Run for your Life!

THUD

The end of Nar's fall is met with hard, cold concrete. He wastes no time in pushing himself back to his feet. It takes him a moment to orient himself in his new surroundings. He's in a hallway, similar to the one he'd just come from, only this one had a concrete floor. The only lights for the hallway were a dim red, which bathed the hallway, and the debris inside in a maroon light. It gave the hallway the appearance of being coated in dried blood. Not only that, but there was no end in sight on either side. There weren't even any doors that Nar could see. Just endless, maroon concrete, as far as he could see. The lights flash momentarily, and Nar's ears are assaulted by the sudden blaring of an alarm from above. He instinctively covers his ears to protect them from the harsh noise, and begins reaching into his satchel to find some sort of ear protection. As he lifts the flap of the satchel up, another sound catches his attention. It's hard to make out underneath the alarm, but Nar thinks he hears... quick footfalls, and a lot of them. When he looks up to find the source, he's met by a wall of misshapen, mutated bodies, scrambling down the hallway towards him. They're closing in fast. No time to look for ear protection. Gotta run. Nar wheels around, and breaks out into a mad sprint down the hallway. The creatures behind him bellow. This will not be an easy hunt. As Nar barrels down the hallway, more, and more objects begin appearing in front of him. Now, instead of a straightforward sprint, it's become an obstacle course. With Nar swerving around desks, vaulting hospital beds, and sliding under concrete slabs between the walls. It's not long before all reason escapes Nar's thoughts. All he can think about is staying ahead of the horde, and escaping. He doesn't think to check his surroundings for any sort of exits, or shortcuts. His mind is solely focused on going forward. Getting out of here alive. Saving his own life. He forgets about Ruby, and Maddy, who might be waiting for him. He forgets about the man who looks like him, who clearly wants him dead. He forgets about the resort, his family, everything. He forgets about the reason he came here in the first place. Before, rescuing Asuka was the only thing that Nar focused on. Now, it's pure survival. Nar has no idea how long he's been running by the time he manages to regain some form of thought. Once he's realized that he can keep a pretty hefty distance between himself and the horde, his brain partially reverts, allowing him to think about things other than survival. This hallway has to be artificially made. He's never seen a highway like this before, and it has a clear design. It's meant to kill you, one way, or the other. The horde will get you if you're too slow, but if you can outrun it, you don't get time to rest, eat, or sleep. Eventually, your mental state will deteriorate to a point where you can't run anymore, and the horde will catch up to you. There's no way this isn't intentional. Did that 'Evil Nar' make this highway, just to trap, and kill people? Now that he's thinking about it, the door to this highway was in the hallway that Ruby, and Maddy went down, and it didn't open until Nar went down it. Yeah. This isn't like the other highways he's chased them through. This wasn't a highway that he manipulated to make it harder to traverse. He CREATED this highway, specifically to deal with the people he couldn't catch. Which means, there likely is no exit. Nar's just going to tire himself out, and go insane trying to run away from a horde that he can never escape. No. I will not die like this.

I'm going to live.

I

will

LIVE!

With a desperate, rage-filled cry, Nar surges forward. Desperation, and determination battle in his mind, as his heart pounds out of his chest.

Somewhere in the distance, an arm sticks out from behind a desk. Nar passes by the desk, and glances over towards the arm. A terrified young mare stares at him as he speeds by. There's no time to question who she is, or why she got here. Much less offer any help. If she plans to stay put, she'll die. Nar isn't going to risk his own life to save someone who will just slow him down.

Despite sprinting for what must be hours now, there is still no end to the hallway in sight. The horde is slowly beginning to gain ground as the cumulative mental deterioration of the past few weeks begins to take it's toll on Nar. At one point, he believes he hears Juno call out from ahead, telling him to 'come here!' from behind a pillar, but when he passes by it, there's nothing there. Then, he thinks he sees his father somewhere down the hallway, but he never appears to get any closer, no matter how fast Nar sprints.

Astral Deficiency Syndrome is setting in. The clock is ticking, and at this rate, Nar doesn't have long.

Asuka.

He can hear her crying. She's pleading, begging for help. She's alone, and scared.

Sorry Sock. Big brother won't be able to save you this time. Please, Ruby, Maddy. Find Asuka, and get out. If you can do that, then I'll gladly die right here, and now.

Further down the hallway, Nar spots an oddity in one of the walls. From this distance, all he can see is a black rectangle in the left wall. As he approaches, he notices a small, golden bulb attached to the black rectangle. A door?! No. It's likely not real.

The door edges closer.

There's no way it's real, but... In the off chance that it is, Nar could pass up his one chance to survive if he ignores it. But if it's not real, he'll just waste time, and lose precious distance from the horde.

Well, it's worth a shot.

Nar powerslides to a stop in front of the door. He grabs the doorknob, and finds that it is in fact, real. He rips the door open, and jumps through the threshold without thought, slamming the door closed behind him.