Valeria didn't sleep that night.
The recording played on repeat in her mind—the whisper, the number, the feeling that someone was closing in.
Day 1. Eight more to go.
By morning, she had a plan: visit the last known location of Daniel Cortez, the third missing person. According to police reports, he was last seen entering Apartment 4B in an abandoned building across town.
She packed light—recorder, flashlight, pepper spray—and left without telling anyone. Not even Sandra.
The building was falling apart. Rusted metal, graffiti, broken windows. She climbed the creaking stairs to the fourth floor, where Apartment 4B waited like an open mouth.
To her surprise, the door was unlocked.
She stepped inside.
The room was empty except for a dusty mattress and a shattered picture frame on the floor. But then, something caught her eye: a wall covered in numbers. Scribbled in black marker. Over and over. Random at first glance… but then she saw it.
7. 1. 9.
And a blank space… as if someone was waiting to write the fourth number.
She took out her camera, snapping pictures quickly. That's when she heard the sound.
> Footsteps.
Not behind her—above her.
Valeria climbed to the rooftop, slowly, carefully.
A man stood there. Thin, pale, in a long gray coat. His eyes looked haunted. Familiar.
"Daniel Cortez?" she asked.
He turned slowly, voice hoarse. "I told them I'd be next. I tried to warn the others."
Valeria's heart raced. "You're alive. But… how?"
"They didn't take me," he said, eyes darting. "They skipped me. Because I figured it out."
"Figured what out?"
He walked toward her, lowering his voice. "The numbers aren't just a countdown. They're coordinates. To where it all started."
Before she could respond, a sharp sound echoed behind them.
> Bang.
Daniel's eyes widened—then he dropped.
A shadow disappeared down the stairs.
Valeria ran to his body, hands trembling. He was still breathing—barely. In his hand, clenched tight, was a slip of paper.
She pried it free and read the numbers scrawled in blood:
> 4. 6. 7.
It wasn't a code.
It was a location.