No one was answering him, but that creepy thing sure was getting closer. The way it was rasping and wheezing made his stomach turn, and Apollo's hair stood on end when he saw its attention focused mostly on him. His heart was pounding in his chest, his muscles instinctively tightened, and for a moment, the whole situation just felt so extraordinarily surreal.

"I-Is that thing for real?!" As scary as it looked, there was no way it wasn't just some kind of illusion or trick, right? Maybe this was like one of those people who dressed up in haunted houses and harassed the kids who acted the most freaked out by them. It definitely wouldn't be the weirdest thing here, if that was the case.

Still, whoever -- or whatever -- this was, they didn't seem too happy they were there. And if they were supposed to be some kind of security guard, there was no telling whether they were armed or not.

Keep it together, Justice! he told himself. It's probably not as bad as you think!

The other man seemed to be trying to intimidate this strange person -- did he have experience with this kind of thing, or was he just trying to put up a brave front? Either way, Apollo knew he couldn't just stand there. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the front door that was nearby. Frowning to himself, he took a slow, measured step back toward it, hoping to try the handle.