The brick wall exploded into the next room. Debris rained down, and dust filled the air. As soon as he’d punctured the hole, ChainBreaker’s energy drained away. Seth stood at the new exit, his knuckles stinging from the clash of bone against brick.

Seth stooped under the hole in the wall and entered the next room. His makeshift exit had broken into a small kitchen. A white countertop ran along the wall, atop which sat a coffee maker and a row of mugs. A sink capped off the counter, and a fridge stood against the far corner.

Without a word, Will and Alex followed him out. Like it or not, they were stuck in this mess now. The zombies still reached through the bars of the holding cell. The metal rattled against their assault, but the bars held firm. As long as the zombies remained there, distracted, they wouldn’t be a threat.

Will ambled to the fridge and opened the door. He scanned the contents for a moment, then flipped it closed, disappointed. Though a bunch of bananas lay atop the fridge, and Will quickly snapped one off.

“Can you open this for me,” Will said, holding the banana out to Alex.

“I’m not your mother.”

Will waved his stump through the air. “Hello? A little sympathy.”

Alex rolled her eyes, but she snagged the banana, peeled it, and handed it back. “What now? Seth, you got us in this mess. Please tell me you have a plan.”

“A plan,” Seth said. “My only plan is to get my shit back.”

“Um, why?”

“I need my laptop. And my shotgun would be nice too.”

Seth opened the kitchen door and peeked into the hall. Three doors lined the wall on the right. After that, the hall turned to the left. The path was clear, so Seth ushered the others to follow him. He strode into the hall, pistol tight against his palm.

The floor shivered. Footsteps, soft against the carpet. Seth held his arm out, stopping Alex. She raised her eyebrows but was smart enough to stay quiet.

“What is it?” Will said. He took a big bite of his banana.

Alex shushed him, and together they slunk back toward the kitchen, leaving Seth in front.

Sure enough, a squad of deputies swept around the corner. Seth took the first shot, and his bullet dropped the leader. After that, the hall erupted into gunfire. Seth charged into the fray, firing the trigger as fast as he could. Two others went down, and Seth took out the last deputy with a punch to the throat.

A bullet wound stung his shoulder. Another in his thigh. A third in his gut. But those wounds quickly healed, the crumpled lead rolling down his clothes and bouncing off the floor.

Seth reloaded. “Any of you get hit?”

Alex shook her head.

“I’m good,” Will said.

Great. Not only did Seth have to do most of the work, he was also the designated bullet sponge. To be fair, Alex didn’t have a weapon. And Will was literally unarmed. Time to change that.

Seth looted one of the deputy’s pistols and tossed it to Alex. He threw another at Will, though he was busy eating his banana and the gun bounced off his chest. “Take some extra magazines too.”

“Hold on,” Alex said. “I can’t shoot somebody. This isn’t like at Eldridge Creek. These deputies are innocent.”

Really? This wasn't the time to act all high and mighty. These deputies had just shot at them. Not like Eldridge Creek? This sheriff's office was exactly the same as that cursed farm. These deputies might be a lot prettier than Owen's monsters, but that didn't change a damn thing. It was kill or be killed.

“Do whatever you want,” Seth said. “But if that Sheriff shows up, or more of the undead, you better start firing.”

Alex frowned, but she eventually nodded and lowered the pistol to her side.

“Speaking of the undead,” Will said, “aren’t these guys going to zombify soon?”

“Probably.” Seth flipped a deputy over and looted some extra magazines. He handed them to Alex. “So we need to hurry.”

“Shouldn’t we break their legs? I mean, before they start trying to eat our brains.”

That wasn’t a bad idea, but they didn’t have the tools for it. Seth would have to rely on his brute strength, and that would take too long. “Not enough time. Let’s focus on finding the evidence room.”

“Found it.” Will pointed to the sign beside the middle door.

That was fast. Seth stood at the end of the hall, and as he walked toward Will, he read the signs along the doors. Security. Evidence. Filing.

The evidence room was locked, but Seth solved that problem with a swift kick. The light flickered on as the group entered. It was a small room, with a central table and metal shelves lining the walls. A reflective dome hung from the ceiling. Another security camera. Great.

Seth hurried inside and scanned the shelves. His eyes narrowed on his shotgun. Jackpot. He grabbed the shotgun and his backpack and carried them back to the central table. There, he did a quick reshuffle of his gear.

