Will's group had split off to search the other villas. At first, everything was still. The houses sat in neat rows, their painted shutters closed, their porches swept. For a heartbeat, it almost looked like a normal resort again, as though the horror of the last three days hadn't happened. Then Jane screamed...
It wasn't a normal scream... nothing human about it. It was a wet, tearing sound, like someone trying to shout while drowning. By the time Will spun around, Jane's face had already begun peeling back, skin sagging like melted wax. Her jaw unhinged, her tongue twitching violently, and then her skull split open down the center with a crack. Blood sprayed the wall behind her as her body collapsed, twitching in spasms. "Jesus Christ!" someone shrieked.
But it wasn't just Jane. Two others began convulsing, skin folding inward like crumpled paper. Their bones cracked audibly, arms twisting backward as if pulled by invisible strings. Their faces melted into faceless masks, blank and horrifying, before reforming with long black veins crawling across their skin, eyes glowing pale and empty.
"RUN—!" Will stumbled backward, but he didn't make it far. His foot caught the edge of a rug and he crashed to the ground. He tried to shout, but before the word formed, something fast and brutal slammed into him. His jaw snapped sideways with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed as his throat tore open.
The room filled with chaos. Screams. Flesh tearing. The sound of bones cracking against tile. Claws ripped through torsos like wet paper. The impostors no longer pretending to be human, they moved too fast, too hungry. By the time silence fell, Will's group was nothing more than mangled heaps of gore.
Back at the homestay, Becky was pacing. His movements were sharp, erratic. Sweat poured down his forehead. He muttered nonsense under his breath, twitching like an addict waiting for a fix.
Loca stared from across the room, her arms folded tightly across her chest. "Are you… okay?" Becky turned his head slowly. His lips curled upward in an unnatural grin. His skin rippled, shifting as though something underneath was pressing outward "Oooooh, am I okay?" he whispered, voice cracking between tones. "I'm having FUN."
He lunged. Simon didn't even get a chance to scream. Becky's hand punched straight through his ribcage with a wet crunch. Bone splintered. Flesh gave way. In one smooth motion, Becky yanked out Simon's spine like a grotesque puppet string. Blood sprayed the walls, painting the wood red. Simon's body collapsed, twitching once before going limp.
Loca screamed. Ian shoved her behind him, brandishing a chair leg as a weapon. "RUN!" Becky laughed, a sound too high-pitched to belong in a human throat. His body morphed as he walked forward his limbs lengthening, face shifting into a blur of twisted features. He ripped through the remaining survivors like they were nothing but paper dolls.
Only Ian, Loca, and Andy escaped, sprinting into the trees with adrenaline burning through their veins.
At the cabin, night pressed hard against the windows. Shadows pooled in the corners, thick and heavy. Everyone inside jumped when a footstep crunched outside. Then came a knock "KNOCK! KNOCK!" two sharp raps on the door.
The survivors exchanged glances, their muscles tense. Nathan raised his hand, signaling them to be ready. "On three," Joanne whispered.
They flung the door open and lunged. Natnat barely had time to blink before they tackled him to the ground. He didn't resist, even as they bound his wrists and shoved him into a chair. His eyes scanned the room, locking instantly on Sarah.
"I found you," he said softly, almost relieved. "I… feel glad." Nathan scoffed, glaring at him with disgust. "You're not supposed to feel."
"I know," Natnat replied. His voice was calm, unsettlingly so. "But I do. It's… amazing. I feel alive." Ashley stepped forward trembling with fear but stay calm, her voice sharp. "Where's Nadia? She followed you." Natnat's eyes shifted upward. "She was a threat to me."
"What?" Joanne snapped, ice in her tone. "She touched me. She was loud. The others like me might heard her." His head tilted. "So I muted her because she doesn't listen."
Nathan's stomach churned, bile rising. "I've never killed for pleasure," Natnat continued, his voice disturbingly earnest. "Only when I feel threatened. If you let me stay near Sarah, I will not harm her. Or any of you."
Nathan's jaw tightened. "Why should we believe you? You bit me, remember?" Natnat's expression didn't waver. "Because I'm not like the others. They came to devour. I came out of curiosity. I bit you out of curiosity. I could've killed you."
