Part 1
In the middle of the night, illuminated by a large moon in the sky, a group made its way through thousands of dead trees.
At the end of the line, admiring the night, Seven observed the vegetation around him.
This place is getting more and more beautiful... so different from how it used to be. Without any vegetation, he remembered finding only twisted branches of dry trunks, a slightly greenish mist floating close to the ground, and a sepulchral silence.
Now, however, he could hear the sound of hundreds of insects composing the environment and vegetation that was nearly as lush as in the old days.
While observing his surroundings, the line came to a stop, and he looked forward.
At the front, Pai had one arm raised as he scanned the area. Searching through the vegetation, his attention quickly fixed on a bush a few meters ahead. Seconds later, the bush began to move, forcing everyone to crouch down.
Shortly after, a beast the size of a large dog emerged, pushing through the leaves with a head resembling that of a boar, and started sniffing.
— Snif Snif —
Gripping the rifle he carried, Pai remained on alert.
However, lowering its nose to the ground, the beast began to move away in search of something. Walking toward a tree, it stopped and started digging with its front paws, which resembled those of a canine.
Before it could finish digging, Pai picked up a stone from the ground and threw it far away.
— Clack —
The beast stopped, quickly looked in the direction the sound had come from, then turned and ran off.
Standing up, Pai went to where the animal had been and, using his hands, dug a little more until he found some truffles.
After collecting them, he stored them away, and the group continued moving.
Following this path, they reached a small paved trail, camouflaged by nature, which gradually widened until they arrived at the ruins of a large mansion with a fountain in front of it.
Covered by vegetation that both hid and merged with its imposing structure, the mansion was slowly becoming one with the young forest around it.
Passing the fountain, where frogs and toads sang, they headed toward the mansion's entrance. Stopping near the double doors, Pai opened one slightly to observe the interior.
After checking the large, severely damaged hall—with pieces of a staircase leading to the second floor and a large crater in its center—he opened the door, allowing everyone to enter.
Being the last one in, he closed the door.
Inside the mansion, Pai took the lead again, moving through one of its wide corridors adorned with bust statues of stern-looking figures in uniforms with epaulets.
However, when they reached a cabinet leaning against the wall, they stopped and slowly moved it aside, revealing a steel door.
It had a color similar to the walls—faded brown tones with patches of black fungus, which camouflaged it well—while in its center, a small numeric keypad glowed faintly in the darkness.
Approaching it, Pai began entering the password.
As soon as he finished, the sound of working gears emerged from the door, then suddenly ceased.
— ka-chunk —
Once the door was finally unlocked, Pai began pushing it with force, but it moved slowly.
When it was fully opened, several lights inside the place turned on in sequence, from the entrance toward the interior, revealing another metal door further ahead—smaller, thinner, and already open—along with a staircase leading to the basement.
Pai stepped aside and waited for everyone to enter the bunker. After checking the corridors, he closed the passage, which locked with the sound of gears.
With the bunker sealed—"I'm going to get there first!"—Leon was the first to race down the stairs.
Right behind him, Victor and Mia quickly followed.
"Not me!"
"Careful not to fall!" said Ísis.
"Yes!" they replied, laughing.
Without delay, as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they tossed their backpacks aside and continued running.
"I'm going to tell big sister what happened first!" shouted Leon, who was leading, closely followed by Victor and Mia.
Still at the entrance, watching this, Ísis shook her head and said:
"Honestly, what—"
When she noticed a figure rushing past her toward the stairs.
"—Seven?!"
Looking at the stairs, she saw him holding the rabbit he had hunted, shouting, "No you won't! I'm the one who's going to tell her! I'm the one who hunted it!"
Ísis didn't waste any time and went after him.
"Wait for me!"
Left at the door, Pai watched everything with a slight smile on his face.
"We're home."
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs and passing through a large room, Seven headed toward a door with a noisy interior. There, a faint light illuminated the small space, with walls full of concrete imperfections and three metal bunk beds.
On the bottom bunk of one of them, a young woman had just sat up while being surrounded by her younger siblings.
"Seven and I found a—We trapped big brother in a trap and—We saw a giant lake!!"
Competing with each other, the three tried to capture their older sister's attention. She watched them with a gentle smile.
Illuminated by the room's weak light, she had long white hair that contrasted with her youthful appearance, along with a delicate face and pale skin.
Stopping at the door, Seven raised one arm and spoke proudly:
"Yuliya, I finally got it!"
His sister turned her attention to Seven, her smile freezing as she fixed her gaze on the animal. Before she could say anything, however, Leon pulled her attention back.
"I helped him hunt it! We had to chase it for a long time! Then Seven tried to jump over it, but it escaped! But after that—"
"—I bet you didn't do anything."
