CHAPTER 9 (Hide and Seek)

Trust your guts and you can never go wrong. That is what the detectives do, but in his case, he did not listen to his own guts, but instead, he is now gripping the doorknob and ready to open it.

There is no going back if he opens this one.

A noise of creaking made the whole corner as he began to slowly open the door. His hands were shaking and he had to admit that he was a little bit scared.

Once he had opened the door, he was welcomed by a steel bars. It was dark and he couldn't see what was inside. He held his phone and tapped the flashlight icon. He slowly lighted the room to see what was inside and why those steel bars existed.

But there was nothing. Nothing was in the room, only clothes and a retarded bed and table. But the smell was made to make you vomit if you are not used to the kind of smell.

He slowly closes the door and decides to open the next one behind it. As soon as he opened the door, a dusty smoke came out, unlike the other one. It also had steel bars and again he used his flashlight to see what was inside.

He lifted his hand and lighted the whole room and before he could light up the right side of the room, he was taken aback and took a step back from where he was standing. His heart was pounding with nervousness. He is not hallucinating and his brain is surely not just making it up, just to scare himself away.

He saw a man standing but his back was facing at him. He was all the way down naked and his back was full of scars and dried blood, if he could tell. His shoulders were shaking up and down but he could hear his humming. Humming was easy and not loud until it slowly became louder and louder.

Gunner blinks his eyes and before he can open his eyes just as fast as the lightning, the person who's facing back at him is now facing him with a smile on his face. His teeth were showing and his eyes were bulging out. It was read and had dark circles. His teeth were yellowish and his saliva was sticky. And what is more bothering to look at is his private part is missing. It was like it was cut out.

Gunner's eyes were bulging out and he couldn't even blink for a second. He can even hear his heartbeat beating wildly.

"God have mercy," he breathed as his eyes were fixed on him.

The man in front of him laughed sarcastically and responded, "Here, there is no god. And if that is why we are here?"

And before Gunner could speak he was shocked at the speed of the man, who ran immediately to the bars and gripped it. And suddenly, the man shouted, which made Gunner rattle from his place, not knowing what to do.

What kind of person is now in front of him? Why was he in that kind of situation? There were a lot of questions running into his mind. Questions that no one can answer right now. The word 'are' that the man said earlier makes him think that they are more like him.

"Who are you?" Instead of running away from that person, he had managed to ask him that question. Not looking at the screen of his phone, he had managed to tap at the voice recorder to record another clip.

The man in front of him stopped screaming and a moment of silence took over them. Gunner waited for him to respond and he knew he had heard him.

"My name?" the man mimicked and looked like thinking. There was grief in his eyes but it suddenly changed into something like a monster.

"Are you here to torture me again? Did he send you to me again? How many times do I have to answer you I don't know where the treasures are? I don't know if it was just my words to lure people. I don't have any idea as to where that hidden treasure is and it was a myth before then. It maybe doesn't exist," he said which makes Gunner scrunch his forehead. Is this the reason why he had been a captive?

"No, No, I am not here to torture you. I am here to save all of you and I am here to search for my brother. Now can you tell me who you are?" Gunner asked again and he was amused that this person in front of him still understood him.

He has been in many cases of people who have been tortured and they are not in themselves anymore and they have to undergo work with a psychiatrist, but this person in front of him is different. Not to say that this person underwent such tortures that a normal person can never imagine. Only psychos can do such things.

From what Gunner can see could the person in front of him had been there for years because of his physical appearance and from the healed scars on his body. The scars of that kind of deepness will heal for many months and he had a lot of those. Also, from his appearance, he is not skinny. In fact, he looked like a muscular and strong man. Like he can carry a load of wood or even metal. But his physical appearance doesn't look normal.

"I am Ibiza and you probably don't know me," he answered my question while smiling ridiculously.

"Leave," he said in a low voice enough for Gunner to hear, but he didn't move.

"Who bought you here?" Gunner asked, but instead he got a loud response which made him scared because the man in front of him looked like he wanted to grip him and eat him. His tongue was sticking out and saliva was dripping.

