*****Please read the announcement posted in the supplementary chapter.*****
--------------------------------
As soon as she saw Victor move away from the other residents along a different path, Jade didn't think twice before following him into the forest.
The man walked without haste, apparently without any particular destination in mind, his lunchbox swinging lightly at his side.
Jade had been waiting for an opportunity like this for some time, away from curious eyes and interruptions.
He quickened his pace, too eager to remain cautious.
A branch snapped beneath his foot.
Victor stopped immediately. His shoulders tensed before he slowly turned his head, wide eyes fixed on his pursuer between the trees.
"You knew there was something in that cave," Jade accused, closing the distance between them. "You didn't say what it was, and people ended up dying."
Clutching his lunchbox to his chest as if it could protect him, Victor's breathing quickened as he searched for an escape route.
"What else do you know?" Jade pressed, taking the old photograph he had found in the diary out of her pocket. "Who is this man?"
The picture showed an old man, with a young Victor in the background, almost cut off by the edge of the frame.
Ever since he'd focused on building the tower, Jade hadn't seen those damn symbols again or suffered any new hallucinations.
Until the night before, when he was on the verge of falling asleep and saw the symbol on the ceiling dripping blood, right above his bed.
The shock had been so great that he ended up falling onto the floor.
Upon recognizing the photograph, Victor looked away.
"Answer me!" Jade's patience finally ran out.
Victor's constant refusal to share information was becoming just as maddening as the symbols themselves.
With a frustrated growl, Jade moved forward.
Victor's reaction was a blur of pure desperation.
The lunchbox's lid snapped open with a metallic click, and in the next instant, a .38-caliber revolver appeared, pointed directly at Jade's chest.
"Don't... come any closer," he ordered, trembling violently.
Jade froze. He raised his hands carefully, trying not to make any movement that could be interpreted as a threat.
What idiot gave a gun to this unstable lunatic? he thought, feeling cold sweat trickle down the back of his neck.
"Easy, easy," he said, his voice slightly shaky despite his effort to keep it steady. "Nobody needs to get hurt here, okay? Put that down."
Victor didn't obey, but he didn't pull the trigger either.
The revolver wavered in his hand; his fingers tightened and loosened their grip—more a reflex of panic than a deliberate threat.
He backed away, keeping the gun raised, seeking distance rather than confrontation.
He's not going to shoot. Jade's survival instinct gave way to the obsession consuming him.
Discovering why he was seeing the same symbol as the owner of the diary seemed, at that moment, more important than the risk of being hit by a stray bullet.
"Look, I'm sorry," he said, softening his voice as much as he could. "We got off on the wrong foot."
Victor blinked, lowering the gun a few inches.
Jade noticed the opening and took advantage of it, lowering his hands as well. "How about we be friends?"
Silence settled between them. Victor simply stared at him, suspicion etched into every wrinkle on his face.
"I'll take that as a yes," Jade declared, forcing a friendly smile. "Done. We're friends now."
A tiny step brought him closer.
He tried to use the same manipulation he had used with investors at his old company. "Friends tell each other things. If you help me understand this photo, I can help you..."
But Victor wasn't stupid. He might have reacted to things in a childish way, but he'd spent decades surviving that nightmare. He knew when someone was trying to fool him.
"Stay away from me!"
Before Jade could react, Victor turned and bolted into the forest, running with the agility of someone who knew the terrain like the back of his hand.
"Wait!" Jade shouted, rushing after him.
The tip of his shoe caught on a thick exposed root. His balance vanished beneath him, and Jade hit the ground hard.
"Damn it!" he cursed, punching the dirt as Victor's figure disappeared among the trees.
…
Boyd stumbled out of the narrow passage. The air changed, filled with the fresh scent of the open forest.
Looking around, he realized that the dog that had guided him through the darkness had disappeared, leaving him alone with the heavy sound of his own breathing.
I'm alive.
He remained there for a moment, feeling the sun warm his skin, still unable to believe that he had actually escaped.
With his legs trembling, he finally got up and walked, with no destination in mind other than putting as much distance as possible between himself and that hole.
That's when he felt it.
A strange tingling ran through his forearm.
Boyd stopped when he noticed something moving beneath his shirt sleeve and immediately pulled the fabric up.
His eyes widened in sheer terror. What the hell is this?
His skin rippled. Dozens of tiny bumps moved frantically, like worms crawling beneath his flesh.
The memory of Martin and the cut caused by the handcuffs flashed through his mind, along with the words: My blood is your blood now.
The sheriff's heart hammered against his ribs. He brought his right hand to his arm, feeling the repulsive movement of those parasites through his skin.
"Boyd!" The shout echoed, pulling him out of his terrified trance.
When he raised his head, he found Father Khatri running toward him, accompanied by Ellis.
"Dad!" Ellis hurried forward, panting. He stopped a few yards away, taking in the sheriff's sorry condition and the desperation written across his face. "Are you okay?"
Boyd swallowed hard, feeling the bitter taste of bile rise in his throat. He turned his attention back to his forearm.
His skin was smooth. Dirty and scratched, but completely normal. There was no sign of the worms.
"I'm fine," he replied, hurriedly pulling his sleeve back down.
Khatri frowned at the unconvincing answer. "What happened in there? Where are the others?"
The sheriff summarized the horrors of the dark labyrinth, his desperate escape, how he'd been separated from the group, and how he'd found an exit by sheer luck.
