Categories > Original > Fantasy > Tradewinds 09 - "The Building is Hungry!"
II
At first Shades tried not to think too much on what he and his friends were doing. At first it was easy. The place looked so normal, so mundane— it was hard to imagine it as dangerous in spite of Max’s ominous remarks. Then, he could still hear his friends’ footsteps on the stairway as they made their descent.
Now, though, he could hear nothing but the lights buzzing overhead. Now that he had traversed a series of twisting, turning switchback hallways and blind corridors, he found himself feeling more than a little disoriented. Now the blend of bland, institutional hues and nonsensical meanderings of the level were beginning to make him wonder if this place really could be haunted.
Now he couldn’t help but think about what he was doing here.
He knew he was helping a friend, and in spite of how rude and antagonistic the guy had been, he found he hoped Justin was alright. Though he still hadn’t made up his mind about this Kato, he decided to stay true to his advice to Max and give her the benefit of the doubt. He was sure he could learn more about her when he met her friends.
If I meet her friends.
The very thought itself almost seemed to pop around the corner of his mind. He told himself it was simply the architecture. All these blind corners. No way to see very far ahead; anything could be lying in wait. Found that the power pistol he was previously holding at his side he now kept trained ahead of him. Found he was instinctively taking each corner as wide as he could so no one could get the drop on him.
In the course of his martial arts training, Master Al had given his long-time students an overview of firearms, doing a spot of target practice in the woods with some of the guns from his collection, yet aside from that, Shades had little acquaintance with guns. Still, combined with seeing the fireworks against NK-525 back the library, it was enough for him to know what he held in his hand was no toy. In spite of this, his awkwardness was quickly tempered with the growing suspicion that he would do well to start packing in this world, as all of his companions already did, but for now he just hoped it wouldn’t come to that in here.
Even so, this much he had already resolved: he didn’t care how hungry the Harken Building was, it wasn’t going to snack on him or his friends. After his fun stay in that twilighty place that masqueraded as a mall, he had no intention of letting himself be trapped like that again. His time there already felt like some kind of Karmic payback for losing John, and now that he was free, he wanted nothing more than to catch up with his old friend.
And Amy. Definitely Amy, too.
His original plan was to only search one floor, then catch up with Max, but now he was beginning to reconsider. Wondered why precisely he had agreed to split up in the first place. That feeling from the night of the Flathead Experiment was creeping up on him.
I was too tired and confused and out of myself to be as scared as I should have been…
Fearing that he might be repeating that dangerous mistake, like a character in some horror flick, Shades decided to double back and try to find Max and Bandit.
At first Shades tried not to think too much on what he and his friends were doing. At first it was easy. The place looked so normal, so mundane— it was hard to imagine it as dangerous in spite of Max’s ominous remarks. Then, he could still hear his friends’ footsteps on the stairway as they made their descent.
Now, though, he could hear nothing but the lights buzzing overhead. Now that he had traversed a series of twisting, turning switchback hallways and blind corridors, he found himself feeling more than a little disoriented. Now the blend of bland, institutional hues and nonsensical meanderings of the level were beginning to make him wonder if this place really could be haunted.
Now he couldn’t help but think about what he was doing here.
He knew he was helping a friend, and in spite of how rude and antagonistic the guy had been, he found he hoped Justin was alright. Though he still hadn’t made up his mind about this Kato, he decided to stay true to his advice to Max and give her the benefit of the doubt. He was sure he could learn more about her when he met her friends.
If I meet her friends.
The very thought itself almost seemed to pop around the corner of his mind. He told himself it was simply the architecture. All these blind corners. No way to see very far ahead; anything could be lying in wait. Found that the power pistol he was previously holding at his side he now kept trained ahead of him. Found he was instinctively taking each corner as wide as he could so no one could get the drop on him.
In the course of his martial arts training, Master Al had given his long-time students an overview of firearms, doing a spot of target practice in the woods with some of the guns from his collection, yet aside from that, Shades had little acquaintance with guns. Still, combined with seeing the fireworks against NK-525 back the library, it was enough for him to know what he held in his hand was no toy. In spite of this, his awkwardness was quickly tempered with the growing suspicion that he would do well to start packing in this world, as all of his companions already did, but for now he just hoped it wouldn’t come to that in here.
Even so, this much he had already resolved: he didn’t care how hungry the Harken Building was, it wasn’t going to snack on him or his friends. After his fun stay in that twilighty place that masqueraded as a mall, he had no intention of letting himself be trapped like that again. His time there already felt like some kind of Karmic payback for losing John, and now that he was free, he wanted nothing more than to catch up with his old friend.
And Amy. Definitely Amy, too.
His original plan was to only search one floor, then catch up with Max, but now he was beginning to reconsider. Wondered why precisely he had agreed to split up in the first place. That feeling from the night of the Flathead Experiment was creeping up on him.
I was too tired and confused and out of myself to be as scared as I should have been…
Fearing that he might be repeating that dangerous mistake, like a character in some horror flick, Shades decided to double back and try to find Max and Bandit.
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