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As they get closer, Astrid can make out details on the bison-like creatures that feed on the grass growing around the farm. They are comparable to cows in that they walk on four legs, but that's where the similarities end. Their front legs look a good deal longer than their hind legs and their chests are the largest part of their bodies, making their behinds look tiny in comparison. Brown fur like that of bison covers their entire bodies. None of them have horns, but they look big enough to trample a human, or an elf, without them. Luckily, they seem peaceful and utterly disinterested in everything other than the plants they're eating.

“What's that?” Lukas asks.

At first Astrid assumes he means the cow creatures, but that’s not what he’s pointing at. Her eyes follow his finger to find a massive creature flying towards them. A creature that immediately reminds her of a claw ripping a gash across her shoulder.

Seeing the flying predator head in their direction, she screams, “Run!”

Startled by her sudden yell, the others quickly notice the bird. They all bolt for the burnt-out building.

Adrenaline floods Astrid's veins as she starts running but she can’t help but look back to see the monster beginning a dive. Sure that the creature is headed straight for her, a scream forces its way past her lips. Her eyes are fixed on the feathered monstrosity as it closes in at blinding speed. Her legs trip over something and she falls. First her knees, then her chest and finally her cheek connect with the hard pavement. The impact rattles her brain and hurts like hell, but fear suppresses the pain. She desperately tries to pull her revolver from its holster and turn to face the creature at the same time.

She's too slow, and if the monster were aiming for her, she would be within its claws before she could lift the weapon. But the bird has a different plan. Its dive carries it straight over Astrid’s head, and with a quiet whoosh and a loud bwaah of pain, its talons sink into a young cow-creature. With the screaming animal in its claws, the giant bird shoots back into the air.

As it rapidly regains altitude, Astrid can’t help but stare after it. She was absolutely sure that it was headed straight for her and if it had been, she’d be impaled on its talons, on her way to God-knows-where.

“That! Was close!” Lukas says as he walks up to Astrid. He reaches down to help her up. Help she gladly accepts.

Fynn raises his weapon and aims at the monster, but doesn’t remove the safety. “That thing flying around makes me want to go right back into the forest,” he says as he lowers his weapon once more.

The Sheriff pants. Her eyes follow the creature too as it flies away. “Let’s keep going.”

The others don't need to be told twice.

They continue walking at a brisk pace.

As they pass the smoldering ruins of the large farmhouse, Astrid peeks through a broken window. As expected, there is nothing but soot and ash inside.

“What happened here?” she wonders out loud.

Fynn replies, “Maybe whatever blew out all our electronics caused the fire. Maybe we have dragons now. Who cares?”

Noah turns his head and, over his shoulder, says, “I would really like to know if dragons are flying around, setting buildings on fire.”

Lukas points at the large farm ahead. “Speaking of fire, look. There's smoke coming from that chimney.”

True enough, a small plume of smoke rises from the roof of one of the buildings.

Fynn lets out a sudden breath, causing Astrid to spin around. “Thank God. That means my parents are still alive.”

“So, you and your family are farmers?” she asks him.

Fynn scowls as though he took the question as some sort of personal attack. “Yes. My parents are farmers. Why?”

Before Astrid can answer, the Sheriff hisses, “Shut up, you two. And keep your eyes open.”

The rest of Fynn’s farm shows no signs of life. The compound is deathly silent as they approach.

They hear a creaking sound. Lukas looks around and grabs his gun from his back.

Suddenly someone yells, “Hello. I'm unarmed.”

Even though the voice is anything but hostile, Lukas, Noah and the Sheriff instinctively swing their weapons to point at its source.

It’s a black-haired woman, wearing a dirty pantsuit with white sneakers, that comes around the corner to meet them. The Sheriff slowly holsters her weapon. “Madam Mayor?!” she more states than asks.

The woman quickly nods and waves for them to follow her. “I saw you coming from the forest. Quick, come inside. It’s not safe out here.” Her voice sounds hoarse like she has a cold or has gargled sand.

