#iron slabs strapped to his feet . fucking hell

[raptorrobot]

messmer's shitass kicks

[thegremlinofransei]

Welcome to the Family | Ch. 2

Resident Evil 7 AU

Fandom: Split, Glass

Rating: M (strong language, violence)

Word Count: ~2.3K

Summary: It’s been three years since Kevin disappeared. However, Casey tracks him to an abandoned farmhouse in Louisiana–the site of a recorded murder–and vows to find him. Little does she anticipate the horrors that await…

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Casey slowly staggered back into a crouching position, careful not hit her head on the coffee table. Eyeing up the ominous hearth on the nearby wall, she took a deep breath and shuffled over to it. With an outstretched arm, she felt her way around the top of the fireplace until her hand ran across a chilled metal handle, and she pulled downward.

Chink-chink-chink-chink-creeeaaaak

The hidden door, which had blended in with the wainscoting around the room up until now, cracked inward slightly, revealing the way that the men in the video had taken. Casey shuffled over to it, every cell in her brain screaming that it was a bad idea, but her body had taken control now. I can’t escape anyway, she reminded herself, so the only way to go is down.

Upon entering the small room on the other side, she stood up, grateful to stretch her legs. The room was still in as bad of shape as it was in the video and, to both Casey’s excitement and dismay, the ladder still plunged into the dilapidated abyss. She crept over to it, turned herself around, and began her descent into hell, tucking her flashlight into the front of her bra strap.

About six rungs down, however, the rotten wood snapped in her right hand. She hung onto the ladder with her left hand and foot before bringing her right back to the ring below, but her weight was too much for the ring to bear. It broke apart in Casey’s hands, and she plummeted to the ground below, watching fifteen more rotted rungs fly before her eyes. With a hard landing on her back, she felt the air forcefully escape her lungs, which could only be vocalized with a small whimper.

After taking a breath, Casey grunted a small “Dammit” before gingerly rolling over and steadying herself back to her feet. She stepped over to her flashlight, which had clattered near the brick wall, and scooped it up. The room she now stood in was a dank dungeon, and she shined her light to the pipes on the other wall. At least they disposed of the bodies, she thought with a dry humor.

Just to the left of the pipes was an entryway. The same entryway that the person with the workboots had come through before the video cut out. Casey rounded the corner into a foreboding hallway lit only by a caged lightbulb that declined into a pit, washed out by the bayou. She was unnerved by the prospect of trudging through the likely diseased and leech-infested water, but she knew she was without choice. Besides, she jested to herself, it can’t be worse than having my face smashed into a pipe.

She soldiered onward and scooted herself into the neck-deep water, shivering as her body heat transferred to it. Narrow fluorescent lights rounded a corner and made a discernible path for Casey to follow. Immediately around the corner, she came to a rafter and had to crouch slightly. She shuddered as she lowered all but her face into the grimy water and quickly stood back up as soon as her head was clear.

Casey rounded another corner, and another dim hallway on dry land came into sight beyond the next rafter. She hastened her pace the best she could and resumed her stances from the prior rafter. 

As she crept through, something popped out of the water just two inches from her face, and she reeled back, now fully submerged in the water. The grime burned her eyes and throat, and after regaining her balance, she stood back up and stared at what had startled her.

Bobbing in front of her was Jai’s head, half-rotted and covered in maggots, severed brutally and still gouged through. Casey heaved at the sight, thankful to rid herself of any water she swallowed and horrified yet again by this nightmarish journey. She sloshed water around her slightly to bob the gruesome decapitation away from her, finished her amble under the rafter, and edged along the wall to avoid any more surprises.

Upon reaching dry land, Casey wrung out her hair and waved her t-shirt against her body. She dropped the turgid flashlight to the ground, praying that more of the halls would be lit up as it clattered to her side. Removing her shoes, she poured water out of them and wrung out her socks before putting them back on and continuing on to the heavy wooden door in front of her.

