PART I

Matthew and his friends arrived at the police station at seven in the morning. For such an early time of the day, there were relatively quite a lot of people in it. Matthew looked around at the shortest queue and found one.

"Fill 'ese up," a police officer said. "Ugh, paperwork," Matthew muttered. "I know right? Old and slow traditional crap. Guess what? I go through 100 of these every day," he said.

Matthew turned in his report. "Ha! Boar-like creature. You sure you wanna submit this?" the officer retorted. "Look at this," Matthew said, pointing to his injured head. "This is no joke." The police officer looked worried and puzzled. "Hey, you should really go to a hospital! Name's Bryan by the way," he replied. "Sure..." Matthew said, shrugging it off. Weird behaviour.

"So what, there was no like testimony or anything? That doesn't sound like real police procedure," Emma stated. "Well, apparently it is," he replied, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, let's get goi—"

"Attention, attention! A hostile intruder has been detected! All 27 people in the station must now remain in the building. All exits will be sealed during this lockdown until we find the intruder. Thank you for your cooperation," the PA announced.

"What the heck? I'm supposed to be joining my family for my sister's birthday celebration soon!" Daniel whined. "Oh well, I guess you just have to cancel your plans. We'll be stuck here." Matthew replied. "Maybe you should just call your family and to inform them about this." Daniel took out his phone to follow what Matthew suggested.

"Uh, that's strange. There's no service. I was just scrolling through my Instagram feed minutes ago and my data was working," Daniel said worriedly. "Huh. Maybe it's because they are closing the blinds now?" Megan said. "Nope, blinds don't block signals. Besides, they are still closing them now." he replied.

Then Matthew looked at the main door. There was a silver lock placed on it, an automatic security system

similar to the one he had seen in the madman house he was in earlier, and another similar digital lock. He ran up close and looked at the encryption on it.

"Yael Technologies" it read. "Excuse me, stand back," another police officer said. He walked forward with two wooden planks and nailed them to the door. "Uh, excuse me. Isn't that a bit too secure? You already have three security locks on the door," Matthew questioned him. "Standard procedure, it's what we always do," he replied.

"I've gotta say, you're right. That isn't standard procedure. We are only supposed to place a regular pad lock and enable the extra security system lock. I don't know when they ever added that "Yael Technologies" digital lock," Bryan whispered to Matthew.

Matthew's heart stopped for a moment. Yael Technologies. Yael Technologies. The words repeated in his mind as he started to realise his fate. "Matthew? Matthew? Hello! Matthew!" Samuel screamed. "What's happening?" Matthew took a deep breath.

"We're going to die."

PART II

"Ah, of course you're kidding!" Daniel chuckled nervously. Emma grabbed him on the shoulders and shook him "sober". "What are you getting at?" she squealed.

"I'm going to explain every step here. Bryan, come over, I need to explain why and how we are in danger," he said quietly. "Okay," he said, walking over.

"So, this was my experience at the psycho house. I was abducted by someone and placed inside this locked house. It had many locks on the door, four layers. The first was a silver padlock, which would unlock with a silver key. The second was a digital lock with a keypad to type the password to unlock it. The third was a security system that kept the door locked as long as it was enabled, so I broke the wires to disable it. The fourth was two wooden planks nailed to the door, which you would need a hammer to break down."

"Wait," Bryan commented. "So you're saying, whoever abducted you, is here?" Matthew paused to think. "Yes," he answered. "But not a who, but a what." That sentence sent a chill down everyone's spine. "So, you are trying to say that that boar-like creature is here," Megan reinstated. Matthew gulped. "Yes," he said. "But it might not be the same creature. The one in the house was shot by me, so it was injured. There's also no way that it could travel 100km all the way to Allentown from Centralia by foot in a few hours."

"This theory is ridiculous!" Emma protested, making Matthew sound like a fool. "It's fine if you don't believe me for now. Just watch and see how the situation here develops. You'll definitely need this information to survive," Emma groaned. "Yes, sure. I'm sure that all this nonsense would be helpful."

Right after her sarcastic sentence ended, the lights in the main room went out. Then there was a loud screaming sound before multiple whacking noises were heard, followed by a thumping sound that faded over time.

Then complete silence followed. A man sitting on the floor cringed when he felt something on his hand. "Uh, guys. I feel like there's some liquid or slime on the floor. It's quite wet, although there's only a small puddle of it. There's a light smell too."

