They leave the house and follow the road through the forest, until the thick mass of trees opens up into fields, allowing them to see the town of High Rock once more. Astrid pauses, starring at the cloud of fog surrounding it.

Seeing his sister look at the mass of moving black mist, Elijah says, “I’ve been meaning to ask you again: what is that weird fog hanging around the towns anyway? You didn’t exactly give me a straight answer last time.”

Astrid looks deeper into the dark mass. The buildings within it look quiet. Almost peaceful. Still, the very thought of entering it makes her legs weak, as though Astrid’s body would rather have her collapse than enter the darkness. “I already told you. Something you don’t want to enter. That’s all I know.” Astrid drags her eyes away from what is now little more than a graveyard and continues walking.

“Did you go inside?”

“Yes. You can feel that death surrounds you the moment you enter it. I can’t really describe it, but it’s a deep fear. Almost like your body knows it's a death trap. I didn’t go in deep, but we still saw some sort of black figure. Those who did go in deeper were attacked by ghosts.”

 

They keep up a brisk pace until Astrid recognizes the area. She can see the burned-out building they passed when they came from the Sheriff's house and realizes that they made a massive circle around the entire area. They can even see Rot Rock from here. While they were gone, the entire farm was thoroughly fortified. Derelict cars, among other things, have been tipped on their sides, creating rather effective-looking barricades between the buildings of the farm. A makeshift platform has been constructed on top of the tallest building. Astrid can make out someone standing on top of it. While they are too far away for her infravision to highlight him, she can tell he’s holding a rifle. By the time the man turns in their direction, they’ve already gotten a good deal closer. She sees him raise his weapon and aim at them.

Astrid feels a bit weird. Part of her wants to dodge and run, but instead, she waves. Sure enough, the guard lowers his weapon as quickly as he raised it and yells something over his shoulder. His gaze continues to follow them, but he does not raise his gun again until a shadow passes over them. Astrid sees the man aim his weapon towards the sky and looks up. A large green shape is flying over the forest behind them.

“No. Not again!” Astrid yells. She grabs Elijah and sprints towards the farm.

At first, the dragon continues its circle. They’re halfway towards the only opening in the barricade before it notices them. With incredible speed, it swoops down like an eagle.

A gunshot echoes over the fields, but the large creature continues its dive undisturbed.

Astrid runs as fast as she can, but the dragon is faster. The ground around her becomes dark as the creature casts its shadow upon them. In a desperate attempt to escape the incoming claws, Astrid throws them both forward. She isn’t fast enough to turn and slams onto Elijah with her full weight. She can literally feel the claw soaring past behind them, while Elijah screams in both pain and terror. Astrid looks up to see the dragon pull out of its dive.

The sentry takes aim with his rifle, but before he can fire another shot, the dragon flies past him and launches a cloud of golden fog at the platform. The man looks at the incoming mass of magical energy, dumbfounded. He throws his gun aside and jumps off the platform, but the cloud still reaches him and surrounds him in corrosive magic. Unlike when the dragon attacked Fynn, the cloud looks so thin it’s almost invisible, but the hunter still writhes in pain and disappears from sight.

Before the dragon can come around for another dive, Astrid and Elijah run through the gate and into the nearest barn. The flying creature does not attempt to follow. With a loud roar, it gains altitude and begins circling above the farm.

Astrid expected there to be someone inside this barn, considering how many people were here when they set out. The building is filled with a whole lot of machine parts and a partially disassembled harvester, but not a single person. She peeks back outside. The door to the main house has been opened, and from within, her brother Kilian is waving his large hand for them to come.

‘He’s alive.’ A sigh of relief escapes her lips, but the feeling is quickly pushed aside by fear. Astrid looks up and sees that the dragon is still circling high above the farm. While there is no way that thing isn’t going to spot them when they run across, the buildings should block a dive attack. The creature could decide to just attack with its magic breath, but Astrid decides to risk it. She picks her brother up with her good arm, sprints out of the door, and doesn’t look up until she reaches the door of the house. She finds that her fear was without cause. The dragon hasn’t entered into a dive. It’s still flying a gigantic circle above the compound.

Kilian pulls them both into a crushing embrace. “You’re alive!” He releases them and looks Astrid up and down.

