CHAPTER 161: RED LIGHT

"Do you think that statue is inside the factory? I feel something weird about it."

Dylan started the conversation while they sat around a dinner table that somehow felt colder than the snow outside.

The sandwiches were stiff from the temperature, and the air felt heavier with every breath they took.

"Didn’t I tell you not to talk?" Matthew raised a brow and paused mid-chew.

"Yeah, well, order me something useful next time," Dylan muttered. "Because telling me to shut up? Not happening."

His eyes flicked toward the window, the curtain barely swaying as if something on the other side brushed past it.

The only sounds were the ticking of the clock and the faint wind pressing against the wooden walls.

"I think we should barricade the door," Dylan continued, his voice a bit shaky. "Just in case something tries to barge in and eat our flesh."

"I never knew you were a scaredy cat, Dylan," Andrew sighed. He turned to Maria. "What did you see?"

Maria jumped slightly, as if pulled back from a daze. She had been staring at the untouched blood bag.

"Ugh... those red strings. They covered the sky."

"What?!" all three men said at once.

"It’s so dark. This whole village... It’s wrapped in something. The houses too. Like everything here is drowning in blood." Her tone dropped into a whisper, and even the cold room seemed to flinch.

No one spoke. Even Dylan’s constant restlessness faded for a moment but then he continued again.

"You know," Dylan said, voice cracking, "this feels like a horror cult movie where the stupid main characters end up getting sacrificed because they stayed instead of running."

His eyes widened slowly. "What if... we are the leads..."

BANG.

Dylan yelped, launching himself behind Andrew like a terrified cat. Everyone jumped except Matthew, who slammed his palm on the table and burst into hysterical laughter.

He laughed until he doubled over, wiping tears from his eyes. "God, Dylan. Scared of ghosts. Aren’t you a vampire hunter? Maybe grow a pair."

"Fuck you, Matthew! That wasn’t funny!" Dylan clutched his chest, breathing hard. "I’m serious. We should leave this place."

"We’re not leaving," Andrew said, standing up.

"The crest might be here. But you can go alone if you want." He moved toward the couch, clearly done arguing.

With only two rooms available, Maria got one, while Dylan was stuck with Matthew. Not ideal. But the boys needed to learn cooperation somehow.

---

At midnight, Andrew jerked awake, soaked in sweat. That upside-down tree from his dream felt burned into his vision, hanging in the sky with hell yawning beneath him.

"Great... I’m still using the mask," he muttered.

Doctor Ben’s invention should’ve filtered any sanguine spores, but something in this forest was far beyond normal contamination.

Then he saw it, a faint red light bleeding through the curtains. Slow, pulsing as if it were alive.

He slapped his cheek lightly. "This is real."

He stepped to the window and pulled the curtain aside. The village glowed with a deep, unsettling red, strongest around the factory, almost like it was breathing.

A perfect chance to infiltrate it.

He turned around and nearly punched the air. Maria and Dylan were standing right behind him.

"At least say something," Andrew groaned.

"Sorry," Dylan whispered. "Nightmare. And... Matthew is gone."

"What?"

"He probably followed the red light."

Andrew grabbed his jacket, gun, and dagger in one fluid motion. "We’re going after him."

Dylan groaned. Maria moved quickly, her expression tight.

Andrew was already opening the door when the cold wind hit them. There was a small snowstorm outside as the only thing he could see was white and red light.

"Can we just, you know, leave him? Cause there is no way we have a chance against whatever haunts this village."

"Dylan!" Maria and Andrew shout in unison, glaring at him.

Dylan groaned in frustration and took a deep breath knowing he didn’t have a choice and followed them outside.

"You guys would absolutely regret this!"

They moved through the snow, keeping low, hiding behind fences and empty sheds. The village felt dead until the first door creaked open.

"Look," Dylan whispered. "The villagers..."

People stepped out barefoot, wearing thin clothing despite the cold. Their movements were stiff and unnatural, like they were being dragged by something invisible.

"The red thread," Maria whispered, eyes widening. "It’s pulling them. But some... some don’t have it."

She covered her mouth suddenly. "God. It’s inside their bodies. Moving like worms."

A cold weight settled in Andrew’s stomach.

This wasn’t a village anymore.

It was a puppet stage.

And something inside that factory was the puppeteer.

***

Matthew was already inside the factory. He did not bother waiting for the others to wake up. They were slower and weaker than him anyway, except for Andrew, but even that man was sick at the moment.