Looking at Victor, he defended himself:
"I chased it with Seven!"
"But in the end, wasn't it Seven who hit it with the arrow? And like I said, wasn't he the one who tried to jump over it? What were you doing to help?"
Stumbling over his words, Leon took a step back. "Well… uh… I did help! Right, Seven!"
Turning to his brother, he sought help, but before they could continue the debate, Ísis arrived in the room.
Passing by Seven, she went up to her three brothers and tapped each of them on the head in quick succession.
"That hurts!"
"Ouch—ow!"
"N—!"
"Don't be so loud around Yuliya!"
...
After a few minutes, with the room calmer and the three sitting on the floor away from the bed, Ísis continued:
"You know she's still recovering! I know you're excited! But that doesn't mean you should act like this! You didn't even take off your shoes before coming inside the house! Let alone before approaching her!"
Sighing, she turned to Seven.
"Look at Seven! Even as excited as you are, he didn't enter the room to avoid the risk of contaminating the space! Also, don't be so noisy around her. Yuliya is still recovering. Understood!?"
"Yes…" the three replied, heads lowered.
"Then apologize!"
Turning to Yuliya, they spoke in unison:
"Sorry, big sister. We'll be more careful next time."
"No problem," she said, nodding. "I understand how excited you are, but if you all speak at once, I won't understand anything. So speak one at a time, because I want to hear you."
While she was still talking to her siblings, Pai arrived at the bedroom door and stopped there. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Are you feeling better today?"
"Yes, Father. I only had a little discomfort breathing at some moments, but no fever or cough."
"That's good. But even if you're feeling better, don't overdo it. Don't forget to take all your medicine, and let me know if you feel anything."
Yuliya replied with a smile:
"Yes. Thank you, Father."
"Also, I brought some new tea leaves and medicinal herbs. I'll prepare them for you."
He turned to leave but suddenly stopped.
"Seven, come with me. We need to talk."
Already imagining the reason, Seven lowered his gaze and followed him.
"Yes…"
Seeing this, Ísis started to follow as well.
"Not you, Ísis. Only Seven."
She stopped and nodded.
"Understood…"
Closing the door, Pai left Ísis, Leon, Mia, and Victor talking with Yuliya. He then walked to a small counter in that same room, part of a tiny kitchen, and placed his backpack there.
Seven sat on a chair nearby and remained silent while Pai picked up some leaves and began chopping them, his back turned to him.
"As the person responsible for the group, do you think separating from your siblings and running after a rabbit was a responsible decision?"
Shaking his head, Seven answered:
"No."
"Because of that, you delayed your return home and stayed in a dangerous area of the city, especially at nightfall—something that made me leave the house to look for you." Stopping what he was doing, Pai turned to him and looked directly into his eyes.
"…Son, your role isn't just to lead. It's also to protect them. You're the only one who carries the bow and has been taught how to handle it. Wasn't that why I've even been teaching you how to use firearms? Wasn't it to protect them?"
Unable to look his father in the eyes, Seven lowered his head. "Yes… When I saw the rabbit, I couldn't control myself. But after I caught it and reached the passage, and at first couldn't find Ísis, I became very worried about them—really worried—to the point I wanted to go after them. But it was already late. I'm sorry…"
Pai approached Seven and placed his hand on his head. "…I understand why you ran after the rabbit, especially after what it did to Yuliya. But you have to be careful. As the leader, your actions influence the others. You can't let yourself be carried away by emotions."
"…Yes."
Pai turned away and walked back to the counter where the rabbit was.
"…You can go back. I'll prepare dinner. But our conversation isn't over yet…"
He turned and began preparing the utensils he would use, but stopped when he noticed Seven still standing there.
"What is it?"
"Actually…" Looking at the bedroom door to check if it was closed, he turned forward again. "…there's something I need to talk to you about… something urgent…"
"Yes?"
"Well… it happened… the rabbit…" Clenching his fists, Seven looked down.
I want to tell him about the humanoid… but why is it so hard? Even though he wanted to, he felt the words wouldn't leave his mouth.
Remembering that moment when he encountered it, he felt his throat close, along with a terror that took hold of him, as if he were there again—chills and a constant cold down his spine.
Pai, finding the delay strange, noticed that his hand was trembling.
"Son… what happened while you were chasing the rabbit?"
"I… I encountered a humanoid…"
Silence. After he spoke, he heard nothing from his father until, with the sound of footsteps, he felt two hands placed on his shoulders, making him raise his head.
Looking forward, he found his father's face at the same height as his own, with a more serious expression than usual.
"Tell me exactly what happened."