Silent Tale

Silent Tale

Papyrus wakes up to the disgusting smell of blood and rotting flesh. He lifts his head and blinks rapidly, trying to clear his hazy vision. Seeing the corpse and pooling blood right next to him he immediately jumps upright.

He looks around the room frantically. Where was he?

He calms down when, piece by piece, his memories start to resurface and he finally recognizes the room he's in. 'Calm down' he tells himself. He's still in the break room, still in the hospital...

'W-wait! Undyne-!'

He quickly looks at the corpse but to his surprise (and relief) the body looks nothing like his friend, just the remains of the demon girl he had defeated.

His shock turns to confusion. Did he imagine everything? Was Undyne ever here?

He snorts to himself. 'Of course Undyne wouldn't be here, she was never here in the first place! This place was just trying to deceive me!' He shakes his head sadly. 'And like a fool I fell for it...'

He was depressed for a few seconds before brightening. At least he and his friends had survived, that was all that mattered...

He quickly straightens his posture when he remembers something else important. A persistent tone and a desperate plea swim through his memories...

Serif! He had promised to find Serif!

Ignoring his physical and mental exhaustion altogether, the blood soaked monster leaves the room in search of his chubby friend, but not before picking up his knife from the floor. He wipes the blood off his weapon on a clean spot of his jeans and puts it away in his jacket again.

While making his way out of the hospital he finds no trace of Serif or his human companions throughout the building. Thinking they must be waiting for him outside he goes out into the open air. He looks around in confusion when he sees nothing but the empty front yard and white fog. He thinks about calling for Serif but quickly loses that idea. Who knows what other enemies might hear him...

With nothing left to do, he walks to the gates of the hospital, fully intent to search for his friend. Once again he glances at the headless statue and would've kept going if not for the sound of paper fluttering wildly even though he felt no wind. He walks closer to the statue, trying to find the source of the noise. After a minute of looking he finally finds a folded up piece of paper with a rather large rock on top to keep it from flying away.

He grabs the paper and unfolds it. To his utter delight it is a map of the town. Finally he can stop wandering aimlessly! He was about to fold the sheet and put it in his bookbag but stopped when he noticed tiny writings on a certain part of the map.

Squinting, he brings the map close to his face and reads the small red font:

'IM HERE!'

There was an arrow pointing to some type of human school.

Papyrus blinks in confusion before smiling brightly. A puzzle from Serif! No doubt his friend had left this map behind, knowing Papyrus would find it!

'He must be waiting for me at this human school!'

He looks at the map until he finds the hospital he is at and deflates a bit when he realizes that the school was quite far away. It'll take at a least few hours if he runs there, longer if he walks...

'Well, I am most certainly not accomplishing anything while standing here!'

Keeping the map in his back pocket he lightly jogs to his destination. Stopping only to rest or to take a look on his map.

Despite the silence and emptiness of the town he did not let his guard down. He would occasionally look over his shoulder and glance at the shattered windows and empty buildings. More than once he would see a silhouette of a person waving at him from the broken windows. Sometimes he could hear the demented giggles of a child echoing around him. Soft footsteps to which he couldn't find the source for followed him throughout his journey.

Checking his map he found that he had to go left and then straight the rest of the way. Memorizing the directions he pocketed the sheet of paper and walks the rest of the way to conserve his energy.

His walk is interrupted when he hears a shrilled scream cut through the once previous silent air. He looks down the alley where the scream had, no doubt, came from. Gazing into the seemingly endless white abyss, he struggles whether or not he should help. The last time he followed someone down an alley they were being eaten alive. What if it was too late? What if the person was already dead? The thought crosses his mind but the small possibility that he could be wrong is the main reason he finds himself walking into the fog.

'T-they might s-still be alive! I c-could still help!' The tall skeletons thinks with a determined expression on his face.

Jogging along the fence he starts breathing rapidly when he sees a trail of blood going in the same direction he's going. His regret starts to increase when he realizes that the trail is fresh.

