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Chapter 1: The House

PART I

"So, to recap on all your study cases, Emma, you just be, uh... Emma. Megan, find out who's been vandalising that condominium, Samuel, you follow me to find out who in the Hale family has been taking their reserves, and Matthew, you know yours," Private Investigator Daniel summarised. "You got it. Okay, good luck everyone," Matthew said.

Private Investigator Matthew Davis stepped out of the burger restaurant and headed to his car, away from his analytical friends. Before setting off, Matthew looked through his files on the Pace family again. "George Pace. Reported missing on May 6, 2020. His family was later also missing from May 9, 2020 onwards," he read to himself. "It's gonna be a long drive," he thought before pulling off.

"I've got real big plans, baby, for you and me..." Matthew sang along to the slightly static-filled radio song. Thunder crackled as dark and suffocating clouds hovered over the landscape, making dusk darker than it should have been. Over the horizon, Matthew spotted an isolated house in the ghost town Centralia.

The town was empty and lonely. It only had a population of 15, after many left the town after the currently ongoing coal fire from 1962 has kept the coal beneath the town burning. Thus, Matthew found it the Pace's family situation to be strange. A family living in a ghost town with terribly hot conditions, the youngest reported missing before the whole family is else well.

The house looked beautiful yet rugged. It was sleek, modern and well-maintained, but what seemed like a few days of skipping house cleaning made it dyed with dirt stains. He arrived in front of the driveway and parked his car on the curb.

Stepping out of his car, Matthew relooked at his files on George Pace. He then confirmed that the picture of the house in his document matched the house that he was parked in front of. Suddenly, a clanking sound emerged from behind. "What was that noise?" he thought to himself. Breathing shallowly, he turned his head slowly towards his car. However, there was nothing or no one around. He heaved a sigh of relief.

Too early... a whack in the head blew him out...


PART II

Rubbing the spot on his head that got whacked by something, he got out of an old, gothic bed only to realise that he was trapped in a stranger house. Of course, he realised he wasn't restricted to the room he was in. He walked carefully out of the room, stepping gently against the creaking floorboards. He inspected the house before the realisation hit him that he was in the house shown in his document. He walked towards the exit and saw that it was bolted shut by two wooden planks, a security system-controlled lock, a digital lock and a traditional lock. Whoever's house he was in, was a madman.

At the corner of his eye, was a doorway, with red stains on its frame. They seemed to glow. The twist? They did. There was definitely a lot of blood on it, but dim red lights glowed beyond the bloodied door frame.

Unexpectedly, a bat emerged out from behind the door frame. A dark, pink silhouette was revealed, holding a bloodied, distorted baseball bat. Childlike chuckling began as the figure moved towards him. Taking quiet steps, Matthew moved towards the stairs.

Loud thumping sounds reverberated around the house as the figure pursued him up, possibly beginning his journey to death...

Matthew ran to the nearest door he could see and locked it. He was back in the bedroom he woke up. Then he noticed a small vent in the wall, he quickly dived under it as he heard key jangling sounds. "Oh great, so the owner has keys to every room," he murmured to himself. He then noticed a splintered plank in the shower. Thinking that it was useless, he crouched and peeped to see if the owner was still in the bedroom.

The coast was clear, he thought. He crawled back into the room before noticing there was a stairway to the attic. The owner was not in sight. Thus, he creeped his way towards the stairway, in a careful attempt not to make the floorboards creak. Gentle, tiptoes.

He arrived at the shabby attic. It was pretty run-down, just like the rest of the house. He looked around and only saw a vent, a room locked by a red padlock, and two other storage rooms ahead.

Creak! Matthew looked downwards to where he had heard the creaking noise. "Oh, crap," he muttered under his breathe. It was the owner. Growling noises and glowing red eyes gave him the realisation that the "owner" might be a creature after all. Frightened, he retreated backwards before his left foot was rested on nothing. Losing balance, he slipped off the platform. Fortunately, he managed to grip onto the dilapidated wooden floor.

Pulling himself out, he groaned in exhaustion before he was finally able to get back up.

Thudding sounds began again as the creature slowly walked up the stairs, ready to whack him dead this time with its bat. Matthew looked left and right unknowingly before remembering that there was a vent above the uncovered stairway. He hesitated for a moment before he made the final decision to slide into the vent, which he never knew would lead him to...


PART III

The slippery vent led him down back to the ground floor where he landed behind a door. He slowly opened the door and peeped to look out for the creature. There was no sign of it. Then he remembered. He fell off the attic because the planks were removed. Since there was no way to go around it, he could use the wooden plank he had found in the shower to place it across the hole and cross over.

On his way to the staircase, he walked past a closet locked by a green padlock and a table which he noticed had a green key on it. He stopped to think the green key might unlock the green padlock. He picked it up, walked back to the closet, and inserted the key into the lock. It fitted in. He turned the key, unlocking the lock, after which he carefully opened the door.

