Cindy steered the griffin toward the outskirts of Phoenix. Lazarus told her to go around the city. He sensed something was odd and he didn't want to enter the area, but Cindy told him it should be fine. He agreed because they were tired and thirsty and they needed to find some water.

"We should find the nearest market and then land. This should take less than five minutes," he said.

Cindy nodded and moved her griffin toward the first group of buildings they encountered, but when they flew toward the city of Phoenix they saw that the streets and stores were overrun by vegetation. It was as if the town was swallowed up by nature and had stood abandoned for eons.

Matthew said, "This cannot be."

Grace said, "What happened here?"

Nobody said a word. Everything looked old. The walls of the homes were covered with dirt and dark black stains. Some of the roofs had caved in as if the weight of ages caused it. Then Lazarus saw something along the street and Cindy pointed downwards.

There were statues with plants and ivy overgrown over them. The statues looked so lifelike and were in different poses of horror. Something came to him. He sensed a deep darkness and fear.

"Wait," he said.

"There is nothing," Matthew said and nodded to a large creature in the middle of the statues. The creature was also petrified in stone and it was dead. Yet the magic overlaid over the whole place.

He said, "Ok, let's find a store."

"I already found one. My familiar spied it a few seconds ago," Cindy said.

"Ok, let's go, but we have to be careful. I sense something not right around here."

"We might not find anything at the store."

Grace said, "But we should try. I’m thirsty."

Lazarus nodded. He was thirsty himself and they had only a few hours left before nightfall. They were more than halfway to their destination and they needed to get some supplies if they were going to be stranded somewhere. Lazarus hated not knowing what they were supposed to do and find when they got to Pyramid Peak. Yet still, this felt right.

The griffin landed at a large broad area of the street with creeping plants coming from the ground. The beast touched the ground but they didn't dismount for a few seconds, sensing something was about to attack them. But nothing came forth from the dark shade of the dead buildings and structures. In front of them was a building called the "Grocery Super Store." It was large and cavernous. The glass front of the store looked furtive and black.

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They jumped off the creature one by one. Lazarus surveyed the street and buildings.

He said, "We need some light."

"Let me," Matthew said.

He held up his hand and a ball of fire appeared. Their voices sounded muffled as if the very stones and buildings created a buffering effect. The large man, Matthew, led the way toward the store. In the parking lot were several cars, all overgrown with plants and vines. Their paint looked rusted and stained by time.

They moved through the lot, crunching over the plants and vines. Lazarus felt his body was on high alert and that if anything came at them he would blast it with magic. He saw the large griffin morph into a wolf and pad close to Cindy. Lazarus was amazed that he didn't feel Cindy used her magic. Matthew gained the front entrance of the store, grabbed the door and tried to open it but the entry wouldn't budge.

"Forget this." Matthew held up his hand and blasted the glass entranceway.

Lazarus wanted to tell the big man to not destroy the front but it was already done before he could say anything. The glass and steel crumpled from the intense heat of Matthew's spell. The opening shot inwards creating a vortex of sound.

Lazarus turned to Matthew and said, "Next time you destroy anything, we need to talk about it."

"What?" Matthew said, "There’s nobody here. The city is dead."

Lazarus shook his head. "Look at the statues. Those things used to be people. Something caused that. And we have to be cautious."

Matthew's eyes seemed to glass over as if he didn't hear him. "Yes, Leader, I will be more careful."

"Ok."

Matthew entered the building. His magical fireball went in front of him and illuminated the interior. The first thing Lazarus saw was aisles of cash registers with numbers on top of them. More lifelike statues stood in the front. They were all looking out the front windows and seemed to be caught unawares by the magic that bound them into stone.

Matthew went toward the nearest statue and peered at it. The stone sculpture was a large man with a round belly. He wore a vest with a name tag. The man's name was Joe.

Grace said, "Let me try to check."

They watched her move a few feet away from them and kneel on the linoleum ground, touching it with her fingers. She closed her eyes and then jolted upright as if she had been shot with lightning. She made an "Ah" noise and then came back.

"Are you ok?"

She said in a whisper, "These people were attacked, not by a creature, but by the winds."

"The winds?"

Grace said, "We need to leave the store and get out of here."

Lazarus stared at the aisles filled with grocery items and cans on the shelves.

Cindy said, "Let's find the bottled waters and then we can go."

Matthew led them past the cash registers and into the first aisle. Most of the food besides the canned goods looked spoilt, oozing with black mold and bacteria. A noxious smell was emanating from the shelves.

Cindy said, "I don't think we can find anything here. Everything is in ruin and smells of rot. The water is probably the same."

"Yes, you’re right."

Matthew said, "Over here."

The big man was standing by one of the empty cash registers. He was opening one of the small fridges on the endcap and peered inside. They all moved toward Matthew. The big man was pointing at the bottles inside the container. There were the usual sodas and bottles of water. But the water was all milky white.

"Yuck!" Grace said.

"Let's go. We won’t find anything here."

A noise started to come from outside. It was a whining noise cascading into a loud scream.

Cindy's wolf started to growl.