Shinji pulled the door, held it till Fujimoto got inside. Then he let the door close by itself. The door swung towards the frame with its own pace but here came a loud thud as the entrance got shut.
Something clicked behind them which made Fujimoto turn towards the door.
“Are we locked?” Fujimoto squeaked after hearing the sound.
Shinji moved his head around the dark house while they made little progress by their feet.
It was an attic where they were standing but nothing seemed in its place. Soon they were hearing something strange when they began walking towards the passage beside stairs.
Sound of mild whistling and breathing was reverberating inside the gigantic house. Something was rustling in the house but it was not wind. They were yet to see any window.
Sense of eerie was tingling in Shinji’s stomach. He was sweating. And he knew it was not because of heat.
“Chosokabes live here?” Shinji was astonished.
“This doesn’t look right.” Fujimoto’s mouth had dried.
Fujimoto tumbled down on something. Looking at the floor beneath him, he was two big eyes staring at him without blinking.
Fujimoto caught the head as big as his by its antennas.
“How can a cockroach’s head be this big?” Fujimoto said by showing it to Shinji.
“Its body must be somewhere around here. They can survive without heads.”
“Good. He won’t bite us.” Fujimoto threw the head on floor.
Sound coming from the house changed. It was like someone clearing his nose. Then the noise of snoring came from distance, dwarfing every other sound.
“The family is sleeping.” Fujimoto said.
“This is odd. Tetsu had said they would be expecting us.” Shinji was skeptical about everything.
“Is anyone there?” Fujimoto bellowed, “Mr. and Mrs. Chosokabe!”
There came a grunting sound from somewhere.
Shinji stopped Fujimoto from making himself loud this time.
“Follow the sound. We already have bad reputation with this family. Let’s show them we have got some manners.” Shinji explained.
Harsh moaning voice was getting louder.
“Are we getting closer?” Fujimoto whispered.
Shinji’s heart was pounding against his ribs. Even though he said yes, the sound didn’t make it to Fujimoto’s ears.
They heard footsteps echoing inside the passage. Loud tramps ended when a man appeared at the end of passage with a bag in his hand.
The man saw both of them but didn’t respond.
Something roared and the man ran towards the source of sound. Without letting any second go in vain, the two killers ran behind him – which worsened the growling noise from somewhere nearby.
When they took the turn at the passage then they saw what thing had such uncomforting noise.
A creature with eight limbs, thrice the taller than them was gazing at them with its sole squid like eyes. Its eyes were as big as the crystal ball and glowed like it.
Fujimoto could see the crack on it resembling to what he had caused in Tetsu’s house. The creature crawled on slime by the help of her rubber like flexible arms.
Shinji misjudged how long its hands were. It stretched her arm and wrapped it around Shinji’s waist. Getting in its grasps made Shinji realize its tentacles had suction cups on them.
Fujimoto wasn’t having a comfortable time either. The creature had got hold of Fujimoto’s limb and was tightening it more.
“Did he turn into this monster?” Fujimoto let a question leak out of his mouth.
Squid like creature tightened its grip on them.
