The sound of the beast's guttural snarls and Jawad's distant cries faded deeper and deeper into the forest…
until silence swallowed the house whole,
leaving only the suffocating weight of terror and guilt pressing on their chests.
Their feet pound against the ground in a frenzy, chasing after the Leader dragging Jawad like a blood-soaked ragdoll.
Their screams tear through the darkness:
"JAWAAAD!!! WAIT FOR UUUUS!!"
But the forest swallows the sound, the trees swaying like silent monsters, the path cracking beneath their desperate steps. The closer they run… the fainter the trail becomes, as if the earth itself devours the blood and their cries alike.
And then…
The shadow vanishes. The echo of screams dissolves into nothing.
Everything stops, as though it never happened.
Only their ragged breaths remain, and Mustafa's distant groan trembling in the silence…
A haunting reminder that the game is over…
and Jawad is lost forever.
Mary collapsed to her knees beside Mustafa, tears streaming down her face in torrents, her hands trembling as she pressed desperately against his wound, her breath coming in ragged gasps as though she were drowning in endless guilt.
Suddenly…
A deafening slap shattered the silence. Mary's head whipped violently to the side, her cheek burning red. Her hands instinctively flew to the sting, her wide eyes glistening with tears of shock.
Mazn, angrier than anyone had ever seen him, stood like a beast in human form, his voice shaking the walls as he roared:
"I told you to THINK!! We lost Jawad because of you, Mustafa's been bitten! You got lucky this time… but next time… I'll kill you myself before this damned system does! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!!!"
Tala shouted from across the room, her eyes blazing, her words like whips lashing the air:
"This is all her fault! If she hadn't been so stubborn, this nightmare wouldn't have happened!"
Moayad stepped forward, his tone sharp as a blade:
"She survived this time, but if Jawad's life is lost… we'll all pay the price for her mistakes."
Mary gasped, stumbling backward as if their words were knives stabbing straight into her chest. Tears poured down her face, her voice hoarse, barely escaping her lips:
"I… I never wanted this to happen…"
Before the storm of anger could strike her again, Majed stepped in front of her, arms outstretched like a shield, his voice shaking but full of defiance:
"Enough! We were all there… we all lost someone. Why are you putting the blame on her alone?!"
Farah joined him, her eyes wet with tears as she cried out:
"Mary is not the enemy! The real enemy is out there, not in here!"
Silence fell like a heavy weight, thick with tears, guilt, and betrayal.
Mary knelt on the floor, her heart shattered, breath trembling… realizing that sometimes, the monsters outside were far kinder than the monsters grief could create inside these walls.
Mazn's words carved deeper into Mary's heart than the slap ever could… Her tears flowed harder, not from the sting on her cheek, but from the shattering of the safety she thought existed between them.
The room froze… everything was still, except for Mustafa's faint groans… and the silent sound of Mary's heart breaking into pieces.
Majed stood abruptly, his voice sharp, desperate to defend her:
"It was my plan… she had nothing to do with what happened!"
But Mazn spun toward him, eyes blazing, his voice booming like thunder:
"A plan?! Without telling me?! From now on, anything you do behind my back… I swear, you won't live to see the next day!!!"
Moayad suddenly slammed his fist onto the table, the sound cracking through the tension like a gunshot:
"You're all insane! If you'd listened to me from the start, we wouldn't have lost Jawad, and Mustafa wouldn't be lying between life and death!"
Silence fell like a lightning strike, heavy, suffocating, the air thick with fear and anger.
Farah, her heart aching for Mary, stepped forward cautiously:
"Mazn, enough… what's done is done… stop tearing her apart, please!"
But Mary heard nothing except Mustafa's weak breaths. She knelt beside him again, hands trembling as she pressed against his chest, tears streaming down her face as she whispered in anguish:
"Please… don't die… not because of me… I beg you… losing Jawad was already too much…"
Tala's hoarse voice cut through the moment, barely more than a whisper but sharp as a knife, fear trembling in her words:
"One bite… that's all it takes… we have to kill him before he turns into one of them…"
Mary's head snapped up, her tear-filled eyes blazing with fury as she screamed, ripping through the silence:
"SHUT UP!!!"
She turned to Farah, her tone sharp and commanding, almost military-like:
"Farah! Water on the fire...two cups water, two cups salt, hurry!!!"
Farah bolted without hesitation, heart pounding, fetching water and salt, lighting the fire.
Mary sterilized the wound with the hot water, her hands trembling but her eyes unshaken. She heated the knife until it glowed red, then looked at Waseem with desperate pleading in her eyes:
"Hold him… please."
Waseem held Mustafa firmly, and the scream that followed tore through the suffocating silence:
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Mustafa convulsed in pain, while tears drenched Mary's face as she whispered near his ear, her voice breaking along with her heart:
"Just hold on… just a little longer… I won't lose you… not because of my mistake…"
Moayad stood in the corner, pale-faced, silently punching the wall, his rage turned inward, guilt crushing him more than his anger at her.
Farah knelt beside Mary, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder, trying to give her strength even as her own fear quaked inside her.
And Mazn… stood in the shadows, watching with unreadable eyes. No one knew whether he was still burning with anger… or if something deeper, darker, was stirring inside him.
Tala broke the silence, her voice barely a whisper as she glanced toward the child sleeping in the corner:
"And… the kid… what do we do with him?"
Mazn answered, his tone ice-cold, not even blinking:
"Let the brave lady finish playing hero… then we'll see what she dares to do next."