The boss ordered his driver to get rid of the dead bodies and clean the area.
"This shouldn't have happened…" he muttered.
He got into the car but got out the next second when he heard gunshots from inside the warehouse.
"Who is firing? The kids are supposed to be sacrificed at night under the full moon!" the boss yelled and rushed to the warehouse.
He banged on the door and shouted, "Open the door!"
Even after a minute had passed, no one opened the door while the gunshots were still being fired inside.
"Open the damn door!"
A few minutes ago, when everyone was still alive outside and the man was confronting the boss, something else was happening inside the warehouse.
It was dark, and five armed men were inside the warehouse with the twenty-three kids. There was a huge shipping container in the center, and its door was open.
"Go sit in the shipping container, and don't move!" the men ordered.
The kids did as they were asked to and sat inside the shipping container. They all were crying and sniffing, calling for their parents.
After a while, one of the men snapped and yelled while banging on the container, "Shut up! All of you! If I hear even a whisper, I will shoot you all!"
All the kids went quiet instantly. Even the other four men were shocked to see how angry the fifth man was.
One man was facing their back on each side, while the fifth man was standing at the door.
Soon after, gunshots were heard from outside as the men from inside glanced at each other. They walked to the door and discussed for a while as though they were pondering whether they should open the door and check or stay inside.
"Let's stay inside. Our priority is the kids. As long as we have them and we kill them at night under the full moon, we will be spared by God. We shouldn't care what happens to others."
"Yeah."
A few seconds later, the grenade went off, and the van exploded.
The men inside the warehouse gulped down as they wondered, "Who could it be?"
"Did the cops get them?" one of them asked.
"We didn't hear any sirens, did we?"
All of them stepped back and made the distance between the door and themselves. They pointed the gun at the door, thinking they would start shooting as soon as someone broke the door.
CLUNK!
There was a sharp noise of metal hitting another metal, and when the men looked back, they saw that the door of the shipping container was wide open.
"You idiot! Did you not close the door properly?!" one of the men yelled.
"I did," the second one replied.
"I don't want to hear your excuses! Go close the freaking door!"
The man rushed to the shipping container and closed the door. But when he looked at the broken lock on the door, he slowly turned to the other men and said, "Hey…"
"What is it?" The third man came to look and stopped in his tracks when he saw the broken lock in the second man's hand.
"leader!" The fourth man pointed his finger at the broken lock in the second man's hand and said, "The lock is broken!"
"Hah?!" The first man looked at the broken lock and said, "So what? It could be some malfunction. Use another lock!"
"leader… not just the lock… but the rod that was keeping the container closed is also broken…" the fifth man stuttered.
"So are you telling me that someone from inside kicked the door open? It's a freaking container! Not even a bullet can penetrate the metal, so how can a kid do that?!" the leader yelled.
"Use your brain a little, you dumbfucks! Obviously, something was wrong with the container. Just use another one," the leader then added.
Two men opened the door to the other container and asked the kids to switch. One by one, the kids moved from one container to another, but something seemed wrong.
"Hey…" the fifth man counted the kids and said, "How many kids were there again?"
"Twenty-three. Why?" the third man replied.
"Look… there are only twenty-two…"
"What do you mean? Count again."
"I did! Twice!"
The leader groaned loudly and uttered, "Why is my team full of idiots!"
He aimed the gun at the kids and slowly counted them one by one.
"Eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty… two…" He couldn't believe his eyes, so he counted again, but the results were the same.
"Who is missing?!"
"I-I don't know! I don't remember their faces!"
"What are you standing here for, then?!" the leader yelled. "Search the entire warehouse. One of the kids must have escaped since you left the container door open!"
The four men spread in each direction while the leader stood by the container.
"Argh!" one man yelled as he fired his gun.
"What happened?!"
The remaining four men rushed to check on the men, but the fifth man's head came rolling to them from the dark.
"What the…" The leader kicked the head in the dark again and shined a flash.
However, as soon as the flash illuminated the corner, a barrel was thrown at them, and they all fell down.
The leader immediately got up aimlessly at the corner and didn't stop until he ran out of bullets. He thought he had killed whatever was in the corner, but the next second, his hand was cleaved by sharp claws.
"Arghh!"
The leader screamed his pain as the three men chased the creature with their eyes.
Of course, it was Lilim, and she had transformed into her full demon mode.
She jumped from one place to another and while the men fired. It wasn't as though none of the bullets hit her, but Lilim's demon skin couldn't be penetrated by something like bullets.
Lilim killed the three men and once again hid in the dark corner. Her red eyes glowed in the dark, which gave away her location to the leader.
"Grr!" The leader grabbed a grenade and threw it at Lilim, but suddenly, another pair of red eyes glowed above Lilim's, and a demonic voice followed:
"Knock knock."
Thanks, @gamer_kin, for the gift!