The Kaspari family was taking the same road they always took — the one that cut through nothing, leading to the next town.
Emil Kaspari was staring at the screen of his ZetCon tablet. He had the decency, at least, to use earphones.
"Hey, Emil, how're they doing?" Jos said while driving, eager to know about the Lakers vs Celtics match.
Emil, lost in his own world, didn't even listen to what his father said. The new EconBoost mode of the earphones drowned out the world around him.
"Do you really think that dumbass is going to answer you right now?" his younger sister Emily snarled.
"Emily, language," Jenna said flatly.
"Yeah, whatever, by the way, the score is 48-51, we're losing," Emily said, rolling her eyes.
"Man, these idiots don't even know how to play. I'm tired of supporting these losers," Jos said while lighting up his cigarette with his forever lighter that used to stay in his pocket.
Emil didn't hear anything, though he already knew the score and wasn't interested in seeing them lose again.
On his screen, a WatchTube video played: "Superpowers are real, and the government is hiding it."
"I saw a big guy, I don't know if you can even call that thing a guy. But it was just for a brief moment before it was decapitated. And then, in a blur, there was nothing."
Emil's eyes narrowed.
"Luckily, I had the whole thing recorded. And if you look closely, just for a millisecond, you can see a guy with a ponytail taking the monster and his head away."
The man paused. Then continued in an eerie tone.
"I am telling you guys, we are being lied to. The disappearances over the past 10 years are not normal. Something is going on, and the government is hiding it from us."
The guy named Albert said, while talking to the interviewer.
'Well, it is strange, it's like there are superhumans among us. But how do they even gain those powers? And what are those things that are appearing out of nowhere?' Emil thought while watching the video.
Emil was a normal kid in every aspect, but when it came to conspiracy theories, there was nothing that could satiate his hunger.
Especially if it dealt with something like superpowers and a theory of having a hidden world around us.
This was a goldmine for him right now, a rabbit hole that he was ready to dive into.
Just as he was going deeper. A familiar, annoying voice came from beside him.
"Emil!"
He flinched slightly.
The video kept playing, but his attention cracked.
"Are you deaf dumbo?" Emily spat.
"What?" Emil snapped.
"The score," Jos said, trying to calm the situation. "You were watching."
Emil glanced at the frozen screen, then at them.
"We're losing," he said flatly. "Again."
"At this point, I think I could play better," Emil added.
"Oh, please," Emily scoffed. "You'd trip over your own feet."
"Still better than whatever they're doing."
Jos snorted. "Yeah? Mr. Tablet Warrior thinks he's NBA material now?"
"At least I don't need a timeout just to breathe," Emil said, eyeing his dad's stomach.
"Hey—" Jos blinked.
A pause—
Then Jenna laughed.
Then Emily.
Even Jos cracked a grin.
For a moment, the car didn't feel so quiet.
Just voices.
Familiar, annoying, warm.
Emil smiled faintly, picking up his tablet again—but this time, he pressed play.
***
Now it was 2 o'clock. Jenna was driving through the cold breeze of the night.
Emily was coiled up in the back seat, sleeping without a care in the world. Even Jos was enjoying some well-deserved sleep after driving for nearly six hours straight.
Emil was deeper into the same rabbit hole. It was so much fun for him to know about what people were saying.
'Yeah, as if that will give you powers, the only thing that is going to give you is paralysis.' He thought while watching a video that claimed a brain injury could give you superpowers.
Laughing, he closed his tablet and removed his earphones. He put them in his bag, which was in the trunk. He was finally looking for a good night's sleep.
The road stretched endlessly ahead, swallowed by darkness beyond the reach of the headlights.
Jenna blinked.
She thought she saw something standing there.
A shape.
Standing in the middle of the road.
She frowned, leaning forward.
"...What?"
The headlights cut through the darkness—and there was nothing there.
Jenna exhaled quietly.
"Just tired…" she murmured to herself.
Then the headlights flickered.
Jenna's grip on the steering wheel tightened.
It was there again. Just at the edge of the light.
She forgot to breathe.
Her eyes locked onto it.
"Emil…" she said, quieter than she intended.
Emil was almost asleep. He woke, rubbing his eyes.
"What, Mom?" He asked with a slight annoyance in his voice.
Jenna had slowed the car. Turning towards him with a pale face.
"Look out of the window, and tell me if you can see it too."
Watching his mom like that, Emil shivered. His mom was not like one of those people who would usually be the first one to be scared. Rather, she was the one that everyone was scared of.
Emil gulped and slowly turned his head toward the front window.
'No, this can't be. It's the same thing that was in the video, only it is looking more terrifying.'