Matthew slipped into the shadows of a massive piece of equipment, crouching between cold metal beams as the villagers gathered in the center of the factory floor.

A small stage had been set up, and the village chief stood on it with two creatures that Matthew immediately recognized from the forest.

They were pitch black from head to toe with nothing visible except those glowing red eyes. Their arms dragged on the ground like heavy ropes of flesh, and their hunched posture made their backs look twisted and broken.

Matthew had no idea what they were, but he felt confident he could take them down. He had fought worse. At least, that was what he told himself.

As the crowd settled, he heard Mika’s voice rise, echoing eerily against the metal walls. He could not catch every word, but a few cut through the noise: sacrifice, False God, punishment. The tone alone was enough to make him grimace.

"False God, huh?" he muttered under his breath.

He remembered his old lessons about vampires, the ancient deity that created the vampire. This situation felt too close to those bedtime warnings for his liking.

The villagers began moving again, but instead of entering deeper into the factory, they headed toward the back exit.

Matthew blinked, unsure whether he had missed something. Children clung to their parents. Men and women walked with torches raised high.

Their flames wavered in the wind, casting long, distorted shadows across the snow.

Even Matthew struggled to walk straight. The storm was harsh and loud, and the wind scraped at his face like a thousand needles.

All he could see was a blur of red and white—torchlight and blizzard—until the villagers suddenly stopped. He stopped as well, squinting through the storm.

"Damn, this annoying snow."

He covered his eyes to clear the frost, and when he opened them, the world became strangely sharp.

The villagers’ heads all snapped toward him at the same time, eyes blank and necks cracking unnaturally.

It made him stumble back in shock, but when he blinked again, they were already disappearing inside the mining entrance.

He rubbed his eyes. "Maybe my imagination," he said and chuckled nervously.

"Probably because of that bastard going on and on about that horror movie."

He shook his head and followed, keeping a safe distance as they descended into the shadows of the mining tunnels.

The mine was large and labyrinthine with branching paths everywhere. Luckily, the villagers’ footsteps marked the correct route through the dirt.

Eventually, Matthew reached a rusty lift that rattled every time another group stepped onto it.

He watched them descend. People crammed together, going deeper and deeper.

"Great," he muttered. "Just great." He hesitated only a moment before stepping onto the lift himself.

"The faster I finish this, the faster I go home," he told himself.

"And it’ll be fun watching that bastard make his annoyed face when I show up with all the answers."

He smirked, pleased with the image in his head.

He did not notice the shadow moving behind him. It crept silently along the machinery, rising to its full height only when he leaned forward.

By the time he sensed something was wrong, claws were already swinging toward him.

---

"That asshole definitely ran ahead," Dylan complained loudly.

He kicked a loose bolt across the factory floor. It clattered and echoed like a gunshot.

"Look at this. Nothing. Not even one creepy grandma. He is hogging the entire plot."

Andrew ignored him completely. He walked through the empty factory with his arms crossed, studying the ground.

"It looks like they left through the back. Maybe toward the mining area."

His voice was calm, but his eyes were sharp.

Something suddenly buzzed. Andrew reached into his pocket and pulled out the doll Bianca had given him. Its button eyes flickered faintly before her voice crackled through it.

"They are in the mining area," Bianca said. "I cannot see anything clearly. There is some kind of barrier blocking my vision."

All three of them looked at each other.

Bianca continued, "Be careful. There are two strange creatures following the old man’s commands."

"The village chief?" Andrew asked.

"No. Someone else. He is not the chief, but he has something unnatural inside him. And the villagers look infected. Something is wrong with all of them. Be careful."

The doll fell silent.

Dylan groaned. "Oh great. Fantastic. Infection and weird creatures."

"This is zombie all over again! I said it earlier, I literally said it earlier! We should have left this cursed place before the monsters started doing yoga in the woods."

Andrew ignored him again. "We need to reach the mining area fast. Something might have happened to Matthew."

"Who cares about that guy?" Dylan threw his hands up dramatically. "He is annoying."

Maria and Andrew were already halfway out of the factory.

Dylan stared at the space where they had been standing.

He huffed. "Fine. I am only following because it is cold and dark, and I do not want to die alone in a horror movie setting."

His pace quickened immediately.

Of course, another reason was simple.

He was absolutely terrified.