"They're not just mannequins. They're actually alive."

"......"

Leo fell silent, his eyes wide open, his brain struggling to process the new and horrible truth. Meanwhile, the motionless figures around him, with their arms extended in unnatural poses, showed slight movements.

"Don't move."

"Gulp..."

Now, the atmosphere that filled the walkway felt oppressive, as if the hundreds of pairs of invisible eyes were piercing them with a silent gaze.

"What do you mean?"

As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Leo noticed something he hadn't seen before. The mannequins, in the nearest rows, were not completely motionless. Their heads had turned, millimetrically, to follow his every movement. The sensation of being watched by them was overwhelming, and the silence of the walkway had become deafening.

"You see, during the years I've lived in this pandemonium, I've met others besides you."

Taher, without looking at him, leaned a little forward, looking around as he spoke.

"Other unfortunate thieves who, like us, thought they could get out."

"Wait, I'm not a..."

"But none of them made it."

"That means... they died?"

Hearing Taher's words, Leo, forgetting to protest, looked around as the shadow of a mannequin in the distance seemed to lean in, as if it were listening.

"Yes. They died one way or another. Some by the monsters, others by the cult and others... others by worse things..."

"....."

The simple statement made Leo's heart freeze.

"But most of them... the majority of the deaths, Leo, were because of them. Because of the mannequins."

"What did they do to them?"

"They molded them."

(Crack)

In response to Leo's question, Taher replied, and a nearby cracking sound echoed.

"What?!"

"What?!"

Both men looked to the right, seeing a mannequin in the front row that had moved.

"What...?"

"It seems time is running out."

The head of a female mannequin, who was wearing a maid's dress, had tilted slightly. A crack, as thin as a hair, appeared on its porcelain neck.

(CRACK)

The mannequin in the maid's dress cracked again, a sound that was too loud in the silence.

(Crack)

(CRUNCH)

(CRACK)

Other mannequins nearby began to writhe, their plastic bodies creaking like dry branches.

"What are they doing?"

It was a slow and horrifying sound, as if they were waking up from a very long dream.

"They are getting ready, there's no way to hide now. They saw us, so run!"

Without waiting for an answer, Taher grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him hard.

"What the hell does that mean?!"

Leo, still in a panic, was forced to run at top speed, asking with a voice choked by the effort.

"They're entering hunting mode!"

Without slowing down, Taher replied with his gaze fixed ahead.

"When they start to writhe... that's the signal."

(Snap!)

At that moment, as they ran along the walkway, a new and creepy sound joined the plastic creaking.

"THEY'VE ALREADY STARTED!!"

"What is that?!"

From the cracks in the mannequins, a crimson substance began to leak, flowing in thin threads down their motionless bodies. It was blood.

(thump-thump)

And with it, a dull and discordant pulse echoed through the walkway.

"If we don't cross this walkway in time."

(thump-thump, thump-thump!)

(thump-thump, thump-thump!)

(thump-thump, thump-thump!)

The sound of thousands of unsteady heartbeats was constantly increasing, ringing in their ears.

"The same fate as the other victims awaits us."

"What do they do to them?!"

Leo asked, hearing it all as he ran desperately for his life, demanding answers to the horror unfolding around him.

"They mold them, they compress them, they crush them into a mass of living flesh and then, very slowly, they transform them into one of them. Conscious. Forever. Don't stop! Don't look back!"

"You don't have to tell me!!"

Leo felt that the motionless figures around him were coming to life. The walkway, once a simple obstacle, had become a path of death.

"I WON'T ALLOW IT"

"What?!"

"What?!"

Leo and Taher stopped abruptly, their eyes wide with panic. The voice, which seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, did not have the timbre of a human throat. It was a cold, resonant sound, as if a thousand voices of shattered porcelain were speaking in unison, a metallic and ghostly echo that pierced the soul.

"What was that?!"

"I don't know, it's the first time something like this has happened!"

It was the voice of the porcelain doll, channeled through each of the mannequins, although Leo and Taher had no idea of this terrifying fact.

(Clack, Clack)

(Snap)

(Scrape, Scrape)

(Friction)

However, as Leo and Taher looked around, the mannequins began their terrifying transformation.

"Tch, time's running out!"

"Ugh...!"

It was a singularly unnatural movement, lacking the fluidity of a living body. Each action was slow, articulated, and filled with a mechanical creaking that echoed on the walkway.

(Thump-lump, Thump-lump, Thump-lump, Thump-lump!!)

The figures, until then static, bent their rigid knees and elbows with the sound of breaking plastic.

(Plop)

From the fissures in their bodies, the blood not only flowed but now dripped in small puddles onto the wooden floor, forming a crimson trail that contrasted with the gloom.

"NOT AGAIN"

With eerie synchronization, the rows of mannequins leaned forward, their plastic bodies contorting in a macabre dance. Their hands, previously open or at their sides, clenched into fists or transformed into claws, while their porcelain faces remained serene, almost indifferent.

"THEY WON'T TAKE IT FROM ME"

Some bent their torsos until their backs arched into an unbelievable curve, while others hunched over, their limbs shortening and lengthening with a horrifying sound of friction.

"THE INTRUDERS!!"

One by one, they adopted a four-legged position. Their heads remained upright, looking at Leo and Taher through the darkness.

"THEY WILL DIE!!"

The scene was that of an army of plastic predators, their bodies redefined for the sole purpose of hunting. Ready for the chase.

"Run!"

"What?!"

Reacting purely out of survival instinct, Taher pulled Leo towards the exit.

"Faster!"

"!!"

In that way, they both ran. Their feet hit the wooden floor of the walkway, a frantic echo that contrasted with the deadly silence of the mannequins.

"We have to get to the exit!"

