A Serenade for the Innocent - 121 What Lies Beyond the Crimson Door

“We’re here,” I said as I looked at the rusted red door at the end of the murky and dark stone hallway.

“I-is that the exit?” The silver man asked with a nervous grin plastered on his stupid, stupid face.

“Unfortunately not, my dear friend, silver,” I said to the silver man with a gentle smile while tapping his back. However, if given a chance, I would have wanted to smack the ever living holy blessing out of his empty head with one full smack! OH LORD, GIVE ME PATIENCE NOT TO END THIS MAN RIGHT HERE AND NOW!

“I see…” The silver man said with a dejected tone. Wait, did he seriously think that this is the end? How dumb can this man truly be!?

“So what do we have to do now, father?” The nurse said as he stood beside me while looking at the rusted door. However, I could see with the way she purposely moved away a few inches from me that she’s still disgusted with the fact that I just hugged the bloodied stranger earlier.

“We need flesh!” The bloodied man said as he pointed his grease-filled finger at the rusted red door. “Wait for me, friends, I will hunt rats for all of us!”

“There’s no need for that!” The policeman groaned as he pinched the area between his eyes. “… right?” He said with a dubious look while looking at me.

Sincerely, I would have wished that the bloodied stranger would leave and ‘hunt rates’ for us, so we can get rid of him, but here we are now! Ugh…

“Well, yes, we don’t, in fact, need to hunt rats, my friend!” I said to the bloodied stranger with a profound deepness in my smile. I wish they could not see the way my veins pulsate out of my forehead for trying my hardest to contain my anger. “I believe there’s a plastic container inside of your yellow body bags that contains raw, meat, correct?” I said while gently pointing my hand towards the nurse’s body bag.

They then swiftly moved and opened their body bags to see what lies inside of it, and the four of them gasped with joy after seeing that there is, indeed, a substantial plastic container inside of their bags. When they opened the tight lid of the plastic box, they saw that there’s a chunk of raw pig’s meat in it, sending a foul smell all over us, which indicated that the pig must have been slaughtered in a rather uncompromising state. Perhaps it was ill before it died, but it was butchered anyway.

“What are we supposed to do with this, father?” The salesman said while looking at the meat in his plastic container with a noticeable scowl on his face. He then pinched his nose tightly, trying his hardest not to whiff any of its heavy odor.

“Do any of you have any ways to slice a small portion of one of your raw meats?” I said while moving my head around us with a nonchalant smile.

The policeman then instinctively moved his hands on his bulging pocket and was about to take something from out of his slacks when he suddenly stopped himself from doing so. Wordlessly, he stepped away from us with a knowing gaze.

Hmm… Whatever was that supposed to mean? Oh well, I hope he doesn’t know that I saw whatever it is that he did there.

“Well?” I said once more while retaining my usual smile as I ignored the way the policeman allowed himself to be left out of the limelight for once. “We really need to have something to cut the meat to pieces before we could move on.”

They then all looked at me with raised eyebrows, perhaps wordlessly thinking that there must be something wrong with me for asking a piece of meat just to open a door. Meanwhile, the policeman was still dazed in the corner while looking at his bulging pocket. I decided to ignore their prying eyes and just went on with the damn thing since I am so not good at explaining things. Let’s just show these people what we got, and we will get a move on from this stupid rock area already.

The silver man was about to utter something when, suddenly, the bloodied stranger swiftly moved to take his contained away from his hands. The bearded man then immediately took the meat from out of the container and nibbled on it tightly with his blackened and yellowed teeth. While shaking his head, he used his teeth to take a small chunk of the raw meat using his obviously weak teeth.

“H-hey! What the fuck are you doing!” The silver man said as he pointed at the bloodied stranger. However, the man still nibbled on the meat, trying his hardest to rip a chunk of it out using his gritting teeth.

“No! Allow him to do what he must!” I said as I placed my hands on the silver man’s chest, halting him from stopping the man with whatever he’s doing.

Then, after gnawing the raw meat with his cavity-filled teeth, the man finally managed to take a piece out of the still bloodied animal flesh and hurriedly went on all fours. Our eyes met whatever he was doing, and when we looked down, we saw that the man was pointing his mouth at a small hole located somewhere at the lower portion of the rusted red door. The bloodied stranger then spat the raw pig’s meat in his mouth right into the hole with perfect precision.

“Observe!” I exclaimed to the other people as I heard the red door hiss with a mechanical sound. After a few beeps coming out of the red door, it suddenly slid open, revealing whatever lies on the other side. I then explained, “The doors of this dungeon have to be opened using some kind of flesh; it doesn’t matter what kind—we just need to use some kind of flesh. As we get deeper and deeper into the dungeon, the doors will get even more demanding as well and will start asking us to offer larger quantities of meat. As long as you hold onto those flesh of meat, we will surely be able to survive this place until the last door!”

I tried my hardest to explain; however, the four people with me started to look at the next area outside of the red door with awe-filled expressions. Their mouths then formed the letter O as they gasped in disbelief at what they’re seeing.

“Are we really… in the same place?” The nurse said while cautiously moving his gaze from all over the new area. She even whiffed the air around her to sense if she actually sees a portal to a different dimension. Perhaps she has determined the actuality of this change, for she suddenly showed a distorted smile that was accompanied by her eyebrows tightly knitted together.

What lies before us is a large hall made out of nothing but metal. The floor is made out of shiny stainless steel, while the ceiling looked precisely the same other than the fact that it has a few notable scratches on it. We also noticed that the walls are nothing but colossal metal poles lined perfectly on the side of the large rectangular hall. It is noticeable that there seem to be vast spaces between each pole. We could also see that there’s some kind of room on the other side of the poles.

Since the spaces around the pole are large enough, it is evident that a person can fit himself on it to get inside of the room on the other side of the poles. Looking intently, one can obviously infer that there’s light coming out of the room on the other side of the poles, so this turned the place into a well-lit hall, making it a stark contrast from the absolute darkness of the hallways behind us.

I then looked up at the ceiling with a smile filled with intent.

“Well then, my friends,” I said with my arms outstretched as I directed my body towards the awed people behind me. “Welcome to the second area!”

“S-second area?” I heard one of them say, but I am feeling my oats so much right now that I can’t seem to see the people around me.

“Yes! Second area!” I said before moving my hand in a 180-degree motion above my head as if trying to draw some kind of halo in my head. I, too, am not sure why I did it, but all I know for sure is that I loved doing it somehow; it elevates the excitement within me! “This dungeon is divided into different sectors that do not at all look exactly the same as the other ones! The ones you’re seeing behind you is the dark and stone-y first area while the one before you is the shimmering metallic second area!” I then tried my hardest to contain the excitement I’m feeling by inhaling a deep breath as I moved my head around me to gaze at the dumbfounded expressions. “Beware, my dear friends, oh, beware, indeed! Not all areas are as forgiving as the one you just experienced!”

I showed a melancholic frown at them with almost a teary eye, but deep inside, I… ahaha… I just contain it anymore, I… hahaha… HAHAHAHAHA!