"Trina—!"
"You two, get down!"
Thino's eyes widened just as he was about to call out to the girl, but a voice—sharp and commanding—cut through the air before he could speak. Without question, he obeyed instantly, diving toward Trina to tackle her down just as—
FWHOOSH!
"Graahhhhhh!!—Eeiiikkk!!!"
A wall of fire roared past them, licking the air in a burst of heat and fury. It scorched the hallway just inches above their heads, hitting two creatures mid-lunge. The monsters shrieked, thrashing violently as the flames clung to their bodies like a curse they couldn't shake off.
"Stand up, quick!" came the urgent cry from Ella, her voice fierce as she stepped forward—hands trembling but steady—holding up a can of gas spray in one hand and a lit lighter in the other.
"We need to run, or else more will come!"
No time to hesitate. With adrenaline surging through their veins, the three of them sprinted through the smoke-filled hallway. Trina still appeared dazed, struggling to keep up, so Thino instinctively placed a firm hand on her back, steadying her, guiding her forward like a tether to reality.
Crack!
"Garrrhhh!!"
"Aaahhhh!!!"
Just as Ella feared, another creature burst from the side, shattering through a glass pane with terrifying ease. The noise sent Trina screaming again, paralyzed with fear as the nightmare unfolded.
But Ella didn't falter. Without missing a beat, she lifted her makeshift flamethrower and blasted the creature with another shot of fire.
"Iiieeeekkkkk!"
The creature recoiled instantly, its shriek piercing the air before it lost its grip on the window and dropped from view.
"W-Where are we going anyway?" Trina cried, clutching her chest as her breath came in shallow, panicked gasps.
"To the auto service room!" Thino answered quickly. "There's a vehicle parked there."
"D-Do you think it's safe?"
"We don't have time to find out, Ella," Thino shot back, his voice tense but steady as he took the second lead. "We need to run. Even if we hide, with the noise we've made—they'll find us eventually."
He scanned every corner, every shadow ahead of them, eyes darting between doors and intersections to find the fastest route. They couldn't afford another wrong turn. Not now.
"Aaarrrghhhhkkkk!!!"
The monsters' cries grew louder—closer. But then something else emerged. Heavy. Earth-shaking.
Thud... thud... thud...
Thino slowed. Ella did too. Something was wrong.
"T-thino…" Ella whispered, slipping into his old name out of sheer panic, "T-Tell me I'm wrong... but is that..."
"Yeah," Thino replied grimly, stopping dead in his tracks. "It's not just one anymore."
Their hearts sank. A group. A horde. Whatever was approaching—they could feel it vibrating through the ground.
They were being hunted.
"What should we do?" Trina asked, voice trembling, barely holding back her tears.
Neither Ella nor Thino responded. Their gazes drifted to the floor, to the ceiling, to the endless corridor ahead—searching, calculating, but every option they conjured seemed impossible.
"They're here… P-Please… Do something…" Trina whimpered, her voice cracking. "We need to go… M-Mommy…"
But her pleading only seemed to deepen the silence between her two companions.
Frustration. Fear. And the creeping weight of hopelessness—they could all feel it, heavy like a noose tightening around their necks.
'If only I knew how to kill them,' Thino thought bitterly. 'If I could just remember… Did I really come back? Or is this all just déjà vu?'
Ella forced a weak smile, the kind people wear when they're already letting go. Her gaze drifted upward as if surrendering to the ceiling.
'Maybe this is where our struggle ends. I mean, I have nothing waiting for me tomorrow… or the month after… They win this time…'
It's human nature to think about giving up when tragedy closes in—and that's exactly the situation Thino and Ella are in right now. They can't seem to think clearly under the pressure they're facing.
'There's a saying—there's no shame in getting tired… and rest is free…'
"No!! Don't come near!!" Trina screamed again, voice shrill.
"Graahkkk!!" the monsters howled in reply.
The piercing sound jarred both Thino and Ella out of their thoughts.
'But giving up suddenly, while lying to yourself that you're satisfied? That's never the right choice,'
Thino snapped inside his head.
'No. We couldn't die here. Not like this. We're not food, We're not prey!'
Ella thought.
"It's not over yet," Thino whispered, eyes narrowing.
"It's not over yet," Ella echoed beside him, resolve returning to her stance.
"Ella, find a spare room. Anything you can." Thino's voice regained control, crisp and decisive.
"Roger that." Ella managed a grin as her eyes scanned their surroundings again. She didn't have time to mourn—they were survivors now.
"I found one, Thino!"
"Good. Run to that room—take Trina with you. I'll cover you, then follow after I activate this."
He held up a small black object in his hand.
"A personal alarm?"
Ella frowned. "Are you sure you'll make it in time?"
"Of course," Thino said with a smile that masked a thousand doubts. "Once you're inside, lock the door. Don't open it again until I knock."
"…Okay then. Be safe."
"Always."
With that, Ella grabbed Trina's wrist and sprinted toward the room.
"Aaarrghhhhkkk!!!"
The growls were deafening now. Thino could hear them clearly—snarling, rabid, and far too close. The sound meant only one thing: they were right behind him.
"Let the action begin," he muttered under his breath.
With a sharp hiss, he yanked the pin from the fire extinguisher and released a swirling cloud of smoke, blanketing the corridor in dense, choking fog. The air turned thick and white, the visibility dropping to zero within seconds.
"Arrgghhhgh!!!"
The monsters, now completely blind to their surroundings, howled in rage and confusion. Thino ducked low and moved swiftly, using the smoke as a curtain. They wouldn't see him now. Not yet.
Then came silence.
A terrifying, ominous silence.