Astrid pants. “Barely. Where are Mom and Fynn? Did… Did they both make it too? Unharmed?”

“Yeah. Mom is in a pond in the backyard and Fynn is upstairs with the Mayor and Sheriff. But I think you should be a bit more worried about yourself. You look like you should be dead. What happened to you, sis?”

Before Astrid can reply, Elijah says, “It was so scary. We got attacked by an owlbear, a magician and invisible monsters. They bit us, but Astrid fought them off until we reached a safe spot. Then we ran into a vampire, and she almost fought us, but Astrid threatened her and the vampire ran away as quickly as she could.”

Astrid feels cooler than she probably looks after that dramatized account from her brother.

“Impressive,” Dr. Moore says from behind Kilian’s massive frame. “I assume you ran into a pack of oni. And what is this I hear about a vampire and a magician?” He squeezes past Astrid's brother and looks at her. “Wow. I should probably check on these wounds,” he says, before his gaze switches to Elijah. “Are you hurt too?”

Elijah quietly replies, “It’s okay. Just a bite.”

“Hmh. I’ll take a look at it anyway, but I’ll make sure your sister isn’t dying of blood poisoning, or loss, first.” The doctor waves for Astrid to follow him. Kilian squeezes himself against the wall to allow both of them to pass.

Astrid hesitates. “I… I’d like to speak to Fynn and my mother first. I just…” She trails off.

The doctor frowns. “They’re both fine. You can talk to them once we’ve made sure you’re not dying.”

He leads Astrid upstairs to his office. On their way, they pass the Sheriff. “Ah, Astrid! Good to see you’re back.”

“Thanks.” Astrid nods at her as she follows the doctor up the stairs.

The small room he’s using as a makeshift doctor’s office has been slightly upgraded since Astrid was last here. A new table covered in different utensils has been set up next to another table covered in a white tablecloth and a wooden chair.

“Sit and take off your sweater and shirt.” The doctor nods towards the chair.

Astrid obeys and slowly lowers herself into the chair.

“Now let’s see how bad that really is... Wow, what happened to your chest?” he asks as he notices the large patch of red skin.

“This? That’s where that lightning mage hit me. His spell somehow shot my hand and my chest.”

“All right… let’s look at the bites first and work our way to those burns.”

The doctor starts with her arm by cutting through the makeshift bandage. The dried blood has turned the cloth hard as stone, but after a bit, he cuts through it. Astrid flinches as he slowly breaks the cloth away and looks at the wound.

“A good thought, but the way you bandaged this, you might just as well have spared the shirt. Still. The wound doesn’t look infected, so that’s good,” the doctor comments as he examines the bite.

“Do you need to stitch it or something?”

“Normally I would, but this wound is already almost a day old from the looks of it. It’s not near a joint where every movement would reopen it, and while all these bites are going to leave you with a bunch of scars, I don’t think reopening them for stitching is worth it. Especially since I don’t have any anesthetics. Seriously though, these bites are all in pretty good places. If I had to get bitten somewhere, that’s where I'd want it. Anyway, I'm going to cut away the bandages, then you'll need to take off your pants”, he says as he gets to work on her leg. “So what was that about a vampire?”

Astrid flinches again as he removes another bandage. “Fynn's mother and that girl we found weren’t sick. Well, not in a normal way. They both turned into vampires and then the girl killed Fynn's mother. We ran into her in a house not too far from here.”

“How did you know she was a vampire?”

“Well, she told me and tried to bite me. She also looked pale and sick but was pretty strong. I mean, she didn’t have Edward levels of super strength, but she could almost go toe to toe with me and I'm about as strong as a trained man. I think.”

The doctor looks puzzled. “Mhm. Could you take off those sweatpants now?” he asks as he replaces his scissors with a bandage.

While Astrid does her best to remove her pants without touching the wounds, the doctor asks, “So who's that Edward fella you just talked about?”

Astrid smiles. “A vampire from a series of books. He's got like superman levels of strength and speed. Almost.”

“Ah,” he says, “Glad to hear we don’t have bloodthirsty superhumans running around. Anything else you noticed? By the way, what’s that on your shoulder?” He nods at the band-aid.

“This? Right after I first transformed, I almost got grabbed by a giant eagle raptor. It missed me, but scratched my shoulder.”

