The morning came quickly, you were wrapped in your sheets comfortably asleep when the strident sound of your alarm pulled you from your quiet dreams. Grunting you sat up in bed, stretching yourself and yawning, you really would have slept a few more hours, but going back to sleep was not an option today, after all, you had been waiting for this day to come for quite some time.

You walked over to the next room to make yourself some instant coffee, reaching for it on a table occupied by a few boxes, spooning some into a cup and pouring some previously heated milk on it, humming softly as you did it. You had been fired two months earlier by a sudden reduction of personnel that by catching you off guard left you no other option but to accept it and be thankful for the settlement you were given. It wasn't much but it was enough to allow you to live humbly for some time.

Unfortunately your funds were finally running out and you knew perfectly well that you would not be able to pay another month's rent, even in that ramshackle apartment. You sighed, sipping your coffee while looking around. The room was occupied by a couple more cardboard boxes with your few possessions in them, they were the only things you had, and honestly there was nothing especially sentimental in any of those boxes. You had been forced to pawn those valuable things you owned and now you only had some old junk that you weren't even going to take with you.

You took a deep breath and left the coffee on the table, taking a folder that laid on one of the boxes and opening it, reaching inside for a plane ticket and a few sheets of paper. You were going to move to Europe, to a small town that offered accommodation and work to whoever offered to live there, looking for the repopulation of the town. It all started when while browsing the internet you saw an ad in which several villages supported this idea and joined it. At that time you did not have the need for it yet, but still you filled out the application and sent it, betting on a Romanian village that offered good accommodation in a small rural house and a good paying job.

Days passed and you forgot completely about it, but a week or two ago you had received an email congratulating you for being one of the beneficiaries of the proposal and in it was indicated who to contact in case of accepting the offer.

Now that you no longer had a job and having no one to leave behind, you contacted immediately and arranged the day you would go there to start your new life. They promised to explain everything with more detail once you were already there, so you used the previous days to fix all your affairs before embarking to a new place.

You put the folder aside and rummaged through one of the boxes in search of something to wear, opting for something comfortable as you had a long journey ahead of you and you wished to stay as comfy as possible. You slipped into a pair of faded jeans and a t-shirt and grabbed a jacket, picking up the folder and approaching the coffee cup, emptying it in one gulp before leaving it aside and grabbing your suitcase, heading out the door with the apartment keys, putting them in the mailbox and waving goodbye to that disgusting place where you had spent enough time to not have a hint of sorrow when you left. You had already agreed with the landlord that he would dispose of what you left as he desired, so you turned around and walked away in the direction of the taxi that you had booked in advance.

The airport was torture as you expected, dodging crowds of people in a hurry, dragging your suitcase through infinite corridors and looking for your flight among the hundreds of screens surely left you with quite a headache, but you were finally in your place on the plane, accommodating you as best you could in the seat while you checked the mail one more time.

Your contact had promised to send you an update during the morning but you still had not received anything so you were feeling a bit annoyed that he was taking its time. You leaned against the seat and closed your eyes while you listened to the stewardess give instructions and ask for the mobile devices to be turned off. The trip would be long so sleeping would be the best, that's what you thought, but unfortunately the other passengers seemed to be eager to bother you, hitting your seat from behind or raising the tone of voice more than necessary, even at one point you were hit by a pack of peanuts that two passengers were passing, which ended on you sending a death glare to both of them who seemed to understand that they had messed it up so they apologized and behaved...for a while.

Finally and after a couple of excruciating hours, you arrived at your destination, getting off the plane and taking one last look at the group of damn passengers before heading to wait for your suitcase. You took out your mobile and checked the email once more, seeing that you had a new message from your contact, opening it immediately while letting out a little grunt of displeasure as you read it.

Apparently the person in charge of going to find you had had an emergency and was not going to be able to, so they asked you for your account number to give you some money so that you could rent a car and go on your own. The beginning of your relationship was not very good, that was a fact, but still you took a deep breath and after composing yourself you agreed to their terms, checking your bank account shortly after to see how much they had given you. They were really crazy if they thought that with that misery you would be able to rent something, but still you went to the nearest car rental office and asked, maybe they could have some decent offers.

How wrong you were, since when commenting on your budget, the young woman who attended you took you for a basic tourist and took your money, giving you a key in exchange and pointing you to where the car would be waiting for you.

It was a casing with wheels. The paint was cracked, the interior had a strong smell of mold and when you pulled it off and heard the canned sound that the engine emitted you doubted if you would arrive with it at your destination. Still, it seemed to work decently, and you honestly didn't want to have to put money out of your pocket to find a better option, so you jumped in it and typed the address of the village in the maps of your phone before leaving. According to the application, the town was five hours from the airport, and it was already beginning to dusk so the forecast of driving at night discouraged you as it was more and more likely to happen.

If driving on those unpaved and stony roads on that wheeled tin was not tedious enough, after a couple of hours the car began to emit a dense black smoke from the front part, slowing down to a complete stop a few meters later. You cursed out loud while hitting the steering wheel incredibly frustrated, what else could happen to you? this was starting to look like a damned trip and you couldn't be less unhappy about it.

