The sun had barely risen when they gathered.
A convoy of black SUVs lined the department's parking lot. Aaron, Sarah, David, Father Matthias, Inspector Graves, and five heavily armed officers stood in a tense circle, loading their weapons.
Sarah had said nothing about what happened last night. She barely slept. The whispers still lingered at the edge of her mind. But she couldn't tell them—not yet.
Aaron glanced at her. He noticed the dark circles under her eyes. "You good?"
She forced a nod. "Yeah."
David adjusted his tactical vest, smirking. "Well, this is either going to be the most badass mission ever... or we're all screwed."
No one laughed.
Graves checked his rifle and looked at them. "We move fast. We stay together. And if anything looks off, we fall back. Understood?"
They all nodded.
Matthias stepped forward, holding a small wooden cross wrapped in an old cloth. He looked at the group. "This is not just a mission. This is a test of will. If you falter, if you fear too much... they will know."
David scoffed. "Great pep talk, padre."
Matthias ignored him and turned to Graves. "There is one last thing."
"What now?" Aaron muttered.
The priest's expression darkened. "Once we enter… there is no turning back."
The weight of those words sank deep.
Then, without another word, they climbed into the vehicles… and drove toward the forgotten village.
The road stretched long and empty, the morning sun doing little to chase away the unnatural heaviness in the air.
Inside the lead SUV, Aaron drove in silence, his grip tight on the wheel. Sarah sat beside him, her fingers lightly tapping her gun. Behind them, David and two officers were loading their magazines. In the third SUV, Graves and Matthias rode together, flanked by more officers, their faces unreadable.
The deeper they went, the more the trees thickened.
The highway soon gave way to cracked asphalt, then to dirt.
Then, the forest swallowed the road whole.
"We're close," Graves muttered into the radio.
A suffocating stillness settled over the convoy. The wind had stopped. No birds. No insects. Just silence.
Sarah glanced at Aaron. "This place doesn't feel right."
Aaron exhaled slowly. "Yeah... I feel it too."
Then, their radios crackled.
A faint, garbled voice slithered through the static.
"Turn back."
The convoy froze.
Sarah's blood went cold. The transmission had come from nowhere.
"Did you hear that?" one of the officers whispered.
"Everyone, keep moving," Graves ordered. His voice was steady, but his hands had tightened into fists.
The vehicles rolled forward, creeping toward the rotting wooden sign barely visible through the fog.
Burned letters. Decayed wood. The village's name was unreadable.
Aaron slowed the SUV.
Sarah's pulse pounded as she stared at the path ahead. The dirt road twisted into the mist, the trees arching over it like skeletal hands.
"Welcome home," the radio whispered again.
At first, everything seemed… normal.
The village was silent. Empty. Abandoned.
The SUVs rolled to a stop in what looked like an old marketplace—wooden stalls rotting, stone paths cracked, the air thick with the scent of damp earth and decay.
Aaron cut the engine. No movement. No sound.
David leaned out of his window. "Okay… I was expecting some Blair Witch-level creepiness, but this place is just dead."
Graves stepped out first, gripping his rifle. "Stay close. We move as one."
One by one, they exited their vehicles, weapons ready.
Sarah scanned the area. The buildings—stone and wood, centuries old—stood like silent watchers. Some doors were missing. Others hung open, swaying gently.
No footprints.
No signs of life.
But she felt something.
Something was watching them.
Matthias held his cross tightly, murmuring prayers under his breath.
"This place reeks of old evil," he finally said.
Aaron exchanged glances with Sarah. They had expected something. Anything. A sign of the missing people. A corpse. Something.
But there was nothing.
"Alright," Graves said. "We split into teams. Aaron, Sarah, and David—take the east side. Matthias, you're with me and the others. If anything happens, radio in immediately."
They nodded.
And so, they stepped deeper into the village.
That's when the first strange thing happened.
David was the first to notice. He paused near an old well, frowning. "Hey… Didn't we just pass this?"
Sarah stopped. Aaron turned back.
The well. Covered in moss. A wooden bucket still hanging on a frayed rope.
He was right.
They had passed it minutes ago.
Aaron exhaled. "We must've gone in a circle."
David shook his head. "No. We walked straight."
Sarah's grip on her gun tightened. The air felt wrong.
Then—
"Guys?"
Aaron turned.
Sarah was gone.
One blink.
That's all it took.
One moment, Sarah was standing with Aaron and David. The next, she was alone.
The village was silent. Dead.
No footsteps. No wind. Even the air felt heavier.
Sarah gripped her gun, heart pounding.
"Aaron?" she called. No answer.
"David?" Nothing.
She turned in circles. The well was gone. Everything was gone.
The buildings were different now—older, darker, their wood blackened as if burned. The sky had dimmed, the sun veiled behind thick, unmoving clouds.
