The masked Hunter went silent for a long moment before they nodded and turned to the rest of the Hunters. As they turned around, the back of the Hunters was shown. They had what looked like the key of a wind-up toy attached to their neck which was slowly, but surely, turning.
The brown coated Librarian turned his head when he saw Harley coming into the library. He started making his way towards the man as the horde of mindless Hunters made their way up. At that time, though, the library door was already opened and meant that Harley could now slip inside.
The man, who was definitely panicking by now, entered the library and closed the door, leaning his back against it as he took a few deep breaths. What kind of place was this because it was definitely not a holiday.
Clamping his eyes shut for a moment, Harley gathered his thoughts before slowly opening them again. His eyes fell immediately on the person in the brown coat, and immediately he started internally panicking.
And although the outside Hunters had no voice, their breathings could be heard quite clearly. The Librarian forcefully pulled Harley out of the way as they turned to the mace on the shelf just beside the door before he unlocked the door and pulling it wide open to see the hungry mindless horde of Hunters waiting outside. The Librarian started to recite…
”Girls and boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,
And come with your playfellows into the street.
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny roll will serve us all.
You find milk, and I'll find flour…”
The Librarian gave a pause. Not long after, the sound of something like porcelain breaking could be heard. From one, to many more, the sound of porcelain breaking was slowly growing louder and louder until silence broke it. There, on the ground, were the bloodless and headless bodies of the ‘Hunters’ that had scared the living day lights out of Harley. Within the seemingly silent atmosphere, the sudden maniacal laughter from the Librarian was easily heard, followed by the shaking recital of the last line of the rhyme as they turned back to Harley.
”…And we'll have a pudding in half an hour,”
…
The masked Hunter who was with Emerson turned back to them. ”A number of Hunters are being killed upstairs… we must both go up. Only you can end the game,” the Hunter claimed, extending his hand towards Emerson as if inviting him to take it.
Emerson hesitated, but took the hand. They were trying so hard not to panic as they took a deep breath and attempted to keep their composure. "Do you happen to have another gun, by chance?" They had a feeling that their small self defense items wouldn't be enough to defend themself from whatever was about to happen.
Harley froze up, his eyes blinking rapidly as he tried—and failed—to avert his eyes from the corpses. He screamed at his mind to look away, but he just couldn’t. All colour seemed to drain from his face and his body started shaking before his eyes rolled back. His body fell limp, falling forwards towards the librarian.
The Hunter stopped completely before he reached behind his belt to pull out another pistol, handing it to Emerson. As they arrived at the second floor, in front of the library were the bodies of the Hunters who came first. Their porcelain heads were shattered like they were just bowls. However, the talking masked Hunter did not seemed fazed by this for they just turned to the library. ”He is in there. I cannot enter, but you can. The Librarian does not like loud noises. Please, do be careful,”
…
The Librarian had already closed the doors before he knelt down to pick Harley’s body up. He sat the man down under his working desk where no one entering would see unless they came around to where the Librarian was sitting. Once there, the Librarian started softly reciting something once more.
”Can you count the stars that brightly
twinkle in the midnight sky?
Can you count the clouds, so lightly
o'er the meadows floating by?
God, the Lord, doth mark their number,
with His eyes that never slumber;
He hath made them every one.
Can you count the wings now flashing
in the sunshine's golden light?
Can you count the fishes splashing
in the cooling waters bright?
God, the Lord, a name hath given,
to all creatures under Heaven;
He hath named them every one,”
The Librarian gently nudged Harley’s body in an attempt to wake him up while not looking down at him to cause much suspicion in case Emerson had decided to walk in. ”Wakey wakey…” he muttered softly, really trying to get Harley to wake up.
(I would just like to make a point that Reed has deleted their account)
