Vas, Fem, Alex and Selene stood on the first floor near the front of their housing complex, looking outside through large glass doors.

The scenery outside was brightly lit. Cars were scattered around the road. Many had crashed into each other or into nearby walls when the EMP hit.

There was around a foot of snow, which covered the cars up to nearly the tops of their tires.

No Risen were obviously present. In fact, very few Risen roamed the street in front of the Scouts’ headquarters. Vas had taken the past few days to watch the street from the third floor, where he’d had a good vantage.

He’d seen many Risen walk up and down side streets, but none had walked down the street directly in front of the Scouts’ housing complex.

Fem sniffed a few times, then let out a loud sneeze. Vas wrinkled his nose. He was fairly certain there had been a payload of nasty included with the sneeze.

“Need something to wipe that with?”

Alex asked the question sweetly. Too sweetly.

Fem nodded while holding his sleeve to his nose. As he looked at Alex the relief on his face turned to a glare.

Alex was holding a knife out to him.

Selene giggled, and Vas pretended not to notice by looking outside with excessive attentiveness.

Just as Fem seemed about ready to snap, Alex pulled her knife back.

“Just kidding, sheesh.”

She held out a facial tissue.

Fem looked confused for a moment and snatched the tissue from Alex’s hands. He examined it before using it.

Vas looked back at the scene.

“Do you just keep tissues in your sleeves for situations like this?”

“Yep! I hold tissues to my wrists with extra headbands.”

Vas stared at Alex for a few moments without letting his expression change. Truthfully, he was dumbfounded. He hadn’t even realized she had extra headbands.

Alex grinned at him, and eventually Vas just shook his head and turned back to the doors.

“What! It’s normal! Right Selene? You have extra headbands too?”

Selene obviously nodded, because Alex continued, “I think it’s weird how unprepared you two are!”

Fem grunted.

Vas was about to say something when the world went black.

A buzzing noise filled his ears.

He could still feel his body, although the loss of vision and hearing made him imbalanced. He put out an arm and steadied himself on a nearby wall. 

Vas hadn’t had one of these flashes in months. The last time was in the forest with Alex, Jade, and—Vas lost control of his body momentarily and regained it just in time to feel the pain of slamming against the ground.

Suddenly, the pain was gone.

He was still conscious, obviously, which left him feeling odd about the lack of pain.

He could vaguely hear his friends’ worried voices in the background, but they were drowned out by the buzz.

He still couldn’t see anything. He could feel Selene touching his arms and Alex rubbing his back.

For a moment, he thought he saw a figure in the blackness.

It disappeared.

It was obviously just his brain playing tricks on him. Making shapes where there were none, like children do with clouds. Vas was still physically in the same building. There couldn’t be anything inside his mind except for him. Right?

Then it was there again. It was smiling, holding out a hand to him.

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Vas stared at it, examining it.

It was familiar like an old friend who he should recognize, yet didn’t.

He felt like should smile back. Grab the hand.

Where was he? He couldn’t feel his body anymore. It felt like he was actually standing in the endless blackness opposite of the figure.

This was obviously more real than Vas had first assumed.

Was this what happened at the end? Was the friendly figure his Risen counterpart? When people turned, they would smile. Were they smiling at this familiar figure?

It just stood there, waiting.

The smile didn’t hold the eeriness that Risen smiles normally did. Vas felt guilty for not recognizing whoever it was.

The figure held its pose as Vas looked around in the blackness.

Vas was trapped in his own mind, wasn’t he?

It was one of those, “locked in your head while the demon does whatever it wants with your body” sorts of things, wasn’t it?

Vas felt the figure laugh. It didn’t move, and nothing in its expression or demeanor changed.

The laughter simply appeared in his mind, obviously of foreign origin. It wasn’t like he’d imagined telepathy would be. He’d always imagined telepathy would be like a normal conversation. Like a phone call inside your head.

It wasn’t like that.

It was like how a person can tell another person is bored or tired through body language. No words, not even any real effort. A person can just understand body language.

Vas supposed this meant the figure could read his mind or something. Although he also supposed this dark realm was his mind. Was he currently standing and thinking inside his own mind?

He knew he should be more worried. What was happening outside, in the real world? However, this figure put him at ease. Everything was fine. Besides, if he was already dead there wasn’t much he could do.

Vas wondered what he should do. Maybe the figure would let him out? He tried speaking, and found he had no voice. He tried thinking at the figure, but it seemed to have no effect.

The figure just stood there smiling, with its arm outstretched.

Maybe if he attacked it something would happen? Maybe if he attacked himself? Vas tapped his cheek. He took a breath, slapped himself, and immediately regretted his decision. After a few more moments, just when Vas was going to try attacking the figure, he distantly heard a person sobbing.

Suddenly, he could feel himself breathing. In the real world. He could feel a dull throbbing in all the spots where his real body was sore. The world of darkness was fading away.

The figure put its arm at its side, but kept smiling.

They both knew they would see each other again.

Vas smiled back at it as everything returned. Darkness gave way to light, which blinded him at first. Hearing came back as a deafening roar. Vas could hear the sobbing distinctly now. The buzzing sound was gone, too.

Oddly, his cheek still stung where he’d slapped himself.

“Did I slap myself?”

He heard three simultaneous gasps, felt a hand on his cheek, and regained his vision just in time to see an Alex with tears streaming down her cheeks jumping at him. She hugged him tightly and let out another sob or two.

“Are you alright?” Selene’s face was red as well, though not noticeably marked by tears. She clicked her sword into her sheath. Vas heard Fem’s blade slide back into his sheath as well.

“I think I’ll keep my eyes a little longer, if that’s what you mean.”