《Warware Damudo》


 Chapter 1- The Beginning of the End

    Everyone was going about their daily lives. It had been around 1PM on a Saturday when it happened. Children were in school, Adults were going about their business. Everything was normal.


    Takao Oshiro was sitting furthest to the top right in the classroom. He found Math Class boring, and instead of listening to Mr Minami, who was explaining what Takao thought looked a bit like Trigonometry, he decided he would listen to music; what did it matter anyway, his math grades were plummeting and why should he have to  listen in a subject that he was doomed to fail?


    Just two desks in front of him sat Hikari Saito. She was by far, in Takao¡¯s opinion, the most beautiful girl in the class. She, unlike Takao, was clearly very interested in Math. She sat, staring at the teacher for any sudden movement, and at the slightest stroke of the pen on the board from Mr Minami, she would write everything he did, like a robot; however, even she couldn¡¯t hide a little of her math class boredom, for she too had one earphone in. She had dark hair, but it wasn¡¯t any longer than her shoulders; and deep blue eyes which hypnotised Takao every time he looked into them. What he wouldn¡¯t do to go on a date with her¡­


    Mr Minami had just asked a question about the angle of a triangle when it started.. A loud siren wailed out across the town. It pierced the ears of the students. At first, people were looking around in wonder, but then they realised. This was not just a normal drill alarm which was expected from the Nuclear Power Plant at this time. This was a real meltdown alarm. Suddenly, as the shock hit everyone, panic arose from the class. People began running and screaming, but Takao knew this was pointless, it was too late. If this was what everyone thought it was, a real nuclear meltdown alarm, then they were already all damned. The radiation would¡¯ve been leaking long before the alarm was set off, it would have already affected them all, and even so, an implosion would come soon after which would kill them instantly.


    Mr Minami tried to calm his class. He told them they would be fine if the hid under tables, but no-one listened. They were doomed to death, warrant signed and sent. The final alarm tone went off. This meant the implosion was coming. This would be the final blow. The blow that would kill them all. They all braced for their incoming elimination.


    It never came¡­


    Takao got up from under the table, along with all the other kids in the classroom. Mr Minami was gone. Everyone was silent. Questions started to flow around the room. Strangely enough, no-one was panicked. People were just mystified. Questions like ¡®Are we dead?¡¯ and ¡®Where is Mr Minami?¡¯ started to make their way around the class. Takao realised they couldn¡¯t stay there all day asking questions. He decided he was going to figure out what was going on. They must be dead, they had to be, a nuclear implosion on that scale would kill anybody within a 200 mile radius- that would mean the whole town would have to be dust, everyone dead. But they weren¡¯t. The whole class had survived, except for possibly Mr Minami, whose fate was unknown to the students. Takao wondered out of the classroom door, with around 40 other bewildered students. Slowly, other classes began to flood out to the hallways also. Uneasy conversation began. Soon enough, Takao realised that the same had happened to their teachers. Gone. Just disappeared. Not a trace left behind.


    Some kids were worried, some of the younger kids were even crying; but some of the older kids seemed more accepting of their newfound fate. Had all the teachers disappeared? Or even worse, had everyone outside the school gone? There was only one way to find out.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.Takao made his way through the swamp of wondrous students, and when he finally made his way to the door, and out, he was presented with a sight to see. Hundreds of cars on the busy street had either crashed or were at strange angles on the road. Their alarms going off all at once, as loud as a banshee¡¯s screech. Takao quickly ran to one of the cars, hoping to rescue its driver. But there was no driver. He went to check another car, a red Honda, but when he got to it, he realised in such horrific majesty that this car was also driverless. What had happened here? Where was everyone?


    Takao went back into the school. Maybe he could find some of his classmates and they could figure out what exactly had happened here. He dug his way through piles of swarming students as they now made their ways to the exit, realising they weren¡¯t bound to the hardship of school by any authority anymore, mainly because the authorities were gone; to where, no-one knew, and no-one really cared. They were free as far as they were concerned.


