u/ToastWithWifi

Part 3

Her breath was the only thing I could hear.
I kneeled to the ground as reality hit me like a truck.

Whatever came back from Mercer Ridge had gotten inside my life somehow.

Maybe it had been there longer than I realized.

They hurt people I promised to protect, killed pets and nature, spread fear like a plague.
And worst of it all, they did something to my son.

"Claire... listen" I paused "Head to the station, I'll arrive as soon as I can. And I promise to tell you everything about Jeremy."

"Jeremy?! What do y--"

I hung up, her voice would have broken me down completely, and I still had a promise to fulfill to Greyhaven.

I walked back into that rotting house and climbed the stairs once more.
Each step felt heavier than the one before.

"You found something?" I asked the boys.
"Yeah, come to the bedroom. " Barrett said.

I entered the room and found countless empty soda cans and cigarette butts, that were more dust than anything else.
At the center of the room, where the wood still remembered the shape of an old bed, five chairs were placed in a circle, facing each other.

The chairs had dust and cobwebs all over them, but none on the seat.

A sixth chair stood lonely in a corner, this one was completely covered in dust.

Between the five chairs there were books of all kinds, going from kids' tales to sacred scriptures of every religion.
Beside the books there were pictures, drawings and toys.

"What the hell is this?! What were they doing here?!" Pike had lost his mind, I saw him run into a burning house to save a cat once. But this room... broke him.

"Pike, compose yourself, we can't lose ourselves. This badge represents all the people of this town. If we show fear, they will lose hope." Barrett told him, calmly.

"I have no idea what this is, Pike. I won't lie, I hoped we would've found drugs." I took a deep breath and again I hid my shaking hand in my pocket.
"Let's take some pictures and ask Melanie to print them while we head back to the station."

My wife's car was parked just beside Harris' truck.
We got out of ours and headed in.

"Hey Mel. Did you print those photos we sent?" Barrett asked.
"Yeah, I put them just by the projector, where the hell did you go?"
"Don't ask, we have no idea."

"Oh one more thing chief, Warren has been sending pictures of Mercer Ridge all day. Do you want me to print those too?"
"No we're good for now. Thanks Mel."

My wife was waiting in the briefing room. A small room with a projector and a whiteboard, usually used to plan out town events.
She was looking at the pictures of the room.

"Thomas... What is this place? Why are Jeremy's childhood drawings there?!"
"I hoped I was wrong... I hoped so deeply Claire... I hoped those weren't his, that I was just misremembering." I tried to fight it, but as I looked her in the eyes, I couldn't hold my emotions anymore.
I hugged her so tightly that I heard her back crack.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Pike asked. "Shut it." Barrett told him.

After we finally stopped crying, we started talking again.

"Well then. Let's try to make something out of all of this." I said as I moved the whiteboard closer, and started attaching the pictures to it with magnets.

"We know that six people are part of this, four of them are in the hospital." Barrett started.
"The fifth is Jeremy." I added. "And we have no idea where he is." Claire added.
"Or who the sixth person is."

"Wait..." I thought out loud. "I saw something... at the crater... right in the middle of it. Pike."
"Yes?"
"Ask Melanie if she has any clear picture of the crater. If so, bring it here."
"Roger that."

As we waited for Pike to come back I couldn't stop staring at the empty chair.

"Okay while we wait for the rookie. Can you tell me what this place is?" Claire asked, breaking the silence.
"It looks like a... classroom?" Barrett said, confused.
"What kind of classroom has this variety of books? It has kids' stuff, religious stuff, literature, it doesn't make sense." I added.
"None of this is making sense."

"GOT IT!" Pike screamed, entering the room.
He walked up to the board and stuck the picture of the crater on it.

"There! You see it?" I asked them as I pointed to the center of the crater.
"What even is that?" Barrett asked.
"Not what, who." Claire corrected him. "That's a shadow, burned on the ground."
"Did someone bomb us? How is that even possible?" Pike asked.
"I wish I knew Pike. I just hope it isn't Jer---".
My phone rang, louder than usual.
"CHIEF! THEY'RE AWAKE AGAIN!" Dr. Lewis screamed, his voice trembling in fear.
"Calm down doc! What are they doing?"
"They're crying, shouting! They're trying to dig out their eyes!"
"Strap them to something! Don't let them go blind!"
"The entire staff is trying, but they're too strong! And the cries are making us go mad!"

His phone fell to the ground as he jumped back in trying to stop the men.
But we could still hear them.

"THIS IS SORRY! THIS IS SORRY! THIS IS SO SORRY!"
They kept shouting this over and over.
They never stopped.
They never breathed.

Until we heard them collapse to the ground. Not before shouting one last thing, all together.
"THIS DIDN'T. JEREMY. THIS IS SORRY."

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Her breath was the only thing I could hear.
I kneeled to the ground as reality hit me like a truck.

Whatever came back from Mercer Ridge had gotten inside my life somehow.

Maybe it had been there longer than I realized.

They hurt people I promised to protect, killed pets and nature, spread fear like a plague.
And worst of it all, they did something to my son.

"Claire... listen" I paused "Head to the station, I'll arrive as soon as I can. And I promise to tell you everything about Jeremy."

"Jeremy?! What do y--"

I hung up, her voice would have broken me down completely, and I still had a promise to fulfill to Greyhaven.