First, he put his holster back on, as well as the sheath with Earl's knife. The revolver still had no ammo, so Seth tried replacing it with the semi-automatic pistol, but the holster wasn't the right shape. Instead, Seth had to tuck it in his belt, along with another stick of dynamite. Finally, he shoved the last of his shotgun shells in his pocket. There were only ten or so left, so he'd have to make his shots count.

By the time he was finished, Will and Alex stood patiently by the door. Will had found his chainsaw and socketed it back on his arm. As for Alex, she held the pistol in one hand, and her hatchet in the other.

Seth eyed the hatchet, and he raised his eyebrow.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Nothing. I'm just surprised the self-proclaimed pacifist would want such a brutal weapon."

"Don't be an idiot. If we're really going to blast our way out of here, we can't leave any evidence behind. This hatchet probably has my fingerprints on it, not to mention the blood dried on the blade. So yeah, I'm taking it."

“Evidence?" Seth said. "Alex, you spoke to Redding for over an hour. They have files and computer records and security cameras. Shit, they probably already reported us to higher authorities.”

"You're probably right. But there's a chance they haven't. You said the Sheriff works for Owen, so he’d want to keep quiet on anything involving Eldridge Creek. Right? As for the files? Well, we can at least muddy the waters a bit.”

Alex ducked into the hall and headed to the next door. The one labeled Filing. The room was unlocked. That was a first. Seth followed her inside. As expected, the walls were lined with old filing cabinets. Alex opened one and gave a quick scan of the folders. What she was looking for, Seth had no clue, but she wouldn't find it. There must be thousands of folders in this room.

"You're sure the Sheriff is working with Owen?" Alex asked.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"Because, and I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, I think we should burn this place down. The files, the security cameras, the computers. All of it."

Now that was a plan Seth could get behind. He opened the nearest filing cabinet, pulled out a handful of folders, and scattered them on the floor. Alex joined him, and together they began systematically emptying the filing cabinets into a giant heap of folders and loose paper. Beautiful, flammable, paper.

Once the pile was big enough, Seth grabbed his lighter and spun the wheel. The butane flame flickered by his thumb, and he lit one of the papers. The fire slowly inched up the page, leaving a brown trail in its wake. It only took a few seconds for the flame to grow. Soon it engulfed the pile.

Seth and Alex retreated to the hall. Already, the fire filled the room. Smoke pooled along the ceiling, and a fire alarm beeped somewhere deeper within the building.

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A chainsaw rumbled further down the hall. What was Will doing? Seth turned to find him cutting into the dead deputies. The corpses shivered along the floor as they began to zombify. Will didn't give them the chance. Blood sprayed out, pooling into the carpet and splattering against the walls.

It was a gruesome sight. Seth had thought his experience at the farm would desensitize him to such things. But all that horror had occurred in the dark. Here, the butchery was perfectly illuminated by the fluorescent lights.

Will didn't take long to finish dismembering the zombies. Seth nodded to him, then pointed further down the hall. “There’s an office back there. With desks and shit. Can you cut some kindling and feed the fire?.”

“You got it, boss.” Will’s chainsaw ramped up, and he ran down the hall.

Alex waited beside the door labeled Security. She pressed her ear to the wall. A moment later, she ushered Seth over. “Hold on. I hear someone in there.”

Ah. That was something he could help her with. Seth readied his shotgun, made sure it was loaded, then kicked in the door. This room was nothing more than a closet. A desk filled the back wall, atop which was an array of computer monitors. Security camera feeds flickered across the monitors, in black and white and with shit resolution.

A woman leaned against the wall, pistol raised. Seth turned her head into a red mist before she could squeeze off a shot. The security officer slumped to the floor, dead.

“Looks like your hatchet will be useful after all,” Seth said.

“What?”

He pointed to a metal rack beside the desk, which held a few servers. “Break that shit. It’ll probably burn anyway, but it's best to be sure.”

Alex sighed, but she raised her hatchet and smashed it into one of the monitors. The blade cleaved through glass. Or plastic? Or whatever the fuck computer monitors were made of.

“Not the monitors, dumbass.” Seth again pointed at the server rack. “Destroy the computers.”

