I continued going down the street, sometimes wincing a little after stepping on a rock or a branch, but I ignored the feeling as I continued walking.

Whenever one of those Searchers appeared, Luna and I hid from the gigantic spiders behind a trash bin or inside a trashcan, waiting for the Searcher to disappear as I watched its light move side to side before disappearing.

After watching the light disappear, I helped Luna out of the trashcan and helped myself out before sneaking off while following Luna.

We soon arrived at the hardware store, and it was boarded up; even the front door was locked after I tried to open it.

"Locked," I mumbled. "There's a backdoor to the store. Maybe we can get through there."

I clicked my tongue at Luna, and she perked up, turned to my attention, and followed me as we went around the hardware store.

A gate was blocking the road between the hardware store and the back, so I started climbing to the top of the gate as Luna watched.

Once I was over the gate, I carefully started to climb back down, using my toes to hook onto the gate's gaps as I began to climb downward.

I touched solid ground and stepped down from the gate, landing on my bare feet, before looking at Luna and wondering how I would get her through the gate.

Luna walked over to a small gap between the ground and the corner, laying down on her front before easing herself through and popping out.

"Good girl." I scratched Luna's head as she wagged her tail.

I turned around and started heading toward the back of the hardware store, with Luna following me.

When we turned the corner, I stopped walking after seeing a massive hole in the garage gate protecting the back.

What could have happened here?

The hole was about the size of a stack of boxes, but it looked like it came from the inside and crashed right through.

"Stephanie?" My walkie-talkie suddenly spoke, causing me to flinch, but I opened my satchel and took it out.

"Yeah?" I responded, pressing the button.

"Did you arrive at the hardware store?" Hisoka asked.

"Yes," I responded. "But something happened!"

"What?" Hisoka asked, sounding worried. "What happened?"

"There's a huge hole in the metal garage door," I explained, looking at the hole. "And it looked like it came from the inside."

"Something must've come from the inside!" Hisoka exclaimed. "What else?"

I looked down at the ground and saw tire marks, proving that it was a vehicle that crashed through.

My mind stopped after seeing the tire marks on the ground.

…How would a vehicle move if there was no one driving it?

The hair on the back of my neck stood up after remembering the people's disappearance, and my stomach started twisting in knots.

"I," I said, pausing a little as my hands started shaking. "I see tire marks on the ground."

"Tire marks?" Hisoka asked. "A vehicle crashed through the garage door?"

"It looks like it!" I nodded worriedly. "But how can vehicles move on their own?"

"Unless there was someone inside the hardware store," Hisoka responded. "Be careful if you step inside the warehouse, okay?"

"Okay," I responded before putting the walkie-talkie away. "Maybe I could find other useful items in the hardware store too."

So I stepped through the tear in the garage door and entered the warehouse, but my nose suddenly smelled something copper, causing me to gag as I covered my nose with a hand.

What was that smell?

I reached into my satchel and took out the flashlight from inside, turning it on before looking at what made that-

My heart sank to my stomach after turning the light on and shining it inside the warehouse, seeing destruction and corpses littered all over the ground.

I gagged after seeing the corpses on the ground and turned around, dry heaving, as Luna looked at me with worry as I continued dry heaving.

Luckily, I did not vomit at the sight of the corpses before turning back around, my hand still covering my nose as I gingerly walked through the dead bodies.

They looked like they were torn apart to pieces or bitten by something; others had their weapons near where they were, and there were dead Searchers too.

They were bleeding a luminescent dark purple color with their abdomens ripped open, showing the inside, and it looked like a human's stomach, but a medium purple color with wires between the flesh and the outer layer.

There were even a few humans inside its stomach, looking unharmed, but instead, they were all bitten in half and bleeding, with others dead.

Something else must have attacked the Searchers and humans, looking all over the destruction of the room as I carefully walked through it.

I aimed the flashlight down to step over the puddles of blood and organ splatters, not wanting my already slightly torn and dirty socks to be covered in blood.

Luckily, I entered an empty but clean warehouse area and continued walking, looking at the empty shelves as Luna followed me.

Some were on the ground, with others ripped open as their items spilled out on the ground, ranging from nuts to screws.

