"H͇̋e̼͠ll̪̚o, ̦̕s-̗͑s̬̕-̜́s-ś̳t̨̉u̝͋d̮̐e̜͑nt̙̑s!" Cherilee said.

Bon Bon and Trixie were silent for a moment, statue still with the horror that filled their bodies at the realization that they'd been found. They each breathlessly took in the sight of their former teacher. Like every other corrupted, Cherilee lacked pupils, her eyes simply blank white voids. Despite this, her eyes were still wide and crazed, matching the equally unsetttling smile that graced her face, one so wide and crazy it looked like it would split her face. The corruption dripped like rain where her hair protruded off her head, gracefully falling drop by drop onto the floor below her. She held her arms wide, ready to strike, each of the fingers on her hands elongated and misshapen into sharp claws. Her clothes were in surprising good condition, making everything else about her all the more horrifiying. She stood there in the hallway staring back at the two survivors, her back arched and legs bent into a running stance. Despite this, she didn't charge them, not yet.

"Ạ͞-a-aw̤͛ẃ͈, ̡̐w̧͛hat'̀ͅs ̻̓t̮̅he ̫̊ma̺͌tt̯̑eṙ̟, ̛̟af̗͆rä̹i͚̊d ̘͛o̻̊f̮̂ ̨̽yo͟͡ur͎̚ ̡̛f̫͆à͍vö̫r̭̈ỉ̜t̲̔e tè͇ǎ̭ch̻̊er͓̎??̧̒" Cherilee spoke again. Her voice was low and distorted, syllables and letter pronunciations randomly draw out or mispronounced, her jaw and head glitching too as she spoke.

Cherilee laughed again, seemingly in glee at the opportunity presented to her to show her students the joy of giving the darkness your mind.

"Te̬͛l̨̓l͔͠ ̲̿you ͟͡wh̯͋a̯̒t̘̍,͕͝ sin̪͒ce y̺͑o̪̕ụ͠ t̙̂w̢͗o ä̙́re ̤̄sọ̆m̫͗e of͖̍ ̮̅m̡͋ý̯ ̘̓f̝̃av̠̇ǫ͂r̳̋itḛ͒ ̟͞st̩̑ud͈̐en̩͋ts,̱̈ I̫̕'l̲͋l give y͙̆ou ả͖ t̖̒e͍̓n̗̈-͎̄s͎͋e̞̊c̜̓o̝͠nd̜͝ ̉͜he̤̾ad s͇̐tar͕̽t!" She said. She didn't wait for a response from the survivors, instead jumping right into her countdown.

"Ten!" She said, her voice losing its distinct imperfections and distortions for the briefest of moments.

"N̗̍Î͖̦͗NĒ͉̩͝" She followed. Not only did the corrupted tone of her voice return, but it was then somehow even more deep and distorted, accented by a dark malice and intent to kill straight out of hell.

Bon Bon and Trixie didn't waste another moment staring in horror at their former teacher, turning tail and sprinting back down the hallway towards the stairwell as fast as they could, the sound of their rapid footsteps drowning out the sound of Cherilee's countdown.

Without saying a word to each other as they ran to not waste their breath, they quickly descended the stairwell down a flight, exploding into the hallway of the floor below and booking it for the electrical room. They had to get the lights on. With Cherilee undoubtedly right on their heels, continuing to have to rely on their flashlights to see would be an immediate death sentence, making them stand out like sore thumbs against the otherwise pitch-black.

They made it to the electrical room, Bon Bon rapidly flinging the keys out and jamming each one haphazardly into the lock to figure out which was the right one, all while Trixie in a panic tried to figure out how much time they had left in Cherilee's countdown.

"Three...

Two...

One."

With a relieved gasp, Bon Bon found the right key, turning the lock before throwing the door open and going in, shutting it behind them as quickly and quietly as possible.

The two turned their flashlights to the panels now in front of them.

"Which one of these controls the lights?!" Trixie said in a panic.

"Uh..." Bon Bon said, quickly surveying everything in front of them. Without a word she quickly went for and switched a few seemingly random levers, buttons, and switches, before turning her gaze to one particularly large lever.

“How did you know how to do that?” Trixie questioned.

"I took an electronics class last semester.” She replied in a rush. “Okay, here's the plan. When I count to three, I'm going to throw this lever, and when I do, you book it out of here as fast as you can towards the ground floor. I'll be right behind you."

