After about 1 hour of driving in complete silence, I'm still just trying to understand what I saw. They were some of the most grotesque looking things id ever seen, they looked like decaying creatures like a human corpse just slightly different with elongated hands,  and claws to match, and they had the most deformed faces. On the bright side though I guess I'm not going crazy, Elizabeth saw them too.

A lowed bang broke the silence.

POP!

"Crap," Elizabeth said.

"Was that the tire?" I asked nervously.

She pulled over to the side of the road and hopped out of the van. i climbed outside my door and followed after her.

"Yep, flat tire ill call roadside assistance," she groaned kicking the deflated tire, and then began reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone.

"That could take hours," I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in frustration.

She looked at me, annoyed. "Well, we don't really have another option. How about you go hop in the back and pick out a movie to watch while we wait." She said, waiving me away dismissively.

"Fine." I grumble as I walked to the door of the van to climb into the backseat. I pull out the bags and looked through the movies. A few moments pass, and I can't decide on the movie, I may have picked too many out at the store. The door popped open, and Elizabeth climbed in.

"What did you pick?" she asked as she took her coat off, and began getting comfortable in the other chair.

"Nothing yet, I can't decide. How long are we going to be waiting for?" I asked, looking from the tapes to her.

"Won't be here until 6 in the morning." She said while looking at the movies, picking up a horror movie about a demon who terrorizes a bunch of friends inside an abandoned hospital.

"Great, I say." i pull my phone out of my pocket. it's only 11 pm. "So we are stuck here until morning?"

"Yah," she sighed, still reading the description on the movie case. "But it won't be all bad. we can have a movie night in the van, like we used to at your parents' house." She said enthusiastically.

"Ok, that's not a horrible idea, you know besides the fact that we just got attacked staying on the side of the some random ass road overnight is not on the top of my to-do list." I said sarcastically, "and besides, I don't even know what movie to start with."

"Relax," Elizabeth said with a calm look in her eye. "We are miles away from that town we will be fine tonight, and as for the movie," She paused and started tapping her fingers on the movie she was holding.

"Really? A horror movie after what we just saw, you want to watch that?" I said.

her expression turned to annoyance. "How could you not? Didn't it get you in the mood for something scary?" she said in an antagonizing tone.

"No! not at all." i argued

"Fine, how about this? we watch this movie, then we can watch one of the anime shows you picked out. Deal?" she said with a mischievous look in her eyes.

I thought about it for a few seconds. She's never interested in those shows, so I'm not willing to give up the chance to make her watch one.

"Fine," I agree, "but no passing out early."

She nodded in agreement; we went around and locked all the doors and put up all the blinds on the windows. She started getting the movie ready, and I folded down the back seat into the bed. I pulled out the blankets and pillows and got the bed ready. Once the movie was ready and the snacks were out. She got up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, pulling out the last of the drinks, we had snuck alcohol from her parents house for the nights we'd be stuck in the van.

"I'm going to wait outside so you can change into your pajamas, or are you going to sleep in your jeans?" she said as she opened the door.

"No, I figured I'd just sleep in my underwear." I said as I reached for my bag.

Elizabeth turned bright red and started laughing. "Yah, no one wants to see that. Just make it quick so you can switch places with me." She climbed out the door and shut it behind her.

I quickly pull out some sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt and get dressed. I move over to the car door and open it.

Elizabeth jumps.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you; the van is all yours," I said stepping out of the van.

"It's fine," she said blushing, she brushed past me, climbed in, and closed the door behind her.

A few minutes went by, and I wanted to get out of the dark. I kept peering around to make sure I didn't see any sign of glowing red eyes. I hear a branch breaking deep inside the woods. I rush to the van door. I'm a few feet from the door when it swings open. Elizabeth is standing crouched in the doorway of the van. I can't stop. I topple over her with a great big crash.

"What the heck is your problem?" she yelled as she was shoving me off of her.

Quickly getting up, I tried and catch my breath.

"There is something in the in the woods." I managed to wheeze out.

Elizabeth's face turns serious she grabs the flashlight out of her bag and shoves me out of the way she begins to shine her light on the tree line. A few moments pass, and she calls out.

"Would you get out here, you scaredy cat." She said in an annoyed tone.

I get up and lean out the door, her light on a tiny fluffy creature.

"A rabbit, you got scared by a rabbit." She said disappointedly.