'M-maybe t-this wasn't such a g-good idea... Maybe I s-should just turn a-around...?'

He was just about to do that, when he hears familiar sounds that make his heart and soul drop.

There was ripping, tearing, and snarling sounds. He really should turn away; his instincts are basically screaming at him to run and never look back... But he can't deny that he's curious as to what was making those noises.

He takes a few steps foreward, passing an empty trash can as the noise now completely surrounds him. His breathing stops when he finally sees the source of his curiosity.

It was massive, bigger than any of the other foes he's faced before. It looked very much like the hairless dogs from before, though it was obviously much more stronger, what with its bulging muscles and thick skin. Thankfully, it seems too busy on eating its meal...

Papyrus blanches and stumbles backwards when he sees exactly what the creature was feasting on.

It was human, that much was certain, but that was all he could identify. The skin on its face was peeled off as well as the rest of its upper body. Anything below the waist was already gone, and hearing the crunching noises the creature was making... Well, it was no mystery what had happened.

Now that his curiosity was sated, Papyrus slowly walks backwards. He would've escaped undetected if he had just paid more attention to his surroundings. Keeping his eyes on the beast he accidently knocks over the trash can from before as it falls over with a loud bang.

The beast stops eating.

Papyrus looks with dread as the creature slowly turns towards him. Its massive teeth was slick with gore and chunks of meat. His fear intensifies when its one huge eye focuses entirely on his wide frightened ones. It takes one look at his body and casually licks its bloody muzzle.

Papyrus kicks the trash can at the beast as it pounced at him, jaws wide open. He might as well had thrown a piece a paper for how little it had affected the creature.

Nevertheless, he finds himself running out of the alleyway, with the creature right at his heels. He sharply turns right into an open gate just as he feels the claws of the creature shredding the back of his bloody jacket, luckily it didn't cut his spine.

The tall skeleton glances around to find himself in someone's backyard. He stumbles but quickly regains his footing and runs into a nearby wooden shed. He tries shutting the door but the mutant dog slams onto it, causing the door and skeleton to fall backwards. He scrambles until his back hits the wall as he avoids the deadly sweep of the beast's massive claws.

The demon was much too large to physically go inside the shed and as a result it was now stuck in the doorway. It used the only arm that was stuck inside with it and swipes at Papyrus with deadly precision. It manages to knock down items hanging around the walls but other than that, it can't seem to hit its intended target. The tall skeleton pulls out his knife and waits for the right time to attack. When the creature slashes its paws again, Papyrus quickly plunges his knife downward, right in the middle of the beast's claws.

The mutant dog yowls in pain as the knife stabs right through its paw and embeds itself onto the wooden floor, effectively trapping the appendage. It struggles violently when it realizes that not only was it stuck but also pinned down.

Papyrus hesitantly stands up and looks around for another weapon to use since his knife was currently the only thing keeping the demon from slicing him. The floor was covered with various items including bullets, empty cans, and a holster, but none of them seemed useful against this foe.

In the corner of his eye, Papyrus sees something shining on the ground beneath a layer of random items. With nothing to lose he goes on his knees and tosses the items away until it revealed his prize.

It was an axe.

Papyrus stares at the weapon for a moment before grabbing the item and running at the beast. The demon snaps its jaws at him but the tall skeleton dodges quickly and slams the axe down.

The weapon sinks right into its open eye. Without giving it another chance to struggle, Papyrus pulls out the axe with a wet 'schloop' and takes a deep breath before embedding the weapon at the same spot. It sinks even deeper as the creature gurgles and twitches pathetically before going silent.

It was dead.

Papyrus sighs before using both hands to pull the weapon out of the beast's skull. He sputters in surprise when the wound starts spraying blood similar to that of a garden hose. He spits out the metallic taste and stumbles backwards as the blood continues to shower him. Thankfully the wound stops just as quickly as it had started and trinkles down the demon's forehead in light trails.

