Into Thin Air - 11 - The Fog

over 2 years ago

"You're running out of time." She says

He's still processing how he got there. It's barely anything possible to see through this dense fog. He put his hand in front of him and his palms are almost invisible. The thick fog will make his journey even more treacherous than he originally thought.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

"I can sense that. How long do I have?" He asks her.

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"As long as your body doesn't die, and after that, your stay here will be permanent. Don't you hear the beeping sound?" She playfully waves her finger in the air.

"What!! What's wrong with my body? And what is that annoying beep!!" He's agitated.

"As far as I know, you're in hospital lying unconscious and hooked on to some machine. And it's been a few days." She says while peering over at something.

"A few days? I just got here a few minutes ago." He yells in disbelief.

"Time is nonexistent here. No one knows how long they have been here, no one remembers their death, no one gets out of here." She says but her attention is elsewhere.

"What happens now?" He looks at Oksana for some answers but she's preoccupied. "Hey, are you looking for something?"

Oksana doesn't respond and looks worried. "We need to hurry."

"We need to go in the direction of the house." He says.

"It's that way." They both start to walk faster.

"Do you remember what had happened to you?" He asks.

"I'm aware I'm dead but I recall nothing else." She says.

"Damn it. Can you try and think if you can come up with something or anything you know about the creature?"

"The creature comes out of the lake and goes back there after it finishes prowling." She says with much distaste. "Why do you want to know about it?"

"Well, let's say I'm trying to both help you and get rid of the thing at the same time." He says. "How far is the house?"

"You can't yet determine how you move around here. Once you're here and the next minute you may disappear without even trying to. You can try focusing on the house, that may lead you there." She says.

A blood curling screech halts them to their spot. Oksana jumps back and he tries to look for the source of the noise when they hear another scream which is nearer than the first.

"What is that godawful noise." He asks Oksana turning his back momentarily."What is it?" He turns around to see her but she's not there anymore.

*"I can count on her to disappear in moments such as this." He mumbles to himself and resumes his journey. "And I'm stuck finding the house myself. GREAT!"

He takes a slight detour as that scream was drawing closer and eventually finds the backdoor to the house.

Meanwhile at the hospital

"We can't just sit around to watch my friend die. We need to do something. Think Alden. If you can give me any information at all." Manson is desperate to bring his friend back.

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"Well, you already know that the police had found me in the basement around a pool of blood but I already dug it up to look for her remains - there was nothing." Says, Alden. "Can you try to find her brother and see if he knows something? I doubt if he's still alive but worth a shot."

"I was going through his whereabouts. Let me see if I can get in touch with him." Manson tells him as he starts going through his contacts on the phone. He places a call and asks that person to find Nikolai as fast as possible.

Time is also running out for them.

Back at the house

He walks inside the living room near the phonograph to find her there. That annoying beeping sound continues to irritate him. He has a few questions to ask her and he knows she's not going to like it but he can make some headway.

"Oksana!" He calls out to her and stops for a while.
"Oksana!" This time he calls louder.

"Is it gone?" She asks from behind him.

"Where did you go?" He snaps at her.

"Is it gone? Do you hear it anymore?" She seems terrified, shaking like a leaf.

"I don't hear the screams anymore. What is it?" He asks her.

"That's the creature. I'm still afraid of its screams." She's on alert.

"What are you saying? The creature doesn't scream like that. I only hear her crawling around and her heavy footsteps." He's still surprised by the information he received.

"If you think, because you couldn't hear her scream when you were alive, doesn't mean you won't hear it when you're holding onto your last breath. But let's worry about it later and think about how you can walk back to your body." She says.

"You're right." He is slightly distracted, half hearing what she said. Among everything else on his to-do list, there's one more thing that he needs to figure out an escape from this place for himself. Perhaps recalling how he ended up in the limbo may give him the idea of how to get out.

Oksana is still talking while he is phased out. He starts to think about how to get her to face the creature. But he needs to find her body first. Going back on every information he had on and their encounters. He knows the creature visits the basement mostly but it doesn't stay there; so where?