2 - 1
C, at the invitation of her friend B, travels to a small settlement about which she has heard a lot. Upon arrival, C notices that there are frequent communication disruptions in the settlement. She decides to make her own way to the desired location, engaging with the locals and seeking confirmation of all the rumors she had found online about the settlement.
Not receiving any messages from C about her arrival, B decides to go to the city to look for her. By evening, the exhausted girls finally meet up and head home together.
In the following days, the girls actively spend their time, attending local events, and interacting with the locals while documenting their adventures on camera. During one of their walks, B notices that at the end of an alley, a dark entity is observing her. Seeing this, B freezes in fear, but C quickly helps her regain her composure. B can't explain the reason for her sudden fright.
The two friends were active users of local chat rooms, where they learned about new events and activities in the settlement. In one of the chat rooms dedicated to local legends, C gets acquainted with a certain user. After extended conversations, the new acquaintance invites C and her friend to meet. Unable to stop her friend, B reluctantly decides to accompany her.
At the agreed-upon location, the girls meet a young man named A, who explains that he came to the settlement for a vacation with his friends. B behaves extremely reserved, unlike C, who readily answers all questions about herself and her friend.
After meeting, A and his friends announce their plans to visit an abandoned psychiatric rehabilitation center located in the woods on the outskirts of the city, inviting the girls to join them. Despite B's strong objections, C decides to accept A's offer, scheduling the meeting for a few days later.
Soon, messages about strange dreams and persistent paranoia spreading rapidly in the settlement begin to appear in the chat rooms. These news items catch C's attention, but B encourages her not to take them seriously. (INSERT) In a strange organic device embedded in the wall, a humanoid's arm gets ensnared, and a mechanism intertwined with tendons inserts into it, causing a liquid to circulate.
On the appointed day, A arrives at the meeting point alone, looking tired and extremely dejected. When asked about his friends, A brushes off their inquiries, explaining his condition as regular sleep deprivation due to constant late-night parties. The girls realize that he is clearly not telling them everything.
On the way to the meeting point, A overhears a discussion among his friends about messages from the city chat rooms regarding strange dreams and outbreaks of madness, causing him to change his demeanor dramatically. B notices this, and she persistently asks A to explain why he came alone.
A tells them about his recent chance encounter with a stranger in a motorcycle jacket who introduced himself as D. D had been persistently questioning A and his friends, asking if they had noticed any strange behavior among the newcomers and mentioning a mass psychosis and a massacre that occurred in the settlement in the 1970s.
Those who survived the incident were placed in a psychiatric clinic, which the authorities built in an attempt to study the phenomenon of mass madness. However, in the mid-1980s, the rehabilitation center was declared closed due to unethical experiments on patients, and most of the research results were permanently lost. Lighting a cigarette, D leaves, warning that everyone arriving in the settlement is being monitored and urging them to beware of the persistent nightmares, which he claims were the starting point of the previous incident.
After meeting D, A and his friends start experiencing nightmares in which dark silhouettes pursue them. The group decides to avoid sleep altogether in hopes of getting rid of the nightmares, but this only worsens the situation, leading to bouts of aggression and hallucinations. One of A's friends eventually makes an unsuccessful suicide attempt before attacking others. Realizing that the situation is quickly spiraling out of control, they isolate the madman in one of the rooms of the house, deciding to keep everything a secret.
Upon hearing about the strange incidents, B and C become increasingly alarmed, and the reports from the city chat rooms begin to appear more credible. C admits that she had also been in contact with D and was aware of the incident in the 1970s. According to C, one of her main goals for coming to the city was to gather as much information as possible about the 1970s incident.
This revelation angers B, but A manages to prevent a conflict from escalating between them. The girls confess to him that they, too, have been experiencing strange nightmares. As they approach the building, B once again feels a strong sense of dread, noticing a dark silhouette in one of the windows staring at her.
2 - 2
Upon reaching their destination and turning on the camera, the group enters the building. They navigate through graffiti-covered corridors until they stumble upon a video archive containing recordings of brutal interrogations of patients. It becomes evident that these patients exhibited the same symptoms of mass hysteria that their isolated friend A is currently experiencing.
Capturing fragments of the video archive on their camera, the group heads towards the exit. Along the way, A separates from the girls, finding themselves alone in the dark corridors, realizing that there is no signal inside the building. To reduce stress, A lights up some cannabis they had with them.
As they continue through the building, A stumbles upon an underground block, discovering the entrance to an extensive network of catacombs. A recalls exploring similar catacombs with friends before, suspecting that they stretch from the hospital to the entire city. Meanwhile, the girls continue to move on the upper levels of the building in an attempt to find A. Spending most of the night in the corridors, the group finally reunites in the central hall of the sanatorium.
