Not A Single Tear To Shed
Being in the woods was horrible, but being stuck in one for almost years? Horrendous.
Wren knew that, everyone did. Not that he was stuck forever, just that he's practically memorized the place due to how much he's been deployed into mist rounds around this location and more.
He sighed, working on the upper mansion gen alongside Makoto, who seemed very happy as she was able to meet up with Seoung earlier. He, on the other hand, hadn't seen Tabitha anywhere yet. Both of them were unfortunate enough to be deployed here along with that robot.
Both of them felt their heartbeat quicken, an ominous red light seemed to appear right by the hallway.
"Makoto, go!" He whispered as he ushered the lady to go. Looking back, he saw the light getting closer.
She nodded, quietly letting go of the wires as she ran down the plank out of the mansion. Wren didn't leave, rather stayed as unlike the rest, still had two lives. If it meant losing a single life just for his wife's survival, then he'd sacrifice one of it.
"Found you." P3-NG's monotone voice came just right by the door, the glowing red blade already finding its way to him as P3-NG lunged. But Wren had vaulted faster, the blade hitting the wall. Almost an irritated scoff escaped P3-NG's lips, who quickly vaulted right after.
"Don't run, Mr. Harris, and I might just make this easier for you." The Android chuckled, its expression almost amused, a grin climbing up their face.
"Robo.. guy.. I'm in no plan to approach you, at all!" P3-NG raised a brow, clicking his tongue afterwards.
"Very well then."
Those few words instilled fear into Wren, the fear made him run faster and vault over a tree.
Just one more gen. One more. Just distract for a few more seconds and you're good, you'll be out.
The Android wasn't far behind him, but he managed to steady his breathing as he kept running, and running until he ended up at Archery range.
The place was the same, everything was. The generator was at the same spot, the glowing, blue orb.. everything was.
He huffed, turning around him as P3-NG started to lunge at him, but with enough speed, threw himself to the right, narrowly getting him by two inches.
"Oh my!--" He felt his soul almost leave his body as the blade pentrated the ground beside him, the spot he was in before. He pushed himself up, sliding underneath the android as he went to the broken cabin and vaulted just to slow the killer down.
Anxiety shot through him. He wasn't informed whether they were in a gen. Whether a gen was almost finished. Panic was the only thing that surged through him. What if-- they run out of time? What if he doesn't make it to the exit on time?
Then he sees Tabitha in the distance, running over to help one of the survivors on a gen.
And the sight of Tabitha had him running faster than he could ever thought.
Even P3-NG seemed caught off guard, his pace slowing down for a moment before he regained and was right behind Wren by a few meters.
"Feeling the pressure?" His voice rang, the mere sound like a nightmare as the Android hit him — pentrating his abdomen as he started to crumble on the floor. P3-NG stared at him, before he started to drag him farther and farther away from the exit.
No, no, no...
Not when I'm so close..
--EXIT GATES ARE OPEN--
P3-NG let out a scoff, "According to my system, no one would be able to get to you in time along with enough time to spare to run to the exits. You are doomed to fall, Mr. Harris."
He kept dragging him until they returned back to the Archery range. He dragged him until they were in the crater.
"With this distance it is guaranteed that you will not escape under any circumstances." The glow of P3-NG's technological eye grew brighter, the glow almost loomed ominous, the very sight sending shivers down his spine. The Android grabbed his hair, the sudden pull had made him wheeze in pain. "It seems you've ran out of time. I'll be kind this once, and perhaps get you out of this miserable state."
But he paused — a whirring sound came from around them, and upon closer inspection — seemed to come out of the cracks on the ground. The blue light seemed to come to light, the cracks spreading further.
"It is not supposed to do that." He glanced at Wren before he dropped his grip, his eye moving and calculating his surroundings. "Something is off."
"Everything's always off.." Wren groaned. "But you're.. right. Something's off right now."
The glow shimmered like the stars in the night sky, the blue light almost blinding at this point. P3-NG continued analyzing yet seemed to find no issues, not an anomaly, not the mist.
