Rising from the Ashes (Andrew and Lauren)

"Mr. Lloyd, wait for me!" Chantelle shouted from behind.

Andrew cursed loudly, "Are you crazy? Why did you follow me?"

Despite his harsh words, he slowed down slightly to let Chantelle catch up. The passage was not particularly long, and after running about 300 feet, they could see the end ahead.

Andrew made a split-second decision, grabbing Chantelle and ducking into a side chamber. Like the previous chambers they had seen, this one also contained coffins, and one of them happened to have its lid open.

Andrew wrapped his arms around Chantelle and leaped into the coffin. Then, he reached back and swiftly pulled the stone lid shut.

Outside, they heard a loud crash followed by gunshots. Andrew did not need to think twice to know that Kevin was battling the Night Hag, but the commotion lasted only a moment before falling silent.

"Is Mr. Wright Senior dead?" Chantelle whispered.

Andrew shook his head, indicating he did not know either.

The stone coffin had a musty smell, but thankfully, there were no other strange odors. Both of them held their breath, listening intently for any sounds from outside.

Time crawled by slowly, and the outside remained eerily quiet.

Andrew had long since discarded his torch, but fortunately, his phone's backlight provided just enough illumination for their cramped space.

"Ms. Garcia, you're really heavy!" Andrew complained.

Chantelle's face was pale, though it was unclear whether from fear or her usual complexion. "Just deal with it. Once that monster leaves, I'll get out! And for your information, I'm not heavy-I only weigh 110 pounds, thank you very much!"

She was lying on top of Andrew, who was flat on his back inside the coffin. The two were face-to-face, close enough to feel each other's breath in the phone's dim glow.

One minute passed, then two. After half an hour, Andrew finally spoke quietly, "That Night Hag should be gone by now. Ms. Garcia, why don't you push open the coffin lid and take a look outside?"

Chantelle gritted her teeth and refused, "I'm not looking! If you want to check, you do it!"

She could not believe he was asking her to go out and risk her life.

Did Andrew not realize that she was genuinely terrified of ghosts?

Andrew replied helplessly, "I'd love to go look, but you're pinning me down. I can't get up!"

Chantelle was speechless at his logic.

Another half hour passed, and Andrew's attention remained focused on listening for outside sounds. Indeed, he could not detect any movement whatsoever.

"Get up. We can't stay in this coffin forever," he urged.

Chantelle remained reluctant, saying, "If you want to get up, you get up. I'd rather stay in this coffin than face that horrible thing!"

Andrew grew impatient. "You don't want to face that creature, but are you willing to face the owner of this coffin?"

Chantelle froze. Then, she began trembling as realization hit her. "You're right— this coffin was empty when we got in. It couldn't be that... that..."

Andrew smiled grimly and said, "Exactly what you're thinking. If we stay much longer, a Blood Ghoul might just crawl in here with us!"

Chantelle's scalp prickled with terror, and she immediately tried to sit up. However, in her haste, she smacked her head directly against the stone lid, nearly bringing tears to her eyes from the pain.

"Mr. Lloyd, you bastard! This is all your fault!" she accused resentfully.

Andrew sneered back, "You're

eime

seriously blaming me for your ownnoveldrama

clumsiness? Ms. Garcia, your performance on this treasure hunt

has been seriously below standard."

Chantelle knew that her performance on this trip was far from satisfactory.

"Don't get cocky, Mr. Lloyd! We

haven't found the treasure yet, and

I'm the one with official credentials

here. If you don't protect me properly, you'll be the one who suffers in the end." '