The beam of Dale's flashlight trembled over the silhouette.
A male creature was curled up against the wall, wearing jeans and a baggy sweater that barely concealed his protruding belly.
The silence was broken by the metallic sound.
Dale's hands were shaking so badly that the flashlight slipped between his fingers, rolling across the ground and casting frightening shadows that danced along the walls.
Someone among them let out a small, strangled cry, a high-pitched sound of terror.
"Shut up," the sheriff hissed quietly, gripping his shotgun tightly. "Stay calm. Looks like it's sleeping."
Eyes wide, Randall took short, cautious steps backward.
Since the place was so dark, Boyd kept his flashlight focused on the creature's clothes, afraid it might attack them without them noticing.
The others swept their flashlights in every direction, searching for new threats.
One of the beams accidentally swept across the creature's pale face.
It was the worst mistake they could have made.
The moment the light hit those thin eyelids, its eyes snapped open. There was no stretching, no sluggishness typical of someone who had just woken up.
It twisted its neck at an unnatural angle and stared at the group. Its lips stretched into a wide, repulsive, horrifying smile.
He rose in one fluid, bizarre motion, as if its joints did not obey the same rules as human ones.
No one needed to give the order.
Panic swallowed any shred of rationality. Everyone bolted back the way they had come.
Even Boyd, who moments earlier had been trying to maintain his leadership and composure, fled blindly.
Randall, the first to retreat, was now leading the escape.
Behind him, people stumbled over one another, leaving more flashlights behind as they scrambled to get away.
Then the situation, which already seemed hopeless, became even worse.
A middle-aged woman, wearing a typical 1950s swing coat, appeared, blocking the way.
Image!
She tilted her head to the side. "What's the rush?"
Randall recoiled in fright, his heels catching against each other and nearly making him stumble and fall backward.
A chorus of terrified exclamations erupted as everyone came to an abrupt stop, cramming against one another.
"THE SIDE PASSAGES!" Boyd shouted, pointing toward the dark openings in the rock. "NOW!"
No one questioned him. Fear was enough to make any dark hole seem like a reasonable alternative.
They scattered like water splashing against a wall, each choosing the nearest opening without thinking twice.
Some went left. Others went right. No one coordinated anything, and within seconds, what had been a group of ten had become fragments running blindly through different tunnels.
After pushing forward for what felt like an eternity, without knowing exactly how many turns they had taken, whether they were going in circles or actually getting farther away, Boyd slowed his pace.
His legs felt heavy after running with the shotgun and backpack weighing him down, the exertion beginning to take its toll.
When he looked behind him, he saw that only Dale was with him, panting so hard he sounded like he was about to have a heart attack.
"I... I can't run anymore," Dale said, still trying to catch his breath.
Boyd stopped, resting his shoulder against the cold wall. "Let's... rest for a bit."
A few minutes later, the sheriff handed Dale a spare flashlight and instructed him, "Be careful. If you see a creature sleeping, under no circumstances shine the light in its face."
To him, the conclusion was obvious. The monster had only awakened because of that mistake.
However, what bothered him most was the one who had blocked their path.
Could it be that while some sleep, others patrol? Or did she wake up because of the noise?
"You should've shot that bitch," Dale muttered.
Boyd's fingers tightened around the shotgun. "You know it wouldn't have made a difference."
Dale didn't answer, but his silence carried the same helpless frustration Boyd felt.
After drinking some water and catching their breath, they continued forward with extreme caution.
They reached another fork. The cave seemed to mock their sanity.
"Now what? Do we keep going straight?" Dale asked.
"We're going right," Boyd decided after noticing that the passage had a wider entrance.
He had barely finished speaking when the same female creature that had blocked their path earlier emerged from the shadows, blocking the tunnel ahead.
With his heart in his throat, Boyd pointed his flashlight behind them. Another creature, a tall man wearing suspenders, was standing there.
As they had agreed, Dale didn't hesitate and ran into the passage on the right.
Boyd had taken his first step to follow when a bark echoed through the cave.
He quickly turned his head toward the entrance on the left and, inexplicably, managed to make out a dog in the darkness, resembling a Belgian Tervuren, sitting there and staring at him with a calmness that seemed completely out of place amid the chaos around them.
The same dog. Or at least, that was what Boyd wanted to believe.
The animal that, years ago, had appeared out of nowhere and led him to the place where he found the talismans for the first time.
It didn't matter whether it was real or not. What mattered was that it felt like a sign.
"Dale, get back here!" Boyd shouted, but when he looked, the man had disappeared into the darkness, and the smiling creature was already walking in that direction without even looking at the sheriff, as if he had ceased to be interesting.
He gritted his teeth, his chest tightening under the weight of a decision that didn't feel right at all, and followed the dog to the left.
Somewhere deeper within the labyrinth, men's screams echoed through the tunnels, distorted by distance and reverberation, blending terror and pain into a sound that sent chills down the spine.
Randall, lost somewhere else in the cave, heard them, and his legs began to tremble as cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
…
Outside, the tension was palpable.
It had been roughly an hour since the sheriff had led the group inside, and speculation about the delay was beginning to turn into anxious murmurs.
For Daniel, waiting for a suicide mission to end in a predictably disastrous manner wasn't exactly at the top of his list of activities.
Still, Julie remained nearby, worried that her father would try to go inside as soon as the two of them moved away.
"Maybe they've already found a way out," suggested Elgin, trying to lighten the mood.
