Blood pooled beneath Earl’s skull, a dark stain against the scuffed floorboards. Alex stumbled back and leaned against the wall. Her face paled.

Seth understood her disgust but now was not the time. He quickly scanned the room for anything else they might take with them. The shotgun rested against the baseboard next to the stairs. He had no ammo for it, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving the weapon behind.

Maybe Beck had some extra shells on him? Seth considered going back upstairs to look, but he’d prefer to stay away from that bloody mess. So he ambled over to the shotgun and picked it up, empty as it was.

The gun was heavy, and it would be awkward to carry it and the revolver at the same time. Instead, Seth unslung his backpack and shoved the shotgun inside. Even with the barrel sawed off, the tip stuck through the pack’s top. He zipped the backpack closed as best as he could, then hurried to the door.

“You killed him,” Alex said.

“What. Oh, yeah. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Good.” Alex looked away from the corpse and joined him at the exit.

Seth unlatched the door and peeked onto the porch. The path looked clear. No one waited in the yard, and he heard no sign of anyone approaching. The afternoon sun sent scattered shadows through the copse of pine trees to his left.

Alex shoved past him and hopped off the porch. “Let’s go. That way, through the woods. If we stay in the trees it’ll be easier to keep out of sight.”

He had no argument against that. Seth quickly followed her across the high weeds and into the shadows of the swaying pines. But staying out of sight was one thing and escaping was another. They needed a plan.

After losing sight of the gravel road, Alex leaned against a pine trunk and turned to Seth. “We need to rescue Will.”

“What? Fuck that.” Seth didn’t give a shit about her boyfriend, and besides, the best way to help him would be to escape and call the police. Acting the part of a hero would only get them all killed.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Alex said. “But just listen. There’s no phone signal, and there won’t be one for miles. We need our car.”

Right, and the car was with Will. Seth had almost forgotten that part. “Surely there’s another way. Why don’t we steal some of those ATVs?”

“Do you know where to find one?”

“Do you know where to find Will? As far as I’m concerned, we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

Alex hunched down and kicked at the pine straw, clearing a section of dirt. “Actually, I know exactly where we are. And where Will is. I did some research for the documentary, and it turns out my hours of staring at satellite photos and zoning maps might be useful after all.”

She grabbed a stick and marked a spot in the dirt. “Here is the house they locked us in. It’s part of Godwin Farms, a neighbor to Eldridge Creek. Though it's been abandoned, as far as I can tell.” Alex scraped a curved line away from the mark. “Here is the gravel road. It runs for a few miles, with Eldridge Creek on one side and Harris Acres on the other.”

Seth shook his head. “How many farms are involved in this mess?”

“Four, I think. But that’s beyond the point. Will and the car are our main priority. Riles was supposed to take them to Rusties. I didn’t recognize the name at first, but I had a lot of time to think before you rescued me.”

“You're welcome, by the way.”

“And,” Alex continued, “I think they meant the Rusty Slaughterhouse. It’s a big building, over here.” Alex marked another spot along the curve of the road. “The slaughterhouse was also abandoned years ago, but it's a part of Harris Acres. If we continue cutting through the woods, we can reach the slaughterhouse while keeping out of sight.”

Well, that was convenient. This whole thing stank of bullshit. Seth barely knew Alex, but in their short time together, he’d been shot at, kidnapped, and nearly killed. And after he saved her, Alex wanted to act like she was in charge?

No, fuck that. There was more going on here, and her knowledge of Eldridge Creek only made her more suspicious in Seth’s mind.

“Fine,” Seth said after a long moment. “I’ll go with you, check out this slaughterhouse. If the coast is clear, maybe I’ll help you save your boyfriend and get the car. But first, you’re going to tell me everything you know about this place. What the fuck is going on?”

“You think I know?” Alex asked.

Seth clenched his fingers tight around the revolver’s grip. “You know a hell of a lot more than me.”

The pine straw crunched under Alex’s boot as she climbed off the ground. She tossed the stick to the side and started walking through the woods. “We don’t have time for this. I’ll explain as we walk.”

Seth didn’t like it, but he had no choice but to follow.

“When I got assigned this topic for my film class, I thought it would be easy. I mean, news on the Shelby Fireball was everywhere last year. Finding someone to interview should have been easy. But when I tried to look up some of the witnesses, I couldn’t find anything. No phone numbers, no emails, no social media. This place might be in the middle of nowhere, but I thought I’d be able to find something.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Anyway, I eventually found Jess on some niche farming forum. And even then, she had nothing on her account. I was surprised she even answered when I asked for an interview. But I’ve spoken to her a bit before coming here. She’s always been nice enough, but I could tell that she was hiding things. Especially about her family.”

Alex fell into silence. They trudged into the woods for a few minutes before Seth noticed her hunch forward, hand over her mouth. Her chest hitched. Was she crying?

He didn’t trust it. She was hiding something. Even so, Seth felt the urge to reach out and comfort her. But he held his hand. All of this was her fault, and some tears wouldn’t change that.

“Those bastards killed her,” Alex said. She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Why? Why would they do that?”

Seth shrugged. “I don’t know, but they clearly don’t want us looking around. Who are they anyway?”

“I think… I think they’re a part of the Taylor family. It's the last farm in this cluster, the furthest up the gravel road. Jess said the Taylors have a grudge against the Harris family. I don’t remember why.”

A grudge was one thing, but killing someone over it? The Taylors had to be involved with the meteorite. Somehow. “And what about Owen? Is he the leader of the Taylors?”

