Jack fumed, clenching and relaxing his fists repeatedly, his brows furrowed in the meanest scowl as his teeth grinded against each other while his muscles tensed as he practically stamped down the hallway. Not caring if he was heard or seen. He couldn't wrap his head around what Rachel said, Copper was there trying her best to stay alive after what she'd gone through and she had the nerve to practically wish her death, how dare she. He knew she was a blatant girl but damn, she didn't have to go that far.

He growled lowly to himself as he continued, not really having any motivation to move besides to actually move, possibly far away from that room. He had gone deeper in the mansion, an unknown area to him, the flashing of lightning outside could still be seen and the thunder now sounded somewhat delayed and muffled. He was oblivious to his surroundings, numb to what was around him, he was so angry he couldn't think properly and his head felt hot. He eventually walked himself out of his temper, huffing to himself as he now felt the pain in his head from his anger and his soles from the stamping, he looked up and realized he was even deeper in the mansion than before, no recognizable landmarks.

"Fuck." He muttered.

He opted to trace his steps and go back the way he came, but suddenly that area didn't feel right to him, the hall seemed to have or at least gaining an unknown presence, a dark presence.

"Ah nope."  He went the other way.

Glancing through the windows he saw the storm brewing above them, thick with grey clouds and the occasional white streaks of lightning, every one he passed had the same image. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Light. Darkness. Wait, light? He backtracked to the window that shed warm light, gasping when he saw outside, it was beautiful. It was a garden, luscious green grass, beautiful flowers of red, orange, green and purple, a large tree in the distance whose branches stretched far and wide, and that's just from what he could see from the window. But what he was more focused on was that he was actually looking outside. Where's the thunder, the lightning, the black clouds that hid the moonlight for themselves? Could this possibly lead off the premises, to a way out the mansion?

He tried the window, trying to force the old but sturdy wooden window open, it wouldn't budge. He growled but hissed as his palm caught on the edge, breaking his skin and causing crimson blood to leak from the opening.

"Again? Really?" He said in disbelief.

He checked his pockets for anything to wrap it with, but found nothing, and he didn't have anymore bandages either, so he just kept his hand in a fist in an attempt to stop the blood flow. He looked out the window again, searching for a way to get there, he thought if this was outside he could find a way to escape, and get the others out of course. He looked through the window once more, gazing beyond the many flowers and plants that appealed to the eye, spotting a much darker area at the far side, there were less plants there and the ones that were looked wilted. Maybe that could be his way out.

"I have to get down there." He willed himself.

He clenched his fist harder as he continued down the hall. The garden was on the ground floor, of course, so he tried to make his way downstairs. But alas the way there wasn't as easy as he thought. Four legged creatures with black matted hair and bone protruding skin roamed the halls, he didn't know which was worse, them, the foul smelling walking rotting corpses that he encountered with Copper or the stone peekaboo beast statues that were going to attack Rachel and Ms. Viridian, and to be honest he didn't want to know. They were everywhere, and those he fought against as well, they roamed every other hall he trekked, like they were searching for something. Or rather someone. Like him perhaps, they could want to finish their assault on him and chew on his bones.

Jack growled and cursed lowly every time he encountered a cluttered hall, groaning when he had to backtrack to find a more traversable path, but also increasing his chances of being noticed by those same creatures. As he walked he saw another plaque on the wall, near a double doored room, he walked up to the plaque to read it. Maybe it will be as useful as the last one he read, besides the fact it missed a very important fact. It read:

The daughter of the human king and the son of the monster king still loved each other very dearly, and would visit each other in secret. They ignored the complaints of her father and were encouraged by the happiness of his. But all good things must come to an end, especially that night.

Monster king? Human king? Was this a fairytale? You only hear about those sort of things in stories. Jack couldn't make anything of what he just read, what kind of joke was this? It wasn't funny at all. Monsters aren't real, and the things here are just. . .things. He shook his head and continued walking. Eventually he made it downstairs, heading down the staircase he went up with Copper, but on the bottom floor he saw a figure backing the stairs, wearing a black shirt and and matching jeans. At first  he wondered who the person was, and what sane person would actually want to come to the dreaded place, unless he's lost, somehow, until he noticed the slick back orange hair.

"Mr. Sandstone?" He said.

The person jumped slightly before, turning around, sighing and holding his chest when he saw no threat.

"Oh thank god, a friendly face," Mr. Sandstone sighed happily, Jack walked down the stairs briskly to him, feeling the same relief as he did, "weren't you with that Rosewood miss, where's everyone else?" He then saw his still bleeding wound, "what happened to your hand?"

Jack reflexively clenched his fist again, "I scraped it, nice clothes." He smirked.

"Heh, they're not mine." He looked to the side.

"You stole em?" He smirked once more.

"I did not! I just. . .borrowed them."

"Uh huh," he shook his head, it didn't strike him that the friendly bus driver was one to steal anyway, "the others are upstairs by the way. Copper isn't  doing so well. . ."

"What happened?" He motioned for both of them to sit on the stairs, "I'll fix this in the mean time."

