Layers Of Nightmare

"Escape the apartment?" William was getting more and more confused.

First was the machine and demonic voice, then there was the dark space filled with weapons. Being unscientific was one thing, but this failure of a 'system' was telling him to escape from the building at 3 a.m. in the morning?

"Stop f.u.c.k.i.n.g with me!" He yelled as he opened eyes. Suddenly, he could believe what he saw.

In each of his hands were the two weapons that he had chosen inside the space. He gripped the Desert Eagle lightly with his left hand, whereas his right hand was holding the segmented sword. The metallic glint and the weight in his hands felt as real as it could be.

"When did these weapons… wait weapons?" A sudden thought struck his brain. He quickly closed his eyes to see the prompt once again, the countdown in the bottom left corner had turned to 00:00:28 at this moment.

'Host power is lower…' he repeated that sentence in his head and cold sweat began to flow from his hands. He was not stupid, when considering that the 'system' had given him weapons and that it was comparing him and the mysterious entity in terms of power, a conclusion fell upon him.

'Something I must fight? Shit!' William dared not hesitate anymore. He turned on the torch function on his phone, and put it inside a b.r.e.a.s.t pocket of the jacket he took out from the wardrobe. The shallow pocket allowed just enough depth for the flashlight part to peak out. After that, he grabbed the two weapons, before dashing toward the front door.

The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown—this sentence perfectly describe William's situation at the moment. His heart was beating rapidly, while all the negative imaginations stormed into his head. As unscientific as it seemed, the 'system' had given him legit weapons from god-who-knows-where like magic, hence he did not think that it was his mind playing with him anymore. As such, he decided to follow the task of escaping the apartment, while hoping that he would not have to face whatever unknown entity that will appear.

Suddenly, clattering noises resounded from behind him –from the direction of Marvin's room to be exact.

William froze in his steps, then turned around ever so slowly. A curiosity dawned upon him, but sense of fear could not be hidden from his taut muscles. He closed his eyes for a second to see that the timer had turned to 00:00:00. Nonetheless, he tiptoed slowly inside and peek from a corner into Marvin's room as he crouched. The gun and sword in his hand gave him a sense of security and courage to see what caused the noise.

The light from his phone shone upon the room shyly, that was when he saw…

'What the f.u.c.k is that?!' William almost screamed. Fortunately, he still had his sanity to not do so.

At first, he thought that Marvin had returned somehow, as the figure resembled a human. But then, it grew taller and taller until its head almost touched the ceiling. Its skin, however, did not seem to keep up with the growth. Countless deep 'tores' began to open around its body, including its bald head, the eight toes on each of its feet, and its fingerless pincer-like hand. Each of the 'tores' directly exposed the muscles or bones underneath; it was a stomach-churning sight.

Fortunately, the monstrosity was facing the other way. It did not seem to take notice of William yet.

He was not foolish enough to charge either. Even with the gun and all, there was no telling what the monster can do. After he caught a glimpse of it, he prepared to pull back his head from the corner silently.

Alas, reality was often disappointing. The shift of light from his phone seemed to trigger the monster. It twitched its neck in several stiff motions and looked back.

It was a face that William could never forget. An abnormally large lower jaw hanging open to expose dirty fangs inside its black-rotten mouth. The creature did not even have a chin to begin with, the loose jaw was directly connected to the flap of skin on its neck. Everything above that looked like someone who got trampled thousands of times –disfigured and meshed, except...

'Ugh-' When William stared at its strangely intact, two sclera-less black eyes, he found himself unable to move his body.

When a prey realized that a predator was staring at it, it will likely to stand still for a few seconds. Obviously, this was the first time William felt like this. He was short on breath and wheezing sounds came out of his throat everytime he inhaled.

The triggered creature had approached him. From its movement, William could tell its stiff motion and twitching muscles. Although the creature moved ever so slowly due to its stiffness, the distance between them was only a small six meters! William needed to move anytime soon now, else, who knew what bad ending will struck him once he got caught.

"A- a- a- a-" Sounds similar to a person choking resounded from the creature as its maw grew wider and wider apart. It was not until it arrived within two meters range that William was able to move his hands, but his feet were still paralyzed.

"Damn it!" he cursed as he aimed the Desert Eagle high-up onto the monster's head.

William pulled the trigger a few times, yet, only metallic cl.i.c.k.i.n.g sounds entered his ears. It never crossed his thought that the gun had not a single bullet in it!

"F.u.c.k!"

Now that the creature was only a few steps away, he lifted the segmented sword in his right hand.

'Work for me!' William swung the sword at the creature's legs. Instantly, the few segments on the blade parted open as it turned into a bladed whip. It slashed at the creature's legs like tofu.

The tall creature collapsed at its back, at the same time, William could feel that his body had regained its control.

"Yes!" William stood up, then turned around to make his escape. However, the sudden yank from his right hand caused him slip. The sword was stuck in the wall!

When he thought it could not get worse, the creature began to regenerate at a visible speed. Furthermore, he could see that its movement was no longer stiff as it used its arms to support the body up in one swift movement.

William started to pull the sword in panic. When both hands were not enough, he lifted a foot and kicked at the wall. Meanwhile, the creature already recovered one of its legs.

"Come on! Come on!" After a few kicks, he finally managed to pull it out. The remaining momentum caused him to slam his back heavily toward the opposite wall in the tight corridor.

Perhaps, due to the adrenaline rush, William did not feel the slightest pain. He turned around and ran for his life without looking back.