Astrid sees a gray shape come around the corner. Her heart skips a beat as the massive wolf runs towards them at full speed. Everyone raises their weapons, but by the time they react, the overgrown canine has already reached them.

Astrid barely manages a yelp before the dog charges past her and straight at Fynn. His eyes widen. The animal jumps, but not at him. Around him.

The others lower their weapons.

“Oskar? Is that you?” Fynn asks.

The wolf looks up at him and tilts his head, his tail wagging like crazy.

“I thought you were killed, but you came got back here faster than I did. God, you have grown quite a bit.”

Astrid doesn’t know what kind of dog Oskar used to be, but this thing is no longer a dog. He has gray-brown fur and standing on all fours basically reaches Fynn's stomach.

“You have a dog?” Astrid asks him. For some reason, she didn’t expect him to be a dog person.

Fynn smiles. “Of course. This is Oskar. Oskar, say hi.” Oskar looks at all of them in turn.

With a frown on her face, the Mayor clears her throat. “Hmhm. You can play with the wolf later. Come inside.”

She turns and jogs towards the building with the smoking chimney. The others hurry after her. Oskar follows them to the doorstep, then stops and stares after them as they enter.

The inside of the building is dark, and when the Mayor closes the door, it plunges them into twilight. The small hallway has no windows and all the doors leading out of it are closed. The only light comes from up the stairs at the side of the hall.

“I see you're wearing a police uniform. Did you see the Sheriff?” the Mayor asks the Sheriff as soon as they’re all inside.

The elf clenches her teeth, then says, “I’m Sheriff Winkler.”

The Mayor looks taken aback for a moment, then a smile creeps across her face. “Ah. I see. Well, it’s good you’re here, Mrs. Winkler. Or is it Miss now? You are still married, aren’t you?”

Astrid has no idea why the Mayor would ask that or why the Sheriff looks like she’s about to explode. Before Astrid or anyone else can say anything, Noah clears his throat and asks the Mayor, “Ms. Pilinger, why are you here instead of in town?”

The Mayor’s smile fades. In a quiet, solemn tone she says, “Something is terribly wrong with High Rock. There is this fog hanging over it. I have no idea what in God’s name it is, but it… it does something to you.”

Lukas asks, “What do you mean?”

The woman bites her lip and lets out a deep breath. As she speaks, her eyes move to each of them in turn. “Didn’t you see it? It hangs around the town like normal fog. It’s not though. Look at this.” She shows them her red skin.

Upon closer inspection, Astrid notices that the skin, especially on the woman’s fingers and face, is covered in small blisters. Like it’s been burned.

The Mayor pulls her hand back and continues talking, “Before you ask, it hurts. I didn’t feel it when I was in the cloud, but now it’s like I've been boiled alive. That's not all it did though. I was working late and then I fell unconscious. When I woke up, it felt as though the fog had entered my mind and was clouding my very thoughts. Luckily, I noticed something was wrong and gathered as many people as would open their doors. Mr. Rot kindly allowed us to take refuge on his farm.”

“I couldn’t let those oni eat you, now could I?... Fynn?” a high-pitched man's voice asks from the stairs. Astrid turns towards the speaker to see another kobold walk down the stairs. Like Noah, his body is covered in brown fur; with the exception that the mane around his neck and the fur on his face has cream-colored spots. He’s dressed in what looks to be children's clothing.

The Mayor looks like she is about to say something, but Fynn is faster. “Dad?” he asks, like he’s unable to believe what he’s seeing.

The kobold reaches the bottom of the stairs and looks up at his son. “It’s me. Seems your old man finally managed to lose some weight.” He chuckles at his joke.

Fynn looks dumbfounded as Noah extends his hand towards his fellow kobold and greets him.

The Sheriff also leans down to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you. Our original plan was to get supplies from High Rock, but I guess that’s not going to happen anymore.”

