Escape from mist village

A Frightening Morning ?

"Clank!"

Irwan, not quite asleep yet, woke up to the sound of something falling in the distance down the school hallway. His eyes immediately darted towards where the sound came from. He adjusted his sitting position and hugged Nadia, who was already asleep next to him.

"W-what now?" Irwan mumbled to himself, scared.

He continued to hold Nadia close, squinting into the dimly lit hallway, barely visible from the moonlight filtering in. Silence fell again, but Irwan remained vigilant. After a while, he was convinced nothing was happening. His tense body relaxed with relief.

"Ugh... what's wrong, Wan?" Nadia asked.

"Nothing, go back to sleep," Irwan replied.

Irwan turned to look at Nadia next to him. His eyes immediately widened because he was only hugging Nadia's body—without a head! He instantly pushed Nadia away and scrambled back.

"W-what? Nadia... Nad!" he screamed.

"What?" Nadia asked from right next to Irwan.

Hearing Nadia's voice beside him, Irwan slowly and shakily turned his head. He gasped in horror to see Nadia's head resting on his shoulder. Nadia's eyes had red rings around them, and her tongue, sticking out between two fangs, looked longer than a normal human's.

"No... no," Irwan stammered, terrified.

"We'll always be together... Kraaaaaah!"

Nadia opened her mouth wide and lunged at Irwan's face, giving him no chance to react.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Irwan woke up, looking left and right to take in his surroundings. Sunlight was streaming in through the cracks of the ruined school building.

"Hosh... hosh..."

Irwan was panting, his whole body covered in cold sweat and trembling. He raised a hand to wipe his forehead.

"Just a dream... thankfully, just a dream. That was truly terrifying," Irwan mumbled to himself, still breathless.

Once his mind cleared, he looked beside him. Nadia wasn't there. He looked around again, searching for Nadia, then stood up and walked into the school hallway. He stepped carefully to avoid the debris scattered on the floor. He checked the classrooms along the hallway he passed. They only contained a few moss-covered, broken tables and chairs.

When he looked ahead, he saw a half-broken blackboard still clinging to the wall, and the photo of the second president still stuck above the blackboard, right next to the national emblem. Irwan continued down the hallway and finally reached the end, which seemed to be a large kitchen. When he peeked inside, he saw the object he'd seen glittering last night: it was actually the tail of a fighter jet, most likely from an ancient crash that hit the old school building.

Its shine came from a large, old-looking sticker that glinted when hit by moonlight or sunlight.

"So this is the thing from last night, huh... but where's Nadia?" Irwan mumbled, looking around.

"Shreek!" A sound came from the direction of a kitchen cabinet. Irwan looked towards the cabinet in the corner of the dark room. He looked around underneath, then picked up a broken, sharp chair leg to use as a weapon. Slowly, he approached the open cabinet. "Clack... shreek... bang!" It sounded like someone was rummaging inside the cabinet.

Irwan's hand reached for the cabinet door and pulled it open. He immediately raised the sharp chair leg.

"Aaaaaaah! What are you doing?!" Nadia screamed.

"Whoa, what are you doing in here?" Irwan asked.

"Look!"

Nadia turned around and showed him several cans of food in her arms, like corned beef, tuna chunks, sardines, beans, mushrooms, and candied fruit. Thunk! Nadia placed everything on the table.

"Wanna eat?" Nadia asked cheerfully.

"Huh... eat that? How long have those cans been in this cabinet? Haven't they expired yet?" Irwan asked.

"Why think about whether they're expired or not? Just eat them, right? Even if we get poisoned, we'll heal back to normal anyway, right?" Nadia replied.

"Hmm, you're right, I guess. But how do we cook them?" Irwan asked.

Click! Nadia opened a can of corned beef. Then she put her hand inside and started eating it directly. Irwan watched her, raising an eyebrow, feeling disgusted, surprised, and thinking, "This kind of person is my wife?" Nadia, enjoying her food, looked at Irwan.

"Come on, let's eat! Just eat it straight, no need to cook it. The stuff in the cans lasts a long time. (She pushed a can of sardines towards Irwan) Here's sardine, eat!" Nadia urged.

"Uh... I'll try," Irwan replied, taking the sardine can.

Click! Irwan opened the can and saw sardine fish submerged in red sauce, like tomato sauce, inside. His trembling hand picked up a fish and brought it up. Gulp! He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide, then put the fish in. Crunch... crunch! He started chewing the fish, then opened his eyes.

"Oh... this is good!" Irwan said.

"See? There's still a lot more in the cabinet. Let's just take them; don't worry about whether they're expired or not," Nadia replied.

"Sometimes you're actually smart, you know," Irwan countered.

"Hey, I've always been smart!" Nadia shot back.

"But I'm relieved. Turns out you're okay. I thought last night you had become one of those creatures. It was just a dream, thankfully," Irwan said.

"You idiot! My head's still attached, see !" Nadia retorted while shaking her head.

"Why'd you just leave me behind and didn't wake me up?" Irwan asked.

Nadia fell silent, her hands continuing to scoop out the corned beef until the can was empty. Irwan watched Nadia's seemingly embarrassed face.

"Why aren't you answering?" Irwan pressed.

"I had to pee. Like I'm going to wake you up for that. Besides, it was already morning, so I wasn't too scared and i know you're tired, so i'll let you sleep a little longer," Nadia replied.

"Oh... I see," Irwan said, putting another fish into his mouth.

"Come on, hurry up and eat. We want to go back to the village, right?" Nadia said.

"Yeah, that's right. So, should we just take all this canned food or what?" Irwan asked.

"You decided," Nadia replied.

Irwan looked at the table, seeing many unopened, dusty cans. He looked around and realized there was nothing to carry the large amount of canned food.

"Let's just leave them here. If we need more, we can always come back. The road in front of this school must lead to the village. We can come back anytime," Irwan suggested.

"Hmm, okay, agreed," Nadia replied.

"The important thing now is, once we reach the village, we go to Brian and Riana's house," Irwan said.

"Yes, that's right," Nadia replied.

"Come on, hurry up and eat; let's not make it too late," Irwan urged.

"Yeah, I know," Nadia replied, continuing to scoop corned beef with her hand.