"Look, I couldn't see, and all I heard was a branch breaking, so I ran better safe than sorry." I argued.

In my defense we almost died a few hours ago.

"Yah, and now my back is killing me, lets head in before his friends get here, I don't want you to cry when they hop all over you." she jokingly gives me a light shove and gets in the van.

We set up on the bed, both laying on our stomachs so we could see the tv. The horror movie wasn't so bad. The monsters didn't even compare to what we saw a few hours earlier. It kind of made the whole movie a comedy, and before I knew it, the movie was over.

"See, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Elizabeth said to me her head turned on the pillow, her red hair covering half her face.

"No, it was kind of funny," I agreed as I got up to grab the anime tape.

"Do we really have to watch that?" she complained.

"Sorry, but you promised." I said in a mocking tone.

I put the tape in, and it started to play.

"What is this even about?" she asked.

"It's one of my favorites. A group of adventurers are tasked with stopping the demon king from destroying the world." I explained probably a little too enthusiastically.

She looked confused "Oh so like every anime they have out there?"

I threw a few pretzels at her as the show began, after about an hour worth of episodes my eyes started to feel heavy, I looked over at Elizabeth her eyes fixed on the tv she's on her third bag of chips. I feel myself drifting off to sleep. Darkness surrounds me.

I open my eyes and don't recognize anything around me. Where am I? I see a building set ablaze it looks like some type of fancy school except human bodies dangle from the windows, some with their limbs missing others being ripped apart by monstrous creatures.

I hear a woman begging for her life as a demon begins to rip her limbs from her body.

SNIFF

I look over and see a massive monster with a horn on the top of his head. That wasn't the most disturbing feature, though he had 1 massive bloodshot eye. His body is covered in scars and lacerations with yellow puss oozing out. In one hand, he carried what looked like a medieval ball and chain. In the other, a girl my age maybe a little bit older in white and blue armor. She's dead, I thought to myself.

Augh

I heard her moan as she struggled to get let loose from the creatures grasp. Suddenly, it moved its arm with the ball and chain.

CLUNK

He swung his harm forward the ball landing a few feet in front of him, and with one fluent motion it swung the girl by her legs onto the spiked ball with enough momentum that the girl's body burst apart.

I look on in horror to see all the other humans being slaughtered like vermin, and then I hear it. A sick demonic laughter coming from behind me, it spoke.

"Gaze upon the death of humanity," it yelled, holding what looked to be an old man's head on a pike. I can't see what he looks like, just like the monster from my last dream he's shrouded in a black fog. All I can see are his glowing yellow eyes.

He looks this way. Can he see me? I feel like a massive weight is on my back it is causing me to fall to the ground.

This has to be a dream, this cant actually be happening. I begin to feel a breeze on my neck, i turn around and begin to panic.

it looked like a large black winged creature the size of a football stadium was flying over part of the city, breathing black flames down on the city.

I looked at it for a few moments, trying to make out more of the creatures' features. then, it began to grow larger. Wait no its not getting larger. it's getting closer.

I became frozen in fear as it got closer. i could tell it was definitely a dragon.

It had a lizard like head with spikes coming out like a bulls horns, spikes ran down its back to its tail, the tail itself was long and sharp at the end like it could be used to cut building in half.

It was getting closer moving quite fast for something its size, it started to descend, I'm going to be crushed if I don't move.

I tried with all my might to move out of the way, but it felt like an invisible force was now holding me in place instead of the fear I felt before. It's too late i'm screwed.

BANG.

I shot up from the bed and hit my face on the ceiling of the van.

After a few seconds, i calm myself, my head throbbing. i look to my side, Elizabeth is gone. I was about to start calling out to her, but then I heard Elizabeth talking to someone outside the van.

"Thank you again, sir," I hear her say.

The door opens up, and she hops back into the van. She has dark circles forming under her eyes.

"Didn't sleep well?" I asked.

"More like not at all." She said yawning, she continued,"I got really into that show. I got through like 8 episodes." She said with a smile.

"Woah, what happened to you?" she asked, pointing at my face.

"Yah, that lowed bang scared me awake." I said, rubbing my forehead where a nice size lump began to form.

" They finally got here, huh?"

"Yah, he needs us to get out so he can replace the tire." Elizabeth said, motioning me out of the van.

