Nobody is stupid enough to venture into unknown territories, except for Ilya. Don't get him wrong! He never meant to enter that mysterious village.
Fate led him there to save, or be saved.
"Peekaboo!"
Beast is a cruel creature that used to be human...
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A moment has passed like a decade to Ilya. Waiting for his gruesome death was worse than any pain he had ever experienced. Ilya waited for these dirty claws to carve his chest, to pull his beating heart in front of him, but Beast slowly backed away.
Ilya's shuddered breathing relaxed a bit when the claws moved away from his skin, scratching it slightly. He heard the shuffling of Beast's giant feet across the bloodied floor. Then he flinched when a crack of bones plagued his ears.
"What a shame," Beast said. "I hate wasting food, but I wasn't that hungry."
Ilya slowly opened one eye, fearfully peeking at what was Beast doing.
Beast had just crushed the dead girl's arm under his weight. Then he ripped her hand and held it up to have a good look at it. Skin and bones dangled from the meaty parts, but no blood dripped. The girl lost it all while fighting for her life.
"Damn it." Beast scowled. "Look at this. It's already started to rott."
Ilya's eyes snapped open then he quickly lowered his gaze. His body was shaking, filled with fear and disgust, fighting the urge to throw up.
Ilya clutched his heart. It hurt like hell. The more he tried to hide his fear and hold back his tears the more painful it got.
Ilya breathed in gasps, pulling his knees to his chest, then wrapping his arms around them. Staring down at the pool of blood, his eyes grew wide. Ilya realized that all the fresh red paint he came across in the hallways was actually blood from Beast's unlucky lunch.
That girl had been running around these halls with a missing arm. Her bleeding shoulder was sliding along the walls and staining them with her own blood. Her leg might have been severed right before her death, which explains why she decided to hide here. She suffered so much in the last hours of her life.
And Ilya was going to be next.
He would suffer for a long time before his unavoidable painful death.
"Lucky for you." Beast faced Ilya. "I'm not that hungry, yet."
Ilya blinked away the tears that blurred his vision, then looked at Beast. He wanted to punch that smile off his face.
Beast kneeled and stared at those green eyes, watching them change. They once held fear and panic, but now were full of hate. Beast chuckled. It has been a long time since he had this much fun with a human. He wanted the chase to last longer.
"Run."
Ilya quickly lowered his gaze. He had a feeling that Beast would transform into a werewolf in front of him like the last time he asked him to run. Ilya learned Beast's scare tactics. After all this time feeling scared and unfocused, Ilya finally had enough courage to gather his thoughts, to see a pattern.
"I said," Beast growled through tight teeth. "Run."
"No."
Ilya couldn't believe he said that, but he came to a conclusion; Beast had four chances to eat him, yet he didn't. Beast found him when he first entered this building, he found him in the Atwood twins' hospital room, he found him near the exit door, and now he found him in the nurses' station. Every time he found him, he gave him a chance to run.
Beast was playing a sick game, like a cat playing with a mouse before ending its life.
"What did you just say?" Beast snapped.
Ilya flinched at how deep and scary Beast's voice had become. He knew better than to look at him right now because Beast's voice was becoming less human every time he talked.
Ilya gathered every ounce of courage he had left and said, "What's the point?"
His voice was trembling. A whimper accidentally came out of his mouth—a heartbreaking sound similar to a puppy's whine, high-pitched and filled with pain.
"There's no way out." A tear escaped but Ilya was quick to wipe it away. "And you're gonna eat me anyway. Just do it already."
There was silence for a minute. Only the boy's uneven short breaths were heard. Then Beast crossed his legs and sat closer to Ilya, face to face.
Ilya drew his legs tighter to his chest. He hid his face behind his knees and waited for a claw to shred him to death.
"What if I told you there is a way out?"
With that surprising statement, the boy snapped his head up and looked at Beast. Ilya's green eyes glistened with hope once again.
Thankfully, Beast was still in his human form. That sick smirk never left his lips. He leaned closer to Ilya's face as if he was about to spill some secrets. A glint of joy sparked in his yellow eyes.
"If you can find it," Beast said, then paused for a teasing moment as his smile got bigger. "I'll let you go."
"Are you for real?" Ilya said with big hopeful eyes.
"As God is my witness," Beast raised his hand and said with a solemn voice, "I swear."
Before Ilya had the chance to be happy, before the smile ever fully reached his lips, Beast snorted.
"Pfft." Beast suppressed a laugh and sighed, "I'm sorry." He inhaled, holding his tears of laughter, and said, "I swear on my Mother's grav—" Beast burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha. I can't do this!"
Ilya shuffled away from the weird man and cleared his throat.
"What are you laughing about?"
Beast held his stomach and rolled on the floor, laughing.
"I just can't! You should see the look on your face!"
Ilya clutched at anything around him, trying to get further away from the giant laughing man. Ilya didn't know what was funny. Was Beast lying about the exit? Was the way out escapable or not? Was his hopeful miserable face really that funny?
It was cruel. Beast was a cruel cruel man.
"Just run," Beast said while laughing. "Run while you can, kid. Hahahaha..."
On cue, Ilya couldn't wait to get out of here. He got out from under the desk and started running. He slipped on the blood, at first, causing the beast to laugh harder until he was practically begging to breathe.
Ilya ignored him and ran far away from that dreadful place until he no longer heard Beast's creepy laugh.
Back in the hallways, Ilya felt like a mouse in a labyrinth. Every path looked the same. He couldn't tell if he had been through here before or not.
If only he had a map of this hospital or damn luck on his side. Otherwise, he's already dead.
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Well... that wasn't pessimist at all 😅
Say something to the big bad BEAST here >>
And come on, Ilya! Think positive. Who knows? Maybe you'll finally get lucky 😢
