Flame. Silence.

“Could mean anything.” Bunny shrugs her shoulders.

“Worth a test.” Meize answers.

“The flames were gone when we came back.” Anastasia says, a shallow frown on her face. “I wouldn’t call that a co-incidence.”

“Then we need to find a light source.” Meize says. “One of the houses should have something.”

“We should check upstairs.” Bunny continues. Ambrose nods and closes the book, leaving it resting back onto the table. The group head upstairs, its rickety steps singing with each stride they take.

When they reach the top, Ambrose opens the door that blocks off the room in front of them. With its content revealed, Anastasia looks away while Bunny and Meize wrinkle their nose in disgust.

“We know what happened to the corpses now.” Meize says quietly. Dried husks of what once must have been humans are thrown in piles scattered across the small room. No decay could be seen in their remains, the only thing left of them being the skin that forms their body. Ambrose looks at the sight without saying a word.

“Something’s wrong.” Anastasia shivers as an ominous sense of danger fills her. “My instincts are going crazy. We’re not safe here.” Ambrose frowns at her words, looking over the room carefully until her eyes catch something.

“Red.” Ambrose says solemnly, and the others look at where she’s staring.

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“Red!” Bunny hisses, her eyes catching the narrow window in the corner of the room. Tiny and squirreled away, it barely lets a little moonlight flow in, but the clear shine of red coats its surface. “We need to move.” The group turns to the stairs.

“Meize.” Ambrose says firmly.

“No. No way.” Meize shakes his head.

“Ambrose went last time.” Anastasia says with gritted teeth. “Do your job.”

“Brute.” Bunny quips. Meize only stares at the stairs coldly, a thick silence pervading the room.

“Fine!” He eventually relents, his eyes flashing with anger. “I’ll go. You better be right behind me.” With those words he steps forward, his feet pushing hard against the wooden boards as he bounds forward and takes the steps down.

Ambrose follows right behind him, matched by Bunny and Anastasia just after. After a few moments Meize is at the bottom and comes face-to-face with one of the villagers. His eyes cast over the dark room and sees another three of them scouring the building in search of them.

With a roar Meize brings his fist up and slams it directly into the villager. His fist digs in, but unlike the previous puppets it doesn’t break its body. As Meize’s fist sinks shallowly into its body, the villager’s head turns a full 180 and stares directly at Meize. An uncanny, wide grin spills across his face.

“Found…you…” The discordant voice spills from its mouth, broken and scratchy as it grates against Meize’s ears.

“What the fuck.” Meize gasps. He brings up his other fist and slams it into its body, this time digging a little farther in. The monsters head spins back around, and then its body twists as its weapon, a large machete, does a full swing around at a blinding pace.

Meize raises his hands quickly, barely defending the sharp blade as it cuts directly across his arms. The blade digs deep and carves heavy cuts across both his arms. As Meize reels back, Ambrose bounds forward and digs her feet into the villager’s body, sending it careening sideways as it loses its balance, while she bounces back and regains her own footing. At the same time the other three villager’s snap their heads around and look at her.

“Found…you…” The same broken voice echoes out from each of them in unison as their heads twist around and stare at the group.