“Might as well take a look at it,” the doctor says, carefully removing the adhesive. “Looks good. Even though you just slapped a band-aid on it, it's healing nicely. All right, now let’s see those burns.” He inspects her hand and chest. “Does it hurt?”

“Yeah. It’s a deep, throbbing pain.”

“Sounds about right for an electric burn, but this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. There’s a clear entry point on your hand. You can see these burns running up your arm, which makes sense for electricity, but then there is another larger sunburn-like thing on your chest. You said he only shot you once?”

“Well, once in the hand and chest, and once in the leg.”

“Mhmm. It doesn’t look too serious. Let me just put something on them. Anyway, you were telling me about the vampire.”

“Well… There’s not much more to tell. I mean, we should probably be careful, but I doubt she’ll stay in the area. She knows I will have told everyone here about her.”

As the doctor continues taking care of her wounds, Astrid asks something that’s been bothering her since she got back: “Why is this place so empty now?”

“Most of the hunters left to look for their own families and we also lost a few people. All in all, I would say there are about 30 people left, six of whom have a timer on them.”

“What?” Astrid asks.

“Sorry. People who won’t make it long without their medicine. No one has shown any symptoms normally caused by their medication withdrawal, but…” The doctor coughs. “Let's not talk about that. I think we're done here,” he says and sits down on the only other chair in the room.

Astrid inspects the fresh bandages on her bites. He has put some sort of brown liquid on her burns, but hasn’t covered the claw mark on her shoulder with anything. “Isn’t there anything we can do to help them? Maybe we could try going back to the pharmacy? Now that we know what to expect.” The thought of the dark fog sends a chill down Astrid’s spine, but the idea of just letting these people die repulses her as well.

“Risk losing healthy people in an attempt to postpone the inevitable deaths of the sick? If I didn’t like helping people, I wouldn’t have become a doctor, but sometimes we have to do what's logical instead of what might feel right. So no. We’re not doing anything. Besides, maybe the fact that none of them are showing symptoms of their conditions means the fog has cured them. After all, even those who stayed human all received at least minor changes to things like their muscle mass. I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but it is possible.”

Astrid shrugs.

“Is there anything else you need?” Dr. Moore asks her.

Another question comes to Astrid’s mind: “Do you know how many of us were changed?”

The doctor smiles. “I've tried to find out. From the limited dataset, I can assume there was a very high chance of being transformed into another species. The dataset I have is too small to determine reliable odds for individual species, but kobolds seem to be the most common, with elves second, then giants and finally merfolk as the rarest form. That is, of course, if we have even encountered every possible transformation. What is funny is that there seem to be a lot of elven women. We know of around seven elves and only one of you is a man, which means we either have a dataset that’s not representative, or your species has a really unusual gender ratio.”

“What do you mean?”

A smile flashes across the doctor's face. “Let’s just say that from an evolutionary standpoint, it is extremely unlikely for mammals to not have a one-to-one gender ratio. It’s probably just dumb luck though. All of these numbers are probably wrong anyway. Perhaps, if I can get more data to work with, I could come up with more accurate ones, but until then we won’t know anything for sure.” He pulls his chair closer to the table. There's a new glint in his eyes that Astrid can’t really explain. “Who could have thought that the end of the world as we knew it would be this interesting? I mean, there are so many new things to discover. This must be how the explorers of old felt when they discovered a jungle for the first time.”

The sudden change of subject surprises Astrid. “You seem pretty pumped about the fact that there are monsters running around that can tank gunfire or turn invisible.”

The man scowls. “I'm not pumped about that, but don’t tell me these new creatures don’t fascinate you.”

“They do… I guess.” Astrid hasn’t really thought about these creatures, other than how she can prevent them from eating her.

“Besides, we need to find out as much as possible about this new world. Especially with a dragon circling above the farm.”

Astrid jumps out of her chair. “It’s still here?” she asks as she runs to the window.

It’s still there, flying in a gigantic circle above them. Knowing that this magic acid-fog-breathing monster is flying above them fills Astrid with fear and anger.

“What the hell is that thing’s problem? Why won’t it leave us alone?”

The doctor joins her looking through the window. “What do you mean? Did it chase you?”

“It grabbed my younger brother, then when he got away, it followed him to the lake where my older brother and mother were hiding. After that, we fought and it hasn’t left us alone since.”

