(Continuation of previous events)
After the first doctor left the room, the other doctor brought one of the chairs and placed it in front of Ethan. He sat on the chair then looked towards Ethan's eyes and said in a serious tone "What brought you here, boy? Don't you see that there's a big sign written 'No Entry' in the middle of the door?" Ethan ignored the doctor and directed his gaze towards the sutured wound in his hand with tired looks. The doctor continued his words "Well, this is your punishment for not following the rules. You would have lost your arm if I hadn't come at the right time. Consider yourself lucky." After that, a strong coughing sound was heard from the direction of the bed. The doctor turned around then said while getting up from the chair "Your condition isn't that bad, so leave now. I don't have time to deal with you." Then he went towards the bed to check the situation to find that the patient had woken up.
The patient opened his eyes slowly to find the doctor looking at him with optimistic looks then said to him in a calm tone "You finally woke up. No need to worry, you're fine now." The patient replied in a tired tone "Doctor... my feet hurt." The doctor replied to him "Don't worry, sir. This is natural. Your body hasn't yet comprehended that your feet have been cut off." Expressions of shock and fear appeared on the patient's face then he said to the doctor in a tense tone "M-my feet were cut off?" The doctor placed his hand on the patient's chest then said to him in a calm tone "Sir, don't make things more complicated. We discussed this before." The patient directed his gaze towards his feet to find them cut off, wrapped in bandages that had turned red from blood, making him feel sadness and terror upon seeing this sight. The patient returned his gaze towards the doctor with tearful eyes then said to him in a sad and calm tone "This was the only option left... right?" Light expressions of sadness appeared in the doctor's eyes then he replied to him in a calm tone "If there was another solution, we would have done it instead of this." The patient closed his eyes slowly then replied to him while his tone became sadder "If this was inevitable... well, can you leave me alone? I need some time with myself to adapt to the situation." The doctor nodded in agreement then turned around to leave but was surprised that Ethan was still in the room looking at them with looks of amazement. The doctor headed towards him then pulled him forcefully out of the room and closed the door behind him.
The doctor looked at Ethan with annoyance then said to him in an angry tone "What are you doing here again? Didn't I tell you to leave? This is not a place to intrude on others' pain. Now please stay away from this room to avoid any other problems." Ethan kept looking at the doctor with eyes full of amazement and confusion, wondering about the patient's bad condition. The doctor turned around then started walking away from Ethan, leaving him alone in this place that was strange to him. Ethan scratched his head then started walking slowly through the wide corridor searching for Nicholas and Jenny.
After some time passed, Ethan reached the door they had entered from to this place, so he headed to it and left the hospital. Ethan hadn't focused on the place upon entering the village earlier, but after seeing it again, he noticed something strange. Unlike the village he was in before, this village was almost empty of people. When he left, he only saw 3 people walking nearby, which made him feel amazed. Ethan continued walking with the intention of exploring the place better. He kept walking between the wooden huts and empty roads, and even after advancing in the place, he couldn't glimpse any human nearby, as if most of the village residents were present in the hospital. After walking for a while, Ethan started feeling tired, so he sat on one of the stones on the road alone in this quiet village almost empty of humans.
(Transition of events to Marcus in the old man's office)
The old man said to Marcus while writing in his papers "Tell me, Marcus, didn't you notice something strange about the place?" Marcus replied to him "Yes, the village is almost empty of humans and most of them are in the hospital. Get to the point. I'm not interested in unimportant details." The old man replied to him "Well, well, I won't prolong the talk, don't worry. (cough) To summarize it for you, the village was attacked by one of the Varigan, which caused most of the village residents to be injured with severe wounds, and some others had already died from it." Marcus replied to him "In short, you want me to find the Varigan and kill it. Well, this will cost you to return one of the carts I brought." The old man replied to him in a sharp tone "No, that's not what I want from you." Marcus replied to him questioningly "Then what do you want?" The old man continued his words "We had already eliminated it thanks to the sacrifice of many brave men who were with us, where they caused some wounds to it and Hiter Blackwell's sacrifice by making it eat him and exploding it from the inside." Marcus replied to him with complete coldness "I told you I'm not interested in the story. Tell me what you want." The old man replied to him with more firmness "I'm telling you the details so you understand the situation better. (sigh) Anyway, after killing the beast and transferring the injured to the hospital, everything was normal until suddenly we started receiving mysterious disappearance cases of patients. We thought at first that they just went to spend some time alone because they were only 3 people at the beginning, but that wasn't true. From the first disappearance case, patients and doctors started disappearing from time to time at random times, and that made us suspect the existence of another Varigan in the area. So we started an intensive search campaign in all parts of the village and outside it for two full weeks, and we also told the patients and doctors to report any strange creature they see in the place, but even with all this, we didn't find anything strange with the disappearance cases not stopping, and that made us think of two theories about the causes of all these disappearances. The first is that there's a Varigan that has the ability to hide or change its shape to human form, or the second option, which is that there's a serial killer in the village. I heard that you solved strange and incomprehensible cases in your village, so I want you to search for the cause of all this."
