HYEOPIL sighed, laying the crumpled paper of notes gently on the desk. The creatures were victims of their own research. It seemed he'd had the right idea about what had happened in the mansion, though reading the heartfelt letter put a serious damper on any pride he might have taken from his deduction skills.
After placing the medallion, he'd decided that the upstairs office merited a closer look and with a little digging, he'd found the final scrawled testament of Im Dawoo, tucked in a drawer.
It says about his own lost to feelings of despair and confusion but still explain all the nightmare that occurred in this house. Telling about the last month accident in the lab and the virus they were studying has escaped. All his colleagues who
were infected are dead or dying, and the nature of the disease is such that those still there living have lost their senses and become more horrible creatures with million of eyes.
The A-virus robs its victims of their humanity, forcing them in their sickness to seek out
and destroy life.
"There aren't words true enough, deep enough to describe the sorrow and shame that I feel knowing that I had a hand in their creation. I believe that they feel nothing now, no fear or pain... "
Im Dawoo also was part of this responsible nightmare that surrounds them.
"...In spite of the guilt that is burned into my very being, that will haunt my every breath, I might have tried to survive, if only to see you again- "
Hyeopil suddenly stop mumbling the words in the letter when itself remind him of what he gone through after escaping in that facility. What he gone through when he was straying in the street, trying to get familiar in the city and-
"... I am infected, and there is no cure for what will follow except to end my life... right... I might end my existence soon for no further virus." His eyes move away from the note and thought of the reality instead, figure out something.
Im Dawoo, that was one of the names on list he saw from the little computer.
Hyeopil frowned, walking slowly back to the office door. For some reason, whoever wrote the note wanted the police department to figure out what had happened at the mansion before anyone else did but with as much as Dawoo obviously knew about it, why not just tell them outright?
And what did he stand to gain by telling them anything at all?
He stepped through the office's small foyer and back out into the hall, still frowning.
That annoying woman seems acting strange before, and he needed to find out why. Maybe he could get a straight answer if he just asked her outright.
Or maybe not. Either way, it'll tell him something.
Hyeopil stopped by the back stairs, taking a deep breath and realized that something was different. He looked around uncertainly, trying to figure out what it was his senses were telling him.
It's warmer. Just a little, but it's definitely warmer and the air isn't quite as stale like someone had opened a window or maybe a door.
Hyeopil remove his facemask and turned before jogged down the stairs, suddenly anxious to check the puzzle lock. Reaching the bottom of the steps, he saw that the door connecting one hall to the next was standing open.
He could hear crickets singing faintly, feel the fresh dawn air wafting toward him through the frigid mustiness of the house.
He hurried to the darker corridor and hooked a right, trying not to get his hopes up. Another sharp right and he could see the door that led to the covered walkway standing open.
"Maybe that's all it is, it doesn't mean the puzzle's solved... " he said and hid his mask inside his pocket as he broke into a run, feeling the clean warmth of summer air against his skin as he rounded the corner in the stone path and let out a short, triumphant laugh as he saw the four placed medallion next to the open door.
A warm breeze was flowing through the room that the puzzle had unlocked, a small storage shed for gardening tools. The metal door on the wall opposite was standing open, and Hyeopil could see sunset playing across a brick wall just past the rusted hinges.
They had been right, the door led outside.
They'd be able to get help now, find a safe route through the woods or at least signal but if they found the missing medallion, why didn't they come looking for him?
His grin faded as he stepped into the shed, absently taking in the dusty boxes and barrels that lined the gray stone walls. Yeonjun had known where he was, had suggested himself that he take the second floor of the west wing.
"So maybe it wasn't Yeonjun or Bona who opened the door. It could've been the others or one of the betas. If that was the case... I should probably go back in and look for Yeonjun or maybe the others." He mumbled to himself, thinking that he should investigate a little first, make sure it's worth the effort.
It was a bit of a rationalization, but he had to admit to himself that the thought of returning to the mansion with a possible escape in front of him wasn't all that enticing. He unholstered his Beretta and walked toward the outer door, his decision made.