Soon, one of the girls manages to catch a mobile network signal. Scrolling through chats, she sees numerous messages about mass bloody massacres and suicides happening simultaneously throughout the city. The camera captures the approach of an armed group in cloaks.
Realizing their hostile intentions, all three decide to escape from the building through the catacombs on the lower levels that A had found. The trio rushes into the catacombs, hearing unknown pursuers behind them.
Their path through the catacombs leads them to rain-soaked streets in the midst of chaos. The group attempts to flee the city, making their way through violence-plagued streets and witnessing numerous murders and suicides of people they know, fully realizing the horror of what is happening.
Navigating through the downpour, avoiding encounters with the deranged, all three make it to the city's outskirts. Then, while recording everything, the trio stumbles upon the mutilated body of D, lying in a puddle, with a maniac standing next to him holding a bloodied cleaver. A recognizes this man as their friend, who had been isolated in the house earlier. Ignoring all of A's questions about what happened to the rest of their group, the maniac quickly heads straight towards A's camera.
Trying to restrain the psychopath, A engages in a struggle and sustains multiple injuries. Eventually, A falls to the ground, unable to offer further resistance. Subsequently, a group of armed unknown individuals arrives and shoots the maniac.
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Bleeding, A urges the girls to leave immediately. As they flee, the girls witness one of the individuals, wearing a cloak and medieval knight-like arm guards, draw a sword and thrust it into A's throat.
2 - 3
(ВСТАВКА) In the midst of a landscape covered in yellowish mist, on an ornate giant chair crafted from a fusion of flesh and iron, a figure in a black raincoat with no visible limbs sits. As the camera approaches, unnatural convulsions suddenly seize the figure.
Having fled until they were almost out of strength, the soaked-through friends take refuge in one of the houses, watching through a window as an armed group wielding axes and swords slaughters all the madmen in their path. The girls try to compose themselves and come to terms with A's death while contemplating their next course of action.
Soon, a small group of survivors bursts into the house. In a state of panic due to fear, C kills one of the group members with a nearby shard of glass. The other arriving strangers immediately try to subdue her. In the next moment, the house is riddled with gunfire, killing C and everyone else present. A stray bullet severely wounds B. From her injury, she collapses to the floor, attempting to staunch the bleeding with her hand.
A stray bullet severely wounds B, and she falls to the ground, trying to control the bleeding with her hand.
(ВСТАВКА) Amidst an expansive empty desert space, numerous tombstones buried in snow begin to crack and shatter due to a giant rectangular ribbed sphere rising from beneath the ground. The sphere has many humanoid faces carved into it.
B, lying amidst the bloodied bodies, feels a sharp cold and gazes into the eyes of the lifeless C through the cracked lenses of her glasses. Through the damaged camera lens, it becomes evident that humanoid figures are slowly approaching B amid the ongoing snowfall.
2 - 4
C's best friend, named B, rarely stayed in touch after moving into a house on the outskirts of a tourist settlement in northwest Czechia. In their messages, B shared moments from her weekdays in the settlement, as well as thoughts and experiences from her life. C made an effort to stay in touch with her friend, discussing the topics that troubled her while also researching all available information about the settlement online.
One day, while browsing through materials related to cases of mass madness, which had occurred regularly in the town, with the last recorded case in the early 1960s, C stumbled upon detailed descriptions. At that time, the settlement had experienced outbreaks of unexplained insanity and a series of murders, beginning with mass complaints about regular nightmares.
Using materials from Nazi research on cases of madness during World War II, the authorities established a psychological rehabilitation center to cover up the renewed research program. Years later, the center was closed due to unethical experiments conducted on patients within its walls. Many patients disappeared without a trace, and their fate remains unknown to this day. C also managed to find video recordings of interrogations with some patients who claimed that their own doppelgängers were pursuing them.
C regularly shared the materials she found with her friend. However, B remained skeptical, asserting that it was all just rumors and urban legends. During one of their conversations, B revealed her encounter with a man named A, who appeared in the house in the middle of the night and turned out to be her second tenant.
Soon after, while registered under the username DORAdude008, C found a message from a user named "mister D," in which he described in detail the escalating symptoms of a certain mental disorder that inevitably turned anyone into a psychopath. Each new entry by D about the town's horrific past increasingly alarmed C.
(INSERT) From the frost-covered monolithic wall stretching beyond visible space, irregularities protrude unevenly, resembling the outlines of human faces with various mechanisms and connections concealing various defects and cracks.