“Did you wound it? Maybe it wants revenge,” he offers.

“I did shoot it in the head… and the leg.”

“I think you should go tell the Mayor about that. You know what, I’ll come with you. You should probably put on some new clothes though.”

Astrid barely noticed she's wearing nothing but underwear. She feels slightly embarrassed. “Yeah… a new set of clothes would be nice.”

“I'll be right back,” he says and leaves the room.

Astrid sits there alone for a few minutes until the doctor returns with another pair of sweatpants and a shirt.

Astrid stares at the clothes. “Don’t you have something more like, I don’t know, jeans? And maybe a new bra as well? This one doesn’t exactly fit anymore.” She gestures at her chest.

“There was no one in this house that was close to your size. I figured that sweatpants that are too short are easier to wear than jeans that are too tight. As for your bra, I doubt Ms. Rot’s things would fit you.”

“We really need to raid an outlet or something,” Astrid grumbles as she puts on the clothes. As expected, they look terrible and don’t properly fit anywhere.

 

As soon as Astrid has put on her new clothes, the two leave the room as quickly as her wounded leg allows and head for Mr. Rot's former office. It looks like the doctor wants to help her walk, but pulls his hand back upon seeing her manage on her own.

She can hear the Mayor and Sheriff talking through the door. Astrid can't understand what they’re saying, but the moment she opens the door, the Mayor says “…shot down…” She looks at Astrid. “Ah, there you are. We were expecting you.”

Astrid notices her younger brother and Fynn sitting next to the Sheriff.

Another wave of relief washes over Astrid when she sees Fynn, completely unharmed. Before she can open her mouth, the Sheriff says, “Fynn just told us what happened and one question came up.”

Astrid looks away from Fynn and steps into the room. “What question?” she asks as the doctor closes the door behind her.

“Why that flying green dragon apparently refuses to kill you two,” the Sheriff says, nodding at Astrid and her brother.

“What?” Astrid grimaces. “That thing followed us like a bloodhound and tried to grab us several times. It didn’t even give up after I shot it… TWICE.”

Fynn turns to face Astrid. “Yes, but the moment it saw me, it blasted me with that magic acid breath, and if I hadn't closed that door, I would be a pile of dust. From what I saw and what your brother told us, it could have melted you two any time. Yet the only thing it did was try to grab you. And when it grabbed your brother, it didn’t even sink its claws into him. For some reason, it wants you two – or at least your brother – alive, and is risking a lot of injuries chasing you.”

Astrid considers this. “All right, then why is that thing chasing us like… that…” Her voice trails off and her eyes widen.

The Sheriff asks, “What are you thinking?”

Astrid bites her lip. ‘It can’t be… Dad? No, that’s absurd. But after everything that's happened, maybe not that far-fetched…’ “Elijah. What happened to Dad? Did you see the dragon eat him?”

Her brother's eyes widen. “I didn’t see it, but when we woke up, he was gone and… Wait. You don’t think that dragon is Dad?”

Astrid looks at the Sheriff.

The other elf shrugs. “I’ve seen so many crazy things these past few days, I don’t think anything is impossible. The only thing is… what if that's not your dad and it actually does want to eat you?”

“Besides,” the Mayor adds, “if that thing's your father, then why doesn’t he try to communicate with you? What I’m saying is, that thing might be your father, but if it’s not it will kill you.”

Astrid is suddenly excited. “Yes, but if it's him, that would mean my entire family has survived.”

The Mayor shrugs. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t die, but it's your funeral. Do what you will.”

Somewhere outside, they hear a gun go off. Astrid jumps at the sudden sound.

“What was that?” the Mayor asks and runs to the window. They hear a muffled roar from the dragon above. As the Mayor opens the window, the roar fills the room and they see the dragon fly away above them.

Astrid runs to the window. Whoever shot it apparently didn’t hit, but it's too far away to be sure.

“What was that?” the Mayor yells to the shooter on the roof.

The man lowers his gun. “It flew a bit lower, so I decided a little payback for those burns on my arm was in order.”

“What if you provoked it and it decided to disintegrate the entire farm?”

The man looks angry. “Well, I didn’t. I chased it away. First, it’s ‘I want it shot down’, then it’s ‘Don’t make it angry.’ Decide what the hell you want.”

