Knock, Knock

The knock came again.

Slow. Deliberate.

Leon Graves gripped his SIG Sauer P226, eyes locked on the wooden door of the abandoned cabin.

Eve Voss silently raised her M4 carbine, positioning herself near the window, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was outside.

Riley stood frozen, clutching her knife, while the two kids, Tyler and Sam, huddled against the far wall, their wide eyes staring at the door in horror.

Leon didn't breathe.

Then—

Another knock. Harder this time.

Whoever was out there wasn't leaving.

Eve whispered, "We're not answering that, right?"

Leon ignored her, stepping toward the door. His muscles coiled, ready for anything.

"Leon," Riley hissed. "What are you doing?"

Leon reached out, pressing his palm against the old wooden surface. The wood was cold. Too cold.

Then—

A voice.

Low. Crooked. Whispering from the other side.

"You left something behind…"

Leon's grip on his pistol tightened.

His gut screamed at him to walk away.

"We still see you, Leon…"

Eve tensed. "How the hell does it know your name?"

Leon took a step back, his pulse hammering. No more waiting.

He swung his pistol up and fired.

The gunshot shattered the silence, the bullet tearing straight through the wooden door.

A long pause.

Then, the whispering laughter began.

Low. Ragged. Inhuman.

It echoed from all around the cabin, as if the forest itself was laughing with it.

Tyler whimpered, covering his ears.

Sam buried his face into Riley's side.

Leon turned back to Eve. "We need to go. Now."

Eve nodded, already moving.

Riley pulled the kids to their feet, her voice shaking. "Where the hell do we run?"

Leon didn't answer.

Because the real question was:

Was there anywhere left to run?

Leon unbolted the door. The second it swung open, cold air rushed in, carrying the smell of damp earth and something else.

Something rotten.

The clearing outside the cabin was empty. No sign of anyone. No footprints.

But Leon knew better.

They weren't alone.

Eve moved ahead, sweeping the area with her rifle. "I don't see anything."

Leon grabbed Tyler's shoulder. "Stay close. Don't fall behind."

The boy nodded quickly, gripping Sam's hand.

They moved.

Fast. Silent.

The trees loomed high, twisting together like skeletal hands, blocking out most of the morning light. The deeper they went, the darker it got.

The whispering laughter had stopped.

But the silence was worse.

Then, Sam tripped.

The boy hit the ground hard, kicking up dirt and leaves. He scrambled up, his small hands shaking.

Leon reached for him—

Then Sam screamed.

Leon snapped his pistol up. "What is it?"

Sam pointed at the ground, his face pale.

Leon followed his gaze and felt his stomach drop.

The dirt wasn't dirt.

It was skin.

Stretched thin, gray, stitched together with black thread.

And underneath it—something moved.

Eve cursed. "That's not possible."

Leon took a step back, his heartbeat hammering in his ears.

Then the ground twitched.

A face pushed up from beneath the earth.

Mouth stitched shut.

Eyes open.

Watching.

Riley gagged. "Oh my God—"

Leon grabbed her and shoved her forward. "Run!"

They sprinted through the trees, feet pounding against the damp earth.

The whispering started again, but now it was inside their heads—a chorus of voices hissing their names.

"Leon… Eve… Riley…"

Leon ignored it. Focus on running.

Then—movement ahead.

Figures emerged from the trees. Tall, wrapped in blackened robes, their faces hidden beneath stitched leather masks.

Eve skidded to a stop. "Shit!"

Leon grabbed the kids and pulled them behind him.

The figures didn't speak. Didn't move.

Just watched.

Leon raised his gun. "Get the hell out of our way."

Silence.

Then one of the masked figures tilted its head.

A slow, deliberate motion.

And whispered, "You don't belong here."

Then all hell broke loose.

The forest floor erupted.

Hands burst from the earth—rotting, clawed, unnatural. Bodies crawled from beneath the dirt, pulling themselves free from the stitched skin that had held them prisoner.

Eve opened fire, her rifle kicking against her shoulder as she dropped three of them.

Leon fired his pistol, taking down another.

But there were too many.

"Move!" Leon shouted.

They charged forward, shoving through the figures in the masks. They didn't resist. They just stood there, watching.

As if they knew something Leon didn't.

They ran. And ran.

Branches whipped against their faces, the ground uneven beneath their feet.

The whispering grew louder.

Then—a structure appeared through the trees.

A stone archway. Ancient. Crumbling.

Covered in the same strange symbols carved into the deer, the bodies, the trees.

Tyler gasped. "It's real."

Leon didn't have time to ask what that meant.

Because the moment they crossed under the archway—

The whispering stopped.

The silence hit like a wall.

Leon stumbled to a stop, his ears ringing from the sudden absence of sound.

The creatures chasing them—the stitched-mouthed things, the crawling horrors, even the masked figures—had stopped.

None of them crossed the stone archway.

Leon turned back, gun still raised, panting.

The figures stood just beyond the threshold.

One of them—the leader, the one from Madison Valley—tilted his head again.

Then whispered, "You don't belong there, either."

And just like that, the figures melted back into the forest.

Disappearing.

Leon turned to Eve, his breathing ragged.

"What the hell just happened?" Eve muttered.

Leon shook his head. He had no idea.

But something felt different.

As if… they had just crossed into somewhere else.

Ahead, through the thinning trees, a dirt path stretched forward.

Leading somewhere unknown.

Sam's voice was barely a whisper.

"We're not supposed to be here."

Leon looked down at him. "Where are we?"

Sam swallowed hard.

Then he pointed at the ground.

At a symbol carved into the dirt.

One Leon had seen before.

Back in the grocery store.

On the stitched bodies.

On the walls of the cabin.

It was always the same.

And now it was under their feet.

Leon's stomach turned. "What does it mean?"

Sam whispered, "This is where they take people."

Leon's jaw clenched. They had escaped the hunters.

But somehow…

They had ended up somewhere worse.