The rain poured even harder.
Almost nothing could be seen.
In the middle of the forest—
they kept running.
"Anton—slow down!" Nikki shouted while pulling him.
"Don't let go," Anton replied, tightly holding her hand.
Behind them—
they could hear footsteps.
"Again?! Won't they ever leave us alone!" Nikki said in frustration.
While running,
it felt like something was crawling and running alongside them.
"Anton…" Nikki called, trembling.
"It's not human."
"I know."
He didn't look back.
In another direction—
"DEX! WAIT!" Mara shouted, out of breath.
"I'm right here!" Dex replied, pulling her closer.
Suddenly—
KRRRK!
Something passed above the trees.
Fast. Heavy.
"I'm not looking," Mara whispered.
"Good choice," Dex replied.
But even without looking—
they could still feel it.
Farther away—
"Sarah… don't leave me…" Paolo almost cried.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? I'm right here," Sarah answered immediately.
"You're such a coward for a grown man," Nikki teased from the side.
But—
"Paolooo…" a voice called out.
They both froze.
"…did you hear that?" Paolo asked.
"Yes… but that wasn't me," Nikki replied.
They slowly looked at each other.
Then ran again.
On the other side—
"KEVIN I SWEAR I CAN'T ANYMORE! I want to go home!" Jace shouted.
"Same! But keep running!" Kevin replied.
Suddenly—
LIGHTNING!
In an instant—they saw something.
"Wait—did I see something?" Kevin said.
"…was that a house?" Jace replied.
"Let's take shelter there," Kevin said.
In another direction, Anton and Nikki stopped.
A house.
Old wood.
Silent.
Standing in the middle of the forest.
"…finally, a house?" Nikki said happily.
"Yeah," Anton replied.
One by one, they met in front of the house.
First—Anton and Nikki.
Next—Dex and Mara.
Then—Kevin and Jace.
Six of them.
Soaked. Out of breath. Exhausted.
"Where are the others?" Mara asked.
No one answered.
So they entered the house.
As they stepped inside—
BANG!
The door suddenly slammed shut due to strong wind.
"Sh*t! Don't do that!" Jace shouted.
It was still raining outside.
They could clearly hear the rain hitting the roof—
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
And the wind whistling through the wooden gaps.
"This is even creepier…" Mara whispered.
"Like something could come in anytime," she added.
"Better than staying outside," Kevin said.
They slowly sat down.
Tired. Gasping. Still shaking.
"Only six of us now…" Mara said softly.
"Where could they be…" Nikki added.
But there was only silence.
Only the sound of rain.
"We can't just stay here," Anton said.
"We need to find food and supplies."
"Agree," Kevin said.
"Right," Mara added. "Maybe there's a kitchen here."
"I'm starving…" Jace whispered.
"In a situation like this, you're still thinking about food?" Nikki said.
"Well yeah… that's what keeps us alive," Jace replied.
Nikki sighed but didn't argue anymore.
"Let's search," Anton said.
"But don't separate."
They all nodded.
The kitchen was the first place they checked.
"Hey!" Jace shouted.
"There are canned goods!"
"Check if they're still safe," Mara said.
Kevin opened them one by one.
"Still okay… not expired yet," he said.
"Thank God," Jace whispered.
"There's water too," Dex added.
"At least we won't die of hunger tonight," Nikki said.
"There are three rooms over there," Anton said.
"Let's check them one by one," Mara added.
"But stay together," Kevin reminded.
They all nodded.
FIRST ROOM
Creeeak…
"So many clothes…" Nikki said.
"This one's fine," Mara said, grabbing a jacket.
"We need dry clothes," Anton said.
They all took clothes one by one.
"It feels like a vacation if not for everything that happened earlier," Jace said.
"Shut up," Kevin replied.
They entered the second room.
Even more clothes. A bedsheet too.
"Let's take these, we can sleep later," Dex said.
"Sleep?" Nikki asked.
