The three of them moved in silence through the suffocating darkness, their footsteps muffled against the cold ground. At the front, Jeron led the way, his every move calculated, and the faint beam of his flashlight flickering on and off intermittently. Though the light barely reached beyond two meters, it was enough to keep them from walking blindly. Yet, the oppressive blackness still seemed to press in on them from all sides.
Eldric, walking in the middle, had no idea where they were headed. His mind buzzed with questions, but each time he opened his mouth to speak, Reona's stern warning flashed through his mind: silence was their shield here. Reluctantly, he swallowed his curiosity and pressed his lips shut, his gaze nervously flicking between the shadowed path ahead and Reona behind him.
Trailing at the rear, Reona's sharp eyes scanned their surroundings with a quiet vigilance. Despite her age, she moved with surprising energy, each step firm and deliberate. Eldric, who had initially worried about her keeping up, quickly realized that the old woman wasn't as frail as he had initially imagined.
After what felt like an eternity of walking through the oppressive blackness, Jeron suddenly halted, raising a hand to signal the others. His body tensed, and when he glanced back at Eldric, his gaze was stern, face drawn into a grim expression.
*Thump.
Eldric's heart skipped a beat at the sight. Something was wrong, but he dared not ask. Instead, he nodded in silent understanding, his body instinctively stiffening. This was not the time for questions. Silently, he fell in step behind Jeron, who led them down a narrow, twisting path that seemed to wind endlessly through the darkness.
Eventually, they arrived at a small, nondescript building—one of the many residential houses in the town. Eldric could barely make out its features in the dim light, but it looked abandoned, like most places here. The sight of it, hunched and lifeless in the darkness, sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.
Jeron carefully pushed open the door, its hinges groaning softly, and motioned them inside. The moment the three of them were in, the door was shut behind them with a soft click, sealing them into the quiet gloom of the house.
Eldric turned toward the wall, instinctively searching for a light switch. Finding one under the dim glow of Jeron's flashlight, he reached out to flip it on. But before his fingers could touch it, a strong hand clamped down on his wrist, jerking his arm back. Jeron's face loomed over him, dark with fury.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jeron hissed, his voice barely above a whisper but dripping with barely contained anger.
"I was just... turning on the lights." Eldric frowned, confused by the sudden outburst. Though he resented the force Jeron used to grab him, he decided not to make a scene. Jerking his hand free, he stared at Jeron in disbelief. "What's the big deal? You had the lights on back at the diner. Why not here?"
Jeron's response was silence, his eyes burning with frustration as he glanced toward Reona, silently seeking confirmation.
*Ahem.
Reona cleared her throat softly, stepping forward. She signaled for them to move away from the door, her expression unusually serious. Once they were positioned in the middle of the room, Reona met Eldric's gaze, her face filled with quiet disappointment.
"Do you remember what I told you?" she asked, her voice low but firm. "About following orders and keeping silent?"
Eldric nodded, his brow furrowing. "Yeah, I remember."
"Well, add this to the list," Reona's voice dropped to an almost inaudible whisper. "Unless we specifically tell you to, don't make any unnecessary movements... None."
Though she kept her tone controlled, Eldric could feel the weight of her words and the growing annoyance behind them. He swallowed hard and gave a hesitant nod, feeling more and more out of his depth. His eyes shifted uneasily to Jeron, whose flashlight had been dimmed to a faint glow, casting long shadows around the room.
"This place..." Eldric's voice faltered as he took in the state of the house. It was a mess, unlike the relative order of his own home. Shattered glass littered the floor, mixed with broken furniture and scattered debris. In one corner, a pile of wood lay as though someone had tried to start a fire but abandoned the effort halfway through.
"Already picked clean," Reona muttered, her voice tinged with resignation. She glanced at Eldric and, seeing his confusion, gave a small sigh. "After the darkness came, people scavenged whatever they could—food, weapons, anything to survive. By now, places like this have already been stripped of anything useful. You're not going to find much left here besides the restocked food, broken furniture, and wooden planks."
Eldric nodded, understanding now. The chaos around him wasn't just disarray—it was the mark of desperate survivors clinging to anything they could find in a world turned upside down. He looked down at the debris-strewn floor, suddenly feeling the weight of his situation.