I looked at the not opened boxes after popping the end of the flashlight into my mouth to use it as a light.

None of the boxes had what I needed, so I walked further into the hardware store, looking at the shelves as they had different items.

I soon came across a package of scrapers and put them into my satchel's bag before deciding to look for batteries.

Before we continued walking, Luna suddenly stopped and started giving little growls, causing me to freeze after hearing her growl.

My light shone over something looming in the background before it glanced over at where my line was shining, as the eyes were shining slightly.

I gave a small yelp and scrambled backward, my feet slipping slightly on the ground, before hiding behind a shelf as Luna went in front of me, protecting me.

I immediately turned off my light after seeing that creature, and then I heard what sounded like a sputter and two thumps.

I looked around the corner slightly and saw a pair of glowing eyes looking around, giving sputters before awkwardly moving forward as they gave thumps.

Then I heard what sounded like a motor revving up as I went back into hiding, feeling my anxiety rising as Luna started to growl more.

It's not a car, it's not a car, it's not a car, it's not a car, it's not a car-

Another revving noise and I felt my whole body shake after hearing the noise and looking over, seeing a gigantic creature standing before Luna and me.

But it was a car.

The car looked like a van, but the headlights were moving independently with wires coming out from underneath its carriage, making it look more hermit crab-like.

I screamed after seeing this monstrosity, and it turned towards me, showing what looked like a jaw as its buffers were covered in blood with pieces of flesh from its sharp metal teeth.

Luna instantly started to run, and I followed behind, missing its jaws as it snapped at my feet before chasing after me as it made revving noises and animal-like growls.

It thumped after me with its wheels as it awkwardly tried to work with both its wires and wheels, moving forward but struggling because the wires slipped on the smooth ground.

I saw what looked like batteries, and I instantly packed the remaining batteries into my satchel as the car-like creature stumbled towards me, still missing me whenever it attempted to bite me.

Luna continued running forward as I followed her, watching as she instantly entered the piles of corpses and blood.

Looked back at the car-like creature and the corpses before deciding to take the chance and go through the blood and organs.

Everything disgustingly squished and sank underneath my feet as I went through the corpses, silently apologizing to the deceased as I headed toward the exit.

The car-like creature attempted to follow behind, but the wheels and the wires slipped on the blood and organs, landing on its underbelly.

It attempted to get up as I made a beeline towards the exit, slipping on more blood and landing on its side.

Luna and I soon stepped out of the blood and organs and exited the hardware store, stepping outside as the car-like creature followed, shrieking as it attempted to follow but slipped.

We went around the hardware store, and Luna squeezed underneath the small gap underneath the fence, and I started to climb towards the top of the fence.

The car-like creature sped towards me with thumps, motor revving, and chomping teeth as I went over the fence's ledge before jumping off and landing on my feet.

I turned around and ran as it charged, but I looked over my shoulder as it crashed into the fence, tangled in the wires before skidding on its front.

I instantly ran after watching the car-like creature get tangled with the fence and continued running without looking over my shoulder, following Luna as she headed toward the forest.

I ran for what felt like hours before stopping after hearing the noises disappear before stopping, huffing and panting as I placed my hands on my knees.

The smell of copper hit my nose, and I gagged, looking down at my feet as they were stained with blood and soaking wet.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I felt overwhelmed with emotions, primarily fear, as I had my hands covering my mouth as I was bent over.

I heard Luna's soft whine as she walked up to me, looking at me with puppy eyes and gently wagging her tail a little.

I reached over to Luna and wrapped my arms around her neck, hugging her as I started breathing in and out.

Luna stayed still after I wrapped my arms around Luna's neck, and I continued to breathe in and out slowly, doing what I was taught whenever I was on the verge of having a panic attack.

The breathing lasted a few minutes before I started to calm down, but I looked down at Luna's paws and saw they were stained with blood.

"Stephanie?" I perked after hearing my name spoken from my walkie-talkie and took it out.

"Yes?" I responded, pausing a little after my voice was shaky but repeated. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" Dr. Dimitri asked.

