---

_{@Atrophy@He Who Walks Behind@Prosaic@FernStone@Mike73}

---

"Perfect." Claire said, rolling her eyes at their predicament. They were going to either get eaten alive by bugs, or killed by smoke. "Penny, could you be a deer and tell them that smoke kills people too? And that they'd also be cuttin' off their only fuckin' escape route." Claire dryly noted with her arms crossed.

"Claire." Britney started off, and quickly and effectively shut Claire down. "I trust Lynette knows this, and has figured something out."

"God I hope so," Claire didn't protest too much further. The only thing that she did was wait for the coast to be clear. Meanwhile, the swarm of insects gets closer and closer to devouring them all. Penny asked everyone what their abstractions was. Under any other circumstance, Claire would of told Penny to screw herself, but if it meant getting the hell out of here, she'd do anything. She clenched her fist, and then activated her aura that wrapped around her from head to toe. "Dunno exactly what I got, but I got this shield thing. From the fight with Reese, and that monster, it basically turns me into supergirl... but without the flight." She dryly noted.

She also looked down at Justin, and saw his aura, which was something she was keeping to herself, "... and I guess he can do something with fire - aka. the most useful ability for getting us out of this shit."

"Plants." Britney said as she raised a hand and demonstrated - creating a rose out of her hand. "And I can sense people who are touching plants. Such as people who are standing in grass." She tried to sense Sharon just to see if she was okay, but... she was gone. She looked confused for a moment.

However, at the corner of Claire's eye, she noticed something closing above them. She raised an eyebrow as she was seemingly staring at the ceiling, but she was seeing the aura of somebody. Somebody who should be outside. Sharon Reid. She caught the attention of the rest of the group, "... Sharon's in the house."

---

Dragging her feet to the house, Sharon didn't know what to do next. She tried opening her door, but it was barricaded. These bastards... she tried banging, but the hellish sound of the swarm made it impossible to hear beyond maybe a few inches. Sharon saw the insects guiding her to the window that was right next, and saw that it wasn't that well barricaded - she grabbed a rock that was on the porch, busted her window, and pushed the piece of furniture away enough so she could get in. Without a thought she climbed through - and loudly winced when a stray glass shard cut her. She fell, and caught herself with her good arm.

Helping herself up, she dragged her feet through her house, which was full of insects now due to the entrance she just made. She seemingly followed the beacons the insects were laying out for her. She wanted help.... were they guiding her to it? Eventually, she made it to her basement door and noticed the roots blocking the crack. She tried pulling the door open, but it was stuck, then she tried ramming the door with her shoulder in an attempt to break it free. With the door getting looser and looser with each ram.

---

"She's trying to get in! Stop her!" Claire said as she ran over to the stairs, but was stopped by Britney's hand on her shoulder.

"This is gonna seem crazy, but trust me," Britney started off, softly as possible, "You all have to let her in."

"And let the bugs kill us?!" Claire protested.

Before speaking, Britney created a lengthy wooden stick with a fat end using her abstraction, and presented it to the group. "If we knock her out, we can bring an end to this... probably" Britney explained, "It's not the best idea, but we have few other viable options at this poi-"

At this point Sharon broke the door open, and slowly climbed down clutching her broken arm and leaning up against the railing as she tried to climb down. "Help me..." She pleaded, as it seemed the insects wouldn't go past the door. As if she was keeping them at bay.

Britney held the weapon behind her back, but she made it clear that she wanted someone else to do it. Still, she looked up the stairs and quietly told somebody in the group, "... Somebody close the door."

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@Prosaic@Mike73@He Who Walks Behind}
The Reid Farmhouse – Main House

---

“I can get information about objects when I touch them,” Min spoke up in response to Penny’s question. “I’m afraid it’s not very useful in this situation.”

He wished he could do something but all he could think of was to sit tight. If they were going to smoke out the tunnels it would be better for them to not go in there. But there was always the risk the bugs would get them first.

Tuyen didn’t say anything, just silently standing against a wall. She wasn’t going to answer the question unless she was directly asked. And even then she’d say she didn’t have anything. She wasn’t going to tell them all the truth. She didn’t even entirely know what it was. So far it had been nothing but a burden. Just like her.

She’d jumped as Sharon appeared, banging at the door and then getting in. When Britney asked someone to close the door Tuyen was quick to run and do it. She didn’t want bugs getting in.

It was obvious that Britney didn’t want to be the one to knock Sharon out unless she had to. Leaving the dirty work to others, Tuyen guessed. She didn’t want to do it either though. She didn’t think she could.

Min had no such qualms. He picked up something from the nearby shelf – a heavy book. He moved over behind her. He swung the book at the back of her head hard, a point he know would knock her out but hopefully not damage her too badly.

He was read to hit again if the first one didn’t knock her out. He wasn’t too keen on it, but it was her or them.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Ciaran@Prosaic}
The Reid Farmhouse –Barn

---

“Got it!” Rien nodded to Lynette, and gave one to Jordan before they got to work. Their friend was tough and they were sure if she needed something she would’ve let Rien draw it for her.

They settled on wood – it was easier to draw for them. With cloth there was a risk it wouldn’t look right, really. They made a large block of wood first and pulled it out. They made a few more of these before going onto some smaller pieces of wood. They were pretty sure they’d read something somewhere about big pieces not being good to start a fire.

Because they’d drawn quickly a lot of the wood looked quite shoddy, but it was definitely wood. That was all that they needed. It was a lot of it too. They’d need it to smoke out the whole corridor.

“There you go,” they indicated to the pile before moving a safe distance away to sit down. They felt drained. They couldn’t say they felt too good after drawing all of that. They glanced down at their hands and their eyes widened in shock.

“Huh, that isn’t good.” Their hands had turned white, as had their feet and half their arms were black. They were normally pale but not like this. And they’d definitely been wearing a completely blue jacket without black sleeves. They didn’t even feel as concerned about it as they should. They were sure it would go back to normal. 

---

_{@Atrophy@He Who Walks Behind@Prosaic@FernStone@Mike73}

---

Min surprisingly (only because Britney figured either Claire or Penny would do it), took the initiative and knocked Sharon out. Still, Britney was tense because this was still a big gamble. Knocking her out would either make the situation so much worse....

The overwhelming sound of buzzing faded away quickly.

... Or solve all of their problems, as what clearly happened when Britney ran over to the basement window and saw the insects returning to the woodlands around the farm. And Britney started laughing out of pure joy, pumping her fist as she fell ass first to the ground. Their situation could have gotten a lot worse if everything didn't go as planned. However, there was still plenty to be done. She quickly looked up as if a burst of realization hit her, before she crawled over to Sharon.

