The morning sun was a weak thing, barely breaking through the dense cloud cover above Red Hollow. The air carried the scent of damp asphalt and old pine, a reminder of the storm that had passed overnight.
Alex sat in the small, dimly lit motel room, his fingers tracing absentmindedly over the pages of his journal. Across from him, Caleb nursed a lukewarm cup of coffee, his expression lined with fatigue and frustration.
"Alright," Caleb sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. " Tell me you've got something new cause this whole thing has confusing so far, we know a few things but it seems like we are still in the dark and it's tiring "
Alex leaned back, flipping through the pages of notes and sketches they'd compiled over the past few weeks. "We know the disappearances are closing in on this town" he mused. "But there's another pattern which we didn't notice before"
Caleb frowned. "Another pattern?"
Alex grabbed a red marker and stood, pinning their map to the motel room's wall. He began circling locations, spots where hunters had gone missing, places where strange disturbances had been reported.
"Look at this," Alex said, drawing connecting lines between the locations. "The disappearances weren't random. Each hunter was taken near a place of significant supernatural activity, old burial sites, haunted grounds."
Caleb sat forward, eyes narrowing. "So whatever's doing this… it's targeting hunters specifically near these locations?"
"Not just targeting them," Alex corrected. "It's luring them."
Caleb's brow furrowed. "You think it's setting traps?"
Alex nodded. "Think about it. Hunters follow patterns, too. When we hear about weird activity strange noises, missing people, unusual deaths we investigate. If something knows that, it can use that against us."
Caleb let out a low whistle. "That's… disturbing."
"Yeah," Alex muttered. "It means whatever's behind this isn't just strong it's smart. It's studying hunters, learning how we operate."
Caleb exhaled sharply. "Alright. So what's the next step?"
Alex tapped the map again. "We check the most recent site where a hunter vanished. The freight yard gave us some information, but we need something concrete. The latest disappearance was four nights ago, just outside of town, near an old church."
Caleb frowned. "A church? That's new."
"Exactly," Alex said. "It doesn't fit the earlier pattern. Which means it might have slipped up."
"Maybe a trap" caleb said.
"Yeah,but whatever it is, it's the only lead so far" Alex said thoughtfully.
The old church was a skeletal ruin, its wooden beams rotting and sagging under years of neglect. Stained glass windows, now cracked and clouded with grime. The air was thick with the scent of mold and a rotting smell.
"You smell that, this place feels wrong," Caleb muttered, shotgun at the ready.
Alex nodded. His senses prickled, the air humming with residual energy. He moved carefully through the aisles, eyes scanning for anything out of place. Near the altar, something caught his attention deep gouges in the floorboards, as if something had been dragged across them.
"Keller was here," Alex murmured, kneeling beside the marks. He pressed a hand against the wood, letting his psychometry ability do its work.
The world tilted—
A flash of movement. Heavy breathing. A struggle.
A low, guttural voice.
A pair of glowing eyes in the darkness.
Then nothing.
Alex sucked in a sharp breath, the vision slipping away. He shook his head, jaw tightening. "It took him here. The thing must have dragged him underground."
Caleb knelt beside him. "Underground?"
Alex stood, scanning the room. "There must be an entrance. A hidden passage."
They spread out, searching for anything that might indicate a way down. It was Caleb who found it, a rusted iron ring embedded in the stone floor behind the altar. With effort, they pried it open, revealing a dark, gaping hole leading downward.
Caleb peered into the abyss. "I hate this already."
Alex smirked. "Then you're gonna love what comes next."
---
The tunnel was narrow, forcing them to crouch as they moved through the damp, earthy passage. The deeper they went, the colder it became, the walls slick with moisture.
"Feel that?" Caleb whispered. "The air's… moving."
Alex nodded. "Means there's another exit. Or something's breathing."
They pressed forward until the tunnel opened into a larger chamber. And that's when they saw it.
The walls were lined with bones, human bones, arranged in eerie, intricate patterns. Symbols were carved into the stone, pulsating faintly with a sickly green glow. At the center of the room lay a pile of discarded weapons, jackets, hunter's gear—trophies from the missing.
"Son of a—" Caleb swore, stepping back.
Alex's eyes narrowed. "This isn't just a feeding ground. It is a ritual site."
A low growl echoed from the shadows.
Both men turned sharply, weapons raised. From the darkness, a figure emerged—humanoid, its limbs too long, its skin stretched tight over unnatural bones. Its eyes gleamed with malevolent hunger.
Alex exhaled slowly. 'Now we know what's taking hunters.'
