Penn's Story~Another Chapter

The light filtered through the curtains and hit my face. I had been up late last night planning a mission with my friends. I was annoyed by the persistence of the sun, if only I could just stay in bed all day and do nothing...

Today's the day.

Oh! That's right! Today's the big day my comrades and I had been planning for months. I grabbed my Apple Iphone™ and looked at the time. I'm not too terribly late, so I guess this morning I'll take it easy. I pocketed my Apple Iphone™ and went downstairs for breakfast. I poured myself a bowl of sugary cereal. Jeez, what am I, a kid? It can't be helped that I like Captain Crush™... I turned on the Television lazily. I heard the lady doing the forecast make a bad joke about Valentine's day.

Oh yeah. Today is also that day.



I don't need her anyway. All she was was a leech to me. My money, my spirit, everything she just took and took and never gave. I was still feeling a little bitter about the breakup I had with my girlfriend just last week. It was a pretty nasty fight, but now that I look at it, I'm glad she left. It can't be helped. I sighed as I went to go shave, take a shower, and get my clothes on and mentally prepare myself. It's not the day to be gloomy. After all, today I'm going to make hella dosh. I was pumped. Not only was it a day to hang out with my friends, but there was quite a bit of money to be made in my line of work.

I set off for the warehouse, where no doubt my companions would already be waiting. I hadn't exactly woken up in the best of moods, but the drivers weren't helping one bit. "Hey Jackass! Keep in your own lane." "You've gotta be kidding me! You have ONE PERSON in your car, get out of the carpool lane!" "Hey fuck you bitch, you have plenty of room, you don't need to slow down everybody else because you're a pussy!" My throat was starting to hurt from all I had to yell at them. Nobody was listening, but it felt good to get out my frustrations sometimes. I pulled off the freeway and onto a smaller road. Well at least the scenery isn't too bad. It's actually kind of relaxing. I was placated by the beauty of nature.

I arrived around the meeting time, and was surprised to find out my fourth and final friend wasn't there. My first, second, and third friends were there, however. It turned out they all came in the same car. We decided to have a conversation to pass the time. "Man the job market has been pretty tough lately, hasn't it?" My friends all nodded understandingly, and sometimes threw out examples of people who've gotten laid off, or how even people with degrees are finding it harder to get a job. Who needs a job, anyway, when you have this kind of cash just sitting here WAITING to be plundered? I was thinking to myself when all of a sudden my first friend started talking "Speaking of education, my little girl is turning nine years old in three days. I'm hoping to make enough money to get her a nice present, and hopefully if I make enough here I can start a college fund for her." He pulled out a picture of her from his wallet, and the rest of us looked at it. She looked like I sweet little girl, I've met her before when I was over at First's house. She's well behaved, pretty, and sociable. To be honest, I was quite envious, however, kids aren't really my strong point any way. "Well, if we're talking about ourselves I guess I have a bit to share. I recently enrolled in a dojo for martial arts. Pretty badass huh? This way I can have fun, but also get strong enough to protect myself and those I love." Second was boasting, looking confident as ever. The guy was always fooling around, but if you asked me, I liked him. He means well. "Well, I'm hoping to go back to school to get a degree. After all, even if there's no guarantee in this job market, I want to at least increase my chances.", Third stated. What an earnest guy. I'm actually kind of impressed. I then told everybody about the breakup I had with my girlfriend, and they all gave me knowing looks. I guess we weren't the best couple even when we were together, we would fight on a regular basis.

Thankfully my fourth friend broke the awkward atmosphere by pulling up in his Toyota™ truck. I was about to get on him for being late but I was met by a smug grin as he exited his vehicle. "What's with the shit-eating grin, fourth?" I asked, curious as to why he seemed so satisfied. He pointed out what was in the back of the truck. He had brought tools for dismantling things within the warehouse and blueprints of the warehouse he'd retrieved from public records. Third stared at it with awe. "Wow, as expected fourth! You really are saving us a lot of time with this stuff." I had to agree with that. Any anger I had for him being late was completely gone. It was only around noon, but it was already hot and we'd been waiting for a good while, so we all took waters from the cooler Third brought, and decided to get started.

The warehouse was piled high with junk, which formed natural rows- creating an almost maze-like atmosphere. Even with the blueprints, we had no way of telling where anything valuable might be placed, and so we decided to set off in different directions, with a promise to meet back later, if we found something that looked valuable. In we all went. Wow this place sure is dark. At least I can see which way to go, but I can't read the blueprint. Luckily, we had all brought flashlights. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm a professional at keeping hold of and using my flashlight. As I moved along I marked the blueprint with a dotted line, in order to determine later the shape of the warehouse. The boxes piled up created 'rooms' and 'hallways' that weren't on the original blueprint. I walked in the direction I had the first time I went to this warehouse, when I discovered it.

It's colder.

That's strange. Why would the temperature decrease? Come to think of it... I've been walking for quite a while, was the warehouse always this big? I was starting to freak myself out with such thoughts. Well, the blueprint is old, so it's not surprising if the scale is off. Or, the clutter has made me walk in a circle. I had come to a solution. I was about to keep going when...