The first thing he noticed was the sound of rushing water over the soft forest noises that filled the cooling air, like a waterfall.
The second and third were the bodies of the two dogs that lay across the irregular stone path, shot to death.
"Pretty safe bet that one of the team came this way,"
Hyeopil edged out into a high walled courtyard, low hedges set into brick planters on either side.
Orange clouds hung oppressively low overhead and thick fog moving in the whole place. Across the open space was a barred iron gate just past an island of shrubs; to his left, a straight path overshadowed by the ten-foot-high brick walls that bordered it.
The gentle waterfall sound seemed to come from that direction, though the path ended abruptly in a metal gate a few feet high.
Maybe there was stairs that going down maybe?
Hyeopil hesitated, looked back at the arched, rusty gate in front of him and then at the curled bodies of the creature dogs. They were both closer to the gate than the walkway, and assuming they'd been killed while attacking, the shooter would have been headed in that direction.
There was a sudden sound of water splashing wildly, making the decision for him. Hyeopil turned and ran down to that direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was making the noise.
He reached the end of the stone path and leaned over the gate then drew back a little, surprised by the sudden drop off.
There were no stairs, the gate opened to a tiny platform elevator and a huge, open courtyard, twenty feet below.
The splashing was off to the right, and Hyeopil looked down and across the wide yard just in time to see a shadowy figure walk through the waterfall he'd heard, disappearing behind the curtain of water that cascaded down the west wall.
"What the hell?"
Hyeopil stared at the small waterfall, blinking, not sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
The splashing had stopped as soon as the person disappeared, and he was fairly certain that he wasn't hearing things which meant that the rushing water concealed a secret passage.
"Great, that's just what this place needs. I didn't get enough of that inside."
The controls for the one-man lift were on a metal bar next to the rusting gate, the platform itself down in the courtyard.
Hyeopil toggled the power switch, but nothing happened. He'd have to get down another way, wasting time while the mysterious splasher got farther away.
Unless... Hyeopil looked down the narrow elevator shaft, an inset square only three feet across and open on the side facing the yard.
"Coming up would be a bitch, but descending?"
He could crouch his way down in a minute or less, using his back and legs to support his weight.
As he unstrapped the shotgun from his back in preparation for the climb, a disturbing thought
occurred to him if the person who'd gone through the waterfall was one of the team how had
they known that the passage was even there?
Holding the shotgun tightly, Hyeopil pushed the gate open and carefully started down the shaft.
-
They'd given the captain with the bitch a full fifteen minutes before heading through the winding halls of the west wing and finding the open back door.
They stood there now, looking at the slab of copper and its four engraved medallions.
Jeongsun stared at the crescent moon that Bona had taken, feeling confused and more than a little worried.
Thought he was sometimes irritated at Bona for her bitchy act but she won't do kind such a thing.
And Yeonjun was one of the most honest, straightforward guys that he had ever known.
If he said that he was going to look for Hyeopil and then come back for them, then that's what he meant to do.
Minhee sigh loudly, brushing his brown hair.
"I know how honest your captain but they didn't come back. And if he ran into trouble, how did the piece Sunoo gave to that bitch end up here?"
Jeongsun looked at Minhee and for some point, he felt guilty. He shouldn't agree.
Minhee didn't like any of the explanations his mind was giving him to work with. That bitch maybe could betray them and placed it herself and then run or maybe the captain and the rookie has been... threaten?
The possibilities seemed endless, and none of them good.
Sighing, Jeongsun turned away from the diagram and looked at the rest of his team. "Whatever happened to them, we should go ahead. This may be the only way off the estate."
Sunoo smiled a little. "Fine by me. It just feels good to get out of there, you know?"
"Yeah, no kidding, maybe Hyeopil was out too?" Jihae said, with feeling. He hadn't even realized how accustomed he'd grown to the cold, oppressive atmosphere of the house until they'd left it.
