Chapter Thirteen: Blackhound

“A…a black hound!” Leon whispered in a tiny voice.

At almost the same time, a meager bark resounded from behind the beast.

"M–Muffin?"

And then a voice rang from behind the altar, alerted by the strange bark.

"Who's there?!" Hurried footsteps quickly followed.

And everything seemed to slow down to a stop...

My heart seemed to be the only thing racing along with my thought process entering hyperspeed and blood boiling with adrenaline rushing through my veins.

And in the fraction of a second I seemed to have spent processing the current situation, my mind came to a single conclusion. One action:

'Run.’

By the time the adrenaline had fully saturated my whole body, I moved, grabbing the closest person to me.

I dashed to the side trying to get out of the creature's view.

With a terrible growl, the hound quickly turned its neck in a swift motion towards me and glared its daggers for fangs.

At the same time when it did...

"Run! Now!"

... Don and the others used the chance to move as well.

“Release the hounds and get those brats!!” the cloaked man roared as soon as he caught sight of us and the bloodhound began chasing us.

Someone picked up the little dog at the corner of my eye. I was sure it was one of the kids and didn't bother to have my eyes set on one goal at the moment.

No. We all did.

Dashing at full speed, we aimed for the tunnel we came in from. The hound still in place behind us, torn between who to hunt down and chase.

This was our chance. We had to get back into the tunnel and get the hell away!

From the altar across the chapel, the hoarse voice of the cloaked man sounded an order.

"Release the hounds!!"

As we neared the tunnel, however, we all came to a ghastly stop.

Guarding the very entrance into the tunnel, another terrifying hound stood. Streams of saliva poured down its ghastly maws housing dozens of dagger-like fangs.

A disturbing growl left the salivating mouth of the hound.

I grimaced and looked over my shoulder. The other hound behind had turned around to face us. Over to my side, Don and the others all stood in place with no apparent place to run.

This was bad...

As I thought that, my eyes quickly scaled the walls and expanse of the chapel. Pages flipped open in my mind as I ran through immediate memories at the same time.

'Where was it...?'

I looked over my shoulders and to do the sides, my eyes scaling the environment desperately.

Where was it...

Before, when we had reached the chapel from the tunnel, drawn in by the alluring sight of the intriguing ruin, I had caught a glimpse of another tunnel somewhere.

'There it is!'

In a fraction of a second later, my eyes fell on the partially caved-in entrance of a smaller tunnel a few meters to my right.

"This way!!" I shouted aloud and turned directly towards the smaller tunnel hoping the others will quickly and safely follow.

Of course, the hounds didn't just sit idly and watch us run. In the next moment, the hound from behind pounced against where I had only until a second ago stood.

At the same time, Don and the others quickly ran past it and followed behind. The other hound at their tails of course.

The smaller tunnel wasn't far away and I soon immediately got to it. The entrance however had a collapsed pillar blocking the entrance with only a small gap under.

Even behind there were rubbles of rocks and stones which nearly managed to completely seal off the entrance of the tunnel. But there was just an even smaller gap between the rubbles.

We crawled under the collapsed pillar and scaled the rubbles up a bit. I shoved my hand at a particular piece of rock at a particular angle. Thankfully there was a small gap underneath, the rock went through to the other side without much resistance. I clawed at some other rocks throwing them out of the way and managed to create a suitable amount of space just in time to get myself through it and finally into the small tunnel.

I stumbled a little as I fell into the other side of the rubble wall Into the tunnel and ran deeper in.

I looked over my shoulder and confirmed Don and the others all safely managed to get through the small gap I created and we were following behind.

Furious barking and growling, along with the sounds of rasp and aggressive clawing from the hounds on the other side of the rubble war slowly faded into the distance the further in the tunnel we ran.

The gap under the collapsed pillar wasn't big enough for the hounds to pass under. And even if they did somehow manage to get under it, the rubble wall provided another form of obstacle.

The gap I created between the rubbles was only small enough to get us inside just barely by squeezing through. There was no way the hounds could get through.

We were now safely out of their reach. Probably.

But, even with that, I didn’t stop but kept running down the tunnel trying to get further and further away from the rubble wall, from the chapel entirely.

Adrenaline had now fully saturated my whole body and my mind blank of all thoughts but fear and 'run'.

With only those thoughts, I kept running. I ran and ran making a few turns along the way, following down the path the tunnel led.

I had no idea where I was going or for how long I had been running.

'What–what if they get past the rubble? What if they find another way? What if...'

All the possible thoughts of how this situation could only get much worse, both possible and utterly insane, flooded the depths of my blank mind.

“…eo! Reo! Hey, Reo!” a voice slightly akin to a ghastly shriek pierced my ears and I felt an opposing force yanking at my arm and pulling me to a stop.

'Eh, what is it? We have to keep going, don’t stop! The hounds...the hounds are going to...'