"What a bother." He clicked his tongue, his brown eye continuing to inspect the cracks. Then, he saw a faint, red glow in between those cracks, barely noticeable if he wasn't able to zoom in on it. "Strange. My eye has seen something incredulous."
He stepped closer, gliding his blade across the cracks, gaining a reaction as the red light pulsed brighter and stronger, almost battling the blue that had been originally there. He frowned, glaring back at Wren.
"My system is not processing this information, so I'll have to take action. It is better if you take cover as I will try to gauge whatever may be inside that is causing the red glow. I'm giving you this as a warning and not as a friend giving you an advice."
Surely, he's not going to damn well gauge the damn thing? Wren doesn't trust him. Not that he trusts everyone, and not that everyone trusts him. Though, oddly enough, he felt a sense of dread running up his veins as he saw the blade hitting the crack.
"Wait!.. Don't!"
The blade made it's contact with the 'object' underneath the crack, its position shifting as it grew wider, before it opened wide and mist obscured their vision, a small, yet faint explosion lifted P3-NG off his feet.
Tabitha seems worried, her pacing around their cabin growing faster. Why isn't Wren here yet? Where's he at? Shouldn't he be back here already? She muttered, not noticing the door budging open with both Kelvin and Arlo entering.
"Mrs. Harris?" Arlo seemed concerned, his brows furrowed. He glancedd over at Kelvin, who sighed upon seeing her pacing as well as the look that Arlo was giving him.
"Mrs. Harris." Kelvin called, which finally caught the frantic woman's attention. She spanned over to them, planting a smile and her face in an attempt to hide her worry.
"Hello, dears. Have you seen Wren? He hasn't come back from the round."
"That's strange. Usually, everyone would be back at the same time after a round."
"Perhaps he's just around, Mrs. Harris. People tend to walk around the forest near our cabins since it's one of our only ways to cool off, maybe even meditate."
"But he wouldn't.. leave me alone like this. I'm sorry, I must be disturbing you young boys right now.."
"No, no, Mrs. Harris!" The nurse reassured her, his hand finding her shoulder as her rubbed it in a soothing manner. "You've always been there for us, so let us do this simple thing for you. Do you want us to find Mr. Harris?"
"That'd be very nice, thank you." A smile crept up the lady's lips, her gentle auburn eyes softened more as slight sigh of relief escaped her. "I'll just.. take a moment to rest, and think. Thank you again."
"No problem, miss!" Kelvin smiled, Arlo chuckling along. They opened the cabin door and left not long later.
She murmured something underneath her breath — her expression softening as she allowed herself to finally relax and rest on the bed she and Wren shared. Her eyes glanced at the ceiling, thoughts scattering to her head. Peering over to the the bedside table, a small picture frame with her and Wren, his hand rubbing her pregnancy bump happily.
What would've happened if they didn't lost their baby? What would've happened if it weren't a stillbirth?
Thoughts flooded her head, subtle sobs unintentionally spilling from her. She held her head in her palms, the tears rolling down her soft cheeks as she attempted to remove the painful reminders that swarmed her.
Slow, steady steps. Wren shut his eyes, his vision blurring as even the mist seemed to play with him. His head is in pain, in ache. He stumbled and almost collapsed to the floor as he walked over to their cabin. His breathing was shallow, uneven gasps instead of a calm, steady feat.
His feet felt heavy, not cooperating with the rest of his body. A low grunt escaped him. Just a bit more. A bit more and I can rest. He grumbled roughly, finding his grip on the handle of their cabin door, opening the door bluntly, which caused Tabitha to look up.
"Wren!" She exclaimed, climbing out of the bed as she strided over to him.
Wren looked disheveled, his buttons loose and hair dirty. His clothes didn't even some wearable at this point, just tattered and destroyed. Don't look at me like that.
It's so confusing. Get out.
He swallowed the lump in his throat, confusion surged through his veins as it showed through his expression.
What's going on? I don't get it. My head hurts.
"Oh dear, what happened to you?" He tensed, her warm hands wrapping around him in a tight embrace. His eye twitched ever so slightly, almost as if.. uncomfortable by the sudden interaction.
What are you doing? I'm confused. Help me. Lend a hand.
"Where's your tie, love?"