The Answer
- I see... it seems that Ren was not lying to us... and that confirms the suspicion I had at that moment. - Gajel commented as he got up from the table in that restaurant.
- Did I ever lie to you? - said Renato offended.
- Never mind, we already know what we wanted ... on the other hand, we will meet in Madrid when we arrive tomorrow. You'd better get ready, because you have another mission. - said the man with black hair and a shirt.
- Mission?
- We'll tell you when we arrive. - Gajel said as he and his partner, who actually looked like his subordinate, left.
Both seated young men were silent for a while.
"W-what happened ... I was supposed to be the one who was going to inquire about who this guy was ... but in the end I did most of the talking." This was Glen's thought as he talked about that creature and about the other young men who saw him; it was as if he had told several secrets to the enemy.
- Now, stop thinking about it... after all, Gajel knows how to get away with it. - commented Renato somewhat frustrated.
- Gajel?
- Ah ... that's right, they didn't even introduce themselves ... The one with white hair is called Gajel Valentain and the other one with short black hair is called Vicent Marcov.
- Ah, yes...
It seemed that Glen was still stunned at being made a fool of.
- Now, wake up! - exclaimed Renato patting him on the head as he got up to leave.
Both young men left the place.
The day passed and, that night, there was no trace of Aren. He had no telephone or any means of communication and although it was not mandatory for him to stay in the apartment, the four young men were worried about him, as his luggage was still with them.
- On the other hand, where did they go? - asked Daniel.
- Well, I... - said Renato.
As if he had regained lucidity, Glen spoke.
- We went to meet your 'friends'.
- ¿?
Everyone wondered what he was talking about.
- You mean the ones..." said Liam.
- Exactly... they're the ones who asked you to attack us, aren't they, Ren?
Using that abbreviation, Glen seemed to be more confident.
- Explain yourself. - ordered Liam.
Apparently, Renato did not wish to speak; however, it was not necessary.
- I'll tell you what I saw of them. - said Glen.
They all turned their attention to the young man.
As if what had happened was seen again, inside that place, the group could be seen.
- The creature you saw, what was it like? - Gajel had asked.
- ... Do you think it is appropriate to ask someone you wanted to attack? - Glen asked.
- Attack you? No, you are wrong. Ren probably told you that, but, to tell the truth, we had sent him to look for a colleague of ours. His name was Vil, but, as you must know, he was killed.
That guy's statements seemed to agree with what Renato had said at the time.
- Now, we can come to an agreement; if you answer some of our questions, we will do the same. What do you say? - commented Gajel.
Glen was somewhat thoughtful, but the intimidation he felt earlier was still influencing him.
- O-Okay.
Gajel smiled.
- How did you manage to escape from that monster? - was Gajel's first question.
- Well, when we saw it, we had all thought about escaping or so I thought, but we were disorganized ... fortunately, that thing was slow or seemed to be; that's why, we were able to escape.
- Did it look like it?
- Yes, when we escaped and hid in the cave, the rest of us saw that creature adapting to its environment, but, actually, we could tell when we came out of the cave and that thing ran after us. Its speed began to increase and we concluded that it might have been faking before.
- I understand and did the others see that?
- Yes... Liam, Daniel and Aren who ran ahead noticed it, but as they were with wounded, Renato and I took care of the distraction.
- Oh, how did you do that?
- Well, Renato had compact tear gas bombs and we used them to distract him, but that thing knew what they were, as we had used it on him before ... in the end we managed to make it work.
While Glen was commenting on all this, Gajel was pretending to be interested like a child listening to a fantasy story. Joy, surprise, sadness, anger, frustration, all this and more was expressed by that guy, making Glen feel recognized, thus forgetting his goal. In addition, he was invited to eat apart from what he had bought.
When he finished telling the details, he had talked about what happened with that monster, information about his companions and some other things.
Yes, he was caught for a fool.
Finished telling everything that happened, the rest of the young people in the apartment were stunned by Glen's great stupidity.