"We need to help her arm," Britney flipped Sharon over onto her arm as gently as she could.

"Stick. A thick one." Claire said as she grabbed a white sheet that was in a basket. "I got this."

Britney broke the stick that she had created to knock Sharon out in half with a neat cut before she handed it to Claire, who quickly ran upstairs - all the way upstairs - into the bathroom and rummaged through the place for medical supplies. Paying little attention to the current state of the house. She looked for peroxide and bandages and whatever she could use to clean the wound. However, she came across a conspicuous empty prescription bottle.... It said Sharon Reid: Lithium.

Which was something that Claire found... interesting. She put it back, and quickly ran back downstairs with the medical supplies. She took off Sharon's shirt so she could get at the little cuts and bruises she obviously had on her. She got to work cleaning her wounds, before she looked up at the group, "I got things here... just... look through the house I guess? I guess the others would like an update." Afterwards, she stuck the stick under her arm, and it wrapped up with the sheet.

"Isabella," Britney looked at her friend, "Would you kindly heal Sharon? We have plenty of questions for her."

"Justin too." Claire noted.

"And Justin," Britney said, realizing how... impassionate she sounded. "Penny tell the others that the coast is clear - we still need to search this house." She walked up the stairs, and the very second she marched upstairs, she realized how trashed the house was. Dead insects were scattered about, and various other debris from their rampage was also merely lying around. It'd take a lot of cleaning to get this house livable again. Still, there was one thing that immediately came to mind that made Britney make haste towards the front door.

Lying on the ground was the mangled corpse of Andrea... it definitely wasn't a pretty sight. Britney immediately winced, and turned her head. However, she turned her head towards the body, and noticed something glowing on her wrist - a sigil of an hourglass. Andrea probably awakened before her death, but she either died before she could use her abstraction, or it was of no use. Though, Britney was oddly drawn to the sigil... she knelt down to touch it...

"... If you get one taste of this power, who's to say you won't want another... and another?"

Hearing those words echo through her head made her freeze in her tracks. A wheat colored energy covered both sides of Andrea's body. Before roots and vines covered her dead body (which she connected to a nearby tree), and pulled her into the ground. Deep into the soil. Britney immediately felt weaker... much weaker. Then she felt very guilty for the death of Andrea... because it was all her fault that she got dragged into this. And worst of all, Britney is trying to hide her death. It sucked but, she had a good reason for doing it. For starters, they didn't want the sheriff's department on them - especially this early on in their little group's lifespan. Andrea's family would be worried sick, and they would be devastated by the news - but the fact of the matter is...

... their mission was more important than getting her a proper burial. Especially with how many lives were at stake should the Glutton go on a rampage, they sure as hell didn't need such a disadvantage. The other reason was simple, she didn't want the group learning about a... certain ability this early. At least until she could weed out the people who simply weren't capable of handling it (And she had an idea of just whom fit this category).

Afterwards, she walked towards the garage and saw it opening up and smiled that the group was safe and sound...

---

---

"I won't detonate it while you're in there," Lynette flatly noted as Rien drew the wood - perfect. She didn't have a perfect grasp of her abstraction just yet, but she knew that it required conscious effort to even activate. "Besides, worst comes to worst, I have the tools to save you." She reassured Nathan, but at this point, the sounds of the swarm outside died down a bit. Until it had completely faded away.

"Hey guys," Hagan said, "Ya'll hear that, right?"

"Yeah... but I dunno if it's safe just yet," Lynette tried to urge him not to be so hasty. "They could be takin' a break or just trying to lure us out."

Billy told them that, indeed, the coast was clear, and everyone let out a sigh of relief as Hagan wasted no time going for the garage door. "Then what're we waitin' for!?" Hagan enthusiastically asked, "Let's get the hell outta this cramped ass garage!"

He threw the doors open, and let the sunshine in.

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square.

---

An hour passed since the incident...

The group properly examined the house... and other than the folder that the garage-gang found earlier, they found absolutely nothing. So Britney proposed that they cleaned up the house for Sharon for when she wakes up. Mostly Lynette with the usage of her glyphs, but by the time the hour was up, the house was... halfway to looking presentable. Sharon was placed on a sofa that Lynette cleaned to the best of her ability, and was resting while Isabella healed her, with the makeshift splint that Britney had created.

The group was gathered outside on the porch while Sharon rested to discuss... things.

"So..." Claire said with a burning cigarette hanging down from her lips, "... We gotta address the elephant in the room?"

Britney shifted through the photographs, before stopped at the last one. "The past is dead and so are they...?" Britney repeated the words out loud in a less than hopeful tone. Whatever these photographs meant, they meant nothing good.

"All the people crossed out," Jordan noted as she sat down on the stair with her leg stretched out, "We should look into them - the school too."

"Hillview Highschool closed years ago," Claire noted... she wanted to note that her parents graduated from there, but mere fuckin' thought of those assholes was enough to make the girl very uncomfortable. "I doubt we could just walk in and find everything on file, sweetheart...."

"Still say we should look," Jordan said, "There's still a trail we can follow. We can talk to these people if they're alive, and if they're not - people just don't disappear without a clue or anyone caring." She shrugged.

Claire snickered for a moment.

"Well in Farmer Fuckin' Hill, Montana," Hagan shook his head. "They do."

Britney quickly turned her head and sharply looked at Hagan, and realized the jackass may have well struck a nerve with Penny. Good grief. She shook her head, and looked up at the sky. The sun had nearly set on Farmer Hill, and it was already fairly dark out. Complete darkness was next, and she doubted that anyone would want to move while it was so dark out - especially Reese on the move. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this right now..." Britney nervously scratched the back of her neck.

Lynette was relatively quiet during the ordeal, since she was more concerned with keeping an eye on Sharon... and it wasn't long until the injured girl awoken with a groggy groan. With a snap of her fingers, Lynette caught everyone's attention, and said, "She's up, guys."

Immediately, Britney put the photographs in her purse, and nervously said, "... Maybe we shouldn't show these to her." As in, it'd probably be a terrible idea that'd end horribly, and nobody should do it. Which was why they were firmly staying in her purse.

Sharon slowly got up, in great condition, her arm was perfectly fine. She still felt a bit lethargic from the experience, but otherwise (if it wasn't for her house being in a shitty state) it was like she took a nap... and all these strangers were in her house. She loudly gasped as she saw them.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Lynette said, "It's okay, we're friendly!"

