Nicolas jumped.
His foot barely caught the ladder as he slipped down.
He slammed the hatch shut above them.
SLAM!
The impact shook the walls.
Sierra screamed.
Dust rained down.
Then—
KRRGGGHH!
The monster slammed into the wall instead.
The wood cracked.
The stone shattered.
It couldn't stop.
Its own momentum drove it straight through the side of the building.
Silence followed.
Only their breathing remained.
Nicolas slid down against the wall, shaking uncontrollably.
They had survived.
By seconds.
HAAH
"Gosh, I just thought I was a dead guy a second ago" Nicolas panting.
Sierra said nothing.
Nicolas noticed after panting, the hatch was so big and had almost all basic things like a table, a bed, a clock, etc., like someone was living there. and there was an escape hatch that was connected to the ground.
"There is an escape hatch should we sneak out of here," Nicolas said.
"Let's go, " Sierra said.
Nicolas just opened it.
And saw that monsters were swarming around the town.
Thump
Nicolas closed the escape hatch immediately.
"What happened?" Sierra asked.
"There is a swamp of monsters," Nicolas replied.
They went back.
When morning came, they didn't sleep a wink out of fear.
Nicolas peered from the escape hatch. There was no one in the town.
"Hey, Miss Sierra, there is nobody here," Nicolas said.
"Nobody?" Sierra asked.
Nicolas goes outside with Sierra.
"I guess they can't live under the sunlight," Sierra said.
"Let's leave this town fast," Nicolas said.
"Yes," Sierra replied.
They move on the path straight for half a day. Then they saw a town. They feel relieved.
Haah
"Oh finally, I feel relieved now," Nicolas said.
"Yeah, me too," Sierra replied.
After reaching the village.
Nicolas said.
"This village is looking somehow familiar isn't it?"
After seeing it sierra. The edges of her smile trembled and her eyes became cold.
Then Sierra said.
"It's not similar Nicolas, it's the same place"
They traveled a whole day to get out of the town, but they were just back in the town like an infinite loop revolving around the town.
When the sun was about to set.
Nicolas said
"It would be better to go where we stayed last night"
"Yeah, I am so tired because of this goddamn loop. How the hell can it happen in real life?" Sierra replied, scoffing.
Then they go to the hatch where they stayed last night.
"I will stay up. If any monster comes here, I will wake you up to run," Nicolas said.
"I think we should divide it into shifts" Sierra said.
"Ok," Nicolas said.
"So, go and get some sleep. You didn't sleep last night." Sierra said.
Nicolas didn't get a wink of sleep for three days. His eyes had dark circles, and his face looked gloomy due to exhaustion from the past few days.
"Ok, wake me up when you feel sleepy. Don't hesitate" Nicolas said.
"Alright," Sierra replied.
...
"Nicolas, where were you?" A person in blurry memories asked.
"Dad, I was looking at the treasure maps in the attic." child Nicolas replied.
"Dad, I found something." child Nicolas said.
"Oh, so what did my little champ find?" Nicolas' dad.
Dreams change.
Everywhere is fire, and child Nicolas is trying to find his father in the midst of the fire.
"Dad! Dad! Dad!" Nicolas screams.
"■■colas Ni■colas. Nicolas" Sierra waking him up.
YAWN
"Isn't the shift ended so early? I didn't get much sleep, so I'm going to sleep for some more time. Please adjust." Nicolas said.
Nicolas is going to sleep again.
" That's not the issue, I hear sounds from there," Sierra said fearfully.
Nicolas wakes up. His sleep was gone when he heard what Sierra was saying.
"Where?" Nicolas asked.
Sierra points the finger in the direction.
Nicolas gets up.
HISSS
Then when he gets closer. He starts to hear some sound. There were so many rags there.
" Where is the sound coming from?" Nicolas asked himself.
There, he saw stairs
"Miss Sierra, here are the stairs," Nicolas said.
Sierra comes closer to Nicolas.
Then Nicolas clears the opening of stairs.
ZRRRGGH
HISSS
"I will go first. If you hear anything, run as fast as you can and don't waste time waiting for me," Nicolas said.
Sierra didn't say anything.
Nicolas goes down the stairs carefully as if a single wrong step can make him go limp.
There hasn't been some time since Nicolas went down there.
Then she heard.
"Sierra, come downstairs." Nicolas' voice echoed.
"Ok, coming!" Sierra replied.
Then she goes downstairs. There, she saw a machine working in perfect condition.
It looked like a steam heating system but too old for their era.
"What is a machine like this doing here?" Sierra asked.
Nicolas saw something written on the heating system.
"There is something written" Nicolas said carefully while touching the machine.
Nicolas saw the date of manufacturing on that machine it was...
"1793" Nicolas said.
"1793? Isn't it too old for working?" Sierra said.
"Yeahh… it's too old but… That's not the problem here," Nicolas said.
"The problem is that. How the hell is it possible for a machine that needs fuel to be working. Working fine in a ghost town that is cursed and ruined from hundreds of years ago? For God's sake!" Nicolas said aggressively.
"There must be someone alive living here in this town, otherwise why would a dead person want a machine that provides heat, correct?" Nicolas said with a glimpse of hope in his eyes.
"You are right, but how should we find it? Its pipes are in the soil, so we can't figure it out directly." Sierra said.
"Should we check every house one by one?" Nicolas said.
"That will consume so much time," Sierra replied.
Then, at that moment, a sound comes.
Grrrgh
This sound comes from Nicolas' empty stomach, which had been that way for 2 days.
"Umm.. we should get some food and sleep for now. This is nighttime, so we shouldn't get out of here, and the area around the machine is warm, and it's also safer to be here than the upward floor." Sierra said.
"Yeah... I guess you are right. Let's get some sleep first. Then we need to search for food. " Nicolas replied.
Then. They goes to sleep.***