As I get out of the van, I notice the sun is just beginning to rise I look over at the truck driver, he was a pot-bellied man about 6ft 1 with a giant white beard, his name tag said Buck. He looked over at me.

"How long until we are back on the road?" I asked the white bearded man.

"No time at all, I don't like being out by this wood line. I'll have you set to go in 10 minutes." He said as he hurried to get the car jacked up.

"Why a lot of bears in the area?" Elizabeth spoke up with a concerned look on her face.

He paused. "Bears? No, we don't get much of them out here, " he said, pulling the tire off. I looked at him, and he had a worried look on his face.

"If it's not bears, what is it?"

He stopped picking up the new tire and spoke in a shaky voice.

"Lots of people have been going missing on this road always in the middle of the night. we keep getting calls to tow away abandoned vehicles. The last one had claw marks all over the outside."

"How bad were the claw marks?" asked Elizabeth.

"Horrible don't know any animal that would be able to do that kind of damage. At least not around here." Buck said wiping the sweat from his head.

"Well, why haven't the police done anything about it?" I asked, peaking over my shoulder into the tree line.

He continued to pick up the new tire and put it on the van he looked at me and gave me a smile.

"I wouldn't worry too much whatever they are they don't like to come out during the day too much." He took a breath and picked up the lug nuts and began to secure the tire.

"As for the Cops" he continued "they don't really know what to make of it, they can't go around saying it's a monster, nah they'd rather just blame an animal and be done with it."

He tightens the last lug nut and begins to lower the van off the jack. He packs up his tools and starts walking towards his truck. Before he gets in, he turns to us.

"You kids should get some good food in you after a night out here. there is a small town called Grace about 14 miles north. Just follow this road it's a safe spot to catch a bite to eat." He turns and hops into his truck and drives off in the opposite direction.

I give Elizabeth a nod we head towards the van. She tosses me the keys.

"You drive. I need to sleep for a bit," she said, crawling into the passenger seat.

"I can't believe you stayed up all night watching that show, I'm never going to let you live it down." I chuckled as I buckled my seat belt and started the van.

"Tell anyone, and I'll bury you six feet deep," she said, yawning as she was passing out.

"Noted." I said, looking over at her only for her to be fast asleep. Well, I guess I should start heading for that town Buck told me about. I reached into the back seat and grabbed an energy drink Elizabeth bought from the convenience store. I put the car in drive and set off down the road.

About 30 minutes later, I see a sign, with big bold blue letters,

Welcome to Grace, a blessed town.

I pull into a parking lot in the middle of town, no restaurant or diner in sight. I shake Elizabeth. No luck she's fast asleep. I open the glove box and grab a pen and some scrap paper I write down.

Tried to wake you, went looking for a place to eat, will come get you when I find one don't leave.

-Lance

After writing the note, I set it down on the center counsel of the van. I open my door and began to walk around the town. Nothing out of the ordinary. I kept an eye out for glowing red eyes.

About 10 minutes pass and I found a diner that looked like it had seen better days with the wood siding starting to fall apart, and few cracks in the windows, but it felt peaceful, I like it here a lot more than that freakish town from before. I look at my phone it's been about 25 minutes, and I need to head back to the van.

After a few wrong turns, I make it back to the van. Elizabeth is awake and outside wearing a black rock band shirt, torn jeans, and black army boots.

She looks at me and begins to laugh she points at me and asks, "Did you really walk around this whole town in your pajamas?"

"Yah, you know someone wouldn't wake up so I couldn't change in the van." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"I found a place to eat. Wait here while I change, ok?" I told her

"Sure, don't take too long. I'm starving." She replied, rubbing her stomach.

I hopped into the van and got changed into a shirt with a button-up flannel, a pair of jeans, and my sneakers. I finished up hopped out, and we made our way to the diner.

We arrive and see a booth open in the corner we head over to sit down. Not much longer after we sat down, we see an elderly woman with grey hair and a gentle smile her name tag says Deb, and she walks over to us.

"Well, don't you kids look like you've been through one heck of a night." She said as she pulled out her pen and paper.

"We have, and we are starving," groaned Elizabeth.

"Well, here at the Cibus diner, we have the best pancakes in the state." Deb says confidently.

"Fantastic ill take six pancakes hashbrowns sausage and white toast," Elizabeth said, handing Deb her menu.