Marcus replied to him in a calm tone "A serial killer? Nice. I'll do that, but don't think I'll do it for free. As I said before, I'll get back one of the carts I brought." The old man replied to him "Well, I agree. Just end this farce. This thing has started causing panic for most of the village residents." Marcus replied to him "Regarding the possibility of a serial killer, is there someone you suspect?" Expressions of seriousness appeared on the old man's face then he said to him in a serious tone "So you support the existence of a serial killer. (sigh) Yes, I have 4 people I suspect. The first is the owner of room 24, Dr. Alexander Johnson. He's a suspiciously quiet person. No one knew much about him before he joined the hospital here. And although everyone considers him a professional doctor, some doctors noticed strange behaviors from him. He stays for long periods in his operating room and doesn't allow anyone to enter or even help him. More than once we noticed that he was leaving the hospital at late hours of the night, and when he returns, he appears tired and exhausted, as if he was spending his time somewhere else."
Marcus adjusted his sitting position then replied to him "And what about the second person?"
The old man sighed before continuing "The gate guard Isaac Smith. He was one of the first people to be included in the village, so he's fully aware of all parts of the village and the hospital. There weren't any suspicions towards him at first because of his seniority in the place, but since the disappearance cases started, it was noticed that Isaac wasn't at his position during some of the nights when the disappearance cases occurred, which made me suspect him a little." Marcus replied to him saying "Continue."
The old man continued his words "The third is one of the new residents, a man named Daniel Hayden. We found him unconscious next to the village walls a few weeks ago. We don't know much about him except that he was fleeing from a horde of those beasts and fainted from exhaustion in front of the village after entering the forest. Daniel is considered an isolated person who spends most of his time in his hut, which you can distinguish by the red X mark on its walls, and only goes out to get food. But the strange thing is that the nurses noticed he was frequenting the hospital without a clear reason. He just enters the hospital, wanders around the place for long periods that may last for hours, and leaves quietly like his entrance. Also, he wasn't present at all times when the disappearances occurred."
The old man wiped his eyes then continued his words "And the fourth and last is one of the patients in the hospital, Andrew Quarford. This one suffers from a severe disorder in his mind, where he's usually calm and kind and easy to deal with, but at some times he becomes aggressive and causes harm to other patients. That's what makes the nurses, as soon as he becomes in this state, isolate him alone inside one of the hospital rooms or inside one of the huts outside. But the strange thing about him is that most of the time he can somehow escape from the room. No one knows how he does that yet, but when we send one of the guards to search for him, we usually find him wandering outside calmly or inside a room watching a random sleeping patient in his bed. And to make it easier for you to know his location, he's in room 7."
Marcus got up from his chair then said in a tone with some seriousness "Well, this is enough information for me. I'll start investigating immediately." And before he left, the old man stopped him and gave him two papers with a tree-shaped signature then said to him "This paper will allow you to freely enter any place in the hospital. In addition, the last disappearance case happened last night where Michael Bennett disappeared at 12 o'clock at night. In addition, the last place he was seen was outside the hospital. I think this will help you."
Marcus took the paper from the old man then left the room and said to himself "I think I'll start with that psychiatric patient because his room isn't far from me."
Marcus advanced through the corridor between patients and doctors heading towards room 7. After a short while, Marcus reached the room. He grabbed the door handle and opened it and entered. The room was small, completely white, and full of some cracks in its walls. In the corner of the room, there was a white bed with Andrew sitting on it while eating some vegetables that were in front of him on the table. Andrew was a young man with medium-sized black hair and dark eyes, wearing the same clothes as other patients in the hospital, in addition to bandages covering part of his head.
Andrew looked at Marcus with a surprised face then said in a kind tone "Oh, hello. Can I help you?" Marcus looked at him and said to himself "He's in his friendly personality. This is good. It will be easy to interrogate him then." Marcus headed towards him and said in a friendly tone "Hello Andrew, my name is Marcus. I'm not here to bother you, but I want to ask you some questions." Andrew replied to him with a mixture of kindness and amazement "Well, that's not a problem. Go ahead."