    Eventually, Takao found his classmates; Akio, Katsu and Misaki. They were in a group together discussing the current events. They too seemed mystified by it. Takao joined them, ¡°Hi¡± he said, in a rather plain expression. ¡°Hello Takao¡± replied Katsu alone, shyly, the others too engrossed in their conversation to even note his existence. ¡°Strange occurrences, right?¡± said Katsu to Takao,


    ¡°Yeah¡± replied Takao, ¡°we should be dead, but you know, stranger things have happened¡­¡±, he continued, ¡°oh wait, no they haven¡¯t, because a nuclear implosion like that should have destroyed the whole city!¡± he said, beginning to feel the pressure of unknowing realisation reaching his mind. His brain was struggling to believe this was reality. Misaki suddenly turned around from her conversation with Akio, and faced both Takao and Katsu, ¡°Both me and Akio agree that we need to go and find other people. Students are just leaving school, this is dishonourable to our teachers. We need to find adults.¡±. Akio nodded his head in agreement.


    ¡°I know we need to find adults Misaki, but I just went outside, cars are crashed and alarms are sounding everywhere. It¡¯s chaos. I was thinking, as crazy as this sounds, what if there are no adults? What if the students here are the last people in the town?¡± replied Takao, rather irritably.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous Takao¡­ I mean.. of course there are other people left, I mean adults.. right? There has to be¡­¡± responded Misaki, as if to comfort herself more than anything.


    ¡°I think we should search regardless, we don¡¯t know anything yet. We shouldn¡¯t jump to conclusions yet.¡± Inputted Akio. They all seemed to agree on that, for as Akio walked towards the doors without their permission, they all followed, like sheep guided by a Shepard.


    Just as they were leaving, Takao spotted Hikari. She was alone, sat in the corner near a block of lockers. He decided to go over to her, signalling his classmates to wait. He spoke to her. ¡°Hikari, are you okay?¡± he said.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m fine.¡± She said, and then ¡°how is this possible? Nothing we have been taught about the way we harvest nuclear energy in Physics explains how this is possible. We should be dead.¡±


    ¡°I know..¡± replied Takao. ¡°We¡¯re going to try and find some conclusion to this, do you want to come with us?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yes, yes, yes¡± she repeated, securing the fact she was indeed fearful of the recent events.


    Takao held out his hand and helped Hikari up, and they joined the rest of their group as they set out into the world, unknowing of what they may find¡­

 Chapter 2: Searching for Hope [Part 1 of 2]

    They found their way to the streets of their settlement, known as Kimcho, a small town situated deep in the mountains of New Japan; known as a military capital of the small mountain districts, and a pioneer for Nuclear power generation. The group were in awe of the mass destruction beheld to them. Cars were lining or crashed as far as the eye could see. The difference now from when Takao was out there, was that there were now more children. They were coming slowly from residential buildings, in equal wonder to the students. There were hundreds of them.


    Takao and the others made their way through the horde of children and decided they needed a plan. ¡°We have to do something. We need to find a resolution. We can¡¯t just sit in awe and wonder like the other kids are..¡± stated Akio.


    ¡°Yeah, we need to find help. We need to find out what is happening. These children have no adults to watch over them, and these cars crashed in dangerous positions. What if someone needs help in one of them?¡± agreed Misaki.


    Takao sighed. They still believed there were people In the mangled vehicles. ¡°I already checked some of the cars. It¡¯s the same situation as in the school. They have disappeared.¡± He said gormlessly. ¡°But I do agree, we need to find help. There could be all sorts of chaos if we don¡¯t find anyone to maintain control.¡±


    So it was agreed. Katsu and Hikari weren¡¯t really given a chance to input, but it didn¡¯t bother them. They decided they would just follow the others anyway.


    They began their journey.


    The streets were strangely empty. Usually at this time of day, the streets of the town would be filled with people doing what they do every day; shopping, working, going places¡­ Just everyday things; but today was different. Not a person could be seen. It was such an eerie atmosphere.


    Everywhere they went, more and more mystified children poured out onto the street, from houses and apartment blocks all over. Where were their parents? Takao thought..


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.¡°I¡¯m going to check my house, to see if my parents are home. They said they were going to be in all day.¡± Takao said, ¡°Anyone want to come with me?¡± he continued. They all agreed they should stick together, who knows what might have gotten into people¡¯s heads If there truly were no adults left¡­


    When they finally reached Takao¡¯s home, Takao was shocked to find the front door wide open. He entered with the rest of the group, as on guard as ever. Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard from the second floor. They went up the stairs, Takao realised he was now trembling¡­ ¡°Dad¡­?¡± he shouted, rather uneasily¡­ No response. ¡°Mom?¡± he shouted, again uneasily¡­ No reply, yet again...