I walked back into that rotting house and climbed the stairs once more.
Each step felt heavier than the one before.

"You found something?" I asked the boys.
"Yeah, come to the bedroom. " Barrett said.

I entered the room and found countless empty soda cans and cigarette butts, that were more dust than anything else.
At the center of the room, where the wood still remembered the shape of an old bed, five chairs were placed in a circle, facing each other.

The chairs had dust and cobwebs all over them, but none on the seat.

A sixth chair stood lonely in a corner, this one was completely covered in dust.

Between the five chairs there were books of all kinds, going from kids' tales to sacred scriptures of every religion.
Beside the books there were pictures, drawings and toys.

"What the hell is this?! What were they doing here?!" Pike had lost his mind, I saw him run into a burning house to save a cat once. But this room... broke him.

"Pike, compose yourself, we can't lose ourselves. This badge represents all the people of this town. If we show fear, they will lose hope." Barrett told him, calmly.

"I have no idea what this is, Pike. I won't lie, I hoped we would've found drugs." I took a deep breath and again I hid my shaking hand in my pocket.
"Let's take some pictures and ask Melanie to print them while we head back to the station."

My wife's car was parked just beside Harris' truck.
We got out of ours and headed in.

"Hey Mel. Did you print those photos we sent?" Barrett asked.
"Yeah, I put them just by the projector, where the hell did you go?"
"Don't ask, we have no idea."

"Oh one more thing chief, Warren has been sending pictures of Mercer Ridge all day. Do you want me to print those too?"
"No we're good for now. Thanks Mel."

My wife was waiting in the briefing room. A small room with a projector and a whiteboard, usually used to plan out town events.
She was looking at the pictures of the room.

"Thomas... What is this place? Why are Jeremy's childhood drawings there?!"
"I hoped I was wrong... I hoped so deeply Claire... I hoped those weren't his, that I was just misremembering." I tried to fight it, but as I looked her in the eyes, I couldn't hold my emotions anymore.
I hugged her so tightly that I heard her back crack.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Pike asked. "Shut it." Barrett told him.

After we finally stopped crying, we started talking again.

"Well then. Let's try to make something out of all of this." I said as I moved the whiteboard closer, and started attaching the pictures to it with magnets.

"We know that six people are part of this, four of them are in the hospital." Barrett started.
"The fifth is Jeremy." I added. "And we have no idea where he is." Claire added.
"Or who the sixth person is."

"Wait..." I thought out loud. "I saw something... at the crater... right in the middle of it. Pike."
"Yes?"
"Ask Melanie if she has any clear picture of the crater. If so, bring it here."
"Roger that."

As we waited for Pike to come back I couldn't stop staring at the empty chair.

"Okay while we wait for the rookie. Can you tell me what this place is?" Claire asked, breaking the silence.
"It looks like a... classroom?" Barrett said, confused.
"What kind of classroom has this variety of books? It has kids' stuff, religious stuff, literature, it doesn't make sense." I added.
"None of this is making sense."

"GOT IT!" Pike screamed, entering the room.
He walked up to the board and stuck the picture of the crater on it.

"There! You see it?" I asked them as I pointed to the center of the crater.
"What even is that?" Barrett asked.
"Not what, who." Claire corrected him. "That's a shadow, burned on the ground."
"Did someone bomb us? How is that even possible?" Pike asked.
"I wish I knew Pike. I just hope it isn't Jer---".
My phone rang, louder than usual.
"CHIEF! THEY'RE AWAKE AGAIN!" Dr. Lewis screamed, his voice trembling in fear.
"Calm down doc! What are they doing?"
"They're crying, shouting! They're trying to dig out their eyes!"
"Strap them to something! Don't let them go blind!"
"The entire staff is trying, but they're too strong! And the cries are making us go mad!"

His phone fell to the ground as he jumped back in trying to stop the men.
But we could still hear them.

"THIS IS SORRY! THIS IS SORRY! THIS IS SO SORRY!"
They kept shouting this over and over.
They never stopped.
They never breathed.

Until we heard them collapse to the ground. Not before shouting one last thing, all together.
"THIS DIDN'T. JEREMY. THIS IS SORRY."

I rushed back into the house, hoping that Margaret was fine.
The only noise in the house was the teapot.

I entered the kitchen and almost screamed in Margaret's face.
"MARGARET! WHAT HAPPENED?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

She slowly turned to look me in the eyes. I’d never seen someone look that empty.
Her eyes were so full of tears I could barely see her pupils.
She stood there frozen, right beside a broken cup, arms wide open as if she was trying to cover her face, but she just couldn't move.

"I'm so sorry Margaret, I'll send someone to come get Buddy, I don't want you to see him like that."

As if she was a painting, she just looked back at me.

My radio crackled.
"Chief, you there? Warren said there's something you need to see up at the crater. He sounded pretty worried."

The radio crackled again.

Margaret finally blinked.

"Go". I went. I left her there. Alone.

I got back in the car and went back where all started.

The area was completely blocked off by the local firefighters and the volunteers.
They moved the roadblocks as they saw my car coming, and Warren waved at me from afar.
I got off the car and reached him.

"Chief I... I..." he kept stuttering, I've never seen him like this.
"Get ahold of yourself Warren, why did you ask for me to come here?"
"Sorry, I'll just show you."

He stopped talking completely and I followed him as he brought me to a part of the woods near the crater.

