Getting Ellis settled onto the motorhome couch required some careful maneuvering, but soon the vehicle was back on the road. Daniel took the wheel, his gaze fixed on the rough asphalt ahead.
Julie, sitting in the passenger seat, absentmindedly watched the scenery passing by outside the window. In the back, Fatima held Ellis's hand firmly, whispering words of comfort that barely masked the ragged sound of his breathing.
The smell of gunpowder still clung to Daniel's jacket, a lingering reminder of the chaos.
The motorhome came to a smooth stop in front of the sheriff's office. He turned off the engine, stepped down, and knocked on the door with his knuckles.
It didn't take long for Boyd to emerge from the back. The sheriff was dressed casually, his shirt wrinkled and his face marked by the chronic exhaustion of someone who slept with one eye open.
"What happened so early?" Boyd asked, frowning.
"Donna asked me to let you know Colony House was breached last night," Daniel said bluntly, getting straight to the point.
Boyd's authoritative posture crumbled, replaced by a father's panic, his hands trembling slightly at his sides. "Ellis... My son..."
"He's alive," Daniel cut in quickly. "He's in my vehicle. Just injured his ankle."
Turning, he opened the side door. Boyd approached in long strides, letting out a shaky breath as he stepped inside and saw his son lying on the couch.
"Are you okay?"
"It's nothing," Ellis replied, turning his face away.
"He only hurt his foot, Sheriff," Fatima added, sensing the tension. She knew the relationship between father and son was strained.
Boyd took a deep breath, watching his son's indifference.
"How did the breach happen?"
"Right, I still need to take the injured damsel to Kristi. As for what happened, you'll have to ask Donna," Daniel interjected, earning an irritated look from Ellis.
Looking again at his son's swollen foot, the sheriff decided not to waste time. "Alright, take him to the clinic. I'll go to Donna."
Boyd stepped out, heading back into the station to get dressed.
Before Daniel could start the vehicle, the door of the neighboring house opened. The Matthews family rushed out.
Tabitha led the way, her skin pale and marked by the dark circles of someone who had spent the night staring at the ceiling.
When her eyes found Julie sitting in the passenger seat, relief drained the tension from her shoulders. Tabitha ran across the lawn.
"You look so pale. What happened?" She cupped her daughter's face, inspecting it.
"I'm okay..." Julie murmured, her voice strained as she pulled her mother into a fierce hug, catching her off guard. "It was just... it was horrible there."
Jim stopped a few steps away. Seeing his daughter's fragility, he turned to Daniel, his jaw tight. "What happened?"
"I'll leave the details for Julie to tell. Long story short: the creatures got in, and the place turned into a slaughterhouse." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "I need to take Ellis to the clinic now. I'll be back later so we can talk."
Without waiting for a response from Jim, who stiffened at the news, he waved at Ethan and started the engine, driving down the main road.
Moments later, Daniel parked in front of the clinic, a faint ironic smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he looked out the window.
On the porch, Kristi and Kenny stood side by side. They spoke in low voices, wrapped in that bubble of intimacy that carried unresolved tension.
Daniel stepped out, greeting them before heading to the side door. Fatima was already helping Ellis to his feet. "Give me a hand here. And for the record, I promise I didn't cause the mess this time."
Kristi hurried forward the moment she saw Ellis's condition, immediately asking questions about the injury—how it happened, when it occurred, and the level of pain.
While the young man answered through clenched teeth, Kenny turned to Daniel. "What happened?"
"I've hit my quota for repeating the same story. Fatima, give him the summary."
"We don't know exactly what caused it, but the creatures got in. We lost a lot of people, Kenny. A lot." She lowered her head, remembering the bodies.
All the color drained from both Kenny's and Kristi's faces. He looked out toward the street, eyes wide. "God... I need to go there."
"Get in. I'll give you a ride to the slaughterhouse," Daniel offered, already turning his back and climbing into the driver's seat, while the women helped Ellis into the clinic.
Kenny nodded and got in, settling into the passenger seat. The motorhome started moving again.
The silence inside the RV lasted just long enough for Daniel to notice Kenny's rigid posture.
"I'll give you a friendly piece of advice," Daniel said casually, keeping his eyes on the road. "Don't get close to Kristi with ulterior motives. Don't build expectations."
The deputy sheriff turned his head sharply, adopting a defensive stance. "So you're interested in her. I thought you were going after Julie."
Daniel let out a dry chuckle that echoed through the metal cabin. He slowly shook his head. "Julie and I are past the 'going after' phase—we're together. And I'm not interested in Kristi like that."
"I'm just giving you a heads-up... Consider it a sixth sense. Trust my intuition. That romantic crop you're growing isn't going to bear fruit. It's going to end badly for you."
He didn't elaborate further.
Kenny scoffed, crossing his arms tightly and turning toward the passenger window, dismissing it as just another childish jab.
But internally, he let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that Daniel wasn't interested in Kristi, even if he wasn't sure whether he was telling the truth.
Kristi said he wasn't her type, but still..., Kenny thought.
Daniel didn't care. He didn't expect Kenny to believe him now. The goal was simply to plant the seed. When Kristi's fiancée arrived and the deputy's heart was crushed, he would remember this conversation.
And if Daniel ever needed his help for some future mission, the deputy would at least hesitate before doubting his advice.
Halfway there, they spotted Boyd walking briskly along the roadside, now properly dressed in uniform. Daniel pulled over, and the sheriff climbed in silently, his expression dark.
When they finally parked on the Colony House lawn, the morning chaos was already in full swing.
