A few steps behind, Mert stood silently, fists clenched, listening in.

Eren and Mücella looked exhausted.

Yaman:

"You two stay here. I’ll check the town and come right back."

Mert:

"I’m coming too. If I have to return alone, so be it."

Mert nodded, a stubborn expression in his eyes.

Yaman hesitated for a few seconds, then shrugged.

Yaman:

"Fine. But we move fast."

The two of them stepped into the fog, their steps heavy.

---

Inside the Town

At first, nothing could be seen.

The fog had swallowed the cobbled streets.

Only echoes remained:

Someone wept in a corner.

Someone mumbled incomprehensible words.

Someone screamed at God, naked in the empty streets.

A man, leaning against a wall, was clawing at his own face with his nails.

He stared at them with bloody eyes, but said nothing.

Only whispered:

> "The sky… has forgotten us..."

A woman, her bare feet covered in blood, held a child up in the air, praying loudly:

> "Green light! Save us! Cleanse us!"

At a street corner, two old men had stabbed each other;

their blood soaked the ground, yet no one intervened.

Mert turned pale at the sight.

He clenched his fists, his voice barely a whisper:

> "This... this isn't our town... These aren’t the people we knew..."

Yaman narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth:

> "No. The fog... it’s eaten their minds."

Mert took a step back.

His knees gave out.

He collapsed to the ground, staring blankly around.

He whispered:

> "Mom... Dad..."

Yaman smacked his shoulder hard:

> "Pull yourself together. We can’t stay here."

Mert looked at him, his eyes empty.

For the first time, his confident, "strong" expression had completely shattered.

---

They rushed back to Eren and Mücella.

Yaman spoke first:

> "The town still stands, but the people are broken.

They’ve gone mad.

It’s not safe.

They’re turning on each other.

And there’s no telling when the fog will lift."

Mert added, voice low:

> "It’s not a home anymore... it’s a graveyard."

Yaman continued firmly:

> "There’s a cabin north of the forest.

We’ll hide there.

Until things calm down..."

Eren nodded.

Mücella, in a faint whisper, said:

> "Let’s go..."

---

And so, the group vanished into the mist,

leaving the echoes of the haunted town behind.