"Something happened here. It looks like a trail of some kind." His voice shivered on every word.
"What kind of trail?"
"Death. Everything's dead. Plants. Animals. All dead and..." A pause. "Wrong."
"Show me."

We entered the forest.
I could feel the dead and grass crunching under my steps. The trees were completely leafless and gray. The trail kept changing directions, I couldn't see a pattern in it.
Then animal corpses started to appear, everywhere around the trail, not just where the dead grass was, but everywhere around it too.

"They're just like the dogs." I murmured to myself.
"What dogs, chief?"
"Mr. Harris and Margaret's. I just saw them, and they were in the same conditions as these animals. The eyes as pale as ash and torn out of their skulls."
"What the hell is going on chief? Is this some kind of chemical spill or weapon?!"
"I don't know, but let's try to keep this as quiet as possible, the only thing missing now is mass hysteria."

Warren looked ready to fall apart.
I needed him away from the trail.

"Listen Warren, I'll keep searching the area for a bit. Do me a favor and call Melanie, ask her what Barrett and Pike found. Then come report me what she tells you."
"You got it man, I'll go call her right away".

As he got back to the road I started to search for something new.
All looked the same. Just... Dead.

Until trees began to bend out of the way of the trail and ground flattened beneath my feet.
That's when I found it.

Just at eye level.
Its wings completely open.
Stuck in place.
Unable to move.

A small blue bird trapped in the middle of the air.
Like it was carved into stone.

I tried to touch it and it was cold.
It looked like it had been hanging there for hours.

I tried to move it but it wouldn't budge. It didn’t move at all.
Like the air itself was holding it there.

Everything around that bird still sounded normal.
Warren shouting somewhere near the road.
Dead leaves and grass crunching under my boots.
Water splashing in the distance.

But that thing stayed there like the world had forgotten it was supposed to fall.
And not even the wind would move its feathers.

I turned towards the road and yelled for Warren.
"WARREN! WARREN! COME I FOUND SOMETHING!"

Just as I turned back to face the bird, it fell to the ground.

"What did you find chief?"
"This... What?"
"You okay there?"
"I haven't gone this long without a drink in years. I think I'm seeing things."
"Okay... Well I heard back from Melanie and the guys. She said they're at the house of the young kid we found. And..."
"And what? Did they find anything?"
"The mother said that she last saw him with Jeremy Tom. I think you should go there."

I ran to my car and drove to Tyler's house as fast as I could.

I knocked on the door and Pike let me in.

"Good evening Ms. I heard you last saw Tyler with my son."
"Talk to me like a human being Tom, if I hear you call me Ms. one more time I'll send you beside my son." She said, her eyes were filled with rage and fear.

"I'm sorry Catherine. Truly I am. But I haven't heard from Jeremy since yesterday, and I'm really scared something might have happened to him. Do you have some idea of where they were headed?"
"They always hang out in the old house by the liquor store."
"You mean the Kennedys' house?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Thank you so much and Cath, I promise you, I'll find out what happened."

As we walked away we could hear her cries.

Barrett and Pike followed me to the house.

"What would they even be doing out here?" Pike asked.
"Probably drinking and smoking, we're right by the Jefferson's store" Barrett answered.
"You two shut up and help me search the place." I told them.

The house had been abandoned for at least 15 years now, the Kennedys were forced to leave after the accident at the mill.
The wood floor was crooked, there were more windows than walls.

The stink of mud and bird shit filled the area. But I could still feel that constant old coin smell that seemed to follow me everywhere I went.

"Search everywhere, if you see something out of place, shout."

I started from the first floor, Pike searched the perimeter and Barrett went upstairs.

It didn't seem like anyone had been there for a long time, dust covered everything everywhere,
But that smell. I knew we would have found something.

"Chief! Pike! Come! There's something here!" Barrett screamed.

We rushed up the stairs. Barrett was pointing with his flashlight at a sealed bottle placed perfectly on a shelf in the hallway.

I recognized it immediately, it wasn't a random bottle. It was whiskey, my whiskey.

"I have to call my wife." I said to the two while my heart started to pump like a drum.
"Why? What's with the bottle?" Pike asked, confused.
"That's my whiskey, it disappeared from my kitchen this afternoon. Keep searching, but be ready for trouble."

I rushed outside and called my wife.
"Are you home?" I asked. My voice barely sounded like mine.
"Yes, why?"
"Go to your car. NOW!"
"Why? What’s going on?!” Her voice cracked immediately.
"Just go!"

A few minutes passed.

"Okay I'm in the car. What's going on? Where do I have to go?!"
"Just stay put for a moment, don't go back in, the house isn't safe."
"Why? Did someone threaten you?!"
"No... but are you sure Jeremy hasn't been home all day?"
"Yes, I told you, you were the only one coming and going all day."
"Tell me each time you saw me or heard me come or go."
"Let's see... You left for the crater, came back, then you went to the hospital, but you must have forgotten something and came back just a few minutes later, and left before I could see you. Last time I saw you or heard you it was when Monica came."

"When I left for the hospital... I didn't come back in."

Silence.

I could hear her breath through the phone. Mine too.

And for the first time since Mercer Ridge, I wasn't sure if I was the one in control.

Part 1 - Part 2

I rushed back into the house, hoping that Margaret was fine.
The only noise in the house was the teapot.