They sat on the bottom step as Mr. Sandstone took out a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Me and Copper got attacked by some ugly monsters and got separated, I don't know what happened after that but me and Ms. V and Rachel found Vivi carrying Copper in her arms. She was unconscious and covered in blood and bite marks." Jack winced as he tied the handkerchief a bit too tight.

"Sorry. I'm sorry about Miss Copper as well, how's Miss Vivi? We got separated too, some vile creatures they were." He grimaced.

"Yeah she told us about that, she's fine and with the others. I'm surprised you came back unscathed though."

"Heh, yeah. . ," Mr. Sandstone hesitated to tell the Redhead  about Shyren, he already heard what happened to his friend, hearing the hostility and sorrow in his voice, and she didn't seem to be the one to show violence. Should he really tell him?

"Why aren't you with everyone anyway?"

". . .nothing in particular. Just needed a walk."

Mr. Sandstone could tell he was lying, "in a monster infested house, really? That doesn't seem too bright."

"It's nothing." He said bluntly.

Mr. Sandstone decided not to press on.

"Think you can show me where the others are? I'm sure it's been an hour since we left, and I'm sure everyone's not capable of getting back here."

Jack faked a small smile, "sure, it's this-"

Jack turned around to show him the way up the stairs when they spotted those four legged creatures again, Mr. Sandstone's heart sank when they made eye contact, remembering the creatures snapping at his heels. Jack cursed under his breath as he backed away from the stairs when they growled, the bus driver slowly following him, he looked to his right and cursed once more, more of the same creatures had appeared but now intermingled with the two legged ones from before. Their constant roaming has caught up to them.

"Th-There's more??" Mr. Sandstone didn't think that he would meet, or rather encounter different monsters, at least he hoped not, but he somewhat knew it was inevitable.

They were at a stand off, just waiting for the other group to make the next move, to get away or attack. But one of them got impatient. Jack grabbed Mr. Sandstone's arm just as one of the four legged ones pounced at them, pulling him to the right hall to escape, the others soon followed with growls and snarls, this scene seemed all too familiar. They ran in and out of halls, occasionally having to weave through the 'crowded' ones, they huffed hard, they saw a pair of large stone doors to the side, bright light poured in, birds could be heard. Jack's eyes lit up, was this the outside he saw earlier? Mr. Sandstone then suddenly grabbed his wrist and gained a burst of speed, practically dragging the Redhead behind him as he tried to keep up, gaining distance between them and the monsters.

Mr. Sandstone saw the stone doors and ran inside, or rather outside, and pulled Jack to the side wall with his back pressed against it, putting his index finger to his mouth despite breathing hard. They were hidden in the hanging vines that fell from the outside wall of the house itself. They heard skidding and whining, one of the creatures fell outside, and like a scared child, looked around like they did something wrong, like they were scared. It whined and yelped like a dog as it ran back inside, completely oblivious to the males in the vines. Their scurrying soon lessened until they could hear it no more, Jack and Mr. Sandstone let out a loud sigh as the orange haired man slid to the ground, tired and definitely  out of breath.

"I am too old for this shit." He mumbled to himself, the other didn't hear him.

Jack looked around, his heart lifting when he recognised what he saw from the window, the same flowers, the same tree, the same dark area. . .

"Hey have you seen this place before?" He asked as he looked back to the panting man.

Mr. Sandstone looked up to him, then at his surroundings, shrugging as his answer, "nah, ain't never seen anything like this before."

"I think this could be our way out." Jack pondered.

"How so?"

"That dark place there," he pointed to the black gate with the dark surrounding aura, "I think that's our ticket out."

Mr. Sandstone gave the boy a confused look, "that place screams death more than inside. But if you think you're right then I'm with you."

Jack smiled as he helped him up, he didn't think the bus driver would be this supportive, most teachers weren't, so it made him feel. . .lighter inside that someone had his back in this hellhole. As they walked to the dark area Mr. Sandstone noticed there were vines all over the surrounding walls and even lead to the area they were going, he thought the monsters really let the house go to ruin with the vines growing all over the place, it was like they didn't care. Or maybe nothing else mattered beside killing humans. . .The gate was a dark silver and reflected light rather dimly, it was decorated with more vines and the steel bars in the middle formed a large skull in the middle, a very well kept gate despite looking old and worn.

Mr. Sandstone offered, or rather insisted, that he opened the gate by himself, Jack protested but he refused to let him help because of his hand, saying he didn't want him hurt any more or worse than he already was. By the time Jack protested again the bus driver got the gate open, with more effort than needed because of the buildup of dirt, rocks and vines on the other side, Jack made an irritated huff at his persistence. A cold breeze rushed against their bodies, bringing a shiver up their backs, behind the gate was what appeared to be a maze, the tall bush walls reaching higher than they could see, a thick fog on the ground and a thick mist wafting in the air and clouding their vision. They both gulped dryly. Mr. Sandstone was the first to move.

"C'mon," he said, "the sooner we do this the sooner we can get out."

Jack wanted no part in whatever hell was to take place in that death trap, but his pride was getting the better of him, and what kind of man would he be if he cowered at the slightest thing when he knew it would help in the long run? He sighed hard and followed the bus driver into the plant maze, silently wishing they didn't have to stay long.