As they stood there in the eerie silence, Eldric realized he had been so caught up in following Jeron and Reona that he never asked the obvious question—why had they come to this place? He glanced over at Jeron, whose face remained unreadable in the dim light.
"Why are we here?" Eldric asked quietly, hoping for some clarity.
Jeron didn't respond. He barely acknowledged Eldric, continuing to scan the room with his flashlight, now dimmed to conserve power. Eldric wasn't surprised. Even though he had known for a few days, he knew that Jeron was a man of few words, and expecting an answer from him felt futile. In the end, Eldric turned his gaze toward Reona, hoping she would explain.
Reona let out a long, weary sigh, her eyes shifting toward the windows, which were barred from the inside with thick wooden planks. "The Stalkers," she muttered. "I think they've found us."
Eldric froze, the weight of her words hitting him like a wave of cold air. His pulse quickened, and a knot formed in his throat. Instinctively, his eyes darted around the room, and he reached down to grab a rough wooden stick from the floor. It was hardly a weapon, but in his hands, it was better than nothing. His grip tightened around it as he felt a deep sense of vulnerability creeping in.
Jeron and Reona, however, paid him no mind, their focus elsewhere. They began moving toward the kitchen, their steps cautious and deliberate.
Confused, Eldric watched as the two of them rummaged through the kitchen. "What are they doing?" he thought. Reona had said earlier that everything of value had already been scavenged from places like this. He couldn't understand what they were looking for now. His confusion only deepened when he saw them pulling water from the kitchen cabinets.
It took him a moment, but slowly, the realization dawned on him. They weren't looking for scavenged goods—they were searching for the house's automatic restocked water and food supplies. They were trying to save their own food and water for emergencies. Who knows, perhaps after going outside the door, they might not find any other house. In that case, their supplies were going to be their greatest reliance.
Without hesitation, Eldric moved to join them, stepping toward the kitchen. But as soon as he crossed the threshold, he was struck by the sight of something horrifying. Dried bloodstains, dark and crusted, covered the floor and splattered across the walls. Earlier he didn't see it because of the distance, but now that he was here, he saw the numerous bloody handprints all over the walls as if people were trying to climb them, running away from whatever abomination was after them. The entire kitchen was a macabre scene, as though it had witnessed some gruesome event long ago. It felt as if he had stepped into a nightmare.
Eldric froze, his feet glued to the spot just outside the kitchen. His hands trembled, and his heart pounded in his chest. He couldn't force himself to take another step forward.
Reona, noticing his sudden halt and the look of horror on his face, gave him a solemn nod. "Don't worry," she said, her voice calm but tinged with melancholy. "Whoever died here... it happened a long time ago. Decades have passed and this house has been abandoned ever since. The danger's gone."
Eldric swallowed, his throat dry, but he still couldn't move. His gaze remained fixed on the dark stains, imagining the terror that had unfolded here.
Reona sighed softly. "As long as you stay with me," she added, her tone softening, "I'll do my best to keep you safe."
Eldric nodded weakly, though his body was still frozen in place. The comfort of her words did little to shake the unease settling over him like a shroud.
For a moment, the three of them stood in the heavy silence, their attention shifting back to the barred windows. The darkness outside felt alive, pressing against the wooden planks as if something just beyond the walls was watching them.
Jeron finally broke the quiet, his voice low and tense. "We're not leaving for a while. Too many Stalkers out there right now. Going outside now would be a death wish."
Eldric just nodded, his thoughts swirling with dread. What choice did he have? He wasn't eager to test his luck outside in the pitch-black streets with those abominations lurking around. He gripped the wooden stick in his hand a little tighter, though he knew it would do little against the horrors that waited beyond the safety of the walls.
With no further discussion, the three of them settled into the oppressive silence of the house, the atmosphere thick with tension. Jeron clicked off his flashlight, plunging the room into total darkness to conserve the precious battery. They were now sitting in the black void, with no light, no sound, and only their shallow breathing echoing faintly in the still air. Time stretched on, and the darkness felt as though it would swallow them whole.
*Swish
In the distance, a faint rustling could be heard, as if something was moving out there in the darkness. Eldric stiffened, gripping his stick tighter, his heartbeat loud in his ears. Every creak, every shift in the air felt like a warning. The Stalkers were near, and all they could do was wait and pray that they would go away...