    At that moment, suddenly, the door to Takao¡¯s parent¡¯s bedroom flew open, and out came a young boy aged roughly 11. He was armed with Takao¡¯s Mom¡¯s Baseball bat and was waving it furiously in the air and was screaming¡­


    At first this gave Takao and his friends quite a fright, but they soon realised that the boy was just as scared of them as they were of him at first. ¡°Woah¡­ calm down¡± Takao beckoned. ¡°We¡¯re not here to harm you¡± he assured the boy.


    ¡°What? Said the boy. Why are you here?¡± he asked, confused.


    ¡°This Is my house. We¡¯re looking for my parents. Why are you here?¡± Takao returned quite abruptly.


    ¡°Oh¡­ sorry¡­¡± the boy said awkwardly, dropping the baseball bat. ¡°I thought this house was empty. My mom was making lunch. I heard the alarm, we hid under the table, we were ready to die. But it never happened. When I looked at my Mom to make sure she was alright, she was gone. I searched the whole house, I swear. She was just¡­ well¡­ gone..!¡± explained the boy. ¡°I was hoping to find someone in your house, but I¡­ well I was talking to some other kids¡­ and well¡­ I think all the adults are¡­ erm¡­ gone.¡±


    To be continued in Part 2 of Chapter 2¡­

 Chapter 2: Searching for Hope [Part 2 of 2]

    Takao and the others stared at each other for a few seconds. There was a dead silence.


    What if this new boy was right?


    What if all the adults had just disappeared?


    "Wh.. what are we going to do then?" enquired Katsu.


    "Well, if this boy is right, then we''re going to have to look after ourselves. We need to get out of here; it''s going to be chaos soon if we don''t. There are hundreds of kids in this town, and pretty soon they''re going to realise what has happened too..." replied Takao.


    "My... my dad owns a cabin high in the mountains not far from here, we could go there and wait a few days until things settle down here if you want?" said Hikari.


    "That''s probably a good idea" replied Takao, and then, turning to the boy, who was clearly a little bit disgruntled from the experience, "Do you want to come with us? It will be safer there."


    The boy nodded.


    They left the building, and out of respect, Takao shut the door to his house as he left. He knew he wouldn''t be going back there for a very long time.


    It had begun to snow in the mountain town. This was a recipe for disaster, hundreds of kids on the street with little to no authority, and now it was snowing? This wasn''t going to end well. Snow up here in the mountains could last for weeks. People were going to die if this was one of those flurries.


    Takao told himself he didn''t care, that it wasn''t his problem..


    Deep down, he felt a surge of guilt.


    "What is your name, anyway?" Takao asked the boy,


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    "Eito." he said quickly, as if to avoid any further question.


    "Hm" replied Takao.


    He didn''t know why, but he knew that name.


    They began to travel down the road. When they reached the corner, they saw another line of crashed cars. This sight had become the norm to them. It was something that could be seen down every street.


    Hikari lead the way. "It''s around 10 miles from here, up Ryuchu Mountain. We''ll never make it in time before the snow blocks the road. The road leading to it is only a small dirt track."


    "We could use one of these cars" suggested Akio, and then "look, this one still has it''s keys in the ignition."


    "Yeah, but does anyone even know how to drive here?" asked Takao


    The others all shook their heads, all of the others except for Misaki.


    "I know how to drive briefly. My father used to take me up the mountain roads to drive in the meadows, he taught me the basic driving skills." she told the others. "He used to..." she continued, but then stopped.


    "Then it''s settled. Misaki can drive and Hikari can tell us where we need to go." commanded Takao.


    "Ok" the others agreed, almost in unison, but not quite. Eito remained silent, but nodded his head solemnly.


    They all got in the car. It was only a small car, but it fit them in, in cramped conditions. Misaki turned the key in the ignition, and they set off to what they hoped would be safety...

 Chapter 3: The Cabin

    They set off down the, now icy, road. They eventually came to a crossroad. Hikari told Misaki to turn left, up a very narrow dirt track, as Hikari had described it earlier.


    "We stay on this track for 8 miles, and then we turn left. My Father''s cabin is on that road." said Hikari.


    Then continued up the dirt track. The car shook as they went over the rough terrain; it clearly wasn''t made for going off road like this.


    The snow was now creating blankets of white over everything. It was like a wonderland, or would be if the situations weren''t as they were. Now it just felt like the world was out to kill them. It had taken their carers from them first, and now was punishing them with cruel weather just as they needed it least.


    "Turn on the radio!" said Eito, quite loudly. This was the first thing he had said since he had told Takao his name.


