The footsteps of the slaughterer... heavy as a forge hammer striking earth... thud... thud... were moving closer!
It was... coming upstairs?!
Li Erwa's pupils contracted. Every bone, every muscle in his body locked in despair. It's over. Father… come to claim me… The thoughts echoed dully in his mind.
Just as the wet, gore-slicked tread landed on the step closest to his hiding spot!
A hand – cold, rough, and strong as iron pincers – shot out from the dark stairwell beside and behind him! It clamped viciously over his mouth, stifling the silent scream trying to tear its way out. A tremendous force yanked him backwards. He stumbled, his back colliding with a frame as thin and hard as kindling!
Then, a voice, barely a whisper, stabbed deep into his ear canal:
"Hold—your breath! Erwa..."
The voice was strained almost to breaking with tension, yet it cleaved through Erwa's terror-fogged brain like lightning: "...Whatever you do... make no sound!"
Erwa's eyes bulged. That voice... it was...!!
He couldn't turn his rigid head, but in his peripheral vision, a face smeared with grime and etched by hardship swam into focus—Wang the Limper!! The disgraced, beaten fortune-teller who had vanished weeks ago!!
Wang the Limper was pressed deep into the stairwell shadows. His one remaining eye (the other was a deep, raw, horrifying scar) was wide open, stretched nearly to splitting! The bloodshot white was filled with primal terror.
The hand clamped over Erwa's nose and mouth was icy as metal, the grip so strong it made his jawbone ache. The faint tang of dried blood seeped from between the fingers! His other hand pressed white-knuckled against the wall, fingers bone-white with the strain.
Erwa's heart almost stopped!
THUD! The heavy footstep landed on the second floor! The nauseating stench of decay thickened instantly, a palpable, toxic miasma that crushed Erwa's lungs, making his eyes sting with fear and blood. He could hear his own temples pounding, threatening to burst! Worse, the wet, slobbering breaths... seemed less than three meters away!
Wang the Limper shoved Erwa deeper into the corner! His single, wide eye pressed almost against Erwa's fear-dilated pupil. The message was clear: Hold your breath! Suffocate yourself before you make a sound!
Survival instinct screamed louder than his body's need for air! Erwa clenched his teeth with every ounce of strength he possessed. His lungs burned, starved; throat muscles spasmed. His chest felt ready to explode! He could feel his lungs collapsing, twisting in agony! Darkness pulsed at the edges of his vision, speckled with frantic stars. Cold sweat drenched him instantly!
The heavy footsteps... stopped. Less than two meters from their hiding spot!
Through his thin clothes, Erwa could feel the unnatural cold radiating from the massive body. The overwhelming stench of blood and rotting meat invaded his nostrils.
He could even hear the wet, gurgling bubbles inside the creature! It was hunting! Using its terrifying sensitivity to the breath of the living!
The immense pressure plunged Erwa into total darkness, dizziness threatening to swallow him whole. Just as he believed death had finally claimed him, Wang the Limper moved!
The old man nudged a loose stone at the base of the wall with his foot. Very deliberately, very quietly, he flicked it sideways into the shadows beneath the stairs.
Clack...
The sound of the stone rolling was deafening in the second-floor silence!
The hulking white shape at the stairhead jerked!
Murky yellow eyes instantly blazed with terrifying fury! The massive body pivoted sharply! The huge head swung around on a wave of foul air, focusing on the darkness below! In that split second—
Wang the Limper moved! Utterly silent! He yanked Erwa! His other hand pulled a palm-sized figurine from his tunic – carved from dark brown wood and covered in crimson sigils – and slapped it onto his own forehead! Instantly, the last trace of color drained from his already pale face!
Dragging the nearly unconscious Erwa, he slid like a ghost along the wall, past sacks of grain stacked near the stairs! He lunged for the granary loft's single small window!
Wang's hand, like an iron claw, gripped one of the poles barring the window. Crack! The wood splintered! Just enough for them to squeeze through sideways! Without hesitation, he shoved the limp Erwa through the gap!
Thump! The muffled landing was partly absorbed by a thick pile of straw below. Almost simultaneously, from the granary's first floor, the massive white creature unleashed a roar of pure, savage rage!
The sound, saturated with killing intent, seemed to snuff out the last remnants of life.
Wang the Limper tumbled out after Erwa, landing curled in the straw. Scrambling up, he grabbed Erwa's limp arm and, summoning his final reserves of strength, hauled him stumbling, crawling, and running desperately towards the dense woods of the back mountain!
They ran endlessly. The sky remained oppressively dark. Finally, Wang the Limper could drag Erwa's dead weight no further. They collapsed, rolling heavily into the bed of a dry creek gully. Wang's body convulsed violently. He retched, spewing a thick gush of black blood! The sigil carved on his forehead had cracked, crumbling to dust. His one open eye fixed on Erwa, sprawled on the rotting leaves. His lips moved, forming only breathless words:
"Held... you... lived..."
Before the final syllable faded, his head lolled. Like a lamp whose oil was spent, he went utterly still.
Erwa regained consciousness, gasping like bellows, each breath tasting of blood and decay. He struggled to turn his head. His pupils reflected Wang the Limper's body, slumped in the gully. With a trembling hand, he felt beneath Wang's nose... only cold, lifeless stillness.
Crawling, dragging himself on hands and knees, he moved to where he could see down the valley. Through sparse branches, the direction where the village – with its cooking smoke, crowing roosters, and barking dogs – should have been.
Smoke. Thick columns of smoke, like black serpents, coiled upwards from that direction, stabbing through the miasma-choked sky. The village? Where was the village? Only ruins remained. Not a whisper of life stirred.
An eddying wind, icy and heavy with the stench of death, swept up from the depths of the valley. It struck Erwa, freezing him to the core.
Instinct took over. He threw himself flat, his face buried deep in the cold, wet mud.
He held his breath.