Well, although behind the door might be our salvation, that was of no use because none of us knew the password to get in. Except for Melinda, she was sure that it was “1234” because, in her words, “It's so easy that it turns around and becomes difficult!” As soon as she said that, she launched herself at the panel to test her theory, but I managed to stop the brat in time.

“Melinda… if you put a bad password in, it might get locked, and then we'll all die,” I said.

“But it's that… I'm sure it is,” she said, pouting.

We climbed the stairs, and I was discouraged: we needed the password, but the giant ate Mint alive…. Without it, it was impossible to open the door, and we were doomed to remain in the Healing House.

“What do you think we should do to open the door?” I asked Rodolfo.

“I have no idea…”

We went to the living room; Laura was lying on the sofa with a glass in her hand and the bottle of wine on the bedside table. She was watching TV, where an episode of Solman was on. I recognized it: in it Mirror Face, the villain, stole Solman his powers and sent him to a reality where there was a zombie apocalypse. The superhero was locked in a house while the undead tried to get in.

“Perfect chapter…” I said.

“I like it so much!” Melinda squealed and ran to sit in front of the television and gawked.

But her happiness was short-lived, as Solman's program gave way to loud music and garish colors. The flag of the Kingdom appeared in all its splendor, which was all green with a crown right in the middle. The national anthem was played:

Long live the Moor!

Long live the Moor!

Long live the King!

Long live the King!

Raise your arms to the sun, sons, and daughters of the green people

Who rise again

The ancient glory of the homeland

That knew how to continue

On the green meadow

To walk upright facing the sun

Glory to the fatherland

Glory to the fatherland

Glory to the fatherland and long live the King

Above the waving flag of the Green Moor, the words: Green Moor National News appeared, and then the presenter Bella came out.

“Good evening, people of the Green Moor, this is a critical announcement for the future of the Kingdom! A few days ago, the Helios Research Institute informed us that they were on the verge of deciphering the Imbolongolo Enhle scroll, and today we have good news that is, undoubtedly, the best news of all. The scroll has been completely deciphered! For those of you who don't remember, that scroll told us about the hero or heroine who would save our beloved kingdom from the clutches of the malevolent Monster King Maeloc. Before, all we knew was that that hero or heroine was a Marked One and, just today, the Helios Research Institute managed to discover the true nature of that mark, and it is none other than….” Bella was silent for a moment and looked down at the papers on the desk. “Wait a moment, please…. Which Mark was it? Hummm…?” She muttered as he shuffled through the papers, and I was about to lose my temper. “Oh, I've found it! Forgive my lack of professionalism, it won't happen again. Immediately, I'm going to tell you the mark of the hero or heroine who will rid us of the dreadful King of the Monsters is none other than…”

“I'm bored!” said Melinda and changed the channel.

“What are you doing, you snot-nosed brat!” I roared, jumping off the couch with a scream so high-pitched that Laura dropped half her drink down her sweater and Melinda looked at me with a terrified kitten look on her face.

“Oi, what's the matter with you?” shrieked the resuscitated one, grieving, for there is nothing sadder for a drunkard than an empty glass.

“What happened… What have I done?” Melinda asked, her voice tearful.

“TheTVnewschannelmarkmyassIkill!” I shouted, not thinking straight at all.

“I only understood ass and kill!” Melinda shrieked.

I darted towards the television and pressed the buttons under the screen at random, I was lucky because the presenter Bella reappeared…. I could still find out if I was the heroine the scroll was talking about!

“I'll say it again, the Mark the scroll was talking about is….” I didn't get to know because the light went out, and we were left in brutal darkness.

“Oh, come on, stop kidding me!” I shouted angrily.

The anger was not going to last too long because in the silence that soon came the moans of the monsters could be heard. They came from outside the building and were quite low, but the silence that came with the blackout took on a new intensity. There was not one, not two, not even three… there were many… they were a herd… legion… Sobbing, whispering unable to form words and remaining in idiotic babble, with no meaning whatsoever.

And they became more and more audible, so much so that I wondered how I didn't hear them before. They were like fingernails scratching my head, digging into my brain, telling me I was lost… Locked in a building, surrounded by monsters, with the Nation slowly advancing in my direction, what would happen first, be eaten alive by the monsters, consumed by the Nightmare Nation border or…?

From the rooftop, I tried not to let my thoughts wander too far into the situation I'd gotten myself into, but the darkness is ideal fuel for such dark thoughts. Feebly, I dropped to the ground and plunged both hands into my hair. Could it get any worse than it was? The answer was yes.

The darkness became so thick that it was suffocating. I couldn't help but sit still, my hands in my hair, I was trying to calm down, I was trying so hard, but it was too much. It was all too much, the darkness was caressing my heart and it would be so easy…

“Are you all right?” I heard Rodolfo's firm voice.

“Yes. I'm fine…”

“Me too! Me too… You know, I don't mind being in the dark, but I need to drink… I really need to drink… Where is…?” That was Laura, and seconds later I could hear the clatter of the bottle falling over and the wine splashing on the floor. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no! My wine! Why does everything bad always have to happen to me?”

“Do you want me to throw a fireball, so we can see?” Melinda asked, and the answer was a “NO!” from all three of them in unison:

“Are you stupid or what, girl?” said Laura.

“I don't think it's a good idea Melinda, you could hit us or set the building on fire,” commented Rodolfo, in a paternalistic tone.

“Save the fireballs for another time, brat,” I said.

“Shit! Don't call me a brat, I'm already ten…” From the way he spoke, I knew he was pouting.

“What do we do now? Maybe it's the fuses, but I don't know where they are… Don't you have something that makes light? A lighter or a spell or something like that? Not the fireball, Melinda,” I said.

