As he worked his way towards the church he found it less nerve-wracking than the way to the donut shop.

Must be the way that girl looked up to me.

He kept an eye out for various escape routes as he made his way down the couple of streets to the church. Silent as everything else was, he could hear the church long before he could see it.

Welp, nerves are back.

It didn’t help that the adrenaline had mostly worn off, and he was feeling a bit sore, and now walking ‘downtown’ for what that was worth in a little place like this.

Yet he didn’t hear or see anything but the church as he approached. He shot one last glance around for lurking demons and then, taking a breath, headed in.

All things considered, it was an organized chaos. The preacher in front and off to the side of the podium preaching to the group that was most interested. Other groups were clustered in various areas yelling to be heard over each other. Or swapping stories about what they, or so and so heard/ thought they should do, or opinions on the current situation.

Most however appeared to be in blanketed huddles on and around the pews or sides of the room. Other than the few who had managed to sleep through the uproar most of these watched nearby arguments in silent support for one side or another.

Easily noticeable thanks to those who were standing to better argue with one another was how many were still dressed in their nightwear.

The lady near the door was on the ball though.

She was dealing with a group that was getting close to infighting. He waited a moment for her to finish and turn towards him.

“I take it-” was all he managed before she gave him a once over and talked over him.

“You’ll need to leave any weapons with me before you go in. Last thing we need is shooting inside the church.”

“I - wouldn’t…” He mentally reset himself with a headshake. “You’r Mrs. Melody? I came for any information I can get on the… Apes. The Red Apes.”

She frowned “The Demons, you mean?”

He tensed “Do you mean they come in other shapes?”

She frowned. “Certainly. Why would they not?”

“I have only seen the one so far. I didn’t want to assign traits to them without confirmation or reason. So it’s confirmed that there are more than one?

“Yes, Mr. Guthrey saw the portal to hell with an army of them on the other side.”

Oliver felt himself go pale. “He saw this with his own eyes? Is he still here? Can I talk to him directly?”

“I will take you to him.” She held out a hand, firmly. “But your gun first.”

He looked down and back up at her. “I would. They seem to shrug off bullets, but should one come, I trust myself to draw its ire and get away more than I trust,” he nodded towards the crowded room, “a room full of panicking people not to get slaughtered in greater number than just me.”

She looked startled for a moment, then gave him a more appraising look. There was the hint of a smile. The smallest of smiles, but a thankful one nonetheless.

“Very well.”

As they walked towards the back, a fight suddenly broke out nearby.

“No we should not fight the regional demon’ or ‘go toe to toe’, but fight through prayer! It is where we serve best”

“That doesn’t apply here! That's for possession!”

Tensions were high enough it looked like they would start throwing fists any moment.

Melody was quick to break it up, mostly with some stern glares that conveyed disappointment

“Sorry, Mrs Melody,” they said together.

“A decision will be made shortly. I expect no fights until then.”

“Yes, Mrs Melody.”

She gave a nod to them, then another to Oliver and continued.

“Mr. Guthrey, you have someone here to talk to you. You may speak in the meeting room.”

A man straightened, then stiffened when he looked at Oliver.

They entered the meeting room together and sat down while Mrs Melody lingered by the door.

“How can I help you, officer?”

Oliver startled, then waved a hand “I’m not a police officer. Just call me ‘Oliver’”

Is that what the stiffness was about? I guess people always said I should have joined the military. Oh, now that I think about it, this gun was bought from a retired guard or police officer before I inherited it, wasn’t it? Needed a new holster due to the wear. Huh. Guess I'm acting official enough as well. People tend to trust me quickly, and with Mrs Melody escorting me I guess it was a simple enough assumption.

He continued. “Though I’d like to know about the portal you saw.”

I guess it would help to lean into the police role. Be calming.

“Please, be as detailed as you can. And don’t leave anything out, just because it contradicts what makes sense.”

As he finished saying this he tilted his head slightly, in an inquisitive manner, with a friendly and supportive look on his face.

Guthrey looked thankful, but nervous.

Crap, should I have done that differently? How?

“Well, I… I felt this, this push right? And it woke me up. I figured it was just my imagination and was going to go back to sleep, but then the alarms started going off.

Oliver raised his hand in a loose ‘stop’ gesture, and Gunthrey paused

Keeping to a calming curiosity tone as best he could, though it came out more stressed than he would have liked, he asked, “What alarms?”

Guthrey nervously straightened as he stammered, “T-The uh,-The alarm clock and oven a-a-and the microwave uh-h beeping about no power”

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Oliver visibly relaxed and focused on keeping his face in that passively curious expression.

Things were growing gradually louder, and Mrs Melody gave a frown and a nod to Oliver as she went to leave.

Oliver returned the nod and gave a wave with his hand, though the way he didn’t lift it off the table, or look at her to keep from distracting Guthrey it looked more like a dismissal.

Ack! Crap. Hh well, at least Guthrey will be comforted by my ‘commanding presence’ I gu-

Guthrey looked up, and panicked slightly as Mrs. Melody left

Oliver re-gestured to a stay seated/stay calm - angled hand. “It’s alright-” Damn, that sounded too knee-jerk “-Mr. Guthrey, Mrs Melody should be right back. She just needs to settle the flock a bit.”

Oh, that bit was nice.

Guthrey looked back, and relaxed into his chair a bit. “A-ah o-of course.”

Ah, he’s edgy now.

“I’m sorry, I never asked. Do you prefer Mr Guthrey?”

“Oh, just George is fine. Melody is the only one that speaks to everyone like that.”

“I see. So you said the no-power alarms started going off? How long after that ‘push feeling’ was that?”

