This is the sequel to Their House. It's still not very good, but a two-parter was an ambitious project for me early on. It's one of the earliest completed horror writings that I wrote, although in truth, calling it horror may be a stretch. Enjoy!

James Farewall and Amelia Jenson were two ordinary thirteen year old friends. They were known to be inseparable, and most assumed that they would end up as girlfriend and boyfriend sooner or later. They enjoyed doing many things together, especially exploring. Their favorite places to explore were abandoned houses and facilities. They loved searching for anything valuable, and just enjoyed the typical creepy atmosphere that such places provided. As you would probably expect, they were not easily frightened. James would usually be on the lookout for new places to explore, and would spend entire weekends searching for a suitable place. One day, he came across an old laboratory. The place was badly damaged. Walls had cracked over time, and ivy grew all over. In one place, a tree had even grown through the roof. The place was obviously very old. James knew immediately that he had found his next expedition.

As soon as he got home, he called Amelia and told her about the laboratory he had seen. Amelia was extremely excited, and told James that she would be coming over to his house that day. Once she arrived, they packed a bag with some snacks and bandages, and they headed for the lab. When they arrived at the lab, James noticed a sign reading: "Warning! Extreme danger! Authorized personnel ONLY" When James pointed it out to Amelia, she laughed.

"You aren't really going to chicken out because of some sign, are you? Come on, I'd bet that it's just because the structure is old and unstable. That never stopped us before, did it?" She asked in a huffy voice.

"I suppose not," James admitted. He felt stupid for letting that sign scare him. "Come on. The doors are locked, but we should be able to get in through one of the holes in the walls," he said as he began to climb into one of the holes. Emelia nodded and followed him through the hole. As they entered the lab, they looked around. Items were strewn across the area everywhere, and claw marks were visible on the walls and floor. James shuddered slightly. "Maybe the people that worked here were testing on animals."

"Maybe," Amelia replied. "It must have been something big though. Look at the size of these claw marks. These are too large for even a bear! They're too deep also. What mutated beast were they working with!?"

James shrugged. "I have no clue." He glanced at a desk near him. On the desk was a smashed computer, as well as a small leather notebook. James reached over and grabbed the book.

"What's that?" Amelia asked.

"Some kind of diary," James answered. "It talks about the various experiments that have been conducted here."

"So, anything cool?"

"Well, not for the most part. Local minerals, unusual creatures, boring stuff. Well, until August 14, 2017."

"Wow," Amelia breathed. "Ten years ago. Well, what's it say?"

James motioned for her to come closer. "Why don't you read it for yourself?" he asked, pulling out a couple chairs.

Amelia shook her head. "Couldn't we just take the notebook home and read it there?"

"Not unless you want our parents to see it and find out where we've been!"

"Fine," Amelia huffed, plopping down in one of the chairs. She looked at the open book and began reading.

The journal stated as follows: August 14, 2017. Today our men brought in some new subjects. They don't resemble anything that we've seen before. They are somewhat humanoid, but are sickly and gray in color. They appear to be faceless, and they have long fingers with claws of frightening size at the end. According to the men who brought them, they were demolishing an old house when they found these creatures living within the walls. The men claim that the creatures spoke to them, begging that the men not give them light. They men weren't sure what to make of this, but they demolished the house anyways, exposing the creatures to the sun. When introduced to its light, the creatures began to shriek and faint, so the men brought them here. Just so that we did not harm the creatures too much, we put them in a darkened room. We hope they do not intend to harm us. Experiments begin tomorrow.

Amelia looked up. "So that's what happened," she muttered.

James nodded. "Let's keep looking. Maybe it'll tell us why they abandoned the place."

The two continued to read. August 15, 2017. Today, the creatures regained consciousness. They began to hiss and screech at us, and they were loud enough so that we could hear them no matter where we were in the lab. They threatened to kill us, and to rip us to pieces. Just to get them to shut up, we infused the room with gas that we thought would knock them out. It got them to fall silent, but when we sent in someone to retrieve them, the person didn't come out. Instead, we heard loud hissing and screeching noises, followed by smashing noises. We dare not enter to see what has happened. We all decided that we would have to kill the creatures in order to experiment on them. After a long while of discussing it, we decided that we would have to kill them before performing any experiments of any sort. The only thing we knew for sure could hurt them was sunlight, so we shone a large UVB lamp into their cell. They began to scream, but quickly fell silent. Once they were unconscious, we retrieved one from the cell and took it to a testing room. Once there, it was given enormous doses of UVB light, probably more than it was used to. Eventually, it stopped showing vital signs. It no longer had a heartbeat. When we attempted to open it up, nothing we used could penetrate its skin. We arrived at the conclusion that when it died, something happened to its skin. We plan to experiment more tomorrow.

August 16, 2017. Something beyond horrible happened today. We knocked out another being today using the UVB lamp. When we attempted to open it, its skin was the same as that of the dead one. As we were about to return it to its cell, it woke up. At this point in time, we were putting it into its cell. It attacked the people who were moving it, killing them in a gruesome manner. The door was open at the time, so every last one of them managed to escape. We tried to evacuate the lab, but they locked us in. So long as we stay in the light, we're safe. However, the lights will burn out sooner or later.

"This is crazy," James breathed. "Is this really what happened?"

"Probably," Amelia replied. "Look at the marks all over. Claw marks, blood stains... it lines up pretty well."

James nodded as the two began reading again. The next few entries were written in crazed handwriting, and it was clear that the author was going insane. The last entry was as follows:

August 29, 2017. The lights are flickering. Soon they will burn out and the creatures will kill us. We've been drinking water from the faucets, and we have no food. Several men have tried to wander into the shadows in search of food, but those things killed them. They're crazy. Every night they whisper to us, reminding us that we're running out of time. They tell us exactly how they'll kill us. We can hardly sleep. Most of the survivors are either delirious or insane. The lights are flickering more. They'll be coming soon. This will be my last entry. I'm terrified of what they'll do to me, but I guess this is what happens when you mess with what you don't understand. If anyone happens to stumble upon this journal, leave the lab as fast as you can. It's not worth the risk.

That was the last entry. James closed the book and turned to Amelia. "We need to leave."

Amelia nodded in agreement. As they made their way to the hole that they had entered through, they saw that a shelf had been placed in front of it, blocking the exit. James tried to push it, but it was far too heavy for him.

"How the hell did this thing get here!?" he snapped.

Amelia shrugged. Frantically, she tried to open the main doors, but they were locked tight. For the first time in a long time, her facial expression was that of pure terror. James ran to her side. "We're trapped," he said. Amelia, realizing this, began to cry. James hugged her, then looked up. He could distinctly see figures moving in the shadows.

Suddenly, a raspy voice called out to them saying, "It has been some time since a human has been here. Ten years is a very long time to wait. My brethren rejoice, for we can finally have some fun again."

"Who's there!?" James demanded.

"Hehehe..." the voice rasped. "By the time you see us, you'll be dead..."

Amelia, terrified, buried her face in James's chest. The voice called out to them again.

"Ohhhh, poor children you see, we cannot simply let you leave. If we were to do that, then you would tell others. We don't want that."

Jason, angry, shot back with an angry retort. "We wouldn't tell! What do you take us for, five year olds!?"

"We learned not to trust a child's word eleven years ago. You will not escape."

The creature crawled out of the dark and into James's view. He saw a long, gray, humanoid body with no face and terrifyingly long claws. No one was close enough to the lab to hear the children's last cry for help.