Manuel ran.
The cave walls pressed in on him, narrowing, twisting, pulsing like a living throat swallowing him deeper into a memory he didn't ask for. His boots slammed against wet stone. Every exhale came out as a thin fog, trembling in the cold dark.
He wasn't the hunter anymore.
He wasn't the leader.
He wasn't even the man he had been yesterday.
He was a soldier again, young, afraid, dragging a wounded boy through the cavern tunnels while artillery thundered above. But in the nightmare, the boy's arm slipped from his shoulder and when Manuel looked back…
It wasn't a soldier at all.
It was the creature.
Or rather, something wearing a boy's face.
The eyes were hollow wells, blacker than the cave. The body twisted, joints bending backward, bones cracking as it rose to its full impossible height. It smiled without lips. The echo of dripping water turned into words.
"Let me in."
Manuel stumbled backward. His palms slapped the cave wall, and the stone turned soft, warm… like skin.
"Let me in."
The voice vibrated through his bones, ancient and amused, patient like something that had existed long before fear was invented. Manuel tried to lift his gun, but his arms wouldn't respond. The cave floor trembled. The creature moved closer, shadow stretching like hands reaching for his throat.
Then the shadows multiplied.
Dozens of small silhouettes appeared behind the creature….. children.
Their outlines flickered like candlelight, shifting, distorting, dissolving into smoke.
Manuel recognized some of them.
The Reyes twins.
Little Tommy from the bakery.
Tomas a sweet boy.
Children whose bodies he had helped recover.
Children whose screams had filled the nights.
Children whose blood still stained the stones outside the cave in the real world.
They all stared at him with eyes empty of blame.
Empty of anything.
The creature crouched low, inches from his face, breath cold like icewater.
"Let me in, Manuel."
He tried to speak, to deny, to scream, to beg
But his voice fractured.
The creature stretched its hand toward his chest, claws slipping through his ribs like smoke.
"LET. ME. IN."
He fell backward into the abyss, the cave dissolving into darkness, children's screams tearing through him until one voice broke through, sharp and real:
"MANUEL!"
My eyes snapped open.
Maria's face hovered above me, hair messy, eyes wide with fear.
Il gasped, sitting up so fast I nearly collided with her. Sweat dripped down my temples. My breaths came in short bursts, as if the cave still clung to my lungs.
Maria touched my shoulder not gently, not softly, but firmly. Like someone grounding him before he flew apart.
"Are you okay?" she whispered.
Her voice was steady, but her eyes weren't. She had seen the nightmare on his face before he woke.
l swallowed hard. My throat felt raw.
"I'm fine," I lied.
Maria didn't blink.
"Manuel… you were screaming."
He rubbed his eyes with shaking hands. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few hours," she replied. "Sunrise just came."
The morning light through the boarded-up window was faint and cold. The town outside was silent, not peaceful, but waiting. Even dawn felt tense.
"Time's running out," she added, voice low. "We need a plan. Suarez is a dead end."
My body stiffened.
There it was.
The truth I didn't want to face.
The ruin I had been avoiding.
My heartbeat slowed… then steadied, but not from calm. From decision.
A decision born from fear.
From guilt.
From desperation.
From that voice in the nightmare whispering that something inside me was changing.
I looked at Maria, and in a voice barely above a breath, I said:
"We're going to rescue Theo."
Her eyebrows shot up. She froze. "What?"
"We're getting him out of A'Coruña," my tone hardened, sharpening. "Tonight."
Maria stared at me like she needed to confirm he wasn't still dreaming.
"You're serious."
The weight of the choice hit my chest again, but this time it didn't crush me it fueled me.
Maria paced back once, processing. Her hand brushed the grip of her gun, a reflex when she was scared and she was terrified.
"This is…" She exhaled sharply. "Manuel, this is treason. Against the Spanish military. Against Suarez. Against everyone out there waiting for someone to blame."
"I know."
"You're risking the entire town to save the one man they're begging to kill."
"I know."
She stopped pacing.
"And you're willing to go through with this anyway?"
I swallowed.
"Yes."
Silence.
Then, to my surprise, Maria's eyes softened not with comfort, but with a kind of fierce loyalty he didn't think he deserved.
