Anomaly Catching Anomaly

“Hi, hiiiyaaa?!”

A bird-like scream fills the room.

The pale face that appears before Eleanor.

That face seems to savor the current situation as it quietly watches the expression of her screaming face.

Slowly, and lethargically, it begins to draw closer to her.

With no way to escape, she just stands there, watching in silence—

THWAAAM!

In an instant, a blinding flash bursts before her eyes.

At the same time, she feels someone grip the back of her neck forcefully.

“Run!”

A frantic male voice echoes.

With a BANG, the door to the room swings open violently.

Three silhouettes rush out in a hurry.

And behind them, the pale head begins to follow.

“What the heck?! How did it find out?! Didn’t it not know our exact location?!”

“How the hell should I know?! It must have some damn super-sensitivity! For now, just shut up and run!”

As they dash down the hallway, Eleanor screams in a half-cry voice.

She couldn’t figure out how they had been discovered.

However, the other two didn’t know the exact reason either.

And even if they did, it wasn’t the time to leisurely explain it.

Hee-hee, ha-ha-ha-ha—!

From behind them, the transformed voice echoes.

It was no longer crying.

It was now laughing loudly, as if enjoying the situation.

“Ugh… I can’t hear it, can’t hear it, can’t hear itcan’thearitcan’thearit…!”

“Hey! Don’t block your ears! You should be able to hear what we’re saying!”

“But! It’s so creepy I can’t stand it!”

“Do you think I’m doing this because I find it pleasant?!”

Seeing Eleanor try to cover her ears, Cooper shouts in protest.

The sounds of yelling, laughter, and hurried footsteps messily echo down the corridor.

In the midst of this chaotic scene, Elijah’s voice suddenly rings out from behind.

“Everyone, duck!”

CRACKLE!

“Whoaaah?!”

Something large barely grazes Cooper’s shoulder.

What had missed continues flying forward, crashing directly into the wall with a loud BANG.

“What was that?! What just flew by?!”

“It’s a door! Objects from around us are flying at us!”

“What kind of poltergeist phenomenon is this?! For real, it looks like it was designed to freak us out!”

When he turns around, he sees several objects floating next to the pale face.

A torn door, a desk, windowsills—objects that seem to have been randomly picked up from the vicinity.

They had approached so quickly earlier, but now he wondered why they weren’t able to catch up with them.

And why they weren’t directly attacking.

Though suspicions began to rise, he had no time to think deeply about it now.

“Everyone, stick closely behind the person in front of you! We need to minimize the area we can be hit from!”

Elijah’s urgent voice reaches them from behind.

Immediately, another gunshot echoes down the dark hallway, just like before.

The objects that had been broken apart scatter chaotically due to the shotgun blast.

However, not everything was perfectly shot down.

Some fragments hit Elijah, who was at the very back.

“—Kuh!”

“Are you okay?! That sounded huge!”

Hearing the painful groan, Eleanor asked in surprise.

The sound of impact she had just heard couldn’t just be brushed off as fine.

“…It’s fine for running! If I keep it this small—”

His voice came out strained through gritted teeth.

But he was okay. He could endure this much.

All that remained was to keep repeating what they had just done until they reached the emergency exit.

He thought this, intending to check for another incoming object flying toward them by looking back again, only to find—

“—Crap.”

Next to the pale face were sharp fragments, all shattered and jagged.

He had no choice but to mutter those words.

SWIISH!

With a sharp sound slicing through the air, several fragments begin to fly toward them.

Most of them aimed for the back of the man running behind.

In such a short time, where there was no chance to give even a warning—

Elijah clenched his teeth, preparing to endure the pain that was about to come—

TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

With gunshots ringing from ahead.

He witnesses all the incoming fragments that had been flying towards him scattered in an instant.

“Keep running! I’ll cover you!”

Looking ahead, he could see Eleanor, now running while aiming her gun.

The gunshots had obviously come from her.