I hear a loud scraping noise.

My heart was beginning to race. Calm down! There are four other people in here, one of them must have made that sound. I decided to check. "Oi, is that sound one of you guys?", I cupped my hands together and shouted. I got a swift reply from one of my friends. Thank goodness. Wait, why am I freaked out in the first place? This warehouse is abandoned! I finally reached the end of the path. I found it strange that I didn't see everything I did on my first visit, and the path was longer than my first visit, but it must be due to a wrong turn I took. Oh well, nobody is perfect. I cheerily made my way back to the entrance to report my findings to the rest of my friends.

I was blinded by the same sun that annoyed me earlier that morning when I exited the warehouse. My friends were all sitting around the cars, sipping on sodas and talking. I waved and greeted them, shortly before walking over and joining them. As everybody was laughing and talking about how much money we can make off of salvaging the things we've found so far, I noticed my fourth friend silently brooding. I asked him what was wrong. Apparently he had found something bad. An old library in the warehouse. While it's certainly out of place I didn't see how it was necessarily bad. He elaborated, stating that he found many old, rare books inside, that could be worth billions of dollars if the place is real. Everybody stood by in shock. We had discovered something astounding. We all followed him hastily into the warehouse, but my fourth friend apparently couldn't locate where the books were. We went back to the entrance a little disheartened. How am I even sure he's telling the truth? I was a little more than skeptical. However, if the story was true, I'd be set for life, so I went along with the plan to split up and look for the books.

I looked for a long time. I mapped as I went so I wouldn't get lost or go the same way twice. I never did find the books, though. What a lying bastard. I bet he found something else of value and wanted to distract us so he could get it out of here without anybody noticing. I was frustrated. My feet hurt. I wanted to go home. It was Valentine's Day and I was a little heartbroken. Not only have I not found anything of immense value like I had hoped, but my mission also wasn't going as planned. I couldn't find the entrance. I reach into my pocket to grab my Apple Iphone™, but it's not there. FUCK did I drop it? Or did I leave it at home... anyway this is bullshit! I was at my limit. In my frustration I crumpled the map. I took a deep breath, uncrumpled the map, and then began to walk back. The first person I see was my first friend. He was standing there looking confused, so I asked him what was up. "No matter how I look at it, the map is wrong. I keep following it but I always end up back here." He proclaimed, as he furrowed his brow. "Give me that. I'll show you how to read a map like a pro." I lead him around, but came to the same conclusion he did. "This map is bullshit". We discussed our findings and neither of us had found the library. Perhaps third or fourth had. We were walking along, shouting for our friends.

I hear a scraping noise from behind me.

I jumped slightly, and asked my friend if he had heard the sound. He hadn't, so I decided it was just my imagination, combined with the atmosphere of the warehouse.

[Scraping Intensifies]



This time, my friend could hear it too. We were scared shitless. I dropped my flashlight and it shattered on the ground. Fuck why does this always happen? I was scared. My friend and I soon ran into my second friend though, which put my heart to ease. I can always count on those two to have my back. I told him of the current situation. My second friend looked perplexed. "You say you were with first but... where is he?" I turned around. Just as second implied, first was gone. My heart was beating harder than a NASCAR™ driver beats their child after failing at turning left. We broke into a sprint, back the way I had come.

All of a sudden, things started to get even stranger.

The rooms were changing. The hallways were shifting. It seemed as though it got darker, but the windows weren't entirely shut off. There were bars covering the windows, and some of the hallways and rooms. Bars... on the ceiling as well?

I didn't have any time to think about it any further. We reached a room that wasn't there originally. What I saw inside was horrifying. The body of my first friend, with a machete sticking out of his abdomen. He was still alive, fortunately. I rushed over to him, and talked to him as he was dying. "My little girl... adopt her. Make sure she lives a happy life. She'll forget about me some day... I hope you do the same." This was too sad. I couldn't bear to listen, but I had an obligation- after all he was my best friend. I gritted my teeth and accepted his condition. "I'll find who did this to you, and I'll make sure they pay." I whispered, clutching his hand tightly. I waited as the last light in his eyes faded away, and then got up. I took the machete out of his stomach. I should at least be able to protect myself with this. I turned around and noticed second, who was freaking out. I came up to him and told him we should get going. He agreed, but he had broken his flashlight earlier, so getting around was a bit more difficult.

I'm ready to break. I want nothing more than to just lay down and cry. I have to fulfill my promise.

Soon enough, we ran into the third friend. After explaining the situation, third wanted to be brought back to the scene of the crime to check it out. We started running back.

The scraping noise could be heard. The bars extended from the walls now?

We arrive in the room that first was in. Instead of what I had expected to find, we actually found something quite off. It was a body, and it was impaled by spikes. However, it wasn't the body of first- it was somebody I didn't know, wearing different clothes. His face was cut off. I checked the body, and there was only a Samsung Galaxy™ phone on his person. I checked the texts, and to my surprise I found a small diary. Apparently this fellow had also found the library, and was desperate in searching for it. I thought this was strange, there had been no signs of another looter here before, yet this person was clearly an outsider.

