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"I'm afraid not." Whispered from the stranger and a loud creak echoes down the hall, the walls shiver and snap, cracks spreading like spider webs over the old wood that supports them. The floor shakes, it is only after a few seconds of silence that Soap realise it's a good thing he did not move at all. Or else the noise would have probably scared away his guest.
Soap let out a nervous chuckle. "This is just another one of your rooms right? This is... really top tier than the other rooms we've escaped."
The cheap white sheet over the stranger's head waves violently along with the gust of wind. Soap shelters behind his crossed arms, the cold sweat on the back of his neck creeps its way down to his collarbone. Once the wind calms down, Soap takes a moment to catch a breath and his arms slowly fall to the floor. The stranger was holding out a hand for him to grab, and so he did.
He was pulled up from the wooden floors and the stranger held him to steady himself. "Thank you, but would you care to explain what is happening?" Soap asks, once he has stopped wobbling on unstable knees. His hands are clammy and his voice is trembling, his palms are sweating even more than before. He feels sick.
It's just another one of your rooms right?
Just another one. Just another one. Just another one.
"Hey, listen to me."
"What?"
"Take deep breaths and calm down, okay? You will get out of here if you follow me. You will be alright and you won't get hurt, you will be out of this horror house in no time if you just follow what I tell you. Are we clear?"
"You... do you want me to trust you?" Uncertainty lingers in Soap's voice, the stranger could only let out a sigh as they let Soap go. Soap can trust this guy, he can trust this guy because they know this place, hell they work here. So why is he hesitating in trusting them? Is this one of the room's tests? This actor could be trying to test his intelligence as part of his role. One where you will question, "will you trust the dead or the living?" Soap's eyes wander around the area, trying to find something, an opening, a room of clues and something that could possibly answer questions, a lore of sorts. This ghost could have a story and Soap was excited to see what he can find, what stories will come out of the surface.
Will this be a real life experience of one of those horror video games? Perhaps. He didn't have much time to look around though, the stranger was talking again. "Look I don't care how scared you might be now but we need to leave, we need to leave soon," they repeated firmly, then turned back to Soap and started to walk away into the dark corridors of the haunted house. "Come on!" For now, Soap will follow.
There isn't any reason not to, right? It would give him some closure if he finds answers there, or maybe he could get some inspiration from what's going on here. Who knows what story is hidden here! Everything is so well made that it felt too real, too out of this world, but also too scary, terrifying that will send a shiver down his spine.
"So, do you have a name?"
"Names are not to be shared out of work, but you can call me Ghost."
"Corny, but whatever." Soap chuckles.
"Says the guy with the nickname Soap. What the hell kinda name is Soap?" Ghost throws back.
"Classified information."
"Aye, sir." Soap could feel the guy's eyes roll on that and he can't help but let out another chuckle as he shakes his head. Seems like that friendly banter calms Soap's nerves a little, it's nice that he'll be able to make conversation with this mysterious character. "I say, you guys have done a great job in this super secret room."
"... Indeed. It has been in the works, the boss has been considering opening this part of the house. See how much more challenging or fun a person could do inside this room." Ghost nods his head as they turn to another corner and find a door at the end. "Fucking hell..." Ghost curses as he picks up the lock then drops it again. He let out a heavy huff and turned to look at Soap. "You are on a mission Soap. See if you can find the key to this door, I will be waiting."
"You're gonna leave me here? Alone?!"
"Gonna miss me?"
"No! It's just that... I..." Soap can't say it. Ghost is doing his job, he can't possibly ask for help from one of the actors, hell asking them to stay because he's scared. Who knows what other job Ghost could be doing if he goes now. Ghost waits while Soap takes some moments to make a decision.
"Nevermind..."
"... Start searching on the rooms on the right, don't stray on the left until then. Good luck." Soap watches as Ghost walks away into the darkness of the hallway. A few minutes pass and Soap is left with nothing. "Shit, I forgot to ask for a new flashlight." As if his prayers were heard, a flashlight rolled to his foot and he quickly picked it up. Not giving a shit of where it came from or who came and dropped it inside for him.