"Oh goodness, is it kerosene? I don't want to die today! Not in a gory fire! Please, someone help!" another lady shrieked in fear. Soon, overlapping sounds of fearful remarks crossed around the room. "Okay, that's enough! Everybody calm down. We will soon find out what that small puddle of liquid is when the power comes back on.

Silence returned. So did the power. "Oh my gosh!" one person shouted. "AH! IT'S BLOOD!" another screamed. "Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh!" the man that touched the blood with his hands panicked.

A middle-aged woman had been whacked to her death. No one was safe anymore.

No one.

PART III

"Oh crabs, oh no, I should have listened to you." Emma cried. "Emma, calm down. You're alive! We just have to figure this out and escape." Emma panted erratically. "What are we supposed to? We're in a lockdown! "Okay, slow breaths. We will get through this together."

"Everyone in our 'group', gather here," Matthew said softly. "Okay, so one thing, don't trust any police officer here, except for Bryan. Especially not the man that bolted the doors with the wooden planks. He might have something to do with the intruder, since he didn't follow the standard procedure of using a standard lock and he added extra bolted wooden planks. I don't even think he was an officer. I saw his nametag. His surname was somehow "Trafts" under "Yael Technologies Staff". Come on, let's find some things to escape."

The group walked beyond the main room. They looked inside a warehouse room to see if there was anything inside. They were fortunate to find a wrench inside, which could be useful for disabling the security system.

Then they ran back to the main room with Matthew holding the wrench, since he knew how to forcefully disable the security system. He removed the outer panel and gripped the wrench onto the wire, ready to tear the wires.

"Hol' it. What are you doing? We are in a lockdown." Matthew sighed. "Didn't you hear the announcement? There's an intruder here! And it's here to kill us one by one. We have to escape!" The "officer" moaned. "Anyway, that's the point of the lockdown! It's to make sure we catch the culprit! Anyway, how would you know if the intruder is killing everyone one by one? How would you know that all this is the doing of an organisation?"

"Organisation? I didn't say that. Wait a minute..." Matthew trailed off. "Uh, uh..." the false officer mumbled before taking out a gun and pointing it at Matthew. "You blew this!" he blared at him. Everyone else in the room screamed. "Hold on, calm down. Now, what are you tal—," Matthew negotiated before getting cut off by the lights going out again.

Then there was a strange growling noise. "ARGH!" the false officer screamed in pain before the sounds of him getting dragged away was heard.

"Oh, gosh! Did someone else just die? Oh, please spare me! I just want see my daughter Rose one last time!" a woman wailed. "He is right!" a person said referring to Matthew. "There is something coming for us one by one!" he continued. "Calm down, let's not draw conclusions too quickly." Samuel stated. "I'm sure no one else died."

Then the lights came back up again. He was wrong. A blood trail was left on the floor from the false officer's bloodied gun all the way to the door leading out of the main room to the passageway to the basement.

There was someone coming after them in this game of cat and mouse.

Something.

PART IV

Click! The wires broke off as the wrench plucked them out. A mechanical whir descended in pitch as the security system was disabled. The group then walked out of the main room into the cafeteria to find materials they could use to escape. On one of the tables was a green key. Matthew grabbed it quickly as they walked further into the police station.

"Just saying, the stairway is being renovated now, so the prison cells are empty and to get across there. you have to cross over a hydrochloric acid canal on a wooden plank," Bryan said. "Oh, great," Emma grumbled. "Hang on, there's a room there," Samuel pointed out to the right. "Oh, be careful, there's an acid pool there, cross over the plank carefully if you need to," Bryan added. "Sure," he replied. "WOAH!" he screamed. "I nearly fell into the acid pool! There's no plank!"

"What?" everyone asked in unison. "There's an orange key on the shelf across the pool, but we need to find that plank," Samuel told them. They walked back and crossed over the main plank carefully. "I just want to ask, why is there even hydrochloric acid here?" Daniel questioned. "Well," Bryan said. "About thirty years ago, some people dumped illegal highly-reactive alkali metals into a canal. Since it was too dangerous to leave it in the open exposed to the elements, the Allentown mayor decided to neutralise it with acid. However, they overpoured acid into it until they couldn't add anymore substances into it. They then decide to build a building to cover the acid pool so that it would cause any accidents owing to weather issues."

