Sierra woke up.
"Nic…" Sierra whispered.
But there was no one around her. She peeked outside, yet the sky was still buried under a thick mattress of darkness.
"Where is he?" Sierra said, her legs trembling as fear of being left alone crept through her.
Her heart began to race, and she felt cold sweat forming at the back of her neck.
"What should I do?"
Thump.
Then a sound came from behind her.
It came from the hatch door.
"What was that?"
She moved toward it.
Each step felt heavier than the last, her body tense as if expecting the floor itself to betray her.
She saw that the hatch door had been smashed open, and monsters were swarming inside.
Her breath caught for a second.
Her mind raced, trying to remember any possible escape route, any place that could offer shelter.
"I should run to the emergency hatch," she thought.
She ran toward it.
Creak.
Every movement echoed like a shout in the silent, cold room.
She opened it.
Her stomach twisted as nausea washed over her when she saw the ground.
There was only blood and the corpses of the dead. As far as she could see, she noticed a familiar body—someone she had known in the past.
Her chest tightened, and a strange, helpless numbness spread through her.
She took a cautious step toward it.
The monsters came from behind her—
Everything went black.
6:00 A.M.
APRIL 19, 1874
Sierra woke up suddenly.
"Haa… haa…"
Her breaths were uneven, her body trembling, and when she looked down, she saw that she was unharmed. Nicolas was sleeping next to her near the heating system.
The warmth from the pipes hit her skin, grounding her, but her heart was still hammering.
"Ha… that was a dream," she whispered.
The light returned to her pale eyes, and for the first time in what felt like hours, she exhaled slowly.
Her hands shook slightly as she rubbed them together to calm herself.
"Thank God," she said.
She peeked outside. The monsters had gone. The sun was glowing brightly in the sky, casting a golden light over the town. It was the golden hour.
The streets were empty, silent except for the faint rustle of leaves, and it felt unreal after the nightmare she had just endured.
"Nicolas… Nicolas!" Sierra shouted, shaking him gently.
"What happened?" Nicolas said, rubbing his eyes, still groggy from sleep.
"The night is gone. We have to go and find that house," Sierra said, her voice tense but steady.
She swallowed, trying to steady her trembling jaw, as the memory of the blood and corpses lingered in her mind.
Nicolas blinked, snapping fully out of his sleep.
"Yeah, thanks for waking me up," he said, pushing himself to his feet.
They went outside to search for the house.
The morning air was crisp, and the sunlight made the shadows of the abandoned buildings stretch long across the streets.
There were so many houses in the town that it was almost dizzying.
Each one looked the same yet slightly different, and a quiet unease settled over them.
"Why are there so many houses here?" Nicolas asked, his expression tired, as he scanned the surrounding buildings.
"Well… because this used to be a town," Sierra replied, her voice thoughtful.
Then a sound came from Nicolas's stomach. It growled loudly, a reminder that he hadn't eaten anything in two days.
"Oh, it's just…" Nicolas said, rubbing his belly sheepishly.
"I guess we should at least rest for a while and, first, find something to eat," Sierra said, finding a place to sit. "Otherwise, we'll be dead before we even find that house."
She tried to ignore the lingering chill in her arms and legs, focusing instead on Nicolas.
She looked at him, curiosity shining in her eyes. "So… tell me about yourself," she asked gently.
Nicolas hesitated. "Well… what should I say? There's nothing special to listen to," he replied, his tone almost defeated.
"But how could anyone live and have no story to tell? You know, everyone has something special in their life," Sierra said, offering a small, bright smile.
Nicolas paused, captivated by the warmth in her expression. He blinked a few times, as if coming back to himself, then sighed.
"Well… we were rich when my father was still there for us," he said, forcing a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "When my father passed away, I was only six years old. After that… some debt collectors came and claimed my father owed them money. The interest was enormous, more than anyone could pay. My mother had to start working as a maid in a noble household, to make ends meet."
He paused briefly, staring into the distance as if replaying the memory. "But even then, the money was never enough to cover the interest. Eventually, my mother took me and ran. They tried to catch us, but somehow… we survived."
Sierra watched him, her eyes full of pity, understanding the weight of his words.
She could feel the exhaustion, the fear, and the determination in him, all layered together like invisible scars.
"Then..." Nicolas stopped telling.
"Then?" Sierra asked.
"Na... nothing more," Nicolas said, with a smile that looked forced.
Sierra didn't ask any further.
"Well... let's get up and grab something to eat," Nicolas said, standing from the seat.
The sunlight hit his face, revealing faint lines from stress and lack of sleep.
"Let's go, we have to search for the house"
They started searching for food. After a while, they reach that church again, where they first encountered the monster.
"It was the church where we had tried to stay the first night," Nicolas thought." How had I ended up in this kind of situation?"
"Finally! I found something to eat!"
There they found an apple tree at the back of the church.
Nicolas said, his eyes tired, "Let's grab them fast."
"Yeah, the night is coming," Sierra said.
Nicolas didn't reply.
"Let's go. We can't find the house today," Sierra said.
"Let's continue this tomorrow."
They gathered some dry tree branches and the old wine that had been placed in the church—to use as fuel for a fire and as a light source.
"Let's go back to the hatch before night falls," Nicolas said.
Nicolas and Sierra enter the hatch. Nicolas grabs the small dry branch they picked back then and folds a cloth around it and he sprinkles some alcohol in it, then he lit his lighter and ignite the fire.
A ray of light in that dark hatch was looking like some luxury for then.
"Why is the hatch connected to a boiling machine and covered with garbage?" Sierra asked, looking at him.
"I didn't do anything," Nicolas said, raising his hands.
When they reached there, they noticed something unusual.
Things were not left in the same place they had been.
A thought suddenly came to Nicolas's mind.
Nicolas suddenly rushed toward the ground level.
"Where are you going?" Sierra shouted. "It's almost night!"
"That person couldn't have gone very far!" Nicolas shouted while running.
"Don't follow me! I'll come back before the sun goes down!"
It was twilight—the time when these mysterious monsters appear in this cursed town.
But Nicolas's will to meet the person who might know this town's secrets made him do something reckless.
Something.
That will change... Everything.***