"What is it?" Viktor narrowed his eyes.
"Look, here." Enid handed him the book. Viktor took it and realized it was the doctor's diary. Dozens of photos were stuck to the pages, photos of rituals, bodies, and other grim scenes. As he flipped through, he noticed the first entry wasn't what he expected.
September 6
As a doctor, everyone thought my life was good: high salary, good reputation. But they don't know how I suffer. Every time I can't save a patient, the anxiety crushes me. I'm scared of it, scared of my patients. I'm a doctor, but I can't save them. The families never blame me, but I know it's my fault...
September 26
My life goes on, but I see them now, the patients I failed to save. They've started appearing in my dreams, blaming me for my incompetence. Soon, it began affecting my work...
September 36
I have no choice. I need to go to the Dream Walker. Only they can help me...
October 6
They are dead. The Outcasts who tried to help me are dead...
The diary chronicled the doctor's life as it spiraled downward. It was as though he had been consumed by guilt and fear. The more Viktor read, the colder he felt, as if he were reliving the man's suffering.
He flipped through more pages, but the doctor never mentioned how he met the cult or how he became part of it. The entries stopped abruptly on October 36.
Viktor slowly turned to the others. They had remained silent while he read.
"Is there a day 36?" he asked.
"No," Wednesday said, her voice calm but edged with interest. "Which makes it more compelling. Whoever wrote this wasn't keeping time; they were marking something else. A pattern. A ritual. A countdown, perhaps… to when sanity finally expired."
"I'm seriously freaking out right now. Can we please just leave? This was clearly not one of our better ideas." Enid hugged herself tightly.
"Fear is rational, Enid. It keeps you alive. But notice the detail: every entry is marked with the number six. Not an accident. Six is repetition. Six is obsession. Six is devotion. In most cults, it represents surrender, body, mind, and soul," Wednesday continued.
"I didn't know that… but…" Viktor trailed off as he suddenly walked to the window. He looked out at the dark forest and froze. A figure was standing there, bathed in pale moonlight.
"Hey, guys," he called, his tone low.
Before either of them could respond, a shout came from below, followed by the sound of something breaking.
"The Hyde is here! Ahhh!"
A shadow moved on the stairs; Hyde was coming up to the second floor.
Viktor frowned. He knew Tyler was just acting, but whether it was staged or not, the threat was real enough. There were no other exits on the second floor, and Enid was already panicking.
"Oh my god, what do we do?! We're totally dead! I mean, I'm still young, I still have, like, a million things left on my bucket list!"
"The more you panic, the more likely you are to get killed," Wednesday said flatly.
Viktor looked outside again. The car was parked right below the window. Jumping was their only chance. But the figure in the forest was still approaching.
He grabbed a chair and smashed the window. The sharp crack of breaking glass echoed through the house. The Hyde seemed to react, its movements suddenly faster and heavier as it came closer.
Viktor immediately shoved the chair against the door and, with his body to block it, shouted, "Hurry up! Jump and start the car!"
Wednesday looked at him for a few seconds before leaping out the window. Enid froze, staring at Viktor.
"I— I can't…" she stammered.
The Hydes' claws suddenly pierced through the door, wood splintering as the force grew stronger with every strike.
Viktor gritted his teeth, grabbed Enid, and jumped with her through the window. They landed hard, but he forced himself up, pulling her to her feet as they ran toward the car.
BROOM!
Wednesday slammed the car door, started the engine, and just as Hyde jumped through the broken window above, she shouted, "Get in!"
"Drive! Drive! Drive!" Enid yelled.
Wednesday smirked and yanked the gearshift. The tires screeched as the car spun around and shot forward. Her driving was fast and reckless, even Viktor felt like he was trapped on the most chaotic roller coaster of his life.
"Seat belt, Enid," Viktor reminded, gripping the handle as the car swerved.
The Hyde was still chasing them, its monstrous form darting through the road, but it was falling behind. Viktor and Enid exhaled in relief at the same time.
"Honestly, Wednesday," Enid said, clutching her seat, "I swear, I'm never trusting you again if this is what your 'invites' are like! I almost died back there!"