“Ah, I -”

”-We are getting to the bottom of this. Stay calm, we will get through this. Father Fredricks,why don’t you lead a prayer for a moment-”

Melody and the others got quieter after that but muffled noise from speech could still be partially heard as she sorted people out and calmed everyone.

Oliver gestured for George to continue again.

“Ah, so I’m not sure exactly. I was half asleep at the time. Maybe a couple minutes? Maybe more?”

“Mm. Okay.. Do you remember the time flashing on the alarm clock? They normally have battery backup to prevent full reset.”

“Uh, 4:12? I think it was 4:12 Yeah.”

“Ok, that sounds about right.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Mhm. So the power went out? What after that.”

“Well, it was just a brownout at first, but it was enough to set off the alarms and when I went to cancel them I heard noise outside. I figured it was hogs in the woods, tearing everything up. I- decided to take a peek through the blinds, if I hadn’t- ”

“Reasonable. You live at the edge of town then?”

“Yeah, yeah I do.”

He's avoiding the next part. Better lead him to it.

“Wasn’t hogs though?”

“No. No it-”

Melody chose that time to be finished with the others and rejoin them. Oliver let the slight frustration go as Melody distracted George again. She needs to know the details too, especially if she's going to keep everyone calm and collected.

He gave her a nod and worked on getting George focused again.

“You were saying it wasn’t hogs?”

“Right, right. It was those demons. They-They had this kinda glowy orb thing they put on a… coat rack pedestal thing. And next to it, was this portal to hell. There was– I could see an army of them on the other side. I could see just rows and rows of them all ready to walk through.”

“Shit. Okay. But they weren’t walking through?”

“No. There was like a couple of . . . priests? They were there and they were doing stuff with the portal and the orb thing. Going back and forth. Then Mrs Dugless screamed. And a few of them went–I heard her car start, then–”

He shuddered and clammed up as his thoughts turned towards what must have happened to Mrs Dugless.

“It’s alright. How many did you see on this side?”

“Wh–h, 6–7 maybe? Could have been others. I… I don’t know”

“That's alright, you're doing well. What did they look like?”

“What?”

“What did the demons look like? Did they all look the same? Or was it a shmorgas board of different types?”

“Ah, just, just the big Gorilla-looking ones. The priest ones looked a bit smaller…. But other than that,it-it was like a clone army or something. It was so terrifying.”

“Ok. That's alright. Anyone would be terrified to see that. How did you get back?”

“I grabbed Beth, and we just ran, as quietly as we could.”

“Ok. I think this is the last one. What direction did your neighbor run? Out of town?”

“I… Yeah actually, I –She drove away from my house so… yeah that would have been out of town.”

“Ok.” He looked over at Melody. “You have anything to add?”

“No,” she said, though she had a look about her now that promised further questions once she had processed the horrifying wealth of new information.

“Okay, George, you can go back now. We’ll let you know if we need to know anything else. Thank you for the information. I know it was difficult, but it might save a lot of lives.”

He and Melody partially escorted him in a comforting way. Once George had gone back to his seat, he talked to Melody while heading back into the meeting room. Starting with a large sigh.

“... He came alone didn’t he?”

“Yes”

“He said he ran with his wife, so either he forgot, or abandoned her in his run. Now's not the time to deal with it, but he’ll be in need of therapy. More than most. In the meantime, someone will need to keep an eye on him. He’s either guilty, deeply mourning, or both.”

He closed the door after them.

“More critically, multiple people now confirm the power went wonky a little after 4. From what George says, they came slightly before that. However they haven't done much since then, except to act like territorial animals.”

“I think they are establishing a beachhead. The way George described it, they are probably stabilizing the portal or something so they can march their army through. I can’t claim any knowledge about portals, but given their actions it makes the most sense.”

He ran a hand through his hair.

“I drove into town and I didn’t have any issues until I was about to leave. Only then did I get taken out like the car before me. Then when I climbed onto a roof, it just gave me a look and left. I’m sure it could have either brought down the building, or found a way to climb up to me. But it was satisfied once it had treed me.”

“The power and cell reception dropping about the same time they showed up also indicate they want to keep word of their arrival secret until it's too late.”

“Ultimately that means we need to get the military here, or close the portal ourselves before it's too late.”

Melody gave him a humorless look. “Oh, is that all?”

Oliver responded with equally dry humor

“Yep! just have to break an alien demon-gorilla bio-weapon blockade, get word to the military and convince them that said attack is occurring in time to get them to bomb or otherwise mobilize to close the portal, or destroy or close portal ourselves. Preferably permanently. Or in such a way we can study it to keep other portals from being opened. Simple.”

----------------------------------------

Now having a vague idea of what they needed to do. Oliver and Melody headed back out to the main room.

“So who do we have to work with for planning and execution of a plan like this?”

“We have a few officers and some volunteers who have been rounding up supplies, and I know a few others who might be able to help as well.”

Melody gathered together a group of those who would be willing to take part in action against the ‘demon apes.’

The police had been up for a bit, but had been focused on gathering supplies for those who had come in nothing but their nightwear, along with food in case they ended up trapped for an extended time. They and volunteers had apparently been bringing supplies in through the back entrance from nearby buildings.

A few opted to continue gathering supplies rather than join in ‘attacking the demons’ as people were calling it.

While they were busy with that, Oliver talked to one of the people who was bringing people to shelter. He informed them that the donut shop owner and daughter were sheltered in their store.

He also instructed them to spread word to others that were attending tasks outside the church that the apes were trying to keep them in town. So long as they avoid appearing as though they intend to leave, and don't antagonize them they should mostly be left alone.

Furthermore he informed them of methods for escaping should they have a run in. By the time he was done, Melody had gathered those willing, including the stragglers who had still been out on supply runs.