Trixie nodded.

"Three.

Two."

"Oñ̪e.̫̄" A voice said from directly above them.

Not wasting another moment, Bon Bon threw the switch before booking it back into the hallway along with Trixie, not even taking the time to be horrified at what had just happened. The two made it to the stairwell, starting their marathon towards the ground floor, and subsequently their escape.

Neither of them kept track of what floor they were on, simply rushing down to the ground floor as fast as their legs could carry them, going two sometimes three steps at a time, a feat that at any other time would have been nigh impossible, but with the adrenaline coursing through their veins as they ran it became almost second nature in the name of survival.

Just as it felt like they were almost to the ground floor, a door leading to the floor they were currently in caved in, the corrupted visage of Silver Spoon bursting forth with an inhuman snarl.

Bon Bon screamed. “Go back! Go back!” she cried, scrambling back up the steps with Trixie following suit. Not too long after they were forced to turn back, the sound of Cherilee rushing towards them from above cut through the air. The two of them stopped, taking a moment to quickly think before running for the closest door to keep from being surrounded.

There wasn’t enough time for Bon Bon or Trixie to close, much less lock the door they’d just come from, forced to run aimlessly into the floor they’d wound up on. Trixie reached into her jean pocket again, withdrawing another smoke bomb and hurling it towards the doorway, covering their escape just enough for their persuers to lose track of them.

It was now that they realized Bon Bon’s efforts in the electrical room had been successful, the lights above them flickering on and off in rapid succession, one moment the floor lit up and the next immersed back into darkness, over and over again. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that they no longer had to rely on their flashlights, making it much easier to hide.

It didn’t take them long to figure out that they were on one of the main office floors, much of it just endless cubicles filled with the standard work desk, office chair, and a work computer or laptop. In this particular scenario, these workspaces formed one giant maze, allowing Bon Bon and Trixie to start playing the world’s deadliest game of hide and seek with at least two corrupted persuers.

It didn’t take long for the two to find hiding spots, both of them settling for two normal looking cubicles on opposite ends of a central walkway, hiding under the workdesks where they could maintain a line of sight with each other.

That was where they chose to stay, scared to make even breathing noises for fear of somehow being heard, each of them putting their hands over their mouths to muffle the sound of their rapid breathing.

Although they could defend themselves if it came down to it, Bon Bon realized Trixie was right in her hesitation at the prospect of using the handgun. While neither of them doubted that the nine-millimeter rounds chambered in it could kill or at the very least incapacitate the things enough for them to get away, if the sound was loud enough, it would be like waving a giant dinner bell for every one of the things within a miles’ radius.

What felt like an eternity passed, neither of them daring to move from their respective hiding spots, the occasional crash of a falling object or sounds of feet and hands on the floor signifying that they were looking for them, or at least stalking the floor. Bon Bon heard something from up above. While there wasn’t much either of them could see from their hiding spots, there was enough of a view to see parts of the ceiling, and in Bon Bon’s case, the windows facing the outside on the far end of the room. It was there that she heard and then saw Silver Spoon crawling along the walls, ceiling, and then windows like a spider, leaving dark splotches of corruption everywhere she went. It was a harrowing sight, especially when not even two days before she remembered walking past her and Diamond Tiara in the halls, a memory that in any other context would have been meaningless.

Bon Bon’s gaze went back to Trixie just in time for her to see her eyes widen at something she couldn’t see. Trixie made a quick terrified glance over to her before seeming to take in a deep breath and hold it. Bon Bon did the same despite not being able to see what Trixie was.

A few seconds later, she got her answer. A pair of light blue legs became visible, the rest of whoever was walking past obscured due to the nature of their hiding spots. All that was visible besides this person’s legs was the drops of corruption splashing like rain onto the floor under them. A haunting realization dawned on the two: There were three of them. Neither Cherilee nor Silver Spoon had that color, meaning that there were now even more to worry about.

Thankfully, the two remained unfound, time slowly crawling by during what felt like an eternity of being unable to move. They did their best to ignore the growing discomfort in their muscles accompanied by frequent cramping and claustrophobia.

