A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

All of them stepped further onto the platform, and Nick cautiously moved towards the chair. His other teammates followed along, not breaking the formation for safety purposes, especially given the smell in the area. "If we are dealing with a demon," Chris began quietly, "why would it steal those items from those people? Was it merely trying to throw people off about what it was?"

"That might just be the case, and why it didn't go near any of our equipment," Nick answered, jumping onto the tracks and approaching the chair for a closer look. Ren shone the flashlight around the chair and nearby tracks, but he had dimmed it slightly more given the situation, so the light didn't stretch out too far. Such an action meant that it didn't reveal the other item in the area, and none of them knew that the chair had been moved a distance away from where the smell was originating.

Crouching beside the chair and cables, Nick examined the items and signaled for Ren to shine the flashlight directly on the objects. "That's odd." His teammates leaned in closer at his remark. "The bottom of the front legs of the chair seemed to be coated in what looks like vomit." Momentarily, he moved the camera down since the flashlight was enough, and he desired for a better look at the scene.

"Do you think that belongs to one of the missing people?" Deidre questioned, more notes being written on the notepad. Chris pulled out her own notepad to scribble a few things down too.

"It might; it doesn't seem too old." His brown optics focused on the cables only, and he squinted at a slight discoloration on the blue and yellow ones. Nick lifted them up, and his stomach formed an even tighter ball: blood. It was dried, but given the state of the throw-up, it probably was recent too. "We should move out of this area." He held up the cables. "There's blood on these, and I doubt that it's old."

Before any of them could get up, however, a sharp gust of wind blew past them. The awful rotting smell traveled with it, and they all froze on the spot. Deidre coughed from the strength of the stench, and Ren shone his flashlight around the area while Chris put away her notepad and held onto the blueprints tightly. Nick held the video camera up to his face again, and nothing out of the ordinary showed up on it.

Slowly, everyone stood up fully and calmed down a little bit. "Do you think ..." Chris trailed off, staring to where they had come from. Ren rested a hand on her left shoulder and squeezed it a little. His green-hazel optics switched over to Nick.

"I think that we have enough answers for right now." Nick looked over to Deidre. "Place down the video camera by this chair, and we'll leave that here, though; I doubt that it'll last long." She nodded and got to work. He averted his gaze to Ren and Chris. "We need more help. This is out of our league now." The calm urgency in his voice was enough to send chills up their spines, and Deidre tried not to fumble with setting up the camera in the process.

As they waited, Ren increased the brightness of the flashlight since he figured that the thing already knew where they were, so there was no point in putting themselves at further disadvantage. When he did so, though, he turned around briefly in the process to double check that nothing was behind them. There was no one or no being behind them, but the light did catch something even more troubling. "Nick," he started, his eyes not leaving the sight. His tone was hesitant and fearful. That was enough to catch Nick's attention, and he followed his friend's gaze down the tracks.

In the beam of light, there was a large pool of blood on the tracks, and a large deposit of what looked like squished maggots. It was almost as though the bugs had exploded all over the place. And, it didn't help that there were drops of blood leading towards them and in the direction of where the wind headed. Deidre, instinctively, clung to Nick's right arm, having finished placing the camera, as she put away her notes; she wouldn't forget what she was viewing, and she could write it down later.

Everything came crashing down around Nick. Dead maggots meant that something had been lying in that pool, something rotting. And, that pointed to what caused the awful smell. Since the maggots only were in that location too, it led to something having killed all of them. If for some reason, the demon had allowed maggots to crawl on it or that was just part of its form, the maggots would've traveled towards them along with the blood droplets. Those facts suggested that there had been a corpse in the pool of crimson, and due to the stench, it had been left there until just recently.

The gust of wind ... "Oh no," Nick muttered, his body beginning to shake. It felt like his legs became jelly, and he barely could hold onto the camera. Something that could move a body quickly and not be seen even as it ran right past someone, something that even could lift a body with ease and something that had a very easy reason for taking people ... Maybe, he was over-thinking or jumping to conclusions, but he didn't want to risk anything. "We're leaving right now," he voiced as his body continued to tremble.

