“Yo—you’re doing what? You can’t be serious.”

Judging from her expression, she definitely knew about what we were up against. She looked completely shocked and somewhat appalled by what we were doing.

“I didn’t know other people knew about it.”

Rochelle folded her arms, giving us a perturbed look.

“I mean, there have been some rumors about it. Folks often talk about how something has to be in control. These attacks don’t seem random, as far as we’re aware. Given the circumstances, we’d go ourselves, but we’re already struggling out here. And even if we did, we have no clue where to even find one.”

She unfolded her arms and stared directly at us, still giving that same look from before.

“Are you sure you guys are up for that task?”

“It seems daunting, but I’ve recently discovered something beneficial. A while back, I was scavenging for supplies, right? Eventually, I found a machine that, when powered up, revealed the location of the mastermind. And… okay, yeah, we’re kinda scared shitless about going after it, but I don’t wanna live in this hell any longer.”

She chuckled and said, “You guys got quite the balls for doing that. I commend you for taking on such a foreboding task. Maybe you could actually pull it off. Hell if I know.”

“I know from an outsider’s perspective it sounds insane, but it’s the kind of ballsy move we’re willing to take.”

She chuckled again and said, “Guess you guys might actually do it after all, but we’ll see if that’s the case. If you do manage to pull it off, make sure to see us again when you get a chance.”

“I’ll keep it as a mental note in the back of my mind,” Melody said, though I knew she’d probably forget.

“You guys want something to eat?”

Melody and I exchanged uncertain glances. We did have food back at our tent.

“We have some apples—nah, just kidding. We got rid of all the apples we could find.”

“I figured you would’ve already, but kinda surprising you did it this quickly.”

“There are other fruits and vegetables to eat. Not like we were losing out on much. Makes it easier to stand out on its own.”

I guessed it made sense for many people around here to take extra precautions, not to mention the removal of lamp posts in the area. It didn’t solve most of the creature problem, but it probably helped with ones that relied on sneaking up on people.

“I wanted to ask something,” I said.

Rochelle turned her head to look at me. “Sure, what do you need to ask?”

“Considering you’ve been around here for quite some time, do you think you have an exact count of the types you’ve encountered?”

“That’s kinda hard to answer. We’ve only encountered seven types of creatures since it happened.”

Probably wasn’t the most thought-provoking question to ask. There could be hundreds of different types. I highly doubted a city of this size would have encountered every single one. If she said only seven, that probably meant they had just run into variations of the same creatures.

“What types of creatures have you fought off?”

“If memory serves me right—the apples, lampposts, teapots, and this dollhouse thing.”

“Yeah, that pretty much sounds about right.”

“We didn’t encounter any dollhouses,” Melody chimed in.

“I guess you’re probably gonna ask what we’ve encountered. Though I can’t say if Melody encountered them herself. There were the long-haired scissor creatures, an insectoid, this ghostly pot thing, and I believe that’s it.”

“Now, what exactly was that dollhouse you mentioned?”

“Something that disgusts me personally.”

“I’m afraid to ask why. Sounds personal.”

“It is, but I don’t mind sharing this experience with you guys.”

Melody looked at Rochelle and said, “Yeah, but we’re just complete strangers around here.”

“Doesn’t bother me that much. Besides, better for me to tell you whatever narrative I can if you’re not gonna see me again.”

It started on the day you know what.

My five-year-old cousin and I were having a nice stroll in the park. It was his favorite activity. Every time we went outside, he would always ask me to take him there.

Rochelle’s tone changed as she told her story. The high energy and laid-back attitude disappeared, replaced by sorrow. I could tell that this story meant a lot to her.

“To be blunt, I did not have any parents growing up, so I lived with my aunt. She was a kind woman who always took care of me until she passed away. She died in a terrible road accident. I could not even bear to look at the photos they took.

The only thing I had left was myself and her little child, who was only three at the time. I raised him as if he were my own, and I grew attached to him, maybe because I wanted to make my aunt proud. She would have been so happy to see me taking care of him with love.

But things did not last as I had hoped. Everything went downhill on that fateful day.

As I said earlier, he and I went to the park one Saturday afternoon, just having fun. Nothing seemed to get in our way. While he was going down the slide, I suddenly felt the ground tremble like an earthquake.

I was about to run to him when something enormous burst out from the ground.

I will try to describe it the best I can.

It was a massive hulking figure with long muscular arms covered in thick black sludge. The ooze dripped from its powerful limbs as if it were alive. Its legs, shaped like enormous tree stumps, were just as grotesque. But the most horrifying part was its torso. Instead of a normal body, an enormous dollhouse sat in its place.