“I̫̾ ̢́k-̜̾k̝͠-kno̞͗w ͎͠y̛̱ǫ̐u͔̎'r̙̔e ̞͛in ̼͐h̯̐è̱ṛ̌e̺̍!” Cherilee’s voice said from somewhere across the room. “T͚̾ḫ͆e̗̅re̐͜'̳́s̜͆ ̘̔ǹ̼owhḙ͠ŗ́e ͙̕el̫̂s̺̿e ̦̈́you ̘̿co̡͐uld̼͌ ̻̿h̤͡ave ̰̃g̦̾o̻͗ne!” she said, followed by a quick, demented giggle.

Aside from the fear-inducing sound of Cherilee knowing that they were there, a new question arose in Bon Bon’s mind: Why was Cherilee the only one who spoke? What made her so special that she could form coherent sentences but Silver Spoon and the other one couldn’t?

Her train of thought was cut off by the sound of wood breaking somewhere off to her right, followed by more and more objects breaking as the corrupted now resorted to destroying the room until they were found. Bon Bon looked over to Trixie, who seemed to have the same realization as their eyes met. Not even daring to whisper despite the loud sounds of objects breaking, they both signalled to each other that on another count of three they’d make another break for the stairwell.

Trixie held up three fingers, lowering them one at a time for the countdown.

”One.

Two.

Three.”

They both exploded from their hiding spots, taking a moment to find the open door to the stairwell and making a break for it. Unfortunately for them, Silver Spoon caught up to them before they could get up to speed. Silver Spoon struck first, pouncing towards Trixie and successfully striking her in the arm, causing her to fall into a nearby filing cabinet with a loud CRASH. Bon Bon didn’t waste any time, quickly drawing the handgun and firing two shots, both aimed at Silver Spoons upper body. The sound was deafening, but thankfully the bullets hit their mark. The first bullet hit its target in the head, followed by a second in the arm she was using to overpower Trixie. She flopped over, seemingly dead, allowing Trixie to get up and start running again, now bleeding from her arm and forehead which now bore large gashes.

“THERE ̮̕YO͖͌U ̨̈A̺̿R̤̓E̘͘!” They heard Cherilee cry out in bloodlust. She two charged them, leaping into the air for an attack just as Bon Bon once again aimed the gun. Two more shots pierced the air, followed by Cherilee overshooting her target and crashing into a nearby cubicle.

“Come on!” Bon Bon cried out, grabbing Trixies arm and pulling her along towards the stairwell, unknowingly getting some of her blood on her.

Once again they started hurtling down the stairwell, the sound of the unknown third corrupted that had been in the room with them following them becoming louder by the second.

“We’re not going to make it to the ground floor in time!” Bon Bon heard Trixie exclaim from behind her, the sound of her voice beginning to get drowned out by the sound of their persuer getting ever closer. Bon Bon gritted her teeth upon realizing she was right. They were so close, but they wouldn’t make it to the ground floor before being caught, not with Trixie being slowed down by the blood she was losing from her cuts. For the briefest of moments, she considered leaving Trixie behind to give herself a better chance to escape, before just as quickly shoving the thought from her mind and hating herself for even allowing such a thought to exist. Not seeing any other options, she instead directed herself and Trixie through the nearest door on the right, intending to play another game of hide and seek while they weighed their options.

The gun Bon Bon had was still an option, but like Trixie had tried to point out earlier, the sound was likely to attract more of them to the building if it hadn’t already. If it already had, then Bon Bon was leading herself and Trixie to their deaths by trying to hide again, but those first shots had been fired on a much higher floor, so hopefully the distance plus the thickness of the walls and windows meant the shots hadn’t been heard for very far outside of the building. She looked out a window she and Trixie passed while running through the floor they were on, determining they had to be on the third or second floor. If she used the gun again on their last persuer, it would almost certainly be heard, so unfortunately that wasn’t an option anymore.

The floor they currently found themselves on wasn’t very well suited for hiding, mostly consisting of long, winding hallways with nothing to hide behind, and only the occasional small room with one door each, so getting caught in one meant there would be nowhere to escape.

Not wanting to risk hiding in one of the small rooms, the two instead opted to run as deep into the maze of hallways as they could, moving as silently as they could while listening intently for anything besides their own footsteps.

After moving what they thought would be ample distance away from the stairwell, Bon Bon turned back towards Trixie to more closely analyze the extent of her wounds. In the flickering light of the lights dotting the hallway, she realized that they had unintentionally left a small blood trail behind them. Neither of them were sure how smart the things actually were, if they’d actually be able to pick up on such a thing, but they weren’t willing to risk it.