I entered the kitchen and almost screamed in Margaret's face.
"MARGARET! WHAT HAPPENED?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

She slowly turned to look me in the eyes. I’d never seen someone look that empty.
Her eyes were so full of tears I could barely see her pupils.
She stood there frozen, right beside a broken cup, arms wide open as if she was trying to cover her face, but she just couldn't move.

"I'm so sorry Margaret, I'll send someone to come get Buddy, I don't want you to see him like that."

As if she was a painting, she just looked back at me.

My radio crackled.
"Chief, you there? Warren said there's something you need to see up at the crater. He sounded pretty worried."

The radio crackled again.

Margaret finally blinked.

"Go". I went. I left her there. Alone.

I got back in the car and went back where all started.

The area was completely blocked off by the local firefighters and the volunteers.
They moved the roadblocks as they saw my car coming, and Warren waved at me from afar.
I got off the car and reached him.

"Chief I... I..." he kept stuttering, I've never seen him like this.
"Get ahold of yourself Warren, why did you ask for me to come here?"
"Sorry, I'll just show you."

He stopped talking completely and I followed him as he brought me to a part of the woods near the crater.

"Something happened here. It looks like a trail of some kind." His voice shivered on every word.
"What kind of trail?"
"Death. Everything's dead. Plants. Animals. All dead and..." A pause. "Wrong."
"Show me."

We entered the forest.
I could feel the dead and grass crunching under my steps. The trees were completely leafless and gray. The trail kept changing directions, I couldn't see a pattern in it.
Then animal corpses started to appear, everywhere around the trail, not just where the dead grass was, but everywhere around it too.

"They're just like the dogs." I murmured to myself.
"What dogs, chief?"
"Mr. Harris and Margaret's. I just saw them, and they were in the same conditions as these animals. The eyes as pale as ash and torn out of their skulls."
"What the hell is going on chief? Is this some kind of chemical spill or weapon?!"
"I don't know, but let's try to keep this as quiet as possible, the only thing missing now is mass hysteria."

Warren looked ready to fall apart.
I needed him away from the trail.

"Listen Warren, I'll keep searching the area for a bit. Do me a favor and call Melanie, ask her what Barrett and Pike found. Then come report me what she tells you."
"You got it man, I'll go call her right away".

As he got back to the road I started to search for something new.
All looked the same. Just... Dead.

Until trees began to bend out of the way of the trail and ground flattened beneath my feet.
That's when I found it.

Just at eye level.
Its wings completely open.
Stuck in place.
Unable to move.

A small blue bird trapped in the middle of the air.
Like it was carved into stone.

I tried to touch it and it was cold.
It looked like it had been hanging there for hours.

I tried to move it but it wouldn't budge. It didn’t move at all.
Like the air itself was holding it there.

Everything around that bird still sounded normal.
Warren shouting somewhere near the road.
Dead leaves and grass crunching under my boots.
Water splashing in the distance.

But that thing stayed there like the world had forgotten it was supposed to fall.
And not even the wind would move its feathers.

I turned towards the road and yelled for Warren.
"WARREN! WARREN! COME I FOUND SOMETHING!"

Just as I turned back to face the bird, it fell to the ground.

"What did you find chief?"
"This... What?"
"You okay there?"
"I haven't gone this long without a drink in years. I think I'm seeing things."
"Okay... Well I heard back from Melanie and the guys. She said they're at the house of the young kid we found. And..."
"And what? Did they find anything?"
"The mother said that she last saw him with Jeremy Tom. I think you should go there."

I ran to my car and drove to Tyler's house as fast as I could.

I knocked on the door and Pike let me in.

"Good evening Ms. I heard you last saw Tyler with my son."
"Talk to me like a human being Tom, if I hear you call me Ms. one more time I'll send you beside my son." She said, her eyes were filled with rage and fear.

"I'm sorry Catherine. Truly I am. But I haven't heard from Jeremy since yesterday, and I'm really scared something might have happened to him. Do you have some idea of where they were headed?"
"They always hang out in the old house by the liquor store."
"You mean the Kennedys' house?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Thank you so much and Cath, I promise you, I'll find out what happened."

As we walked away we could hear her cries.

Barrett and Pike followed me to the house.

"What would they even be doing out here?" Pike asked.
"Probably drinking and smoking, we're right by the Jefferson's store" Barrett answered.
"You two shut up and help me search the place." I told them.

The house had been abandoned for at least 15 years now, the Kennedys were forced to leave after the accident at the mill.
The wood floor was crooked, there were more windows than walls.

The stink of mud and bird shit filled the area. But I could still feel that constant old coin smell that seemed to follow me everywhere I went.

"Search everywhere, if you see something out of place, shout."

I started from the first floor, Pike searched the perimeter and Barrett went upstairs.

It didn't seem like anyone had been there for a long time, dust covered everything everywhere,
But that smell. I knew we would have found something.

"Chief! Pike! Come! There's something here!" Barrett screamed.

We rushed up the stairs. Barrett was pointing with his flashlight at a sealed bottle placed perfectly on a shelf in the hallway.

I recognized it immediately, it wasn't a random bottle. It was whiskey, my whiskey.

"I have to call my wife." I said to the two while my heart started to pump like a drum.
"Why? What's with the bottle?" Pike asked, confused.
"That's my whiskey, it disappeared from my kitchen this afternoon. Keep searching, but be ready for trouble."