The room went still. Sarah's voice trembled as she whispered, "If you're lying… I'll kill you myself." Natnat's gaze softened, almost sad. "You are not a threat to me. I don't feel threatened around you. Right now, I feel threatened, yes… but I've decided to believe you, Sarah."
Nathan barked out, "Why are you still stuck with my face, then?!" Natnat tilted his head, as if confused by the question. "I don't know. I'm… stuck. I can't change anymore. But at least I'm stuck with a nice face, right?" He smirked and glanced at Sarah.
Still tied, Natnat began to explain. "One week ago, we landed in the forest. Six of us. No names. No souls. We mimic. Blend. Observe. That is our purpose." Ashley's voice cracked with disgust. "So this was all an experiment?"
Natnat nodded slowly. "Maybe but it turns out to be a feeding ground now and they've gone out of control. They don't need to eat… but human flesh is delicious to them. To me, it is not. We do not sleep. But when they mimic too long, they lose themselves. They become obsessed by the feeling of being like a human."
Sarah's stomach twisted. She wanted to look away, but her eyes locked on him. Natnat leaned forward slightly, voice lowering. "I know this is selfish. I want to help you escape but I also want to go with you. I will betray my kin for you because the thought of losing you right now feels more painful than anything I have ever felt." Sarah's chest tightened. A part of her felt relief. Another part wanted to vomit.
Armed with wooden sticks, metal poles, anything they could find, the group finally left the cabin. The jungle was alive with sounds of buzzing insects, the rustle of leaves, the faint echo of screams from far away. Natnat walked beside Sarah, calm and eerie, his presence both terrifying and strangely reassuring.
At the deck checkpoint, shadows moved. Ian, Loca, and Andy stumbled out of the trees, blood-stained and wide-eyed. Everyone froze.
Two Natnats?
Loca stepped forward, her voice breaking. "Please… tell me you're real." Nathan raised his blade. Joanne and Ashley tensed, weapons ready. "Wait!" Sarah shouted, though her voice trembled, not loud enough to carry far.
Natnat's eyes flicked toward the new arrivals. He tilted his head, then spoke calmly: "He's the real one." His finger pointed at Andy. "The others are human. Mimics feel like… noise. They are static in my head. These three are clean." Andy blinked, stunned. "You can tell?"
Natnat nodded. "I am one of them. I know how they feel inside." Ian's face darkened. His eyes narrowed. "Then what are you now?" Before anyone could react, Natnat lunged. His teeth tore into Ian's throat, ripping flesh and cartilage. Blood sprayed across the dock. Ian screamed, but the sound choked off as Natnat tore his arm free with a brutal snap. He reached inside Ian's chest and yanked out a black, beating heart. Without hesitation, he crushed it in his hand.
Ian's body convulsed, then melted into black ooze, revealing its true alien form. The group stared in horror. "You said all of them were human!" Ashley shouted. Natnat's tone was sharp, cold. "Shhh. Use your brain sometimes. If I told you he was an impostor, he could have signaled the others. Now I've betrayed my kind. You can trust me."
Only when his gaze returned to Sarah did his expression soften again. Sarah swallowed hard, heart pounding. Slowly, she nodded.
They reached the dock. Inside the security checkpoint, the air was thick with dust and the faint stench of old blood. Sarah pried open a locker. Files spilled across the floor with photos, names, lists. She froze when she saw their faces. All of them. The past "winners." Every file stamped with one word: MISSING.
Her hands shook. "Who the hell did this?" Ashley cursed under her breath, pulling maps from a shelf. "Look! routes, tunnels, escape points."
Joanne switched on a dusty monitor. The CCTV flickered to life, showing a nightmare in grainy black and white: Becky, still laughing, ripping through survivors like toys, his body constantly shifting, morphing, splitting. Loca's voice cracked. "We don't have much time."
"Where are the boats?" she asked desperately. "There." Nathan pointed through the fogged glass. In the distance, a single boat bobbed against the dock, tied loosely. "Only one left."
"Then we move," Loca whispered. Andy's eyes flicked toward Natnat. "You better keep your promise." Natnat didn't reply with words. He simply reached for Sarah's hand with a smirk and move his mouth "I know you like her" without talking. She didn't pull away. Her fingers tightened around his with her gaze on the boat.
Whether they liked it or not… they had a monster on their side.