They ran between the rows of figures that loomed in the gloom, their shadows lengthening and twisting on the walls.

"Haaa... Haaa... Haa...!!"

"Ugh... Haaaa... Haa...!!"

The air grew heavy, each breath was a stab in their lungs.

(Clack, Clack)

(Snap)

(Scrape, Scrape)

(Friction)

(plop)

They didn't look back, but the sound was chasing them. The creaking of the plastic limbs, the rustle of the dolls' clothes as they moved, the rhythmic dripping of blood against the floor.

(thump-thump, thump-thump!)

(thump-thump, thump-thump!)

(thump-thump, thump-thump!)

And beneath it all, the pulse. A discordant pulse that was accelerating, a symphony of inhuman hearts beating in the darkness.

(Swish-swish-swish)

Suddenly, a figure broke away from the horde. A mannequin dressed in a wedding gown lunged towards them, its hands turned into claws.

"Watch out!"

Taher, with a cry of panic, pulled Leo to the side.

(Crack!)

The mannequin pounced on the space Leo had occupied, its plastic body sliding on the floor with a dull sound.

"!!"

(Thud!)

Panic took hold of Leo for a second, but a deeper instinct took control, for since he was very young, he had trained in martial arts for self-defense. The memories of his father, teaching him to dodge and strike, manifested in an instant.

(Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!)

After the first blow, Leo didn't give the mannequin a chance to even get up, delivering a series of blows, leaving it immobilized on the floor while the impact resonated through the walkway with a dry, hollow sound.

"Not bad, kid, but that won't stop it!"

"......"

And just as Taher had said, Leo witnessed the wobbling mannequin slowly getting to its feet with a new fissure on its face, forming a bleeding smile from which threads of blood flowed.

"What are you waiting for?! Let's go!"

"!!"

So, with no other option, Taher pulled Leo to continue their escape while he followed as quickly as possible, running from the horde behind them.

"They run faster than I thought!"

The beating Leo had delivered hadn't stopped the mannequin, but it had slowed it down, it had stunned it. The time they had gained, however, was short. The horde was approaching, the plastic figures moving with a strange coordination. They had split into two groups, one to corner them from the front and another to ambush them.

"This is more complicated than I estimated!"

"How much further to the exit?!"

And now Taher not only had to run, but he also had to dodge, so Taher, without letting go of Leo's hand, guided him with sharp turns, zigzagging between the motionless figures that had not yet joined the chase. The air of the walkway filled with a cold, sticky terror. The path to the exit, once a simple straight line, had become a labyrinth of horrors.

"Damn it!"

The frantic race continued, the echo of their footsteps resonating on the walkway. Leo and Taher forced their way through the rows of writhing mannequins. The exit, a corroded metal door at the end of the hallway, looked closer and closer, a light at the end of a nightmare tunnel. But a single mannequin, with its body contorted in a spider-like posture, blocked the path.

"What do we do now?!"

"Don't stop and keep running!"

"Okay!"

Just as the horde was approaching, Taher pulled something from his belt. It wasn't a blade, or a knife. It was a firearm. A pistol. Without hesitation, he aimed at the mannequin blocking the door.

"A gun?!"

"....."

(BANG!)

The sound was deafening.

(CRACK!)

The shot echoed down the hallway, a brutal noise that made the air tremble. The bullet impacted with a hollow metallic sound on the mannequin's torso, creating a large fissure and sending plastic shards flying. The figure staggered, its predator pose broken for an instant, creating an opening.

"Keep going straight!"

"!!"

Leo didn't think twice. He lunged forward, getting past the mannequin and through the metal door. He ran down the endless, curving hallways, without looking back. A second later, he felt Taher catch up.

(CLANG!)

The sound of the door closing behind them was a roar that echoed down the hallway, a sound of closure and a fleeting relief.

"It's... over... Haaa... Haa..."

"Not... yet..."

(CRASH!)

They ran, out of breath, through a labyrinth of doors and corridors that curved endlessly. Behind them, the door they had just escaped through burst open with a resounding crash, announcing that the hunt was not over.

(Clack, Clack!!)

(Snap!!)

(Scrape, Scrape!!)

(Friction!!)

From the darkness of the mannequin room, a horde of plastic figures emerged like a swarm, their movements now coordinated, a silent and lethal army that was chasing them.

"Change of plans!"

"What?!"

The race extended down the hallways, the mannequins following them like a silent tide.

"We're not going to make it, Leo!"

Taher, panting, took a quick glance over his shoulder. He saw the horde of mannequins only a few meters away. He understood that, at this rate, they would never escape.

"This is going to be risky, but hold your breath when I tell you!"

Following his command, Taher suddenly changed direction, pulling Leo toward a door that looked exactly like the others, betting everything on one possibility.

"I understand!"

Leo, without hesitation, ran alongside Taher. The mannequins were getting closer, the sound of their bodies creaking was almost a breath, their plastic fingers inches from Leo's back.

"NOW!"

In that instant, Taher opened the door.

"!!"

A sweet and cloying smell flooded the hallway, and a torrent of hot, liquid chocolate shot out, a tsunami of dark brown color.

"........"

"........"

Leo and Taher, at the last moment, held their breath. The torrent engulfed them, a thick and warm wave of sweet flavor that felt like a heavy blanket. The mannequins, without the ability to hold their breath, were also submerged. Their plastic bodies floated for a moment in the chocolate before being dragged away by the current.

The torrent of hot chocolate continued to flow, filling the hallway, before the entire tide, with Leo, Taher, and the mannequins inside, was reabsorbed by the door, as if a gigantic creature were drinking it.

(CLICK!)

When the last trace of the liquid was gone, the door closed, leaving the hallway as dry and empty as if nothing had happened.