Tires crunched against gravel. Seth stared out the windshield, watching the headlights sweep through the fog. It didn’t take long to reach the gate, or what remained of it. One side of the gatehouse was a mountain of rubble, the other a dark shadow covered in dust. The gate itself was tossed to the side, warped into a crumpled ball of steel.

“You did this?” Alex asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah.” The plush seats stuck to Seth’s back, sticky with sweat and blood. “I used the dynamite from the mine.”

“Oh.”

The car crept past the gate, then accelerated down the rest of the gravel road and lurched onto a stretch of asphalt. Will turned to the right and sped away from Eldridge Creek. The cornfields whipped past to either side, a length of white fence running along the road. Just as it had been in the beginning. They’d only been on this cursed farm for a few hours, but it had felt like a lifetime.

“What happened back there?” Alex asked. “Seth, you said you were going to watch the slaughterhouse. You said you’d make sure no one attacked me while I got the car working.”

“Let me guess. Someone attacked you.”

“Zombies, Seth. Zombie scarecrows, actually. Remember the one I pointed out earlier and you told me it wasn’t a threat.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “How was I supposed to know that? Look, I was busy dealing with the gate. Like I said I would.”

“Except you weren't,” Alex said. “We didn’t find you at the gate, we found you at a random barn. How’d that happen?”

Seth leaned against the window and watched the rows of corn fly past. His backpack sat beside him, and he was comforted by the weight of his laptop against his thigh. How much should he tell her?

“Look, I tried to follow the plan,” Seth said. “But the timer was too long, and it was nerve-wracking to lie in wait with explosives strapped to my ATV. So yes, I attacked the gate early.”

“Great. And how do you think I felt waiting in the slaughterhouse, alone and helpless? But I stayed put and did my part, while you and your impulsiveness almost got us all killed.”

“Almost,” Seth said. “Look, I’m sorry, but there’s something else.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled note, the one Jess had left him. He balled it up and tossed it to the front, where it landed on the dashboard. “I found this in my backpack.”

Alex uncrumpled the note and read it. She was silent for a moment, and Will glanced over, eyebrows raised, but he didn’t ask what it said. “That house with the barn was on Harris Acres. Where Jess lived. You went to investigate.”

“Yeah, and I found some answers. And a lot more questions to go along with them, but here, let me show you.”

Seth pulled his backpack onto his lap and dug through the contents. It was starting to get full, with his laptop and the shotgun shells and the extra dynamite. But he found Jess’s journal, along with the lanyard and the vial, and he was about to hand them over when red lights flashed behind him.

The light pulsed through the back window, a steady rhythm of red and blue. Seth looked over his shoulder, eyes squinting into the headlights of the car tailing them. Police? It had to be.

“Thank God,” Alex said. “Will, pull over.”

“Um, slight concern.” Will kept driving. “All of us are covered in blood, I’m missing an arm, Seth has a shotgun, and I still have no idea what’s going on. Are we sure we want to talk to the police right now? We should at least get our stories straight.”

“Our stories?” Alex asked. “Will, they fucking kidnapped us. They tried to kill us.”

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“And we killed them in return. Look, I know it was self-defense, but we don’t exactly look like the good guys right now.”

Alex threw her hands in the air, and she turned to Seth. “What do you think we should do?”

He wasn’t sure. The police still followed them, but they hadn’t sounded the sirens or used their horn or anything. The road was narrow and the fog made it hard to see where they were going. Maybe the police just wanted to pass by.

After some hesitation, Seth hid the shotgun under the seat and unbuckled his belt. His leather holster dug into his leg as he struggled to take it off. “Let’s pull over and see what they want.”

. . .

Will paced across the holding cell, his fingers brushing over the thick bars. Hidden away in the depths of the sheriff’s office, there wasn’t much to see beyond their cramped cell. A TV hung from the wall, but it didn’t work beyond a few flickers of static. Which left a big analog clock as their only entertainment.

“I knew we shouldn’t have pulled over,” Will said. “I told you we were going to get arrested.”

Seth sat along a narrow bench in the back, pressed up against a brick wall. He looked down at his arm. Blood coated his mottled skin, and he scrubbed at it with a washcloth. “We aren’t arrested. We’re being held for questioning. There’s a big difference.”

“I’m not so sure. How long has Alex been in there?” Will nodded toward the door to the right. The interrogation room.

“The clock’s right there.”

“I can’t read that shit.”

“Kids these days.” Seth glanced up at the clock. 9:16. “We’ve been here about an hour and a half.”

“I’m a year older than you, jackass.” Will stopped his pacing and leaned his head against the bars. “How can you stand being locked up in here?”

Seth scraped the washcloth against his skin, pressing so hard that new droplets of blood foamed at the surface. He tried to remain calm, but he understood how Will felt. After today, Seth never wanted to be chained up again. And the worst part was, Seth knew he could leave at any time. This cell couldn’t hold him. He felt that familiar ball of energy at the base of his skull, a well of strength, and it was begging to be released.

“When that first parasite swam through my flesh, it offered me a wish.”

“You already told me,” Will said.

“I know, but I didn’t tell you what I wished for. The ability the parasite gave me, it's called ChainBreaker. At first, I didn’t know how it worked. But now, I’m pretty sure it's a strength boost. Plain and simple, except there’s a catch. It only activates when I feel restrained. Trapped.”

Will spun around to lean his back against the bars instead. “Can you feel it now?”

Seth nodded. “I don’t want to be here either. I want to go home. But cooperating with the police is the only way to make Owen pay for what he's done.”

“You really think so?”

To be honest, Seth wasn’t sure. What could a few deputies do against an army with supernatural powers? Even if they brought a SWAT team, as Alex had suggested, Owen’s parasites and their wishes could reign supreme.

“Okay,” Will said. “New topic. How did we get these powers?”

“I already told you.”

“No, you told me how you got your powers. But why did the parasites go after me and Alex?”

A fair question. The parasite may have saved Will’s life, but it was unnerving to have something living in your belly. Seth still wasn’t happy about it himself. Regardless, he knew exactly why those parasites had targeted Will and Alex. He opened his stat sheet and looked at his newest wish.

LinkedSouls [-10% Integration]

It was the only wish to offer no bonus attributes, and it was also the only wish to lower Seth’s Integration. He didn’t even know what Integration was, but the fact that it was a percentage made him nervous. What happened when he reached a hundred percent?

“Back at the barn, when I was covered in zombies,” Seth said. “I heard this static. It felt amazing, like the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. And then I advanced to the next stage.”

“I thought you could only level up by consuming more parasites.”

“I thought so too,” Seth said. “But this music, this static. Riles called it the Holy Signal, and… Never mind. The point is, I got a new wish. And you know what I wished for?” Seth grinned. “I wished for you guys to stop being so fucking useless.”

Will smiled back. “Asshole. I was missing an arm!”

“Like I said, useless. But anyway, after my wish, two parasites slithered out of my stomach and raced away. And here we are.”

The door to the interrogation room swung open. Seth tossed the washcloth to the side and climbed to his feet. He watched as Alex shuffled out. She’d traded her fleece jacket for a gray sweater, and her hair was wet. Even though she’d washed it out, flecks of hardened blood still shone against her scalp.

Deputy Dwight Redding followed her out. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a thin mustache. He hurried behind Alex, opened the door to the holding cell, and ushered her inside. She pulled Will into a long hug.

“You,” Redding said, pointing to Seth. “Come on. You’re next.”