"Okay... Rooms to the right." He pushes a door open making a loud squeaking noise out. Soap puffs his cheeks and lets out a nervous sigh. "This is somehow worse without Alejandro being scared." He turns his flashlight on and looks around the room. This room was messy, the wallpaper was torn with claw-like scars on them, the ceiling fan had been ripped to the floor, a table was flipped, some chairs seem to have been thrown hard on the walls leaving a hole in them. "Hell's fucking bells." Soap curses under his breath and tries not to think too hard about the possibilities for what happened. Soap looks under the broken furniture, see if there's something like a key or some papers of clues. Doubt there would be any key in this place, the previous games are easy but he believes this is the real deal, like a top tier horror house escape, the amount of patience and calm breaths needed to be safe.
There were a couple papers under the table and he used his free hand to reach it, sliding it towards him until it's out of the table. He flashes the papers and frowns, he sighs and stands up. It was just ripped pages about science, something he's not too interested to look into but has to.
Soap continues exploring the room while looking through the pages, looking for anything that seemed out of place. He had hoped he'd find some kind of sign or clue to this game. Anything at all. Something, anything he could use in his quest to escape and figure out what's going on. Just a few roach anatomy and theories about ghosts. It seems that whoever created this place wanted to keep it a secret. Fantastic.
Soap stops when he hears a sound coming from the next room. He listens carefully, trying to hear what it was. There's no voices, just quiet noises and shuffling sounds. It was weird, and unsettling to be honest. He turns the doorknob and slowly pushes the door open. Stupid but he has to go video game logic here.
An eyebrow rose when he sees the room. It was a kid's room, it looked clean enough to pass. It looks like there are toys littering the floor and some books, but that's it. Nothing else on this room. He slowly steps closer to the closet in the corner, it was a small one, no taller than him. The shelves were mostly empty though, except for one that says 'Diary'. "Well, fuck. What a start, a strangely neat kid's room and a very convenient diary."
"Careful, Soap. Try not to taunt him."
"Steaming bloody fucking Jesus!" The voice startled Soap, making him step back from the shelf and take a deep breath, looking around to find where the voice was. "Ghost?"
"Mhmm?"
"Where the bloody hell are you hiding?"
"Shhh. They don't know I'm helping."
"... Okay?"
"Don't ask me questions to get you a pass, just try not to taunt him or else you'd be running down the halls again and stumble to my arms." Soap rolled his eyes and he swore he could hear a cocky chuckle coming from that cheap sheet bastard. "Haha, very funny."
"You'd like that."
Soap can't believe this guy. He carefully picks up the diary and takes a few steps back. He sits down on the bed and opens the diary.
“ It's really been a month since we've arrived. And every night I wake up to the sound of screaming. Sometimes I hear someone crying, others whimpering. And sometimes a scream comes from a monster, a child.”
"... Okay, very nice." Soap can hear a quiet chuckle somewhere and he just knew it belonged to Ghost. He can't help but notice a lot of the pages and words written on them were different colours, some blue and green, some yellow. Some things were scribbled in black and red, and some others were filled with white lines. He could only guess what he meant by that.
“ He said to hide under the floorboards if I have to.”
"Floorboards?" Soap looks around the room to see if there's a wood out of place, like an opening. Soap gently puts down the diary on the bed and looks under the carpet but finds nothing out of the ordinary. Under the shelf? Soap pushes the closet and sees nothing but old drawings made from a child.
"God, what kind of sick lore you guys have built? This seems way more than just a creepy horror house escape."
"Mhmm... We thought of that."
"I'm giving feedback right now, this is quite a bit much."
"Just say you have given up and I'll find a way to get you out without getting caught."
"Are we being recorded?"
"All rooms in the house have hidden cameras. I'm sure you're smart enough to guess why we needed those."
"Heh. You've read my mind, but I'm not giving up now."
"Suit yourself."
Soap walks to the next room and sees another bedroom. Seems like an interesting teenager lived here before. Before he searches for any items in the room, he flashes on the floor and sees if he could find a trapdoor. After a few minutes of searching, he gets up when he finds nothing. He didn't even notice the looming figure just standing by the door as he opened another closet door.
"Hey, Ghost?"
"Yeah?"
"How long have you worked here?"
"Asking questions, are you scared, Soap?"
"No. Yes- no- I mean unsettled I guess. Alejandro and Rodolfo kept a conversation while we were together, but now it's just too quiet and I can't seem to focus." Soap sighs as he closes the closet door when, again, he finds nothing of importance. "I've been working for a while since... 2016 I think."
"That's a long time."
"I forgot time actually."
"Well, you sound like a guy who'd forget the new year has ended 25 days ago." Soap smirks as he moves on to the next room.
"Watch your head."
