The entrance to the bat enclosure stood before me.
—Let's get this over with. That damn monstrous bird is chasing me, and the last thing I want is for it to catch me.
The door opened, and with it a sudden screech echoed throughout the entire enclosure, the sound of metal scraping against metal.
It was a cave.
—It's too dark...
Beside me, something was written on a wall in what looked like blood.
"Once a complete pair, now incomplete."
I need to get out of this place as soon as possible. The bat enclosure is very simple, a path that turns at two points, but otherwise it is completely straight.
—It's too quiet.
Darkness and overwhelming silence lingered throughout the area. The little light emitted by the flashlight barely helped. In that cave, I could even hear the sound of my own breathing. It was unsettling... suddenly, from the radio, I heard:
I'm... afraid of the dark...
—Zzzzz
—Prot-Zzzzzz
Only a few lines came through... whose voice could it be?
I've heard it several times already, but it's a mystery I still can't solve. In the middle of the darkness, it was eerie that my only company was the voice of an unknow
I couldn't finish the sentence. Something prevented me. My lips were unwilling to pronounce that word.
Then, a crash.
Throughout the entire cave, a single voice echoed. It didn't come from the radio. Instead, it was as if it were in the cave, with me.
—It's very comforting to be with you.
Again...
That voice...
—Who would've thought we'd meet at a zoo? Hahaha, it's really fun.
Without stopping... with every step I took on the cave's dry ground, that voice kept appearing, over and over... without end.
—You know... you... are very different from the others...
Pain...
Deep within my thoughts, a faint pain grew stronger every time I heard it. In the middle of the darkness, unable to see the exit, I was all alone...
—Do you know what my biggest dream is?
I could barely stay standing. My head pounded. I couldn't even hear my own thoughts anymore, only a white buzzing...
—I've always wanted to...
—Shut up...
—To be...
—SHUT UP...
—Mo-
—SHUT UP!
I couldn't go on. I didn't want to hear any more. I didn't want to.
My legs sped up as much as they could. My mind was about to explode. I couldn't bear it. I just wanted it to end once and for all.
As I ran toward the exit, which I had already spotted, a feeling of unease arrived.
—Zzzzzz
—Zzzz
—Do you... remember me now?
Before leaving the cave, the radio emitted a signal...
...
—It wasn't... my fault...
It wasn't...
—Agh!
The pain in my skull hadn't stopped. There were still remnants of what I had experienced in the cave.
The strangest thing was this:
Why did I say it wasn't my fault?
It's as if I remember something and at the same time forget it immediately afterward...
!!!
At that moment I heard something.
A screech.
And with it, the door to the monkey enclosure opened on its own.
I shined the flashlight and found only traces of fluids across the floor. The trail led directly into that enclosure, as if it were inviting me inside...
There was no other path. I was trapped and surrounded by enormous cracks.
I entered. What I saw were piles of human corpses. Every one of them had their eyes torn out.
Somehow, those bodies filled me with anguish, as if I had seen them before.
They looked a lot like me...
!
At that moment, the door behind me—the one I had entered through—slammed shut.
Despite my attempts, it wouldn't budge.
Flies flooded the area. The darkness prevented me from seeing beyond the corpses, and the flashlight only slightly expanded my field of vision.
—I need to find another exit, fast.
But after taking only a few steps, I heard a crack followed by a grotesque snap.
Then, heavy interference came through the radio. I quickly lowered the volume as much as I could so I wouldn't attract the nearby creatures.
It was a monkey.
It was different from the one I had encountered at the beginning of this hell.
The creature standing before me had no eyeballs. Its skin had fused with its fur, stretching and deforming until they became one. There was no blood, no flesh.
Only skin...
The rows of teeth were impossible to miss. Some even seemed to protrude from the jaw, while others were embedded on the outside of its mouth.
On its back it carried a disgusting lump. It was a vivid reddish color.
It moved...
It was fused to its back, as if rooted there through skin stretched into one with the monkey's body.
—Shit...
I whispered.
But the animal heard me and immediately turned in my direction.
It was blind, though it had extremely sensitive hearing.
Luckily, it couldn't find me.
Instead, it approached a nearby corpse that still had its eyes.
And the corpse was me.
It had my appearance.
I watched as the blind beast tore apart the lifeless body, ripping out its eyes before devouring them in a revolting manner.
The burning in my stomach, the nausea...
I couldn't stand watching that scene any longer.
And then, a flame ignited atop a small pillar at the back of the room, attracting all the monstrous monkeys in the area.
There were nine creatures in total stalking prey.
I had to avoid making noise at all costs and somehow reach that flame.
So I set aside the sharpened metal bar.
Silence was essential.
I left the metal rod right by the entrance to avoid making noise if it struck something, and slowly crept forward.
I couldn't climb over the piles of corpses because of the noise they would make, so I had to go around them.
The beasts prowled the area. Most had stayed near the flame, while a few wandered around making clicking sounds.
The way they walked was sinister, trembling and clicking, grinding their teeth.
I couldn't face all nine.
That would be suicide.
I could fire at point-blank range, but against nine monsters, it would only be a death sentence.
Stealthily, I approached one of the many piles of corpses, only to find one of the monsters slowly closing the distance.
Heartbeat after heartbeat with every step the creature took.
My body had already adapted to this hell, but my heart still refused to calm down.
The beast was only inches away.
I didn't hesitate.
I threw a couple of bullets as far as I could toward the creature.
The impact and noise they made ended up saving me.
Not just one—four more creatures violently rushed toward the sound, searching for prey to tear apart and devour in the most horrific way possible.
However, two pairs of beasts still remained around the flame.
Shooting would have been suicide.
I had to move slowly, using the piles of corpses as cover and trying to mask my scent among the stench of decay.
I threw a couple more bullets in another direction to lure the monkeys away, but it didn't work.
They ignored the noise.
With no other option, I hurled a magazine with all my strength, creating a loud impact that attracted every creature, which immediately lunged toward the sound.
I managed to clear a direct path to the flame.
However, impatience got the better of me. I moved too quickly.
I stepped too hard, drawing the attention of the last creature, which slowly approached. I was stunned to see it suddenly open its bloodshot eyes and stare directly at me without blinking or moving.
The pillar with the flame was only inches away.
So close to survival, yet equally close to death. The monkey came closer...
Face to face. Its eyes never left me.
This monster was different from the others.
Slowly, it raised its two nauseating hands and violently tore out its own eyes, spraying blood all over my face.
Nausea overwhelmed me, but above all, the urge to scream in terror was about to burst out.
Still, I managed to hold it in. The beast placed its ripped-out eyes into the flame atop the pillar, burning part of its hand and arm.
Then it slowly walked away toward the other beasts.
—What the hell was that? —I thought.
Whatever it was, it didn't matter if I couldn't make it out alive.
I approached the flame, which had already gone out.
Only ashes remained, along with the monkey's charred eyes, a single bullet, and a note written on an old piece of paper.
"I'm very sorry about how the previous attempts ended, but don't give up. Your husband is supporting you in this."
I picked up everything from the pillar and realized that the charred eyes were actually two spheres, each engraved with a letter:
"A" and "S."
—It seems like they have something inside them...
A strange feeling washed over me as I looked at the spheres.
Just in case, I kept them too.
When I finished inspecting everything, a loud noise echoed through the enclosure.
Immediately, all the monkeys began running around in a panic.
They suddenly started attacking each other, and my vision began to blur.
—Not again...
The world flipped over me, crashing down as my head struck the ground...
...