Chapter 3 .Cage of Silence

 They leave from that destroyed place, but they know it will not change anything. The only thing they can do is run, find a safe place, hide, and continue moving. After running for a few hours, they arrive at a forest. A quiet place-there was pin-drop silence. There was nothing, no one, not even animals or birds. All they could hear was the sound of their footsteps and heartbeats. Ming sees a cave there. He guides everyone toward it. They enter, and then Luca asks, "Are you sure it's safe here?" Ming nods yes. All five passengers and our main leads sit there. Sofia keeps the little boy, who was still scared, close to her and pets his head. Akiko is seated next to Sofia. Kinzo leans against the cave's wall and closes his eyes. Luca sits beside him and places his hand on his shoulder. Everyone tries to comfort each other, saying that everything will be okay-but deep down, everyone knows they are stuck, trapped, and there is no hope. Ming, who is seated a little away from everyone, leans against the cave wall and looks at them. He knows they're lying to each other because there is no hope that can make them believe everything will be fine. There is no way out. Everyone wants to meet their families. They want to leave, to run, to escape-but they can't. Sofia wants to hear her mother's voice. She wants to see her family: mother, brother, uncle, and aunt. She misses them. Luca misses his father and is worried-if they're stuck here forever, what will his father do? He will become lonely. Ming is worried about his mother, sister-in-law, and brother's children-because now, he is the only one left for them. Akiko stays silent, upset. She only had her elder brother, who she already lost to those creatures. There's no reason for her to fight, but she is not a coward who would end her life. She has to live, not for anyone else, but for herself-for the promise she made to her brother when she was a teenager, that she would never end her life by herself. She will die bravely or by natural cause. She looks at the pendant her brother gave her before he died at the hands of those creatures, and she smiles a bit. Kenzo's expression is unreadable. It is difficult to say what he is thinking. Ming, still thinking about his family, looks at Kenzo, then looks at everyone. He notices everyone looks sad and scared-but Kenzo's expression is unreadable. It makes Ming feel uneasy, but he says nothing. Then Luca curiously asks Akiko, "Are you the only one who survived? And what is happening here? And where is your family? Were they killed by those creatures, or are they not here?" Akiko turns toward him, surprised by his curiosity. Then she smiles and replies, "Yes, I'm the only one who survived. And as I told you before, I don't know what is happening. It was so sudden. Suddenly, people started changing into such creatures. Then came the destruction... they started killing the normal ones-drinking their blood, cutting off their hands and heads. And about my family..." She pauses. Her smile vanishes from her face, and she says, "My brother was killed by those creatures. I had only him-my elder brother. But now... he's not here anymore." Everyone turns toward her. Sofia says sadly, "It must be hard to live, then?" Akiko replies with a smile, "No, it's not that hard. Hmmm... well, it is hard, I guess." Sofia says, "You're really brave. Most people end their life, but you didn't." Akiko responds, "I won't say I'm brave. I just made a promise to my brother. Actually, when I was a teenager-when I was 16 years old-we lost our parents in a car accident. At that time, I tried to kill myself. But my brother stopped me and said: 'Dying and living-it's not up to us. It's up to God. If we end our lives because of such things, we'll be called cowards. Die as a warrior or from natural causes, but not as a coward.'" Everyone looks at her in surprise. Ming, Luca, and Sofia are impressed by her brother's words. Kenzo's expression remains unchanged. Then Kenzo asks, "And what's the story behind that pendant?" He points to her pendant. Akiko replies, "That pendant... when everyone started becoming these creatures, my brother tried to protect me. We ran, but I fell. When he tried to save me, he got caught by those creatures. He threw this pendant toward me and said to keep it in his memory. He told me I have to fight and survive bravely. Then he told me to run. But I wanted to save him... they killed him brutally in front of me. They drank his blood. One of them pulled his hand off and threw his arm. He was crying... then they cut off his head-right in front of me. I just ran. I cried and ran. I arrived at a safe place. I regret it. I always blame myself. If I had tried, maybe I could have saved him. If I were brave then... I know it was impossible to save him-there were about ten of them-but still... I didn't even try. That's it." Akiko looks at the ground, holding back her tears. She doesn't want to cry in front of everyone. Sofia looks at her with sympathy. She almost cries hearing her story. The little boy looks scared from hearing it. Ming and Luca nod in silence. Everyone looks at her with sympathy. Kenzo's expression is still unreadable. They all look sad, hopeless, and helpless-but