The teens ran out of the gas station before the big red truck came to a stop. Mrs. Hawthorne or Orkan wastes no time hopping from the red truck to hug her daughters vigorously. I couldn’t blame her. Waking up to this new reality was a hard pill to swallow for the best of us. I learned from Deputy Grace informing Rhonda that the four teens bunked inside the break room from the beginning until we found them. The teens had a good enough reason as they told Grace they heard strange noises outside the gas station. They were here and well. I can tell they are happy to see one another. Yet, they know an important member of their family is currently missing. It seems like Kurt made it to his wife right before the beginning of the anomaly. I found evidence by the front door being ajar that he entered the boathouse. However, after that, I found no trace of him. There are too many mysteries around this phenomenon. We find ourselves fighting to survive, just like those boys. No way they got up and ran off like that. Not when my sisters were right there in front of them. I know this world has magic. No one else knows that for sure yet, but I do. That was likely a leading cause of their behavior. The entire town could have been slumbering for days. ‘Who knows how long we’ve been in this new place or world?’ If Aphanea was here, she could shed light on this. I have to get her back. She’s our only connection to this world. We lost her. None of us may survive this much longer. There are too many unknown variables and threats for us to comprehend. I watch as Rachael tries to comfort her daughters. Officer Harper and Officer Kristensen arrived right before we did. So did Sheriff Orkan and the two State Troopers. Two red-haired beauties I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting. 

 

“Thomas, over here,” the burly man said. “These are Trooper Sienna Sharp and Trooper Connie Banks,” he added.

 

Trooper Banks is the taller of the two. She has thick, ginger, and frizzy hair fashioned into a tight bun, revealing a lean, friendly round face. I can tell she is around the same age as Rhonda. I noticed her almond-shaped, bright green eyes matched her charmingly with her straight, narrow eyebrows. Her soft porcelain skin gorgeously amplifies her hair and leaves a deep impression on her. The trooper possesses a slender button nose with light brown freckles spread neatly across like bits of sand, enhancing her rosy cheeks and forehead, highlighting her charm. She has moderate cheekbones and an angular jawline with puffy, heart-shaped lips. Her bullet-proof vest and uniform failed to conceal the visible bounty of her chest. I notice the bulge revealing how amply huge her breasts are. The black pants she wore fit her body more like leggings than they were supposed to. The sheer tightness shows her thick and athletic legs. Her beige uniform did like to hide her hourglass figure, and I didn’t have to guess about her apple bottom.

 

The other trooper, Sharp hair, is another vibrant ginger woman. Her orange-ginger hair is shoulder-length hair fashioned into a double-braided ponytail. The trooper keeps her hair tightly pulled back to reveal a stern, menacing yet radiant oblong face. Her deep blue monolid eyes, accented by her slanted eyebrows, watch readily over those she vows to protect. The paleness of her skin is vivid, complimenting her rosy hair and giving her an angelic look. A few freckles dot her face, but they are sparse. She has prominent cheekbones and a sharp jawline. Her slender, upturned nose and perky down-turned lips lessen her stern expression, giving her a unique beauty. Like her fellow trooper, her wardrobe couldn’t hide the blessing god gave her. Those voluptuous breasts were daunting as they begged to burst through her armored vest. Her figure-eight figure significantly enhances her prominent curves yet, she maintains the perfect ballerina thinness. She has wider hips meant for bearing children and well-toned legs, despite the skin-tight pants she wore.

 

“Under any other circumstances, I would say it’s a pleasure making your acquaintance. I can’t say this is a normal circumstance,” I said.

 

“I’ve seen some wild things in my day, but this takes the cake,” Banks said.

 

“More like an end of the world shit storm,” Sharp said. “We got missing people all over the place,” she added.

“That’s right, and maybe more out here. Thomas and Rhonda already found these five. Our best bet now is to find more officers, deputies, and troopers. Any emergency services personnel will do. That’s what I need you two to do. The Mayor gave me this list. It’s got everyone’s addresses on the force. Hit'em up, all of them,” Sheriff Orkan stated.