There were no clothes, accessories or whatsoever. Only a bedside desk was placed inside. On it was a red key. He then recalled seeing a red padlock on one the attic room's door. He grabbed the key and dashed towards the kitchen.

Faint, red glowing lights were noticeable once more. The crescendo of a song came. The creature.

He walked back again towards the other door he was at previously and made a dash for the staircase. Running towards the attic, he told himself that he had to survive no matter what. Fumbling in his pocket for the red key, he took it out and unlocked the door.

He entered the room to see empty shelves only holding a blue key on one of them. He grabbed it and left the room to place the wooden plank over the hole in the attic floor.

Balancing his weight, he walked over the plank fearlessly. After crossing over, he saw two rooms, one on the left and one on the right. He opened the door on the right and in the room was a dozen boxes and a purple key in one of them. There was also a security system generator that was enabled. Then he saw the creature. He could finally see it.

A monstrous human-boar hybrid.


PART IV

He ran at lightning speed towards the same attic vent again before the two-legged boar could catch him. He crawled back underneath the vent and slid back down to the ground floor. Whilst walking towards the kitchen, he noticed a door underneath the main staircase. He opened it gently as always and looked inside.

It was another stairway to a basement. He trudged his way down briefly after closing the door and saw two doors. One locked by an orange padlock and the other unlocked. He entered the unlocked room and saw two items laid on a hardware table; a wrench and a golden key. He looked back behind and saw a safe locked by a golden lock "embroidered" onto it. He grabbed the golden key and unlocked it, revealing inside it a small piece of paper with a passcode. It read "1562" on a couche paper which the words "Yael Technologies" printed in a small font at the top of the paper. He memorised the numbers and walked back into the room.

He looked at the wrench. "Maybe I can use this to disable the security system," he said to himself. He grabbed it swiftly and left the room.

Clank! Pom! Matthew turned his head to see a door sliding down the stairway. Then thumping sounds came. "It's here", he thought. He crouched underneath the table and laid flat. He quickly grabbed the vase of dead plants on the table and hid it under the table with him. The boar walked over, closer and closer to the table. It definitely noticed the missing vase. It was unsightly to see the bloodied tip of the bat that the boar was holding. He discreetly reached out the vase and slammed it against the boar's feet. Matthew managed to push himself out of the table just before the boar tripped and crushed the table and vase, breaking them into uncountable splintered bits and pieces. He sprinted up the stairway and looked at the locked main door again.

He went closer and noticed the same security system generator he had seen in one of the attic storage rooms. He took out the wrench he had taken and tore the wires out, disabling the first layer of the lock on the door. He gave himself a gentle applaud before a loud thumping sound snapped him back to reality, or rather the game of life or death.

He ran back up to the attic and carefully crossed over the wooden plank. He hastily plucked out the wires for the security system generator, permanently disabling it, although he was not sure what it disabled. He walked out of the room and suddenly remembered that there was another room right in front of him. He opened the door and saw another hardware table full of items.

He also noticed a metal frame with small bolts containing holes built onto it. It must have been a laser security system. He walked past it and looked at the three items on the table: an orange key, a hammer and a green cog. He grabbed the three items on the table and put down the purple key since he had not seen any purple padlock so far.

This was when the boar "evolved". Matthew was so caught up in grabbing the items that he did not do a visual check. There was no creaking or thumping. There were no red lights. But there was a slam on the wall. The lights then went out abruptly after the boar smashed the light bulbs out.

In the shadows, there was the silhouette of a knife. It was raised higher and higher. Matthew knew he was going to die. But instead there was a snapping sound. The tearing of the blind holders. Now it was total darkness. Red glowing eyes lit up. Yes, he was not going to perish by the dagger. He was going to die getting whacked to his slow death...


PART V

Matthew drifted left and right in the pitch darkness, reaching out for something he could use to keep himself alive. It was hopeless. Every moment, the boar broke something in the room one by one. By reaching around with his hands, they were next to break.

Suddenly, his hand reached an empty space in the wall. A huge empty space. He quickly crawled forward as the boar smashed glass and wood into bits. He pushed himself through the vent and it let him down to a bathroom in the second floor.

He quickly moved down the stairs and ran to the kitchen. He then saw that there was an unexplored backyard. He ran out of the main house and saw a locked shed with a blue lock on its door. He took out the blue key that he had since much earlier until then and unlocked the door. He then saw a mechanical machine containing two blue cogs, one red cog and one green cog. He held out the green cog he had and placed it in the machine. He then walked back into the house and ran back down into the basement, where he had found a door with an orange lock. He took the orange key and unlocked the door.

It was yet another stairway to a lower basement. It was only a garage with ammo and a drill on one of the shelves. He grabbed the ammo and that reminded him that he had a gun. He reached into his back pocket but to no avail, it was missing. He clenched his fists in frustration, thinking about how he would ever get out of the house. He had nearly met his death three times.

