Inside the cold, damp cave, a small campfire flickered. It was the only thing separating the last human In the universe and a gray-skinned boy with piercing blue eyes from dozens of twisted, pale creatures.
The monsters watched them, hungering for their flesh with a bottomless appetite.
The fire was like a fragile wall, protecting them from the hell that surrounded them—a fading wall of light and warmth. Its glow was weakening bit by bit, and they had run out of supplies to keep it burning for much longer.
But at that moment, Soli wasn't worried about the dying fire. A sudden, crazy idea had just popped into his head.
It was a long shot, but it might be his only chance to find more firewood. If he could just keep the fire alive until sunrise… before the darkness completely swallowed them and the pale creatures moved in for the kill.
As he looked at the boy's armor plates, a strange idea sparked in his mind: torches.
He would make torches using the plates from the boy's shins and forearms.
He knew it might not be much help.Their only source of fire was fading by the second.
But then he suddenly remembered the pile of wood he'd left outside the cave entrance,and a faint, desperate smile touched his lips.
His plan was simple: he would use the torches to scare the white creatures back, lead them out of the cave, then grab whatever wood was left and make a run for it.
Yeah, the plan was simple. Maybe anyone else could have thought of it.
But pulling it off?That was the real challenge.
One wrong move,one moment where their protective wall of fire died down, and it would all be over...
The creatures would seize the chance and attack.The boy would be dead in an instant, and Danny would become the main course in their endless feast.
Soli untied the boy, who stared back with wide, confused eyes, unsure of what he intended to do.
Soli grabbed the armor plate on the boy's forearm and yanked it hard. The gray boy resisted, gripping his own armor tightly.
"Cut it out, you lunatic!"
Soli snarled, his voice rough and charged with authority as he struggled to wrench the armor plate free, trying to impose his will.
The struggle between them intensified, and the difference in their strength was painfully clear.
The gray boy pushed with all his might, his feet connecting with Soli's stomach, sending Soli flying backward and crashing to the ground.
Soli was at his absolute weakest... so weak that a shove from a slender boy was enough to take him down and throw him completely off balance.
"Ugh... you little bastard!" Soli snarled, struggling to get up. He then grabbed the last remaining piece of firewood and raised it high, threatening the gray boy.
The boy instinctively shut his eyes, bracing for the coming pain...
But Soli let the log clatter to the ground. In a flash, he lunged forward, tackling the boy and pinning him down with all his weight.
This time, he didn't put a knee on his back. Instead, he wrenched the boy's arms behind him and started undoing the leather straps to pry the armor plates from his forearms.
The boy tried to resist, but it was useless. Soli had gotten what he wanted: four crude, handmade plates.
After a few more futile struggles, the boy finally gave up. He turned toward the cave wall, drew his knees to his chest, and just sat there, watching Soli with hollow, empty eyes.
Soli gathered the plates and started tying them up with the straps still attached. Whenever he ran short of straps, he'd go back to the gray boy.
They'd struggle, and in the end, Soli would tear away whatever pieces of the boy's clothing he needed.
He wasn't at full strength—his injury and exhaustion were obvious—but he always got what he wanted in the end, even if it left him with a few extra minor wounds that bled freely.
"You little bastard... You'll thank me after we survive this."
He said it while wiping blood from his lip,looking the boy straight in the eye.
His gaze then shifted to the cave mouth, where the white creatures clustered, waiting for their chance.
Soli spat the blood that had pooled in his mouth toward the monsters. A bloody grin spread across his face as he yelled:
"Bet you're enjoying the show, you filthy freaks! Well, tough luck... you're not getting a single piece of me."
Soli stared out at the creatures watching them from the darkness, their gaunt bodies shifting in the shadows.
They had been following the fight like an audience enjoying a cockfight, and he bitterly wondered if they were placing bets on the winner. No doubt all the wagers were on the gray boy—he was always the one who walked away with the fewest injuries.
But none of that mattered now.
Soli had finally finished making the torches.
Two shoddy, poorly-made torches. But they were good enough to work just once—and that was all he needed.
He picked up their very last piece of firewood, placed it on the ground, and crushed it with a heavy rock until it splintered and its fibers frayed.
He gathered the splinters and stuffed them inside the torches, looking at his handiwork with a mix of exhaustion and dread.
The easy part was over…
Now came the hard part—and the most painful idea he'd ever had.
The heat seared his skin, sinking its fangs into his palms, but Soli didn't pull back. There was no time for second thoughts.
He knelt before the dying fire, pointing the torches toward the white creatures in the darkness.
Carefully, so as not to scatter the embers or snuff them out, he raised his hand to the edge of the flames. Then, slowly, he pushed it through the fire.
"Aghhh… Damn it…"
The cry was ripped from between his clenched teeth.The pain crawled from his fingers up his arm, the sickening smell of his own searing flesh filling the air.
Yet, he managed to grab a few embers. Cradling them in his trembling hands, he placed them inside the torches.
He blew on them hard, his ragged breath igniting the tinder and sending up small sparks.
The embers devoured the wood quickly,and the torches flared to life with a sharp, harsh light that briefly brought the cave back to life for a few seconds.
But the light at the center was fading—their original fire was breathing its last.
The creatures oozed from the shadows,thirsting, swaying with an inhuman gait, their voices a sinister hiss of raw fury and hunger.
Soli thrust the burning torches high toward them.
The monsters halted immediately,recoiling with sharp, hate-filled shrieks, their sounds dripping with pure venom.
He turned to the boy sitting behind him and thrust one of the torches toward him, his voice ragged.
"Take it…"
But the gray boy didn't move.