The thoroughly soaked skeleton takes another deep breath and shrugs off his now red bookbag. He takes off his blood soaked jacket, revealing his fluffy pink sweater, and ties the clothing around his slim hips. Even though the jacket was torn and will never regain its orange color again, he couldn't find it in himself to throw it away. Sans had given it to him as a christmas present and he always treasures his gifts, especially when it came from his older brother.

Strapping the bag to his back again, he walks over to the kitchen knife and manages to extract it from the creature's paws. He wipes the blood on the beast's rough skin and wonders where he'll put the knife. He knows he can't carry it in his hands forever, but it'll be a shame to leave the weapon that has helped him survive this far...

'... Wait a minute... The holster..!'

He remembers seeing a holster when the beast was trying to kill him... It was next to the pile of empty bottles.

Stepping over the other random items he bends down and takes the empty holster. It's made out of some type of strong leather that feels soft under his touch. Taking the knife out, he carefully slides the weapon inside and almost squeals in joy when it's a perfect fit. He attaches the holster to his belt and picks up the axe.

He stares at the weapon and decides to just carry it in his hands for the time being and walks to door... Only to find it unpassable.

The beast's corpse was blocking the only exit.

The shed had no windows so he couldn't go out through any of those. He couldn't squeeze past what little room the creature did leave, it was much too small. The beast was too heavy to move by himself, so how could he leave...?

He looks at the corpse before looking down at his axe. One could practically see the gears turning in his head.

'Calm down, Papyrus... You c-can do this... J-just do it q-quick and it'll be o-over before y-you know it...'

Raising the axe he decides to start with the head.

30 MINUTES LATER

Papyrus collapses onto the dead grass of the backyard. Finally, he was out!

It wasn't easy to hack the body into smaller chunks just so he could have enough room to climb through the door. His bones ached for a long break but he knew he couldn't rest now!

'Serif is still waiting for me! I mustn't keep him waiting!'

Forcing himself to stand up, he struggles to hold the axe properly in his slick hands.

Once he's sure that his grip is tight enough he sprints out the backyard.

... Only to immediately come face to face with the rest of the mutant dog pack. They seemed to have heard the fight between the skeleton and their now dead comrade.

He gulps and almost drops his weapon out of sheer despair. He can't even count how much he has to face.

'Oh dear...'

He takes one step backwards which seems to be all the motivation they need before leaping at him in all directions...

****

THREE HOURS LATER

Papyrus slams the axe down on the mutant dog's head, instantly killing it. He pulls the weapon out and visciously throws it, killing another dog with a head shot. Pulling his bloody kitchen knife out of an already dead corpse he slices the head off of a nearby hook mutant before using its long chain to strangle a demonic dog to death. Hearing a screech behind him, he ducks just in time to avoid a deadly swipe. He retaliates by kicking the hooked creature in the stomach, sending it crashing into a demonic dog.

The exhausted yet determined skeleton ducks to the side as two hooks embed themselves in the spot he was just in seconds ago. He pulls on both chains, causing the two bodies to fly foreward. As the pair struggled to stay on their feet, Papyrus grabs both their heads, one on each hand, and fiercely bashes their heads together into one disgusting red goop, quickly ending that fight. He doesn't even get a chance to catch his breath before more creatures are closing in on him.

Grabbing his weapons, Papyrus breathes heavily and desperately glances at his surroundings before running in a random direction. He hasn't had the time to properly look at his map for the past few hours, so he really didn't know where he was going. For the last three hours he had done nothing except fight and run. The fight with the demon dogs had attracted the attention of several hooked creature's from before. He had -at first- tried to outrun them, but everytime he thought he lost his enemies, more would seemingly come out of nowhere and the tiring cycle repeated itself.