Although, these feeds were probably backed up somewhere else. Only an idiot would store important data on-site. But this place was in the middle of nowhere. Did they even have internet? Seth wasn’t able to get a signal on this phone, but … shit, they probably did. It was too late to worry about that now.

Will came running through the hall, a pile of shattered wood under his arm. He jogged past Seth and tossed the kindling into the filing room. Already, the flames streamed from the open door. Soon they would creep into the hall.

“Should I get more?” Will asked.

“Yeah, I’ll come with. Alex?”

“Coming.”

The three of them jogged down the hall. As he ran, Seth felt like he was forgetting something. He’d gotten his laptop back, and burning this place had been a good idea. There might be more backup on the way, but Seth could deal with that easily enough.

Oh. Right.

The Sheriff stood in the center of the office, waiting for them. A few shattered desks littered the floor around him. Will had made a real mess of the place. But the Sheriff only smiled as smoke drifted past and the fire alarms blared.

“Three against one.” The Sheriff clicked his teeth. “Hardly seems fair.”

He was right. This fight wasn’t fair, but not because the sides were unbalanced. The Sheriff held a gun, however Will and Alex weren’t bulletproof like Seth was. They’d just be a liability. Of course, the Sheriff didn’t know that. For all he knew, they could have healing abilities as well.

And so the Sheriff waited, pistol held at his waist. His trigger finger itched, ready to shoot whoever made the first move.

There was something else Seth hadn’t considered. The Sheriff had shown off his ability to turn into a swarm of moths, but he could have other wishes as well.

Damn these parasites. There were too many variables to consider. But one thing was constant: the weight of the shotgun in Seth’s hand. He snapped the shotgun out, arm straight, and shot the Sheriff in the chest.

Barke reacted instantly, raising his pistol in turn. Not fast enough to outrun Seth’s buckshot. The pellets tore through him, and he exploded into a ball of fluttering moths.

“Run!” Seth shouted. “I’ll handle him.”

Will and Alex split up, each running around the perimeter of the office in opposite directions. The swarm of moths raced toward Alex, trying to cut her off. It was eerie how the swarm coalesced into the Sheriff’s silhouette, moments away from reforming.

Seth shot him again. The pellets tore through the swarm, killing a handful of the insects and scattering the rest. He had to keep the Sheriff from reforming, at least until the others escaped. Once he was alone, Seth could fight the Sheriff with less restraint.

The shotgun was out of ammo, and Seth wouldn’t be able to reload it fast enough. Instead, he pulled out the pistol and fired it into the swarm. His bullets didn’t do much, but it was enough to deter the Sheriff from coalescing. The insects raced through the room, avoiding Seth’s gunshots.

The pistol’s slide locked back. Empty.

The Sheriff took the opportunity to race toward Seth. He reformed in midair, tackling Seth to the ground. Together, they rolled across the wooden shrapnel. The Sheriff came up on top, and he pressed his pistol into Seth’s gut. Gunshots rang out, hot metal slicing into him and punching into the floor below.

That was okay. The Sheriff had identified Seth as the biggest threat, exactly as planned. Seth glanced over just in time to see Will skirt out of the office and into the lobby. They would be safe, for now.

The Sheriff pinned Seth’s arm to the side, but he was weak, and Seth was able to push him back. Wooden debris pressed into his back. Will’s handiwork. Seth grabbed a shard and jabbed it into the Sheriff’s neck.

Barke exploded into a flurry of moths. The weight against Seth’s stomach suddenly released, and he sucked in a sharp breath. Damn, this Sheriff was annoying. How could he kill a man that avoided all incoming damage?

Perhaps killing the moths could work. He’d already killed a bunch of them with his shotgun blasts. In fact, there appeared to be less of them now than in the beginning. If Seth killed all the moths, the Sheriff shouldn’t be able to reform.

But how to kill them? Fire would be the easiest, but Seth didn’t have a flamethrower. He did have the dynamite, but it wasn’t like he could just light the wick and toss it. The moths were too mobile, and they’d run away before the explosion went off. Hell, if the Sheriff was smart, he'd run as soon as Seth lit the wick.

Seth rolled to his feet and reloaded his shotgun. Already, the moths were reforming into the shape of the Sheriff, his pistol held out and aiming at Seth’s head.