' A hollowed revenant ' alex thought gravely
This is a twisted, undead being born from desecrated ground and the remnants of sacrificed hunters, animated by dark rituals
Its Highly intelligent.
The creature smiled, revealing jagged, uneven teeth. Then it spoke, its voice a rasping whisper.
"You should not have come."
---
The creature's voice slithered through the underground chamber, dripping with malice. "You should not have come."
Alex and Caleb held their ground, weapons trained on the unnatural figure lurking in the shadows. The dim, pulsating glow from the carved symbols along the walls cast eerie shadows, distorting the creature's already grotesque features.
Caleb tightened his grip on his shotgun. "You wanna explain why you've been snatching hunters?"
The thing tilted its head, movements slow and deliberate. "They trespass," it hissed. "They take what is not theirs. They claim dominion over forces beyond them."
Alex exchanged a glance with Caleb. ' It's not just hunting us, it thinks it's protecting something.'
"Yeah?" Alex stepped forward slightly, blade at the ready. "And what exactly are we trespassing on?"
The creature let out a guttural chuckle. "The old ways. The balance. You do not understand, and yet you interfere."
Before they could press further, the creature moved.
It was fast—faster than anything its emaciated form should have allowed. It lunged, claws swiping through the air with unnatural precision. Alex barely dodged in time, rolling to the side as the thing's strike shattered a section of bone-lined wall behind him.
Caleb fired his shotgun, the blast echoing through the chamber. The creature jerked, but the wound barely slowed it. Black ichor dripped from its torso, but it moved as though it didn't feel any pain.
"Bullets aren't doing much," Caleb muttered.
Alex pivoted, slashing his silver blade in a wide arc. The steel connected, and this time, the thing let out a screech, stumbling back as the wound sizzled.
"Silver hurts it," Alex confirmed, adjusting his stance. "We just have to put it down before it gets the upper hand."
The creature let out a snarl, its eyes burning with renewed fury. Then, to their shock, it stepped backward into the shadows and vanished.
Alex's senses flared. He turned, barely managing to raise his blade as the creature reappeared behind him, its claws raking toward his chest. He blocked, but the force sent him skidding back.
Caleb cursed. "It's teleporting?"
"Something like that." Alex exhaled sharply. "We need to limit its movement."
His eyes darted to the glowing symbols on the walls. An idea sparked. If those runes were part of whatever energy fueled this thing, maybe they could use them against it.
"Caleb, cover me," Alex ordered, already moving.
Caleb let off another shot, forcing the creature to flicker between the shadows again. But this time, Alex was ready. He reached into his jacket, pulling free a vial of consecrated oil. With practiced speed, he poured it over his blade and began carving his own sigils into the dirt at his feet.
The creature materialized again, this time inches from Caleb. It swiped, and Caleb barely ducked in time. He rolled, grabbing a silver knife and driving it into the creature's leg. It shrieked, momentarily stunned.
"Now, Alex!" Caleb shouted.
Alex finished the last rune and slammed his blade into the ground, activating the hastily drawn sigil. A burst of energy surged outward, slamming into the creature like an invisible wave. It shrieked, its form flickering wildly as the surrounding symbols reversed, draining its power instead of fueling it.
The creature spasmed, its body destabilizing. It let out a final, distorted wail before collapsing into a heap, black ichor pooling beneath it.
Silence fell over the chamber.
Caleb groaned, lowering his shotgun. "Tell me that thing's not getting back up."
Alex nudged the corpse with his boot. It didn't move. The runes had worked.
"It's done." Alex exhaled, though his mind was still racing. "But we still don't know why it was doing this."
They searched the chamber thoroughly, sifting through the remnants of stolen gear and ritual markings. It was Caleb who found the journal, half-buried beneath a pile of old bones.
"Looks like one of the missing hunters left this behind." He flipped it open, skimming through hastily written notes. His expression darkened. "Alex… you need to see this."
Alex took the journal, eyes scanning the entries. The missing hunters had found something before they vanished, whispers of an old legend, a force that predated even the oldest hunter records. A guardian of sorts, meant to keep certain supernatural forces in check. But something had changed. The guardian had turned on hunters instead.
"This wasn't just a creature picking us off for sport," Alex murmured. "It thought we were threats to the balance."
Caleb ran a hand through his hair. "So what does that mean for us?"
Alex closed the journal. "It means someone—or something manipulated it. And if that's the case, we're dealing with more than just one rogue monster."
Caleb sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that."
Alex smirked, despite the weight of the revelation. "Come on. We should get back before something else crawls out of the dark."
As they made their way out of the underground chamber, Alex couldn't shake the feeling that they were only scratching the surface of something much bigger.
And whatever it was, it was far from over.