"... But you're also in my god damn house!" Sharon shouted.

"... that's a good point," Lynette said.

When she saw Britney, the girl relented, "It's okay, Sharon." She said. "Take deep breaths."

And the girl did. Slowly calming down.

"Want me to get you some water?" Lynette asked, and received a headnod as a response. Lynette quickly ran into her kitchen and poured her some water out of a pitcher and put ice in it and came back. Sharon wasted no time in downing all of it, before she wiped her mouth off and looked at the group. There were so many questions for the group that she had, but the main one was..

"... What the hell happened? All I remember was getting attacked by a monster, everything else is... hazy... unclear." Sharon asked as she looked at everyone. "... and why are you all in my house? No really, why are you all even here?"

---

@Surtr Inc @Prosaic @He Who Walks Behind @Atrophy @FernStone
The Reid Farmhouse - Main House.

---

Grant looked unsure of how to respond to Martin at first, wanting to find some way to comfort him or let him know that everything would be ok, but that wasn't exactly something he could guarantee. Several people had already gotten hurt, and though he didn't know it, someone had indeed died. So what could he even say to such a rational fear? So instead he didn't, and just nodded in understanding. At the rate things were going, the sky could very well begin to fall. But he also felt a small flame a determination within him as well; he was going to do what he could to make sure things didn't end that drastically, and that the people he cared about would be kept safe.

He would've texted his friend that, or something to that extent at least, but there were calls for everyone to get moving once the bugs temporarily froze in place. Everyone made a break for the basement, with a panicked Jasmine ushering in Grant to go in before her once she saw he was still ok, and soon enough they were all hunkered down in the last safe space in the house. Roll call for superpowers came up during the ensuing conversation, so Jasmine decided to speak up for both her and her brother.

"You already saw mine. I can freeze stuff in place, but I think it's different than what happened with the bugs. That wasn't me, I know that for sure. It's weird though, I feel...something, like whatever I did when I stopped Reese back at the Cafe, it stuck with me. I don't know, I can't explain it that well." She motioned at Grant as she added, "Anyway, Grant told me on the way here that he can nullify sounds. If we ever need to kill the noise in an area, he'll be our guy." Grant simply waved once he was mentioned.

The conversation turned to trying to deal with the swarm after that, and then the source itself, Sharon Reid. Jasmine was clearly hesitant when Britney suggested they knock the girl out, especially since she was already badly injured, but surprisingly enough Min of all people was the one to step up and do what had to be done.

"Jesus..." Jasmine muttered, as it looked like the young man was ready to hit Sharon again if need be, "Can't say you're not pragmatic." Britney was quick to get back to the group's original goal of searching the house once everything calmed down, and even left them to apparently go off and search some more. "Her too," Jasmine added with a sigh.

...

An hour went by. The house was cleaned up somewhat, and everyone was gathered around and discussing what was found.

"Has anyone let Min get ahold of those pictures yet?" Jasmine asked when it was brought up, "He should be able to squeeze a bit more info out of them."

"The car too," Grant signed as a suggestion, "Somebody had to hide the photos there."

"Ooh, good idea," Jasmine agreed, then paused for a moment once she remembered she'd have to translate what he said for the others, "Uh, he said to check the car too. Somebody had to hide the photos in it, right? It might be John Reid, but it could be someone else entirely. I feel like that's gotta be important to figure out here."

Sharon woke up soon after, understandably upset and confused. Neither Jasmine nor Grant were sure how to answer her questions, seeing as they were both just as new to the situation as she was. Honestly, all they knew was that some god-child figure had hinted to the rest of the group that they should come to the house. That...likely wouldn't be a good excuse here. Sure, on a more personal level, Jasmine had been attacked herself and was staying with the group for safety, and Grant was searching for answers to possibly learn about his own afflictions, but there was no real solid reason for them all to be there.

"...Shit, dude, I'm just looking for answers," Jasmine eventually just bluntly answered her, "I got attacked too, I think everyone here has, and we all somehow got pointed in this direction." She motioned vaguely to the house, looked somewhat exhausted as she did so. It had been a long day, after all. "I know that doesn't make any sense but nothing is making sense anymore."

Grant began to sign again, so Jasmine worked on translating aloud for the others.

"He's saying that maybe we were lead here because you're like us. A...mark? Sigil? Oh, we've all got sigils, and you probably do too."

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Main House

---

Billy was glad it was all over. He wasn’t glad that they were still there. Sure, sure, he understood that it would be a dick move to ditch a girl after they had invaded her home and then proceeded to give her a concussion, if what Penny told him was true, but it would’ve made more sense to take her to the hospital. At least he had tried to argue that, before Penny shut him down with a not-so-friendly reminder that that was a great way to get the authorities involved. Billy wasn’t as N.W.A. as his sister was when it came to the cops, but he didn’t want to have to talk to them again. Once a week was more than enough for his taste.

He hung on the porch, resting against the railing without putting his full weight on it in fear of breaking yet another part of Reid’s property. The sky was growing dark, and if Penny’s chain smoking was any indicator than he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be there after dark. The group was talking about the pictures—they had all taken a turn looking at them while they had been waiting for Sharon to come too. Billy had noticed the visible flare of anger on Penny’s face as she stared at the photo. He just wished that she would stay calm for once. Relax. Rest.

"Still say we should look," Jordan said, "There's still a trail we can follow. We can talk to these people if they're alive, and if they're not - people just don't disappear without a clue or anyone caring."

"Well in Farmer Fuckin' Hill, Montana," Hagan shook his head. "They do."

Billy noticed his sister’s head snap up. She had been sitting on the stairs, her eyes scanning the horizon—Billy didn’t know it, but she had been cycling her aura on and off to check for any movement. She had dropped the ball once with the monster that had injured Justin and Sharon; she was determined not to be caught off-guard again. She felt the exhaustion of the day pushing down on her and wanted nothing more than to go to her dorm and sleep for a week, but she wasn’t going to go anywhere until the all clear was given. Then Hagan opened his stupid mouth. She turned and pointed towards him, about ready to tell him off, when she felt something invade her mind. She knew it was Billy.

”What the hell are you doing?” she telepathically asked him.

“Huh?” Billy shook his head, his eyelids fluttering. That was weird. For a moment is was as if he had dozed off. He cocked an eyebrow at his sister. “I’m not doing anything.”

