered it above the baby's face. It snapped its teeth at the human meat and growled hungrily. Max lowered it further, the baby quickly snatched it out of his hand with its teeth, gobbling it down greedily in a matter of seconds. Then, it cried again. It desired more.

"Oh god." Max said under his breath as he continued to feed the infant the pieces of human flesh, eventually, it was satisfied, and fell asleep, if not for the grey skin, the sharp, bloody fangs that poked out of its lips, and the blood that drenched it, it would have looked like a normal sleeping baby. The sack was empty, Max had fed it every part, he nearly threw up when he heard the squelching and saw the blood. He felt like fainting when he heard Melissa's bones crunch between the infant's teeth. There was nothing left of his girlfriend for him to bury. He turned away from the crib, still fighting back tears.

"Are you fucking happy now? Huh? I did what you wanted. Now give us another puzzle piece!" Max called out into the room, waiting for Doc to reply. But all was silent. "Hello?" He impatiently called out again, looking around with a brow raised.

"Well done." Doc finally said. "You managed to complete the task right before I had decided to kill you all." He let out a disappointed sigh. "Because you had fed the child, she is taking her nap now, and you can take the key from her without losing an arm. Sad. The key unlocks the toy chest in the corner of the room, there sits three puzzle pieces, and a gun with limited ammunition."

They were left in silence once more. And Max reached into the crib again, slowly he started pulling the necklace off of the sleeping child, his hand shook, he tried to steady it. Because his hand shook so much, it had caused him to accidentally tug on the necklace, but the baby didn't move. Max dared to tug again, and it still didn't move. He quickly jabbed its bloated stomach with a finger, and the infant was still unmoving; it had died. Which relieved Max, and he ripped the necklace off, hurriedly moving onto the toy chest, it was a small wooden chest painted purple with pink stars. Max put the key into the ancient looking hole and twisted. The chest opened with a creak, and Doc was true to his word, there sat three puzzle pieces and a Beretta M9 pistol with some extra ammunition. Max had experience with guns, he was licensed to keep them. He loaded it and stuffed it into the back of his jeans, he stood and stuffed the fleshy puzzle pieces into his pocket, turning back to the girls, he motioned to the door. "Let's get the hell out of here."

5: Chapter Five: Part One 'Welcome Home?'

A/N: Hello, chapter five is kind of here! I say kind of because I've split it up into two parts. Cliffhanger, ha ha. The second part should be out in the next few days. I'm just having some serious trouble getting this stuff down so that's also a reason why it's split up. So I'm really sorry about that guys. I hope you enjoy it anyway. c: Reviews, as always, are much appreciated.

Chapter Five: Part One 'Welcome home?'

"I"m sorry for hitting you, Max." Anna said quietly over to Max as they walked, Mira was close to Anna, and she'd been quiet for some time. They were heading towards the next room, which was a distance away, the map told them that it was on the other side of the building, so they had prepared themselves for a long, and very dangerous walk ahead. They had to be more alert than ever.

"I deserved it." Max replied with a shrug. "It snapped me out of it. I just had to wake up and realize that there were bigger issues at hand..." Max didn't like Anna at all. She made him look like an idiot, a wimp. But then again maybe he was. Max looked down, 'I have to make myself look more capable... Because I am, it's just that the circumstances...-'

A familiar sound of an approaching monster snapped him out of his thoughts, it was coming straight ahead, as Mira shined the torch, they could see two of them, this time they were armed as well, one had a rusted metal pipe, the other had a knife, they staggered and moaned as they approached, seeing more prey had excited them, the sounds they made were frighteningly cheerful. Max shot one of them in the head, as it was dead instantly he was thankful for the gun. Anna was trying to hack the other to pieces when the knife the monster carried found its way into her stomach. She cried out and stumbled backward, reaching for the knife with a bloody, shaking hand to pull it out. Mira screamed when she saw that Anna had been hurt, the torch in her hand shook and the light had started to flicker.

"What? No! The batteries can't be dead already!" She cried out, her heart began to race wildly in her chest, getting faster as the light threatened to die. They must have been here longer than they realized if the batteries were dying already.