"I-I don't know," I stammered with a sigh. "The hardware store was attacked by something, and humans, including the Searchers, were killed. I was nearly attacked by a moving and alive car that nearly tried to eat me!"

I ran a hand across my hair and continued, "It was gigantic, looked like a car, and had wires coming out of it with moving metal parts!"

"Another alien?" Hisoka asked in the background. "You saw another alien?!"

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I got the scraper, as you told me, along with some batteries, but I had to escape from the hardware store because of that thing roaming."

"Okay," Dr. Dimitri softly spoke. "Return to the RV with the scraper. Then, we'll-"

There were noises from the other side as Dr. Dimitri and Hisoka exclaimed as I perked up, instantly standing up.

"Dr. Dimitri?!" I exclaimed. "Hisoka?! What's wrong?!"

There was no response from the other side of the walkie-talkie, and I started to worry, glancing over at Luna before saying, "Come on, Luna!"

I stood up and started running towards the RV park as Luna followed me through the forest.

We entered the RV park, but we stopped after seeing the RVs were all gone, including the one Dr. Dimitri and Hisoka were in.

"Hisoka?!" I panicked, cupping my hands over my mouth, and called. "Dr. Dimitri?! Where are you two?!"

There was no response to my call, and I started worrying, gripping my sweater with both hands as I glanced around.

A sudden buzz came from my walkie-talkie, and I moved it up, listening to the buzzing as it continued.

I pressed the button and spoke through it, saying, "Uh, hello?"

There were some glitching noises from the walkie-talkie, and I listened anxiously before deciding to mess with the frequency to help tune into the noises.

I fidgeted with the second knob and went through the frequencies, quietly listening to the noises as they continued.

"H̷̠̔͜é̵̱̻̑̈́̕llo?" a voice spoke clearly through the walkie-talkie.

"Hello?" I perked, pressing the button. "Who is this?"

"I'm…" the voice spoke, pausing as the voice sounded Russian. "My name is Grom."

"Where are you, Mr. Grom?" I asked. "Do you need help?"

"Да," Grom nodded as I released the button. "My head is aching, and I feel like I am on the verge of puking."

"Don't worry," I responded. "I have Tums in my satchel and can give it to you. First, do you know where you are?"

"Sort of," Grom responded. "It's somewhat dark here, but the ground felt like stone underneath my hands."

"Stone," I mumbled as I thought to myself before pausing. "Can you see a little moonlight?"

"Да," Grom nodded. "It's a little too bright for my eyes."

"Then you must be at Ulfstead Castle!" I perked with a smile. "Stay where you are, and don't move. There are Searchers and," I paused, thinking of a name for the second creature I saw. "Vehishifters roaming around."

"Wait, what are Searches and Vehishifters?" Grom asked.

"Searchers are a kind of alien that will swallow you and keep it in its abdomen to take to the mother ship," I exclaimed as I entered the forest. "Vehishifters are half meat and half metal beings that consume anything with a heartbeat."

"Хорошо," Grom nodded after I explained. "Please come quickly. I'm starting to feel a little loopy."

"Okay," I nodded before pausing. "Oh, my name is Stephanie, Mr. Grom."

No response came from the walkie-talkie, and I nodded, thinking that Grom must be asleep to attempt to ease his headache.

But half of me was worried about what he could have been injected with as I felt my neck with a hand, wondering if he had different hair color like me.

So I opened the map I grabbed a long time ago and looked at it, pointing at where I would be standing and trailing my finger over to Ulfstead Castle, looking around where I was before heading in that direction.

Someone opened a wooden door to a room, and a pair of hazelnut-brown eyes peered inside, looking around before cautiously stepping inside.

It was dark inside, with only the moonlight illuminating their way as they stepped more into the room, holding what looked like a spear in their hands.

Something large suddenly shifted in the darkness, causing them to flinch and glance over while holding the spear in their hand, stepping back after a head moved up.

When the head lifted up, the person instantly turned on their heel and headed back towards the door as the familiar Russian voice softly exclaimed, "Ждать! Не…" as a large gloved hand went into the moonlight but moved downward as the gigantic shape laid back down.

The stranger left the room and quickly closed the door behind them as the gigantic shape continued to lie on the ground, giving a soft moan.