"What- WHAT THE FUCK?!" Soap falls to the floor as the skull mask falls from the ceiling, screaming banshee at him before its voice box glitch and dies. Soap complains in scottish that Ghost can count as gibberish. "English, MacTavish."
"Go fuck yourself."
"Rude."
"Found it." Soap announces as he lifts up the wooden plank, revealing a pit that could fit maybe two small children but only one grown man. Soap brushes off the thought of a scared little kid hiding here. Soap picks up the key on the ground and quietly puts the wood plank back on.
"Oh, a key. That's impressive."
"Thank you." Soap walks with confidence down the hall back to the locked exit. He lifts up the key and tries it on in the lock, it fits but it wasn't perfect. "Shit. It's not the key."
"You've searched well through in the right rooms, have a look at the left now then?" Soap nods, walking back down in the hall and realizing that there were no doors on the left side. "Wait... Ghost, there's no doors."
"... Oh, right. Hold on." Soap can hear a muffled shuffle and then silence. The ground shakes and Soap steps back, holding on to something as the wood rumbles and the whole building shakes, the hall splits in half. Soap gasps and holds on to the door with a tight grasp as he waits for the world to stop shaking. Once the shaking stops, Soap can hear a quiet static and a voice, "I'm sorry for that."
"Do what needs to be done but holy shit! You guys are doing a lot of work!"
"Save your feedback for later review, Soap."
Soap chuckles as he finally sees a hidden opening, probably broken from the rumble. Soap could have probably broken that wall with something but he might damage property because he wasn't supposed to be breaking anything. Soap huffs as he jumps over the chasm.
He carefully walks to the open wall and slips in through. "What?" There was a small bed, probably could fit in two people, right on the corner of the room, the window was open slightly, letting a ray of light through. Soap walked to the bed when he noticed something shining. "Dog tags?" Soap picks up the dog tags and examines them. "Sanderson, Riley." He mumbles as he flips both tags for any more clues but none were there. He puts the dog tags back on the bed and gets on his knees to see if there's anything under the bed.
He saw nothing. He gets up and looks at the window, he tilts his head to take a peek at the outside but doesn't see any of the other tents. He opens the window and is met with a dark forest and a pair of tombstones. One grave full of flowers and the other is an empty hollow. Soap can see some scratch marks on the dirt, as if the person was clawing their way out of the grave. He shudders at the thought of a dead person crawling out their grave and possibly looking for revenge. "Bring the dog tags to their graves."
"You want me to what now?!"
"Quiet." Soap sucked in his breath when he heard footsteps and a child laughing outside the room. "I told you to do what I tell you to do. Just hurry up and put the dog tags on the graves."
Soap grabs the dog tags and jumps out the window. He slowly walked towards the two graves and saw that there were no names on their stones. "Fuck. Ghost, there's no names on their stones, what if I get it wrong?"
"... Time to do another search, MacTavish." Soap groans as he pockets the dog tags and goes back to the window, before he gets to jump back inside, he sees another open window just at the edge of the building. The problem is there is someone standing there, blocking the window as if to not let anyone inside, and Soap does not really want to mess with that unknown person. He quickly gets back inside and closes the window. He'll be back once he finds more clues.
"Fuck, I gotta check back on the kid's room." Soap said to himself as he slipped out the broken wall again, jumping over the chasm and almost missing a foot. "Watch your step."
"Gee, thanks."
"Going back to the kid's room, huh?"
"Yeah. I need to find something in their diary."
When Soap looks to where he left the diary, the object was replaced with a more worn out leather notebook. "Dammit." Soap might have regretted not getting to fully process the previous words but whatever is in this leatherbook right now might be important too. He picks up the leather book and opens to a random page, immediately landing on a drawn picture of a person with someone's signature at the corner 'Sanderson'. He flips to another page and finally sees some notes.
“ Simon likes dogs!”
“I got Simon a balaclava and now he won't take it off!”
Soap flips to another and sees some mini comic strips of a chibi skull masked character and another chibi wearing a military headgear character.
“People call me Roach-” with a drawn picture of a cockroach.
What is Soap even doing looking through someone's life, the previous diary was already creepy and sort of... sad. He doesn't even know how to feel with this one.
“Simon and Gary, off to protect the world!” was the end of it. Soap catches something that fell off through the pages and picks it up. It was a picture of two people, one wearing a skull balaclava and one wearing the headgear like what was drawn in the comic strip. "... The key is on the second window where you saw something... Just get out of here quick." Startled Soap.