"After everything that happened?" she added.
"If we don't sleep, our bodies will collapse," Anton said.
The room went silent for a moment.
"We should rest while we're safe," Mara said.
"We'll deal with everything tomorrow."
Everyone nodded.
"But someone has to stay awake," Dex said.
"I will," Anton replied.
"We should all stay in one room."
They moved to the third room.
Creeeak…
"Okay, last room," Kevin said.
It was simple. A bed. A cabinet.
"This one's okay," Mara said.
"We'll rest here," Anton added.
"Finally," Jace said, lying down.
"Hey, you're still wet!" Nikki said, pushing him.
They changed clothes.
Exhausted.
Then sat on the bed.
"How are they now?" Mara asked.
Silence filled the room.
"Only six of us…" Nikki whispered.
"But earlier… we were ten."
"Sina Sarah, Paolo, Lianne, and Ria," Anton said.
"I hope they're still alive," Nikki said softly.
"Paolo is such a scaredy-cat…" Mara added.
"Tomorrow," Kevin said,
"we will look for them."
Mara nodded.
"We're not going home until we find them," Dex added.
Outside, the rain continued—
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
Inside—
there was silence.
And a small moment of rest.
In the middle of the forest—
Paolo and Sarah kept running without stopping.
They had already been hearing something following behind them for a while—heavy, slow, but getting closer and closer.
They no longer dared to look back.
"Paolo… run faster…" Sarah said, breathless.
"I know…" Paolo replied, his voice trembling.
With every step they took, their feet sank into the mud.
Behind them—something was moving between the trees.
You couldn't tell how many they were. You also couldn't tell where they were coming from.
But one thing was certain—it was getting closer to them.
Paolo suddenly tightened his grip on Sarah's hand.
"Don't let go," he said.
"You're so brave now…" Sarah replied.
But in an instant—
the air grew heavy.
As if something had passed between them.
And suddenly—
Sarah's hand slipped away from Paolo's.
"Sarah?!"
Paolo stopped, shocked and breathless.
"Sarah!!"
His eyes searched the darkness frantically.
No one was there. No response.
Only the marks of something being dragged in the mud—like something had pulled her down into the ground.
"No… this can't be…" he whispered, trembling.
"Sarahhhh!" Paolo screamed.
"You damn monster!" he shouted again.
"Show yourself, you beast!"
The once cowardly Paolo—suddenly became brave because of Sarah's disappearance.
"Sarahhh! Don't leave me!" he screamed while punching the ground.
But no matter how much he shouted—he no longer felt any presence of the monster.
On the other side of the forest—
Lianne and Ria kept running without stopping.
"Ria—I can't do this anymore—" Lianne was almost crying, stumbling through the mud.
"You can. Don't give up," Ria replied firmly without hesitation.
"Don't stop."
Suddenly, someone called out.
"Ria…"
Ria stopped.
"What?" she asked.
"I didn't say anything," Lianne said.
They looked at each other, then slowly scanned their surroundings.
Between the trees—something was moving.
Slow. Certain. As if it knew exactly where they were going.
"Don't look back," Ria whispered.
"Why?" Lianne asked, trembling.
"Because we're in a horror movie—once you look back, your story ends."
Lianne didn't laugh.
But they kept running.
"Ria—" Lianne called, out of breath.
"Is this… the end for us?"
"No. Don't say that. We need to find the others," Ria replied.
"Just keep running, Lianne. Until we get far away."
Slowly, the feeling of being chased faded.
But moments later—they saw a man sitting on the ground, head bowed.
"Ria… who's that?" Lianne asked.
They slowly approached him.
The man suddenly stood up.
They were shocked—but then they saw his face.
"Pa…olo?" Ria called softly.
"Maybe that's not Paolo," Lianne whispered.
The man turned—
"Ria… Lianne… is that you?" Paolo asked, his voice trembling.
"Paolo!" the two of them said at the same time.
They immediately hugged him.
