Amateur Detective Files On Paranormal Encounters

Flourish Or Fall

Duncan witnessed the fall of Grant as he got piled upon by several zombies until he was completely covered up from sight.

After a quick look to make sure he wasn’t being feasted upon like a rare delicacy, without a ripple in his heart, Duncan swiftly continued running ahead, unconcerned with Grant’s fate.

“This confirms it,” Duncan mused.

“The zombies aren’t out for blood; instead, they’re looking to capture us alive and probably take us back to the exit.”

“Why... well, that’s what I have to figure out next.”

Although Duncan had already confirmed his earlier speculation, it didn’t mean that he was going to surrender himself to be taken to the zombies to be taken away to the exit by them.

Without knowing for what reason the zombies needed living people, it was still risky to approach without a plan.

So what was Duncan going to do next?

“Although surrendering and letting the zombies take me is the easiest way to get to the exit, the risk is too high, so I’d better stick to the original plan.”

The plan Duncan was talking about was naturally the one he had informed Grant of; only, Duncan had naturally not told him the full details of what the plan entailed.

After all, Duncan couldn’t very well tell Grant that he was counting on him being caught and had already prepared several follow-up actions to carry out once he was gone.

If Duncan had told Grant that, there was no question that the other man would’ve attacked Duncan right there and then.

As for what to do when Grant was eventually captured... Duncan had already been doing it from the very beginning.

Don’t look at the actions Duncan had taken just now with regards to Grant and the plan he had concocted and say that he was heartless—in fact, although Duncan’s entire plan hinged completely on Grant getting captured, he hadn’t deliberately set the other man up to fail.

Contrary to that, Duncan had actually left a lifeline for Grant in the event that the man was tenacious enough for him to survive.

This is how it is: while carrying out the plan, Duncan, with his superior physical ability, had ensured that he had run more loops to and fro the exit so that he could attract more zombies than Grant, leaving the other man to deal with the least amount of zombies as possible.

Duncan partly did this to ensure the success of his plan and also to make sure Grant wasn’t captured immediately while giving him a chance to survive.

If Grant had managed to keep on running, Duncan would’ve drawn most of the zombies to himself, taking on much of the risk of the plan, and then they could’ve simply acted on the part Grant knew about and gone to the exit to escape this place.

Consider it as Duncan being generous or him not wanting to seem like a completely soulless monster—whatever you wanted to call it, in the end, nothing had changed because of what Duncan did.

In the end, Grant hadn't managed to escape his fate of being captured, thus leaving Duncan to carry out the rest of his plan alone.

And that he did...

Maintaining his original speed, Duncan ran past Grant’s location, attracting some zombies that originally pursued the man to follow him, then began another loop back to the exit again.

This time, Duncan wasn’t making a simple loop back to the exit...

No, this time, Duncan was going all in, as this would be his final chance to lure away all the zombies in the area.

Rawr!

The zombies groaned and grunted as they pursued Duncan, but he continued to run without stopping at all.

Soon, Duncan was already close to the exit, and he could already see the rest of the zombies up ahead gathering around the exit.

At this point, Duncan suddenly sped up, leaving the zombies chasing him behind, and shot straight for the ones in front.

By the time Duncan was about fifty meters away from the zombies in front, he suddenly stopped, standing in place without moving at all.

That is when Duncan did the unthinkable... he started yelling!

“Hey, buttheads! Look at me, I’m over here...”

“Come and get me!”

Rawr???

With Duncan yelling so loudly and drawing a lot of attention to himself, the zombies naturally noticed him.

There was a split-second moment after the zombies noticed Duncan where he thought they were all looking at him in confusion, wondering who the idiot shouting at them to attack him was, while actually considering whether they should do so or not.

This second played like a moment of pure comedy in Duncan’s mind, lending relief to the incredible amount of risk that Duncan was about to take upon himself.

But the moment did not last long because in the next second, the zombies immediately charged at Duncan.

“Yeah, that’s right—come and get me you ugly bastards!”

Nervous but unafraid, Duncan stood waiting—with zombies charging from in front and behind, he was gradually being surrounded.

If he didn’t make a move now, then in a few seconds, Duncan would be definitely locked in by the zombies from all sides without any hope of escaping; and yet, he still did not move.

This was the crucial moment, and Duncan’s entire plan was riding on everything working perfectly according to how he planned it.

He had selected his current position carefully and deliberately, with the distance between the two groups of zombies in his front and behind being almost identical, meaning that they would take about the same time to reach him.

This also wasn’t the only consideration Duncan had made.

In this plan, there were several elements that had to come together for it to succeed, and amongst all these elements, there was one that was so crucial, so vital to the plan that without it, the entire plan would not be able to work at all.

But it was this one vital element that was ironically the most impossible to control; therefore, what Duncan did was to ensure that every other element was carefully well thought out so that even if the one uncontrollable factor proved to be too fickle in its temperament, it still wouldn’t adversely affect the entire plan completely.

And now, the moment of fate was upon Duncan, and it was time to see just how lucky he actually was.

Sink or swim... now was the time to decide, so without hesitation, just as both groups of zombies approached Duncan and were about to pounce on him, he gave a mental command in his heart, and in that exact moment, Duncan vanished from sight.

---

When Duncan opened his eyes again, he was met with a blanket of darkness and a strong earthy scent that assaulted his nostrils in a familiar way.

When Duncan tried to move his hands and legs, he found that he couldn’t freely do so.

It was like he was in a confined space with a limited area for movement, which forced him to lie flat on his back with his nose pointing straight up above.

A strong feeling of déjà vu came over Duncan as a strange idea formed within his mind.

“Don’t tell me this is what I think it is... have I been buried alive once again?”

“That can’t be right? It’s gonna be a sick and twisted joke if it's actually the case.”

Feeling skeptical, Duncan reached into his pocket to retrieve his trusty lighter and lit it, which allowed him to see where he actually was.

And indeed, it was as Duncan suspected...

There was a layer of earth above Duncan’s eyes, which he was staring at while feeling speechless and incredulous.

“This can’t be happening!” Duncan lamented internally, feeling peeved at the situation.

“Of all the places you could’ve teleported me to, why did you have to bring me here again?”

“Are you just trying to mess with me on purpose... do you get some kind of kick out of making me look like a fool?”

Duncan’s anger was rising; his chest heaved furiously as he cursed at the terrible luck he was having right now.

To be specific, Duncan was frantically hurling insults at his cursed boots, which were personally responsible for everything that had happened to him these past few hours.

From bringing Duncan to this hellhole of a ghost realm, to this moment when his entire escape had hinged on the boots teleporting him to a safe location close to the exit... he had hoped to either bide his time and look for the right opportunity to escape, or directly leave through the exit without obstruction, provided things went as well as Duncan had hoped.

Even on the off chance that things didn’t go exactly as Duncan hoped—as they usually never do—anything would’ve been far better than how Duncan had ended up right now.

Now, because Duncan was stuck underground, he didn’t know if he was even close to the exit at all, or if he was right back to the beginning where he first started off. This would mean that all his effort up until now had been a complete waste and Duncan would have to start all over again, which was definitely not going to be as easy as it sounds.