- And that would be that ... what clever guys. - Glen commented.
- ...
- What's the matter?
- You're so stupid. - said Liam monotonously.
- Well, I'm going to sleep... I don't want to listen to this anymore. - commented Daniel as he was leaving.
- Hey, guys...
Only a hand on the shoulder was the only comfort the young slack-jawed man received.
- Renato .... You ...
Renato shook his head as a symbol of denial.
- You screwed up ... and that I should be the one to do it.
Renato walked out of the living room to his room leaving Glen alone.
It was morning and the only window in that hotel room let the rays of light illuminate the bed next to him.
The sheets began to slide off the bed and fell to the floor. A sleepy woman's voice could be heard and then a sudden thump.
- Ow... that hurt. - commented the golden-haired woman who was rubbing her head with her right hand.
- What time is it? - said the woman who was now rubbing her eyes trying to wake up.
As she finished rubbing herself, she touched her hands without even understanding what was happening; however, a thought came to her.
Her eyes looked for a moment at her right hand with disinterest, subsequently, she looked at her left hand. Soon she lifted the sheets and saw two pairs of legs in perfect condition.
That woman seemed totally incredulous, so he tried to get up, but she understood that he had lost the habit of walking. Slowly she went to the mirror in front of the bed and looked at herself.
The reflection showed a beautiful young woman with wavy golden hair, delicate face, blue eyes and fair skin. That naked woman began to cry with a faint smile of bewilderment.
Before saying anything else or wondering what was happening, the woman turned around repeatedly as if trying to find something she had missed.
When she looked for a moment at the old clothes she had brought with her, she thought it was not a dream, but this was confirmed when she tripped and fell, feeling the pain in her legs as she tried to run to get those clothes.
Suddenly, the woman began to laugh full of joy. It was as if her spirits and hope had been restored.
After a few seconds, the woman tried to stand up, but, seeing in front of her, she saw some shoes lying next to the bed. In reality, as she approached, she saw a pair of legs that eventually turned out to be the body of a man lying face down.
The woman was frightened to see this, but immediately remembered the man who had helped her, so she slowly approached until she was next to him. The young woman had crawled, because she still could not regain strength in her legs, but it was not an obstacle to reach the man.
The young woman tried to grab him and turn him over to see his face; at that moment, she also realized that she had recovered her sight and with it she noticed the beautiful expression of that young man who was submerged in a deep sleep.
- Y-You... Are you all right?! - exclaimed the young woman.
The young man did not wake up; at that moment, the woman felt a terrible stench, but it did not come from his body, which was intact, but from those clothes that looked like dirty rags thrown backwards.
The woman tried to hold her breath and carried the man to the bed with what strength she had. Then the woman lay down as well, for her legs no longer had any strength.
It was at that moment that the woman turned to see that captivating face of the man who had helped her that she realized that the man was awake.
- ¡!
The woman was surprised.
- You ...
The woman did not know what to say when she saw him, she just stared at him. However, the young man got up somewhat tired and went to the exit door.
- W-Wait! Where are you going?
The woman tried to sit up, but it was difficult because of her convalescent condition. However, her concern got the better of her.
- I've done what I had to do ... so I'm going ... besides, I don't think you'd like to be seen the way you are now.
The woman just realized that she was naked and, although she was ashamed of her nudity, she asked the young man not to leave.
- It won't be possible... I have to get there in time for my trip.
- Trip? - asked the worried woman.
- Yes, now, if you'll excuse me...
- Wait ... you plan to leave me alone ... just like that ...
The young man didn't understand what she meant, after all he had helped her escape from that dilapidated place and she was even now healthy from her pains.
- P-Please ... don't leave me ... - she spoke as a request full of sadness - take me with you ... I promise I won't be a burden ... just ... don't abandon me. - added the woman.
"Here it comes again ... why am I so sentimental these days ... I must fix that soon."
As if he had ignored that request, the young man opened the door.
