The Refuge

—I’ve been living alone for quite some time now...

A 26-year-old man walks home after working all day, carrying a bag with food for tonight. There is nothing particularly desirable about it, though. It is simply part of the healthy eating routine he has become accustomed to.

—Today is my birthday. I suppose my mom will call me, although it’s already 6:00. If she doesn’t, I’ll call them myself. Even though years have passed, I still miss them. We used to be an extremely close family, and because of my job, I find myself here...

—I miss them.

The young man arrives at his apartment without any problems. He has been renting it for a long time and has become accustomed to the place.

As he climbs the stairs, he runs into his landlord.

—Hi, Eduard. How are you?

—Hi, Robert. I’m fine, thanks.

—It’s time for you to pay the rent today.

—Yes, that’s right.

He had forgotten.

—Haha, don’t worry. I’ve never had any problems with you since you’ve been living here. I’m going to my room. I left the TV on, and the news is playing very loudly. Come bring me the money later.

—Okay, thanks.

It was a pleasant conversation that warmed Eduard’s heart.

Eduard reaches his room, puts the bag down, and takes off the clothes that are inappropriate for a place that has become as relaxing to him as this one.

—It’s getting dark.

He says this while looking out the window, lying on the couch.

—I need to get the money ready for the landlord.

The money is inside a coat in the closet of his bedroom.

After taking it, he leaves and heads toward the landlord’s room on the second floor.

As he walks there, he hears some knocking sounds coming from the floor.

—What’s that?

It could be a rat, or maybe someone is trying to do some kind of new exercise. This doesn’t distract him for long, and he continues without much hesitation until he reaches the landlord’s room.

Knock, knock.

—Hello, Robert. It’s Eduard...

But nobody answers.

He knocks again.

Knock, knock, knock.

—Hello, Robert? Are you there?

He decides to listen for a moment, moving closer to the door.

—I can only hear the television... Well, I’ll come back later.

As he walks away, a very loud impact suddenly comes from inside.

Anyone who had heard it would have compared it to the sound of a watermelon splitting after being hit with a baseball bat.

—What’s wrong, Robert? I’m coming in.

He turns the handle.

The door opens.

It wasn’t locked.

At first, he sees nothing unusual.

—Robert?

There is a response.

A sound comes from Robert’s bathroom, and Eduard quickly goes to see what is happening.

The bathroom door is scratched and damaged, hanging open.

A trail of blood is beginning to spread across the floor, coming from inside the bathroom.

Without taking any precautions, Eduard enters.

—What the... Robert!

What Eduard sees is Robert’s body inside the bathtub.

His entire body is covered in cuts, especially his hands, which hang over the side of the bathtub.

But what stands out the most, and what is hardest to look at, is his head.

It is completely red and covered in cuts.

But he has no eyes.

The scene makes Eduard cover his mouth and quickly look away.

—Guh...

Then he notices something.

Blood marks stretch across the floor.

A mixture of footprints and thin lines of blood leads toward the window, which is open.

—Who did this? Did they escape through here?

He looks toward the window.

—But this is the second floor.

Trying to regain some of his composure, Eduard quickly leaves to call an ambulance and the police.

Call waiting sound.

—What’s happening? Why isn’t anyone answering...? What do I do?

He quickly decides to keep trying to call while heading back to his room at a hurried pace.

When he arrives, he turns on the television and switches to the news channel.

But his anxiety quickly overwhelms him when he sees that the news is broadcasting live reports that many creatures are suddenly appearing throughout the city.

Then...

Call connecting sound.

—Hello. This is an emergency message for all residents near the city of Quito. Please take your emergency kit and immediately proceed to the nearest shelter. Again, all residents in the surrounding areas are advised...

The call ends.

—...

After a moment, Eduard quickly grabs a backpack and puts food, water, money, a few changes of clothes, a book with pencils, and a baseball bat inside.

He also grabs his phone and quickly leaves.

But as soon as he steps into the hallway, he sees blood in the room near his own, leading toward the stairs.

—We have to run.

As he gets near the room, the door suddenly opens almost right in front of him.

A man comes out.

It is impossible to recognize him because he is in the same condition as the landlord.

—No... what’s happening?

Eduard says it in sheer terror.

—Help, please. It hurts. Somebody, please...

The man begs for help.

He is close to death.

—Ah...

Eduard gasps.

When he looks inside the room, even though it is dark, he can make out a small creature.

That is one of the two things he can clearly distinguish.

The other is its enormous eyes.

Despite being in complete darkness, they reflect the light as easily as mirrors.

Suddenly, a question comes to Eduard’s mind.

What did I want?

The sparks intensify.

The creature then grabs the man’s legs and pulls him back into the room.

—No! No, please! Help!

His words become quieter and quieter.

Eduard does not stand there any longer. He quickly runs downstairs and leaves the small building.

The moment he steps outside, emergency alarms begin sounding, urging residents to run to the nearest shelter.

It isn’t difficult to figure out where to go, since there are people running in one direction.

—Ah...

Eduard groans as he begins to run.

According to the signs and some soldiers in the streets, there is a shelter not too far away, about seven kilometers from there.

The route is familiar to Eduard.

It leads toward the edge of a mountain, where there is a military zone and a park that people can freely access.

Suddenly, screams can be heard.

Then come the sounds of gunfire, getting closer.

This is not a very populated area, so the crowd is not large, and the streets are wide.

BAM!

A large creature, around three to four meters tall, suddenly appears by smashing through a house.

It is as if it had been waiting there silently until people came close.

Then it begins grabbing people and putting them inside a wooden cage.

The soldiers react quickly and redirect the people, although many of them take another route.

But the giant smashes through another house along the way, killing many people.

Suddenly there are screams.

Then gunshots.

Eduard changes direction along with everyone else.

As he runs toward the shelter, he comes across a small group of people, about seven of them, who do not know the area very well.

So they take a shortcut through an alley.

—It’s this way. We’re two kilometers away.

One of them says this.

As they run through an area filled with houses, the same small creatures from before suddenly appear over the fences.

They attack everyone.

One of them climbs onto Eduard and looks directly into his eyes.

Eduard can only compare what he sees reflected in its eyes to the Milky Way.

They don’t look like sparks.

And suddenly, the question comes back to Eduard’s mind.

What did I want?

The sparks intensify.

...

The creature gets off Eduard without hurting him, but it does not stop looking at him.

Then Eduard looks at the others.

Trying not to vomit, he keeps running while the creature continues watching him.

—We’re almost there. We just have to climb the mountain.

Eduard is completely alone now.

He climbs at full speed, but the closer he gets, the slower he becomes.

—The alarms stopped...

He looks around.

—When did that happen? You can’t hear anything from here.

Exhausted, he walks the final few steps toward the shelter.

When he arrives, he notices that there are no soldiers.

No people.

Nothing.

—They must be inside the shelter.

He enters.

It is dark.

He cannot see anything.

And then, in that darkness...

Hundreds of eyes begin to open, all facing