"Help me!" Anna gasped, backing away from the approaching monster, it extended its arms as it got close, Anna painfully pried the blade out of her stomach just as Max planted a bullet into the creature's skull. The torch finally went dead and all was silent.

"Oh god...!" Anna cried out weakly as she finally fell to the fleshy floor.

"Shit!" Mira whined as she started hitting the torch, the light would come on for a moment but go out once more, Max tried to look for Anna in the dark, the sounds of her painful cries were his only guide.

"Anna? Anna, it's gonna be okay, I'll help you." Max tried to reassure her as he searched the darkness, he came into contact with her finally, and knelt beside her. "Okay, grab my hands, and show me where it is." He told her, he could feel her shaking hands grab onto his and find her wound, he could hear her crying slightly under the pained groans she made.

"P-please help me." She said in a voice that was barely audible.

"Oh shit... Ohhh, shit..." Max lifted her shirt slightly, making sure he still knew where the wound was. Mira still tried to get the light to come back on, but so far, it had been no use. But desperation had forced her to continue.

"Come on, come on!"

"Max... I can't... I don't think you can help me out here..." Anna said in a weak voice, Max could feel her getting weaker, but he wasn't going to give up. He swore that he wasn't going to let any one else die. He pulled his shirt off and ripped a piece from it, trying as best as he could to wipe some of the blood away with it, and with both hands, he applied pressure to her wound, which made her cry out, and grip onto Max tightly. Which, much to his dismay, was his hair. He gritted his teeth and did all that he could for her, but they didn't have anything to help properly, he had to make to with his shirt.

They sat there for what seemed like hours and thankfully no more monsters came, occasionally Anna would cry out in pain, but it seemed like it was going to be okay. Max's temporary bandages would have to do. Max and Mira both told her to rest, but Anna had insisted that they continue. . They could barely see, but after a while, Mira finally got the torch to work again, but it was very dim, it wouldn't last long at all.

"Thank you... For saving my life." Anna said after a while of silently walking, she still looked like she was in a lot of pain.

"Uh, you're welcome." Max replied quietly, he glanced back at Mira, who was looking down at the map. "How far are we from the next room?"

"We still have a while to go. There are so many hallways and rooms in this place."

Max groaned impatiently, but his curiosity was roused when they heard a small voice at the end of the hallway they now walked on.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" It sounded young, male, and very frightened. Well he had every right to be.

"There's someone down there." Max said, looking at Anna.

"It might be a trap." Mira grunted from behind them, but they carried on, and at the end of the hall was a teenage boy who looked about 17 or 18, with messy blonde hair with dried blood streaked through it. He was covered with both human and monster blood, it stained his grey t-shirt, and his jeans were torn at the knees. He was huddled in the corner, looking expectantly in the direction the voices were coming from, a wave of relief washed over him when he saw that they were human.

"Oh thank god!" He breathed and stood up, coming over to the trio. "I've been here for so long..."

"What's your name?" Max asked, he had pity for the poor kid. Being stuck in a place like this would be a horrible thing. But he secretly wondered why he hadn't died yet.

"I'm Michelangelo, sir." He replied, brushing a lock of blonde hair out of his face, he smiled weakly, his tired blue eyes held many secrets. Mira was suspicious.

"Like the artist?" Anna croaked.

"Yes, ma'am, I am named after him, in fact." He said with a nod.

"How long have you been here?" Max tilted his head, the kid had intrigued him, and he was eager to know more. He watched the teen lean against the wall of flesh.

"I don't know. You lose track of time in this place, there aren't any clocks. It's like time doesn't exist." Michelangelo replied, shrugging. He seemed oddly calm about his surroundings, but perhaps he was used to this place. Max didn't know how anyone could grow used to this.

"Do you know what this place even is?" Max continued to quiz him, if this kid had been here for a long time, he must know something about it at least.

"Well they don't exactly tell you, all you know about this place is what is in the letter, and what you find out." He shrugged again, pulling his brows together. "And it's hard to find out things about this place."

