"Hey, you! Stop there!" Matthew shouted at the intruder as they dashed away.

The intruder was masked and wholly clothed in black; black jacket, black boots, and black pants, so he could not see who it could be. Just as Matthew almost caught them, they pulled a hatch hidden in the grass, slipped into an underground passageway, and locked it, escaping to an unknown place.

"Damn it! I lost them!" he cursed angrily. Just then, out of their cabins came Daniel and Emma.

"What was all that noise?" Emma asked.

"Wait, why are you both sweating? The intruder was running, so they would have had some perspiration on them," Matthew said in suspicion of them.

"Intruder? I was doing Zumba!" Emma retaliated against Matthew's assertion.

"And excuse you, Matthew! I just took a shower, like I always do at night!" Daniel grumbled.

"Whatever the case is, we're locked in," Matthew sighed as he turned back to face the locked entrance gate of the manor.

"What?" Daniel and Emma screamed as they found it hard to believe that their situation was a repetition of the previous unfortunate events they had to go through.

"What's the commotion about?" Mason asked as he walked over towards them, together with Madison.

"The manor is locked from the inside!" Emma revealed to them, shaking fearfully as she tried to process the bad news.

"What?" Madison questioned puzzledly.

"Julian said he saw someone placing locks on the main exit. It's likely that they are among the five of us here," Daniel explained.

Just then, a cabin door creaked open to reveal a figure in the dark. An exhausted Megan stepped out of the cabin, walking down the steps and clasping her head. "What's going on here?" she questioned them.

"Make that six," Daniel corrected his sentence.

The six of them looked around and stared at each other, although Megan was the only one who didn't quite understand the "staring contest". It was hard to believe there was a mole.

Just then, Matthew blatantly lifted his finger and pointed it at Madison. "It was you!" he indicted furiously.

The whole group gasped in unbelief, shocked by the accusation.

"What? Why me?" Madison retaliated.

"You should have made it harder. It's so damn obvious; the intruder was about your height, and I saw their hoodie slop down slightly, revealing a patch of syrup-brown hair!" Matthew accused.

"Hey!" Emma stood up for her. "Look at my hair! It's also syrup-brown! How can you accuse her? Shouldn't you be accusing me too?"

Daniel then also stepped forward. "I have gingerbread-brown hair, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in the dark! I should be a suspect, too!" he added.

"Fine! Then you all can be suspects!" Matthew howled before stomping back to his cabin.

"I'm so sorry about Matthew. He should have some proper respect for a kind officer like you," Emma comforted Madison.

"It's okay," Madison sobbed as she walked away miserably, fighting back the tears that were about to roll down her face.

Daniel and Emma then confronted Matthew. "Hey! What the hell was that attitude?" Daniel scolded.

"Yeah, she works so hard to care for us! Don't you think she deserves some respect?" Emma chided.

"I have no idea what the heck is going on with you!" Megan added angrily to the group rant.

"Just shut up! All of you," Matthew ordered, causing silence to flood the room afterwards. "I've been going through a tough time, okay?"

Megan sighed tiredly. "Matt, we all are. Ever since this horrible creature thing started, we've all been shaken."

"No, not about that," Matthew said. He took a deep breath. He then continued, "You know I'm the only child, and my father died nineteen years ago when I was seven. I was left with my mother. A few days ago, my mother was hospitalised due to leukaemia. Jean told me about it before we came here. But now, because we're stuck in this stupid WITSEC just for a useless trial, I won't get to visit her."

Emma placed her hand on Matthew's. "I'm so sorry about that," she said.

"I'm sorry too. It's truly been hard for you," Daniel apologised.

Matthew sighed, shaking his head as he got up. "I'm going to apologise to Madis—"

"Matthew! Red eyes!" Emma shrieked, ignoring the urge to use his "nom de plume" this time. As such, the group turned their head to face the windows. There were crimson red eyes. And that could only mean one thing.

The creature was back for them.

"Uh, we should get out of here," Daniel stated. Following that, the creature brought up a sledgehammer and smashed the cabin window open. Glass bits flew all over the place, and the detectives had dodged them just in the nick of time.

"Yes, now," Matthew said.

Within a second, they dashed out of the cabin and ran towards Madison's, panting. Unfortunately, on the way, they spotted an injured and unconscious Mason at the foot of the manor watchtower, with Madison crying as she tried to wake him up.

"Good thing you guys are here! Mason needs help, now!" she bawled.

"I've got a first aid kit somewhere. Come to my cabin and help me find it," Emma said. Following her suggestion, they all ran back to her cabin to get it.