    "If you''re right, and all the adults are gone, then there will be no radio." replied Takao, quite stubbornly, as if he didn''t believe Eito.


    "Oh yeah... well try it... anyway." said Eito.


    Misaki turned on the radio with the push of a button. That was strange. It wasn''t static as they had been expecting. Instead there was this sort of... well... what sounded impossibly like a voice....


    "What''s that?" Asked Eito


    "Turn it up" said Takao


    "Yeah" Hikari exclaimed.


    Misaki did so, and as she did, the wonder that had been on the student''s faces grew ever greater at the sound that came from the radio.


    It was a voice.


    It was talking.


    It said: "Citizens of the Kimcho Mountain District. This is a Code 4 Warning. This is not a test run..." and it repeated so on and on and on...


    "That''s strange" inputted Akio, "How is the radio still broadcasting?"


    "Must be built in to the radio system rather than a broadcast" replied Takao.


    Finally, after a treacherous journey up the mountain side, they reached the cabin. The lights were still on.


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    "My parents haven''t been up here in over a week now" Hikari pointed out, "They never leave lights on. This is very strange." she continued.


    Takao simply nodded as the car pulled up to the parking area. Misaki parked the car and the group got out of the car. Takao could feel the cold mountain air combined with the storm of snow which was now falling from the sky. It was an immense freeze. This weather would certainly kill some of the less competent kids down in the main town. It would cause havoc.


    People would be looting houses for things to burn for warmth, and more importantly weapons and valuables. Children and teenagers are unpredictable when authority is removed. Anyone is.


    The group approached the cabin. Hikari tried the door; strangely, it was unlocked. Hikari was about to enter when Takao held her shoulder.


    "I''ll go in first. You have no idea what could be in there." He said to her.


    At first, Hikari put tried to put up some defense.


    "It''s my families cabi..." there was a large thud from inside the house, followed by a crash.


    She decided to let Takao go in first. When he entered the house he signalled for the others to wait outside. He then grabbed a cane which was by the inside of the door. He was ready.


    He made his way down the hall. He heard sudden footsteps from the kitchen, at the back of the house. He ran to the kitchen to see if he could catch what was likely a looter. The room was empty. A photo was smashed on the floor, and the back window was flung open; curtains drifting in and out with the wind.


    Takao looked out. Footprints dotted away from the cabin. Whoever it was had left, and in a hurry too.


    Takao called for the others, telling them it was safe to enter the cabin. They met him in the kitchen...

 Chapter 4: Entity Unknown

    The group sat around one of Hikari¡¯s Father¡¯s tables in the cabin. It was a solid mahogany table, with beautiful carvings on it. They discussed the recent happenings.


    ¡°Someone was in here, and I believe they have something to hide. They left in such a hurry, I didn¡¯t even see them.¡± said Takao ¡°If it hadn¡¯t been for the footprints in the snow, I would have never have known that they were once here¡­¡± he continued.


    Hikari was crying over the destruction in her father¡¯s cabin. ¡°He always used to bring me here¡­ how intrusive of someone to come to our special place and cause such destruction.¡±.


    She picked up the smashed photo. It was a photo of her dad, or at least, it was supposed to be¡­ That was strange¡­ Where was her dad? She could have sworn he was in the picture before.


    ¡°Guys¡­ this picture¡­ it was a picture of me and my dad, but my dad¡­ it¡¯s like he¡¯s faded away, he¡¯s not in it anymore. It¡¯s just me and the background now..¡±


    ¡°What?¡± the others gathered around the photo... It was true. There was clearly a space where a person once was, either that or it was a terribly angled photograph. How was this possible? Who did this?


    "This is strange..." said Eito, beginning to feel queasy.


    Hikari put down the photo.


    "It''s getting late guys, we should probably get some sleep. We''re going to have a very, very busy day tomorrow." Takao said, "And make sure all the windows and doors are locked..." he added, in a rather sinister manner.


    The others agreed and Hikari showed them to the bedrooms. She was just about to finally show Takao to his room, when he interrupted; "I don''t feel safe sleeping in my own room. I know what I saw, and I don''t want to sleep by my self.." he started.


    "Shhhh..." Hikari stopped Takao... "It''s OK. You can sleep in my room tonight.". She beckoned him into her room, and told him he could sleep on the floor. She passed him a blanket and a pillow.


    The house was silent.