His teammates stared to him. Panic was in his eyes, and it was as though he wasn't mentally with them. Rather, it seemed like he was reliving past events, and such a look told them what was happening. "Then, you mean," Deidre began, "that he's ... h-h-he's h-h-here ..." Her words tumbled away into a horrified stutter.

Chris froze and clutched the blueprints to her chest as though they were a weapon that could take on the thing Nick feared most. Ren stood close to Chris and intertwined his free hand with her left one. She appreciated the gesture, but she couldn't display it on her countenance. Fear was consuming her body too, especially when Nick nodded to Deidre's words.

With a simple command, he spoke, "Turn on your flashlights and move." None of them hesitated, and all of them, except Ren, retrieved their flashlights and switched them on. They proceeded to climb back onto the platform and run for the entrance. The beams of light were on maximum power, and they gave away their position, but their booming steps did that too. There was no point in hiding; the thing, no the creature, already knew where they were. And moments ago, he had been inches away from them. All of them could've died a few seconds ago, but he was messing with them, like he had tormented them back in Cankerfell.

Whether they lived or died depended on his mood and their luck. Then again since they had helped out (f/n), their outcome practically was guaranteed, but Nick would do his best to prevent that even if he wanted to curl up into a ball and cry his eyes out. The one thing he especially didn't wish to lead his crew into, he did, and all of their lives could be lost in moments. Knowing the creature, he probably would kill all of his teammates first to make him suffer, and their deaths might not be slow. Nick couldn't describe the terror racing through him at that point, but he couldn't stop running; he had to get them out of there if he could. He just had to try.

But, what made it all worse was that he had told Deidre that the creature wouldn't be down in the subway. (F/n) wouldn't have ventured into such a place, yet the thing they were dealing with now had to be him. The missing people and stolen items made sense; he needed food and clothing for both (f/n) and him. And, there probably were other stolen items from the other missing people in the location. As for the lockbox and jewelry, they most likely were just to throw people off, or they were meant as income for later. Maybe, they were even some present for (f/n) from the creature, which would've seemed very odd had (f/n) not explained the creature's growing attraction to her. His running slowed down a bit at those thoughts, and his team almost charged into him before they stopped abruptly. "What's the matter?" Ren practically yelled out of concern.

Holding his left hand up, he signaled for his team member not to say another word. "Why?" His friends became confused. Why would the creature stay in the subway with her? He would take her back to her parents' house if he won the game; he wouldn't keep them in such a place. Had (f/n) lost him again, and the creature had stumbled his way into this place? His brows furrowed. That might be the case, but why take all of those unnecessary items? And beforehand, the creature had laid low when his team and he had aided (f/n). Nick doubted that the creature would make such a public display during their game since the both of them desired for it to be kept as secret as possible.

Then again, there had been the diner and teenager. There also were those four kids, so the creature might be taking such an approach out of anger if he lost (f/n). Or, it might just be some form of sick amusement to distract himself from (f/n) escaping him again. He only broke out of such thoughts when Chris tugged on his right coat sleeve, the blueprints secured under that arm. "Nick, what's the matter?"

"I don't know." He knew that he should be running, but his mind couldn't get it out of his head that all of this was very strange. Why would the creature stay in one place for so long? Sure, he had remained back in Gracious Falls presumably, or around that area at least, for about three weeks, but the missing persons had started up first around two months ago. Nick would think that the creature would move locations after awhile to try and pinpoint her down. Or, maybe, he really was staying by himself in the subway for so long.

What else could explain what they had seen and what had happened just moments ago? There were other explanations, and they really might be dealing with a demon or some insanely powerful ghost, but those conclusions no longer sat right with him. It just was all too bizarre, which was saying something given his past experiences with the creature.

"Nick, we need to move," Ren pressed, letting go of Chris's hand to comfort his boss and friend for a moment. Slowly, Nick nodded, and he broke off into a run with them again. Ren was right. Even with his troubling thoughts, he could go over them in a safer place; he needed to keep his team safe first.