Mr. Rot replies, “Actually, I was thinking about that. The people from the town survived several hours in that cloud. I’m sure if we went in for half an hour to get a few things we’d be fine.” He looks up at the rest of the group. “I have several horses and an old tractor that still works, but me and my boy can’t do it alone, especially not with this new body.” He gestures at his small form.

The Mayor looks down at him. “We’ve talked about this. I don’t think going back into the fog is a good idea. We have no idea what it is or what it really does. What if the fog caused that man’s sickness?”

“What sickness?” Lukas pipes in before Mr. Rot can answer.

The Mayor turns to Lukas. “Someone from the town went mad. We originally wanted to take refuge in a house right outside the fog. The man who opened the door looked normal at first but then he bit Mrs. Rot in the shoulder. We killed the man to save her, but now the wound looks like it’s infected and she's down with a raging fever.”

A chill shoots down Astrid’s spine. She also sees Noah's nose twitch. They're both thinking the same thing: ‘What if there is a new contagious disease and everyone here is infected?’ Still, neither of them says anything.

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Fynn seems to be shaken awake at that. “Mom is sick?”

The Mayor seems to notice him for the first time. “I’m sorry—” she says, but is cut off by Fynn.

“Where is she?”

“I don't think—” The Mayor tries to say something, but she is cut off again.

“Son…” his father tries to say, but Fynn cuts him off too.

“Where is Mom?” he asks and takes a step closer to the Mayor.

The woman concedes. “She's with Dr. Moore upstairs. Second room on the right. Be careful, we don't know what's wrong with her.”

Fynn races up the stairs as fast as he can. The others follow him.

He slams open the door to reveal a sparsely furnished guestroom. The only pieces of furniture are a cabinet, a chair, and a bed. A woman lies on the bed, with her hands tied to the bedposts. She looks terrible. Her left shoulder is bandaged. Black veins creep out from underneath the sweaty and blood-stained fabric, while the rest of her body is drained of color. Her eyes look sunken, and her shoulder-length hair clings to her skull.

Standing next to her bed is a man wearing a green sweatshirt, latex gloves and a white dust mask that covers his mouth and nose. He's writing something on a piece of paper, using a book as a makeshift clipboard. They both turn their heads to look at the newcomers.

“Fynn?” his mother wheezes. She sounds weak, but not rough.

“Mom…” Fynn stares at his mother as though he can't believe his own eyes. He takes a step forward, only for the doctor to stop him before he reaches the bed.

His mother says, “Don’t come too close. I don’t want you to get infected.”

“Mom, what's wrong?” Fynn turns to face the doctor. “Why is she tied to the bed?”

“She was bitten by some frenzied man. I don't recognize the symptoms, so we're not taking any risks. It’s to stop her from attacking anyone in case she goes mad.”

“How do we help her?” Fynn asks.

The doctor brushes his hand through his hair. “I don't know what she has and we obviously can't send a sample to a lab. If I could, I would flood her system with antibiotics and immune boosters and hope that it's a bacterial infection. Sadly, I don’t have anything here.”

“Couldn't we get these things from the pharmacy in town?”

The doctor shrugs. “Of course. If you're willing to go get them. While you’re at it, you could also get medicine for everyone else here that needs it. I already have a list of the things we require.” He shows everyone the paper he was writing on.

“Then what are we waiting for? We don't have a moment to lose!” Fynn yells.

“Fynn.” His mother raises her head to properly look at him. “That fog is dangerous. Please don't go in there.”

His voice is hard as he replies, “I'm not asking you, Mom. We’re going to save you.”

She smiles a bit. “Please be safe.”

“We will.”

Mr. Rot clears his throat. “Maybe this isn't the best place to plan something like this. Let’s head up to my office so we don't get disturbed. Doctor, come with us.” He looks at his wife. “I told you Fynn was fine. And I’m right on this as well. We’ll see you later.” His face twitches, but Astrid can’t read his furry expression.