"Stop," Matthew held them back. "Let's check to see if the creature is still here. It may not be far from here,"

The quartet crept forward and saw no sign of any boar creature. All that was audible was the incessant chirping of crickets concealing themselves in the trees. For once, the silence of the woods filled them with relief.

"Okay, let's hurry!" Madison said as they ran into Emma's cabin. They dug through her pile of items and clothes and finally found a compact first-aid kit. Daniel grabbed it, and they dashed out of the place, heading towards the watchtower.

"Hang on!" Emma squawked. "I think it's... near..." she quivered, sensing that something was off. And just like she warned, the faint silhouette of a creature and its menacing eyes could be seen behind Mason.

Madison peeled her eyes wide open in shock as she screamed to caution her colleague. "Mason! Behind you!" she hollered in fear. Unfortunately, Mason had just regained consciousness, still benumbed and light-headed. Mason's eyes slowly opened before red eyes glowed into his own eyes as the creature angled its head, its distorted face staring straight at his.

He began wailing in horror before being thwacked by the sledgehammer, causing his head injury to worsen by a lot.

Madison, desperate to help, dashed towards him and the creature. "Emma, shoot at it! Shoot!" she screamed impatiently, hoping to save Mason. She, too, had chosen to refrain from using the detective's pseudonyms, as any person would do in the face of terror.

"I can't! I don't have any ammo!" Emma cried out as soon as she spammed the trigger.

"Then, Matthew, shoot it!" she turned to bellow at him, who was trying to aim at the creature.

"I'm trying to aim! It's so far away, so I can't gauge whether I'll shoot Mason by accident—," he screamed back before getting interrupted by Madison again.

"Just shoot! If you don't, we're going to lose Mason!" she howled furiously.

Matthew released some bullets, which created multiple vociferous banging sounds that bounced off the tree trunks and reverberated around the forest.

Unfortunately, the bullets neither hit Mason nor the creature, and Mason was quickly dragged away. All that could be heard were the faint cries of a dying Mason—dying out as the sound moved further away.

"No. It... it cannot be!" Madison cried in despair.

Matthew gasped in fright, biting his fingernails again while shaking violently. "He's... gone..." he gulped in fear of ending up with the same fate that Mason had.

"H-how did Mason even end up on the ground?' Emma stared at Madison blankly.

"I don't know. I just heard a scream coming from the watchtower. I ran over instantly and found Mason lying below it, unconscious," she replied, still shaking.

"He must have slipped off the tower earlier on," Daniel said. "He was directly under the stairway up to the tower."

"But how?" Madison asked, still sobbing.

Emma looked down at the floor to think, but instead, she noticed something. "This wooden plank. It must have been part of the watchtower, but it broke," she said.

Emma then walked up the watchtower carefully before seeing the place where the missing plank should be. She then laid the plank down, crossed over and went up to the top floor.

In the tower were some old, rotting tables, a few chairs and a shelf. On the shelf was some ammunition, which Emma grabbed to supply her gun with.

"If the creature threatens us again, we won't hesitate to shoot," Megan growled.

"By the way," Matthew said, glancing at what seemed to be a campfire setup. "What are those tents there for?"

"Well..." Madison paused, trailing off. "T-those were prepared in case you guys wanted a camping experience to kill time here. But since this... this has happened, w-we'll have to call it off..." she answered, chuckling nervously as she continued to process everything that had just happened. She wasn't the only one who had their emotions' confused, however, as it was the same with everyone else.

"I think we should take a look inside the tents," he suggested, heading towards the nearest tent and unzipping it. He peeped into the dusty and dirty tent but found nothing inside. He didn't stop there, though. He had a feeling in his gut that there was something off about the tents.

"Check the other tents," he ordered the other detectives as they stepped forward to help.

After much unzipping and re-zipping, progress was finally made. "Hey, guys? I found something," Megan said as she exited the tent that she was searching through. She held up a shiny object that reflected the bright moonlight. "I realised this tent was less dusty than the others."

"A... key?" Matthew thought to himself. He turned his head to look behind. He stared at a fence gate—the entrance and exit of the manor.

He remembered how the traitor among them had placed locks on the fence gate. "Maybe..." he began. "Maybe we can see if this key happens to fit in the padlock on the fence gate."

Emma looked up. "Not again. When will these people stop coming after us with the mind-boggling death puzzles they want us to die in?" she cried.

"Not until we turn the tables on them. For now, we just need to get those locks off the gate. At this point, I don't even know whether it's safe to remain in Witness Protection, but we'll see how it goes," Matthew explained his plan. "Either way, we should get the key tested now," he added before bringing the others along with him to the fence gate.

As soon as they arrived at the gate, Matthew prepared to place the key into the keyhole. Everyone stood around nervously, clasping their hands together as they awaited to see if the key would fit.