'So he's a contestant then, but if he's alive, his game would still be going wouldn't it? He shouldn't be here if he survived...' Mira wondered silently to herself, frowning at the boy in front of her. She didn't like him, he just didn't seem... Right.

"Have you got any puzzle pieces?" It was Anna's turn to ask this time, she folded her arms over her chest, gritting her teeth at the pain that surged through her. But did her best to ignore it. She was surviving, at least.

"No... I lost mine... My game is over but I'm trapped here, they think I'm dead but I've been alive all this time."

"How did you survive?" Max arched a brow.

"I've been hiding."

"Do you want to come with us? If your game is over, you must be allowed to leave."

"I think that's a great idea." Anna agreed, "We could use an extra person in the group. Especially if one of us is in bad shape." She looked down at her stab wound.

"You're hurt!" Michelangelo pointed at Anna, alarmed. "I have some things in my bag for that." He turned back to the corner and picked up a leather satchel that had seen better days, and took out the bandages and the alcohol to clean Anna's wound, in his pocket, he had a needle and some thick looking thread.

'convenient.' Mira huffed as she folded her arms over her chest. 'But at least Anna will get better treatment instead of an old shirt.' Her green eyes flicked to Max briefly before settling back on Michelangelo while he was stitching Anna's wound back together.

"There. You're all better now." Michelangelo flashed Anna a child-like grin.

"Thank you, Michelangelo." Anna smiled back at him thankfully, pulling her shirt back down properly, and rising to her feet once more. "Now let's get moving. We still have to make it to the next room."

The group had carried on walking, and as a team of four were able to dispatch monsters more efficiently. Michelangelo had a torch with him and a pocket knife for protection. Mira had glared at him for nearly the entire time. 'It seems like he was pretty early on in his game when it ended, but he's just been too helpful. I don't like it. There must be something else, maybe he's part of the game. He's tricking us.' The paranoia grew more intense within Mira, and eventually, she had decided that when the opportunity arises, she would take it upon herself to get rid of him and take his stuff. The other two were fooled, they wouldn't help her. She was on her own.

At the end of the hall, through the darkness they could see a light, they were near the room they were headed for, and the group walked faster, through the darkness, they came to a house, the surroundings looked different, ahead of them, it was like a section of a street, it felt like there was a soft breeze, it even smelled like the outside, below their feet there was road. But when they looked behind, there was just blackness. They were in an entirely different place so suddenly. Anna widened her eyes. "This is my house." Her mouth hung open, and looked to where her Nissan was usually parked, but her car wasn't there. Her house was white with a dark green roof. Her few potted plants were dying, and there was a creaky old rocking chair that belonged to her grandmother. This was her house before she died, Anna's life was much more fun when her grandmother was in it. Anna truly thought that her grandmother would live forever. It really seemed like she would.

"It's like we're not even in that building anymore..." Mira mumbled as they walked up to the front door. Anna reached into her pocket for her house key, and put it in the lock, she opened the door, and was greeted by warmth, there was a faint smell of food, and Anna could hear the sound of cartoons on the TV, it was loud like it usually was when Danny watched it, and Anna constantly told him to turn it down all the time.

"Is that you Miss Anderson?" Came a young woman's voice from the living room.

"Mommy!" A little boy cried, and shortly after a short boy with messy brown hair came running out, a big grin on his excited little face. He stopped short when he saw his mother in the state she was, with strangers who looked just as bad as she did. His grin faded. The baby sitter, Katherine, soon joined the boy, sharing his shocked and confused expression on her pale face, her flaming red hair was tied in a tight pony tail.

"What... What happened?" Katherine gasped in horror at all the blood. "Were you attacked?"

"Why do you look like that mommy? Who are they?" Danny pointed to the rest of the group. Anna stood there, stunned. They were still at that building, weren't they?

"I... Uh..." Anna just didn't know what to say, she was just as confused as they were. "This is my house isn't it?"

Katherine arched a brow, flashing Anna a look of utter confusion. "What? Of course it is. What on Earth happened to you?"