Chapter 62
Ugh. Ed’s body rag-dolled around, bouncing from wall to wall. He opened his eyes to try and see what was going on but was met with complete and utter darkness. He groaned as his body slammed into another wall. He found the wall to be quite squishy and slimy. He found it difficult to grab hold of anything, so he tried his best to protect his head from injury. Ed remembered the last thing he saw before waking up here and realised that whatever created the tunnel had come back. I was swallowed by whatever that thing was. I’m probably inside of it right now.
As he was thrown around, he felt like he was in agony. Being constantly slammed into the walls just intensified the pain he was already suffering from. Slamming awkwardly into the wall, he felt his shoulder pop out of place.
“Fuck.” He gritted his teeth, and tried his best to protect his shoulder from taking anymore bumps.
Suddenly he felt his surroundings tighten around him, squeezing and crushing his body. He could no longer care for his shoulder, as he felt all of his bones getting crushed by the immense pressure. His body folded in on itself. The muscles of the creature squeezed and compacted his body, turning it into a pile of mush, which was then excreted through the body and landed amidst a pile of warm shit.
Somehow, Ed could feel the warmth scorching his body. Why?
“Don’t think that death will save you Ed. Your transgression this time was far more severe than what you’ve done previously, so your punishment has only just begun. It will be a long time before you can go back to working for the company. For now, we will make sure that you stay alive to suffer as much as possible. Good luck, Ed.” Buddie’s voice echoed around him, making it clear that Ed would not be able to escape.
Ed felt his body start to move around, slowly rearranging itself back into a familiar shape. He felt immense pain as his bones snapped back into place. His organs slid across the ground, bouncing into place, and his muscles and skin attached themselves around the bones. He felt every single moment in excruciatingly painful detail.
Eventually, his body had returned to how it was moments before. Shit. They could’ve at least reset my shoulder. Gripping his dislocated shoulder, he looked around for the person who healed him. “Come out! I know you’re still here.”
Getting no response, he gave up and looked at his surroundings. He found himself inside another tunnel, with the sound of distant rumblings to his far left. Well, I’m definitely not going that way. He started walking in the opposite direction of the noise, hoping to find his way out of the tunnel and away from the creature as quickly as possible.
Stepping outside, he immediately felt the ashen air on his skin, and the heat boiling his insides. Looking around, he found himself part way up another hill. Hopefully I can find something helpful after all this. At least I know that life does exist here. Getting up to the top of the hill, he spotted a faint, artificial glow off in the far distance.
~
Stepping through the door into the office, Zara walked to her desk, but noticed that Ed wasn’t there.
“Buddie, how long do until the files get here?”
“You have five minutes until the file arrives.”
Huh, that’s weird. Where could he be? Zara kept an eye on the door, waiting for Ed to show up, but he never did. When her file appeared, she began to think that maybe Ed wasn’t going to show up at all. “Buddie, where is Ed? Why hasn’t he shown up yet?”
“Ed is currently busy, just focus on your job and I will tell you why after.”
“Okay.”
Name: Cali Thompson
Age: 21
Occupation: University student
Biography: Born to parents Daniel and Taegan, Cali fell in love with photography from a young age, as she would always follow behind her father, who was a professional photographer. When he passed away, she poured her heart and soul into photography, and would always use his camera. She ignored everything else in her life, letting her grades in her other classes fall by the wayside. Her mother tried to talk to her multiple times, but she would never listen, instead focusing wholeheartedly on it to the point of obsession... halfway through a new semester, a student had transferred to her school, and she immediately saw the potential to create a fantastic photo. She followed the person around, trying to catch the perfect moment for a photo. The student was creeped out by her and asked her to stop. She didn’t stop. But she did realise that she had to be more careful, and that she should make sure that she doesn’t get caught... Her obsession changed to taking this perfect photo, so she began to stalk this person, stealthily following them home, and keeping tabs on them throughout the week.
-End of document-
Wow, she’s creepy. That is not a healthy thing to do. Zara tried her hardest to come up with a good idea quickly, so that she could find out what happened to Ed. I’ll see how she likes it by putting her on the other end of it.
“Buddie, I want her to be trapped in a maze, and being followed by a crazed stalker. She has to find the exit to the maze in order to escape, and if her stalker catches her, she will die. That’s all I want, now tell me what happened to Ed.” She bounced around nervously on her chair.
“Thank you for submitting your project, I will let you know when it is ready. Also, congratulations are in order, as last night you redeemed your first sinner, and for that you will be greatly rewarded.”
Wait, what. I didn’t even do anything last night; I was hanging out with Ed all afternoon and then I went to bed... Wait no, what did he do? She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. “Buddie, Where’s Ed?” She asked urgently.
“He is currently being punished for violating company rules by freeing a sinner.”
What, why would he do something like that? How did he do something like that? I’m sure that every sinner we’ve had in the past couple weeks died while we were watching... Wait. No, it couldn’t be. “Buddie, who did he free?”
“While you were sleeping, he snuck into Phoebe’s room and released her from her cage, helping her to escape when she had already lost her chance.”
Hearing this, Zara shot out of her seat, racing towards the door. I’m going to kill that bitch. Bursting through the door into Phoebe’s room, she found scorch marks across the walls. The entire room showed signs of once being engulfed in flames. The cage was bent and warped out of shape. And there was not a person in sight. Wherever you are Phoebe, I will find you.