Rita stood far enough away from Penny to avoid catching her secondhand and watched as the siblings stared each other down. She was certain that they would descend into yet another bickering match, but before the squabble could begin Lynette announced that Sharon was up. Well, actually, Sharon freaked out that a bunch of strangers were squatting in her house, Lynette tried to reassure her, and the others had been beckoned by their voices. Rita couldn’t blame the girl for being upset, but bit her tongue when the girl asked for an explanation. They could easily prove the bit about Abstractions, but she wouldn’t have believed a single bit about the God-Child or its doomsday prophecies if she hadn’t witnessed it herself. Tugging on her sleeves, she moved into the house and pretended to get distracted by the decor.

“Or maybe she came here because it’s her house,” suggested Penny by muttering through the side of her mouth after Jasmine finished translating for Grant. “Look, my head hurts, so if you have any questions fire away and I’ll answer them. No bullshit. But first, we need to know something. The entire reason we came to this damn place was to find out more about your father. He ever mention some Guardian shit to you? Try to hide a diary from you? Seem...weird, in anyway? Like, not parent weird, but weird weird?” Penny folded her arms across her chest. “Tell me that I’ll let you know anything. Seriously.”

---

^{@Mike73@Atrophy}
The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square.

---

Immediately, Sharon scrunched up her nose the very minute the girl with the curly started talking dumb.

"... You broke into my house and not even going to give me your name?" Sharon loudly snorted at the nerve of the girl, but let it slide. From what she was saying, she wanted to find answers for the supernatural occurrences that were going on in town. Which was something that Sharon... had an idea about, but wasn't all that interested in sharing that secret. She avoided eye contact during the whole duration of this numbskull talking. And seemed more annoyed than anything. If only you knew the whole story. Sharon thought to herself. There was a question that Sharon had for Jazmine...

"What did the universe tell you to come here?" Sharon sarcastically said... only for Britney and a few others to awkwardly shift around. And Claire coughed. Before she asked a more serious question, "If you're looking for answers then, well, what's the question then?"

The blonde-haired girl answered her question, and immediately Sharon looked repulsed upon hearing her father's name. Sharon was just about to tell her the whole story, just to see the look on her face... but the last thing she wanted to do was draw that kind of attention to herself. Especially to a bunch of strangers.

"He told me a lot, actually..." Sharon briefly glanced over at Britney, before turning her attention back to Penny. "He told me tales about how he kept Farmer Hill safe from all the monsters that lurked in the shadows. How he took the abhorrent Awakened out of the picture...." She trailed off for a second, before she added on.

"... But it's all a lie. The so-called 'Guardian' was built on the bodies of innocent men and women," Sharon trailed off, "You don't want nothing to do with him. Or his plan for you all."

Briefly, Claire thought about the photographs. Is she saying...? Claire thought to herself. Oh boy. This probably just got a lot more complicated. Still. "Regardless of what he was built on," Claire said as she took a step forward, "He knows about what the fuck is going on right now, and how to stop it, and that's all we need to know." She narrowed her eyes at Sharon as she cut the girl off.

"... And I get the feeling you know what's going, too."

"A lot of people in Farmer Hill do, actually," Sharon said with a cutting grin. Oh so casually brushing Claire off. Briefly smiling at Britney, before she turned her head to Penny, "I get the feeling you don't really get it... but, I want you all to see something. Just one little thing." She pointed at a random painting that was on the wall of a farmhouse.

"One of you, grab that for me." One member of the group grabbed it for her, and Sharon took out the back of the frame to reveal... a key. "He never mentioned a diary, but you'd get all your answers and more if you go to Hillview Highschool. You know, the abandoned school that's a stone's throw away from here. Go to room 108, and take a nice hard look inside... and then come right back here and tell me if you want anything to do with my father."

She dangled the key out for them to reach.

"You're not even going to show us?" Lynette asked.

"I saw it once, I don't want to make it twice," Sharon said, "If the answer is yes..."

Sharon smiled, "... I'll tell you everything."

Claire awkwardly took the key, then looked among the group for their suggestions.

---

"I won't detonate it while you're in there," Lynette had flatly noted as Rien worked his own abstraction, "Besides, worst comes to worst, I have the tools to save you." Contrary to reassuring him, Nate couldn't help but shoot back a jab of his own. "Right, does that include my hand or will I be lucky to come back with anything past..." He waggled a few fingers over his elbow, the implication clear, but he never got anything back from her and soon figured out why.

Sounds of a thousand flies, wasps, bees - whatever else was floating out there - had rapidly quieted until there was nothing left. Hagan, no big surprise there, took Billy's cue that the coast was clear and practically threw the doors open, letting light spill into the confined space again. Nate squinted for a moment, blinded by the sudden return of the sun's glares, before realising that figure stood in the opening wasn't just his eyes screwing with him. Britney and the others were there, along with the redhead who'd had her arm broken by that tentacled entity.

So they were alive, at least... though he soon found out that one of the others he hadn't really known, Andrea had gotten caught up in that mess. How they'd make any sense of that, explain it to the cops - how he'd put that to Quent - was something he didn't want to face up to right now, but he felt a sickening lurch in his stomach when the reality of it set in. Dead.

As the others cleaned up, so did he with a couple of things, shifting furniture and detritus aside to draw some of his worse thoughts from the situation at hand. Before long they were resting on the porch, nursing their non-existent wounds whilst the redhead (Sharon, he found out) rested her actual injury, which turned out not to be all that much of a big deal when it came to being treated by Isabella. Not that it did the dead ones any good, try fixing that.

Something kept tugging at him from the corner of his eye - Nate shifted his gaze just a couple degrees over towards the edge of the property. For just a second, colour bled from sight as the world shifted towards a monochrome - in the field stood a silhouette. It was too distant to make out with any sense of clarity, but... he blinked and it was there still. And closer to them, another silhouette - just in the yard outside the house, though that one disappeared quick. His attention was on the field, when the colour seeped back into view. "Did you guys see that?"

Whatever it was, he'd been distracted from the conversation now that Sharon was up and about. Like the rest, Nate listened, trying to push the silhouette to the back of his mind for now.

"We got attacked by William Birkin just for coming here, but I'm sure it won't happen again - just see how excited we are to go!" Sarcasm oozed from his every word, "But, what do I know, I'm just the guy who keeps getting shit phasing through me. Sure, let's go, it's nothing touching me."

---

Reid Farmhouse - Main House
_{@Surtr Inc}

---

Paige had been wanting to prove herself an asset to the group, so even though she was glad that the insects had stopped attacking, she was a little disappointed that she hadn't had a chance to see her idea in action. She supposed it didn't matter that much, the important thing was that they'd made it out alive. Still, she wished for a chance to make a difference.