I rushed outside and called my wife.
"Are you home?" I asked. My voice barely sounded like mine.
"Yes, why?"
"Go to your car. NOW!"
"Why? What’s going on?!” Her voice cracked immediately.
"Just go!"

A few minutes passed.

"Okay I'm in the car. What's going on? Where do I have to go?!"
"Just stay put for a moment, don't go back in, the house isn't safe."
"Why? Did someone threaten you?!"
"No... but are you sure Jeremy hasn't been home all day?"
"Yes, I told you, you were the only one coming and going all day."
"Tell me each time you saw me or heard me come or go."
"Let's see... You left for the crater, came back, then you went to the hospital, but you must have forgotten something and came back just a few minutes later, and left before I could see you. Last time I saw you or heard you it was when Monica came."

"When I left for the hospital... I didn't come back in."

Silence.

I could hear her breath through the phone. Mine too.

And for the first time since Mercer Ridge, I wasn't sure if I was the one in control.

I stood in Danny’s hospital room for longer than I should have after they collapsed back onto the beds.

Dr. Levin kept talking. I don’t remember a word of it.

All I could think about was the way they looked at me when they said it.
Like they pitied me.

My wife's ringtone brought me back to reality.

"Monica is here." A pause "I think she needs to hear some news directly from you."

"Give me ten." I hung up.

As I rushed out the hospital, telling Dr. Levin to get someone to clean up the mud, and hearing him shout something back at me.

The whole drive home I kept trying to think of something useful to tell Monica.
Her husband was lying naked, hairless, mindless in a hospital bed, and I had no idea on how to help him.

She introduced me to my wife in college, not long after that Danny and her started dating. But now I felt like I wasn't doing enough to bring her husband back.

I got out of the car, and immediately:

"So? What can you tell me that it's not already all around town?" She said with tears running down her cheeks.

"Can I get you something to drink first?"

"Your wife already tried. But I think you drank it all. So just talk." A pause "Please."

"I have no idea what is going on Monica."

"So you're as useless as always."

"Monica that's not fair, they're doing everything they can." My wife stepped in.

Monica glanced back at my wife, and without saying anything more she left.

"Thanks for defending me." I said to my wife.

"I had to, she would've jumped at your throat."

"What was that about my whiskey?"

"Wow, that's the only thing you can think of right now? I don't know, I think you drank it all, it's gone. The bottle is not in the cabinet."

"Did Jeremy take it?" I asked while trying to remember where I left it.

"No, he hasn't been home all day."

"Is he at Stacy's again?"

"I know as much as you do Thomas. Now go do your job while you're still sober."

I got back in my car and drove to the station.
During the drive I tried calling both my son and Stacy's dad, but no one picked up. Not that they ever did.

When I arrived at the station I found Harris' truck, parked just by the entrance. He wanted to make sure we couldn’t miss either the truck or the stench coming from it.
I glanced into the truck bed.

The dogs were piled together beneath a tarp stained dark with blood.

Their eyes were gone. Completely torn out of their sockets, just as pale as Danny's eyes.

I entered the station, trying as hard as I could to hide the shivers running down my spine.
As soon as I stepped in the main area, Harris, Deputy Barrett and the new rookie Pike all turned toward me.

"I know you saw them Chief." Harris said firmly.

"Well they were pretty hard to miss, what happened to them?"

"Mr. Harris says he found them like that." Deputy Barrett answered, annoyed.

"I don't need help to answer questions!" Harris spoke back to the Deputy.

"Calm down! Both of you! Harris I want to see where you found them. Pike and Barrett I want you two to go to victim's houses. Find out what they were doing up in Mercer at two in the morning."

"You got it Chief." Both Barrett and Pike answered in unison.

"Harris is it a problem if you leave the truck here? I want to take a closer look at the dogs later."

"Not at all, can I ride shotgun or do I have to act like a prisoner?"

We got into my car, both in the front, and drove to Harry's house.
There were only two houses where he lived, his and Margaret's.

We went straight to his garden.
"That's where I found them." He pointed to a red stained part of the grass. The blood was still fresh.

"Did you find or see anything unusual around them?"

"No, only that dead part of the grass." He said as he pointed to a grey patch of grass. It was dead and completely dried up.

"Wait this wasn't here before this morning?"

"No Chief, I take good care of my grass."

"Did you hear anything early in the morning?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, just the dogs barking. I didn't even hear the explosion up in Mercer."

"Do you remember around which time did you hear them?"

"It was maybe around 6, I'm not sure though."

"Okay, got it. Do you know if Margaret's home? Maybe she saw or heard something."

"Yeah we talked before I got to the station, she should be at home."

I left Harris' garden and went to knock on Margaret's door.
"Margaret! You home! It's the Chief! I have something to ask you!" I shouted while knocking.

"I may be old, but I'm not deaf Thomas." she said as she opened the door. "What do you have to ask me?"

"Did you hear or see anything strange at around 6 this morning?"

"No, sorry. I only heard Buddy bark like crazy. But he does that when Harris' dogs start barking." A pause. "Oh poor puppy, he must have seen what happened to those poor doggies, he's been acting strange all day."

"Strange? How?"

"He hasn't made a sound since. And I'm pretty sure he tried to use the bathroom, instead of going in the garden. Oh what a bad person I am, come in, let me offer you something to drink. I won't accept a no."