But suddenly—
Paolo broke down crying.
"Shhh… it's okay," Ria and Lianne said, comforting him while patting his back.
"Sarah is gone…" Paolo cried.
"What?!" the two shouted in shock.
And there—
all three of them cried together.
"How did she disappear?" Ria asked.
"We were holding hands while running… then suddenly she was gone," Paolo said.
After calming down a bit—
"Let's find the others," Paolo said.
"Where do we go?" Lianne asked.
"Anywhere," Paolo replied.
So they continued walking.
Until they saw a house in the middle of the forest—faint light coming from inside.
"Let's go there," Ria said.
They ran toward it.
And knocked.
"Hello… is anyone there…"
Inside the house—
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Dex suddenly turned his head.
"…Did you guys hear that?" he asked quietly.
Everyone went silent.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
"Someone's knocking…" Mara said, nervous but hoping it was a person.
"That's not possible…" Nikki whispered. "In the middle of the forest… who—"
"Let's just check," Anton said as he quickly stood up.
"Hey, slow down!" Jace cut in. "What if that's not a person?!"
"If it's not a person, then we're done anyway," Kevin replied, forcing a joke even though his voice was tense.
Slowly, they approached the door.
Creeeeak…
Anton carefully opened it.
And outside—
three familiar faces.
Soaked. Exhausted. Shivering.
"Paolo…?" Nikki said softly.
"Ria…? Lianne…?" Mara added.
For a moment, no one spoke.
It felt unreal.
Then—
"HEY!" Jace shouted. "YOU'RE ALIVE?!"
Everything exploded into chaos.
"Damn, it's really you!" Kevin said as he rushed forward.
"I thought you were dead!" Nikki said, almost crying.
"We thought the same about you!" Ria replied, trembling but smiling.
Suddenly, they all hugged each other.
Tight. Real.
Like they never wanted to let go again.
"God…" Mara said, crying as she hugged Lianne.
"I thought I'd never see you again…"
"Same…" Lianne replied, crying too.
"Bro…" Kevin said to Paolo, pulling him into a hug.
"I thought you'd be the first one to disappear…"
Paolo suddenly went quiet, lowering his head—remembering Sarah.
"That was a terrible joke," Ria added, but she still smiled a little.
Nikki, on the other hand, immediately hugged Ria.
"You're not disappearing again, okay?" she said softly but seriously.
"We won't," Ria replied.
"Promise?"
"Promise."
At the side, Jace laughed even though he was still shaking.
"Man… we were ten earlier… I thought we'd be down to five…"
"There are only six of us here, idiot," Dex replied.
"Then we're nine again!" Jace shot back.
For a moment, they fell silent.
Then it hit them—
"Sarah…" Mara said quietly.
Everyone looked at Paolo.
The smile on his face disappeared.
"…she's gone," he said softly.
He took a deep breath.
And then—they all started crying.
"I thought we were complete again…" Mara said while crying, and the others followed.
Then someone spoke—
"…we'll find her," Dex said.
"If she's still alive…" Paolo added.
Silence fell again.
"That's not an option," Anton said, his voice firmer now.
"We have to find her tomorrow."
Everyone nodded.
But for that moment—
they chose to breathe.
"Wait… is there food?" Lianne asked.
"There is!" Jace answered immediately. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen!"
"Wow… looks like this is your house, Jace," Anton joked.
They laughed.
"It feels like we're on vacation… except there are monsters outside," Mara said sadly.
"Don't worry," Dex said.
"We'll get out of here."
And somehow—
they felt a little lighter.
After eating, they gave clothes to Paolo, Ria, and Lianne.
"Go change first," one of them said, and the three nodded.
"Thank you," the three of them said.
After that—they all sat on the bed, side by side.
Tired. Quiet.
But together.
"Good thing there's a house here…" Lianne said, her voice softer now.
Outside—
the rain kept falling.
But inside—
there was a little warmth.
And for the first time—
they were no longer alone.