Turning a corner he internally sighs in relief when he sees no creatures waiting for him. He hurriedly looks at each empty and boarded up house in the neighborhood. He has to hide, that much was certain. It'll only be a matter of time before the demons find him...

Almost on cue, he hears the groans and metal clinks of the hooked creatures. He could also hear the ravenous snarls of the demon dogs, as they were, no doubt, still determined to kill him.

He was about to try breaking into one of the buildings when he sees a house at the edge of a corner. The building itself wasn't anything special except for the fact that it had one window that was not boarded up.

Hearing the moans and growls nearing closer, Papyrus sprints to the empty house. He smiles brightly when the windows weren't locked and hurriedly threw his weapons in and crawled into the rather small space.

Falling inside he quickly gets up, shuts the window, locks it, and pulls the curtains together to hide himself from the outside world.

Immediately the room darkens. He holds his breath for a few seconds, trying to hear if the creatures were nearby. When he hears nothing he breathes deeply and slumps onto the dirty ground.

After a beat he pulls out his map. He found the street he was on and smiled when he saw that he was only a few miles away from his destination. Memorizing the directions he puts away the map and opens his bookbag. Now would be a good time to have a nice break, especially when he didn't know when he'll have another chance like this again.

He takes out an apple, grateful that it wasn't wet in gore, and ate in comfortable silence. He ate the core as well (determined not to waste a single morsel) and drank from the water bottle.

Once he was done he stood up and dusted himself off, which was a rather useless action since he still felt dirty. He puts the knife back in the holster and takes a peek out the window, sighing in relief when he didn't see any mutants or dogs. Still, he only allowed one curtain open to let in some light to brighten the view. Other than a small bed, a nightstand, and a dusty bookshelf the room was entirely empty.

Curiously, he opened the bedside table and was delighted when he found a flashlight. It was black and rather slim, with a strap at the end that could hook onto something. He turned it on and the room was filled with light. He quickly turned it off when he realized that he didn't know how much juice the batteries had in them. Holding the flashlight, the young monster let out a yawn.

He knew that he should continue his journey to find Serif... But he was just SO tired.

'A little nap won't hurt anyone... '

Yawning, the talk skeleton went over and locked the door before sitting on the bed. He puts the axe inside his bookbag and slides it under the bed, just in case someone decided to take it. He puts the flashlight under his pillow to keep it safe as well. Then he went under the covers and let out a soft sigh as he fell asleep, happy for the warmth the cushion provided.

He dreamed of mutant dogs and glinting knives.

****

A FEW HOURS LATER...

Papyrus opens his eyes. The room was pitch black. He glances out the window and was barely able to see outside.

'I must have slept too long, it's already night!'

He sat up with a start and threw the covers off himself. He had only meant to take a small nap! He couldn't waste time here when he had a friend to find!

The ground made a weird wet sound when his shoes touched the floor. Papyrus froze and looked down but it was too dark to see what he had stepped on. He was quiet for a few seconds and lifted a leg.

DRIP.DRIP.DRIP.

He didn't like the sound of that.

Hands reaching for his flashlight, he shakily turned it on and looked on the floor.

Blood.

He was standing in a puddle of blood.

Hands shaking he saw that there were also bloody shoeprints on the ground. The pattern of the prints looked familiar but he was more focused on finding out where it lead. He followed the red prints with his flashlight and froze.

...It was a body...

In front of the door slumped a headless corpse of a naked woman. Her pale neck was lolling to the side, which made the blood drip faster and freely. Her decaying chest was ripped open allowing a few ribs to peek out. She was also missing both legs.

Papyrus looked at the corpse for a few minutes. Despite his overwhelming fear, he was still a little puzzled. How did she get in the room, the window and door were locked?! Who did this? Was there a fight going on while he was asleep? If so, how did he not wake up?

Guilt and fear overcame him. Maybe if had stayed awake he could've saved this woman from a terrible death. Who or what could have done this horrible...

Wait.