Jade, who had stayed outside after listening to Victor's warning, blurted out the response before he could stop himself. "Or maybe they're dead."
Donna shot him a sharp look, making him avert his eyes.
The rustling of bushes announced the arrival of more people. Kenny, accompanied by Father Khatri and a large number of townspeople who had heard the news, emerged from the trees.
The deputy sheriff was relieved to hear that Boyd had made it out of the first cave in one piece, but deeply apprehensive about him entering another one.
"What's the situation?" the priest asked Donna, concern evident in his voice.
"They've been in there for almost an hour," she replied, rubbing her tired face. "We're waiting for them to come out."
When the priest opened his mouth to ask more questions, a sound that sent chills through everyone suddenly filled the air.
Blood-curdling screams erupted, loud and terrified, near the cave entrance.
Some of the townspeople instinctively stepped back, covering their mouths with their hands.
One woman began to cry quietly. Another dropped to her knees, as if her legs had simply given up on supporting her.
Tabitha covered Ethan's ears, her face pale.
Ellis bolted toward the cave, panicked.
"DAD!"
Fearing he would rush inside, Donna threw herself in his path, grabbing him by the shoulders and using all her weight to hold him back. "No, Ellis! Stay here!"
As suddenly as they had begun, the screams stopped.
Everyone froze, unsure of what to do, staring into the dark opening.
Kenny tightened his grip on the gun in his holster, but didn't take a step.
Donna and Fatima tried to calm Ellis down.
Leaning against the tree, Daniel kept his expression impassive, though his mind was working at full speed.
He focused his energy and activated Danger Wi-Fi. The translucent radar swept across the structure.
Multiple red points were moving away from the entrance, heading back into the depths, while three white points remained motionless a few yards from the entrance.
Their glow pulsed faintly, growing weaker with every passing second. They were dying.
Feeling Julie tighten her grip on his hand, Daniel lowered his head and brought his lips close to her ear. "I'm going in to rescue the people at the entrance."
Her eyes widened while she stared at him as though he had just announced plans to jump off a cliff for fun. "Are you out of your mind?"
"There's no danger near the entrance. Trust me," he murmured. "You know I wouldn't do this without being sure."
It took her a moment to understand why he was so confident, but once she did, the shock in her expression gave way to something closer to tired resignation. He had used the ability. Of course he had.
"Be careful," she whispered reluctantly, giving him a quick peck.
Daniel nodded and pushed himself away from the tree.
Sitting a few yards away, Julie's parents hadn't overheard their conversation.
The crowd's attention turned to him as soon as they saw Daniel heading toward the cave.
"What are you doing?" Father Khatri exclaimed, raising a hand in warning.
"I'm going in there," he said simply.
"Daniel, don't do anything fucking stupid!" Donna shouted without moving away from Ellis.
Is he trying to kill himself? thought Jim, who a moment ago had been relieved that Daniel had stopped him from going in there.
He looked at his daughter and was surprised that she wasn't saying anything.
Jim instinctively got to his feet to intervene, but Julie stopped him.
"Dad, stop," she said, turning toward her mother and Ethan, who was nervously clutching a small stick. "He knows what he's doing. He'll be fine."
Ignoring the commotion, Daniel sprinted forward, dodged Father Khatri and Kenny as they tried to grab him, and entered the cave.
Taking the video game out of his Inventory, he used it to light the way.
A few yards from the opening, the metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils.
He reached the spot where the three bodies lay sprawled on the ground, still alive but unconscious, whether from sheer terror or something else he preferred not to think about right now.
Without wasting time, he grabbed the first man by the armpits and dragged him backward, keeping his attention on the radar.
When they emerged, a murmur of horror ran through the crowd.
"That's Jon," someone said, their voice trembling.
Only then did Daniel realize that he was the man who had led them there.
Donna hurried over, and when she saw the wound, her fists clenched.
A ghastly gash stretched from side to side across Jon's abdomen, his entrails threatening to spill out onto the ground.
The sight made many people turn away, while some of the passengers from the bus vomited.
Daniel wasted no time observing the reactions. He turned and went to the second body. It was another man he barely recognized.
He grabbed the man and hauled him outside, leaving him in the priest's care.
When Daniel was about to go back for the last one, he stopped.
The radar showed the red points that had retreated earlier now returning.
The creatures stood perfectly still a few yards away, hidden in the dense shadows just beyond the unconscious body.
[Ambush detected. Congratulations. You found exactly the kind of problem you were looking for.]
"Did you see my dad?" Ellis asked when he noticed Daniel had stopped.
Daniel shook his head. "No sign of him."
Ellis felt a mixture of relief and apprehension.
...
Elsewhere in the labyrinth, Dale ran until he felt like his lungs were about to burst.
"Sheriff?" he called softly. "Boyd?"
There was no answer, so he turned his flashlight behind him, the beam sweeping across the empty corridor.
"Damn," he murmured, fear beginning to take hold of him.
Then the soft sound of footsteps made him freeze. They weren't coming from behind, but from every direction.
Silhouettes began to approach. One, two, four.
The smiling creatures slowly advanced, blocking every possible escape route, both ahead and behind.
Dale dropped to his knees. The flashlight slipped from his hand and rolled to the feet of one of the figures.
The old woman, looking like a kindly grandmother, crouched slightly, her eyes fixed on his.
"Looks like the sheriff ditched you." Her smile widened. "But don't worry. We're going to have plenty of fun."
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