“…Did she hit them all? Just like that?!”

“I-I’m kind of good at shooting, you know!”

Elijah said.

Hitting that many small targets all at once is definitely not an easy feat.

Especially while sprinting with everything you have.

It was a feat beyond mere talent, almost miraculous.

It was no surprise that pure admiration slipped out of his mouth.

“Could you two save the chit-chat for later?! I don’t think this is the right time!”

While the two were chatting for a moment, Cooper shouted at them and pointed his index finger somewhere.

In front of them lay a fork in the path.

“A fork in the road…!”

Eleanor’s mind began to recall that complicated guide map she had seen earlier.

But the details were so hazy; she hardly remembered anything accurately.

“What about the notes you took earlier?!”

“I dropped them while running!”

“What?! Then what do we do now?!”

She had hoped for some insight from Cooper, who had been sketching the map before, but the only response returned was more bad news.

In this desperate situation, while she was wondering if they would have to entrust their lives to luck, suddenly…

“Don’t worry! I’ve remembered a rough outline!”

From his head, gripping it tightly, came an optimistic yet hard-to-believe statement.

“Are you sure?! If you get it wrong, we’ll be cornered!”

It sounded absurd.

After all, memorizing such a complicated map was no simple task.

Especially considering the short time they had to look at it and how challenging it would be to navigate a multitude of future forks.

“Whether I’m sure or not, there’s no other choice right now! Just trust me and run!”

However, the current situation forced them to believe him.

Though Eleanor had a doubtful expression, she had a job to do now.

To intercept the shards flying towards them, she turned her gun back around.

“Right!”

In the dark hallway, the sharp sounds of gunfire and hurried footsteps echo.

“Hah… hah…!”

Eleanor gasps, her breath haggard.

How much time had passed?

Ten minutes? An hour? Maybe the whole day?

She felt as if she had been sprinting down this corridor for her entire life, yet—

Unfortunately, the destination still seemed far from view.

“Uh, how much longer do we have to run?!”

“I know this isn’t the time to rest!”

“That’s not it, I’m running low on ammo…!”

She shouted, pointing at her empty magazine.

Sure, she had dropped many fragments so far, but that was only when there were still bullets left.

No matter how accurately she hit her target, bullets would eventually run out.

The moment the last one left the barrel—

There would be pretty much no way to stop those sharp shards flying toward them.

Praying that the destination was close, she had no choice but to carefully squeeze the trigger as best as she could.

“I’m in the same boat! I’m almost out too! If we keep this up, we’ll get caught!”

Elijah was also in the same situation, with ammo running low.

The objects coming at them were not just small and sharp.

To deal with those kinds of things, it was best to use the firearm he was holding.

If either of them ran out of bullets first, they would be facing a very dangerous situation.

“How much is left?!”

“Two magazines left!”

“I only have one left!”

Hearing from their remaining ammo count, Cooper quietly mumbled something.

He muttered a series of seemingly random numbers a few times.

Not long after, he turned back around.

“Alright! That’s enough, keep running!”

The fork in the path appeared before them again.

Cooper shouted directions, and they dashed through the hallway while intercepting the incoming objects.

They repeated these same actions several times.

At last, a door that felt somehow familiar began to come into view ahead.

“Door! It’s a door! We’re almost there!”

Eleanor yelled with joy.

Even if they made it outside, they couldn’t be sure they would completely escape whatever was chasing them.

But at least it was far better than wandering endlessly through this maze-like hallway.

“Is that enough to make it there?!”

“Yes! Definitely enough!”

“Great! Just make sure to conserve as much as you can—”

After asking them about the remaining bullets, Cooper turned to check the weapons flying towards them.

Various dangerous objects still charged at them with threatening sounds.

‘…Wait.’

However, Cooper felt a strange unease creeping up on him.

The flying objects hadn’t changed a bit, but—

The pale face, which should have been the source of the attacks, had vanished.

Nowhere to be seen, leaving no trace behind.