A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

The phone rang and rang. There wasn't an issue with the signal. (F/n) had checked several times already, but Nick wasn't answering. She knew that the creature hadn't contacted him or even had met with him. He had been at the cabin, and he was now heading back into her town. There was the possibility, though, that he had surprised Nick and caught him off guard in the middle of the night, but she felt that wasn't the case.

Maybe, she shouldn't trust her gut so much on that, but it was her only hope at that point. If Nick didn't answer his phone or even search for more information on the creature, she would reach a dead end. It wouldn't be temporary, but it would certainly feel that way. Leaving the cabin spelled out a dreadful fate for her once the creature reached her. If she could at least gain information from Nick, that would increase her hope for a future without the creature.

She dialed his number again. Almost, she wanted to stop and tap her foot in impatience. Vincent, who had given her his name after they had left the cabin, glanced back to her as he kept moving forward. (F/n) increased her pace and caught up to him, mouthing an apology. He shook his head to indicate that it was alright.

After a fourth ring, the ringing stopped. Nearly, she halted too. She heard an irritated groan from the other side. "Will you stop calling me? I don't know who you are, and I'm trying to work." Almost, she laughed. His response didn't anger her in the slightest; she simply was joyful that he had answered.

"Nick, it's me, (f/n)." There was a long pause on the other end. "Nick? You're still there, right?" Panic began to replace her jubilation. "... Nick?" She could hear slight breathing now on the other end.

"H-h-how? ... How are you alive? The creature ..."

"It's a long story. I know that's an inadequate answer, but I can discus that later with you if there's time. I need information, and I don't know when the creature is going to come back and find me gone."

"Th-then ... Where are you?"

"In the mountains somewhere but don't call for anyone. That'll only alert the creature." He remained silent, but she could hear his unsteady breathing. "Just please tell me if you've found anything out." Desperation entered her voice, and she guaranteed that he could hear it.

"... (F/n) ..." He sighed roughly, and it sounded like a chair moved in the background. "I had found some things. I don't know if they're directly linked to the creature, but they point to something at least similar to it. Honestly, though, I don't know how it's going to help you kill that thing. If anything, I think that it'll only make you more disturbed, especially if it's still after you."

A frown graced her lips. "What had you discovered?" Vincent peered back to her, but her expression told him everything. His own sense of fear developed more, and he increased his pace some. (F/n) stayed beside him, not wanting to slow down either. Her heart beat a little faster, and her grip on the phone tightened.

"I'll need to start packing. If you're still alive after three weeks, then it means that you have quite a bit of value to that thing. And if you've escaped it, it's going to be on your tail soon. Most likely, it'll figure out that you called me too, and it'll come after me ... Just sh*t. F*cking sh*t." He cursed a few more times, and she heard a chair move again.

"Yes, you should pack." She grew a little impatient. "But, you're stalling."

"I know that, (f/n)!" he shouted, his voice a mixture of terror and frustration. He breathed a slow sigh and calmed himself down. "But, you just barged back into my life when I was starting to think that things were becoming fine again. Sure, the creature remained out there, but he hadn't attacked anyone. I even had returned to my work full force again." She imagined that he was rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Guilt bit at her, but she didn't hang up. She probably had doomed him too, but if she managed to kill the creature, none of them would have to worry anymore. That was more important, and her parents' lives were on line, so she wasn't going to give up on his part in her plan. "Just tell me."

"... I suppose that I might as well." She heard a chair again. "I had managed to locate some old articles from newspapers and old posts from news websites. The first one had been from sixteen years ago, but all of them are reports about missing individuals. None of them had been found, but they all had been presumed to be dead. In the earlier reports, there had been blood at the crime scenes too, but that had vanished with the later cases. Obviously if it had been the creature's work, he was polishing his ability."

"How are all of those cases connected, though? If they had been missing, they couldn't have found his signature mark through the heart."

"There never had been any formal connection developed, but they all had occurred during the night. All of the crime scenes had been in secluded spots too. In the earlier accounts, all of the blood trails but one even had led to getaways that no human had been able to make. Not only that but also each case had happened within several months of each other."

Judging by the creature's new meal plan, it would be realistic for him to be able to survive on one person for several months, and he had mentioned that he had a stricter diet before the tunnels. "What else? Why hadn't the culprit been discovered or seen briefly at least? The times and locations had remained consistent."

"We both know how fast the creature is, (f/n), and we know that there are many secluded areas in cities and towns. There also had been the fact that all of the locations at the time had appeared random, but I had marked them all down on a map. Even at first, I had seen no pattern between them besides what I've already told you, but the culprit had been smart.

"Whenever it had appeared that the culprit was heading southeast, the next attack had occurred somewhere in the north, west or northwest. Sometimes, it even had taken place in just the southern direction, but no doubt the individual had been heading to the south. These incidents had stopped six years ago, and the last missing person had come from a nearby town north of yours."

"Then ... That really could've been him. Wait, do you have an origin point for him, then? Where had the first missing report occurred?"

"In a town that's now considered a ghost town." Her stomach tightened, and she suspected that the next details were going to be horrific. "The first case had contained the most blood and had been the only early case where the getaway would've been humanely possible too. After what had been found at the crime scene, no one had desired to stay in that town, which already had been fading away beforehand."

(F/n) heard him tapping his nails on what sounded like wood. It most likely was a way for him to keep calm. "An elderly man by the name of Garrick Qataap had gone missing from the town nine years before. No one had found any trace of him until an unfortunate couple on their camping trip had discovered a cabin in the nearby mountains. Upon entering it, they immediately had left and had called the police. Blood had been everywhere, and that blood had tested out to be from the missing man."

His tapping had increased in volume. "Besides the blood, there had been ... pieces of the man in the house. I'll spare you the details, but since his whole body hadn't been found or any vital parts for that matter, he had been presumed to be missing even if it had been unlikely that he had remained alive."

All of her wished to pause and take in the information, but she had to keep up with Vincent, who had started to walk quicker. Probably, he had observed her facial expressions when she hadn't been paying attention to him and had understood that the information had been grim. "Had that been the most violent of the missing person cases?"

"... Yes."

"How had you connected that to the rest, then? Why not start with the one that had begun the similar pattern of blood trails?"

More hesitation greeted her. "... Well, that man hadn't been the only missing person from that town. There had been one before him, but no trace of her had ever been found. Not even at the cabin."

"Then, the two had been related?"

"Yes ... The first one had been the man's daughter, Jiselle. She had vanished the year before her father. On the report about her, it had been noted that she had been seen with a strange man on several instances. None of the town residents had known who he had been, but Jiselle had met with him at night and had been seen going into the park with him. Whenever she had been questioned on him, she simply had explained that he had been her boyfriend and that they had enjoyed sitting on the swings together. She first had been spotted with him a month before her disappearance."

Her mouth opened a little in shock, but she had to be sure of something. "What had he looked like?"