I turned around quickly to the source of the pull on my arm. Then I noticed. Don and the others all had drained looks and were panting, gasping for breath. They looked like they could pass out if they could pass out at any moment.

I had been so intent on running away, that I hadn’t realized. Just how long have we been running? I'm one thing but these guys are still kids. They can only run for so long without rest.

I looked around slightly. We were still in an underground tunnel with rail tracks running across the ground. There were no signs of the hounds or our pursuers. We had successfully created a considerable gap between us and them.

Vision in this tunnel was suitably clear without the presence of glowing spores or gemstones. Either that or I had just adapted night vision.

I took a look around the tunnel we were down in. This part of the tunnel was wide and spacious. Ahead of them was even more tunnel. Rail tracks lead even further in.

And over to our sides were–

“Gaacckk!!!” My body instantly became heavy. And an empty tight sensation gripped my chest, with each second almost as if threatening to burst open.

A weird and constricting feeling came over my entire body. A feeling as if I were drowning. The tips of my fingers instantly fell cold as a numb sensation spred through them. I could hear the sole sound of my heart beating rapidly in my head.

With each second it felt like I could pass out. Like my rib cage would explode.

It was excruciating.

I had never felt like this before. A sensation like something strangling and curling incredibly tightly around my whole body. Squeezing the life out of it.

My throat felt constricted and my chest kept beating heavily. Soon my legs gave out and I fell to my knees. My hand reflexively grabbed at my throat.

It was like the blood in my body was still and unmoving. No longer flowing like it was supposed to.

The next moment, I felt light-headed. My vision flickered in and out with each passing second losing more of their lights.

'Goddammit....i-it hurts!'

I managed to raise my head slightly at the kids. They had all surrounded my suffering body with stifled faces. Unknowing what to do.

Their expressions were troubled and uncertain. Weaved with fear and horror

Seeing this, I...I had to tell them something. I had to tell them it was alright. I had to assure them it was okay. That I'd be fine.

But I couldn't.

All that left my lips were the rasping whizzing sounds of me desperately grasping for air.

'Air...!'

That was it!

I was so intent on running away, I had even...I had even forgotten to breathe and used up the little remaining oxygen my body had left. And now, I was suffering from it.

I was fucking choking!!

I had only gone this long without air probably because of all the adrenaline saturating my body...

But now...

I had to breathe! I needed air or else...!

With the late realization, I quickly focused on my lungs. They kept rising but that was all. No air made its way into it.

'What the hell...?'

It was almost like I had forgotten how to breathe. My body refused to fucking respond!!

Breathe!

Breathe!

Breathe!!

'Breathe, dammit. Reo FUCKING Bellar, breathe you asshole!!!'

The strain only lasted and the energy quickly left my body. My vision blurring and fading away. The touch of my fingers around my neck, I could barely feel them. My skin felt cold.

I was losing consciousness.

...

"Reo, breathe!"

It was faint but I heard it. The desperate voice of Lia.

At almost the same time, a strange warmth permeated through my right hand. It was soft, so soft for a moment I forgot I was one step away from losing consciousness.

The warmth washed away the constricting pain. And with it, I recovered how to breathe...

With one deep sharp gasp, I was brought back to earth. The light returned to my eyes, and thoughts slowly built back up in my mind.

Once again, the red streams of blood in my veins seemed to flow once more.

I coughed a few times and painted heavily. My chest rose up and down, but this time my lungs filled with sweet, refreshing air.

“Fuh… fuh… fuh…” I managed to get my breathing under control and in a few seconds I was able to stand again.

“Are you okay now, Reo?” A gentle voice from my side reached my ears. It was the same soft voice that had anchored my consciousness and stopped me from passing out.

I turned to face Lia on my right and delivered a weak smile.

“Yeah, I think so."

For the next few seconds, we held each other's eyes. She peered deeply into mine and mine into hers.

And then her cheeks flushed red.

She alternated her gaze between my face and downwards awkwardly.

I followed her gaze ad realized.

“Ah.”

I had Lia's hand tightly held in my right hand.

“Ah! I-I’m so sorry!” Retracting my hand as soon as I realized, I backed up a few steps and apologized. Mixing my steps from my still-weak knees, I bumped into Don who helped stop my fall.

'Damn, this is so embarrassing!'

I could feel my face slightly heat up.

I glanced at Leon on the opposite side who had a deep frown on his face filled with discontent ad displeasure. He glanced back and frowned even deeper.

I awkwardly tried to avert his gaze ad ended up locking eyes with Lia again. She jolted, yelped slightly, and hid behind Trise.

Trise blinked blankly for a while and glanced at Lia behind her back. Along the way, she met eyes with an equally blank Kyle. And in the next second, they both shared a disturbingly meaningful grin from ear to ear.