Fynn looks at his sick mother one more time, then turns. They leave the small room and follow the farmer to a door down the hall.

The kobold climbs onto his office chair and looks at the small crowd crammed into his office.

The Mayor is the last to enter and closes the door behind her. She turns to the Sheriff. “Now. Let’s all calm down and start from the beginning. How many people are at your house?”

“About twenty.” The uniformed elf turns her back to the Mayor and says to the doctor, “Now, I don’t want to sound like an ass, but how do you know this disease isn't airborne and that everyone here isn’t infected?"

The man looks straight at her and says, “I'm sure it's not airborne. It seems to induce some sort of frenzy in an infected person, similar to what rabies does to animals. This lets us assume that it's transmitted by saliva and probably other bodily fluids. Were it airborne, it would have evolved to induce coughing to spread the disease as an aerosol.”

Before the Sheriff can ask something else, the Mayor clears her throat. “Now let us talk about getting the medicine needed to treat her, and several other people here.”

“I agree. We’re wasting valuable time,” Fynn adds.

The Mayor's blatant attempt to change the subject doesn’t go unnoticed. Astrid doubts that a normal doctor can determine whether a never-before-seen disease is airborne or not without a laboratory, or at least a few days to see if anyone else becomes sick. However, considering that, if what they are talking about is a deadly, maybe magical disease that spreads through the air, they are screwed anyway, she keeps her doubts to herself.

The male elf she met last night had been quiet, but now he takes a quick step past Astrid. “Wait just one second! I was willing to come with you guys to find these people here, but I ain't going into a magic fog that burns your skin and messes with your mind. I’m going back to the Sheriff’s house and me and my family are leaving.”

A moment of silence follows. Astrid expects the Sheriff to say something, but she’s just looking at the Mayor.

Mr. Rot steers the conversation back to the task at hand. “I’m sorry to hear that. Of course, I can’t force anyone to help us. Anyway, let’s get back to the point. Sheriff. You said you were here to get food and other supplies. That's not a problem. Food is something we can easily get from our trees and fields, but pills are something we can’t make here and it’s not just my wife that needs something. Dr. Moore has compiled a list of medication the people here need.”

Fynn says, “So, we're supposed to loot the local pharmacy? Sounds easy enough.”

His father nods. “Exactly.”

“What about the people at my house?” the Sheriff asks. “As you just said, we came here to get supplies and find help from the authorities.”

The farmer looks like he wants to answer. Before he can say anything though, the Mayor lets out a hollow laugh. “Well, you can hardly call what's left of City Hall an authority. Still. They should probably join us here because we do have a plan. We’re going to fortify this place and hopefully create something resembling a safe zone.”

Noah looks up at her. “So we head back and tell the others to come here?”

The Mayor shakes her head. “No. We need to get these people their meds, and for that, we need you. I'll send someone to go get the others from the Sheriff’s place.”

The fur around Noah's mouth twitches a bit, like he's frowning. Before he can object, Fynn pipes in, “Agreed. We have no time to lose.”

“Wait just one second,” Lukas interrupts. All eyes turn to him. “I’m looking for my son. We’re from another town, so what’s the plan for contacting other people?”

The Mayor nods. “Of course. As soon as we’ve made sure that people don’t die because they can’t get their daily dose of insulin or whatever, we’ll use our vehicles to contact other towns and search for any missing people.”

Lukas nods, apparently more or less satisfied.

The Sheriff lets out a deep breath. “All right, then what do we do?”

This time the farmer answers: “My old tractor is still working, so we're going to drive into town, grab what we need and get out as fast as possible. I don't entirely trust the old girl though. That's why I want a group to ride ahead on horseback to make sure our route is clear. And to quickly ride back in case the old girl decides it's time to give up. Can any of you ride a horse?”

Slowly, Astrid raises her hand. “I used to do horseback riding, but I stopped two years ago.”

The fur around the farmer's mouth does the same twitchy movement Noah's just did. “Better than nothing. So we have my son and you. I would prefer it if there were three of you though. Can anyone else ride a horse?”