With a flicker of hope, he asked if anyone else had escaped.
Ellis told him about Daniel's rescue, still unaware that Jon was dead.
For a moment, guilt settled in the sheriff's chest. If he had stopped everyone from entering that cave, perhaps none of this would have happened.
"Let's go back," he finally said. "We need to tell everyone."
When they returned to town, Boyd publicly reported what he had experienced, omitting any mention of the mysterious dog.
The search through the forest continued for the next few hours, but no one else emerged from the cave.
…
Julie entered the motorhome and found Daniel sprawled out on the couch, a bowl of food balanced on his lap, his eyes fixed on the television, where Walter White was discussing something in a low, threatening tone.
The Survival Cooking skill had transformed bland ingredients into something genuinely delicious, enough to make even an improvised meal seem less miserable than it should have been.
Taking off her boots, she tossed her long hair back and settled down with her legs crossed over his lap, ignoring the bowl as she stole a piece of meat from the fork Daniel was holding.
"Were you at Colony House?" he asked casually.
"Yeah, I was," she sighed. "My dad still thinks he's going to get more information from the military. He's still obsessed with this whole thing."
Daniel grunted in agreement, chewing slowly.
"Did you hear about the sheriff?" she asked.
"I saw him on the camera, but I didn't go after him to find out the details. What happened?"
"It was that cave," Julie revealed. "The same one you told me about, where the creatures sleep during the day. They woke the monsters up and ended up getting separated."
Daniel's expression remained unchanged. "Figured as much. It was obvious that those idiots would end up poking the hornet's nest."
He turned his attention to Julie. "I have a plan that needs your help."
Daniel began with a simple explanation, but Julie's interest grew with every detail.
"This could actually work." Her eyes lit up. "Like, a real chance."
"That's the idea," he confirmed, leaving the empty bowl on the coffee table.
One of his hands settled on Julie's waist, pulling her a little closer.
He went over the plan in detail. It wasn't anything complicated, but it depended on precision and, most importantly, perfect timing.
"Just be careful, please," Julie whispered, feeling the warmth of her own breath against his neck.
"I don't plan on dying twice in one year," Daniel joked.
Before she could complain about the morbid joke, he captured her lips in a deep kiss.
…
Dusk swallowed the town. The search parties hadn't found any entrance other than the one Boyd had emerged from, and no other survivors had appeared.
For the residents, the conclusion was inevitable: anyone still alive inside the cave would be torn apart as soon as the sun disappeared.
Kenny walked the streets ringing the bell, taking over Boyd's role while the sheriff rested.
Inside the motorhome, Daniel waited for Julie's family to finish their daily showers and leave.
Once the street was deserted and the monsters began to emerge, he got ready. He put on the cloak and activated the rune.
Ever since he'd created the item, he'd been pouring more spiritual energy into the runic array.
As a result, the invisibility duration had increased from twenty to thirty minutes.
As soon as the fabric touched his shoulders, Daniel's figure disappeared completely.
"I'm heading out," he announced, his voice hanging in the empty air.
"Be careful," Julie repeated, her eyes fixed on the camera monitor. Her fingers tapped nervously against her thigh.
The door opened and closed quickly.
The pool was only a few yards ahead.
On the way, Daniel deliberately stopped in front of one of the creatures, taking the opportunity to test whether the invisibility actually worked.
He wasn't nervous. Even if it didn't work, he was still faster.
Seeing the monster's lack of reaction, a smile appeared on Daniel's face.
He examined his surroundings and, seeing no crows, descended to the dry bottom of the pool.
The metal rods and steel cables he'd traded with Mike came out of the Inventory.
He positioned each rod at one of the four corners, securing them into the holes he had previously prepared.
Then he crossed the cables between them.
On their own, the tangled mess would hardly have been enough to trap even an animal.
Everything changed when Daniel activated the Hunter's Web skill.
Energy coursed through the steel cables, penetrating the metal and enveloping the structure without leaving any perceptible sign.
What had previously looked like nothing more than improvised scrap had been transformed into a trap capable of restraining supernatural creatures.
[MacGyver would be proud. If he wasn't terrified in a ghost town.]
Daniel returned to the vehicle and knocked rhythmically on the side, repeating the agreed-upon code.
The door opened almost immediately, allowing him to slip inside.
Once the door was locked, he removed the cloak and became visible again.
"And?"
"It worked. For now. We just have to wait," Daniel turned off all the lights to avoid attracting attention, then took the driver's seat.
He fastened his seat belt. Julie did the same in the passenger seat.
The two of them kept their gaze fixed on the pool across the street.
Ten minutes passed in tense silence.
Suddenly, a woman dressed like a librarian, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, came into view.
She was heading straight past the pool.
"Now," Daniel declared.
The key turned. The engine roared with the power of a beast awakening.
The librarian and two other creatures wandering nearby stopped in their tracks.
All three turned their smiling faces toward the vehicle.
Daniel's smile seemed almost as predatory as theirs.
His foot slammed down on the accelerator, sending the motorhome surging forward like an enraged bull.
The librarian did not react.
The armored front struck the creature squarely, producing a loud thud.
The force of the collision sent her body flying through the air like a broken rag doll, making her plummet directly into the dark hole.
========================================
Read ahead on Patreon!
[email protected]/Northmann
(Replace the @ with a.)
As always, thank you for your support! 😊