"But you didn't," Wednesday replied simply.
At that exact moment, the car jolted violently; they had hit something.
It was the Hyde.
It had somehow gotten ahead of them. Its claws raked across the car, screeching against the metal, but Wednesday didn't stop; she pressed the accelerator harder.
"WHAT! How did it even get there?!" Enid's voice was near hysterical. "Oh my god, oh my god, Wednesday, please, step on it!"
Wednesday rammed the Hyde again, but it leapt, landing on the roof with a heavy thud. Everyone looked up just as claws punched through the ceiling.
Enid screamed.
"I need a weapon!" Viktor searched frantically but found nothing useful. He turned to Wednesday and blinked in disbelief as she calmly pulled a knife from her pocket and handed it to him without a word.
Speechless, Viktor crawled into the back seat and stabbed at the claws breaking through the roof. The car shook violently as Wednesday swerved left and right, trying to throw the Hyde off. Viktor gritted his teeth and kept stabbing until Hyde's snarling face appeared at the side window.
"Oh my god!" Enid screamed again.
Viktor shoved her back against the seat and locked the doors.
Then, suddenly, a piercing shriek cut through the night. It was so loud it startled birds from the trees.
Everyone, including the Hyde, turned their heads.
A dark silhouette emerged from the woods, a monstrous shadow with unnaturally long limbs. It was the same shadow creature that had chased them before.
"Hold on tight," Wednesday said coolly. She slammed the lever and floored the engine. The car shot forward, weaving past the monster's grasp.
The shadow creature raised its hand to grab the gar, but it grabbed the Hyde accidentally, its long arms dragging the beast off the car.
Viktor and Enid turned to look through the rear window just in time to see the Hyde fighting the shadow monster, before both figures disappeared from their view.
"Oh my god, that was intense!" Enid gasped. "Wednesday, seriously, we need to return to school right now before more nightmare fuel shows up!"
"She's right, Wednesday. We've investigated enough," Viktor added.
Both Enid and Wednesday exhaled in relief. No more monsters, but they didn't let their guard down; who knows the Hyde might show up again.
Enid glanced up at Viktor. "Can you…"
"Oh—" Viktor suddenly realized he was still holding her with one arm. He quickly let go and coughed into his hand, a little awkwardly. "By the way, why are you so afraid? Aren't you a werewolf? I thought werewolves were fearless, even in human form."
"Yeah, no. Big misconception," Enid said, crossing her arms. "I'm scared because, hello, I don't exactly wanna die. And besides… I still can't wolf out."
There was a brief silence before Enid suddenly gasped. "Wait, oh my gosh, guys… we just left Tyler back there! Are we seriously going to just… drive off without him? Does this mean we're going back? Because I really need to know before I have a full-on panic attack."
"Don't worry." Viktor's tone turned serious as he glanced at Wednesday. "Tyler is the Hyde. You knew that already, didn't you, Wednesday?"
Wednesday glance at the rearview mirror, as she said, "I have a suspect, but no proof. What interests me more is you. How do you know that? You've never even seen him before."
"When you left me alone with him on the first floor, I saw his eyes… change. They got unnaturally wide. And when I heard something fall upstairs, I ran, but why didn't Tyler run too? Of course, maybe he didn't hear it. But the moment I got to the stairs, I saw a shadow behind the stairs... I thought it was Tyler."
Viktor's voice trailed off. "When we got to the second floor, Tyler never showed up. And think about it, the first floor is small. I investigated it quickly, and it should've been even faster with two people. Tyler should've followed us upstairs when we were done investigating, but he never did.
"And think about this, we never heard the Hyde coming in. Unless it somehow mastered the art of stealth, which Hydes don't care about. We should have heard it… But no, it just appeared. And then Tyler conveniently 'reminded' us."
He wasn't sure if they believed him, but he had no real proof that Tyler was the Hyde. The reason he revealed it came down to two things: first, he didn't want to go back for him, and second, he had seen the cult's mark on Tyler's body.
Viktor continued slowly, "And that scream… You know what real pain sounds like. That wasn't it."
...
Tomorrow is Monday. Once we reach the top 100, I'm going to upload three bonus chapters.