"Wow, long story," Megan said. "Oh well, we better get goi—,". Suddenly, there was a loud growling sound coming from the main room. Then all the lights went out again. "Matthew! Turn on your stopwatch now! I'm going to see the average of the intervals between each time the lights go out!

Then there was more loud screaming. They ran around the cells, in pursuit of finding items, before they found a door with a green lock on it. They pushed the key in and unlocked the door. Standing in the room was a shelf with some ammo on it. "That's useless! We have our guns!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Wait, where are our guns?" Matthew asked. "Hang on, I remember this. In the house I was abducted in, my gun got confiscated. Someone must have taken ours!" Megan looked around. "Wait a second, where's Bryan? He could be in danger." "Ah, I'm sorry. I thought I saw a red key on the table. My eyes must be poor!" he told them.

"It's okay, let's keep going," Matthew said. At the very moment, Megan noticed a red key on a table where Bryan was near previously. She detoured for a few moments to pick it up before joining the group. "Hey," she whispered to Matthew. "Sup?" he replied. "Okay, so remember when Bryan said he thought he saw a red key on the table? It was there! He was lying!" she accused. "C'mon, he said his eyesight was poor, don't blame him for that!" he told her. "No, I'm serious- you know what? It's fine if you don't believe me, just like how I didn't believe you just now. That's how I feel."

"Hey, I should go back to the main room to get everyone into the storage room before someone dies again," Bryan suggested. "Great idea!" Daniel added. "Stay safe," Emma said. Then the rest of the group walked around the cells before Samuel noticed a plank in one of the opened cells. "Ah, yes! The plank! Let's get back to the—". The lights went out again. "Pause the stopwatch Matthew!"

Beep! Three minutes and two seconds. Another scream came. Someone else died. It wouldn't have been possible unless they weren't locked in the storage room yet. Then Megan asked a crucial question.

"Can we really trust Bryan?"

PART V

They ran back to the main room, while Samuel stopped by to place a plank over the acid pool and grabbed the orange key before running back to the rest of the group. There were two bodies. One a few feet in front of the main exit and one in the storage room.

"Hey, what happened?" Megan questioned Bryan angrily.

"The vent..." Bryan quivered. "The creature came through the vent and killed him." Daniel shivered. "Where is the rest of the group?" Matthew asked Bryan. "At the cafeteria. I had to gather them away from the bodies..." he replied.

They ran over to the cafeteria to see the situation. "Bryan, you said it was a creature, how did it look like?" Matthew questioned. Bryan replied, "It growled, was a heavy monster that made thumping sounds and red glowing lights—"

"Did you say red glowing lights?" Matthew confirmed. "Yes," Bryan said.

Matthew breathed deeply. "I am going to address everyone here," he said. "Everyone, I have to make an announcement! The intruder isn't who you think it is. In fact, it is a what! Recently, I have been abducted by this boar-like creature in a house, and it took a long time to escape, just as we are experiencing now. This creature kills every three minutes! So, if you have any items that are or can be potential weapons, bring them out now!" he announced. Everyone whispered among themselves before taking out things like letter-openers, pens, swiss knives and lighters.

The group then went back to the basement and found a door with an orange lock. They unlocked it with the orange key that Samuel had retrieved. They unlocked the door, which revealed a table with a hammer on it. Emma grabbed the hammer and they left the room. They rushed back to the main room towards the main exit.

She forcefully smashed the wooden boards before they broke. Two layers of defence down. They just needed to find the passcode and the silver key to escape. They walked past the cafeteria and saw a door that led outside the main building to a cargo storage area. Inside one of the cargo containers was a golden key.

Then the lights went out again. Matthew hoped that everyone would stay safe and everyone would survive this purge. They grabbed the golden key and waited outside the main building until the power came back on.

Unfortunately, there was yet another scream. Screams. They ran back quickly into the cafeteria and watched as people shrieked in fear and anxiety at the two bodies on the ground. Something had messed up the pattern of one death each time. Unless. Matthew and Megan looked at each other, sending mind messages.

Someone was helping this purge continue.

PART VI

"What happened?" Matthew questioned Bryan. "The-the-creature whacked both of them dead..." he answered. "Oh, gosh," Emma shrieked. Megan nudged Matthew. "Hey," she whispered. "Do you find him suspicious now?" Matthew sighed. "We've been over this, now—," he said before getting interrupted. "Hey, Bryan! Take this hammer! Go to the cells and break down the wooden board covering one of them! There's a blue key in it! Help me get it, thanks!" Megan shouted over to him.

