Chapter 8

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It must've slipped out of her mind to ask James what he saw outside. She was too anxious to talk or ask him anything then ... But now filled with restlessness she had to.

"What was it you were running from?"

James didn't like the question. He just couldn't get himself to say what it was. Maybe it was a shock response? His body and mind not believing the monstrosity that he had witnessed.

"We don't have to go out"

He said... But the spontaneous Linda was out for action. Then he saw how stupid he was when he insisted to go out and fight some cannibals. Somehow cannibals weren't the right name for the people that were in the corridor. But what else could describe them?

"I'm going"

In a twinkle of an eye, Linda opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he went after her.

The corridor was dark so they couldn't see anything except the dim light that was coming from the entrance to the corridor and the light coming from their cinema room.

"What are you doing?" James was talking in whispers as if they were walking in a lion's den. It felt even worse than walking in a lion's den.

Linda was going to bring her phone with her. The corridor was dark and scary. Even though she'd always admit about the beauty of the night / dimly lighted places, darkness didn't always sit well with her. She hated passing through dark corners and that was why she paid her NEPA bills on time (NEPA is an old name for the electricity distribution company in Nigeria. EEDC is the current name but NEPA is kind of the normal ... The citizens are used to it)

But she didn't have any choice now. She had to leave or else she would go crazy... If she was to choose between going crazy and facing one of those crazy people she would choose running the heck away from them both.

She grabbed her phone where it lay on the sofa. James was with his and the charger that he brought and also his car keys...

"Hey. Wait for me!" James gave up on trying to get her to change her mind. Two people are better than one! They could use the darkness to their advantage.

Everywhere was quiet; exactly how it was when they came there a couple of hours ago.

When she was back in the dark corridor she wished she didn't have to be back there. Who knew the kind of crazy person that awaited them there?

When James touched her arm she flinched. It could've been anything... "What?!" She asked trying to hide her fear from him by pitching her voice a little bit higher. Not too high that it would alert whatever it was that lurked in the dark.

"Get behind me," James said as he walked ahead of her to lead the way. It seemed as if his courage was slowly coming back to him. They had to do something or else they would be stuck in that room with the crazy lady till either their bladders burst or they die of hunger if no one answers them.

"Oh. Superman is here" Linda rolled her eyes. To think that he was literally fidgeting at the idea of getting out of their cinema room. And then suddenly he started acting like courage was his name.

"That's not the time for that"

"And who are you to tell me what to use my time for?"

Linda knew that what James was saying was the truth but she didn't want to admit it. Her ego was bruised by his stubbornness so she wanted to be stubborn too even if she was being foolish.

But she was glad that he was with her. Although she was so scared that her heart felt like it was in her throat she still felt some form of comfort. James was there with her. Whatever it was that lurked in the dark won't have to face her alone but the both of them.

Linda switched on her torchlight and set it to the lowest intensity.

"No! They will see us..."

"it's too dark in here"

"No!" James could remember vividly his near-death experience with the anomaly. He termed it a near-death experience because if he had wasted a second or two there he would've been long gone. He snatched the phone from Linda and put off the torchlight. They had to find their way through the corridor without the light.

They weren't in a hurry to go because the floor was a mess. James supposed it was the fallen walls... As they walked it seemed like an eternity had passed.

James dared not to say a word because it would attract unwanted attention. But Linda was getting tired of their pace and she didn't understand why the place was filled with hurdles and she couldn't feel the walls at some point. It was almost as if they had disappeared.

"What are all these things blocking our way?" Linda complained and stood at a spot. Before he could sush her they heard a growl. It was similar to the sounds that the lady in the toilet of their cinema room made. What kind of allergy even makes someone growl like an animal?

Nothing made sense to Linda but she knew she had to do only one thing; get the hell out of there.

The growl was coming from a few inches away from her. She could feel the presence of someone towards her left. It wasn't James because he was ahead of her. The person was so close that she didn't doubt that it was her imagination playing tricks on her.