Paige joined the rest of the group at the main building of the farm. Typical of her, she had no response to most of what was said there, aside from a little mental comment when Sharon first woke up and asked why they were here. Good question. Unfortunately, you wouldn't believe us if we told you. I know I wouldn't, she thought, then Or maybe not, when she started talking to Claire. Oh yeah, Claire was right that Sharon knew more than she was letting on, though that wasn't hard to tell at this point. This girl and her damn inability to give a straight answer, seemingly out of spite, was getting quite frustrating. Paige could sympathise with Sharon being unhappy to find strangers in her home, but this was a life or death situation - which Sharon probably already knew - and Paige wasn't about to get murdered by Scott Reese just because this girl wanted to be ominous about her clue-giving. In what was becoming a worryingly frequent occurence, Paige didn't react well to Sharon's decision.

She walked up to Sharon, making it look like she moving slowly because she had a choice. She stood very close, and looked Sharon dead in the eye, speaking quietly, but not so quietly that the others couldn't hear, at least the ones closeby. "These people standing behind me. I hope you've taken a good look at them, because these are the people you almost killed. I don't really give a fuck if you were unconscious when it happened, the fact remains that you need to make it up to them, and to me. I don't see Andrea around here either, so unless she ran away, I'd bet that makes you a murderer. Oh, and look, after you trashed your own house, these people cleaned it up for you, because they are good people. Now, you seem to know what's going on here, so I suppose you know that a psychopath's hunting us down, killing anyone who strays form the pack? The more time we spend on your stupid errand, the more likely it gets that he kills another one. We aren't throwing away our lives for your fun. So, let me tell you how I think we should do this. You're going to answer every question we have, as fully and honestly as you can. If you don't, well, we've lost one, and you won't be useful to us, so you know how it is: eye for an eye. Then, if we still don't feel we know enough, we will consider looking at room 108. Is that clear?"

---

^@Ciaran
The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square.

---

The whole time Paige was talking, Britney was gesturing with her hand crooked, quickly waving it back and forth in front of her neck. Her eyes wide, and worried the whole time. Britney knew a few things about Sharon... and knew good and well that she wasn't going to take too kindly to this. At all.

And Sharon didn't disappoint when her face twisted up and she hopped into Paige's face.

"How you think we should do this?" Sharon parroted the words. She jammed a finger into her chest, and dug it in deep. "You people broke into my home, go through my possessions, and then you're acting like I owe you something?! News flash, whoever-you-are, you're still trespassing in my house. None of you were invited here, and you're all welcome to leave." She pushed forward, her eyes wide and brimming with a white-hot rage. Those same eyes were poking right into Paige's soul with how intense and... strangely violent, her demeanor was blaring with rage. Which was a strange juxtaposition since she was mellow a few minutes ago.

"And yet, I'm still not only courteous enough to not call the sheriffs on you all, I even offer to help you with whatever the fuck is even going on!" Sharon continued to rant on, to the bewilderment of the group. "I'm sorry about what happened here - what happened to your friend - but there was nothing I could do!"

Claire raised an eyebrow, and had to fight really hard not to crack a smirk. Hate to undersell you, my silver haired friend, but I find it hard to argue with her...

"Fact of the matter is: I don't fucking have the answers!"

Sharon was breathing loudly, and at this point, Lynette noticed a few insects floating around. She looked towards the doors and saw them coming towards the group. Her eyes immediately widened.

"So, I don't care what Scott Reese is doing; don't come at me, accusing me of being a murderer because all I did was drive back to my home," There was a brief pause as Sharon caught her breath. Before letting out one final line, "You want to know how I think we should do this?! You will turn your crippled ass around on your heel and get the hell out of my house!" She screamed at Paige in a very disconcerting manner, and slammed her fists onto the sides of the sofa.

At this point, the few insects that she had summoned had gone crazy. They started buzzing again as they moved in.

Okay, okay, it's time to stop this. Lynette thought to herself as she looked around the group. She pointed at Paige, then the door. Telling her to leave wasn't exactly the nicest thing she could do, but if Sharon was freaking out because of her, the best thing they could do was remove Paige.

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Main House

---

Penny cocked an eyebrow when Sharon mentioned that her father had told her about the strangeness surrounding Farmer’s Hill. It wasn’t normal dinner conversation, but at least her father had tried to be honest with Sharon about...something that would sound completely ridiculous if Penny hadn’t experienced any of it firsthand. A frown crossed her face when Penny put together the implication Sharon made about what Reid had done, and it crinkled into one of frustration when the girl mentioned that a lot of people in Farmer Hill knew what was going on yet they knew so very little. The thought pissed her off. Why wouldn’t anybody in the town warn them about its darkness? It wouldn’t be difficult to prove the existence of an Awakened at least; Penny herself could just walk into a store and blast all of the merch into the wall.

It was Rita who delivered the painting when Sharon called for someone to grab it. As she handed it over to the redhead, Rita could feel the tickle in her throat and the dryness in her mouth. She wanted to ask the girl so much. Her lips peeled apart with a crack as she tried to find a moment to jump into the conversation, her eyes trying to catch Sharon’s attention. Instead, she noticed Britney briefly throw a look her way. Rita froze up. Britney had scared her earlier with admitting her suspicions of the mousy girl.

Besides, it was clear from the way Sharon was bargaining with everyone that a sudden change of mind would easily alert the others that an Abstraction had been used. Rita feared that if they knew what she could do, nobody would talk to her. As weird and messed up as things were, this was the first time in a long time that she had been so involved with a group of people. If not for the murdering maniac, the world-ending nightmare entity, the swarm of locusts, and the bickering siblings then things were, in the very least, interesting. Normal people joined an extracurricular activity to meet new people; Rita took part in a supernatural mystery. She backed away from Sharon without a word.

Good timing, too, since that was when Paige decided to throw more than a few words at the redhead. Penny was taken aback at the beginning of Paige’s tirade, shocked that the somewhat awkward yet nice girl that had thanked her had the balls to call Sharon out on her bullshit. It was, well, Penny thought it was awesome. Everything Paige said was right; if Penny hadn’t been so tired she would’ve said the same damn thing. When Sharon pushed at Paige, Penny felt a surge of energy swell up inside of her. She rushed forward, her hands clenched into fists, when she felt Billy invade her head again. Her eyelids felt heavy as she heard his voice, “C’mon, it’s not worth it. Just calm down.”

Penny unclenched her hands and the drowsiness that had come over her faded. She put a hand on Paige’s shoulder and lightly tried to usher her away, “C’mon, keep me company for a cigarette. There’s too many bitches in this room anyway.”

