Anomaly Catching Anomaly

“Close it!”

Right after the urgent voice echoed,

BANG, the door slammed shut.

To prevent it from opening, three figures began to barricade it with their bodies.

*i>――――BANG, THUD! BOOM! CRASH!

Suddenly, a fierce shock and sound engulfed them.

Even though it came from beyond the door, it was strong enough to make their entire bodies ache.

If they had hesitated for even a moment,

That brutal mass of rain would have surely taken their lives in an instant.

“Ugh…!”

A small groan escaped Eleanor’s lips.

It felt like someone was mercilessly battering her body, but still,

She couldn’t move away from the door.

If she collapsed and the door opened…

She vaguely understood that a pain far beyond what she was feeling now would come.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

Something kept banging on the door.

However, that sound, which seemed it would go on forever, gradually faded away.

After a point, only the occasional impact of small fragments could be felt, before it eventually stopped completely.

“―――――”

Even though the vibrations and shocks had ceased, they still blocked the door.

Perhaps, they still couldn’t let their guard down.

Minutes passed since the last sound of something hitting the door was heard,

Yet, they showed no signs of moving away, just sweating profusely.

“Is, is it over…?”

When someone finally whispered that cautiously, they seemed to think the long chase had ended.

In a state that looked almost exhausted, one by one, they collapsed on the floor.

“WHEW…”

Eleanor plopped down on the floor, landing on her butt.

After running in a tense state for a long time, her legs were nearly at their limit.

Now that the tension was gone, her exhausted body was fervently craving rest.

“Damn it, I really thought I was going to die…”

Cooper also fell to the floor, grumbling as usual.

Panting, he lay sprawled out, while Elijah slid down the wall with his back against the door, breathing heavily.

“Surely, it won’t chase us anymore…?”

“I don’t know. Whether that damned face comes after us or not, I don’t have the strength to move anymore.”

Eleanor looked around with an anxious expression.

They were inside the emergency exit.

All that was visible were stairs leading up or down and a lifeless light bulb.

She was worried that pale face might suddenly appear from somewhere again,

But Cooper, having no strength left, just panted harshly, leaving things to fate.

“How did you know?”

After some time had passed, and their heavy breathing started to settle down,

Suddenly, Elijah began to ask Cooper something.

“What do you mean?”

“That face. How could you be sure it wouldn’t pose any danger to us?”

Recalling the time just before entering this door,

The figure of the pale face that had appeared, chasing after them.

However, they couldn’t turn their backs to the only escape route, nor could they charge toward that face.

With no options left, they were on the verge of being crushed by the objects flying toward them,

It was Cooper’s confident voice that allowed them to survive.

At that moment, there was no other choice than to trust him,

But now, looking back, they wondered how he could know it wouldn’t harm them.

They simply felt an insatiable curiosity.

“It’s nothing special. I just thought something seemed off.”

“Off how?”

“Think about it. Earlier, when it found us, how fast it was closing in.”

Eleanor shuddered at Cooper’s words.

She remembered the instant that face had appeared right in front of her.

Its grotesque appearance, with skin, eyes, and a nose seemingly stitched together from different people,

Honestly, it was the last type of face she’d want to recall.

“In fact, if it was that fast, we should have been caught way earlier. But oddly enough, it just followed us.”

While they were jotting down the emergency exit map, it had suddenly started approaching them.

There was no time to think about anything else; it happened in an instant.

The sound of its wailing had reached them before they knew it, in just a few seconds.

If it had truly come after them at that nonsensical speed,

They wouldn’t have been able to escape, let alone exit the door.

“Besides, the attack only involved throwing objects, and the bullets felt like they just passed through rather than hit us…”

Yet, it didn’t catch them.

Or rather, it’s more accurate to say it couldn’t catch them.

When it came into the room and discovered them hiding under the desk, even when they fled down the hallway,

It always had the chance to grasp them, yet it only ever chased dangerously close behind.

Even during the chase in the hallway, it never closed the distance.

“Most importantly, it could have easily passed us, but instead, it waited right by the door. That’s when it struck me; that face might just be for distraction.”

That’s when he realized, perhaps that face itself had no physical power at all.

While there was lethal intent behind the objects flying at them,

Waiting by the door was undeniably strange.

So, he decided to rush through that face,

And now, everyone was alive because of it.

“Impressive… I was just too busy running to think of anything.”

Eleanor muttered, marveling at him.

Not just the sharp decision in such a short span of time, but what she found more remarkable was his unwavering resolve.

In a situation where the lives of her and the two others were at stake, there was hardly any time to make a choice.

In a dire situation, anyone would inevitably doubt their own decisions.

Yet, he assessed everything within that short timeframe and executed his choice without hesitation.

To her, who tended to waver, that level of decisiveness was nothing short of envy.

“Enough. To be honest, it was at least half a gamble.”

“A gamble…?”

“Yeah. Perhaps it was waiting at the door for some special condition or just playing with us until the end.”

But even he hadn’t led them out based solely on conviction.

As always, the abnormal phenomena were utterly unpredictable beings.

Because of their unpredictable behaviors, many had already fallen into situations beyond their control.

There was no guarantee that pale face wouldn’t do the same.

“If that were the case, I would’ve become a fool who dragged you along to my death. So there’s no need to thank me.”

Therefore, he thought it unnecessary to be thanked.

It was merely luck this time.

If a similar situation occurred, the outcome could have easily been different.

In reality, he felt he had just tricked them.

“…”

Eleanor and Elijah’s gazes turned to Cooper.

Well, it wasn’t particularly pleasant to hear.

After they’d entrusted their faith, he admitted his choice was made without much certainty.

They probably had no choice but to accept that bitter truth, Cooper thought.

After all, hearing blame for what he did on his own was something he was used to.

“It doesn’t matter. The fact is, thanks to your decision, we survived.”

“Y-You’re right! If it weren’t for you, we’d have been dead right there…”

However, the words that came out of their mouths were entirely different from what he anticipated.

Perhaps because of their unexpected response,

He wore a vaguely perplexed expression, quietly gazing at the two of them.

“…Well, we survived, so that’s enough for now.”

And with that, he once again lay back down on the floor.

He decided to enjoy this brief moment of peace just a little longer.

—

Not long after that,

“…I think we’ve got a problem.”

They realized that they had fallen into quite a predicament.