“The two of you are better off starting here first. Work your way inwards. Keep your eyes open and if you see anything that isn’t normal, call it in and return here,” I said.

 

“Are you going out scouting?” Sharp said.

 

“Have to. It’s the only way to get meaningful information,” I said.

 

“I’m setting up a command station here. There’s really just one way in town. I doubt I will have problems with the fjord. It is as deep as the lake, intruders will find it difficult to come up to our shores. However, just in case I will set up another post opposite this one. I’ll have Harper and Kristensen out there, too. The more teams searching for others, the better,” Sheriff Orkan said.

 

“Sounds like a good plan. The creatures out there may have a fear of light. The streetlights may prevent anything from even trying to enter the crater for now. Let them know there are hostiles about. Maybe not in the town but out there. The days and nights here are vastly longer,” I said. 

 

“Days are forty-two, by my count. There are about thirty more hours until daylight. We’re out of our element here. You can search for ten hours max, then get back here for at least eight hours of downtime,” the sheriff said.

 

“I believe we can complete our scouting mission by morning, if not midday. Sixty hours tops,” I said. 

 

“Then you better get moving, son,” he said.

 

Rhonda and Grace were finishing up with the other Orkans. That’s what I was calling them for now. I signaled to them it was time to go as I grabbed Kathy. We left without another word. There was a lot to process now and even more waiting in the hours and days ahead. ‘One step at a time.’ 

 

The road came to an end. Rhonda stopped the vehicle just short of where I’d stopped previously. I could see the tire tracks where I’d stopped behind the jeep. Rhonda and her dad took both jeeps back into town a long while ago. Probably when I was out. This time, I wasn’t going on foot. Thinking back, that was an insanely bad idea. I looked over at her; she was drawing something on paper. ‘A crude map made with estimations of where we are at presently. Smart girl, that one. We might need the references later.’ I turn to look in the backseat to see Kathy doodling notes while Grace’s eyes are examining the vast dead woods landscape. Those three trios of moons gave plenty of light despite being nighttime. I’d never wondered how nine moons larger than one I knew could illuminate a landscape. It is a stark contrast to the last time I was out here. It dawned on me that Qrurcean, or whatever he was, may have cast some spell. I have no idea how magic works here. It does not seem to work the way one would think. Rhonda increased her speed as we crossed a flat area of the dead forest. The humvee speeds forward, but Rhonda’s driving is cautious but speedy. I took the initiative to man the spotlight to scan the surroundings. Everyone has their eyes open and minds sharp. I grip my M4 in my free hand. ‘We gotta be able to react on a dime if one of those spider-scorpion monsters shows up again.’ This time, I know I am well prepared. We even have a few RPGs. Rhonda and Kathy know how my dad kept all kinds of hardware at the cabin. So did the sheriff. ‘Anything else we could have gotten from the surplus stores in town?’

 

A short time later, an area I recognized, the moderately sized hill came into view. This is where Aphanea lived. Her cave entrance wasn’t far.

 

“Rhonda, stop over there,” I said, pointing.

 

She pulls up right where I suggested. 

 

The four of us get out. Rhonda eyes me closely while Grace monitors Kathy. The entrance is right where I remembered. I slide into the narrow gap with Rhonda closely behind me. Once inside, her home was just as we left it. A moment later, the others squeeze in. The fire was out, leaving it dark without our flashlights. 

 

“This is the place you were?” Kathy asked, pointing her flashlight around.

 

“Small!” Grace whispered.

 

I didn’t answer. She wasn’t asking, just speaking out loud as she looked around. It is a somber tone for me because of what happened and for them because someone actually can survive out here. Until now, they may have assumed Aphanea was like us. For all they knew, some person or unknown pulled her into this world. She wasn’t. This is her world. We were the newcomers. Rhonda seemed fixated on the bed. She shot me a weird look that I couldn’t decipher. Yet Kathy seemed to know what she was implying. Grace even sighs at the sight of the bed. Rhonda didn’t look too happy to be here. Neither did Kathy, for that matter. I couldn’t tell one way or the other with Grace. She just kept a docile expression on her face. It’s like wheels in her mind are turning in one after another. Rhonda breaks the awkward silence.