There in the middle of nowhere and without any hint of life around you, you wondered how the hell you were going to manage to get to the village. You were trying to find an answer to your situation but your thoughts drifted to all the ways you could kill your contact when you finally met him, that's if you did.

As you cursed and gave up the car that seemed to have given its last breath, you grabbed your jacket from the passenger seat and decided to walk, using the maps you should have no problem getting there, since you barely had an hour and a half of travel left and there was still enough light to see where you were going.

Perhaps the situation would have gone differently if you had been less stingy and had put in a little money, but thinking about it now would not fix anything, so you would reproach yourself once you were home and for now you would fix your mind on following the path the app marked you.

At a certain point the coverage began to fail, ending up failing completely sooner than you expected, earning a new round of curses from you. That was it, you couldn't find your way without a map and you were too tired to wander aimlessly hoping to miraculously arrive at your destination. You were going to spend the night out in the wild and it was fucking cold, and to top it all, a dense fog had come out of nowhere and you could barely see around you. It's not that you feared the forest itself but what could be hidden in it.

You had never been especially skilled with survival techniques, so trying to make a fire seemed crazy to you as well as a waste of time, but you were stuck until morning so it wouldn't hurt to at least try, and maybe hopefully you could even warm up a little, so you wandered around a little, gathering small sticks that you found, trying to remember how the hell you were supposed to do it before a sudden noise made your skin crawl.

A deep howl echoed through the night, were there wolves around? You hadn't felt the need to study the local fauna so you didn't have the faintest idea, but the closeness of whatever was the being that had howled put you on alert. You listened carefully, looking for new sounds that could give you a bit of guidance in the middle of that dense fog, but the only sound that could be heard were more of those spine-chilling howls.

You walked slowly with your hands in front of you to feel any possible obstacle, but you could not notice the slope that was in front of you before rushing down it, rolling without stopping and scratching yourself with the branches and stones of the floor while falling. The fall ended with you lying on the ground at the bottom of the slope, grunting in pain as you tried to locate and compose yourself,noticing that down there the fog seemed to be slightly less dense.

You adjusted your gaze as much as you could and seemed to see a glimpse of light not far away,maybe after all you weren't alone, finding someone would definitely turn the situation upside down so you rushed carefully to the source, shaking off the dust of the fall and ignoring the light sting of the scratches and the state of your clothes that were now ripped in such a way that the cold crept between the seams making you shiver slightly.

You didn't walk long before you reached a dimly lit villa that was deserted. As it was at night, you assumed that the villagers would be resting in their homes, also after feeling the cold outside in your own flesh, you understood why no one would venture out of the warmth a house could provide. The tranquility of having found the villa calmed you, and although it did not look like the photos you had seen, you did not stop to question it at all. You found out that you still had no coverage, blaming it down to the weather since it had started to snow not long ago and after all the signal in a village so far away could not be especially good.

You were distracted with the phone when you heard the howls once more, this time they seemed to be a few meters from you, which made you come back to reality, quickly running to one of the houses, knocking on the door lively. You surely did not want to come across some wild animal that could attack you, so you begged someone would be understandable and allow you to stay with them for a night since you would soon become neighbours with them.

"Good night, I'm so sorry to be a bother at this hour but i-.."

The door suddenly opened and you were pulled inside abruptly, causing you to fall on your back a little gracefully. You were going to protest but a hand covered your mouth and the man who had introduced you into the house closed the door with several bolts before grabbing a shotgun, backing up to where you were next to the woman who covered your mouth. You were surprised by that behavior, but after recovering from the first impression, you freed yourself from the woman's grip and turned to look at both of them, but before the words left your mouth, you were petrified once more. Their faces were of utter terror, the man was holding the shotgun so tightly in his hands that his knuckles were white, and the woman was shaking uncontrollable, moving slightly away from you but with her eyes fixed on the door. What happened to both? From their way of acting it seemed that something terrible was happening, but you couldn't figure out what it was. At least not until you heard the howls again, this time they sounded even closer than before, that's when you started hearing the growls on the other side of the door, and you saw the man point silently at the door, aiming for it without daring to blink for a second. You noticed then that the windows were partially covered with wooden boards, how haven't you noticed before? You approached a window to try to see the outside, this made the woman clearly agitated so she tried to stop you but you ignored her attempt to grab you and got even closer, and that's when you saw them.

Horrible creatures half human half animal with its body covered partly with thick dark fur, grey like skin and almost white eyes that scanned their surroundings while sniffing the air waited on the other side. You backed up then, fear invading your whole being while you covered your mouth to avoid making any noise that would give away your position, feeling like the situation could not be happening.

You stepped on an old board while backing up, causing it to emit a rather audible creak in the middle of the silence, making the couple look at you with wide eyes before the man stepped forward to grab you by the jacket.

"You want us all to die?"

The man barely whispered just for me to listen, letting me go after, returning to his position and aiming back at the door. The woman leaned closer to you then, whispering too in the same low tone.