The Sheriff brushes her hand over her chin like she’s stroking a non-existent beard. “I’m not good, but I know the basics,” she says, before adding, “but I think two scouts are enough.”

The farmer raises his eyebrows. “Nonsense. Ride with them and make sure my son stays out of trouble.”

The last part earns him a glare from Fynn.

The Sheriff raises her eyebrow as well. “Fine,” she says, “I’ll ride with them.”

The farmer nods. “Good. You.” He points at Astrid and his son. “Get the horses ready. The Sheriff will join you once we’re done here.”

“Wait,” Noah says before Astrid can open the door. He turns to Mr. Rot and says, “Before they leave, I want to ask you something. Earlier you said you couldn’t let the oni eat the people that came to you. What is an oni? Some sort of creature?”

“We don't know,” the Mayor says. They all turn to look at her. After a short pause says, “Last night, while we were on our way here, something attacked us. It was like phantoms came for us. A cackling in the night, and suddenly something threw one of us on the ground. A black shape materialized and bit the boy in the neck. Then more materialized around him. His parents tried to help, but everyone else just ran until we reached this farm. Whatever these creatures were, they were terrifying.”

The Sheriff snorts. “I always knew your speeches about solidarity were just talk. When it comes down to it, you run away.”

The Mayor’s face turns even redder as she bites down on her teeth. “Yeah? What was I supposed to do? Get torn to shreds by monsters that can just materialize out of thin air?”

“You should have saved them, or died with them.”

The woman opens her mouth, but just resorts to glaring into the Sheriff’s yellow eyes.

The others stare at the two, until Lukas breaks the silence. “Okay… I don’t think we can expect that of anyone. Anyway, Madam Mayor, what did you mean by ‘materialized?’”

“I’m not sure. As they bit into him, they just appeared with a bit of rainbow-colored light. We were all too busy fleeing to get a good look.”

The Sheriff narrows her eyes and lets out a sigh. “Great. I can’t wait to get killed by those things.”

Fynn takes his rifle from his back. “If they live, this will kill them,” he says and opens his weapon by pushing a lever on its stock. The barrels lean forward to expose two different cartridges. Fynn snaps the weapon shut with a loud clack for dramatic effect.

Mr. Rot twitches the fur above his eyes again and says, “I sure hope you have good aim and some spare ammunition, son. I also hope you, at the very least, have the safety on, if you have to have that gun loaded in the house.”

Fynn grimaces and slowly pulls a button under the lever, before slinging the rifle back over his shoulder.

The farmer turns to Astrid and continues, “Now that's out of the way, you two can head to the stable and get ready.” He nods at them.

While Astrid and Fynn slowly back out of the room, Mr. Rot continues talking. Astrid only hears, “I’m going to drive the tractor, but I'm going to need someone to help me with the pedals. These legs are too short to reach them…” before she closes the door and the voices are cut off.

Astrid expects Fynn to say something to her, but he doesn’t.

As they head down the stairs, she says, “I’m sorry about your mother. I’m sure it’s nothing serious though.”

Fynn scoffs. “Nothing serious? The infected man attacked her. If you’ve ever watched a movie, you’d know that thing’s a zombie virus.”

Astrid scowls. “Come on. A zombie virus?”

“Seriously? You’ve turned into a two-meter-tall elf with yellow eyes that look like they’re straight out of a horror movie. I’m pretty sure you should be a bit more open to this.”

“Thank you very much for the compliment. The next time a child runs away from me, I’ll keep in mind that my eyes look like they’re from a horror movie.” Astrid sounds much angrier than she meant to be.

Fynn quickly says, “I didn’t mean it like that. You look good… I mean, your eyes don’t look like they belong to a monster, but I’ve just never seen anything like it. Except on the Sheriff. I mean, like before the fog. You know what I mean?”

Astrid smiles at his awkward response. “Sure.”