they have to survive.Then suddenly Akiko says, "They can't be killed. These creatures never die. They always return to their form in 10 minutes, even if we cut them. I know that because after they killed my brother, one creature attacked me. I tried to kill it. I did because I promised my brother that I'd be brave. So I cut that creature into two parts. But it returned to its form again. I managed to run because I cut it again, and those 10 minutes were enough to escape. You're lucky we ran quickly that time. All we can do is keep running and hiding from them." As she says that, everyone looks scared. Sofia holds the little boy, who is now crying from fear. Even Ming and Luca are shocked. Kenzo's expression is still the same. No one notices it-but Ming does. Finally, he asks, "You don't look scared or shocked. Why?" Kenzo raises his eyebrows at Ming and calmly replies, "Nothing. I'm just... too tired to give any reaction or react to anything anymore."Ming simply nods, but he doesn't believe him. Ming is not convinced. It was strange-just a few hours ago, Kenzo was jumping with excitement. Then he was scared because of the destruction. Then he cried for his friend who died. But now, he looks like nothing happened. It was weird. A thought comes to Ming's mind: "Is he behind these things?" But Ming quickly shakes the thought away. It's not possible for Kenzo to do these things. He's just around 19 or 20 years old. He can't be responsible. And besides, that laugh earlier-Kenzo was with them at that time, so it couldn't have been him. But still... something is wrong with him. On the other side, everyone is tired. Some fall asleep. Sofia, who is patting the child's head, asks with a smile, "Hey, little boy... I never asked-what's your name?" The boy looks up at her and replies, "M-m-m-my name is Ash." Sofia smiles softly and pets his head. Ash leans his head on her lap and falls asleep. A few hours later, everyone falls into a deep sleep. The next morning, everyone wakes up to Ash's scream. When they open their eyes, they see Ash crying in fear and looking at something. Sofia steps toward him, and when she sees what he's seeing-she lets out a small scream and holds Ash closely. She is shocked. Everyone steps forward-passengers, Ming, Luca, Akiko, and Kenzo. They see a severed hand, covered in blood. Everyone is shocked and terrified. They notice one passenger is missing. They see blood spots and follow them. They stop when the trail ends. In front of them is a headless dead body, with a severed hand beside it. The face is visible-it's the missing passenger. His body is almost blue, as if someone drained all his blood. Everyone is terrified-except Ming, Luca, Akiko, and Kenzo. Ming, Luca, and Akiko are just shocked. Sofia is scared like the other passengers, but she decides to comfort Ash, who is just a kid around 9 or 10 years old.Ming notices again-Kenzo doesn't even look shocked. Then Ming sees a wristwatch on the dead body's hand. He steps forward and takes it. He remembers-it's the same watch Kenzo was wearing yesterday. Now there's no watch on Kenzo's wrist. Ming turns toward Kenzo and asks, "What is your watch doing here?" Everyone turns toward them. Kenzo answers, "Maybe... he stole my watch while I was sleeping and tried to escape, but those creatures caught him." Ming gets angry. He shouts, "Don't lie! We're not fools! That severed hand was in the cave. If those creatures killed that man, then why was his severed hand in the cave? Those creatures are mindless, blood-sucking monsters. If they took him, they would have tried to attack us too! Why did they only kill him? Why didn't they try to attack us? And the most important question-if they attacked him, he must have screamed for help. Then why didn't we hear anything? There are only two possibilities... . The first is that someone didn't let him scream-someone maybe covered his mouth to stop him from screaming. Or he did scream, but it was just us who didn't hear anything because maybe someone did something that made us unable to hear anything..." Everyone looked at Ming with confusion, unable to understand what he was trying to say-except Kenzo, who was looking at him with a calm expression. Ming continued, saying, "I never believed in magic before. It's weird. But after seeing these things-those creatures, monsters, destruction-and after hearing that laugh, I can't help but start believing in magic and everything... every supernatural thing. And I think you are behind his death, because I noticed your behavior changed suddenly. First, you were excited when you arrived in Japan. Then, after the destruction, your friend's death, and after seeing those monsters, you were sad and scared. But then suddenly, in just a few hours, your behavior started to change. And now this death-and your watch... I know you are behind these things." Everyone was shocked after hearing that. Luca was thinking about what Ming said, and now he wondered-why didn't he notice that? Why did he take those things lightly? Kenzo was his friend-why didn't he notice his behavior? Akiko grabbed her sword tightly, and Sofia hid Ash behind her. Kenzo still looked calm. He didn't even try to defend himself. He just sighed .

 End of the chapter 3..