Rick, who had already entered the room, felt as if he had heard something. He looked back but found that there was nothing behind him.
Shaking his head, Rick decided to return to his room and try to sleep. Maybe his survival instincts had turned him into a very suspicious man.
He left the room and walked toward the stairs.
Thinking this, he put away the machete and pulled the flashlight from his pocket to walk with more security.
Click!
And when he turned on the flashlight in his hand, a dazzling beam shot into the opposite room, instantly lighting up the dark room in white, and Rick, who had been relaxed, was startled by what he saw.
A slightly thin man was hiding in the corner of the room at that moment, holding a dagger in his hand, which he had raised high. But he lost his vision temporarily because of the strong light from the flashlight.
However, he still rushed forward, relying on his memory just before losing sight, and the dagger in his hand reflected a cold glint under the flashlight's beam!
The man who appeared suddenly startled Rick, but the psychological toughness he had trained all year was not in vain. He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the fatal knife aimed at his neck.
Rick couldn't help but feel relieved at his quick reaction—fortunately, he was in the hallway; otherwise, it would have been much harder to dodge if he had walked straight into the door.
The thought was fleeting, and without hesitation, he kicked the man's leg.
Bang!
Thud!
Being kicked by Rick, the man immediately fell forward onto the ground. He still tried to get up, but when he heard the clear sound of a gun being cocked, his body froze in place.
"Don't move! Drop your weapon and raise your hands slowly."
Seeing that the situation was over, the man simply dropped the dagger in his hand. Before his opponent could recover from the strong light, Rick looked closer at the man, who seemed to be about thirty years old. He wore dirty clothes like anyone who wasn't part of a community nowadays, and his face was thin, obviously caused by long-term malnutrition.
The commotion downstairs had clearly alerted Morgan, who had been watching the night above. He quickly came down the stairs, and the noise he made also woke Elen and the others in the other room.
"What's going on?" Elen, who poked her head out the door, looked in confusion at Guillermo, who was holding a short shotgun, and with shared doubts, both hurried down the stairs.
Rick ignored the movement behind him and firmly aimed his weapon at the man's head, his tone slow but filled with warning.
"Who are you, and why did you attack me?"
The man on the floor squinted and looked at Rick after regaining himself for a moment. By then, Morgan and the others had already come down the stairs, standing on the other side of the hallway with their weapons pointed at the stranger.
"You came into my house, and you're asking who I am?"
Elen clearly hesitated when she heard the man's words. She immediately felt they had misunderstood him. She was about to plead for mercy for the man, but when she saw he was lying, she didn't want Rick to get the wrong idea.
"No, this isn't your house. You're not in the photos of this room at all. Do you think we don't know that?"
Seeing his lie exposed, the man's eyes showed no panic, and he displayed a strange expression. Suddenly, his eyes darted behind Morgan and the others.
Some of them felt a chill on their backs and turned their heads instinctively, only to discover there was no one behind them. At that moment, a deafening gunshot rang in their ears!
Bang!
Everyone who had turned their heads looked back again, only to see the corpse of the stranger. Rick's face was splattered with blood, but he said nothing. He stepped forward indifferently, picked up the man's bag with one hand, and kept the gun in the other.
Elen had originally struggled with the man's death, but when she saw Rick's actions, she instantly understood the truth of the matter.
Rick could notice small details she could not, and he reached a conclusion in his mind that ensured no one in his group would be harmed.
If it hadn't been for Rick, they might have been killed by the man in the darkness of the night. In a short time, her admiration for Rick grew stronger.
Her sister on the second floor also came down with Katie, and the sound of their steps on the stairs snapped Elen out of her thoughts. She looked toward the stairs and felt relieved that it was her sister.
"Noa, don't let Katie see this!"
Rick turned his head and remembered, so Elen suddenly understood what was happening and hurried upstairs to stop her sister from coming down further, whispering a few words without letting Katie hear.
Morgan wanted to ask something but was interrupted by Rick raising his hand, making a silence gesture.
Only then did he slowly close the door in front of him, turn around, and walk toward the back, scanning the walls of the room as he went.
When his eyes rested on the stairs, it seemed he had found something. He walked over and began searching along the wall, and soon found a hidden handle. Morgan and Guillermo silently raised their weapons and nodded slightly.
Click!
Rick suddenly opened the secret door, and the Colt in his hand immediately pointed inside. A stench spread through the air, making the trio's expressions change slightly.
Suppressing the acrid smell, he stepped into the room, which was very small and had gone unnoticed before. A small space built beneath the stairs appeared before their eyes.
Shaking his head slightly, signaling there was no danger, he was the first to step inside.
The first thing he noticed was the writing on the walls, covering the entire room. At first, the writing had clearly been done with a pen, but later it turned red like blood, and the smell coming from the room made everyone immediately think it was human blood.
Morgan looked at the writing on the wall, covering his nose, and read aloud:
"I will not die! All the monsters deserve to die! I killed her and buried her in the backyard! Everyone must die…"
Guillermo looked at the passages on the wall and shuddered uncontrollably, muttering to himself on the way:
"Oh, this guy was already insane!"
Morgan said nothing, just reached out his hand and patted Rick's shoulder, speaking sincerely: "You saved all of us—many of us might have died if it weren't for you."
Rick was also in a foul mood at that moment. He barely revealed a smile, turned around, and walked back toward the living room.
The two behind him looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.
Having escaped disaster without any injuries, the group simply felt they had no sleep left in them, so they all gathered in the living room and chatted quietly before eventually dozing off without realizing it.
...
Early in the morning.
The noise outside the door startled Elen. She got up and looked toward the window, only to find it was covered by curtains.
Glancing at Katie by her side, the girl was sleeping deeply at that moment. Elen carefully pulled away her arms, then stood up and walked to the window.
Ahh!
As the curtain slowly opened, Elen saw the street outside clearly. Then, as if she had been frightened by something, she quickly pulled the curtain shut again with both hands.
The sky outside the window was still a little dark, the sun not yet risen—but it was enough for her to see the dense horde outside the window.