Marcus brought a chair that was nearby and placed it in front of Andrew's bed then said while sitting on the chair in the same tone "I'll be honest with you, Andrew. The old man or the owner of this hospital asked me to investigate the disappearance case, so I'm interrogating patients and nurses in the place. (sigh) You're the fourth person I'm asking, so shall we start?" Andrew replied to him "It's not a problem. You can ask me about anything, Marcus."
Marcus's thinking: "Telling him that the interrogation is random and that he's not the first person to be chosen, so he'll think he's not suspected. This will make him less cautious and reveal his information freely."
Marcus replied to him saying "Well, let's start with the first question. Where were you yesterday morning?" Andrew replied to him "Oh, yesterday? I was here in the room. I didn't go out much. Maybe I sat with Dr. Sam for a while. He comes from time to time and checks on my condition and brings me food and talks to me about different matters, and sometimes he disappears for long periods. But most of the day I was here just thinking about things and eating the food Sam brought me."
Marcus looked at Andrew with examining eyes trying to search for any movements that might indicate worry and lying, but he didn't notice anything strange about him. Andrew was cooperating with him greatly. Marcus said to Andrew in a questioning tone "Do you know who Michael Bennett is?" Andrew replied to him "No, I haven't heard of this person." Marcus replied to him in a questioning tone "Really? Lucas Bennett, the person who disappeared last night at 12 o'clock. Maybe you saw something or heard something during that time." Andrew shook his head negatively then replied in a neutral tone "I'm sorry, but I didn't see or hear anything strange last night."
Marcus noticed Andrew's calmness and comfort in the conversation, but he didn't reduce his caution then asked him saying "Did you notice anything strange in recent days? Strange events? Strange behaviors from any person?" Andrew thought for a moment then said "Well, the only person I noticed strange behaviors from is one of the new citizens of this village. I don't know his name, but I used to see him come to the hospital and walk randomly around the areas. Whenever he passed in front of me, he would look at me with strange looks that made me uncomfortable with him. (strong cough) Excuse me."
After Marcus heard Andrew's words, he immediately knew he meant Daniel Hayden. Marcus nodded and took a mental note about Daniel Hayden. Marcus got up from the chair and said in a calm tone "Thank you for your cooperation, Andrew." Andrew replied to him with a slight smile on his face "If you need anything, you can come back anytime."
Marcus left the room then started walking in the corridor while thinking "According to what I observed about Andrew, he was calm and very cooperative. His body movements and facial expressions didn't indicate any tension or lying or even intention to lie, and he didn't show any tension or worry. In addition, his way of speaking was normal and didn't indicate anything strange."
Marcus sighed then said in an inaudible voice "It seems Andrew isn't a strong suspect... but I must keep all options open. Since I'm close to Alexander Johnson's operating room, I'll go to him first. After that, I'll head towards Daniel."
Marcus continued his walk heading towards Alexander's room until he reached a door with 24 written in its middle. Marcus knocked on the door 3 times. No one answered at first, so he knocked 3 more times harder. After several seconds, the door opened slowly to reveal a tall man with completely dark blue clothes covered with some blood and gloves of the same color, with soft hair and a light beard on his face covered by his mask, wearing round-shaped glasses (the same person Ethan bumped into earlier).
Alexander looked at Marcus with cold eyes devoid of emotions then said to him in a calm tone "What do you want?" Marcus replied to him "Hello, my name is Marcus and I was appointed by the old man or the owner of this hospital to investigate the mysterious disappearance case of the village people, so I'm interrogating patients and nurses in the hospital hoping to find any evidence of what's happening."
Alexander didn't pay any attention to Marcus's words then said to him in a calm tone "I'm not interested in your investigation. Just get out of my face." Then he tried to close the door. Marcus grabbed the door handle forcefully then opened it violently. He looked at Alexander then pulled out the paper the old man gave him and showed it to him. Alexander looked at the paper with cold eyes then looked at Marcus and said to him "Fine, do what you want."
Marcus entered the room to find it like other operating rooms. Patient beds in the corner. A table full of medical tools. And some boxes and chairs. Marcus grabbed one of the chairs and sat on it while Alexander did the same. Marcus looked at him while thinking "This man won't be cooperative."
Marcus started asking him saying "Well, let's start with the same question I said to the rest. Alexander, where were you yesterday morning?" Alexander replied to him in his usual tone devoid of any interest "I was here in the operating room doing my work."
And as with Andrew, Marcus was watching Alexander carefully looking for any signs of tension or lying, but Alexander was calm and indifferent to the investigation. Marcus didn't notice any change in his voice tones or body movements that might indicate his dishonesty. Marcus continued asking him saying "Do you know Michael Bennett?" Alexander replied to him "Yes, I know him. He's one of the patients here."