The smell hit me before I crossed the doorway.
Rot. Underneath it, something metallic.
Same smell as Mercer Ridge.

"Margaret what is this smell? You didn't go and unbury that poor saint of the General right?"

Her husband used to work county patrol before the stroke took him.
Ever since then, the station made sure someone checked in on her every month.

"Oh no Thommy!" she said while laughing. "I don't know where it comes from, but it's been here for a couple of hours."

"I'll go check it out while I'm here if you don't mind."

"Go ahead, but be quick, the tea is almost ready."

I went around the house trying to figure out the source, until I noticed a lot of flies flying around a plank of the wooden floor.
I went outside and climbed under the house.

The light disappeared almost completely, and as I got closer and closer to the source, while fighting countless spiderwebs, flies and insects started to storm the place.
They wanted the same thing I wanted.

I got to the source and pulled away the sheet of cloth covering it.

Underneath it was Buddy.

The insects were feasting upon it, but under all that damage I could still notice his eyes.
They were torn out of his skull. Just like Harris's dogs.

"MARGARET!" I shouted. "When did you say you last saw Buddy?!"

"Just before you arrived. Why?" she shouted back from the kitchen. Her voice shivered on that question, like she knew what I was about to say.

"I'm not sure what you saw, but Buddy is under he---" I froze as I started to hear claws drag on the floor above me.

Then...
Something fell, something small, like a cup, shattering on the ground.

"MARGARET!"

I shouted as I made my way back into the house.
I should've understood by then.

Whatever killed Buddy had never left the house.

I was too late.

[Part 1]

I stood in Danny’s hospital room for longer than I should have after they collapsed back onto the beds.

Dr. Levin kept talking. I don’t remember a word of it.

All I could think about was the way they looked at me when they said it.
Like they pitied me.

My wife's ringtone brought me back to reality.

"Monica is here." A pause "I think she needs to hear some news directly from you."

"Give me ten." I hung up.

As I rushed out the hospital, telling Dr. Levin to get someone to clean up the mud, and hearing him shout something back at me.

The whole drive home I kept trying to think of something useful to tell Monica.
Her husband was lying naked, hairless, mindless in a hospital bed, and I had no idea on how to help him.

She introduced me to my wife in college, not long after that Danny and her started dating. But now I felt like I wasn't doing enough to bring her husband back.

I got out of the car, and immediately:

"So? What can you tell me that it's not already all around town?" She said with tears running down her cheeks.

"Can I get you something to drink first?"

"Your wife already tried. But I think you drank it all. So just talk." A pause "Please."

"I have no idea what is going on Monica."

"So you're as useless as always."

"Monica that's not fair, they're doing everything they can." My wife stepped in.

Monica glanced back at my wife, and without saying anything more she left.

"Thanks for defending me." I said to my wife.

"I had to, she would've jumped at your throat."

"What was that about my whiskey?"

"Wow, that's the only thing you can think of right now? I don't know, I think you drank it all, it's gone. The bottle is not in the cabinet."

"Did Jeremy take it?" I asked while trying to remember where I left it.

"No, he hasn't been home all day."

"Is he at Stacy's again?"

"I know as much as you do Thomas. Now go do your job while you're still sober."

I got back in my car and drove to the station.
During the drive I tried calling both my son and Stacy's dad, but no one picked up. Not that they ever did.

When I arrived at the station I found Harris' truck, parked just by the entrance. He wanted to make sure we couldn’t miss either the truck or the stench coming from it.
I glanced into the truck bed.

The dogs were piled together beneath a tarp stained dark with blood.

Their eyes were gone. Completely torn out of their sockets, just as pale as Danny's eyes.

I entered the station, trying as hard as I could to hide the shivers running down my spine.
As soon as I stepped in the main area, Harris, Deputy Barrett and the new rookie Pike all turned toward me.

"I know you saw them Chief." Harris said firmly.

"Well they were pretty hard to miss, what happened to them?"

"Mr. Harris says he found them like that." Deputy Barrett answered, annoyed.

"I don't need help to answer questions!" Harris spoke back to the Deputy.

"Calm down! Both of you! Harris I want to see where you found them. Pike and Barrett I want you two to go to victim's houses. Find out what they were doing up in Mercer at two in the morning."

"You got it Chief." Both Barrett and Pike answered in unison.

"Harris is it a problem if you leave the truck here? I want to take a closer look at the dogs later."

"Not at all, can I ride shotgun or do I have to act like a prisoner?"

We got into my car, both in the front, and drove to Harry's house.
There were only two houses where he lived, his and Margaret's.

We went straight to his garden.
"That's where I found them." He pointed to a red stained part of the grass. The blood was still fresh.

"Did you find or see anything unusual around them?"

"No, only that dead part of the grass." He said as he pointed to a grey patch of grass. It was dead and completely dried up.

"Wait this wasn't here before this morning?"

"No Chief, I take good care of my grass."

"Did you hear anything early in the morning?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, just the dogs barking. I didn't even hear the explosion up in Mercer."

"Do you remember around which time did you hear them?"

"It was maybe around 6, I'm not sure though."

"Okay, got it. Do you know if Margaret's home? Maybe she saw or heard something."

"Yeah we talked before I got to the station, she should be at home."

I left Harris' garden and went to knock on Margaret's door.
"Margaret! You home! It's the Chief! I have something to ask you!" I shouted while knocking.