When they first arrived at the farmhouse, the place was silent, but now people are waking up. The doors are all open, allowing light to spill into the formerly dark hallway.

Outside, Astrid realizes that people were also using the barns to sleep. They all look confused. Several of them notice Astrid and Fynn as they walk towards what she assumes is the place the horses are kept. She can tell most of them are wondering who she is. But none of them approach her and Fynn doesn’t introduce her.

While they walk, Oskar joins them once more. While he's trotting along next to Fynn, Astrid gets a better look at him. He looks pretty thin and his fur is shaggy. It gives him a wild and dangerous look that doesn’t fit his friendly expression.

The stable is at the edge of the compound. The door is wide open and from within the building, Astrid hears a horse neigh. Several rather large stalls take up most of the space in the barn, with the rest being occupied by a room at the other end. There are nine stalls in total, but only four are occupied by horses. Astrid can see blood on the bars of one of the empty ones. Another has been busted open.

While she looks around, Fynn walks through the stable and enters the small room at the other end. Astrid quickly follows.

“Wow. What happened in here?” she asks, nodding towards the stalls.

Fynn takes in the entire room. “Some of the horses probably transformed. I’ll ask my father later. Come on, let’s saddle up.” He grabs a saddle and reins from a rack.

“Okay. Um… Which horse can I have?”

“Right.” He looks her up and down. “You're the tallest woman I've ever seen. As a matter of fact, you might be the biggest person I've ever met.”

Astrid casually lifts the hair covering her ears and says, “Well, I’m not a human anymore.” Saying it sends a small shiver down her spine. Even though from what she's seen, she’s pulled the metaphorical long straw when it comes to new bodies, the fact that she’s now something different feels weird.

At the sight of her triangular ears, Fynn smiles. “I could tell. Your eyes are a dead giveaway. Anyway, Imka,” he nods towards the pony in the leftmost stall, “probably can’t even carry you. I’m taking Shiva, I think the Sheriff should take Poldi, so you'll have to take Ranger.” The horse he nods at this time is a large stallion in the middle box.

Fynn gets to saddling his own horse while saying, “His saddle and reins are number three on the rack. Be careful with him though. My father loves him.”

Astrid nods and goes to get the gear.

Ranger is a large stallion with a simple brown coat. He eyes her carefully as she opens his stall, but stays mostly still as she places the saddle on his back.

“What do you think we can expect when we enter the fog?” Astrid asks as Fynn enters Poldi’s stall to saddle the horse for the Sheriff.

“I have no idea, but it doesn’t look like it's anything nice. I mean, did you see those burns the Mayor had? The only thing I've ever seen like it are radiation burns.”

“You think the fog is radioactive?”

Fynn shakes his head. “I don’t know. It's clearly supernatural, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t affect you as radiation would. Come to think of it, it being supernatural doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be radioactive.”

Astrid grunts as she secures the saddle on Ranger’s back. “The people from the town spent an entire day in it, so we should be fine if we spend an hour or two in it. Right?”

“Probably,” he says as he finishes saddling Poldi. “Or rather, I hope so. I want to thank you though. It's clear that fog is dangerous, but you want to help anyway.”

Astrid smiles as she finishes saddling Ranger. “I'm glad I can help.”

It takes quite a lot of stays and sits from Fynn before Oskar doesn’t follow them. When they ride outside, they see that the Mayor has gathered everyone in front of the house and is explaining their plan to those present. Meanwhile, the rest of their group is getting the tractor ready. The red machine lets out a tortured groan and releases a cloud of dark smoke from its exhaust. The engine roars to life. Lukas is sitting in the driver's seat with the farmer on his lap. Astrid can't hear them talking over the loud noise of the rumbling engine.

The Sheriff says something to the group on the tractor, then runs to Astrid and Fynn. “The others still need a minute,” she yells over the loud engine, while she quickly mounts Poldi. “Let’s go.”

Fynn gives his father a thumbs up and the three riders ride ahead.