A shotgun blast dispersed the silhouette. That gave Seth enough time to pull the stick of dynamite from his belt. An idea crossed his mind. He didn’t have to worry about the wick or timing after all. Only his accuracy mattered.

Seth waited, his fingers tapping against the dynamite with anticipation. The sight of the explosive must have given the Sheriff pause, because the moths fluttered about, reluctant to reform. And Seth couldn’t toss the dynamite until the insects gathered in one spot.

“Come on,” Seth said. “It’s just you and me. You wanted your bounty? Well, come and get it.”

“No,” the Sheriff said. He spoke through the moths, somehow, and his voice sounded like the fluttering of wings. “I think I’ll kill your friends first. Owen doesn’t need them alive.”

Damn it!

The moths swarmed toward the exit, but the cloud had to gather to fit through the door. They didn’t pack together as tightly as when the Sheriff coalesced, but that had to be close enough. It was the only chance Seth would get.

He chucked the dynamite at the doorway. It sailed through the air, a red torpedo that battered through the gathering moths. Seth lined up the shot, his breath held, and pulled the trigger. His shotgun bucked in his hand.

The pellets sliced into the dynamite, and the doorway exploded.

The shockwave buffeted Seth’s tattered hoodie. Debris sprayed out, and dust filled the air. His ears rang, an annoying drone that pulsed with ongoing fire alarms.

Did he get the bastard?

Seth ran forward, reloading the shotgun as he skirted over the rubble. He couldn’t see any moths, dead or alive. But that explosive would have disintegrated any it hit. Beyond the debris, the office opened into a small lobby. Will and Alex waited to the side, eyes squinting through the dust and hands over their ears.

The front of the lobby had been a wall of glass windows, now shattered. Mist streamed through the openings, cast orange by street lights in the parking lot.

A moth fluttered out the shattered window. And a second not far behind.

Cursing, Seth shot at it. Missed. Shot again. This time, the pellets sliced it to bits, but the first one had escaped. Seth watched as it flew into the sky, alone.

Had that been enough? Had Seth killed the Sheriff?

He lowered the shotgun with a sigh. There was no way to be sure. Either way, it didn’t seem like the Sheriff would be back any time soon. Not unless he had the ability to regenerate his swarm from a single moth.

“Hey,” Alex said. She spoke loudly, still recovering from the explosion. “The fire!”

Seth looked back to the office. Smoke billowed from the opening, black and viscous, and licks of flame flickered within the darkness. Soon the whole place would be engulfed.

“Perfect,” Seth said. “Let’s get out of here.”

He jumped through a shattered window, his shoes crunching on the broken glass outside. Will and Alex followed, and together they hurried to the edge of the lot, where their car had been towed. Will jumped into the driver seat, and Seth got ready to hop in the back. However, Alex held her arm out, blocking him.

“Hold on,” Alex said. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what? Alex, we need to get out of here.”

“I know. But this.” She pointed at the sheriff’s office. “We’re criminals now, Seth. I’m not going to deny my part in all this, but I can’t keep going. After we get away, Will and I are going straight to the police, and I think… I think it’s best you aren’t with us when we do.”

“The police? We just went to the police, and look what happened.”

Alex flinched back, and she looked down at her feet. Was she scared of him? For heaven's sake, he wasn’t a violent man. Seth had only ever acted in self-defense. And now this bitch wanted to ditch him in the middle of nowhere.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “But I’m going to tell the police everything. Even if that means I’m an accomplice. I won’t be able to live with myself otherwise.”

"What are you talking about? Alex, destroying the evidence was your idea. Now you want to tell the police everything? God damn it!"

Seth paced away, then turned back. “Fine. Do whatever you want. But take this.” He dug through his backpack, pulling out Jess’s journal, the strange vial, and the lanyard. All the evidence he’d gotten from Jess’s room. He handed it to Alex.

“What is this?”

“Not my problem,” Seth said. “I'm done with Owen and Jess and those damn cultists. You can tell the police whatever you want, but I'm not dealing with this shit.”

“Okay,” Alex said. She hopped in the passenger seat, giving Seth one last glance before she closed the door. “I’m sorry.”

Seth stood to the side as the car backed out of the parking lot. The sheriff’s office burned behind him, the flames leaping out the windows and licking up the sides. The fog glowed a dull orange, a backlight that flickered against the night sky.

The car sped down the road, leaving Seth stranded and alone.