NOVEL NEXT Chapter 198: The Stairwell
"Really?" The blonde doctor asked.
"Yeah, it's fine, right, Finn?" Charlotte looked over.
He hesitantly nodded, pointing down the hall, "You said the stairwell was hazardous, right? That means it's at least still able to be used."
The doctor who had made the observation waited a moment before answering, pondering it, "...It can be used, I think. There was a strange substance lining the walls, and eyes everywhere–just stepping in it for a moment ran me over with a cold."
"We'll use it to get to the lower floors, then," Finn said, glancing back at the knight.
Jasper sighed, holding his sword and shield, "I'll lead the way, I suppose."
The patients were guided out of their rooms by the doctors, who did their best to comfort the sick and wounded.
Finn watched, staying at the back of the group to oversee the rear. Seeing others just doing their best to survive, lending one another a hand, he felt he made the right choice.
'…If there's guards on other floors, we need to group them together ASAP. This person is strong, but I doubt even they want to mess with a huge group,'
he thought.
There were around a dozen survivors found on the floor, following from the back as one of the doctors helped lead the way to the stairwell. Finn kept checking over his own shoulder, glancing up at the ceiling at every moment as the others entered into the stairwell one-by-one until he followed behind.
"Where are we doing?" A sickly man asked the doctor beside him.
"My wallet–my wallet is still back there!" An older patient complained.
"I'm scared…" A small girl with brunette fringes sobbed.
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay," the blonde doctor beside the girl assured her.
All of it was feeling too unruly for Finn as he followed from the back, keeping an eye out. With how long and uncoordinated the group was, it only felt like a matter of time before everything became chaotic.
["
Sleuth
"]
[Mark] [Level: 2]
[Clarice] [Level: 1]
[Marie] [Level: 2]
Checking the levels of both patients and doctors, it came off as worrying to Finn as he followed down the steps.
'How were they this low? Did all these people do is hide? They're not prepared for any kind of threat at all,'
he thought.
Part of him couldn't help but judge those levels, though he placed the blame more on the city itself. It felt all too complacent to him, in a world that required one to be able to fight.
"Where is my mommy…I wanna be with mommy…!" The young girl sobbed, stopping in the middle of the steps.
"We have to keep moving—!" The female doctor encouraged the kid, though to little avail.
It didn't seem like the doctor had all too much experience with kids—no, that wasn't fair. Going off of levels, he imagined that the situation itself left the doctor in a panic.
Finn moved down the steps, kneeling down as he placed his hand on the crying girl's shoulder.
"Huhm…?" The sobbing girl glanced over.
"What's your name?" Finn asked with a soft, reassuring smile.
"An…Anna," the small girl answered with a sniffle.
"I'm Finn. Nice to meet you, Anna. Right now, we're all headed down to meet with the others—I'm sure your mom is waiting for you," Finn assured the girl with a calm tone.
The stalled sniffling from the child seemed to get through her as she slowly nodded her head.
Your journey continues on M V L
"Mr. Finn…Is your mommy waiting for you, too?" The small girl asked, rubbing her eyes.
It caught him off guard as he hesitated a second before returning his smile with a small nod, "…Not here, but yeah. She is. Let's go, alright? Don't want to keep them worrying."
"Mhm," Anna nodded.
A sigh of relief left the doctor's lips as she gave a look of gratitude to the young man.
He was never much of a fan of children during the normal days, but in a world deprived of much hope, seeing one delivered warmth to his heart.
Finn delivered a gentle pat to her head, ruffling her hair, "Alright, let's—"
Just as he saw the teary-eyed smile on Anna's lips, his instincts flared up as he noticed a blur of red coming from the left wall.
It emerged from a simple crack in the pale drywall; a morphing mass of flesh that shaped itself into a humanoid.
"Eeeek!—" The girl screamed.
The first thing Finn did was move his hand to cover her eyes before scooping her up, jumping back just as the mass pushed through. It moved with violent speed, pushing right through the blonde doctor.
Squelch
.
