Heroes to Hunted

The three exchanged expressions of worry while I gazed into the blackened abyss ahead.

"Ugh, it's so damn dark," I growled. My eyes were useless, so I closed them to heighten my other senses. To my annoyance, the stench grew more pungent because of it, but I also managed to glean something.

It was faint, but I could discern the pattering and splashing of light footsteps against a slick floor. I homed in on the sound and realized they couldn't possibly belong to a full-sized person or even a small child. They were too quiet and too brief to be human.

"Hey," Nakamura whispered, "we should use that," he pointed to the lone torch mounted next to me and gestured a throwing motion.

My mouth curved into a sly grin, and I nodded in agreement. "I guess you can have some good ideas sometimes, huh." I reached for the torch and freed it from the rusted steel mount, though it took some fidgeting. Then, after directing the rest to stand back, I hurled the solitary light into darkness.

It spun in the air for a few moments longer than expected. However, it eventually landed several meters down, revealing we were on an upper level from where the sounds originated. When the light settled, two truths were revealed to us: the stench's source and the culprits of the howls.

Seeing what lay under and around the torchlight reminded me of Nakamura's words. There was no other way to describe the sight besides "decomposition."

Within the small dome of light were at least a dozen mutilated corpses. Some were all bone, and covering them were dozens of what looked like gnaw marks. Some still had tiny bits of necrotized flesh dangling off, and others remained as fleshy masses, though they were missing various extremities.

Agawa's stammered, and her breathing quickened as she spoke. "A-Are those... Where are we? What the he-" but she was consumed by a fit of gagging before finishing.

'Ugh, oh god...' I held a fist to my mask, narrowly holding in my bile. Sadly, I say the same for Agawa and Kamida. They silenced their voices as best they could. But, despite their efforts, the halls still echoed with the sounds of violent retching.

Nakamura was the only one who'd been totally unfazed by the situation.

He gazed at the mountain of bodies and maintained a forlorn expression. "I expected as much. You can't get a stench that pungent without at least this much."

What came next was more jarring than the unburied gravesite, even to the point of startling Agawa and Kamida from their vomiting session.

Instantly, numerous small shadows leaped from the darkness, attacking the torch's light.

They gnawed, gnashed, and clawed it apart, leaving only a renewed blackness. The only thing we'd hear for the next few minutes were the sounds of growling, snarling, and more of that chilling howling.

"Were t-those…dogs?" Agawa shivered.

Despite feeling unnerved by the bone-chilling howl, I refused to show any signs of weakness. I clenched my jaw and steadied my arm with the other to conceal the trembling that threatened to overtake me.

"It doesn't matter what they are." I grinned with artificial confidence. "If they want to play 'dominance,' I'll ragdoll them across the room until they're ready to play fetch instead." Projecting arrogance was the only way I knew to cope with what I'd been feeling inside.

But I was a good actor, or Kamida was a considerate conman, considering how he played along with my act. "Your fearlessness is quite the inspiration, Mr. Takagi," he managed a raspy chuckle.

Nakamura handed me the torch he'd been carrying, gestured at me, and prompted me to take the lead.

I waved it around before us to reveal a thin stone bridge. I couldn't see how far it went, but it was our only option. From what I could tell, those things were stuck below, and we were above, so long as we didn't fall…we'd be fine.

We began our trek across when I noticed our second torchbearer, Kamida, falling behind. "Don't tell me you're scared, Con-mida?" I quietly taunted. Somehow teasing another about my fear consoled my own.

"Uh…perhaps we should take our chances and backtrack?" his legs were shaking, and his breathing was shallow.

"Hurry up," I ordered. "The faster we leave, the sooner I can forget about this disgusting smell."

Upon hearing me, he sighed and grumbled something to himself in frustration.

It was a pleasing sight to me. The overbearing and cordially forceful Kamida was shaking in his pants like a scared child. I would have laughed if I weren't focused on subduing my own anxiety.

Sadly, my facade of strength faltered when a thought of those corpses entered my mind. I grimaced and clutched my free hand to my mouth, leaving an odd wetness on my lips.

'What the hell is that?' I questioned, then instinctively licked my lips. Regret soon followed when a disgustingly stale and metallic taste filled my mouth.

It was then that I remembered the still-not-completely dried blood that coated my hand. In my moment of weakness, I did exactly what I didn't want to do and smeared my victim's blood on my face.

I wanted to hurl, I wanted to break down and let panic take hold, but I had to keep moving. "Just one step at a time," I mumbled. "Just one step at a time."

After reaching the other side, I turned back to see that Agawa had also completed her trek. So now we were only waiting on Kamida and Nakamura.

That's when I heard a distinct "crack" reverberate throughout the room.

In the next second, Nakamura's stature became shorter and shorter as he began plummeting into the abyss below, following the shard of rock that had fractured off.

He returned my look with one devoid of expression. Even his body had gone completely still and reactionless. He must've been too shocked to know what face he should've shown.

"Watch out!" Agawa shouted, but Kamida was the first to take real action.

He dove forward, throwing his torch to the bridge. He narrowly managed to claw at and take hold of Nakamura's arm. "I've got you, Sir!" he shouted in desperation. "Don't let go!"

Finally noticing his situation, Nakamura frantically shook himself while trying to seize the bridge above. In no time at all, he was swinging like a pendulum in Kamida's grasp.

Though Kamida tried to remain calm, I could see panic bubbling up to the surface. "Sir," he urged, "I would implore you to stop before we both die."

Nakamura did stop; however, it wasn't before Kamida lost his grip on the bridge. "Oh shit! OH SHIT!" he shouted, breaking his guise of "the elegant man."

"YOU IDIOTS!" I rushed forward with all my strength and pulled Kamida back from the brink. "I'LL TAKE HIM! GRAB ONTO SOMETHING!" I shouted to Kamida.

I took on all of Nakamura's weight, allowing Kamida to re-steady himself. When he fully recovered and regained his grip on the bridge, he took hold of Nakamura's other hand. With Kamida and my synergized effort, we started hoisting Nakamura from the depths of certain death.

We both grunted loudly as we dragged him toward the bridge.

"Oh god! Oh god, help me!" Nakamura bawled like a terrified child. "Save me, please!"

"We're...Working...on it!" I snapped back through clenched teeth. "Just calm...the fuck...DOWN!" As we pulled Nakamura up, he inexplicably grew heavier. It was as if something had attached writhing, living weights to him.

I peered over the bridge and saw the shadowy dogs below, rabidly leaping and snapping at Nakamura's leg in an attempt to clamp down on his flesh.

One of them succeeded.

Upon noticing, Nakamura yelped in pain and furiously shook his legs to knock the hound off. Frustratingly, he must've not realized that his guttural shouting and ceaseless shaking made dragging him up hundreds of times harder.

Accompanying his terror were the distinct growls of a canine with the intent to kill, hell-bent on tearing off the flesh before it with a one-track fervor.

It was for a moment, but his intense struggle resulted in a jabbing pain within my palm as the muscles inside constricted tighter than should be possible.

'Shit, I'm losing my grip,' I despaired as he slipped through my fingers.