"I may be old, but I'm not deaf Thomas." she said as she opened the door. "What do you have to ask me?"

"Did you hear or see anything strange at around 6 this morning?"

"No, sorry. I only heard Buddy bark like crazy. But he does that when Harris' dogs start barking." A pause. "Oh poor puppy, he must have seen what happened to those poor doggies, he's been acting strange all day."

"Strange? How?"

"He hasn't made a sound since. And I'm pretty sure he tried to use the bathroom, instead of going in the garden. Oh what a bad person I am, come in, let me offer you something to drink. I won't accept a no."

The smell hit me before I crossed the doorway.
Rot. Underneath it, something metallic.
Same smell as Mercer Ridge.

"Margaret what is this smell? You didn't go and unbury that poor saint of the General right?"

Her husband used to work county patrol before the stroke took him.
Ever since then, the station made sure someone checked in on her every month.

"Oh no Thommy!" she said while laughing. "I don't know where it comes from, but it's been here for a couple of hours."

"I'll go check it out while I'm here if you don't mind."

"Go ahead, but be quick, the tea is almost ready."

I went around the house trying to figure out the source, until I noticed a lot of flies flying around a plank of the wooden floor.
I went outside and climbed under the house.

The light disappeared almost completely, and as I got closer and closer to the source, while fighting countless spiderwebs, flies and insects started to storm the place.
They wanted the same thing I wanted.

I got to the source and pulled away the sheet of cloth covering it.

Underneath it was Buddy.

The insects were feasting upon it, but under all that damage I could still notice his eyes.
They were torn out of his skull. Just like Harris's dogs.

"MARGARET!" I shouted. "When did you say you last saw Buddy?!"

"Just before you arrived. Why?" she shouted back from the kitchen. Her voice shivered on that question, like she knew what I was about to say.

"I'm not sure what you saw, but Buddy is under he---" I froze as I started to hear claws drag on the floor above me.

Then...
Something fell, something small, like a cup, shattering on the ground.

"MARGARET!"

I shouted as I made my way back into the house.
I should've understood by then.

Whatever killed Buddy had never left the house.

I was too late.

I've been the police chief of Greyhaven for almost 11 years.

Long enough to watch the town shrinking. I recognize people by the sound of their trucks. I know which houses like to keep the lights on at night, and which ones can't because the bank finally got them.

Maybe that’s the only reason people survive up here. You know everyone enough to forget how alone you are.

The roads twist around the cliffs like they were carved by something scared of heights.
Half of the town disappears under the fog after sundown.
In winter the snow so deep the state plows stop pretending they care about us.

Greyhaven was once thriving thanks to logging. But then the mill was closed. And when you cut off the main form of income to a town, people have only a few possible choices, you either pretend everything can go back to normal, drink or leave.

I'm still here, but I've stopped pretending a while ago.

But even if the town was pushed to its limit, crime was never a real problem, nothing too bad ever happened here.

Then something lit up the sky.

At 2:13 of October 14th, the Jefferson's lodge in the woods north of Mercer Ridge exploded.

Usually when something explodes here it's either because of thunder, bored teenagers or an old transformer blowing.
But this was something new, I've never heard that sound before.

It shook my windows hard enough to knock down a framed photo off the kitchen wall.

No one in the house woke up, and honestly I didn't care either. I was halfway through my routine second whiskey when dispatch called.

"Chief?" It was Melanie, young girl. Smoked too much and talked too fast whenever she got nervous.

"We’ve got reports coming in from the north side. People saying there was some kind of blast in the forest. Fire maybe. We lost power for a second over by Miller Road."

"Call Warren and Elias," I said. "Tell the volunteers to get moving. I’m on my way."
I hung up before she answered.

I drowned some strange feelings with another drink and went to my car.

Outside, the cold hit hard enough to wake me up some.

By the time I arrived at the scene the volunteer trucks and some of the boys from the station were already there. Everyone arguing near the treeline, nobody looked eager to go farther in.

Warren stepped up when I got out. He was wearing pajama pants under his turnout coat.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered. "Thought maybe a plane went down."

"Did one?"

He shook his head. "No wreckage. No fire neither. But you need to see this."

The deeper we walked into the woods, the quieter it got. These forests are never silent, even at night you hear things.

Wind.
Branches.
Owls.
Insects.

But that stretch of woods sounded dead.

The ground changed about half a mile in. The moss and underbrush turned black beneath our boots. Like it was rotten.
Trees leaned away from the ridge in strange angles like they’d grown trying to escape something.

Warren kept sweeping his flashlight around. "You smell that?"
I did. A strange metallic smell filled the air, like coins burning.

Then we saw the crater. None of us said anything for a moment.
It had to be thirty feet across, maybe more.

The earth looked peeled open.

Mud and broken stone spread outward through the trees. The center was still smoking.

And inside it... There were bodies.
Four of them.

Elias puked at the sight, me and Warren went closer.

I was already afraid of whose house door I might have to knock.

The flashlight hit the skin of the closest one, it was pale, covered in his clothes' ashes. But he didn't seem to have any kind of bruise. I rolled him over to check for a pulse, but I stopped once I saw his eyes. They were almost as pale as his skin.

"Is he dead?" Elias asked. His voice shivered from the cold and the fear. He forgot for a moment how he's supposed to act.