Everyone had gone berserk on others that night. What were the odds that this person wasn't also crazy? Like the lady in their cinema room toilet. Was she also like the first man she saw earlier? A cannibal? But she didn't look like that earlier on. She looked normal ... It was just her allergy that made her like that... But that didn't sound like the truth to Linda... Even James didn't look like he believed it... Sometimes James seemed like he knew more than he was letting on. But she couldn't get herself to ask him questions maybe because he couldn't answer the ones she asked.

One question that bothered Linda was what would have happened if she didn't defend herself against the lady. Would she be a victim of cannibalism? Or a victim of some insane allergy?

But all that didn't matter because whether it was allergy or cannibalism she was going to get away from this growling human next to her.

James seemed to have noticed that she stopped.

"Linda" He whispered. They weren't alone. He heard so many growls all around them and knew that these weren't normal people. They had to be at least 10 cannibals.

He had to make sure Linda was okay. He couldn't feel her walking closely behind him so he whispered again "Linda"

Linda held her breath as the human reached even closer to her. Did the person notice her presence? There was a hundred and one percent chance that her presence was noted so why was she still standing still? As rigid as the statue in front of her school. She couldn't get herself to move, it was as if she was dreaming. Why wasn't she being attacked? Because of the lack of light?

But this lack of movement was immediately cured when she felt something close to her cheeks and she let out a scream and bolted forward.

Immediately James heard her scream he didn't bother to wait in the dark to the mercy of the owners of the growls but ran as fast as he could.

Linda started to hear loud thuds and felt the ground shaking... She felt it hours ago... She felt the ground shake moments before and after opening the door to let James in but she was too shocked to be curious. What made the ground shake? Was the building about to collapse?

What about the loud thuds that were heard at regular intervals? Every few seconds there was a loud thud. What caused these loud thuds?

She was running and screaming as her mind quickly ran through all these questions.

"Stop screaming. They'd follow us if you keep on screaming" James said as he ran. He had already put a large distance between the both of them.

"James!!" Linda cried out!!! She was terrified and was so sure she'd be grabbed by the cannibals. It felt as if they were at her tail, closer than the crazy lady was to her.

Would this be the end for her? She thought as she tried her best to put a huge distance between her and her pursuers.

It was quite ironic. Linda used to think that she hated life and wanted to let go of it. But she was running with all the survival instinct left in her. What a turn of events! She once heard that one would know how one loves oneself in the face of danger and adrenaline pumps in.

She stretched her legs wide with each run trying to cover a huge distance in a shorter time. It was a surprise that she didn't tumble on something and fall.

She was still screaming James's name. He left her. Why? Now she was going to get turned into night food for them ... But each time she thought she was getting slower and was giving up her energy got higher and she got faster.

When James finally got to the other end of the corridor he stepped into the lighted entrance and was welcomed by a dozen abnormal-looking people. They were all walking like they were about to fall and all walked haphazardly occasionally bumping into one another.

"Drunken cannibals?" he thought as he turned back to check for Linda.

"Linda! Come on!"

He knew nothing had happened to her because she was still screaming his name. In about a few seconds after he came out to the large receptionist entrance Linda joined him. She wasn't the only one joining him... He could hear the pitter-patter of feet behind on the dark corridor and loud thuds from a bit farther.

He held out his hand so they could run away together but she didn't take it instead she flashed him a look of pure hate and continued running without looking backward.

That wasn't time for some petty drama. It seemed as though the dozen people had noticed their presence because they were running toward them. No! They weren't running. It looked as if they had forgotten how to run with the way they dragged along their feet ... One might even say that they had forgotten how to walk with the way most of them bent weirdly to the side as they ran.

"What kind of drugs did these people take that's making them go wild?"

James thought as he ran outside. But that wasn't his problem because he was almost in his car. In a few seconds, they would be out of the hell hole and it would just turn into another crazy and wild story they would tell other people, who would likely not believe them.

But that little hope was dashed when he saw the huge guy that had a huge chunk of flesh ripped from his neck.

His neck hung loosely to the left side with the other part lacking its contents. What were they staring at?

How was he still alive? His neck was filled with blood and his black cloth was drenched with what seemed to be blood. He was the security man from the way he dressed ... But how was he still alive? With that fatal injury? But somehow James's mind could accept what he saw especially with all he had experienced so far.

But Linda was on the floor panting like someone that had seen a ghost. He might as well be a ghost.