"Then tell me why," she said.
I looked away.
How could I tell her?
That he felt something shifting inside me.
That the nightmares were becoming memories.
That the creature's voice felt familiar.
That I didn't know if the fear I felt was for Theo… or himself.
But he couldn't say any of that.
So I said the only truth I could bear:
"Because if we leave Theo with Suarez… I don't think he'll survive. And I don't think Suarez wants him dead. I think he wants something much worse."
Maria's lips pressed into a tight line.
"And you trust Theo?"
"No," he answered immediately. "But I trust what Ana found. I trust Jorge. I trust Francisco's instincts."
"And Suarez?"
Manuel's fists clenched.
Memories flickered at the edge of my mind..
shadows of a cave,
a boy's scream,
Suarez's voice during wartime, telling him to report what he saw… or bury it.
"I don't trust him, Not even for a second."
Maria nodded slowly.
Then she clicked the safety off her gun.
"I'm in."
l blinked, startled despite myself.
"Just like that?"
She shrugged faintly.
"I've followed you into worse. And… I don't want to live afraid of whether Suarez can control that monster. If he wants power over it, he'll use Theo to get it."
Her voice trembled on that last line, barely perceptible.
l held her gaze.
The decision between them was more than a plan.
It was a point of no return.
Maria exhaled and said:
"Wake the others. If we're doing something this stupid… we're doing it together."
In the old hunter's lodge had never felt so small.
Books, maps, scraps of old parchment, and Matteo's granduncle's brittle leather journals were scattered across the wooden table like the aftermath of a storm. The air was heavy, too heavy. As if the dust itself understood the stakes and refused to move.
Jorge sat closest to the table, one arm bound in a sling, the other flipping through a manuscript with quiet desperation. His face still carried the shadows of his hospital bed pale skin, sunken eyes, that haunted look of someone who had seen the monster up close and lived only because death changed its mind.
Across from him Matteo muttered translations under his breath. Every few words he groaned and pushed his fingers through his hair.
"It's like reading a dead man's riddle in a dying language," he snapped, slamming the book shut. "Nothing makes sense. Every line contradicts the last."
Isa placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, but even she was fraying at the edges. Her eyes kept drifting toward the window, toward the town square, toward the people pacing in anger. The thick tension outside seeped into the room like smoke.
The whole town was a wound waiting for the slightest touch to bleed again.
Bruno stood leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, jaw clenched so tightly his beard bristled.
He hadn't opened a single manuscript all morning.
Ivan hovered near him, pacing, hands twitching with the anxious rhythm of a man who'd fought enough beasts human and otherwise to know when violence was coming.
Ana sat next to Jorge, quietly rereading the section she'd been stuck on for hours. Her hands trembled every few pages. The smile she'd worn earlier when seeing her son alive was gone now, replaced by a twisting guilt she couldn't hide.
Finally, the silence broke.
And it snapped.
"Why are we doing this?"
Bruno's voice cut through the room like a blade.
Everyone looked up.
He pushed off the wall, stepping toward the table, toward the scattered manuscripts.
"Why," he asked again, louder this time, "are we wasting time on the scribbles of a mad old man? Why are we pretending this" he swept his arm across the table, sending papers fluttering to the floor, "is this going to save anyone?"
Matteo stiffened.
Isa flinched.
But Bruno wasn't finished.
"We should be convincing Suarez to kill Theo!" he barked. "Not flipping pages written by someone who died knowing nothing!"
Jorge's chair screeched as he stood.
He winced from the pain in his ribs but planted himself firmly across from Bruno.
"Because we don't have proof," Jorge shot back. "Because even if it was him, he's transformed into something against his will; he's still a victim. I fought beside him in the war. He saved lives. He saved mine. He shouldn't die because something
" he swallowed the disgust in his throat, "something twisted him into this."
Bruno scoffed loudly.
"Oh yes," he drawled, stepping forward until they were nearly chest-to-chest, "a saint, huh? So let's end his suffering. Put him down. Give him peace. If he's innocent, then we're doing him a favor. If he's guilty, we're saving children. Where exactly is the argument?"
"He deserves a chance!" Jorge shouted.