The first thing they heard as the engine shut off was a shrill, irritating voice cutting through the air.
Dale was arguing furiously with Donna. The man gestured wildly, his face red with anger and sweat.
"I almost died last night because of you!" he spat, pointing a trembling finger at the house leader.
"I had to spend the entire night crammed into some filthy hole in the woods, like back before the talismans, because you don't know how to lead this damn house!"
Dale had been the first to run when he saw the creature. Instead of waiting for some miracle escape, he bolted for the trees, using an old hiding spot.
Other residents who had also hidden in the forest were starting to return at that moment.
Donna stood in front of Dale. Her hair looked like a bird's nest, her eyes bloodshot, and the dark circles beneath them so deep they looked like bruises.
Her fists were clenched at her sides, her breathing short, one second away from throwing a punch.
Boyd and Kenny quickly moved forward, crossing the lawn. "What the hell is going on here?" the sheriff demanded, halting the argument.
Dale didn't back down, turning his outrage toward the new authority. "What's going on, Sheriff, is that Donna didn't do anything!"
He pointed at Daniel, who was approaching at a slow pace. "He showed a video yesterday proving that idiot Kevin was chatting with one of those things through the window! And what did she do? Nothing! And it's exactly because of him that the monsters got in!"
Boyd froze. "A video? What video, Donna? Why wasn't I told about this?"
Donna rubbed her face with both hands, a weary sound escaping her lips. "It was late in the afternoon, Boyd. The sun was already setting when Daniel showed it to me. There wasn't time to warn you."
Feeling the doubtful looks from the residents, Donna began explaining that the video only captured the creature climbing onto the porch and talking to someone through the window.
She talked about the lack of solid proof against Kevin, and how he had denied everything when confronted.
"I thought sealing off the bathrooms would be enough," she finished, her head lowered.
Boyd clenched his teeth, frustrated, but he knew that yelling now wouldn't bring the dead back. He turned to Daniel, completely ignoring Dale. "Do you still have the cameras around the house? Did they record what happened?"
"I do," Daniel replied. He was curious too, since he hadn't had time to check yet. "We can take a look now."
He stepped into the vehicle, followed by Kenny, Boyd, Donna, and Dale.
"First, show me the footage of that creature climbing the porch," the sheriff said, needing to see it with his own eyes.
Daniel pulled up the file saved from the night before the massacre.
Boyd and Kenny leaned in, shock written all over their faces as they watched the smiling woman scale the wooden pillar with spider-like agility.
"My God..." the deputy murmured, a chill running down his spine.
"Yeah, Spider-Man would be jealous," Daniel remarked dryly. "Now, let's move on to yesterday's horror show."
"Kevin's body was found in the back bathroom. The window was open," Donna informed.
Daniel opened the camera feeds and frowned when he saw three black screens; only the front one was still working.
He rewound the footage from the rear camera until the image appeared. The creatures moved as usual and then, out of nowhere, the screen went dark.
"What the hell is this?" he muttered, noticing that the other two recordings had also gone black at the exact same moment.
The last video showed the front yard lit by moonlight. Suddenly, the door was thrown open and dozens of people came running out in tears, screaming, while Dale dashed past like a blur toward the trees.
"It didn't record the break-in. The rear and side cameras conveniently went offline at the same time, minutes before it happened."
That information left everyone tense.
"I'll check the equipment outside," Daniel said as they all stepped out.
After circling the perimeter, he let out an annoyed breath when he saw the last camera with its lens shattered and wires ripped out.
Bastards...
Daniel didn't know who or what had destroyed the equipment, but there was a high chance the crows were involved. After all, he had felt watched while installing them, and there hadn't been anyone else around.
[Looks like your shopping mall–level security setup failed miserably. Maybe next time you invest in indestructible magic cameras. Or a guard dog.]
"Shut up. I'm not in the mood," Daniel grumbled, walking back to the front of the house.
There, the scene was macabre. Boyd and Donna had already started the grim task of gathering the bodies on the lawn. They were twisted remnants of humanity, some completely unrecognizable.
Daniel stopped with his hands in his pockets, watching the work. "Where's everyone else?"
Donna dragged a corpse by the arm toward a central spot on the grass. "Kenny took them to town. They'll stay there until we clean all this up and decide what to do."
She looked at Daniel, setting her pride aside. "I'm sorry. I should've listened to you and isolated Kevin. I... I thought I could control the situation."
Seeing the pain in her eyes from losing people she considered family, Daniel swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. "Apology accepted."
Boyd, who was dragging another body by the legs, stopped and wiped his forehead. He looked Daniel up and down. The young man didn't look away from the mutilated corpses. He didn't gag, didn't show pity. Just indifference.
"You handle this well, don't you?" Boyd asked, suspicion glinting in his eyes.
The sheriff gestured to a heavyset corpse a few meters away. "Since you don't have a problem with the sight, mind giving us a hand? That guy's heavy."
"My quota for community service is already used up for today, Sheriff," Daniel replied with a smile. "Besides, I'm allergic to dragging fresh corpses before breakfast. It messes with my sinuses."
Without waiting for Boyd's response, the blond turned his back and walked toward the motorhome. He climbed in, shut the door, and turned the key in the ignition.
The engine rumbled to life as the vehicle pulled away, crossing the main road and passing straight through the town center, where the survivors were huddled together in fear.
There was no time to play gravedigger. He drove down the dirt road, heading out of town.
His Strength needed to reach 15 to hit Level 2. And the mission to kill one of those things was still on his mind.
It was time for an upgrade.
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