"Hey, uh."
"Don't ask questions. It will... I... it will ruin the lore. Coast is clear, be quick before it comes back." Soap shuts his mouth, sensing the atmosphere between them to be strange, a taste of melancholy and alcohol. He goes back to the bedroom and climbs out the window. Sure enough, the mysterious being was nowhere and Soap had to hurry down and get inside the room. This one felt too lonely, too hollow and heavy.
Soap doesn't know why but he has to find the key now before whoever was out there will come back and possibly hunt him down. So he searches the room, looking around every surface and checking every nook and cranny. He checks behind paintings, the bed, and even the floor. He sighs as he can't find anything, feeling ready to give up until he looks up when he is catching his breath. His flashlight shines on a hanging key on the ceiling fan. "Gaddamit."
He was too short, he tried to jump and grab it but missed by the tip of his finger. "Fuck." Soap pulls the desk and climbs on top of it and grabs the key. "Fucking ceiling fans." He drops down and examines the key. It looks normal, just an ordinary key. "Thanks, Ghost."
"No problem." Soap quickly gets out the room and back to the next window. His eyes catch on someone standing on the empty grave and Soap's eyebrows furrowed and he has to blink to see if he's not imagining it. The guy looks transparent and appears human but still he sees him. "Soap?" They quickly disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Hold on." Soap whispers as he walks to the empty grave, picking out the dog tags and looking at the names. Soap thinks back to the note where Gary was called Roach and Simon... Simon could have possibly been the one buried while Gary lives up to his name. "Rest in peace." He mumbles, they weren't real but he felt like he needed to as he put the dog tag of Sanderson on the empty grave's stone while he puts Riley's dog tag on the other.
Soap leaves the graves and runs back inside the building, he jumps over the chasm again and down to the hallway where the door is waiting to be opened. Soap puts the key inside and unlocks it.
"Hey, Soap?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you... For playing. Do leave a good review on our game." Soap chuckles and opens the door wide. "Yeah! I will. I promise. See ya Ghost."
"Say Hi to Roach for me. Goodbye Johnny."
"Wait what?" The door shut behind Soap before he could ask further what that meant. "Soap!" Air was knocked out of his lungs when Alejandro tackled him to the ground. "Woah! Alejandro, what's wrong?!"
"Oh, thank god you're okay!"
"What happened? Where did you go?" Rodolfo asks as he helps them both up.
"I was in another escape room, where were you two?"
"The whole town had a blackout so we had to end the game early! You were gone for an hour and we couldn't even contact you!" Alejandro explains as he shakes Soap's shoulders.
"Wait, Soap, what do you mean you were in another escape room?"
"Oh yeah, when this girl chased me down the hall, I went up the stairs and was immediately locked inside. So I played this very creepy and unsettling horror room, not a lot of jumpscares or any chase. I just had a little fun exploring around and looking for clues. One of the actors actually gave me some company so that I would relax, I got out without a scratch."
"Hermano... There's no second floor." Rodolfo pointed out with hesitation.
"... what?"
Soap turns his attention back to Rodolfo and looks at him confused as well as Alejandro. "What do you mean?"
"It means that there is no second floor. No stairs." Soap widens his eyes and his breathing seems to stop as his brain tries to make sense of this situation, it just couldn't be true. "You probably just got super lost and thought there were stairs from the adrenaline. Come on, let's go home."
"Yeah... Yeah. Sure." Soap glances behind him to see the same cheap sheet over the head of the guy. Soap can feel the guy smiling at him as they wave him a good-bye, before disappearing back through the exit door.
There was no way that Soap went through another dimension, no one would believe he was even in another world. He'll just have to keep quiet and hopefully... Hopefully whoever died could have their peace.
"... How did he know my name?"
"Hey, where'd you get that dog tag?"
"What?"
====
"You're wheels-up in five."
"Roger."
"Marines are loading in now. You and the Sergeant are leading the way on this."
"The Sergeant?"
"Roach Sanderson."
"Let's get ourselves a win, yeah captain?!" A bit of an optimistic man jumps out the truck. "I'll save ya seat sir!" Roach does a little salute as he follows his team to the plane. Soap was frozen on his boots. He heard that name before, no, no, he knows that name. "Ah, fucking hell."
"Any issues?"
"Negative. Out here!" He'll have to deal with that after this mission.