"He had a chance," Bruno countered, voice rising. "He tore apart twelve children."
"He doesn't remember…"
"I DON'T CARE!" Bruno roared.
Isa gasped softly.
Francisco; silent until now lifted his head, eyes dark, jaw tight. In his mind he saw the trial again. The fear. The anger. The faces twisted with grief.
And this argument felt like déjà vu.
Like they were circling the same drain.
No answers. No clues. Just fear, blame, and desperation.
Ivan stepped between Jorge and Bruno.
"Enough," he growled. "This town is a box of gunpowder. One spark, one wrong word and it explodes. If we start fighting each other, we're as good as dead."
Bruno glared at him but stepped back.
Barely.
Jorge's breathing was heavy, shaky, the pain in his ribs worsening. Ana tried to reach for him but he gently pushed her hand away. He wasn't done.
"We can't just kill him because we're scared," he said, voice hoarse.
Bruno's nostrils flared.
His voice dropped to a dangerous rumble.
"And we can't spare him because your heart is too big for your own damn good."
Silence.
Thick. Suffocating.
Francisco sank into his chair.
He remembered the dead children.
He remembered Theo's confusion.
His fear.
His own guilt that he felt the creature but didn't understand it.
And he wasn't sure which scared him more
The monster outside…
or the tension inside this room.
He wasn't the only one sensing it.
From outside the building, the faint echo of raised voices filled the air: arguments, shouts, fear-stricken cries. Townsfolk were losing patience. Losing hope. Losing themselves.
Matteo whispered, "We're running out of time."
Ana's voice cracked as she answered, "We've already run out."
She stared at her hands at the pages she'd been reading, the translations she'd tried to make sense of.
"I keep thinking," she whispered, "maybe if we had found something sooner… maybe we could have saved those twelve children. Maybe we could have stopped all this."
Isa sat beside her, squeezing her hand gently.
"We're trying," Isa murmured. "We're all trying."
"But it isn't enough," Ana said, choking on her guilt. "It never is."
Bruno leaned against the table again, breathing heavily, his anger simmering but nowhere near extinguished.
"Books won't save us," he muttered. "Theo won't save us. Suarez won't save us. We need action."
"We need truth," Jorge countered quietly.
Bruno looked at him with the bruised, hollow fury of a man who'd lost too much to believe in hope.
Francisco felt it too the entire village was trapped in the same suffocating cycle:
Fear → Anger → Desperation → Fighting → More Fear
They weren't just running out of options.
They were running out of themselves.
Then…
Footsteps.
Fast. Heavy.
Two shadows crossed the frosted windows.
A second later the lodge door burst open
And Manuel and Maria rushed in.
Their expressions said everything:
This wasn't good news.
And whatever Spain's army or the townsfolk might do…
whatever the monster might do…
They were about to make a choice that could destroy them all.
The lodge fell silent the moment Manuel stepped in.
Not just because he looked exhausted.
Not because Maria stood right behind him, face pale, jaw rigid.
But because something in their eyes
something tight, urgent, and dark
told everyone in the room:
Whatever hope they had left had just collapsed.
Manuel closed the door behind him.
Slowly.
As if sealing the room from the world outside.
He didn't speak at first. Only looked at them each face, each trembling hope, each rising fear until his gaze finally rested on Francisco.
Francisco stepped forward, heart pounding.
Manuel's voice was low, strained as he turned away, running a hand through his hair.
"I don't trust Suarez. Not with this. Not with Theo. Not with the monster. Not with anything."
Francisco gripped the edge of the table.
"So what now?"
Manuel lifted his head.
His eyes were shadowed by guilt… and resolve.
"We rescue Theo," he said. Quiet. Heavy. Unmistakable.
"And we take him far away from A'coruña before nightfall."
The room reacted instantly.
Gasps.
A choked noise from Ana.
A stunned silence from Matteo.
Jorge blinking in disbelief.
But Bruno…
Bruno exploded.
"WHAT?!"
He stormed forward, jabbing a finger in Manuel's chest.
"You want to WHAT? After everything we've seen? After everything we KNOW? You want to FREE the one person who might be killing our children?!"