"No. Tell the ambulance to move closer! I can still feel a pulse!" I shouted at him.

The volunteers and the boys gathered the four victims and helped put them on the ambulances.

I moved closer to the center of the crater, to see if there was someone under all that smoke.
The firefighters shouted at me to not go. That the heat would hurt me. But there was none, it was actually colder.

It felt like walking into deep water.

There was no one else, just a shadow burned into the stone.

After that, I went to Bell County Hospital to see if any of them had woken up.
I didn't realize it at the crater, maybe it was the adrenaline, or the fact that they didn't have any hair left. But I knew all four of them.

One was in my son's classroom. He was only seventeen years old.
The other two worked down at the local repair shop.
And then... there was Daniel.

Danny and I graduated together. Used to fish the river south of town before either of us got old enough to disappoint ourselves.
I remember staring at him on that bed trying to understand how a man I’d known most of my life ended up naked in a crater at two in the morning.

And why looking at him made me feel afraid. Not scared for him. Scared of him.

By sunrise, half the town already knew something had happened. Over here secrets move faster than weather.

I spent most of the morning at the hospital, if you can call it that. The building only had twelve beds and a generator older than I was.

Dr. Levin looked exhausted before he even examined the survivors.

"Their bodies make no sense," he told me quietly outside the poor boy's room.

"Low oxygen. Almost nonexistent heart activity. Body temperature below ninety. They should be clinically dead."

"But they aren’t." I said.

He hesitated. "No."

I looked through the room’s small window. "Radiation?" I asked.

"I don’t know." He rubbed his face tiredly. "Honestly? I don’t even know what tests to run first."

I nodded like I understood. Truth was, I didn’t understand a damn thing. And I hated that feeling.

Around noon I finally headed home. The mountain roads were wet with fog.
People stood outside stores talking quietly.

Everyone watched my truck pass.

I found my wife sitting at the kitchen table when I got back. "Emma called," she said.

Emma was our daughter. She went to college in Portland. Far enough away to stop speaking to me unless holidays forced it.

"What’d she want?"
"To know if we were okay."
I grabbed the whiskey bottle from the cabinet. My wife watched me a second.
"It’s noon, Thomas."
"Been a long night."
"Every night’s long lately."

I didn’t answer. She was used to that.

Then dispatch called again. "Chief... we just got a call from Miller Road."

"About what?"

A pause. Then: "Something killed the Harris dogs."

I closed my eyes. "Coyotes?"

"No, sir." Another pause.

"The owner says they tore their own eyes out."

The strange feelings I had the night before, just after dispatch called, came back.
Worse this time.
Like pressure behind my ribs.

Outside the kitchen window, the treeline stood dark against the mountain fog.
For just a second, I had the strange feeling something was standing between them.
Watching the house.
I told myself it was exhaustion.
Then I reached for the bottle again.

But before I could pour myself another drink, the phone rang again.
“If this is about those dogs again, I swear to God I’m quitting.”

“No sir. It’s the hospital.”

That pressure behind my ribs tightened again.

“What happened?”

A pause. “They woke up.”

"Got it, I'll head out."

I reached the hospital and tried to not hit the crowd that formed around the entrance.

People smoking.
Talking quietly.
Watching the entrance.

Nobody sleeps when fear gets loose.

Dr. Levin met me near the front desk. He looked worse than before. Pale. Sweating.

“They woke up for about thirty seconds,” he said.

“And?”

“They asked for you.”

I stopped walking.

“What do you mean they asked for me?”

“They kept repeating your name.”

Something in the way he said it made me uncomfortable.

I followed him down the hallway toward the rooms. The hospital suddenly felt colder than before. Not physically colder. Quieter.

The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Somewhere farther down the hall, a machine beeped steadily.

Dr. Levin slowed outside Danny’s room.

“I thought maybe they knew something about the explosion,” he said quietly. “But when the nurses tried talking to them, they just kept apologizing.”

“For what?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think they knew.”

He opened the door. The room smelled faintly of wet dirt.

The three older men were lying exactly where I’d left them earlier. Motionless beneath the hospital sheets.

Danny closest to the window. I stepped farther inside.

That’s when I noticed the mud. Not much. Just a thin trail of dark footprints beside Danny’s bed.

Bare human feet. Leading toward the window. I stared at them for a second.

Then at the glass.

Condensation covered most of it, but part of the fog had been smeared away from the inside.

Like someone had stood there looking out.

“Do these windows open?” I asked.

Dr. Levin frowned. “No.”

Something moved behind me.

I turned slowly toward the beds.

All three men were awake. Staring at me.

Blank white eyes fixed directly on mine.

I felt my hands trembling before I realized I’d started clenching them. I tried to hide it.

When he spoke, the other two spoke with him.

Perfectly together.

Soft enough I almost didn’t hear it.

“We’re sorry, Thomas.”

I couldn’t move. None of them blinked.
Then Danny whispered:
“It’s afraid.”

And all three of them laid back down at the exact same time. By the time the nurses rushed in, they were motionless again. The monitors barely registered heartbeats.

Dr. Levin kept talking to me. I don’t remember what he said.

I was still staring at the mud beside Danny’s bed.

Because there were only footprints leading to the window.

None coming back.

At the time, I still thought whatever happened at Mercer Ridge had ended in that crater.
I didn’t understand yet that something had followed those men back into Greyhaven.