It was unlocked and gave way with a quick shove. On the other side was a true dungeon, grimly adorned by brick support columns and wrought-iron cages. Casey’s heart raced at record-breaking speed as she pushed forth. Every part of her shook from the combined chill that the evaporating water instilled in her and the terrifying thoughts of what could possibly be happening here.

She spun around as the door slammed shut behind her. Of course this is a fucking trap, she told herself drearily. The backpack, the windows, the tape, the ladder, the head… Her head was swarming, but she was desperate to escape, and her only hope was to venture further into the clutches of whomever was keeping her here.

An incandescent lightbulb flickered brightly from the ceiling about midway through the dungeon, casting an eerie glow onto a slab of wood covered in drawings. Casey turned back around to examine this mural, first noticing a stick figure family doodled in red. A father and mother stood together at the top of the slab, while two- no, three- smaller figures were positioned further down. A son, a daughter, and a cryptic dwarf with a darkened face.

To the right was a spiral of I’m sorry. over and over again, descending to the center until the messy script became illegible and took the vague shape of an eye, which glowered into Casey’s soul as she tried to choke back tears at the haunting message. She stepped away from the slab and rounded another corner.

Light.

A golden glow filtered through a cage at the end of this hall. Casey hurried toward it and was left incredulous by the sight on the other side. A broad, muscular form sprawled on a filthy mattress in the back corner. His head angled slightly toward the back wall, his right arm rested over his chest, which slowly rose and fell. Donned in a grungy white t-shirt and torn, loose-fitting jeans, a mop of brown hair laying unkempt over his face.

“Kevin!” Casey gasped, joy flooding through her veins for the first time in this shithole. She didn’t expect him to actually be here, and alive, after viewing the disheartening video tape. Oh my God, she thought with relief, he’s actually here. I’m trapped and there’s death everywhere, but…he’s fine. 

She didn’t even try to hold back her tears now. Letting the floodgates open, she resolved herself to get herself and her long-lost boyfriend out of that godforsaken house.

A chain was wrapped around the cage door’s handle, and Casey searched frantically for something to remove it with. To her left was the entryway to a small workshop lit by a fluorescent light tube, which she entered and did a once-over of.

The first thing she noticed was a small sheet of paper with writing laying on the workbench. Casey approached the document and read it. A list of names on the left, and the words Dead and Turned directly across from each. Three entries in particular stood out to her as she looked on in horror.

Joseph - Dead

Jai - Dead

Fletcher - L

Casey swore to herself that the minute she and Kevin left, she would find a payphone and call the cops on whatever malevolent bastard inhabited this seventh circle. Turning the paper over, she was disturbed further by the top entry, lacking a word to its right.

Kevin

Couple of fighters, aren’t we? Casey remarked mentally as she wiped the tears from her eyes. A gleam to her right ripped her attention away from the list, and she saw her ace in the hole. A brand new pair of bolt cutters. She reached for the clunky tool, nearly the length of her arm, and pulled it toward her as she pivoted back to the doorway.

Casey rushed to the cage door and forced the heavy handles open. Lining up the jaws of the cutters around the chain, she mustered her strength and heaved them shut. They firmly bit down on the thin chain, and with a few more seconds of pressure, her obstacle snapped and clattered to the stone floor. She threw open the door and practically sprinted across the cell to Kevin’s bedside.

“Kevin?” Casey squeaked out, shaking the man’s shoulder and attempting a brave face. “Oh my God…Kevin, it’s me! It’s Casey!”

“Casey,” he exhaled in a raspy voice as his eyes drifted open. Upon seeing the face for this name, his gaze widened and he pushed himself up to a sitting position. “Casey?” he asked his expression filled with anxiety and disbelief.

“Oh my God, babe,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re still alright.”

He swung his legs around to the edge of the bed and hastily shoved her away. Casey, alarmed by how cold his demeanor had turned in a split second, stared into his fearful ocean eyes. After a few heaving breaths, Kevin finally exclaimed, his voice pitched up by terror, “You shouldn’t be here!”

