After some time, the hand was no longer struggling with the same confidence.
Needles were stuck all over it, pins driven through the fingers and wrist. The rotten skin had been punctured so many times it looked like a twisted pincushion.
The hand still tried to crawl away, dragging itself weakly across the floorboards, but the blood spike holding it down kept it in place.
Ethan crouched in front of it, watching the fingers twitch.
"So," he said calmly, "tell me, you demonic bitch hand… where is the book?"
The hand spasmed but didn't answer.
Across the room Enid looked over, uncomfortable.
"Ethan… there's a kid here," she said.
Wednesday didn't even look up from the tools in her hand.
"Cover her ears," she said flatly. "In torture you can't compromise."
Enid sighed and pulled Lucy closer, covering the girl's ears while trying to block her view at the same time.
Lucy still tried to peek around her arm.
Meanwhile the pinned hand continued twitching under Ethan and Wednesday's attention, clearly trying very hard to escape whatever was about to happen next.
"It seems torture is a waste of time. We didn't get any useful information," Selene said.
She folded her arms, watching the pinned hand twitch weakly on the floor. After everything she had seen tonight, one conclusion was clear.
Wednesday was definitely an insane teenager.
"It seems like that," Ethan said, straightening up from where he had been crouching. "Maybe these demonic things don't feel pain. No nerves. No fear."
The hand twitched again.
Then it suddenly began to swell.
The skin stretched tight.
"Hold on—" Ash started.
The hand exploded.
A burst of dark blood splattered across the floor and walls, droplets spraying in every direction.
Wednesday reacted instantly, stepping behind Ethan.
Ethan lifted one hand and the blood in the air halted for a split second before dropping away from him, not a single drop touching his clothes.
Selene stepped aside before the spray reached her.
Some of it still flew past.
A thick splatter landed across Ash's cheek.
He wiped it off slowly, his face twisting with disgust.
"These things are gross even when they die," Ash muttered.
The cabin fell quiet again.
"Well… that leaves us one option," Ethan said. "I'll go out myself and search for the book."
He turned toward Selene and pulled a pair of pistols from his inventory, tossing them to her. She caught them smoothly.
"While I'm gone, you put a bullet in anything that comes near the cabin," he said.
Selene checked the weight of the guns and nodded once.
Ash frowned. "You sure it's a good idea to go out there at night? Those things are dangerous."
Ethan walked to the door.
"Well here's the thing," he said, opening it. "I'm more dangerous than whatever's lurking out there."
Cold air rushed into the cabin as the door creaked open.
Ethan stepped outside into the darkness.
A moment later his head popped back through the doorway.
"Lucy, Enid — stay strong," he said. "These things like possessing weak minds."
Then he pulled his head back out and disappeared into the forest.
***
While the door closed behind Ethan, Wednesday moved around the cabin.
A stack of loose papers caught her attention on the table. Old research notes, pages filled with handwriting and translation attempts. She picked one up and began reading.
"Hmmm… Naturom Demonto… the Book of the Dead," Wednesday said, scanning the lines. "An ancient text said to possess the power to open a gateway to another dimension."
She turned the page.
"By reading the passages written in the book… you are essentially inviting something to enter your body."
She paused, eyes narrowing slightly as she read the next lines.
"These Kandarian demons are described as twisted and cruel by nature," she continued.
Enid frowned from the sofa.
"Why would anyone even write a book like that?" she asked. "Are they psychopaths or something?"
"Yes. There have always been people willing to reach the other side," Wednesday said, eyes still on the papers. "Even if it means inviting danger. Curiosity tends to outrun caution."
She turned another page slowly.
"Even I'm curious what that world looks like."
Enid's head snapped toward her.
"No," she said immediately. "You are not reading anything from that book when we get back. Promise me, Wednesday."
Wednesday looked up at her.
For a moment she said nothing, just studying Enid's serious expression while Lucy sat quietly in her lap.
Then she gave a small nod.
Enid narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Is that a promise?" Enid asked.
"That is the response you can get from me," Wednesday replied.
Enid sighed. Considering it was Wednesday, that was probably the closest thing to a promise she would ever receive.
Selene stood near the window, keeping watch outside.
The ground near the tree line shifted.
At first it was subtle — dirt moving, leaves lifting as if something underneath was pushing upward.
Then a hand burst out of the soil.
Another followed.
Then several more.
Rotten fingers clawed through the dirt as bodies dragged themselves out of the ground. One shape pulled itself fully free — a grotesque mass of rotting flesh, pieces of different bodies fused together, bones pushing through skin while blood and decay clung to it.
More shapes crawled behind it.
Their mouths moved together.
"Join us…"
They began crawling toward the cabin.
Selene watched them approach without reacting.
"Well," she said calmly, "this got ugly."
She paused, watching the twisted mass drag itself closer.
"Not metaphorically," she added. "Literally ugly."
*****
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