Bryan walked away from the main group following Megan's "command". The rest of the group got together. "Megan, I do believe you, it was an act," Matthew said. "Just now, when we weren't around and Bryan was with everyone, the people kept dying. He didn't do his job to protect them. He also claimed that someone died in the storage room, but I saw blood trails from outside all the way in. He must have dragged the body to fake the deathplace. Just to confirm that, I am going to ask these people now." He walked over to one of the people. He asked, "Hi, did this man Bryan bring you all to stay in the storage room for refuge?" He answered, "No, no one did."

Matthew continued, "Look at these bat marks on each of these bodies. One of them has a bigger wound but the other has a smaller and deeper one. Bryan must have killed one of them."

Right after that the lights went out again. Everyone quivered in fear of dying. No one wanted to die. But there was no choice. Someone would die.

Many would die.

PART VII

Everyone in the room screamed in pain as they were beaten by bats all over. Matthew and his friends ran out of the room once they felt blood splattering all over them. "Run! All run! You're going to get beaten to your deaths if you don't!" Matthew screamed.

They dashed out of the room full of blood. "Woah!" Daniel squeaked as he slipped on a puddle of liquid. The liquid continued to flow on. "Daniel! Get up!" Matthew screeched. "You are lying in a river of blood!" Daniel pulled himself up and dashed forward, until he almost slipped into the acidic canal. "Careful!" Samuel warned, holding him back.

The lights came back on. "AHHH!" Megan screamed in absolute fright, as all of them trembled in fear, looking at the floor, which turned into a river of blood. The blood flowed into the acid canal, causing a chemical reaction that produced smoke all over the basement.

The group choked on the smoke for seconds until the air started to clear up after the ventilation was activated.

Beyond the smoke appeared a dark figure holding a slim, metallic bat. A psychotic grin appeared on its face.

Bryan.

"Looking for this?" he said, waving a blue key in his hand. "It was you. All along. You were the mole, you scum!" Matthew screamed. "Hmm, yes I was the mole. But you guys were stupid enough to take this long to figure out what was going on. So now, who are the scums? Hmm?" he chuckled.

"I'm going to get that key, and I'm going to annihilate you from this place," Matthew shouted in fury. "All right. Come get it!" he cackled maliciously before throwing the key into the acid. "NO!" Matthew screeched. "You know, you people are such idiots, that I wanna kill one of ya! Wait, I can! A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" he snorted.

The lights went out again. There were crawling sounds. Matthew discreetly moved to the safe with the yellow lock engraved on it and unlocked it. He felt his gun inside it and grabbed it. He loaded it quietly as he heard the lights flicker back on.

Then, Megan screamed. She was being held at gunpoint by Bryan. "Ooh, so what are you going to do now? How about, DIE!" Bryan screeched viciously while laughing. He cocked his gun, ready to pull the trigger. "You can't surprise us anymore. We know you're going to kill me. And you know what? DO IT! Once you kill me, you can die staying here," Megan said bravely.

"Oh ho! But if I die here, your friends die with me! Oh, and would you like me to surprise you?" Bryan asked. He then turned the gun away from Megan, pointed it at Samuel, and shot him.

"OH GOSH! PLEASE! NO!" Emma screamed in shock. Matthew quivered. Bryan cackled viciously. Matthew glared at Bryan with his vengeful eyes. "Oh, so now what can you do? Try to save him? He's dead!" Bryan howled at him. "No, I can't," he replied. "BUT THIS IS FOR YOU!" he wailed at Bryan, taking out his gun and shooting him three times. Bryan groaned and fell backwards before slumping into a lifeless rag.

He was dead. But the boar-creature wasn't.

PART VIII

"Samuel!" the remaining survivors screamed in anxiety. "Are you okay?" they asked. "I-I-am-going-to-d-d-die...but...t-thank-you-g-g-guys...e-escape-for-m-me..." he said encouragingly. Those were his last words.

"Samuel!" Matthew cried. The group mourned as Samuel's eyes shut closed and his pulse stopped. Matthew choked on his own tears. It was too much for them to bear altogether. "Let's just die here..." Daniel sobbed. "No," Emma defied. "We...we have to do it for him."

"Do what? Die?" Megan cried. "No, escape," Emma voiced. Then thumping sounds came. Not again, Matthew thought. The boar-creature was back.