A satisfying click relieved all of them of their anxiety. "It worked! Great work, Matthew," she praised, pulling the padlock off the gate and throwing it down onto the grass below. At that point in time, she had already given up on using false names, knowing there was no point in hiding their identity anymore.

"Let's see if we have any more luck and search the rest of the huts and cottages," Matthew suggested.

The group thus walked around the dark and shadowy manor in search of more useful items. Unfortunately, it was hard to see in such terrible lighting. The detectives grew frail and weary quickly, with the lack of sleep getting to them quickly. Hence, they ceased their search and rested for a moment.

"This isn't getting anywhere. We should go back to our cabins and go back to rest. We can continue the search tomorrow," Madison whined as she sat on a log.

Megan groaned, placing her hands on her hips as she gave in to Madison's decision. "Fine, tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to sleep if the creature comes back for us this time."

* * *

Warblers began to chirp as the sun rose over the horizon. Matthew rubbed his tired eyes that never closed throughout the night. He had spent all the time thinking about how poor Mason could have succumbed to the creature just like that.

He knew that it was still around, roaming somewhere. He knew but couldn't do anything about it.

He glanced at his watch, noticing that it was already seven. Then, there was a knock on the door. He stepped out of his bed, stretching before he pulled his door open. In front of his cabin stood Madison. The rims of her eyes were black, and her eyelids were crimson red, resembling the condition of his ones the previous night, during which he was unable to get a wink of sleep.

"Hey, are you okay?" Matthew asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Here's your breakfast. It's one of those ready-made foods that I just had to microwave. I'm not in the mood to cook." Madison declared. Without saying anything else, she walked away to get breakfast for the other detectives, the sorrow in her expression and gestures clearly visible to Matthew.

After their meal, the group gathered around the campfire amongst the tents for warmth. As the sun rose, the air got strangely and ironically colder, creating a strange atmosphere that was somewhat uncomfortable.

To catch everyone's attention, Emma looked around at her colleagues, nodding as a signal for the discussion to start. "Okay, let's begin. We're gonna find some things today and make the time worthwhile," she stated.

"We will get someone stationed at the watchtower to be on the lookout for any creatures. Whoever is assigned to it, be careful. Don't fall," Daniel cautioned.

Megan added, "Okay, everyone, be careful. Always go in pairs, excluding Emma, who is safe to stay in the tower alone. Other than that, the creature is still lurking around the ground level. I'll go with Matthew. Daniel, you go with Madison. Emma will be stationed at the watchtower alone. If you find anything, use these walkie-talkies to contact us, and we will meet back in the middle of the cabins." Megan then distributed the walkie-talkies, which Madison had found in the storage room.

The five then split up into their pairs in search of useful items. Emma ascended the watchtower, stepping on a creaking floorboard which was scratched and half-torn, which caused her nearly to fall. "Whoa," she exclaimed as goosebumps appeared on her skin.

After regaining balance, she continued trudging up the stairway until she arrived at the top of the watchtower. The interior of the tower was terribly damaged. Few blood stains lay on the old walls, and the wood had splinters and holes that should not have come about naturally without cause.

"Guys, I think I have a rough idea of what happened to Mason yesterday," she spoke into her walkie-talkie.

Soon came a reply from Daniel and Megan. "What do you think happened to him?" Daniel questioned.

"Well... I think he had a "duel" with the creature residing here..." Emma theorised, inspecting the claw marks more carefully this time.

"W-what do you mean, exactly?" Megan enquired.

"The blood here doesn't look too old," she elaborated.

"So you think... Mason was attacked by the creature in the watchtower?" Megan asked, shivering.

"Well, yes. I think he was thrown around and assaulted, which explains the claw marks, blood stains and peeling wood," Emma said. Even listening to her own theory made her flinch in fright. "Anyway, have any of you guys found—"

Emma stopped. Dead silence filled the room for a moment. The silence didn't last very long, however.

A loud shriek that belonged to a beast shattered the peace.

"Emma? W-what was that?" Daniel questioned as soon as he heard the shriek over the walkie-talkie and in person. His teeth chattered nervously as he anticipated an answer.

"Emma? Are you there?" Megan asked, taking over. There was no response for a moment, but then Emma was heard screaming.

"Guys! Don't come to the watchtower! It's here! It's climbing up! It's—!" she panicked before the sound of a roaring creature pulling her out of the tower could be heard. A loud shriek then followed, blaring through the walkie-talkies. The sound of a person falling to the ground from the tower was heard clearly over the radio.

A fateful irony had occurred. The one who was safest in the watchtower ended up being interrupted by harm.

Harm in the form of death.