During the next video broadcast, B confessed that, like her neighbor, she too had nightmares in which shadows of familiar people pursued her. C urged her friend to leave the town immediately, recognizing the looming threat.
Realizing that D clearly knew more about what was happening in the settlement, C conducted her own investigation and found his personal profile on social media. Initially, D refused to engage, but after explaining the situation to B, he agreed to meet with C in the near future.
A strange young man, who constantly glanced around and never let go of his cigarette, introduced himself as D during their meeting. In the conversation, D confessed that he had previously worked in the police, investigating the incident of mass madness in the settlement that occurred ten years ago, during which his younger sister disappeared without a trace. Official investigations yielded no results, and authorities at all levels sought to cover up the case.
Disheartened, D left the law enforcement and began his own investigation, using materials he had acquired from the case. He assured that everything happening was not a coincidence, pointing out the complete absence of permanent residents in the settlement since the 1970s, and the ownership of all the settlement's buildings by a legal entity hidden by the authorities through numerous intermediary companies.
D noted the constant presence of symbolism from a certain organization in the case materials, referred to as the "Circle of Departure," which sought out specific individuals with a particular form of madness among those arriving in the settlement. Afterward, he showed C a video fragment of an interrogation with one of the patients at the psychiatric hospital in the district of the settlement, who claimed to have contacts with members of the cult and "the pale ones." D warned that it seemed that another outbreak of mass slaughter was imminent in the settlement, and the Circle knew the reason.
When C asked D how the cult knew where to find the person they needed, D countered with a question about why the settlement was specifically designed for 220 people. C struggled to answer, and D explained that, according to the Circle's calculated sample over the years of research, with 220 people, one would observe a person with certain pronounced psychological symptoms who would stand out among the rest.
After everything, C and D agreed to continue their investigation into what was happening in the settlement, collecting and exchanging information they found. C realized that her best friend needed to leave the settlement urgently.
2 – 5
During the next contact, B, the friend, informs C about A's increasingly strange behavior and suspicious visits from the owner of the house, who persistently tries to persuade her to stay in the settlement. C realizes that everything that's happening aligns perfectly with D's predictions. C manages to find the owner's social media accounts, where she discovers symbolism and texts related to the Circle.
Soon, C receives a call from the owner of the house himself. The man admits to being aware of the suspicions surrounding him, confirming his ties to the cult and threatening to harm B if C continues her investigation. C hangs up, suspecting that all landlords in the settlement are members of the sect. Realizing that dark clouds are gathering over the settlement, C tries once again, unsuccessfully, to contact B in an attempt to warn her of the danger.
One night, B starts an impromptu live stream, showing the streets of the settlement engulfed in chaos, describing the complete breakdown of transportation within the settlement and severe communication disruptions. She goes on to reveal that she and A, along with a small group, are hiding in a rented house from a mob of psychopaths.
C promises to help her friend and stay in touch no matter what. When she contacts the police and learns that they are unaware of the existence of the settlement, C becomes even more convinced of D's words. She reaches out to D again, seeking his assistance.
Through the live stream, C witnesses A's sudden bouts of madness. Soon, he kills two people with a kitchen knife and sets the house on fire by throwing a lighter into a canister of gasoline for the generator in the basement. C watches in despair, constantly calling out to her friend, realizing that she is powerless to help.
B manages to escape from the blazing house, broadcasting how A and everyone else inside the building burn alive. The fire quickly dies down due to a sudden snowfall, causing severe interference during the live stream.
Afterward, B reports that she noticed humanoid figures of unknown beings slowly approaching her through the ashes and smoke. C doesn't see anything like that and convinces her friend that it's just hallucinations caused by smoke inhalation. She urges her to get away from the fire.
When D arrives, C immediately shows him the footage from the settlement, asking him to go there immediately. In response, D claims to be aware of all the events and unexpectedly accuses C of working for the cult and passing information to the sect's coordinator.
C vehemently denies all accusations, but despite this, D shoots her in the head with his revolver. C's blood-splattered glasses fall to the ground.
B witnesses the death of her friend live on camera. After everything she has experienced, she completely loses her sanity, falling into a state of shock and ignoring everything around her.
(INSERT) Resembling ivy-covered mechanical tubes, intertwining at the top to form the silhouette of a female humanoid figure holding a mechanism resembling an embryo pierced by wires from different sides.
Noticing the ongoing live stream, D watches as an armed group of people in cloaks approaches the girl. After finishing the live stream, he lights a cigarette, gazing at the blood-soaked screen of C's laptop. Taking a step back, D hears the crunch of glass. Looking down, he notices C's bloodied glasses, crushed underfoot.