The waves of white crashed onto Austin's suit when the veil between the strange world and his normal one was interrupted again. He crossed the boundary and went towards the diner that he had come to see as a home away from, away from home. "Are you sure you want to go?" His crewmates surrounded him with concerned eyes, their bodies stiff and hesitating. Austin looked between them and could sense their hesitation, which made him stiff too. "Yeah - I - I want to figure out a few more things. Plus, you said we should always find out more information if we have a chance." The portals were messing up, there was a chance this one could mess up too, but here Austin stood with unwavering determination.

"Okay..." Captain Richard's eyes fell to the floor, then up to the rest of the crewmates, then at Austin again. "You can go, but when the timer goes off, get your ass right back here."

The doors behind Austin closed as he looked towards the familiar scene in front of him. Townsfolk were still going about their business in the diner as if everything were normal, including Earl who he spotted wiping the counter across the room. He walked to him and passed by people eating burgers and fries. He passed by a woman cleaning the floor with a mop, he passed by an older dark skin man drinking coffee, he passed by a small group of people standing together. What he didn't pass by were families, kids. All of the families seemed divided, gone and everyone was one man for themselves. Austin greeted Earl by waving his hand, and Earl smiled and gestured for him to come sit in front of the counter to talk about what he was going to tell him when he came back. They began communicating using the paper and pencil back and forth, talking more about the history of the town.

"Everything was normal until the druid was birthed, seemingly out of nowhere. Then on a day where everyone was normal, doing everyday tasks, you know the usual we heard the druid cry. So many people died but ones who could withstand it survived. I still remember seeing one woman gouge her eyes out and scream right in front of me."

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Austin could imagine the chaos, pain and suffering that caused and it was enough to send shivers down his spine. The people that lived in this town had to be strong people to withstand all of this. He was glad he wasn't born into this portal and everything Earl told him about the town made him feel more and more grateful to have a normal life.

"Thanks for telling me about all of this. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem really. I'm still confused about the astronauts but I'm happy to have discovered something new in this Godforsaken town"

Suddenly, Austin got a chill down his neck, like someone stuck an ice pick in his skin and quickly pushed it down. He looked away from the paper and turned his head to the window that was behind him. That's when he heard it. The scream.

Time stopped. You know, there was once a race car that lost control of itself and started speeding faster and faster, the wheels burning, disjointed and tearing. The sunlight getting closer and closer until being consumed by the light. He felt like that race car. He couldn't hear anything anymore because his flight or flight instinct kicked in and everything was blurry from adrenaline. All he noticed subconsciously were blurs of people running past him and he knew he had to get out of there especially since his timer just went off. So he started running.

Austin ran outside the diner, trying to get back to the ship, back to safety, back to home but he was slowing down. He wanted to get that damn scream out of his head. That piercing sound. It feels like its poking at his brain. He had to get it out. He had to stop it even if it killed him. Austin tried withholding the urge to rip his suit off, he tried so hard that tears welled up in his eyes but it was to no avail. So after slowing down his pace, Austin began to sit down on the ground in front of the bright yellow sun and took his helmet off, his face red from screaming.