The difference was truly amazing.
They walked through the tidy storage room and stopped at the back door, all of them breathing
deeply.
Sunoo checked her AK rifle for about the hundredth time since they'd left the main hall,
chewing at his lower lip nervously.
Jeongsun could see how tightly wound he was and tried to think if there was anything Sunoo needed to know, anything that would help him if they were forced into a combat.
Jeongsun grinned suddenly, remembering the words of wisdom he'd gotten on his first operation, a stand-off with a small group of whacked out survivalist as detectives in action that occured in upstate Busan.
He'd been terrified, and trying desperately not to show it. The captain for the mission had been a tough as nails explosives expert, an extremely short guy named Gong Pil. He'd pulled him aside just before they went in, looked him up and down, and given him the single best piece of advice he'd ever received.
"Sunoo... " he called softly and Sunoo turned to him with questioning look. "No matter what happens when the shooting starts, try not to be nervous and don't hesitate,"
It surprised Sunoo out of his nervousness, the statement so totally weird that he'd literally been forced to let go of the worst of his fear to make room for it. Sunoo smiled after and nod, the smile fading.
"Come on, let's move fast." Fin said who was in front of the rest.
They moved out into the calm dawn air, crickets and cicadas buzzing sleepily in the surrounding woods.
They were in a kind of courtyard, high brick walls on either side, an offshoot walkway to their left.
They could hear rushing water nearby and the mournful cry of a dog or coyote in the distance, a lonely, faraway sound.
Remembering the dogs, there were a couple of them sprawled out across the stones, soft sunset glistening against their wet, sinewy bodies.
Jihae edged up to one of them and crouched down, touching its flank. He quickly pulled
his hand back, scowling; the monster dog was sticky and warm, like it had been sheathed in a thick layer of mucous.
He stood up, wiping his hand on his pants.
"This thing hasn't been dead long," he said quietly. "Less than an hour, anyway."
There was a rusted iron gate just past some hedges in front of them. Jeongsun nodded at them and as they walked toward it, the sound of rushing water increased to a dull roar.
Minhee pushed at the gate and it swung open on violently squealing hinges, revealing a huge, cut stone reservoir, easily the size of a couple of swimming pools put together. Deep shadows draped and hung at every side, caused by the seemingly solid walls of murky green trees and lush vegetation that threatened to break through the bordering rails.
They moved forward, stopping at the edge of the massive pool. It was apparently in the slow process of being drained, the turbulent noise caused by the narrow flow of water through a raised gate on the east side.
There wasn't a complete path around the reservoir, but Jeongsun saw that there was a walkway bisecting the pool itself, about five feet below water level. There were bolted ladders at both sides, and the path had obviously been submerged until quite recently, the stones dark with dripping algae.
They studied the unusual setup for a moment, wondering how anyone got across when it wasn't being drained.
Another mystery to add to the growing list.
Without speaking, they climbed down and hurried across, boots squelching against the slimy stones, a clammy humidity enveloping them.
Jeongsun quickly scaled the second ladder, reaching down to help Sunoo up who drew his rifle behind him while the others started moving too.
The heavily shaded path was littered with branches and pine needles and appeared to border the east end of the reservoir, passing over the open floodgate.
They started toward the forced waterfall and had only gotten a few feet when it started to rain.
Jeongsun frowned, an inner voice informing him coolly that he shouldn't be able to hear raindrops over the roar of the draining water.
He looked up and saw a twisted branch fall from the stretching foliage hanging over the rail, a branch that hit the stones and slid smoothly away.
That's not a branch and there were dozens of them already on the ground, twisting across the dark stones, hissing and writhing as they fell from the trees overhead.
They were surrounded by snakes like leeches with its head were their oval mouth with million deadly spikes of teeth.
"Oh, shit!" Minhee sudden cursed startled, Sunoo turned to look at Minhee and felt cold terror shoot through him, his heart squeezed in its icy grip as he took in the path behind him.