He turned to his mother. Nodded. It was real.
The thing didn't move.
It just stood there.
As the headlights steadied, its outline sharpened.
A human shape…but wrong.
Its arms—no, not arms.
Long, curved blades, like the legs of a giant insect, hung where its hands should have been.
"What… is that?" Jenna whispered.
Her foot hovered over the brake.
And then—it moved.
It was suddenly… closer.
Emil's breath caught in his throat.
"Mom…"
His voice trembled.
"That's… that's exactly what they said…in the video...we need to move fast."
It vanished.
Jenna gasped—and slammed the brakes.
Because it was suddenly standing right in front of them.
That sudden break broke the sleep of Jos and Emily. When they opened their eyes, what they saw in front of them sent shivers down their spine.
The headlights washed over it.
Its body was stretched—unnaturally thin yet towering, nearly brushing the top of the car.
Its face—if it could be called that—was like an ant with deer antlers.
And then there was this smile on its face, a big, wide smile that stretched to its ears.
And those blade-like limbs…slowly lifted.
It tilted its head.
That… smile widened.
"Hold on, not on my watch!" Jenna shouted, slamming her foot on the accelerator.
The car lunged forward—And passed through empty air.
The thing was gone.
Something slammed onto the roof.
BOOM
The entire car shook violently.
Emily screamed. Jos twisted around, panic flooding his face.
"What the hell is that?!"
Metal screeched above them—like something dragging blades across the roof.
One of the blades punched through the roof. Clean. Effortless.
It came down—straight through Jos's shoulder.
"NO—!"
Jenna jerked the wheel.
The car swerved violently—tires screeching—and slammed sideways off the road.
Everything around Emil was spinning.
His head hit the window. Then he was outside — on the road, the cold ground.
It was all dark for a while.
The blood flowing from his head made it hard for him to see anything.
Emil tried to move. Pain exploded through his body.
"…Mom?" his voice came out weak. No answer.
Through blurred vision, after trying hard, he saw the car—twisted, broken.
A sharp pain tore through his skull and into his eyes when the blood from his head entered his eyes.
The world blanked.
He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the car.
Something snapped; different kinds of lights danced in front of him.
He could see the structure of the world solving like a jigsaw puzzle in front of him.
It happened fast.
But now, he could see clearly, not just the car but also his mom, while being far from the car.
He could see that his mom was not breathing anymore.
His father was struggling to climb free, one hand pressed to Jenna.
His sister was also thrown out of the car and was about 3 to 4 feet away.
Earlier, he wouldn't have seen that thing, which was clearly running towards the car. But now he could, miraculously, he could.
With all his strength left in his body, he screamed.
"Dad, get the hell away from there!!"
Jos heard him and immediately threw the door open as the car was lying overturned on its left side.
If he had been even a second late, that creature would've torn his heart apart. But he was safe. Except — his arm. One of them was gone.
Jos had lost a lot of blood; he looked at Jenna. She wasn't moving — already losing too much blood.
Jos's face darkened. He tried to move his body, but it was futile. He could also smell gasoline that was thick around him. At this point, it was clear to him what his fate was going to be.
Emil, however, was finally able to get up and had started moving towards his sister right when all those things were happening.
'Not today, I won't let anyone die today.' Emil's eyes were dead focused. He was closing the distance when he heard a familiar shout.
"Emil!" Jos shouted at the top of his lungs.
Emil looked in his direction. He could see the monster preparing to go for the slice.
"Take Emily and run, I'll take on this motherfucker." Jos bellowed.
Emil's eyes narrowed, and he tried to say something, but his voice didn't come out. Emily, who also, by now, was awake, sat rigid and screamed at the top of her lungs. The scream was so loud that it almost sounded like she tore her vocal cords.
The thing, the devil, the abomination pierced Jos' heart.
Jos looked at Emil and smiled. As the last token of his bravery, he lit up the lighter he always used to carry.
BOOM
A deafening sound enclosed the area, and the devil was flung back, burning.
Emil could still see his parents in that fire—their silhouettes, still, the way they'd been before the fire took them.
Everything went silent.
There was no voice other than the raging fire from the car that was burning the sibling's heart away.
Emil dropped to his knees.
Emily's mouth was full of blood, still trying to scream.
A loud thud sound came from the direction where the devil had flown.
It was still alive.
All that grief that was there in their heart now changed to terror after seeing that thing.
It was moving towards them.
Emil stood. Put himself between Emily and the creature.
'All my life I thought, why can't I have an adventurous life. But what I was really searching for was an easy action-comedy, not a tragedy. Mom, Dad, it's time for us to join you.'