A deep, crawling dread slithered up her spine.
Then she heard it.
A whisper.
Low. Raspy. Right behind her ear.
"Sarah."
She spun around, gun raised. Nothing.
But the whisper came again.
"Sarah… you came back."
Her breath hitched.
The voice sounded familiar.
Then she saw it.
A shadowy figure standing in the doorway of a collapsed house.
Tall. Wrong.
Its head tilted.
Empty eyes watched her.
Sarah's hands trembled as she aimed. "Stay back."
It took a step forward.
"You left us… but we never left you."
A wave of nausea hit her. The voice—it wasn't just familiar. It was…
Her father's.
Dead. For years.
Sarah's knees buckled. The shadow moved faster.
Hands—too many hands—reached for her from the darkness.
And then—
She screamed.
Aaron froze.
The scream cut through the silence like a blade, raw and full of terror.
"Sarah!"
David was already moving, gun drawn. Aaron followed, heart pounding.
"Control, this is Aaron! We have a situation! Sarah is missing—she just screamed! We're heading east!"
Static. Then Graves' voice, tense. "What?! Stay on her, we're moving to your location. Matthias is with us."
Aaron pushed forward, feet crunching against the old stone path.
The village felt different now. The air was thicker, heavier, like it was pressing against him. Watching him.
Then he saw it—a house with a broken doorway.
David stopped short, his face pale. "I don't think we should go in there."
Aaron ignored him and stepped inside.
And there she was.
Sarah stood in the middle of the room, shaking.
Her eyes were wide, lost, unfocused. Her gun was still in her hands, but it hung limp at her side.
"Sarah?" Aaron called, carefully approaching.
No response.
David glanced around, gripping his rifle. Something felt… off.
The shadows in the corners of the room were too dark. Too deep.
Aaron reached out, placing a hand on Sarah's shoulder.
She gasped—like she had just surfaced from drowning.
Her head snapped up, eyes locking onto his.
"Aaron… I… I saw them." Her voice was small. Broken.
"Who?" Aaron asked.
Sarah shuddered. "My father."
David swore under his breath. "What the hell is going on here?"
Then—a creak.
Behind them.
Aaron turned.
Something was standing at the doorway.
And then, Graves' voice crackled in his earpiece. "Aaron, Sarah, David—get the hell out of there. Now."
Aaron's blood ran cold.
The figure at the doorway didn't move.
David raised his rifle, finger on the trigger. "Who's there?"
No answer.
Sarah was still trembling. Something was wrong with her.
Aaron kept his gun raised and stepped forward. The figure shifted.
Then—it twitched.
A sickening, jerking movement, like a puppet with broken strings.
David fired.
Bang!
The bullet hit—but the figure didn't fall.
It took a step forward.
Aaron's grip on his gun tightened. "Sarah, can you move?"
Sarah nodded weakly.
"Then we're running."
The figure lunged.
They bolted.
David fired again, but the thing didn't stop.
They burst out of the house, stumbling into the dim village streets.
Aaron grabbed his radio. "Graves! Where the hell are you?"
"Almost there. Keep moving!"
Behind them, something howled.
A deep, rattling sound that didn't belong to this world.
David cursed. "It's coming!"
Sarah's breath was ragged, her legs shaky, but she kept running.
Aaron turned his head—just for a second.
And he saw it.
Not just one.
Dozens.
Hollow-eyed figures standing in the village, staring, waiting.
And then—
They started walking forward.
Aaron's stomach dropped.
The figures weren't rushing them.
They were closing in, slowly, deliberately.
Like they knew there was nowhere to run.
David was breathing hard. "Tell me we have a plan, man."
Aaron's radio crackled. "Aaron, Sarah, David—south side of the village. We're here!" Graves' voice.
Aaron's heart leapt. "Move! Go south!"
Sarah stumbled, still dazed. Aaron caught her, keeping her steady.
The hollow ones kept walking.
The ground felt wrong beneath their feet. The air was thick with something unseen.
David fired another shot—it hit one of the figures square in the chest.
It didn't even flinch.
Aaron swore under his breath.
They reached an open path—just ahead, Graves, Father Matthias, and three other officers were waiting.
Matthias raised something—a silver cross.
He began chanting.
The hollow ones stopped.
But only for a moment.
Then—they shrieked.
A sound that ripped through the air, making Aaron's bones vibrate.
Graves shouted. "Get behind me! NOW!"
They sprinted forward.
The priest raised his voice, his chants echoing through the dead village.
Aaron turned one last time.
And he saw it.
A shadow—taller, darker, deeper than the others.
Standing right in the middle of them all.
Watching.
Waiting.
And as the sunlight began to fade—
It started moving forward.