Fear changes people.
It makes loud people quiet.
Quiet people angry.
Smart people reckless.
And sometimes—
it forces ordinary teenagers to sit around a table and discuss how to kill a monster.
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None of us slept.
Not really.
Every time I shut my eyes, I saw Sia.
Floating.
Motionless.
Her eyes glowing white.
Not screaming.
Not fighting.
Just…
waiting.
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Morning didn't make anything better.
It just made everything brighter.
And somehow that felt wrong.
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We met at Hashim's house.
His parents were gone for work.
His little brother was at school and so were his two little sisters.
The house was empty.
Which meant we could think.
Or at least try to.
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Nobody turned on the television.
Nobody touched their phones.
Nobody joked.
Not even Hashim.
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We sat around the dining table with notebooks, loose papers, and Sia's copied evidence spread across the surface.
The room looked less like a group of teenagers hanging out—
and more like detectives who had already failed.
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Hashim finally sighed.
"So…"
Nobody answered.
He rubbed both hands across his face.
"…what now?"
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Silence.
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Because everybody knew the answer.
Nobody wanted to say it.
We had to go back.
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Neems stared at the table.
She looked exhausted.
The panic from last night had burned itself out.
Only determination remained.
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"We know where she'll be."
She spoke quietly.
"And we know when."
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I nodded.
"We do."
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Hashim leaned back.
"But getting there isn't the problem."
He looked toward me.
"It's getting past that thing."
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The Walker.
Nobody liked saying its name anymore.
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The image of it standing outside the cave still sat in my head.
Twelve feet tall.
Perfectly still.
Guarding.
Waiting.
Like a statue that could decide to move whenever it wanted.
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Hashim picked up a pencil.
Started tapping it against the table.
Thinking.
"We still don't know much about The Walker."
He looked around the room.
"So trying to kill it will be a problem."
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The word kill lingered in the air.
Nobody corrected him.
Because nobody had another solution.
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Neems sat forward.
"Well…"
She hesitated.
"…what we do know is that it's afraid of bright light."
Everyone looked at her.
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"It always avoided crowds."
She counted on her fingers.
"It avoided daylight."
"It stayed away from busy streets."
"It only came out at night."
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She looked at me.
"That's not nothing."
"No."
I admitted while slightly smirking.
"It isn't."
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Hashim nodded slowly.
"So maybe light hurts it."
"Or maybe it just doesn't like being seen."
I replied.
Neither answer made me feel better.
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Samiya had been quiet the entire conversation.
Too quiet.
She hadn't looked at any of us.
She'd just been staring at the photographs of the cave.
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Then she spoke.
"Think."
We all looked at her.
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"Why do you think The Walker is at the cave?"
Nobody answered immediately.
She looked at me.
"Jamal."
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I took a breath.
"As far as we can speculate…"
I chose my words carefully.
"…the Listener put The Walker there to stop anyone from interfering with whatever it's doing to Sia."
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Samiya nodded once.
"And the only way to stop anyone…"
She looked around the table.
"…is to do what exactly?"
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Hashim answered before anybody else could.
"…Kill them."
The room became quiet again.
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Neems slowly looked up.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"And in order to do that…"
she whispered,
"…it would have to physically attack us."
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Nobody interrupted.
She continued.
"So that means it has a physical body."
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Hashim looked toward me.
Then toward Samiya.
Then back toward Neems.
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The realization spread across the room one person at a time.
If it could attack—
it could touch.
If it could touch—
it existed.
And if it existed…
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"…then it can be injured."
Samiya finished.
Nobody moved.
For the first time since this nightmare started—
the impossible suddenly felt possible.
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I leaned back in my chair.
Trying to slow my own thoughts.
"I hope all of you understand something."
Three pairs of eyes turned toward me.
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"If we're wrong…"
I paused.
"…and that thing has some power that makes everybody near it explode or something…"
Hashim blinked.
"…we're totally screwed."
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For one second—
nobody spoke.
Then Hashim laughed.
Just once.
A nervous laugh.
"I hate that you somehow made that sound realistic."
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Even Neems smiled a little.
The smile disappeared almost immediately.
Because the truth remained.
Nobody knew what The Walker could actually do.
We were building theories.
Nothing more.
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Samiya stood up.
Walked toward the window.
Looked outside.
Then she spoke without turning around.
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"Well…"
Her voice sounded calmer now.
Almost accepting.
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"Then we'll have to gamble."
Nobody argued.
Because there wasn't another option anymore.
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We couldn't leave Sia there.
We couldn't wait forever.
We couldn't call somebody else.
We couldn't pretend this wasn't happening.
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There was only one path left.
Somehow—
some way—
we would have to get past The Walker.
⸻
The room fell quiet again.
Hashim picked up another sheet of paper.
Started sketching ideas.
Entrances.
Distances.
Escape routes.
Anything that might help.
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Neems began listing everything we knew about the creature.
Light.
Crowds.
Night.
Movement.
Patterns.
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Samiya sat back down beside us.
Finally focused again.
And I realized something.
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Months ago we were just kids walking home from the mall.
Complaining about homework.
Making stupid jokes.
Wondering what we'd eat for dinner.
Now—
we were planning to hunt a monster.
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Nobody said it.
But everybody knew.
The rescue had already begun.
We just hadn't fired the first shot yet.
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NEXT WEEK:
CHAPTER 23: "The Plan"