The four young adults joined the other two in the entrance area. Justin and Gabriel arrived, and shortly after, Eliza and Victoria arrived as well. Nora noticed Victoria's frightened and concerned expression, and Eliza's thinly veiled look of apprehension. Justin and Gabriel seemed tired but only intrigued by what was happening in that place, which made them find Eliza and Victoria's expressions odd.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Nora exclaimed in shock. "You all look exhausted!"

"We were attacked by a blue dwarf with big teeth. It was funny, but still very weird," Gabriel said calmly.

"Wait, a short, blue creature with big teeth?" Eliza asked curiously.

"Yeah, what about it?" Justin replied.

"Victoria and I found records of something called Project A12A01, which described exactly that."

"You found records? Where?" Nora asked, interested.

"There's a library here, and there are also rooms where we can stay."

"That's good, but what else did you find in that library?" Nora tried to get Eliza or Victoria to share more about what they found.

"A xupacu," Victoria said before Eliza could speak up. Justin burst into laughter.

"A xupacu?" Justin said, still laughing.

"It wasn't a xupacu, it just looked like one. You're laughing now, but it was scary at the time," Eliza said, trying to rationalize the situation.

"Really, I'd be scared too if a creature showed up trying to suck my...," Gabriel stopped talking when he saw Eliza's look.

Eliza remembered what Justin had said and immediately turned to him and asked:

"Justin, is the monster that attacked you guys still alive?"

"Well, how can I put it... Gabriel killed it," Justin said, slightly hesitating.

"Okay," Eliza said, trying to calm herself. "Anyway, we were lucky that Francis and Nora weren't attacked. From now on, we should all stick together. We can't let anyone else get hurt."

"Oh, and one more thing: we found a kitchen with some food that seems edible," Justin added before they headed to their rooms.

It was nighttime when the six headed to their rooms and put away their belongings for the trip, then settled into their rooms. The rooms were oddly cleaner than the rest of the place, as if they had been cleaned a few months ago. After nightfall, they said their goodnights and went to sleep.

The next morning, Eliza woke up before everyone else and went to the library to search for more information about the things that could be in that town. She found a Lopez family genealogy chart tucked away in the back of the library. Some parts of the chart were missing, but it contained information about the two names they had found so far: Hernán and Rodrigo Lopez. After finding the chart, Eliza returned to her room and found someone sitting on her bed: Nora.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"All together, huh? But it seems like you're not part of 'all.' Breaking your own rules isn't something I'd expect from you," Nora said.

"I left because I knew it would be safe," Eliza justified.

"Sure, very safe, with a blue creature possibly ripping your arm off or a xupacu. You don't know why they appeared, and you didn't tell how you managed to escape."

"I tore a plank from the shelf and shoved it into its mouth. It's still lying at the door. If you want to get someone and go to the library to remove its body, I'd help."

"Maybe," Nora said calmly but still suspicious.

Unnoticed by everyone else, Francis was in a state of panic when the two pairs returned and shared what had happened. He hadn't slept well the night before, imagining the things that might inhabit Feroville.

Justin wasn't concerned about the dangers; he just craved excitement and adrenaline, not enjoying his quiet life back in Berkeley. Nonetheless, he was still worried about what could happen to the others, especially Nora and Gabriel. On the other hand, Gabriel was excited but also fearful of what the future might hold.

When Victoria woke up and left her room, Eliza and Nora invited her to help them remove the ''xupacu'' corpse from the library. After they disposed of the creature, they went to the kitchen to make breakfast. As time passed, the boys woke up and caught the smell of coffee, joining the girls in the kitchen. There, they began discussing hypotheses about what could have happened in the town to give rise to these creatures.

"My theory is that this town was used for secret government experiments," Gabriel said.

"Yeah, that might be it, but I think it's a combination of factors that turned this town into what it is now," Eliza commented.

"I don't want to judge, but out of everyone here, Eliza seems to know more than the rest," Nora said challengingly.

"Yes, I do, but that's because I've spent a long time researching everything I could about this town. But I still couldn't find out what was happening here. That's why I came here, to find out what they were doing and why they ignored the fact that one of the biggest satanic rituals in history took place here."

Silence filled the room as everyone locked eyes. Francis lost it.

"You're all crazy! Look, I'm done. I'm not staying here anymore. There's no way to know what's in this shit. And I don't want to find out. Especially not what they were doing here. I'm leaving."

As he stood up to leave, he saw a figure standing at the end of the corridor by the open door of the kitchen. It was a tall creature, seemingly wearing a hat, with two eyes filled with darkness. It appeared to be wearing a black suit with a black bowtie, and had long arms and legs. Everyone turned to see the creature, terror filling their faces. Francis screamed. The creature rushed towards him, but Gabriel grabbed a knife from the kitchen and went to defend Francis. He managed to make the creature release Francis, but then the creature started attacking Gabriel, who was able to defend himself better. Victoria went to help Francis, who was injured. Eliza grabbed another knife from the kitchen and rushed to help Gabriel. Nora realized that while fighting the creature, Gabriel had managed to spit a small bubble at it, causing a small burn. She quickly told Justin to fetch a bucket of water to throw on it. Nora managed to fill the bucket, but it took too long, and the creature had managed to cut Eliza just below her eye. Justin took the bucket, now full of water, and threw it on the creature, which emitted a loud, screeching sound and dissolved.

Everyone sighed in relief and went to help Victoria stop the bleeding from Francis.

"Oh my god, guys, it's still morning, and the day starts like this. What other kind of things are going to happen?" Nora wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but I think we should go to the library and try to find out if there are any more demons or experiments here. There's probably information on how to defeat them," Justin said, astonishing everyone with his newfound sense.