"Stay quiet if you want to live to see another day"

The fear made you think unclearly but you nodded and tried to stay as still as possible while continuing to hear the growls outside, your skin crawling at the mere memory of what you just saw outside. Moments before you had been out there, if it had not been for those people those creatures would have seen you, and they would probably have torn you apart to pieces without hesit-... Unable to avoid it, you vomited while imagining the situation. Trying to avoid gagging in vain you clung to your stomach, but you felt nauseous and your body refused to calm down, the situation imposing on you and making you feel fragile and defenseless.

The man seemed to be losing his patience with you until he finally reached his limit, turning towards you, pointing his gun at you. He was maddened with fear and wouldn't hesitate to shoot you.

"Stupid bitch wanna shut your mouth!?"

He finally snapped, but at the moment of pronouncing those words the door collapsed and through it one of the creatures entered, roaring fiercely before pouncing its teeth on the man's neck, tearing at his flesh as the man screamed in pain and blood flooded the ground. The woman screamed at the top of her lungs then, throwing herself to help what should be her husband in vain, since with a quick movement it removed her with ease, focusing its attention on her now, clearly annoyed to be disturbed while enjoying its prey.

"R-run…"

Were the last words of the woman before the creature grabbed her neck and squeezed until it cracked, throwing her lifeless body aside before returning to its previous prey to feast on it again.

Your legs were like jelly but you couldn't afford to stay still any longer, looking around and coming across a back door, running towards it and quickly grabbing a knife that was on the counter before leaving through it.

You had no idea where to go but you had to move fast, you knew perfectly well that you could not do anything against those creatures, you would not stand a chance, after seeing the incredible strength they possessed you could only be sure that you would die if they caught you.

Panting heavily you ran all your legs allowed you, hearing the growls behind you as an incentive, the sound of wood being smashed telling you that it was not the only house they had entered, and even if your conscience weighted, you felt grateful that they were distracted as you would stand more of a chance of surviving and running further away.

When your chest burned and your legs threatened to drop you, you stopped, leaning against the facade of a house, trying to catch your breath as quickly as possible, you knew that you were still in incredibly danger but your legs refused to keep running any longer, you were exhausted and even if you kept running you wouldn't be able to outrun them forever.

Looking around you saw a house bigger than the others, it was made of a seemingly thick wood and seemed more solid than the others,so your only hope now was that they allowed you to enter and find shelter in it. You breathed, faltering a little, clinging to the knife you carried, you were so scared you could barely stand it, the tears threatened to overflow at any moment but you did not allow them to fall since you knew that when this happened you would lose what little strength you had left.

Determined to not give up until the end, you made your way at a good pace to the house, but when you were about to reach it you stopped, hiding behind a facade again. One of those creatures was in your path, smelling the air as if searching for something, for you that's for sure, but still in your way.

You were going to look for an alternate path when you saw a man leaning in the front of the house, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

The little awareness that you had left prompted you to throw yourself into his position, pulling him by the arm to hide him behind the wall next to you, panting as you pushed him against it while listening to see if the creature had noticed.

"Well well well, look what we have here, are you lost sweetheart?"

He was grinning like he was seeing something truly entertaining, staring at you from behind a pair of sunglasses. You gestured at him to be silent, wondering if you had acted appropriately and if saving that madman would condemn you. You ignored the thoughts and convinced yourself that you did the right thing, unconsciously pushing him further against the wall in search of feeling more protected, but this earned a laugh from the man beneath you.

"Whoa take it easy dear, i don't even know your name and here you're throwing yourself at me, that's nasty you know? Not that i mind though"

You couldn't believe him, was he really joking at a time like this? You could not tell since he kept grinning like he was indeed amused at the situation. While this bothered you, you dared not to move, still trying to listen for any movement, but the man couldn't keep his damn mouth shut.

"You know? Although I appreciate the silence,a conversation requires two or more auditors since otherwise it would be the same as talking to a stone and you don't take me for someone who speaks to stones, right?"

That man was definitely crazy, you shot him a disapproving look and moved away from him enough to peek around the corner. It was gone, it was now or never, you looked once more at the man, who now seemed annoyed with you and you decided that if he was not going to try to survive with you, you would not run his luck.

Just as you were getting ready to run to the house, a firm grip on your arm stopped you, making you turn yourself towards the man again.

"Didn't you hear me? I hate repeating myself you know?"

You looked at him with contempt while you struggled with him, threatening him with the knife on your other hand, you needed to leave now or you wouldn't stand a chance.

The man then seemed to realize something, and his annoyed expression turned into one of mischief, his grin once again on his face.

"You're not local, even better, mother Miranda will surely love you"

With a wave of his hand the knife was thrown to the side while you watched stunned.

How on earth did he do that? You tried to resist once again without any result, and then you realized how he flicked once again his hand, and the next thing you noticed was how something hitted your back head and made you fall on your knees, losing conscience shortly after, the last image you saw of him lighting up a cigar while staring down at you with his everlasting shit eating grin.