He remained where he was,still as a statue, his piercing blue eyes fixed on Soli with a complex look—a mixture of anger… astonishment… and maybe something else Soli couldn't quite decipher.
Soli let out a sharp, frustrated sigh, his wavering voice mixing with the crackle of the dying fire.
"Damn you... you useless, stubborn brat."
He propped one torch against a rock right in front of the boy, like a wall separating him from the creatures creeping in the shadows.
The boy's expression toward him shifted.It wasn't angry this time. There was a certain calm in it now... and perhaps, regret.
But Soli didn't notice. His only focus was on moving fast, before his pathetic torches burned out.
He turned and started walking toward the mouth of the cave, gripping his torch tightly.
The creatures in front of him retreated with every step he took,their twisted bodies writhing in the light as if they were burning from its mere presence.
"That's it... that's it, you filth... back up, you deformed freaks!"
His voice echoed through the cave,a defiant roar challenging death itself.
But suddenly, something bumped into him from behind.
His body jerked violently,and the torch nearly slipped from his grasp. A few live embers scattered onto the ground.
He spun around quickly, his face tense and his features twisted in anger...
It was the gray boy,right behind him, clinging to him as if he'd found the only safe shadow in this entire hell.
Soli gritted his teeth hard, then pushed him back lightly to separate them.
His gaze met the boy's—two pools of piercing blue now filled with pure terror and confusion,as if fear itself had taken their form.
Soli let out a slow, weary sigh and said in a low, exhausted voice:
"You can follow me...but don't touch me."
The echo of his words mixed with the roar of the fire, as if the whole cave had just witnessed a fragile pact being made between a broken man and a desperate boy, bound together by the same terror.
The boy didn't understand Soli's words, but he obeyed them exactly as intended.
They moved forward at a painfully slow pace through the echoing shrieks of the creatures, until they finally emerged into the open air.
Soli scanned the area and saw it—a decent pile of wood, enough to keep the fire burning until morning. It wasn't far, just a few steps away.
"Grab it and go ahead of me."
Soli gestured for the boy to take the firewood. The boy didn't understand the words, but he immediately grasped what Danny wanted.
He grabbed the wood and started backing up. With no creatures blocking the return path, instead of moving cautiously, the boy broke into a run, each piece of wood under his arm like a key to survival itself.
As Soli was stepping backward, his eyes locked on the creatures, his foot caught on something solid on the ground.
He managed to keep his balance and didn't fall, but the embers he was holding were flung from his hands, leaving him exposed and defenseless.
He sprinted toward the torch the boy was hiding behind, pushing with every ounce of strength he had left, the creatures chasing after him without relent.
Soli gritted his teeth, pain and exhaustion washing over him. He was so far gone, he didn't even feel the tremors in the ground from the monsters' charge.
"Come on… come on! Almost there!"
He whispered to himself,seeing the protective torchlight just a few steps away.
"Yes!.. Agh!.."
Suddenly, three sharp claws pierced through his shoulder from behind.
One of the creatures had caught him,its grip merciless.
"Damn it!"
Soli screamed,as the other beasts closed in rapidly behind him, their voices a cacophony of pure savagery and hunger, as if conspiring to swallow him whole in a single moment.
Soli grabbed the torch and thrust the burning embers directly into the creature's face. It shrieked in agony, yanking its claw back and writhing, giving Soli the split-second chance he needed to escape.
With the last of his strength, Soli lunged toward the boy holding the torch. He was gasping for air, his body utterly spent, but he froze suddenly when he felt a hot spray land on his back.
His eyes shot upward to the boy, who stood frozen, trembling violently, his eyes wide with sheer terror.
The boy's shaking hands nearly dropped the torch, and finally, it slipped from his grasp.
But at the last second,Soli managed to catch it, swiftly shoving the boy backward out of the way.
Soli thrust the torch forward, directing its light toward the white creatures.
But the light was already fading,the embers weakening, leaving Soli and the boy confronting the darkness and the dying flame as the creatures advanced mercilessly.
Soli needed to drop the torch and prepare the fire pit to relight it, but the torch in his hand was growing dim, now so feeble it no longer gave him the freedom to move.
He gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his face. His burned, peeling hands screamed in agony, and the wound in his shoulder throbbed with a sharp, stabbing pain.
His mind raced, cycling between a way out of this nightmare and the visceral agony he'd feel if those creatures laid a claw on him.
The pain and psychological pressure were so intertwined that reality began to blur with his terrified imagination; he started to believe the horrors he was picturing were actually happening.
A high-pitched shriek ripped him from his thoughts. Soli glanced sideways and saw the gray boy had prepared the fire pit. A small, desperate flicker of hope jumped in his chest.
"Damn it!.. Damn it!.. DAMN IT!"
Soli lunged for the spot, his torch held out in front of him.
The creatures had closed in to a terrifying degree, so close they were almost upon them.
Every leap he took was a brutal mix of pain, terror, and raw determination to survive, all while the torch's feeble light fought to hold back the overwhelming darkness closing in around them.
The creatures stretched out their claws, now just inches from Soli's back.
It was over…or so it seemed.
Soli leaped behind the newly lit fire, its strong, sudden light flooding over the creatures.
They shrieked in pain,the sound echoing through the cave as they recoiled backward, startled and wounded.
Soli was gasping for air, his chest shuddering from exhaustion and adrenaline.
"Damn it...Screw you all, you bastards!" he muttered, collapsing next to the boy—tired, in pain, but satisfied.
The pain in his shoulder and hands was intense, but all that struggle had been worth it.
Now,all they had left to do was watch the fire and keep it burning until morning, hoping it would be enough to keep them alive.