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    Takao couldn''t sleep. There was just too much to take in. Too much had happened in one day. He was in shock. First the adults had disappeared, his parents, his teachers... everyone. It was insane. He was insane. Then there was that person in the cabin; who was he? What was he doing in Hikari''s cabin? And then there was, finally, the photograph. What had happened to Hikari''s father in the photo? Where had he gone?


    Too many questions...


    He fell asleep, gently.


    In his sleep, he dreamt. He dreamt of many things, but most strikingly he dreamt of the person in the cabin. He was back, and he had a gun. He was aiming it at Hikari. He was about to shoot. Hikari was sleeping so softly, she was beautiful when she was asleep. So innocent, and this person, who Takao could clearly see was Male now, was about to shoot her. He sat up in his dream, and just as the man was about to shoot, the dream changed.


    This time Takao was floating, in a void. But it wasn''t just him, it was him and hundreds of other kids. He recognised them; they were children from his town.


    But wait...


    There was something else...


    They were floating towards a central object. The moment Takao set eyes upon it, he was scarred for life. It was the most diabolical, evil, disgusting thing Takao had ever seen. He would never be able to erase it from his memory. He could tell the moment he set eyes upon it that it was the single most evil thing in the universe. It''s aim was merely total destruction, of lives and souls.


    One by one, the children floated towards what Takao assumed was the creature''s mouth, and one by one they were consumed by it. Takao was next. He was about to be consumed, when he awoke.


    He was sweating.


    He had never quite had dreams like those ever before.


    They struck fear deeper into his heart than anything else had ever before.


    And they felt real...

 Chapter 5: Realisations

    Takao checked his watch. It was around 2:30 AM. He was debating in his head whether to wake Hikari or just let the nightmares slip. He decided to wake her.


    He nudged her shoulder at first. She didn''t even flinch. He took this moment to take her in. She was one of the most beautiful people Takao thought he had ever seen, and some of her other details were now visible when she was asleep that Takao couldn''t take the time to admire when she was awake.


    He decided to take a second nudge. This time she awoke almost immediately with a startled look on her face.


    "Wha... what are you doing Takao..?" she asked,


    "Oh.. erm.." Takao wasn''t expecting her to wake up so fast, and be active so quickly, "I had these really weird dreams... the first one was the person who I saw in the cabin, only this time I could distinguish that he was in fact Male. He was... he was back, and he had a gun, and... and... and he was holding it to your head. He was about to shoot, when I switched to another dream. In this one there was me, and what I think was all the kids in the town. We were floating in this... this abyss, and we were spiralling towards this thing. Oh god..." Takao paused.


    "I don''t even know how to explain it.. It was horrible. It was pure, pure evil. I don''t know what it wanted, but I could tell all it meant was pure destruction, and I cannot forget it. It''s image is stuck in my mind, yet I cannot explain it."


    Hikari looked at Takao funnily for a minute, but then realised she was doing so. She pretended it had not happened, trying to cover her own thoughts.


    "Well... can you try to explain what it looked like?" she said, half asleep still,


    "I can''t. It''s weird, I can remember every single demonic detail as if it was drawn on the back of my hand, but I struggle to explain it. All I can say is that it is the most gruesome hellspawn I have ever set eyes upon. I know deep down that it was more than a dream. It had to have been. I think whatever that thing was caused the dream. I think it caused all of this..." replied Takao, uncertain of his own words.


    "Just sleep... everything will be OK, and like you said; we have a busy day tomorrow. You need to sleep. We''ll talk about this more in the morning." said Hikari, drowsily.


    "Okay..." sighed Takao. He didn''t think Hikari was taking him seriously enough.


    Light poured in through the windows. By the time Takao woke up, Hikari was gone. He could hear the sound of cutlery clashing coming from the kitchen, and the smell of fresh toast and coffee.


    He got up. The coffee''s aroma urging him to drive himself to it.


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    "ughhhh Morning" he said to the rest of the group, who were already fully clothed and eating Toast as well as drinking Coffee. They seemed oddly organised to say it was so early. Takao checked his watch.


    It wasn''t so early as he had originally thought.


    His watch read ''10:30 AM''.


    "Go get dressed, I''ll make you some breakfast and a coffee" said Akio, who was stood at the counter eating his own breakfast.


    Takao retraced his steps back down the hallway to the bedroom. He was about to open the door when he heard a strange noise. There was someone in there.


    But everyone was in the Kitchen...


    What if it was the mysterious person again?


    But what would he be doing back here?