Marcus replied to him "Good. Now tell me, did you notice anything strange around? People behaving strangely? Strange events?" Alexander remained silent for a while then replied to him "There are two people I see behaving strangely lately." Marcus replied to him questioningly "Who are they?"
Alexander continued his words "The first is that new person who came to the village recently. I think his name is Daniel. I always see him wandering around the hospital for no reason. I don't see him talking to anyone or having any problem. All he does is wander around the hospital and look at patients and doctors with strange looks, and because of that, he was recently banned from entering the hospital. As for the second, it's the gatekeeper. Since the disappearance cases started, he's been disappearing from time to time and no one knows where he goes."
Marcus replied with a mixture of calmness and suspicion "So we have Daniel and the gatekeeper who disappears repeatedly. Both are really suspicious. Is there anything else that caught your attention?" Alexander remained silent for a longer period this time, as if he was thinking carefully before speaking, then said "Yes, on the nights when the gatekeeper disappears, I often hear strange sounds coming from behind the walls, like footstep sounds and sometimes talking sounds, and some residents said they saw dim lights coming from one of the areas in the forest."
Marcus increased his focus on Alexander after noticing a slight change in his voice tone then replied in a calm tone "Interesting. Did you go to examine the matter yourself?" Alexander yawned then replied to him "No, I didn't dare to approach the forest at those times. The place isn't safe even inside the village walls, let alone outside them?"
Marcus nodded while thinking "He's very careful in his words and movements. His calmness in speech hides any hints of his lying or truthfulness, and his body movements don't hint at any feeling of worry."
Marcus looked at Alexander and said to him "I heard from other doctors that you go out at late hours of the night strangely. What do you do at this late hour of the night?" Alexander removed his glasses and said while rubbing his eyes "I just go out to breathe some fresh air and get away from the noise. The atmosphere in the hospital becomes suffocating sometimes."
Marcus replied to him "Breathe some fresh air? But why every time you return to the hospital, you appear tired and exhausted?" Alexander replied to him with a mixture of amazement and calmness "What?" Marcus replied to him "I was told that when you leave the hospital, you always come back tired for some reason. It doesn't seem to me that what you do could make you tired in any way."
Alexander remained silent for a period of time then started coughing for several seconds until he replied to him in his usual calm tone "This is just ordinary fatigue due to not sleeping enough. As you know, I work for long hours and have many cases I need to treat, so naturally, even after leaving the hospital for some time, this won't completely remove work fatigue."
Marcus started to doubt the credibility of Alexander's words a little then said to him questioningly "But people have told me that you return tired in an unusual way, as if you were doing something outside." Alexander replied to him "This is just empty talk. As you know, people like to exaggerate when talking about others."
Marcus replied to Alexander "Well, this is the last question. What were you doing last night at 12 o'clock?" Alexander was silent for several seconds then replied to him "I was outside resting a little from work pressures." Marcus replied to him "So didn't you see anything strange during your wandering last night?" Alexander replied to him, and his tone became less calm somewhat "Yes. During 12:30, I was walking as usual around the areas and was on my way back home to sleep, but during this, I found patient Lucas Bennett walking outside and there was someone with him. I was tired, so I didn't care much about them and continued my way to the house."
Alexander's words aroused Marcus's interest then he said to him in a firm tone "Who was the person with him?" Alexander replied to him "Sorry, but I didn't focus on his features due to fatigue and exhaustion." Marcus sighed quietly then said to Alexander "Can't you remember anything about the appearance of the person who was with him?" Alexander replied to him "All I remember is that he was also wearing patient clothes."
Nicholas took a deep breath then got up from the chair and said while heading towards the door "Thank you for your cooperation" then left the room while Alexander remained sitting in his place looking at him with his cold eyes devoid of emotions.
(Return to Ethan)
After Ethan had been alone for a while, he noticed that the sun had started to set, so he decided to move and return to the hospital. He got up from his place and started walking between the quiet village alleys. The situation was normal until suddenly Ethan glimpsed someone coming in his direction, but he ignored him at first. The man continued approaching him little by little until he stopped directly in front of Ethan.
It was a man between white and black with short black hair wearing a blue winter jacket. Ethan was amazed by the strange man's behavior, but he tried to avoid him and continue on his way to the hospital. But the man grabbed Ethan's arm forcefully, which made him feel amazement and shock. Ethan looked at the man with a surprised face to find the man looking at him with frightening looks that made him feel some fear and discomfort towards him.
(To be continued)