The Mayor scowls and replies, “I'm still getting used to guns being the only solutions to our problems. I'm sorry if that sounded ungrateful.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “Did you hit it?”

Even from a distance, Astrid can see the man relax. “I don’t think so. It didn’t look like it was wounded, but I’m not sure.”

“Thanks,” the Mayor yells and steps away from the window.

Astrid stares after the dragon as it flies away. ‘As impossible as it seems, that has to be Dad.’

“That solves that problem,” the Mayor says.

Astrid glares at the woman. “What do you mean that solves that problem? You just chased away what might very well be my father!”

The Mayor shakes her head. “Oh, come on. Everyone we know of has been transformed into some sort of human-like thing. That thing is probably just really fond of little boy meat and can’t eat something if it’s melted. Sheriff Winkler is just filling your head with nonsense by trying to make sense of a monster’s actions. And besides, if that thing is your father, it will be back.”

Astrid’s shoulders slump. “Then what do we do now?”

“There are about a million things that need to be done around here. You’re in the Sheriff's new militia, so ask him. Otherwise, if you and your family want to leave, leave,” the Mayor says.

Astrid scowls.

The doctor, who has kept quiet up until now, pretends to cough. “Astrid, didn’t you want to tell everyone something?”

Astrid suddenly remembers why she came in the first place. “Yes, of course. While we were on our way back here, I met the sick girl we found in the house. Turns out that disease she and Fynn's mother were infected with turned them into vampires.”

“Vampires?!” the Mayor and Sheriff say in unison.

“Wait, does that mean my mother is still alive? Where is she?” Fynn jumps out of his chair. His expression drops as he sees Astrid’s expression.

“I didn’t see her body, but the girl said she killed her.”

Fynn’s face contorts in a mixture of rage and grief. “Tell me you killed her.”

Astrid quickly says, “We fought, but she was strong. I did my best, but she escaped before I could… kill her. I couldn’t pursue her with my wounded leg.”

Fynn clenches his teeth. He looks like he is about to explode. In a calm voice, he says, “Tell me everything about her. How strong was she? Did she have any powers or the like? Did she give any hints as to where she was going?”

“She was almost as strong as me. Stronger than she should be, but nothing superhuman. She didn’t use any powers on me, so I assume she doesn’t have any special abilities. Sunlight also didn’t seem to faze her, so she doesn't have that vampire weakness. At least, it didn’t seem like it. As to where she was going, she just ran off at full speed.”

Fynn nods. “She left on foot, right?”

“I didn’t see or hear any sort of vehicle, so I guess so.”

Fynn turns to the Sheriff. “We might be able to track her with Oskar.”

“Maybe,” the Sheriff replies.

Fynn turns back to Astrid. “Where is the house you found her in?”

“I don’t know… but I know how to find it.”

“All right. We have to get over there before the trail goes cold,” Fynn says. He grabs his rifle.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” the doctor says. “Astrid is in no condition to get into a fight. Her wounds might not be life-threatening, but intense physical exercise might reopen them. She should talk to her family and then get some rest.”

“Astrid,” Fynn says, “If we wait too long even Oskar won’t be able to track that vampire. We need to go now.”

Astrid feels exhausted. ‘I’ve been up all day, dragging myself here and the doctor is right. I’m in no condition to fight. On the other hand, I could’ve fought the girl back there, and if someone had killed my mother, I would want help too.’ Astrid takes an anguished look at Fynn, then at the doctor.

Seeing her hesitation, Fynn quickly adds, “We just need you to ride with us. I can guarantee there won’t be a fight.” He raises his rifle. “I have a bullet with that monster’s name on it. Please. She killed my mother. I need to find her.”

Astrid lets out a sigh. ‘Fynn helped me find my family. There is no way I can let him down now.’ “All right. Just let me tell my mother and brother I’m fine and then I’ll show you where I found her.”

A smile creeps across his face. “Thanks. I’ll go get Oskar and the horses and pick you up at the pond.” He turns to the Sheriff. “You coming too?”

The elf nods. “I’ll go get Noah and then we’ll help you ready the horses. Are we done here?” she asks the Mayor.

The woman just shrugs, as though saying there was never really anything to do here.