"Are...are those red eyes glowing?" Daniel questioned in fright. "Yes, they are. That's the creature. Run." The four of them ran out of the blood and body-filled cafeteria to the cargo storage area. On one of the benches lay a purple key. Emma grabbed it before they turned around and looked at the boar-creature. It stared back at them with its menacing and cruel, red, glaring eyes.

"Well, good thing I still have this," Matthew said fearlessly as he took out his gun and shot the last two bullets he had at the creature. It fell, just like the one in the house. It was still alive, but not going to be conscious for quite a while.

"Okay, so we have to find the purple lock, but where could it be?" Matthew enquired. "Wait, I think I saw a stairway that leads up behind the cafeteria." Daniel snapped. "Let's go!" Megan exclaimed.

Together they went towards the stairway. Running up hastily, they looked around to see if there were any more forms of life, harmless or harmful. Seeing that the coast was clear, they trudged up to the upper level to see if there was any purple lock.

Turns out, the stairway only led to the Captain's room. On a safe was a purple lock. "Ah yes, let me unlock it," Megan said. She carefully placed the key into the lock and turned it gently. The safe opened to reveal a code in it: 4089. They ran back down to the main exit and entered the code, unlocking the digital lock.

"Wait, remember when Bryan threw the blue key into the acid? Wouldn't there be a blue lock on a door somewhere? Maybe the last silver key is in that room. We could try to pick the lock," Daniel suggested. "Good idea," Matthew replied.

They walked back to the prison cells and saw a blue lock on a door and at a wall. "Wait, instead of picking the lock, maybe I could..." Matthew said before trailing off. He reached into his pocket and revealed a blue key. "Hey! That's the blue key! Are you secretly Bryan?" Daniel screeched. "Of course not!" Matthew scoffed.

He took a deep breath. The blue key was one of the keys he had taken from the house he was in. It looked astonishingly similar to the one Bryan held. They were of the exact same shade and they key Matthew held had the same colour as the lock. He slowly fit the key into the lock. It turned.

The door was unlocked.

PART IX

"Woah! How did that work? Now I really believed you were abducted by some similar madman!" Daniel exclaimed in both confusion and delight. Inside was a silver key placed on the floor. Matthew grabbed it as they ran back to the main room.

"ARGH!" Emma screamed. The creature was awake. Already. It was like it knew when to "come conscious". "You know what," Matthew said. "If they use their weapons on us, we can use them back on them. On the floor lay the two bats the Bryan used. Daniel and Matthew each picked up one. "Let's fight this crap of the earth!" Daniel roared vociferously.

They whacked the metal bats onto the creature violently, every hit becoming more intense. Every time the creature swung its old wooden bat at them, they were able to dodge skilfully with no problems. One final blow on the face of the creature finished the job. A whack on the eyes diminished the mocking red glow as the creature became blinded by the final hit. It groaned and roared before tumbling onto the ground roughly and shook around erratically.

Matthew quickly slipped the key into the keyhole and turned it swiftly. The last layer of defence was down! He immediately grasped onto the doorknob and turned it with all his strength. The door finally blew open as they all quivered deliriously. They were finally out.

They finally knew what Matthew had experienced. They all ran towards the car and swooped into it quickly, driving back to their motel. Since there was no way any policemen would believe them anymore, they decided to keep it their secret...

PART X

"You know what, I don't wanna stay here any longer. I miss Manhattan. And I'm happy that this nightmare, especially for you, Matthew, is over," Megan stated. "I agree!" Daniel cheered. "Hey, anyone wants to come to the historical gallery with me? The new one at 115th street?" Matthew suggested. "My friend just started working there. Anyone?" There was silence. "Okay, I take that as a no, and after our experience at the station I hate hearing such silence," he added. "So how do you sleep?" Emma asked kiddingly, breaking the silence by adding a joke. They all laughed.

"Well, I'll get going. And sure, I'll join you," Daniel said. "Yeh, I guess we'll all go with you," Emma said. "Uh, I didn't agree to that but sure," Megan protested. They all left the motel and got into their cars and drove off towards Manhattan, a two-hour drive from there.

Little did they know, there was someone behind them, listening the whole time. His phone vibrated. "Yes, Agent Foxy?" he answered. "I've got info on Davis and his friends. They are headed towards the Metropolitan Gallery of New York History in Manhattan. Make sure you have eyes on them. Once they are in, lock them in and annihilate them. The third time shouldn't fail. Good luck."

The nightmare wasn't over.