Hunted

Gary and Ivan walked the grueling halls of Level 2, keeping their eyes peeled and listening for any potential entities nearby.
Suddenly, something small and fast darted out from behind a pipe close to the ground and made a beeline for Gary. Gary yelped in shock and jumped back and to the side, quickly whipping out his knife to point at the thing as it raced past and Ivan turning to see what was going on. As it stopped and turned to look at him, he saw it clearly and realized it was just a small mouse. Heck, it's even kinda cute, Gary thought.
"Here, little mouse," he said. "Come on. Here." The mouses tilted its tiny, narrow head and looked at Gary as if to say, Are you an idiot? Then it scampered off, running behind the pipes low on the wall opposite of where it had first emerged.
"Damn," Gary muttered to himself as he and Ivan resumed walking. "I would have liked to keep it as a pet." He was glad Ivan didn't laugh at him; he wasn't in the mood for laughter. Ever since he and Ivan had walked up the staircase in Level 1 and through the unlocked door into Level 2, he had been more on edge than ever. Not only was this his first time entering a new level fully aware that new entities might be waiting at the entrance, but he also hated claustrophobic spaces. If Gary hadn't had a friend with him, he thought that he would likely be scared beyond logical thought.
Gary and Ivan had been best friends in The Frontrooms, and when they had happened to both noclip into Level 0, they had, by some miracle, found each other in Level 1. From then on, they had helped each other survive and found an outpost in Level 1, where they had been given resources by its residents to survive for at least another week. After this, they had left the outpost to search for a better — albeit likely temporary — home and possibly even an escape from the Backrooms entirely, if such a thing existed.
Gary nervously looked behind him as he walked, making sure that there wasn't an entity silently creeping up on them. Looking behind him regularly hadn't been a habit in Level 0 unlike it seemed to be with most people, who were apparently paranoid of lurking dangers even if they had never seen or heard of entities before. However, he had picked the habit up after seeing his first entity when he was in Level 1 — a Hound.
Gary and Ivan continued walking through the hot, humid hallway, with Gary occasionally looking back over his shoulder in apprehension.
After a little while, Gary froze in his tracks when he heard a far-off 'clang' that he thought seemed to come from far behind them. Ivan stopped as well.
Gary snapped out of his frozen terror and quickly turned, drawing out his knife and looking into the distance where the sound had come from.
Nothing there.
Then another sound came to the duo through the hallway: a low inhuman moan that sounded like some nightmarish demon. It was somewhat muffled and Gary guessed it was coming from inside one of the rooms he and Ivan had already passed. An entity hiding out of sight, waiting for them to turn their backs so it could ambush them.
"Ivan," Gary murmured without so much as turning his head, "we're being hunted."
"Hunted," Ivan echoed.
"Let's go," urged Gary, and he started to run in the opposite direction from where he had heard the inhuman sound, Ivan slowly trailing him. Gary didn't know why he was going so slow. Maybe he's tired? Gary thought.
They both looked back occasionally, but none of them saw anything. It seemed the entity was content to bide its time.
It occurred to Gary that maybe it hadn't even noticed their presence yet.
"Stop," Gary said, stopping. Ivan stopped as well. "That entity might not even know we're here. We should save our energy in case it decides to chase us. Until then, let's keep walking and listen for anything else. We should also check behind us every now and then."
"Every now and then," repeated Ivan blankly.
"Um, you all good, Ivan?" asked Gary.
"All good, Ivan," Ivan echoed with that same blank, uncomprehending expression on his face.
Before Gary could ask if Ivan was messing with him, Ivan leaped at him, a feral expression that somehow seemed to convey an intent for murder now plastered across his face.
It was Gary's nerves that saved him; he was already terrified from the enclosed spaces of Level 2 and the threat of possible lurking entities. So when Ivan leaped at him with murder on his face, Gary wasn't slowed down by the shock of his friend attacking him and instead quickly dodged to the side, leaving Ivan to stumble against the wall. Ivan turned quickly, his face blank yet ill-intending, like a shark or a crocodile.
"Ivan, what's the matter with you!?" yelled Gary shakily, confused and scared. Ivan didn't bother to respond and instead leapt at him again. Gary barely managed to dodge this time, almost losing his balance. As he stumbled back, he pointed his knife at the person who had once been his friend.
"Ivan, stop!" yelled Gary fearfully. "You don't know what you're doing!"
Ivan rushed forward and swung a punch, but Gary dodged under the swing and behind him. As he did so, he swung his knife at Ivan's side and the blade cut through. Ivan let out a low inhuman grunt of pain. As Gary straightened and faced him, his mind registered something unusual that he had seen and he looked down where Ivan's blood had spilled from his wound.
Clear blood.
Gary barely had time to look up before the Skin-Stealer roared and jumped at him, swinging a fatal head-caving punch.
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Category:Tales
Category:Always Tale Contest 1