"He isn't killing them," Jorge argued.
Bruno spun on him.
"You don't KNOW that! And even if you did you want to risk ALL OUR LIVES to protect him? Risk Isa's life? Your mother's? Everyone in this town?"
His voice cracked
Not with rage,
but with heartbreak.
"He could slaughter us the second he's free."
Manuel didn't move.
Didn't flinch.
His voice stayed calm.
"So could the monster. So could Suarez. So could the town if they lose control. We don't know anything… except that killing Theo solves nothing."
Bruno shook his head violently.
"No. No. NO." He looked around the room, desperate. "Tell me someone else sees how insane this is!"
Ivan cleared his throat.
"Manuel… you're asking us to commit treason. Against the military. Against the town. Against everything we're sworn to protect."
He looked hurt saying it.
"But I can't follow you on this."
Isa finally spoke, voice trembling.
"Manuel, you're like family to us. But my father is right. This plan… it isn't a plan. It's a suicide note."
Bruno seized her hand immediately.
"Come on," he muttered. "We're leaving."
"Bruno" Maria started.
"Don't," he snapped. "Just don't."
He pulled Isa with him. She looked back once
Just once at Francisco, at Jorge, at Matteo, at Ana…
At the family she might be losing tonight.
Then the door slammed behind them.
A piece of the room,
of the group
fractured.
Ivan hesitated… but his loyalty lay with survival, not hope.
"The hunters can't help you," he said quietly. "Not with this. But… I hope you're right."
He walked out too.
Silence followed.
Thick. Grieving. Heavy.
Matteo spoke first.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"Maybe Bruno's right. Maybe we're risking everything. Maybe we should leave Theo with Suarez. He's… he's surrounded by soldiers. He won't escape. He can't."
His eyes filled with fear.
"…and what if he kills one of us during the rescue? I can't lose the people I just found."
Manuel crossed the room and placed a hand on Matteo's shoulder.
"It's okay to be scared," he said softly. "Fear means you understand what's at stake."
He stepped back and looked at all of them.
"It's okay if any of you don't want to do this. Truly."
Then….
A metallic click echoed through the room.
Maria cocked her gun.
"I'm in," she said coldly. "I don't trust Suarez. I don't trust his silence. And I don't want a world where he gets to decide what happens to Theo or the monster. If you say this is the way forward, then I follow."
Ana straightened in her chair, wiping tears she didn't want anyone to notice.
"If Manuel believes this is the way to protect our children, then I trust him."
She squeezed Jorge's hand.
"I can't lose you again. If rescuing Theo gives us even a chance… I'm in."
Jorge looked at Manuel and nodded.
"I owe Theo for the war," he said. "And if freeing him helps stop whatever is happening… I'll help however I can. I know how to distract Suarez. He still thinks I'm bedridden. That's our advantage."
Francisco took a breath.
His voice was soft but sure.
"The creature… whatever it is… it's tied to Theo. Killing him might tear something open. Freeing him might save everyone. Or destroy everyone. But we can't do nothing."
Finally
Matteo looked up.
Fear still flickered in his eyes.
But something else flickered too.
Conviction.
"I'll go," he said. "Not because I feel safe. But because I want you all safe. And I won't lose another family. If this is our only chance… then I'll do my part."
Manuel's chest ached.
Not with fear.
With gratitude.
He nodded once firmly.
"Then we start now."
He stepped to the table, clearing space among the clutter.
"Jorge distracts Suarez. Matteo and Francisco help free Theo. Maria and I get him out of the cell. Ana prepares a route through the barricade. Isa"
He stopped.
Pain crossed his face when he remembered.
Isa wasn't here anymore.
Bruno had taken her.
And whatever he planned…
whatever he believed…
Bruno was now acting on his own.
Without them.
Maybe against them.
Manuel closed his eyes briefly, then refocused.
"We move before the soldiers shift guard. Before the town wakes up. Before nightfall brings the monster or Suarez's plan to our doorstep."
He looked around the room.
Everyone nodded.
Everyone ready.
Everyone terrified.
The path ahead was madness.
Treacherous.
Uncertain.
But for the first time in days…
They had a direction.
A purpose.
A choice.