 

“Come on, let’s go. Nothing helpful here now. You saw that dragon thing. It went southbound,” Rhonda said.

 

“How come it took you so long to get back?” Grace mumbled.

 

All three pointed their flashlights at me. Their lights blind me, so I cover my eyes.

 

“Oh… yeah… good question,” Kathy replied.

 

They both stood with arms folded, expecting an answer. “I couldn’t walk…,” I answered.

 

That was the truth. It took less time to heal than I wanted to tell them. It would serve no purpose to tell them how I came back from life-ending wounds. 

 

“Really, the giant couldn’t walk??? How’d you fit in that bed? I don’t see another cottage to sleep in..,” Rhonda explained.

 

"My feet just hung off the bed,” I replied.

 

“How’d you heal so fast, anyway? From what I understand, it was pretty bad for you. That should disable a smaller person for months, but someone like you would take weeks, maybe months,” Grace said.

 

“I like to know that myself, too,” Kathy added.

 

“You ask me how I healed so fast? I don’t have the answers. Between the medicine, she used and maybe… maybe magic… I don’t know,” I mumbled, looking away from them.

 

There was no way I was telling them she was a Lamia that sucks blood. One that could heal me faster. That would lead to other questions. 

 

“Fair enough, but where’d you get that big ass sword and crown you snuck into the Humvee? Not to mention that bone sword and weird bow,” Rhonda revealed.

 

“These are your basic medicinal herbs. Good at stimulating healing, but not to the degree your story showed. Don’t get me started on magic. It’s impossible,” Kathy said firmly.

 

“Look, we just want to know if we aren’t out here on a whim…,” Grace said.

 

“Let me put it this way. That thing that took Aphanea… could come for any of you. That’s an actual threat. Whatever that monster was, it wanted her for a reason, and when you consider how many women are showing up in town. It ain’t hard to guess. Those behind what brought us here did not bring our town because of people like me… these monsters are after women,” I revealed.

 

At this point, it wasn’t a theory of mine. There is enough evidence to point in that direction. Hearing that really changed the tone to serious.

 

“Is that what you are going to stick with, big guy?” Rhonda questioned.

 

I pause for a moment, then I look Rhonda in the eyes.

 

“I don’t know about you but I don’t want my sisters or any of you being some deprived beings slaves…,” I said.

 

That future is a real possibility. The amount of fighting-age adults is limited to mostly women. If something happened to the sheriff and me. Well, it wasn’t a pleasant thought.

 

“He’s just saying the quiet part out loud. We’re all thinking that right now…,” Grace said.

 

“Jesus, Thomas, you sure know how to darken a gal’s day…,” Rhonda said.

 

“Look, no one cares if you and the native got close. We just wanted to know if you are clear-minded,” Grace added.

 

“I can’t be clear-minded when I could be the reason you three get taken too,” I admitted.

 

“That will not happen if we prepare. I’m sure between the four of us, we can come up with a viable contingency plan,” Grace said.

 

“They’re right. Eventually, we have to fight for ourselves. Right now, it’s just you. Sheriff Orkan has his hands full all alone with the town,” Kathy said.

 

“So we couldn’t let you go alone. This is a team problem, not a you problem,” Rhonda said.

 

They were right, too. From here on out, we all have to play it smart. Even if it’s by the ear. We can’t afford to make haphazard choices in this world. This is as much a rescue mission as an intelligence mission. I can’t put them at risk just to save Aphanea, but I made a promise. She’s coming back with us no matter what.

 

“Alright, let go. Wherever Qrurcean took her has to be within a few hours or less. They terrorized her every night for a prolonged period. That means they are closer rather than farther away,” I explained.

 

“Sounds about right. Better travel from here with no lights. I believe there’s enough moonlight to navigate at night,” Rhonda said.

 

They gather most of the supplies from Aphanea’s cave. Even the bed. I guess they figured she’s coming home with us. I took one last look at the cave entry. It was pleasant while it lasted. Time to move out.