“We need to get that bleeding stopped!” Bon Bon said to Trixie.

“You think?” Trixie replied, hanging her head down to keep blood from getting in her eyes and gripping a hand around the wound on her right arm.

“Uh-” Bon Bon said, looking around before heading into a nearby room to search for something. She emerged about a minute later, now gripping a pair of scissors in one hand. “Hand me your jacket.”

Trixie did as she was told, taking her jacket off, wincing in pain as she had to slide one of the sleeves over her bleeding arm. Bon Bon got to work, cutting off the left sleeve and the lower portion. She fashioned the cut up pieces into makeshift gauze pads, first positioning one over the cut on Trixie’s arm and then taking the sleeve and wrapping it tightly around, repeating the process using other pieces for the wound on her head.

“It’s not much, but that should be enough to stop the bleeding.” She said, stepping back to admire her impromtu bandages.

“Thanks.” Trixie replied with a weak smile.

“We need to get moving again.” Bon Bon said. “I don’t know how smart those things are, but I don’t want to take the chance with the bloodtrail you just left behind.” Trixie turned her head in the opposite direction in response, quickly realizing what her friend meant.

“Oh.” She stated flatly.

As though on que, the lights suddenly flickered rapidly, before turning off, immersing the two in near-total blackness again. This was quickly followed by the sound of rushing foot and hand steps above them, approaching fast.

“You don’t think-” Trixie started.

“We need to move, now.” Bon Bon said again. If that thing was smart enough to go back and sabotage the lights before coming after them, then it definitely knew how to find them using Trixie’s bloodtrail.

The two of them quietly took off down the halls again, aimlessly just trying to lose themselves in the maze of hallways in an attempt to stay hidden. As they ran, they noticed more of the corruption starting to cover the floor, seemingly materializing out of thin air. The more they moved, taking rights and lefts at random, the more of it they saw, visible in the near pitch black only because of the way it glitched into multicolored pixels, along with the low, distorted hiss it emmited as they ran past particularly large puddles of it. It was as if the corruption itself knew where they were now, covering more and more of the floor to limit where they could go, before eventually consuming the entire floor.

While moving along a particularly long hallway, an abnormally large glob of corruption could be seen at the very end. Nothing particularly stood out about it initially, but as they moved closer to the point where the hallway split towards the left and right, a loud hiss suddenly eminated from it, followed by a bright red glow to one side, and finally a large, distorted arm shooting out. The two stopped in their tracks as what remained of Cherilee slowly but surely made itself known. Her face materialized first after her arm, the left half of it completely drenched in corruption, with only small hints of blood-soaked skin visible in patches. The right side of her face, while not as covered, wasn’t in much better shape. A small bullethole could be made out below her visible eye, which now glowed a bright red from the center.

“YOU Ḏ͝I̖͆DN̢̆'͢͠T T̤̉H̢̋Ȉ͉N̡͝K͇̐ ̺̄YÓ͉U̱͘ ̫͋C͈͒OU͙̾LD̹͘ G̬̉ET ̲̉RÏ̫D͙̅ OF̹̑ ̟͑M̮͑E TH͉͐AT EAS̝̄IL̼̎Y,͓̓ ̹̾Ď͍Ȋ͍D̼̉ Y̡͒OU?” She said, her other arm now shooting out from the surrounding corruption and grabbing the nearby wall, allowing Cherilee to start pulling herself free from it. Her voice was barely recognizable, now much more distorted and deep sounding, reflecting the nearly destroyed condition of her body that was now trying to reach the two survivors.

The two froze in horror in the pitch black of the hallway, turning around to run back only for a long gray arm to shoot out of another puddle on the floor at the opposite end, its hand landing on the floor beside it, the being it belonged to trying to pull itself out of the corruption it was materializing from just like Cherilee.

Without any other options, they ran back in Cherilee’s direction, randonly choosing a direction and running down it before Cherilee could fully emerge. What they didn’t realize, however, was that they both mistakenly ran in opposite directions in their haste, forever separating themselves from the other’s company-

They were now alone.

Author's Note

Probably should have already had this in the fic before posting, but oh well.

As part of this remaster, I've decided to experiment with adding background music as a way of adding another layer of depth to the story, this chapter where Trixie and Bon Bon are trying to escape from Cherilee and Silver Spoon being the first example.

If you appreciate the idea of me adding more background music to future chapters, do let me know in the comments, I could really use the feedback.