- W-Wait! Don't go... !
Before he could finish the sentence, the young man spoke.
- Don't get confused... I'll go get you some clothes... then I'll see what I can do.
The woman was filled with distrust because of those words and, therefore, tried to get up to go with him; however, she was stopped by the young man.
- Don't you believe me? Didn't you believe me when I helped you before? Now believe what I told you.
The woman calmed down, but even though she was still worried, she remained silent in the room.
Leaving that hotel that was in a somewhat neglected avenue, the young man went out to a second-hand clothing store that was not far away and, while trying to buy something fast, that young man began to think:
"What now, what shall I do with her ... I must leave her with someone who knows her ... I won't take her with me ... besides, I've slept too much ... in a couple of hours I must be at the station."
Having bought a light dress, the young man returned to the hotel and on reaching the room he could see that there was a man in front of the door trying to open it and the woman's voice telling him to go away.
- Go away, my husband will be here soon! - the woman exclaimed fearfully.
- Come on! Open up now! - the careless man shouted.
"Is he... really?" thought Aren as he watched the scene.
The woman who was covering the door suddenly heard the sound of a knock, then she heard the voice of the young man who had helped her.
She immediately opened the door to see Aren's figure and another man lying on the floor.
- Here ... get dressed soon ... we will leave now.
The woman did not hesitate and quickly got dressed. They both discreetly left the hotel.
The hours had passed and the four young men who were at the agency station with their luggage together with Aren's were impatiently waiting for Aren's arrival.
- Where did he go in the end? - Daniel wondered.
- I don't know... but we will wait for him until the bus leaves. - said Glen.
However, one of them was calm and even more so after what he had seen.
- No need... it has already arrived... although..." said Liam.
That group saw near the pedestrian entrance of the station a long-haired young man entering somewhat hurriedly, but behind him was a beautiful blonde woman who was following him closely.
- Are they... seeing what I'm seeing? - Glen asked in surprise.
- Yes ... and it's no joke. - commented Renato.
As the pair approached the group of young people, the rest of them gasped.
- A-Aren ... w-what does this mean ..." said Glen.
- I'll explain it to you later, but first let's go upstairs quickly.
The young men nodded silently, still surprised to see the figure of the young woman. And, as they boarded the bus, Liam stopped Aren and let the rest get on first.
- Aren ... I won't ask where you have been, nor who that woman is, but ... it's time for you to answer me about the proposal I made to you. - said Liam determinedly.
Aren seemed to be in a hurry and wanted to avoid the subject, but, seeing the boy's insistence, he answered his question.
After a few minutes, the rest of the young people who were sitting in the back of the bus were commenting among themselves about that woman; however, when they saw the entrance of Liam and Aren, they became quiet.
Liam sat next to them; however, Aren was called by that woman to be next to him.
Seeing Liam, they could feel the frustration emanating from him and, although they didn't ask anything, they could hear a murmur from the young man.
- Is he serious, just because of that woman he refused?
On the other hand, on the spot where Aren was standing together with the woman, a smile could be seen on the young man's face.
"Well ... I could use it as an excuse to refuse Liam's proposal ... and, when I get to the capital, I'll get rid of this woman by saying that I have business with them ... two birds with one stone."
However, the woman seemed to be astute and aware of this.
That being so, the bus closed its doors and left for the capital, a journey of about five to six hours.
In the hotel where Aren and the woman had stayed the night before, there was a group of men accompanied by a lady. That was the woman Aren had seen in that old house.
The men, grabbing the hotel receptionist by the collar, asked him.
- Where did they go?
- I-I don't know ... they left this ... morning and, on seeing the place, we found a man passed out on the floor. - said the receptionist fearfully.
- Check the security cameras. - said the man who seemed to be the leader, leaving the receptionist in the hands of his people.
As they were leaving, the man approached the old woman.
- You'd better remember what happened, if you don't want to end up like her.
The woman became desperate when she heard that threat.