Unfortunately, there was no time to fret. Thumping sounds began. The distorted roaring continued to play. There was no other way out of the lower basement. He quickly broke open the car door and hid inside. The boar circled around the basement.

Then there was silence.

Thump! Red lights glowed into the car. The boar knew he was inside. He ran out of the other side of the car and dashed up the stairway before locking the door. He ran back to the room where he had found the wrench in. He took out the hammer he had found early and broke open the bolted planks that covered up a secret passageway. He crawled underneath and found a safe with a purple lock.

The purple key, he thought to himself. He had left it in the attic. He had to get back there quick. There was an exit. He walked up and exited through a hatch. He quickly ran back into the house and ran up the stairway. Keys were scattered around the floor.

Suddenly, red lights shone out of the bedroom Matthew woke up in. He quickly locked the door and ran up to the attic to retrieve the purple key. He swiftly grabbed the key and slid down the vent to the second floor.

He walked out of the room only to see an axe smashing out of the bedroom door. He flinched before running down the stairs. Since he still had the hammer, he smashed open the two wooden planks that were bolted onto the door. He then noticed that the digital lock on the door had the word "Yael" printed on it. It was smashed up. Whatever the boar was, was smart. It knew what Matthew had unlocked all along. It knew what he had in mind. It knew that he knew the passcode. There was no way he could escape the house now...


PART VI

Matthew sat down at the living room couch in despair. He did not care about anything anymore. For the first time, he cried. He was so crestfallen that to him, it did not matter if he died a brutal death from the boar. All he wanted was peace. He finally looked up at the table.

A red cog. Maybe he could escape after all. He quickly grabbed the red cog and ran back out to the backyard. He slipped the cog into the machine and it began to whir. He looked back at the well behind him and saw a bucket slowly being pulled up. Inside it was a silver key.

The silver key needed to unlock the silver padlock on the main door.

He sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him. His fingers fumbled in panic once he saw the boar coming for him. He managed to unlock the door just in time. He ran back up the stairs towards the attic and quickly locked himself in the storage room with the second attic vent.

He thought about how he could disable the digital lock on the main door. Since the keypad had been smashed in, the lock was permanently enabled. He suddenly remembered about his time in the lower basement. There was a drill on the shelf where he had found ammo. However, he would need a lot of time to drill open the lock.

He needed a gun to knock the boar unconscious temporarily to give him enough time to drill open the door and escape. He knew that his gun was missing, so he was sure that the boar had removed it and hidden it somewhere. He then recalled that there was a thing that was not unlocked yet.

The purple safe.


PART VII

Matthew grabbed the purple key before he heard key jingling sounds. He quickly slid down the vent which once again brought him back to the second floor. He left the main house towards the secret hatch and went down the passageway to the purple safe.

He carefully and quietly unlocked the safe before retrieving the gun inside. His gun. He placed the ammo inside it and cocked the gun. He then thought about when he should shoot the boar. He decided to grab the drill first before shooting so that he had more time to escape. He ran through the other side of the passageway into the basement and dashed down towards the lower basement. He discreetly picked up the drill, ran back up to the main door and left it on the floor. Red lights glowed from above as the boar made its way down the stairs.

Matthew cocked his gun before aiming at it. "Sayonara sucker!" he squawked at it before pulling the trigger. The boar took the bullet to its chest, slumping onto the ground unconsciously. It continued to bray. He picked up the electric drill and whacked it on toughly. Whirr! The drill broke the perpetual silence in the house, with the exception of the noises that the boar made.

He carefully drilled through the rusty metallic latch bolt. In a few seconds, the door broke open. He cried open in joy as he ran towards his car. He was finally out of the madman house. He hoped that he would never have to encounter the same house ever again.

He could finally be free.


PART VIII

As a Private Detective, Matthew could not do anything about the encounters he had experienced in the house he escaped. Thus, he picked up his private investigator friends, Daniel, Samuel, Megan and Emma who had been staying in Allentown with him to investigate crimes around the area.

"Yes, I'm going to pick you guys up. I need you to back up my story during the police report later. Just say that you were with me, thanks," Matthew said on the phone to his friends. He picked his friends up at the motel they were staying at. They had a quick breakfast so that they were fresh and energetic before they would go to the police station.

"Yo, what's with all that blood?" Daniel asked him worriedly. "Oh, I just got thwacked in the head only two times by a bore-creature," he replied. "Only two? Is this why you're asking to help you report this?" Megan questioned him puzzledly. "We—" Matthew said halfway before getting cut off. "Bro, we're going to have to report this like now. It's important," Samuel said.

"You won't believe me though. I saw a boar-like creature chasing me around the house." Matthew testified. "Yep, I totally don't believe that part. Let's just say it was a psychotic woman. Like you know, in the game Granny?" Emma added. "I've got to say it was a similar experience, but this is serious; I almost died!" Matthew protested. "That's it! We're going now!" Samuel exclaimed, throwing down his burger.

And that was how they drove off and ended up at Allentown Police Department, and another experience which they would have, with the infected...

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