“Keep me in the loop,” she messaged to Billy.

Billy found himself nodding, and then he screwed up his face and shook his head at the absurdity of nodding to a telepathic message. He sent back an affirmative, and then folded his arms over his chest. He wasn’t thrilled about going to the abandoned school. It wasn’t because he was worried about getting caught—he didn’t really. He was worried because it was an abandoned school, and those were always creepy as hell, full of their rusted hallways, ghosts of bullied children, and cats in lockers. However, what truly worried him was that it seemed like Sharon was trying to get them to leave her by herself for a moment. Billy had seen enough TV to know how that would go, and if they were able to break into her house than Scott Reese could blow the whole place down.

“Hey, listen, man, I’m sorry about that,” he said, in reference to Paige’s outburst. He stepped towards her, hand held up as if he had just been busted. “Pretty sure I saw her talking to my sister earlier today; she’s kind of a bad influence. And you’re right, we were totally in the wrong for breaking into your place. Really dick move. Not cool at all. We’ll go check this school out.”

“Buuuuut, we can only do this in one of two ways. Either you come to the school with all of us, or some of us stay here with you—wait, wait, wait!” He put one hand forward to stop any protest, yet with his other hand up it looked like he was practicing some kind of idiot martial arts. “You said you don’t care about what Scott Reese is doing, but you really should. That dickbag has been picking us off one by one, and like it or not, but the moment your turned into the reverse Orkin man you officially became an us. Uh, welcome. Sorry being part of the group includes potentially being stabbed to death by an eight foot tall jabroni.”

“Look, I get it, it doesn’t look like we can really do much to help, uh, because we can’t,” he smiled, realizing too late now wasn’t the time to joke, “but we are trying to do the right thing and keep you safe. So, uh, wanna tag along, or should I help myself to a pop, kick of my sneaks, and get cozy on that sofa?”

---

^@Ciaran
The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square.

---

The bugs drifted away as Sharon calmed down, and Lynette let out a sigh of relief. Personally, she wasn't going to take sides here because, personally, both sides were right and wrong. It was too complicated to explain, but all Lynette had to worry about was the school. She did want to go, but if she was picking up on Billy's drift, she had a feeling it was a trap. If it was up to Lynette, she would want Sharon to come with in the event she was walking them straight into a trap - but she really had a feeling that the girl just wanted to get rid of them.

Sharon let out a deep breath... and innately scolded herself for losing her temper so vividly. In front of so many good people. She could only shake her head. Billy held the center of her attention as she raised her head. "That's the thing, I don't want to go. I don't want to even think about that place..." Sharon trailed off as she looked to the side.

"But, that's too much to expect of us," Lynette chimed in, "I know it may be hard for you, but you're not giving us a lot to work with. You're making it hard to trust your word alone."

Sharon sighed.

"... Okay, I'll go with," Sharon just resigned as she shook her head. "But, I want the whole group to go, and afterwards... I'll still want my answer." she stated.

"Okay, that's what I think the group wanted to hear." Lynette stated, before Sharon nodded her head. Hopefully, they'd have a valuable member of their group on their hands.

...

Hopefully.

Sharon got up, and said, "Yeah, Hillview High is just a stone's throw." She awkwardly grabbed her other arm. "... and could one of you tell that girl I'm sorry about that. I just... anger fast."

Britney knew the whole story, and it was more than just getting angry. But, Britney had more respect for Sharon than that, so she'd stay quiet. "I'll tell the others our next course of action."

"... You better be not be sendin' us on a wild goose chase, Reid," Claire dryly, and flatly noted. "Or you're going have to answer to me."

"I have no reason t-"

"To get us the hell outta your house." Claire smirked.

"I have no reason to - other than that - but trust me, you don't want nothing to do with the so-called Guardian of this town," Sharon stated as she looked out the window, as the last remaining bits of sunlight gracefully left the fields.

"... and after this, you'll know exactly why."

---

The Williams Estate - Blacksmith Square.

---

The Williams Estate was as lavish as one would expect from such a family. A mere three story house with a regal staircase leading up to it with huge pillars on each side of the door. A balcony above the porch with a huge view of the neighboring houses. It had a red triangle shaped roof with windows, and was made out of red bricking. The perimeter of the household was lined with easily a thirteen foot brick wall, with spikes on top of it to deter any break ins.

Britney herself was standing on the balcony, overlooking the town. Leaning on the railing, having a little drink of wine that she snuck out of her father's supply. She held it in a little wine glass, and she held it up to her lips and sucked up a sip.

"Britney," A voice spoke from behind her, and Britney looked over her shoulder to see a familiar face. A girl who was most certainly racially ambiguous. She had the face of a south Indian woman, but the skin-tone and hair of an African-American woman. She was much shorter than Britney, at around the height of an average adult female. The girl had on glasses, and jeans, and a simple t-shirt. "Amethyst would like to have a word with you."

Britney sighed as she knew what was coming next. She rolled her eyes as she stood straight up, shaking her head. She walked past the girl, and stepped back inside. The room was like a study. With various chairs and sofas arranged, and many bookcases lining the walls. In one of the chairs, there was a figure wearing a massive purple robe, but she had the hood down. Revealing her rounded facial features, and her blonde-hair cut very short in a form of a pixie cut. She had a dominant, authoritative aura around her... like she was a queen on a throne. But, here she was, sitting in her study. Merely lounging in the chair, Britney sat on the chair across from her so that there was only a table separating the two.

"So, Ms. Williams," The robed woman said, "How are your assignments going? Have you identified the Awakened, yet?"

Britney avoided meeting the woman's gaze as she took another sip, "Well, I'm still looking, it's hard with Reese taking them all out." She shook her head.

"Oh?" The woman said in a feigned, fake-curiosity. "Then who is that group you've been trotting around with? The same group that Goro, and the Obott twins have spotted you gathering." She asked, and Britney was shocked, nearly spitting out the wine through her nose.

"You know, Ms. Williams..." The woman trailed off, crossing her legs, "You are a servant to the League, and to the League alone. Lying to them on such a matter could mean the untimely demise of you and your family."

"And I doubt they'd approve of your plans either, Amethyst..." Britney groaned, before she sunk back into her chair. "Yes... I have identified the Awakened of the town. Most of them. There's probably a loooot more out there..." She slunk her head back.

"Give me the word, and I'll have the Watchers wipe them out," Amethyst casually said. So casually that Britney was disturbed.

"No!" Britney shouted. "Some of them are friends I've known for years!"

Amethyst shrugged.