    Thoughts clashed in Takao''s head. He decided he would enter silently, and try to catch a glimpse of the illusive intruder. He opened the door slowly. He saw a shadow, and then a person. The person was, as his dreams had told him, male. But Takao barely got to see his face before suddenly, he disappeared.


    Just like the teachers had.


    What?


    He forced the door open quickly, and gave the room a quick glance over. There was no-one in there. Takao''s head was spinning. What had just happened? How was that possible?


    He left the room, it felt dangerous in the most peculiar way.


    He went back through the the kitchen in a slow jog, still undressed.


    "GUYS! THE PERSON! HE... HE WAS IN THE BEDROOM!" shouted Takao, clearly emotionally distraught. He collapsed to the floor on his knees, and started sobbing softly.


    "Woah! Woah! Calm down Takao!" Misaki said, "Tell us exactly what happened, is it still in there?" she finished.


    "Okay.. okay... I was about to open the door when I heard movement, I figured it was the person, so I opened it slowly, and at first it didn''t see me. I saw it''s shadow, and then it. I couldn''t quite make it out, but it was definitely male. Then, it just dissipated into thin air. I have no idea where he went. He just disappeared. I searched the room." replied Takao.


    "Right. Well if this thing, or man, has access to my father''s cabin for whatever reason, how I do not know, then we are not safe here. Especially with what we discussed this morning Takao, if your dreams were correct..." Hikari started, "We have to leave." she decided, after a long pause.


    "Wait... what dreams?" enquired Eito.


    "I''ll... I''ll tell you all about it later..." responded Takao, still obviously shaken up my prior events.

 Chapter 6: A Martyrs Fate

    Hikari shut the door to the cabin. The group walked away from that place with such an empty feeling. They had gone there to be safe from the impending doom in the town below, but instead had left feeling even more unsafe than before. They got in the car, Misaki once again driving.


    "You were talking about a dream, in the cabin?" Akio enquired to Takao...


    "Oh.. oh yeah. It was nothing. Just forget about it.." Takao returned, dismissing the prospect.


    "Hm. Ok." Akio finished. Unsatisfied with the result of his questioning.


    They drove down the steep mountain pathway from the cabin. "Where are we going to go now..?" Asked Takao..


    No-one responded to him.


    Hikari continued driving down the mountain road.


    The car was silent. No-one spoke a word, until, suddenly, the car stopped.


    There was an awful draining sound, followed by a loud bang. Then it happened. The car stopped in its tracks.


    "What?" Hikari said... "This was on full yesterday, I swear!" she shouted, angrily; pointing to the gas meter.


    "That''s strange..." observed Takao.. "I''m going to get out so I can see where abouts we are, and look at our options" he finished.


    "Ok," agreed Hikari. The others decided they would wait in the warm car.


    The snow from the day before was still pouring from the sky, just as hard. It was awful weather.


    Takao got out of the car, he felt the biting wind and the sub-zero snow pouring from the sky. He noticed, almost immediately, what the problem was. The gas tank was slashed. Petrol dripped to the floor. There was a clear line where it had been leaking as they had been driving.


    "Damn..." Takao shouted to himself.


    Hikari opened her door, seeing the clear distress on Takao''s face.


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    "Look..." Takao pointed at the slash in the gas tank.


    Hikari frowned. "Do you think it was the man you saw in the house?" she asked Takao..


    "I''m almost certain..." he replied, "Who else would be up here in the mountains with us?" he continued


    "Good point..." finished Hikari, opening the car door and spreading the news to the others. They got out of the car.


    "Ughhh... What are we going to do now!" shouted Misaki, clearly very annoyed, banging her hand on the side of the car.


    Eito just seemed to stand there, shivering. He had no coat like the others did.


    Suddenly, his face turned from an expression of awkwardness to one of horror. He started pointing behind the car, back the way they had come.


    The others looked in the way he was pointing.


    What they saw left an imprint which they doubted would ever leave them.


    A figure, a figure was hobbling down the road. At first glance, it would look like any other person in the thick mist and hailing snow which was around this area. But they could make that it was definitely not an ordinary person.


    Definitely.


    Not.


    It''s skin was leathery and black. It''s eyes... well they were clouded in grey, they had no pupils. It had the most ghastly expression on it''s face that the students had ever seen, and it was heading towards them. It''s twisted fingers reaching into the very depths of their souls.


    Takao recognised the person. It was the same person he had seen in the cabin, only the last time he had seen him, he had been normal. Completely normal.


    They had no choice but to run...


    RUN.