The woods had become a dark place. Every few feet Terry and Bella would hear a wailing or a clicking that none of which seemed to be coming from anything human. Terry flinched with each step, worrying that the break of a twig might attract something deadly.

  Terry asked, “how far are we from the guy?”

  “Like, half way? Maybe?” Bella said.

  It was hard enough already to judge how far they had gone in the dark, but with the tint of the purple and gray sky overlaying everything, the world seemed almost alien.

  Each step, in Terry’s body, hurt. His neck felt bruised and sore. His ankle felt swollen and the wrong step shot pain up his leg. His shoulder had stopped bleeding but the stickiness of the blood through his wet shirt irritated it. And, the rain and cold made things all the more miserable. If Bella was as miserable as he was, he could not tell. He watched her look intently around as they moved through the woods and each of her breaths turned to smoke in the air.

  Finally, Bella put her hand out to stop Terry and the two crouched behind a bush.

  “There’s his house,” Bella said.

  Terry looked. It was closer to a shack than a home with parts of the trailer patched with tin or plywood.

  “The lights aren’t on,” Terry stated.

  He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  Bella pointed to the mud near the front entrance. The door was lying splatted in the mud and the screendoor wobbled on one hinge. Terry looked down at something that caught his attention and picked it up. He looked ahead into the mud to see more. They were shotgun shells.

  “You think these are recent, or just him having some fun in the last week?” Terry shrugged a question.

  “We should investigate.” Bella said.

  Terry gave her a look that said, “hell no.”

  She gave him a look that said it wasn’t much of a choice. Then she spoke, “his truck’s not here, the door is open, and the lights are off. Chances are he’s taken his immedate supplies and isn’t coming back any time soon. We need to see if there’s anything left over we can use.”

  Terry sighed and agreed.

  The state in which Sheriff Johanson found the police department was an utter wreck. The amount of time that had passed between when he tried to take down Cadence and when he had woken seemed to have been more than enough for the station to become abandoned. Papers were thrown about, there was mud on the steps near the entrance, and the few people seemed to have run as soon as they realized things weren’t getting better.

  He walked through the small hallway to his office. He had never spent a lot of time in it besides doing paperwork and taking a break. He believed his job was out patrolling and getting to know the townsfolk. He learned long ago that if an officer doesn’t keep in good favor with citizens it becomes alienating.

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  Johanson unlocked his office door. Nobody seemed to have entered. It was the exact way he had left it. Paperwork was stacked on his desk. The map of the town was untouched on the wall with the pins and thread intertwining. There were a couple of photos he had placed around. But, what he was looking for was in a locker-sized safe in the corner of the room.

  Johanson closed the door shut behind him and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. There was no signal. He grunted and tossed it onto the desk. He checked the landline. The power was out and there wasn’t even a dial tone. He walked to the safe.

  Johanson lit up his flashlight to press in the numbers for the safe. There was a beep and the sound of gears turning. He opened it to find his shotgun and a second pistol. He grabbed them and set them on his desk with no caution to prevent anything from falling to the floor.

  He reached the bottom of the gun safe and moved aside some cases of ammunition. That was where he found the case.

  “Dumb bastard.” He chuckled to himself. “Never thought I’d actually use these.”

  It was a case of silver bullets gifted to him years ago by his now-passed best friend, Leland Clines. There were fewer shells that fit his shotgun, but the rest fit his pistol. He loaded them and began to gear up.

  Cadence sat upon her chair. The town around her was now hers, and soon she would make this world her own as well.

  The mishap that had taken place in front of the others was only a slight miscalculation. The crystal could not be destroyed as easily as she had believed. Not only did it contain what the filthy humans considered “magic,” but she suspected that the pitiful child was still contained within it. The child, seemingly, would not allow her to destroy the crystal. Not without a fight. That child was as much of a nuisance in the beginning as she was now.

  So, Cadence demanded that if her fellow beings wanted to stay in this world they should help to keep the crystal safe. She also had a growing suspicion that the pathetic boy, Terry, was still alive. As an added measure, she demanded that any young boy be brought to her.

  She stretched out her legs. Her home was being built around her by the minor creatures. She could relax now, her subjects would do the rest of the work.

  Terry had found a few things of use in the prepper’s trailer. He found a coat that would typically be used for hunting. He had almost forgotten how cold his bones were until he had put it on. There was a throwing knife with a handle that could easily be used as a normal knife. There was also a machete, which Bella decided to take, and a tomahawk with a sheathe that Terry put around his waist.

  He looked over to Bella. She was looking through the pantry and picking out any necessary foods. All of this was his fault, he thought. If he hadn’t fallen for Cadence's stupid trick, Mister Clines would still be alive and the monsters would have not come into this world. Most of all Bella wouldn’t be having to join him.

  She wasn’t paying attention. He pulled up a backpack he had already filled with some snacks. He could go without her and not force her to have to deal with his problem anymore.

  Terry started toward the door.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Bella stood right behind him. “We need to make a plan and figure out what we’re gonna do.”

  “You should go home,” he said. “I caused this problem. I should be the one to fix it.”

  She raised her eyebrows at him. “I don’t know how you think this is your fault. Either way, neither of us are likely to survive alone.”

  Terry stayed silent and thought about what she said. It was true. Being alone in this estranged world would be hard and dangerous.

  “I’ve already committed. I’m sticking through to the end and you’re not getting rid of me.”

  Terry sighed. He would just have to accept that. “Alright. Then, what do we do?”

  The world was odd. Michael couldn’t grasp what was going on. All he knew was that he had to stop Terry from destroying anything else. He already lost his mother, and he could not bear to think if he lost his twin, Bella, as well.

  There were odd noises on his entire walk to the graveyard. Every little bit, he would see something at the corner of his eye, but he would look and it would be gone. He was too dizzy to focus on his surroundings anymore. His eyes were heavy and his eyesight was blurry. But, he wouldn’t let himself rest until he stopped the idiot, Terry.

  There was a dug-up grave and a putrid stench that filled the air. Michael looked at the gravestone. It read, “Leland Clines.” He looked around. There was nobody nearby. The only odd thing, besides a dug-up grave, was three piles of black ash. He would have to keep walking if he wanted to stop Terry.

  A moist hand grasped him around his face and pulled him to the ground. Before he knew it, his face was covered with a cloth and he was tied up. Whoever was kidnapping him did it effectively and Michael was not able to fight back.

  He felt himself get dragged through the woods over sticks and stones and mud.