"... So?" She casually said again, "They're friends. Your real allegiance is to your family. And your family's allegiance is to the League. Friends come and go."

"You keep saying that..." Britney groaned. "It's hard to really give a damn about what the League wants."

"This is exactly what I warned your father..." Amethyst trailed off, "You spent too much time with the people of Shimmer. Talking to them. Developing a philosophy that is... troublesome."

"Well, that's just how it is," Britney trailed off. "But, in any case, I still completed your first objective: I've identified the Awakened. Not only that, I've got them in a little group, and we're going to figure out who killed John Reid."

"Two things," Amethyst said, "First, we don't need an army of them, we need one, powerful, agent that is eternally loyal to the League. And since John is dead, you're next in line..."

"And I don't care," Britney said, "They're not without their flaws, but they're still people. I won't just kill them because you think it's the best course of action. I know the League is all about the greater good, and that needs of the many bullshit - well, it's easy to say that stupid shit when you're not the one making the sacrifice."

"... That brings me to the other point," Amethyst said, "Goro brought up a few good points about the murder of John Reid."

"Like?"

"For starters, he was in the same area as you when he was killed, he was coming to meet you, you had the ability to easily create what he was murdered with, and... you voiced your concerns for our plan." Amethyst said in a sly tone.

Britney's eyes widened when she caught her drift. "There was no way I could have killed him!" Britney said, "He was the most powerful person in Farmer Hill - he would have killed me before I even got close."

"But, everyone makes mistakes, Ms. Williams..." Amethyst trailed off as she grinned, "A man as powerful as John was probably gotten cocky... too cocky for his own good."

At this point, the Indian-African girl walked in, and Amethyst looked Britney dead in the eye as she said.

"The League wants answers, and all ends point to you," Amethyst said, slyly, "If you don't find answers soon... well, there's not much I can do. So, whatever it is that you're doing, it better produce results."

Amethyst casually looked at her nails.

"You are dismissed. Go and get those results, puppy."

"Go to hell, Amethyst." Britney said as she stormed out of the room. The minute she left, she leaned up against the opposing wall and cupped her eyes with her hand.

What am I going to do?

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

The sun had finally set on Farmer Hill, and complete darkness had overtaken the county. A full moon was the only source of light in the sky. The Support Group would rather that they turn in for the night, but Britney and Sharon both insisted that they check this place out. The Hillview Highschool was in a far from perfect condition. It was a four story location, with a pathway leading up to it lined with dead trees. All of the windows were boarded up, and there was a massive fence around it with various signs announcing that the place was condemned and slated for demolition. The high school was closed down for safety reasons. You see, everyone always gave a different reason why it was closed. Either it was because funding was cut, or because the building wasn't safe. Either way, here it was before them. Crumbling, and they were about to walk inside.

Justin was the first to approach, he leaned up against a dead tree with his arms crossed. Just staring at the place. He didn't have a good grasp on what was going on, but he was told that they were going to investigate this place. Oh well. He snapped his fingers and created a flame. "Hope you guys brought a flashlight."

"Oh, I did," Britney said, whom had a massive gym bag slung over her shoulder. She dropped it to the floor gently, before opening it and revealing a bunch of flashlights. "I brought them... just in case." Britney looked around the perimeter for a moment before stopping. If Goro and the League were watching her, they'd be far out of sight. So it was best to act natural. Various members of the group (including Kimberly and Lynette) stepped forward to grab some. Probably out of some necessity not to waste phone battery.

Though, Claire's eyes (and by that extent, Hagan's) was on Sharon, who had her eyes closed - saying something to herself. Taking deep breaths all the while. Which prompted Lynette to come and ask,

"... Sharon, are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Sharon trailed off, "I just... need some time to prepare myself."

"For?" Hagan pondered. "What the fuck are we even lookin' at?" He had an eyebrow raised.

"Something awful," Sharon said, "Let's just... hurry up. I want to take a long nap."

"What kind of aw-" Hagan tried to ask, only to get nudged by Kimberly's elbow. He groaned for a moment, about to say something. Before he moved on.

Realizing there was little use mulling about. Claire took a step towards the chainlink fence and ripped it wide open. She turned her head, and looked back at the group. "I'm takin' point. If Reese sneaks us, I can take it." To which Britney nodded her head, before she was the first to walk in, followed by a few others, then Sharon. Which was what Claire was hoping for... there was something off about the girl, and would prefer if she was in a position where she can keep an eye on her.

The group walked up the stairs, to the front door of the highschool which was broken open (recently, if Justin was to observe). They immediately all turned on their lights, and shined it on the wall ahead of them. And it was definitely something to cause alarm. It was graffiti, but unlike the graffiti that Claire was used to during her tagging sessions with... it seemed more...

... Obsessive.

HE WILL REDEEM US

SAVE US

I WANT TO FEEL YOUR GLOW, I WANT TO FEEL YOUR WARMTH

All written around a crude sun-like symbol on the wall. With several long tendrils extruding from it. It took up the entire wall, and stretched onwards until it reached the wall. Whoever made all of this, was here for a long time.

"... Okay." Claire said.

Kimberly merely snapped a photo while the group had their lights shined on it.

"What's all this mean? Seems like some cult logic shit."

---

The Reid Farmhouse -> Hillview High

---

Most of what Sharon said had little effect on Paige; no matter what the other girl said, she felt that and she and the others were in the right here. The 'crippled' comment did achieve a reaction, though, a slight twitch of the head, and an even more intense glare.

Paige caught Lynette's signal, and logically, she knew that Lynette was right, continuing in this way clearly wasn't going to help. But logic wasn't exactly Paige's thought process right now. She'd forgotten the assumption she'd made about Andrea's fate was only an assumption, and right now all she wanted was for Sharon to suffer. But then she realised something. And that was why, when Penny invited her outside, she accepted that offer, but not without a final comment.

"You know what? Fine. You're obviously one of us, so feel free to stay behind. Then Scott will find you, and you'll get what you deserve without any of us having to lift a finger."

And with that, Paige turned and left alongside Penny.

---

Hillview High was quite the place. Undoubtedly quite the horror show, if the bleakness and decrepitness of the building were anything to go by.

"Good call," murmured Paige when Britney told them she'd brought the flashlightss, maybe loud enough for her to hear, maybe not. Her heart wasn't really in it as she awkwardly bent over to take a flashlight - left hand holding that, right hand holding her crutch; hopefully that wouldn't be a problem - even though she'd calmed down since the farm, she still wasn't happy. Regardless, she didn't voice her feelings, just staying quiet as the group entered the eerie building.