“What do you mean?” Casey asked, her eyes welling up. “You messaged me!”

“No! I wouldn’t!” Kevin bolted up from his seat, then sat back down as his voice gained a layer of delirium. “Did I?”

A lightning bolt of fear flashed across his face as he stood up. Gripping Casey’s shoulders and gazing into her eyes, he inquired hurriedly, “Did anyone see you? Did HE see you?”

“He?” she repeated back to him as he looked out of the cell. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she realized how fucked they were if Kevin, strong and intelligent Kevin, was scared witless of whomever had lured her here.

“Dad is coming.” he told her as he snatched her wrist and pulled her along. “We need to go!”

“Dad?”

Instead of an explanation, he only repeated with a slight crescendo, “We need to go NOW!”

Kevin ventured out into the workshop and ran across the room to a narrow passage with Casey in tow. Before proceeding, however, she pulled back, bringing his face to hers as she rested a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“What the hell is going on? Baby…you’ve been gone for three years,” she murmured.

This only distressed him more. “Has…has it really been three years?” This was punctuated by a shake of his head as he stepped away from Casey and continued on through the passage.

They journeyed onward, and they reached a doorway that was blocked by a rack of metal shelves, and Casey stopped Kevin before he attempted to squeeze through the opening between the rack and the wall.

“You need to tell me what’s going-”

“I don’t fucking know, Casey!” Kevin snapped, tears forming in his eyes. “I didn’t send you that damn message, all I know is the family brought food through here. Just…” He sighed with dejection. “Let’s go.”

Kevin’s eyes lit up as they squeezed through to the other side and a wooden door came into sight. He pushed it open, and they entered into a cellar furnished only by a metal cart and a sofa.

Kevin sprinted to the opposite wall. “What the…there was a door here. It’s gone!” His frenzied breathing calmed as he turned around and gazed to a confused Casey. “Babe,” he whispered staggering to the sofa, “we can be a family now.”

Casey was freaked out by this display, and choked out, “I’ll look through the storage closet,” gesturing to a small room off to the side.

The closet circled around a set of shelves decorated by nondescript crates and a single doll. Casey lifted the doll from its shelf and examined it. It was the size of her hand and plastic, portraying a redheaded, freckled little boy wearing a blue and yellow tracksuit.

Crash! “Let me go, you fucking bastard!”

Casey dropped the doll and ran back out to the main room. Kevin was nowhere to be seen, and a giant doorway now stood in the wall that he had so anxiously scoured earlier. She crept to the doorway and peered through, finding a concrete staircase just to her left. Starting her ascent back to what she hoped could be called the real world, she found the door at the top of the stairs cracked slightly open.

It opened into yet another long hallway, but at least this one looked like something one could find in a normal home. The windows along the opposite wall were boarded up, but Casey could hear the rumbling thunder and pouring rain on the other side. A dresser with a landline phone sat beneath the nearest window, and for a moment she was hopeful again that she could get herself and Kevin out of this prison. That was, until she picked up the handset and heard a series of damning beeps.

Casey slammed it back down and continued on. The next door she came to was a decrepit bathroom. A few palm-sized plastic bottles of antibiotic ointment sat by the sink, and she picked them up and shoved them into her belt loops, now dry enough to carry them without slipping.

Bambambambambambambam!

The knocking came from back down the hallway.

Casey hurried out of the bathroom and back down the hallway, finding the door to the stairs shut. The raucous noise ended shortly and was punctuated by the dragging of metal against concrete.

Casey lightly shoved the door open and cautiously inched down the first two steps, breathing in unison with a raspier, more primal breath from below.

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A/N: Yeah yeah yeah, the format is slightly different, blah blah blah. But look at that beautiful Read More cut! Only took an hour of HTML on mobile XD Also sorry for the cliffhanger If you came for the violence, I promise that starts in the next chapter, mwahaha 😈 Again, just ask if you want to be tagged!

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