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When we last saw our protagonist, they came upon a threat greater than the one chasing them. So much greater, in fact, that the threat chasing them felt threatened by it themselves. Need to catch up? You can read Part XII here. Now everyone’s running and everything’s terrible. What will happen now?

FUCK. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

The ground rumbles with every step taken by the massive thing behind us. All around us, I can hear, sense, and to some degree make out the shadows of an assortment of other creatures swept up by fear of whatever's back there. We're all running, and the smaller, leaner shadows that had crept out from the behind the massive one were nipping at our heels. My heart is racing alongside every creature, pounding away mercilessly, intent on breaking out of my chest to escape what's coming.

I don't blame it one bit. I was already tanked by the time this thing appeared, and I'm running on whatever reserves I managed to build up when I slowed down. Though I try not to think about how I cannot keep this up much longer, my whole body is on fire, making it real hard to think about anything else.

Just when I think my body's about to quit, a warbling sound rises ahead and seems to surround us. Every single creature—all the shadows surrounding me, including the ones chasing us and the wolf-man-beast-thing—grinds to a halt. I take this moment to drop to my knees and roll onto my back to give my whole body a break. But I know this won't last long. The rumbling from behind continues moving in, though it's very slow, and whatever is causing the warbling is very much moving toward us all as well, though I'm not sure how I can tell, as the warbling seems like its coming from all around us. I wonder for a moment if I'm in some sort of snow globe, but instead of a pretty Christmas scene, it's filled with green fog and fucked up monsters. I recognize this can't be right. They warned me about the green fog; it was on the checklist. This leads me to wonder where the fuck all these creatures came from.

Time's up for all the wondering though, as the panic setting in among all the shadows reaches a peak and sends us scurrying off in every direction but forward or back. I'm infected with the panic; I get carried away by it. I roll over, I'm on my feet, and I'm charging to one side, fighting to keep up with the wolf man before I even realize I'm in action. Good thing too, as it isn't long before I hear the rumbling and the warbling collide with one another. The ground begins to shake with more frequency, and very erratically, causing me to stumble. I'm forced to slow down, along with all those who are attempting to flee on foot.

I turn to look, to see if I can make sense of anything behind me. Sure enough, I cannot. If the shape of the massive thing wasn't all to clear to me before, it isn't any better now, especially being farther away from it than when it first rose in front of me. As for whatever's causing the warbling sound, well, that mystery is wrapped up with the giant: all I can make out is a fuzzy, writhing, shadowy mass comprising the two. It shifts, moves, contorts, and the ground all around me shakes with great violence at every one of its slow perturbations. I'm struck dumb, as I have no idea what to make of this. All around me, the other shadowy creatures have stopped to turn and watch as well. We're all spellbound by what I can only guess is an epic battle between two massive creatures who would otherwise be busy chasing down and murdering each of us if not for the distraction of working to murder each other.

Well good, let them have their fun. If it's all the same to them, I would very much like to return to my work. I glance in the direction of the wolf man and it is already lurching off in some direction away from the rumbling monsters. The other shadows have all lost interest as well, peeling away one after another, until I'm left alone with only a few others watching. I realize I should just walk away, but where am I going to go that wouldn't just be more green fog, more nightmares, more not finishing up with the fucking zombie in the employee hall?

Hmm … seems a little anti-climactic, doesn’t it? There was supposed to be more carnage. Or perhaps more terror. Flying, maybe? More monsters rumbling than just these two, with our protagonist in the midst of them, that’s for sure. Well, we’re just as lost as the protagonist. Only way out is to see what happens next week in Part XIV!

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