Amateur Detective Files On Paranormal Encounters

Surrounded On All Sides

“Hey, wake up.” A distant voice called out to him.

Ugh!

“My head!”

Duncan could not focus at all. His mind was scattered by a splitting headache that assaulted him like a large foghorn blowing loudly in his cranium, making him unable to concentrate on anything.

“Hey, is he gonna be okay? He hasn’t moved in a long while… maybe he’s dead.”

“He’s not dead, although I would wish for nothing more.”

There it was again—those voices. It seemed like two people talking to each other, but their words were sometimes hazy and incomprehensible, leaving Duncan lost in a murky state of confusion.

“Who are they talking about?” Duncan wondered as he tried to gather his thoughts, but the headache was preventing him from doing so.

The voices continued to speak to one another.

“Huh, you wish he was dead? Why? Wouldn’t it be better if he lived so we can all come up with a way to get out of here?” the first voice asked in confusion, to which the second voice replied blandly and without emotion.

“I hate to break it to you, kid, but there’s no getting out of this for any of us. And even if there were, he ain’t it. Believe me when I say this: you’re better off not associating with this guy ’cause he’s very unreliable… he’ll sell you out in a heartbeat.”

“That can’t be,” the first voice said, disbelieving.

“Believe it or not, that’s up to you. I’m just warning you, though—there’s no point hoping for a miracle to save us. We’re all doomed, and we’re going to die in this place.”

The voices spoke to each other until they became completely silent. But by now, Duncan’s mind was beginning to clear, and his thoughts could finally concentrate on what was happening to him.

The first thing Duncan realized after his mind began to clear was that his entire body was on fire.

A searing heatwave spread throughout Duncan’s body like a massive flare, burning away the ghostly chill within him. The heat came from three points on his body, providing him with renewed vitality, yet the discomfort was almost unbearable.

All this heat became centered around Duncan’s torso to the point that it felt like he was wearing a shirt of sun-fire, burning with intense solar energy on his upper body. Still quite dazed, the discomfort forced Duncan to move as strength gradually returned to his limbs.

“Hey, did you see that?”

Just then, the voice of the first person sounded again in Duncan’s fuzzy mind. This time, Duncan could more clearly make out what the person was saying.

“See what?” the second voice asked.

“I think he moved—no, I’m sure I saw him move,” the first voice said with certainty.

“Oh great,” the second voice intoned sarcastically, clearly not as excited as the first person.

“Hey, what’s your problem? Shouldn't you be happy that he’s okay?” the first person said in annoyance.

“Believe me, kid, when you get to know what kind of jerk this bastard is, then you’ll understand why I’m not too enthused about him recovering,” the second person said, before directing his next words to Duncan lying on the ground.

“Isn’t that right, Detective… should I be happy for your recovery? Now that you’re better, do you perhaps have another plan to get us out of here, or are you perhaps too busy playing dead to care about whether we live or die this time?”

Receiving no reply from Duncan, the owner of the second voice became greatly angered and suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough sleep, Detective? It’s about time you woke up!”

…

“Hey! Are you insane? Do you want to get us killed?”

After the sudden outburst, the owner of the first voice hissed at the person who had shouted. His voice was barely suppressed as he tried his best not to yell.

Meanwhile, he looked around at the crowd of zombies standing motionlessly around them as if he was afraid they would suddenly react to the earlier outburst and attack. But seeing as none of the zombies showed any reaction, the person finally let out a sigh of relief, thankful that nothing had happened.

Then, in the next moment, he turned back to the other person and said through gritted teeth.

“What the hell is wrong with you? What do you think you’re trying to pull with that attitude of yours, huh? Are you in that much of a hurry to die?”

“If you’ve given up on life then fine, court death on your own for all I care, but don’t you dare drag me down with you… I’ll be damned before I let a bastard old geezer like you be the cause of my death. I fully intend to survive this, so you better watch yourself, or I’ll be the one to send you to hell myself!”

The owner of the first voice spoke ruthlessly, his face dark and menacing. He looked very much like the type of person who meant what he said—definitely not innocent at all.

He was a young man, probably in his late teens or early twenties, who had the wild look of a punk delinquent. His spiky long hair was made to stand upright with an ungodly amount of hair gel, and several piercings and tattoos covered his face.

He wore a bright yellow leather blazer that was ripped at the sleeves, with a dull black tank top peeking through the unbuttoned jacket, hung over black leather pants. From his neck to his wrist and fingers—and even his waist—sparkles of cheap rings, chains, and other such jewelry blinged garishly in the low light. It lent an air of frivolousness to the young man’s entire appearance that complemented his completely unserious look.

Evidently, all it took was one look to know what kind of person the young man was, with most choosing to give a wide berth to him whenever he was around.

The second person was naturally Grant. After being caught, he was finally brought over to the very front of the zombie horde where the white conical light that was the exit could finally be seen in full.

Beside Grant was Duncan, who lay unconscious after being attacked by ghosts during his attempt to reach the light and escape this realm. Together with the other two—the young man being the owner of the voice Duncan had heard begging to be let go earlier when he was still underground—the three of them were surrounded by zombies from all directions.

There was seemingly no other way to escape…

Just then, Duncan’s body suddenly jolted, and his eyes flung open as he finally recovered from the earlier attack.