[Spirit of Lust] Chapter 78: Nevertheless, reality. (Patreon)

There was no scream or sound uttered. Reina could only look out her window, her eyes scanning every corner of the reddish-brown wasteland outside, searching for anything that would give it away as nothing more than an illusion. She only tore her gaze away to walk over to the window in the living room. It was more of the same outside. Some hills in the distance, withered trees dotted across the land, the soil cracked from the lack of water and the setting sun giving it all a red, hellish glow.

Curious, Ruth approached her from behind, and when she saw the scenery her eyes shot wide and she took her hands to her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. “W-What the hell…!?” came her muffled voice.

Ruth was shaking, and so was Reina. Breathing was becoming harder, possibly because she was hyperventilating. She grabbed her phone, and seeing it wasn’t working at all was as unsurprising as it was panic-inducing.

“Where are we…?” Reina’s voice came out like a weak whisper, like a plea for answers. “What is going on here?”

“What the woman said…!” Ruth said, turning from the window to Reina. “That Asian woman at the entrance. She said to stay in the apartment.”

“Then she knew this was going to happen…?”

Their minds were in a state of shock. They couldn’t process what was happening as reality. It was only when they heard a loud noise, like that of something falling over coming from somewhere on the floor, that they finally started moving.

“What about the other people in the building?” Reina asked hurriedly.

“Could they also be here?”

“Then that noise…”

Reina’s feet carried her before she could wonder if it was a good idea. She opened the door to her apartment and went out into the hallway. There was nothing out of the ordinary there, and Reina still ran towards what she thought was the source of the noise. Her neighbor, the old lady.

“Mrs. Jones!” she called loudly, knocking on the door. “Mrs. Jones! Are you there!?” There was no answer, but Reina was sure the noise had come from that apartment. She knocked louder, but still there was no answer. “Urgh!”

She ran back to her apartment, past Ruth, who had been following behind her. Reina hurried to open a drawer in the living room, took out a small metal box and searched within it. There were a bunch of spare keys in there, some for the doors in her apartment and a couple her neighbors had given her in case of an emergency. This was a big fucking emergency. The keys weren’t marked, so it would take at least 10 to 15 minutes going through all of them. Or so it would’ve been if Mrs. Jones wasn’t as thoughtful as she was. Her key had the number of her apartment in a small paper taped to it. Reina ran back out and opened the door without bothering to knock. There, she and Ruth saw an image that froze their hearts.

The old lady was lying in the floor face down, a glass of spilled water close to her hand.

“Mrs. Jones!” Reina called, running into the room with Ruth close behind. Reina was about to reach out, to shake the woman awake, but Ruth put a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Stop! Don’t rush!” The blonde firmly insisted. Ruth’s breathing was getting heavier, making her notice she was having as much troubles breathing. It was a sensation similar to being in high altitude. Ruth tied to calm down and even her breathing, then looked down at the old lady on the floor. “Help me lay her on her back.”

They moved Mrs. Jones carefully, and once she was looking up, Ruth put her fingers under the old lady’s nose. She didn’t say anything as she proceeded to check the woman’s pulse on the neck, then looking at her head to check for any injuries.

“Her breathing’s weak and so is her pulse, but she’s alive. No injuries, either.”

“Oh thank God!” Reina let out a sigh of relief.

“Let’s move her to her bed.”

Reina went to the gym twice a week, but that was only for aesthetic purposes. She needed to keep a perfect figure if she wanted to be a model. As such, she wasn’t all that strong. Between her and Ruth, they were barely able to carry Mrs. Jones to her bed.

“…What about the other people in the building?” Ruth asked with a ragged breath.

“…Let’s check.”

They walked the hallway of the fourth floor, calling loudly to anyone that would answer. No one did. The elevator wasn’t working, and going up the stairs was a bigger struggle than it would’ve been normally.

“Are you feeling as shitty as I am?” Reina asked.

“It’s like my bones got turned to rocks.”

There was no answer in the building. Reina started thinking that they should probably check every apartment to see if people were okay, but they barely had the energy to do that. They’d have to go to the janitor’s room to look of the keys to every apartment and check every floor. But even if Ruth seemed to have some basic first-aid knowledge, what could they really do?

“Let’s go,” Ruth said, walking down the stairs and heading to the first floor, where the janitor’s room was. With a tired sigh, Reina followed. It was all they could do, and it was better than thinking of what was outside.

It took over two hours just to check the first two floors, but that gave them some important information. Everyone else had been… transported with them, but all of them were unconscious, just like Mrs. Jones.

“Why are we okay, then?” Reina wondered.

“…Let’s keep going. Let’s check the third floor,” Ruth said. She was clearly trying her best not to think about it and keep herself busy, but the more time passed, the more curious and exasperated Reina became.

What was happening? What was this place? Why were they here? Why were people unconscious but not them? There was no reasonable explanation for any of those questions, and that line of thinking made her remember William’s confession. The supernatural. It also made her think of Will himself, and that made her chest tighten. She fought back the threat of tears and followed Ruth up to the third floor, but a strange, foreign screech chilled their hearts. First came one, then two and three. The sounds came from outside, probably around the entrance to the building.

Ruth’s eyes met Reina’s, full of panic as she muttered distressing words. “We left the doors unlocked.”

The two women stood in the middle of the stairs to the third floor, petrified. Whatever that screech was, it didn’t sound like anything they knew. Something was down there, and moving down meant danger. And yet the moment they heard softer grunts coming from the same direction, the two of them ran down to the first floor. The people there were unconscious and completely exposed to whatever was there.

They couldn’t leave them alone.