The sensation of pulling stopped as abruptly as it had begun, replacing the irresistible suction with the harsh reality of a brief, uncontrolled fall. Renji hit the ground with a breath-stealing impact, landing heavily on his shoulder in a disorganized pile of tangled limbs. Cries of pain and surprise erupted around him in a gloom different from that of the outer cavern.

  The air here was stagnant, thick with a sickeningly sweet, slightly musty odor, like forgotten floral perfume in a room sealed for decades. Pale light emanated from torn paper lanterns hanging from unseen beams somewhere high above, casting long, flickering shadows that danced like specters.

  Before Renji could even try to untangle himself or figure out where they were, a strangled gasp drew his gaze to the center of the room.

  Takeshi. He was on his knees, or rather, collapsing, eyes wide with mute terror. And above him…

  A woman. Almost normal in appearance, dressed in a dark, worn kimono, she stood there. But her neck… her neck was wrong. Impossibly long, thin as a bamboo stalk, it snaked through the air before coiling tightly around Takeshi’s throat. And on the woman’s face, floating at the end of that grotesque neck, was a smile. Wide, fixed, utterly devoid of warmth or humanity. A pure rictus of malicious pleasure.

  Instead of a sharp crack, the neck visibly tightened. Takeshi gurgled, clawing uselessly at the constricting ring cutting off his air. His bulging eyes, filled with an agony beyond comprehension, swept over the horrified faces of the newcomers for one terrifying second before the light went out of them. His body went limp, the Yokai’s impossibly long neck uncoiling with reptilian grace. Takeshi crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

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  Dead. Strangled before their eyes. Horribly.

  For a split second, the nine survivors remained frozen, petrified by the absolute horror. Renji’s brain refused to process it.

  Dead. He's... dead.

  Then the spell broke. The Rokurokubi, her smile widening even further, slowly turned her perched head towards the freshly arrived group.

  Pure, blind panic overwhelmed all rational thought. A collective scream of terror rose, led by Daichi’s piercing shriek.

  “THE DOOR!”

  Someone yelled. Maybe it was Junichi, or maybe the collective survival instinct speaking.

  Get out. Go back. The way they came. The obsidian door. The only conceivable escape.

  It was a chaotic scramble. Renji was pushed, shoved, running purely on instinct, his legs moving on their own. He stumbled over someone (Misaki?) who had fallen, pulling her up with a mechanical tug before continuing his desperate flight towards the dark archway that represented their only salvation.

  Faster! Out! Now!

  Behind them, a rapid slithering sound scraped across the floor, like silk being dragged over stone, signaling the monster was moving. Renji didn’t dare look back, fear chilling his bones. That smile. He couldn’t risk seeing that smile again.

  The group reached the opening, pouring through in a desperate crush. Kenta and Goro used their brute strength to force their way through, pulling Aiko and Misaki with them. Junichi and Haru slipped through. Daichi was sobbing hysterically but was practically carried by Goro.

  Renji felt a cold draft on his back, a presence rapidly closing in. He instinctively glanced back for a split second and froze. The Rokurokubi’s smiling face was right there, just feet away, neck extended, lunging towards him. He threw himself bodily through the threshold, rolling hard onto the spongy floor of the outer cavern.

  SLAM!

  A heavy, final sound. The obsidian door had slammed shut violently behind them.

  Gasping, trembling, the group members painfully pulled themselves to their feet in the gray-green light of the cavern. They were out. Alive.

  They had survived. But they had failed their first, involuntary attempt. The cost of that failure was now seared into their minds. One attempt used. Two remaining before they were trapped forever with the smiling nightmare.