Wolves howl in the night. Dave whispers, "Hey Jean?" "I think I'm ok." James gets in the car, "Where's Crumpet Boy?" Jon turns his head, "You again?" "Don't talk, cotton." Jon and Dave get up and push him out the car. I follow them out as Jon and Dave beat him down to the ground. The whole convoy tries to break them up. As a chill goes down my spine, a voice whispers, "Jean!" People scream with me as a shadow holds out it's arms. "Baby!" No. There's no way! People scatter away. I turn around to the sound of eating. The chomping of bones in the shadows. A man runs screaming back into the lights, but he's yanked back into the dark. He clawed into the lit dirt as the governor shouts on a loudspeaker, "Stay in the light!"

He gets down as the shadows walk up, "What do you want, demons!?" A voice echoes in all our ears, "Three leaders, one false." "Who?" "A politician, a militia leader, an arcadian." What's an Arcadian? The voice echoes once more, "Get out from under there and let yourself be known."

Norbert helps me out to my feet, with a horrid hunch in my back. Everyone's eyes widen, the soldiers lift their guns to me as the voice echoes, "The frail Arcadian. The honest." Norbert walks with me and up to the Governor. "You alright?" I whisper, "Days of hiding, sipping water through a hole? Peachy." The governor glares at me, "The dead arcadian." Not even a boom of my heart. I've tapped myself out of energy for now.

They raise their guns to me and countless snarling comes from the darkness, then the voice speaks, "You three must come with us, you shall return unharmed if in agreement." Who's the third? "Of course it's me." He marches up and looks down at me with a smirk, "Name's James." Jean hands me a stick and I push my back up with it, "Diesel." "The demon." Fireflies light up a pathway and the voice speaks, "You must walk in the wild."

James holds his rifle for dear life as the governor holds a pistol as we walk down the path. "Why are we here, demons!?" "We loved our powers, soldiers killed our families, the wildlife ripped us apart." The governor scoffs, "They hurt people! We don't know if they're infectious!" James smirks, "They're devils. You sold our souls to these things."

The governor rolls his eyes, "You think I like letting him tag along!? He killed my kid!" James smirks, "So there's one false leader, huh? One leading everyone astray?" I can feel their eyes staring at me. They want any reason to kill me. I'll just keep marching.

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The path starts to go down into an underground parking lot, "I will offer the same they did to my family." They gulp, but at this point, I embrace what comes next. "Paradise." I look up as the two step forward, James laughs, "Paradise?" The Governor looks off to where a bomb fell through, exposing the moon. "Whoever accepts, their people shall be spared by the wild."

James giggles, "I accept." "Governor?" The governor fists clench, "I will never bow down to you demons." James groans, "So you'll let all your soldiers die? Your brothers in arms!?" The Governor opens his mouth, but I finally speak, "Governor." He turns as I look into James' eyes, "Look in his eyes. What do you see?" "I see a man determined to save his people." I sigh, "I won't let you take that offer. Paradise for one group is just tyranny." The governor looks down as I continue, "Don't thank me, but I hope everyone can survive this. Hope you can believe I didn't kill your kid. That the demon who came for all our lives that day killed your kid."

James shakes his head, "He's evil! He's corrupted you, condemned you to hell! And everyone you care about!" I smile, "Governor, just go ahead. I'm weak. I clung onto this group, drinking and eating through a hole in the floor. Kill me or let's move on. I can't stop you." James raises his rifle, the Governor jumps away. Before he can fire, the room goes dark, loud growling floods the room. Fireflies swarm around the Governor and I.

James screams in the dark as the voice echoes to us, "Three leaders, one false." The governor looks to me, "I'll allow you to come with us. But you're still on thin ice. One wrong move and we blow you away like in Texas." I nod and we walk out, fireflies light up the night sky. "To a better Paradise with you."

Rose points up and holds in her explosive excitement as Norbert smiles. Jack looks up in awe as the fireflies start to hide themselves. Everyone's jaws drop at the Governor's decision. He even loses some of their faith. But the promise of my possible death soothes their minds.

Jean walks up besides me, "Glad you made it back to us." "Heh, thought I was gonna fall a couple miles back. Glad that's over." Dave and Jon walk up, swaying and laughing like idiots. I smile, "What's-" "They seem drunk." Dave falls over and Jon points to laugh. Jon laughs his heart out as Mama shouts at him. "Oh yeah." She hugs me from the side and I almost fall over, "Whoa!" "So glad you're alive!" I wince as she cracks my back, "Ow! Wait, keep going!" She nudges and my back cracks me upright a notch or two. I groan at the feeling. "You're a miracle worker."

Jack runs up, "Heard there's a small group in Jackson!" Jean taps my back, "I'll go make sure Dave and him are alright!" "Yeah! Also, great shooting back then!" He frowns, "The bodies-" I hang my head and pull him close, "Yeah." He leans into me and Mama smiles my way. "That's why I fight, Jack. To stop people from ending up like that." We both look up as the fireflies show themselves again. A city overwhelmed with orange and green light.