The ground had come to life, black shapes coiling toward their feet and dropping from above like living rain.
Sunoo started pulled the Ak rifle behind his back and raise his gun, realizing numbly that there were too many even as Jeongsun roughly grabbed his arm.

"Run!"
They stumbled forward, Sunoo crying out involuntarily as a thick, writhing body fell across his shoulder, a touch of cool slimy scales against his arm as it slid heavily off and hit the stones.
The path zig zagged and they ran through the shifting shadows, heels crunching down on rubbery, moving flesh, throwing them off balance.
Leeches darted forward to strike at their passing boots as they ran over a steel grate, black, foaming water thundering below, the sound of their boots hitting metal lost to the liquid roar.
Ahead of them, the stones were clearer but the path also dropped off sharply, a small elevator
platform marking its end.
There was no place left to go.
They crowded on to the tiny platform and Fin snatched at the controls, breath coming in panicked gasps.
The others turned and fired repeatedly, the shots blasting over the crash of water as Fin found the operating button and slammed it down.
The platform shuddered and started to descend, slipping down past rock walls toward a massive, empty courtyard below.
Fin turned, raising the gun to help the others while Sunoo raised his gun too and felt his jaw drop, his throat locking at the gruesome scene.
There had to be hundreds of them, the path almost completely hidden by the slithering creatures, hissing and squirming in an alien frenzy as they struck wildly at each other.
By the time Sunoo managed to unfreeze, the loathsome sight had risen past eye level and was gone.
The ride seemed to last forever. The five of them staring up at the edge of the path they'd left behind, tensely, breathlessly waiting for the bodies to start falling.
When the lift was within a few feet of the bottom, they both jumped off, stumbling quickly away from the wall.
They both leaned against the cool rock, gasping.
Jihae took in the courtyard they'd escaped to in
between shuddering breaths, letting the sound of the splashing waterfall soothe his nerves.
It was a huge, open space made out of brick and stone, the colors washed out and hazy in the frail light. The water from the reservoir above tumbled down into two stone pools nearby, and there was a single gate across from them.
Sunoo took a final deep breath and blew it out, then turned to others.
"That was close... were you bit?"
They shook his head and Sunoo sigh.
"I'd rather not go back that way. I'm more of a
chicken person, really."
Minhee stared at him for a moment and then grinned, pushing away from the wall.
They startled when they heard the beep from the radio. Sunoo grabbed at the unit hooked to his belt, the leeches suddenly forgotten.
It was the sound he'd been hoping to hear ever since they'd found Minsook.
They were being hailed, maybe by searchers.
He thumbed the receiver and held the radio up so they could hear. Static crackled through the tinny speaker along with the soft whine of a wavering signal.
"... this is Seulji... Alpha team... agents... detectives... read? If... can hear this... " Her voice disappeared in a burst of static.
Jihae snatched the radio from Sunoo and hit the transmit button and spoke quickly. "Seulji? Seulji, come in!"
The signal was gone. They listened for a moment longer, but nothing else came through.
"She must have gotten out of range," Jihae said and hand back the radio to Sunoo.
He sighed, walking farther out into the open yard and gazing up at the dark, overcast sky.
Sunoo clipped the silent radio back to his belt, still feeling more hopeful than he had all day.
The pilot was out there somewhere, circling around and looking for them.
Now that they were clear of the mansion, they'd be able to hear her signal. Assuming he comes back.
Minhee walked over to join Jeongsun, who had found another tiny elevator platform, tucked in the corner across from the waterfall.
A quick check showed it to be without power.
Jeongsun turned toward the gate, slapping a fresh clip into his handgun. "Shall we see what's behind door number one?"
It was a rhetorical question.
Unless they wanted to go back through the leeches, it was their only option.
"Just the same." Minhee smiled and nodded, wanting to make sure Jeongsun knew he was ready and hoping desperately that if anything else happened, he would be.
And more importantly, he'll search Hyeopil even it'll take forever.