The dollhouse had a strange unsettling design, like an old antique Victorian home but warped and twisted. Its gothic frame exuded an eerie presence. On the roof, three identical baby doll heads were impaled on spears, their hollow dark eyes staring into nothingness.

I screamed to get its attention, but by then, it was too late.

The creature’s foot came down with a deafening crash.

It stomped on him.

Crushed his tiny fragile body in an instant.

I stood there, paralyzed. The sheer force of what had just happened left me frozen in place, unable to process the horror before me. I could not cry. I could not scream. I could barely even breathe. I was just stuck.

And then something inside me snapped.

My body finally reacted. I ran. I hid.

Somehow, I managed to stay out of sight while the creature continued scanning the area. I covered my mouth to silence my sobs, terrified that the slightest sound would give me away.

Eventually, the creature descended back into the ground, disappearing.

I was safe.

But my cousin was gone.

I rushed to his lifeless body, holding him in my arms as tears streamed down my face. I kept repeating, “I am sorry… I am so sorry…” over and over again.

And that is how I ended up here.”

Hearing a story like that made me feel a deep painful guilt, even though I had not been involved. You never really think about the suffering of others until you hear it firsthand.

Melody looked just as upset. I could tell she felt the same emotions I did.

She looked up at Rochelle and said, “I am so sorry, Rochelle. I did not realize you had endured so much pain in such a short amount of time.”

“No need to apologize,” Rochelle said, shaking her head. “It is not your fault. It is not anyone’s fault that this happened. It took me a long time to cope, but I got through it. That is why I decided to recruit people here, to help the community of survivors who remain. Of course, I still keep those memories close, because they mean everything to me.”

I was grateful she had shared her story.

It gave me a new perspective on the survivors here.

Everyone had their own personal tragedy.

But in the end, they were all part of the same story, whether they realized it or not.

It felt quiet after the whole story she told. No one attempted to start a conversation, instead mindlessly staring at the fire. I took out my phone to check the time. It was nearing midnight. I knew we needed to head back, set up our tents, and get some sleep.

"We're probably gonna head back to our camp and set up our tents."

Rochelle, who looked pretty tired, glanced up at me. "Alright, well, guess I can't keep this circle entertaining for much longer. It’s been interesting talking to both of you. Promise you won’t forget about me, okay?"

"Gonna be pretty hard for us to forget someone with a sick ass hat."

"Welp, guess you guys best be off now."

We waved goodbye and headed back to our car to set up our tents. Rochelle stayed by the fire, most likely sleeping there if I had to guess. It took us some time, but eventually, everything was set up. By then, we were so exhausted we couldn’t think about anything besides sleep. So we did just that and said our goodnights.

"Uh, hey, Melody, you still up?"

Melody twisted and turned, her tone groggy and exhausted. "Yeah, what’s up?"

"I don’t think you ever told me about your first experience when everything went to shit. Well, I guess neither did I, for that matter."

Melody thought for a moment before saying, "To be honest, my memory is a bit fuzzy. I don’t remember much from beforehand. But I don’t think you should worry about it."

I was puzzled by her response. How could she not remember? And why was it not important?

"Sorry, but I don’t understand. How did you forget? It was literally six months ago when this outbreak started. Surely you gotta remember something. Feels like you’re excluding info from me for no reason."

"Look, it’s not—" She fumbled with her words for a bit before exclaiming, "Let’s just move on, okay? My past isn’t important. I don’t give a shit, and you wouldn’t give a shit, okay?"

"Wouldn’t it be easier to just say it’s personal instead of making up a half-assed excuse?"

"Half-assed?! I don’t remember, and I’m not interested in trying to remember, okay? Maybe next time, try not to push other people’s boundaries and be a complete asshole."

"I’m sorry, but I don’t get why you need to hide something. I don’t really care that much. Though, I guess you’re right—I was trying to pry when I shouldn’t have."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. Well, I guess you never told me what you did before the outbreak."

"Beforehand, I wasn’t doing much besides reading some manga like Chainsaw Man. I had recently gotten into Berserk, which I’d recommend, by the way. Basically chilling in my room, typical stuff. Played some Tekken with some online friends, ate dinner, and then hung out with my dad to watch Dune Part One. Then, in the middle of it, we heard screaming outside… and the rest was history. Sounds like a nothing story, I know, but it all happened so suddenly."

"Well, that’s certainly a backstory. Though, like you said, it was sudden. You think we’ll pull this through?"

"I don’t know. I just don’t want to sit here and do nothing. It’s more enjoyable to entertain the idea than to actually go through with it."

"Pretty much on the same boat, but you’re right. Better to try than to sit back and do nothing."

"Yeah. Well, guess we better sleep so we can leave early in the morning."

"Yeah, we best not dawdle anymore. Goodnight."

"Night."