“No, that’s the weird thing. Owen is the owner of Eldridge Creek. But he’s an old man, and he lives alone. His wife died, and he had a daughter, but she left him years ago. Regardless, he never got much involved with the comet—”

“Meteorite.”

“Whatever. And he never spoke to the news. I don’t even think he runs his farm anymore. I’m pretty sure the Harris family takes care of his fields for him.”

That was strange. Whatever the case, clearly Owen was in charge of this… whatever was going on around here. Earl, David, and Riles all report to him. And Beck said something about Owen as well, but Seth couldn’t remember. And then there was the matter of the parasite, that black slug creature. At this point, Seth wasn’t even sure that had been real.

Alex froze, then darted behind a tree. The sudden movement startled him, and he hunched down, following her lead. Just ahead, over a slight ridge, lay a wide clearing.

Thick clouds of smoke drifted through the pine branches. Seth crept forward and traced the trail of smoke to a smoldering campfire. The fire centered the clearing, and around it sat several canvas wall tents, all arranged in a circle. The tents were big, and mostly army green, but a few were starch white.

Seth crept up to the ridge. Listened. Beyond the low crackle of the fire, he didn’t hear any signs of people nearby. He didn’t see anyone either, but someone must have started the fire.

He glanced at Alex and leaned close. “You know what this place is?”

“No. I don’t recognize it from the satellite photos. It must be new. I mean, the tents are temporary, but look at that.” She pointed to a small brick building at the end of the campsite. A shack, really.

Seth frowned. The building didn’t look new. Dark stains covered the bricks, and the mortar seeped between them, dripping down the side. Maybe the pine trees concealed it from the satellite cameras.

“I don’t like this,” Alex said. “Let’s sneak around and keep going.”

“You can do whatever you want.”

Seth slipped into the clearing and snuck along the side of a tent. This place was clearly inhabited. There were stacks of logs and split firewood, a stump with a hatchet leaning against it, a table cluttered with pots and pans and jugs of water.

But even after entering the clearing, he still couldn’t find any actual people nearby. Seth slowly opened a tent’s flap and peered inside. The tent was bigger than it looked. A small wood stove sat in the corner, a box of black metal with a pipe sticking out the ceiling. Four cots filled the rest of the tent, and each held a thick sleeping bag.

Four beds? That was odd. There must have been at least ten, maybe fifteen tents. If all of those held four people, there could be nearly fifty people camping here. Why the hell would there be so many people? Seth knew farmers could have big families, but fifty?

Seth left the tent and continued along the clearing, more confident now, but he kept his revolver in hand just in case. Alex jogged over and joined him.

“Find anything?” Alex asked.

“Just some beds. I’m going to check out that building.”

The brick shack was nestled against a cluster of trees. A chain link fence reached from the side of the building, surrounding a small yard with a generator and a few jerry cans. The generator wasn’t running, and no lights shone through the slitted windows along the roof. A wooden sign hung from the door, engraved with the name Deep Grave Mine.

A mine? It didn’t look like a mine, but what did Seth know? He wrenched the door open and stepped inside. The building was barebones, just a slab floor and a concrete ceiling with a row of lights strung across it.

The room to the right reminded Seth of a gym locker room. A drain sat in the corner, with an industrial shower head sticking from the wall. A row of lockers lined the far wall, made of black mesh, through which Seth saw pickaxes and hardhats.

“Look at this,” Alex said. She stood in the opposite corner of the main room, by a plastic folding table. Atop it rested a leather bag, which she was rifling through.

“What is it?”

“Just come over here.”

Seth shrugged and joined her at the table. She held the bag open at arm’s length, leaning away as if it was full of spiders. When he peered inside, he realized why. The bag held two bundles of dynamite, each held together by a net of twine. The red cylinders were covered in amber sweat. Nitroglycerin.

“Holy shit,” Seth said. “Careful with that thing. Those are old and incredibly unstable.”

“I’m well aware.” Alex gently placed the bag back on the table. “I also found this.” She held up a gun, a pistol with a short, thick barrel. “It’s a flare gun. Maybe if we shoot it in the air, someone will see and call for help.”

Seth doubted that. It wasn’t like anyone was actively searching for them. He shrugged. “Maybe, but just hold onto it for now. We don’t want Owen’s followers to track us down.”

He left Alex to check out the rest of the building. A short doorway led to a hall on the left. When Seth peered down the hall, his heart sank. A stairway led down at a steep angle, sweeping off into utter darkness. That darkness pulled at him, enticed him. He felt a strange desire in his chest, telling him to follow that darkness into the depths of the earth.

The parasite rumbled against his gut, and its words shivered through his mind. “The First Shadow descends.”

A wave of nausea rolled through Seth, sapping his strength. He stumbled away from the stairwell and shoved his way out of the building. A ringing noise filled his ears, and he leaned forward, hands on his knees as he gasped for air.

Someone was shouting his name. Alex. But her words felt like they were a million miles away. Darkness flashed across his vision, a slow pulse that quickly sped up. He thought he was going to pass out, but then his vision snapped back to normal and the ringing disappeared.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked.

Seth took a deep breath and stood up straight. “I’m fine. It’s just…” He looked around. Something was off. The late afternoon sun still cut through the trees, but it looked darker, like he was looking at the world through sunglasses.

“Do you see that?” Alex pointed to the distance, where a dark fog hovered against the forest. Seth spun in a circle, but the fog surrounded them on all sides.

“Yup. That can’t be good.”