Papyrus cocked his head. The corpse did not have legs, and even if she did, she was not wearing any shoes.

Looking at the already dry and bloody footprints that lead to the body he felt numb when he finally recognized the pattern of the prints.

Flashing the light on his feet, he lifted his left foot and made a new wet print right next to the old dry one.

It matched.

Papyrus felt sick. He didn't like this. Logically, anyone would think that whoever made these footprints was the killer.

'Either the murder had the same shoe brand as me, or could I have...?'

He violently shook his head. He didn't know where that offending voice came from. Of course he didn't do it, he just woke up! Besides, he would never kill someone, especially in a manner like this! Once again this town was just trying to trick him!

'... But...' The voice whispered again through his head. 'How likely is it that the killer had the EXACT same shoe size and brand as you...?'

... A slap to the face sounded like the perfect way to silence the voice.

Eyes sliding away from the corpse he noticed something else. There were writings on the wall written in faded blood:

'HE'S LYING'

Papyrus repeated the phrase in his head a few times. He didn't know anyone who would lie to him. Well, except for Sans...

And Undyne, Frisk, Toriel, and Flowey...

'Well, this is quite the predicament...'

The tall monster shook his head to rid himself of his doubts and flashed his light to the rest of the message on the wall.

There was a drawn red arrow pointing at the corpse. From his perspective it looked like it was pointing at the womans chest. He flashed the light at the corpse, ignoring the bones, muscles, and ripped tissues.

There was something small and metal glinting in her body.

Taking a deep breath he debated whether he should just leave the item there or attempt to take it. On one hand, he didn't want to dig through a corpse's chest. But on the other hand, he was curious.

'It wouldn't hurt to check...'

Leaving the flashlight pointing in the direction of her chest on top of the nightstand, he walked over to the corpse and bended down, careful not to let his knees touch the wet floor. With slow and careful movements, he began his gruesome work, delicate bony fingers manuvering around sharp ribs and slippery organs.

'I had no idea human insides were so... Soft and wet...'

A small smile slipped on his face before he could stop himself. He had seen and read several of Sans' science books on human anatomy. Though they held valuable information, it wasn't nearly as interesting as this! This was the real thing!

Sinking his hand into the decaying meat, he pulled out an organ the size of his fist and studied it intensely, he couldn't remember the name it was, so he carefully put it on the floor. He pulled out a long, rope-like flesh. It was quite long so he bundled it as neatly as he could and set it aside.

This game went on for the next few minutes. Take out an organ, study it to see if he knew what it was, then place them on the ground in neat rows.

He was slowly pulling out a pair of nearly identical organs (lungs?) when he hears a small clinking sound. The mysterious item had fallen on the floor. He tilts his head and picks up his prize.

A skull key.

He couldn't see it very well since it was covered in blood, but balancing the trinket in his palm he knew it was heavy.

Getting his supplies from under the bed, he opens a water bottle and carefully drips the precious liquid on the key to wash off the blood. He uses the blankets from the bed to dry the item off until it shone.

Now that it was clean he took the time to admire the key. It had a skull head on the top, with large jeweled red eyes (Diamonds or rubies perhaps?). It was made entirely of gold and looked VERY expensive and ancient. He didn't know what the key opened, but decided to keep it anyway.

Putting the key in his pocket, he put the water back in his backpack and strapped it on. He clipped the flashlight on the opposite side of the holster that carried his knife, and checked himself. Once he triple checked that he hadn't forgotten anything, he decided it was time to leave.

Lifting the curtains to the side, he squinted to see if he could see an enemy nearby in the darkness.

Thankfully, there was no such thing in sight.

Glancing at the corpse one last time, he unlocked the window and pushed it open. Pushing himself out of the building he lands steadily on his feet, careful not to make any noise. Looking at the pitch black darkness ahead, Papyrus curls his hands into fists and walks confidently to his destination.

... After all, he still had a promise to keep.