“Unfortunately, I can't use my Faith… I have no more energy left,” said Rodolfo.

“I… I have a lighter…” said Laura, I heard her rummaging in her pockets and, after a while, she lit it. The result was… disappointing.

The small flame of the lighter was only enough to illuminate the rounded chin of the resurrected woman and little else: the darkness was too sticky for such a weak light.

“Fireball?” Melinda suggested.

“You're getting a slap,” I said.

“I think I can do like in the movies and leave the fireball on the palm of my hand…” said Melinda.

“You don't have to try,” I said, and tried to convince myself that the situation wasn't so bad.

Yes, we were in the dark in a city of monsters, but those monsters weren't going to come into the room. For some reason, they were content to remain on the outside, with no interest in venturing inside the building.

“Hey! Who's leaving?” asked Laura, anger in her voice. Or maybe it was fear.

“Not me,” I answered, still sitting next to the television.

“Neither am I,” said Rodolfo.

It could only be the brat and that bothered me, she seemed to always do things the hard way, her own way, without caring about the others.

“Melinda, where are you going? It's better to remain together,” I said.

“What about me? I haven't lifted a finger….” Melinda answered me, her voice sounded to my right and the door was to my left. It couldn't possibly be her.

“Did none of you really open the door just now,” Rodolfo asked, a whisper of a voice that sent a shiver down my spine.

“Right…” said Melinda.

“No, I didn't open anything,” I answered.

“Me neither,” said Laura.

We were all silent. And we heard footsteps, erratic footsteps, footsteps that didn't seem to be going anywhere, but they were footsteps, barefoot footsteps. I felt afraid, cold in my stomach, accompanied by an unbearable nervousness, I felt like a little girl, not knowing what to do, with no one to ask for help. As soon as the footsteps started, they stopped.

“Mint?” Melinda muttered, “It can only be her, can't it? Can't it?”

“What are you talking about, girl? They swallowed her alive,” said Laura, in a quick, angry, impatient tone…

“What?” Melinda asked and grabbed my hand.

I felt sorry for her, but sooner or later, I had to know.

“No… Not Mint… Amanda…” said Rodolfo.

Melinda squeezed my hand hard, her fingers were cold.

“Amanda who?” Laura growled.

“Amanda… Mint's assistant… I'd completely forgotten her, but… She was also in here when… when the nightmare came upon us. She… She's a sweet and innocent person… I don't think… well, I don't think she took this whole situation too well…” Rodolfo's voice trembled and, although I understood what he meant, I didn't really want to understand.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked him.

In the blink of an eye, the light was back on and the television was once again howling bright colors and the shrill sounds of commercials. I could see Rodolfo, near the door and pale. Not as much as Laura, lying on the sofa as if it was eating her, and Melinda was to my right. Just below the window, a few steps away from me, and she had her stupid hat clutched in her hands if she had her hands full. Who was holding my hand?

Even though I didn't want to, I turned around to find out. It wasn't a person, it wasn't human, at least it wasn't human anymore. Her body was skeletal and gray, she wore a white dress that was too big for her, her body still bore a resemblance to a woman, but her head did not. Her head was a wholly different thing, it was a monster's head.

Not only that, but her mouth cut his face vertically and was formed by more than one. Inside the first one there was a second one and inside this one there was another one and so on up to the fourth or fifth one. They were superimposed one on top of the other, forming different layers of skin where numerous eyes were born on both sides of those jaws: white eyes, with only faint red lines that gave them color, eyes that blinked without any kind of coordination.

The mouths opened with a crunch, the skin broke into four pieces of flesh that, like leaves from a tree, hung around its neck, and the monster's skull covered in exposed muscle came into view. But this muscle moved as if, instead of flesh, it were made of endlessly writhing maggots.

The eyes, the two eyes, were still the same: white, with the deepest red, with nothing of humanity to be seen inside them. The worst thing was the new mouth, a new mouth that curved in a gesture that could be mistaken for a smile, but…. Was it possible that it was smiling?

He opened his mouth with a loud snap, and from inside came a screech so high-pitched it was as if pins were being driven through my ears. A piercing, brutal scream, a scream so loud it made all four of us cover our ears with our hands in a failed attempt to lessen the intensity of the bellowing.

I couldn't take my eyes off her head, it was swelling, the worms were moving faster and faster. With a PLOP! One of its eyes fell into my lap, and suddenly the head could take no more and exploded, staining me with thick black goo.

The throbbing red gem was left in her neck, and the flesh was regenerating around it. I picked it up and threw it to the ground, where I stomped it to pieces. Subsequently, silence fell, as heavy as the darkness before. We looked at each other, confused, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to say, completely lost, like children lost in an endless forest.

The quiet was broken by screams coming from outside. The monsters were howling replying poor Amanda, whose head was scattered over me, over the floor, over the ceiling…. They surrounded us with such intensity that I thought I was about to lose my mind.

“Shut up! Shut up at once.” Melinda shouted, no longer able to take the hell, and she wasn't the only one. I was at my limit, too.

They started banging on the window, continuous, loud, furious banging, banging that accompanied the chorus of screams that never ended. They pounded hard, they made the shutter shake and creak. Furthermore, they screamed at the top of their lungs, monstrous screams, without words, without humanity, just pure, unadulterated fury. The shutter broke into two big pieces, along with the glass, it was a single blow, a single blow produced by a gigantic hand, as big as a person. The same hand that grabbed Mint, the same hand that belonged to that giant who ate her alive.

Melinda tried to step back, but stumbled and fell to the ground. And the infamous hand was right above her. I couldn't stand still, I rushed forward with the axe in my hand.