"Leave!" he shouted at him again, which made Gunner's flashlight move from the left corner of the room and his eyes were fixed in shock at what he had witnessed.

There was an enormous meat full of blood on the floor in a mess. It looked like a cow with its intestines were out and the blood was still fresh. Inside of the cow was already empty because there was a large hole in it.

It looks fresh.

Gunner immediately averted the flashlight to the person in front of him but he was not there anymore.

He noticed that the cell was half open, that he did not even notice from the first place. He was fixed looking at the horror that he had seen. He was eating a live animal. It was raw. What kind of animal would do such a thing?

He heard a noise and looked at where it could possibly come from. This time he uses his flashlight, not caring anymore what happens next. What is more important is that he can use a light in the darkness.

He took a walk and looked from his left and to his right with his flashlight from his phone.

There was nothing but he could feel a presence.

He could hear noises of something like climbing, but it was impossible because of the state of the building. Yes, there are edges, but a person cannot climb at that high. But, nevertheless, he took his flashlight to the spot where he heard the noise.

Gunner felt like his heart escape from his chest when he saw the man that was just in front of him was now staring at him and he was climbing and looking like he was sticking to the wall. But how can that possibly be? How on earth can he do that?

With his expertise, his fingers vastly tap the back of his phone and tap the video camera. He can use a flashlight there and he can also record things. He looked at his phone and it said he only now had eighty-seven percent of the battery of the phone.

The man named Ibiza was staring at Gunner deadly and his saliva was sticking out dripping on the floor.

"When I say run, you run," he said, and Gunner couldn't say a word. He felt his lips go pale and he couldn't even feel his knees. Those words were weak but he clearly heard them.

One…

Two…

Three…

"Run!" A loud voice rang into the hallway and immediately Gunner took a step and ran, which he almost tripped along the way while catching his breath, but he managed to grip his phone even more and record everything.

He taps the end record just to save the other one while running and records another clip. It was better to be safe about the recording because you might not know if you have saved it or not. He learned it when he was just starting and he recorded a very important event and he forgot to save the clip just for his phone to shut down.

He was running and running, gasping for breath. He could clearly hear the noise of him following him. He heard scratches and footsteps. He ate a cow and no wonder he can also eat a human.

Gunner doesn't know what to do. He must find a place to hide. It is not good for him if he keeps running and running his energy will be lost and that will put him in danger. If ever this time, maybe the owner of the building already knows my visit and now there is no way out. And the only thing that I have is me.

The company was an enormous building. A mysterious building, if Gunner described it, because of the hallway that you wouldn't imagine if you were outside. The hallways that you would never expect to exist in this kind of architecture.

Gunner could not take it anymore and was catching for his breath and badly needed water. His face lit up when he saw rooms and a signage of a bathroom, meaning there was water. He also noticed that there was no more that was following him. Maybe it gets tiring. But he must not get too relaxed since he now knew what he had walked into.

And if there are more of him like him then, he is now worried about his brother.

He ran to where the bathroom was and the video was still recording. He looked for a faucet to drink but halted and thought twice about whether the water there was safe and clean, but heck, he was thirsty. He turned on the faucet and touched the water and looked at it.

It was not yellowish and it was also not chlorine. It wasn't smelly after all. He took a drink until he was satisfied. After he had a drink, he roamed around his eyes. It was a bathroom but there were cabinets. Why are there cabinets inside the bathroom?

And there he saw that it was the bathroom of a doctor. Not a bathroom, but it was a clinic. He saw needles and scissors that were messed up. Dried blood in towels and bandages. He saw a knife and Gunner immediately took it for an emergency. He had to have at least one weapon for himself.

"I walked into an asylum," he whispered to himself while looking at his phone recording.

That person who sent me an email was definitely there. A person who entered here had the smallest chance to get out of here. So he was damn sure that it was his brother who led him here.

Suddenly there was a crash outside which made Gunner startled from where he was standing. He grips the knife and puts it on the side of his belt so that it is easy for him to get it.

He looked behind him and there were two small cabinets that he believed he could fit in one of them.

He heard footsteps coming into his way.

Slowly and it seemed like the person who was about to approach his place had a companion.