Deb looks at Elizabeth confused, and I don't blame her that's a lot of food for a girl her size she's not too tall and she barely looks like she's got any weight on her. However, she could eat as much as a professional eater.

"Ok," said Deb, she looks over to me. "And what can I get for you Hun?"

"Just some biscuits and gravy with white toast and a side of sausage." I say, handing her my menu.

"Alright, be about 10 minutes. I'll bring you kids over some coffee," deb rushes off.

A few minutes go by, and Deb leaves us a coffee pot with 2 mugs we both pored our coffees and waited for a our food at about 10 minutes on the dot Deb rushes over with a mountain of food. And passes us our plates.

"Now you kids enjoy. I'll be by once you're done with the bill." She said with a smile on her face, rushing over to a new customer.

Neither of us says a word. We dig into our food like we had not eaten in weeks. I make it through almost all my food when I notice Elizabeth staring over my shoulder.

"What is it?" I asked her as I turn my head to see whatever she is looking at. there was a tall muscular man with slicked back black hair and a beard, both going slightly grey. He wore a nice 3-piece grey suit with brown dress shoes.

"That man hasn't stopped staring at us since we started eating." She whispered.

"Well, maybe he's disgusted with how much you are eating?"

"Hey! i need this. I got to be fueled for when i have to protect you from the scary rabbits." she teased.

"Would you please shut up and just stuff your face." I said angrily, stabbing at one of my sausages.

"Crap, he's walking this way." she said in a whisper.

I looked behind me, and the man was making his way over to our booth, I noticed a ring on his finger with what looked like a weird group of knots carved into it. He stopped at the end of the table and looks at us both.

"May I sit?" he said in a low, calm voice.

"Sure," I mumble without even thinking.

THUMP

A Sharp pain shoots through my leg. Elizabeth kicked me she looks away from me and to the older man.

"Sorry, and who might you be?" she held up her hand, motioning the well dressed man to stop him from sitting.

"Well, Ms. Marandi, Mr. Neilson, my name is Roland, and I'm a friend." He said, continuing to sit down. ignoring Elizabeth's gesture.

Wait, how does he know our last names? we never introduced ourselves to him. Apparently, Elizabeth caught that as well.

"How do you know our names? What kind of friend are you?" she asked, reaching for something in her bag.

"Well, I guess you could say I'm a teacher for young minds like yourselves who start to see the things that go bump in the night." He pulled out a card from his wallet and handed it to Elizabeth. She snatched it out of his hand and read it for me to hear.

"Roland Griffin Magister in combat arms at Taurus University" she laughs. "Is this a joke? This doesn't have an address or phone number on it. You can't expect us to think this is real." Elizabeth looks at me, motioning for me to get my stuff together.

Roland looks at her and sighs "I'm quite serious and can you please not pull out your pepper spray id like to avoid causing a scene." he paused and leaned into the center of the table. "Look we don't have much time. You two have been marked for death. The demons will keep coming. The school is the only safe place for now."

I Speak up "Demons is that what those things in the village were?" I asked, and began gathering my stuff, and the visions of my dreams slowly start to reappear in my mind. This can't be real, I thought. Roland's stern voice brought me back from delving too deep into my thoughts.

He looked at me and spoke sternly "yes but by the time I finished off those ghouls, you had already made it to this diner." He finished.

I look at him this man fought off a small town full of what he called them ghouls? I don't believe him.

I started moving him out of the booth "look sir thank you for the company ,and the great lesson on the things that go bump in the night, but we should get going got to get back on the road" I got him out of the booth, and I stood up and motioned for Elizabeth to follow.

I began to walk away when I heard Elizabeth say.

"No, we're going with him." Elizabeth stood up and walked next to the man.

I walk over to her and lean in. "You can't be serious," I say as quietly as possible, hoping not to cause a scene in the diner.

Elizabeth gives me a serious look "Hey we got attacked last night we know the monsters are real and if this weird old guy can help us learn to fight them then I'm going to take advantage of that so are you coming?"

I sigh. "Fine."

"Fantastic, follow me," Roland said, throwing 50 dollars onto the able

"That should cover your food and the tip, follow me," he said, motioning us with his hand to follow him as he walked towards the hallway that led to the back exit of the diner. He stopped just before the exit. He raised his ring to his lips and whispered what sounded like gibberish. He then pressed the ring onto the door frame. White light flashed along the edges.

"Follow me." he said, as he busted through the door.