They've stopped moving, Thino realized. They're listening.
Carefully, he reached into his pocket and set the personal alarm. The countdown began, ticking like a metronome in his chest.
He clenched his jaw.
No turning back now.
As the seconds ticked by, the smoke in the hallway slowly began to fade, thinning into wisps that curled toward the ceiling. Visibility crept back like a curtain being slowly drawn, revealing shadowed figures looming in the fog. Thino stood frozen in place, breath caught in his throat, eyes narrowing as a few of the creatures began to come into view—silent, monstrous shapes prowling just beyond arm's reach.
His grip tightened around the alarm clock in one hand and the fire extinguisher in the other. A chill raced up his spine.
'H-How many of them are still in here?' he wondered, the thought scratching at the edge of panic in his mind.
He glanced around cautiously, weighing his next move. The plan had been simple—use the alarm clock as a decoy, draw them away with the sound, then bolt in the opposite direction. But now doubt clawed its way in.
'What if… what if the alarm didn't catch all their attention? What if some of them are still lurking?'
He stayed perfectly still, barely breathing, his eyes tracking the twitching limbs and sharp postures of the creatures as they moved. He didn't dare to move yet—not until, he was sure. Slowly, he turned his head to check his side, only to realize the hallway beside him had gone strangely quiet. No movement. No snarling.
Not a single creature was walking past him anymore.
'I guess that means no one's coming from that side…' he murmured internally, the smallest hint of relief loosening the knot in his chest.
But before he could throw it, Thino failed to notice the creature lurking above.
One of the monsters had been silently perched on the ceiling, camouflaged in the shadows, its limbs coiled tightly against the pipes. It was staring at him—its sharp, furious eyes locked on his every move.
"Arrckk! Gaarhh!"
The screech ripped through the air.
Thino froze, his entire body tensing as the sound stabbed into his ears. He instinctively stepped back, choking on his breath—then suddenly felt something thick and warm splatter onto his shoulder.
His stomach turned.
Blood.
The sticky liquid ran down his arm, fresh and foul-smelling—but it wasn't his. It was dripping from above.
Tik tok…
Tik tok…
Just like earlier, time seemed to slow down.
His heart pounded in his chest, a drumbeat echoing in his ears as he slowly turned his head upward. The haze of smoke was almost gone now, revealing the monstrous face glaring down at him from the ceiling.
Its mouth opened wide.
"Arrckkhh!!!!!"
With no time to waste, Thino reacted.
He threw himself to the side, rolling across the ground just as the monster lunged at the space where he had been standing. The sudden movement knocked the alarm clock and fire extinguisher from his hands. They clattered across the floor—the extinguisher bouncing to the left, the clock skidding forward with a metallic thunk.
Then—
Twiwwwwww! Twiwwwwww!
The alarm activated, screaming through the corridor.
"Gaarkkkkkk!!!!!!"
The noise echoed like a flare gun in a quiet forest—and just like that, it worked.
Too well.
Every monster in the area turned its head at once.
The sharp, shrieking signal had drawn them in completely. Thino could already hear them—snarling, growling, their footsteps growing louder, faster, more frantic. Dozens of them responding to the sound.
His chest tightened.
The panic pressed down on him all at once, disrupting everything he'd planned. The bait was supposed to be thrown from a distance—not dropped at his feet. The monsters were supposed to follow it away from him, not toward him.
But despite the chaos—
What surprised him the most wasn't the sound.
It was himself.
Even surrounded, even unarmed—his body began to move.
No hesitation.
The creature lunged at him again—but this time, Thino didn't back away.
He caught its movement—just barely—and twisted his body to the side, letting it crash into the wall beside him. The impact left a crack in the concrete, dust falling from the ceiling as the monster snarled and spun back around.
But Thino was already moving.
He dove toward the fire extinguisher lying nearby, rolled across the floor, and grabbed it just as the creature charged again. Without thinking, he swung.
CLANG!
The heavy metal cylinder smashed against the side of the monster's face, sending it stumbling back with a distorted howl. Thino didn't stop—he closed in, eyes wide, heart racing, lifting the extinguisher and slamming it down with every bit of strength he had.
WHAM!
Another hit—this time to the shoulder. Bone crunched. The creature shrieked and flailed, claws scraping wildly at the air, but Thino was already behind it. He drove the extinguisher into its back, forcing the monster to collapse forward with a grunt of pain.
It twitched once.
Then fell still.
Panting hard, Thino stepped back, blood dripping from the extinguisher's dented end. The creature's chest still moved—barely—but its limbs had gone limp. Its breathing was shallow and unsteady.
It was unconscious.
His grip loosened slightly as the weight of what just happened settled in. His hands trembled—not from fear, but from the rush of adrenaline that hadn't stopped surging since the scream.
"D-did I? Am I really the one who did this?" Thino mumble,
It was a moment of truth—one that left Thino stunned and utterly speechless. For a heartbeat, his mind went blank, overwhelmed by what had just happened. But as the rush of adrenaline began to fade, clarity slowly returned. He found himself breathing heavily, eyes locked on the aftermath of his actions, finally aware enough to process what he had just done.
But the moment was short-lived.
Twiwwwwww! Twiwwwwww!
The alarm was still wailing behind him, loud and unrelenting.
And in the distance—
He could hear them.
The other creatures.
Their growls.
Their footsteps.
Closing in.
Thino's eyes widened.
No time to think.
He grabbed the extinguisher tightly and dashed toward the nearest blind spot—under the stairs, wide enough to crawl behind. He slipped into the shadows just in time, but only to be startled when he realized he wasn't alone in his hiding place…