We decided to stick together, find the fourth friend, and get out of there as fast as possible. When we would escape, we would then phone the police. We continued along a particularly narrow and long pathway until we reached a room, and a door on the opposite side of the room. We approached the door. All of a sudden a putrid stench crippled us, coming from the other side of the door. Being the one with the weapon, I offered to check it out first. There was no disagreement. I opened the door, went in, and puked.

I saw the body of my fourth friend slumped against the wall, a gun near his hand, and a machete splitting his head in two. He was smiling, but there were tears on his face, mixed with blood.



I quickly grabbed the gun and pocketed it. I'm fairly sure I can trust my second friend, however, I don't want to create a power struggle. I told them all to come in but be wary. I finally had the time to survey my surroundings. It was an office-like enclosure, with an empty bookcase, and of course the gun that I had pocketed. I heard a faint noise from behind the bookshelf. With the help of my friends, we pushed the bookshelf out of the way, and what we saw was curious. A small vent, which was big enough to fit us. I decided that would be the easiest way to get out, as the killer was obviously in the maze and they can't get us in the vent. "I'm not sure about it, I've been putting on some weight recently are you sure I won't fall?" Third seemed like he wasn't along with the idea. I contested, knowing much about the construction of ducts. "Don't worry, you'd have to be at least a quarter of a ton to break this thing." I reassured him. He didn't seem like he was too convinced, but followed second and I regardless.

We were traveling through the vents at a decent speed. Third had lent me his flashlight, claiming he could see naturally well in the dark, so I had the map and flashlight and took the lead. While the map didn't show the vents, we could tell from the direction traveled relevant to the office how far we had gone. All was going well, we were about three quarters of the way to the exit, when we heard an awful groaning noise. I turned around (as much as one can in a cramped vent) and witnessed as the part under third had given way. He screamed as he fell to the ground. Second and I maneuvered to a position where we could see out of the vent and called to third. "Oi! Are you okay? We'll find a way to get you back up here." Third was alright. "I'm fine! Don't worry I think I can see the exit, you just get second and go!". We were about to leave when we heard a clicking noise. All of a sudden we watched as a machete flew from seemingly nowhere and lopped third's arm off. He screamed as a fountain of...
Sparks?
Had exited his shoulder. What in the hell...? All of a sudden, third told us to go. As fast and as far as we could, and he would try to hold off whoever the killer was. We watched in horror as the machetes kept flying, and skin was torn off to reveal his circuitry. He threw them right back, but it was obvious none of the projectiles he flung hit their mark. We saw him twitch for a while on the floor, before finally growing dead silent. I stared wide-eyed for a while, but then snapped myself out of it, and told Second we need to go. We were in a hurry. I could see an exit to the vent down a hallway, and as we were crawling towards it, bars started shooting through the vent. They impaled second, and pinned him in place. They were tiny bars, linked together like traintracks. I hesitated for a moment trying to think about it, but realized my life was in danger, so I moved on. I had lost all of my friends, I needed to get out of there so I could fulfill their wishes for them.

I dropped down from the vent. In front of me was a door. A door with a puzzle. All of a sudden, everything bad that had occurred seemed nullified. This is it. My mission. The thing I've been searching for for so long. I started to laugh. I started to laugh and to cry at the same time. I dropped to my knees. This was it. I had done it. I would be able to escape, and I would walk out of there having fulfilled my life goal. I stood up, and I started to enter the password.

"Not so fast. I commend you for getting this far, but you didn't take care of me first."



I spun around, right in time to get a machete strait in my knee. I screamed in pain, but looked up. I knew that man. The man who was chuckling gently as he slowly walked toward me, sniper rifle equipped with a machete-launcher in tow. In a last act of desperation I pulled out the gun that was in my coat pocket, and fired it, in line with his face. Out came a small flag that said "bang". At that, I knew it was over. I had lost, I was toast. I sobbed, but death didn't come so quick. I uttered the name of my soon-to-be killer.

"O-Okonogi..."



I glared at him as hard as I could, still in immense pain from the machete in my knee. He laughed and looked at me. "Poor child, are you lost?" he said with a smug grin. It all made sense. The warehouse itself is alive. Using his machete-sniper Okonogi was able to utilize the warehouse's changing platforms to snipe us off one by one. The monkeybars that had grown around the windows and ceiling must be how he gets around the place so quickly. I'm a fool. I should have expected he would be here. Okonogi grinned as he kicked me in the side. I fell down sideways, still able to stare up at him. I knew how he was able to do it... but I didn't know why he did it.

"Dostedt?"

"Because I can."



With those final words, my despair had reached an all time high. I looked up with tears in my eyes as he pointed the barrel of the sniper at my head. I closed my eyes, and thought about all of the things in life I hadn't been able to do, and I thought of how close I got to my goal, yet still failed.

The shot sliced Penn's head in two, Killing him instantly. Afterwards, Okonogi was paid a hefty sum of cash, for another job well done. He then found the room with the library, and sold the books to a museum, becoming a billionaire in the process. He lived out the rest of his days happily, and rich.



The end.