That haunting sound brought the entire group to a still within the stairwell. Bits and pieces of the doctor collapsed onto the steps, bringing one of the patients to scream as flesh touched her shoe.
'Shit…!'
Finn thought.
Before Charlotte or Jasper could come over to help, more of the morphing fiends slipped through cracks in the wall throughout the stairwell.
Finn was left holding the girl as the first arrival of the flesh-made monstrosities unraveled itself on the steps. It took the form of a man as though made out of ground beef, with fingers of razor-sharp claws and a twisted neck.
"Fresh…meat!" Distorted words crawled out of the vertical mouth of the grotesque figure.
It lumbered towards him as its bulging, displayed eyeballs watched only the girl in his arms as though she were a delectable snack.
"Give it! Give it! Give it!" The disproportionate fiend demanded, with its heavy top half swaying while walking on its needle-like legs.
'It talks? That's new,'
he thought.
The repulsive creature born of [Nameless'] manipulated territory stomped up the steps in pursuit of the child.
"Mr. Finn…!" Anna shouted, clutching her eyes shut.
With his hands full holding the girl, he opted to rely on his legs instead of his blades to confront the approaching terror.
He held the child firmly against himself before jumping up into a spinning kick. It was a vicious rotation, causing the air to hiss as he delivered the heel of his boot to the fiend's head.
It was enough to slam its skull against the wall, splattering it with a cracking impact. Only for a split-second did he watch it, finding its body fizzling away.
'Going for the head works best–got it,'
he recognized.
"Finn!" Charlotte shouted from a lower level down head, surrounded by citizens.
"There's a bunch of them comin' in hot!" Jasper yelled from the stairs a couple floors lower.
The warning came from the arrival of flesh-shaded gunk, oozing from the walls and taking the shape of malformed humanoids and beasts alike.
"Aaaaah–!"
"Get away!"
"Help us! You have to help us!"
–The fearful cries of the patients and hospital staff alike flooded the stairwell as panic broke out. Some people tried forcing their way back up, others down, but it ended the same either way–
"Move…!"
A tubby, middle-aged man in scrubs pushed himself right past Jasper, heading for a pale door, only to be intercepted by a hound-faced fiend.
"Hey!--" Jasper reached out.
The flesh-formed canine leapt by the stout man, causing the panicked figure to collapse as his entire throat was claimed by the beast's jaws.
At the highest floor, Finn clutched the girl in his arms as a pale, sickly man practically fell upwards trying to climb the steps. The thin adult shoved his way past without any care or orderly conduct.
Finn glanced back, "Stop it–! Get back in front of me–"
Though he tried to warn the man, all he could see was a blur of red before the top half of the pale man fell away from his lower section.
"Dammit—" Finn exhaled.
Stomping across the platform of the floor was a fiend taller and more built than the rest with tendril-like, blades arms.
Its oval head chortled with laughter after having promptly executed the panicked man, "Stupid man…Stupid man! Pffft!"
Finn could feel the girl in his arms trembling as he faced down the tentacle-armed abomination. A glance around found that the stairwell was quickly becoming infested by the formless fiends, inducing pure panic and chaos in the survivors.
'This is getting bad—can we defend everybody here like this?'
He questioned.
For the time being, he at least sought to safeguard the child he held as the blade-armed fiend approached.
A sour stench filled the claustrophobic area, like that of pickled meat with the heckles of the fiends growing louder.
It was far different from calculating just his own survival; every movement he made, every decision had to factor for the life he clutched to his chest as well.
Orcish Boost? Blink Slash? Supercharge? All options, though ones he didn't know how they'd affect the fragile child.
'I can't risk using skills. It should be fine, though,'
he decided.
"Gah! Gah! Gah!" The many-armed fiend began to lash out, whipping its limbs around.
The blade tendrils slashed against the walls, scraping and bouncing off the metal railings. Finn sprinted, ducking down, keeping Anna out of harm's way.
"Give…fresh meat!" The crimson-fleshed monstrosity demanded as drool sprayed from its slapping lips.