And, of course, they immediately came across something utterly disturbing. Reading the graffiti made Piage feel extremely uncomfortable, with that creeping kind of fear, not the kind that screams at you to run the other way or you'll die, but the kind that whispers to you so that the thing that's causing it doesn't hear, telling you to get away quickly and quietly, before you wake up something... worse.

"What's it mean? Well, to anyone with any kind of survival instinct, it means 'Run away as fast as possible'. To us, I'd imagine it means something more like 'Good job guys! You're on the right track'."

Maybe sarcasm wasn't the most helpful thing in the world right now, but the fact remained that they didn't know enough to make sense of this anyway, so it would only waste time to try shooting in the dark. That was, unless Britney knew something. Some of the others had mentioned she seemed to know a lot about what was going on with no explanation, and even Paige admitted she seemed to be acting a bit, well, off.

l

---

Black skies? Check. Full moon? Check. Dead trees? Check. The place even had boards and fences cordoning it off, which made it the kind of cliched backdrop for a slasher film, a little like how Hulk!Reese had engaged in the massacre at the camp. If they were going to get caught out here, well - it was their own fault, right? His included, for going along with their plans and coming with them - not that he was any worse off than they were, given what he'd figured out how to do so far. And that wasn't even getting into the legal side of things.

Nothing to bring me closer to Uncle Quent like 'breaking and entering' - Nate didn't voice that sentiment, naturally - but it stuck in his mind. It wasn't lost on him either that ever since he'd come to this town, since moving in with Viv and Quent (both law-abiding and in the latter's case, law-enforcing citizens) he'd probably broken more laws in the span of a week than he'd had for the rest of us life, even accounting for all the wonderful content he'd streamed or torrented like the freeloader he was. And he was glad to freeload again when Britney shared out flashlights for those who hadn't prepared for walking through the dark, which in hindsight was a pretty stupid thing to do. Claire so kindly tore the fence a new asshole so they could get onto the school grounds and up towards the entrance, where someone had already been poking around.

Someone had already paid this place a visit, if the open door was anything to go by - which of course instilled more second thoughts at the back of Nate's mind. Cementing those thoughts were the words he found, scrawled across the wall as part of some form of mural.

HE WILL REDEEM US

SAVE US

I WANT TO FEEL YOUR GLOW, I WANT TO FEEL YOUR WARMTH

What the fuck. It was a blunt thought, but the only other way to describe it would have been 'WHAT IS THIS, I DON'T EVEN' which given how serious all this shit was, he did not want to climb aboard that train of thought. Claire's reaction about summed up his own. "... Okay."

Finally, one of them found the words to speak up over this terrifying discovery, "What's all this mean? Seems like some cult logic shit."

"It means," Nate answered, deadly serious, "We're going to turn up on liveleak or something like that when they find our bodies hung from the rooftops and our names written in blood on the wall." He looked at the others, trying to gauge their thoughts, "Really. This is reading like the other stuff, that 'the past is dead and so are they' crap we found in those photos." A chill ran down his spine, causing tiny dots to form along his skin - and he became acutely aware of not just the group, but other figures, distant but definitely there as far as his eyes could tell him. He blinked, rubbing at his eyes to ensure it wasn't a trick.

It wasn't. "Shit, look!"

Shining his torch beam into the open maw that was the school hallway, he saw one distinct silhouette stood there, facing towards him like a shadow that had taken physical form - then turning back and disappearing from view behind a corner he couldn't see.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

Penny stared at the dilapidated high school building from beyond the gate, her arms wrapped tight around her chest. Now that the sun had set, she was beginning to feel a chill on her scrapped up arms. If there was something terrible to be found in Farmer Hill, then this building was probably one of the better choices to pick—she had heard that someone had found bloodied, half-eaten animal carcasses in the basement. She had also heard that someone saw a ghost there, and that people who entered the school were murdered by vengeful spirits three days later. She always thought the stories were stupid. Now? She wasn’t so sure, although she did retain her old opinion that they should’ve just torn down the damn place years ago.

She took a flashlight from the bag and shifted her way to the back of the group. If Claire was on Scottwatch up front, they needed someone to keep an eye behind them. It was just an added bonus that it kept Penny away from the people she found more grating; at least the kids in the back kept their mouths shut. The gang moved through the broken gate, up the stairs, and into the creepiest entryway Penny had seen in a minute. She peered over everyone’s shoulders for a minute to look at the graffiti, and then turned her eyes back outside, ready to give a shout if she saw Reese or anyone creeping up behind them.

Billy scratched the back of his head and chimed in with his useless two cents regarding the graffiti, “Aren’t those lyrics to every Christian rock song ever?”

He could understand why people might have been disturbed by the writing on the wall, but he also knew that if he ever had the opportunity to mark up a wall then he’d definitely write a whole bunch of creepy cryptic shit just to get under people’s skin. It was much better than writing down the number to a sex line or the one to your junior high principal’s house and saying it’s a sex line, and about on the same level of hilarity as drawing a dude’s bits and pieces on every possible surface ever. Rolling his shoulder, Billy shined his light around aimlessly. Which room had Sharon said?

"Shit, look!"

Billy jumped. He pointed his light down the hall towards where Nate was looking, revealing the sight of a bit of trash and nothing else. He laughed nervously and clapped Nate on the shoulder, “I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that we shouldn’t investigate.”

“What did you see?” said a tiny voice from the edge of the group.

Rita. She had been looking over the broken bulletin board on the wall, but now she turned her head towards Nate and Billy. Billy felt his skin crawl. Something about that girl creeped the shit out of him more than any phantasms.

“All he saw was a reason not to go that way, my man. Sharon, could you point us in the right direction so we can get the hell outta here?” said Billy.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

Paige's comment elicited nothing but a snort from Jordan. Whom found it amusing, if not accurate, given their situation. Her arms were crossed as she examined the grim murals, though her eyes ended up on Kimberly. Whom had a finger on her chin, and a contemplative look on her face as if she was trying to decide whether or not she should say anything or not. Before she just sighed and took a step forward.

"Well, I have a theory, and kinda-not-a-theory," Kimberly started off, taking a step forward as she put her camera back in her satchel. "You all know the mountain, right? There's a rumor - no, an urban-legend - surrounding it..." She trailed off, as everyone's eyes fell on her, and she felt it. She felt it good. "That it's cursed... that anyone who goes near it disappears, and anyone who comes back... comes back wrong."

"What kinda wrong we talkin' about here?" Hagan asked.

Claire just cuts in and points at the mural, saying, "This kinda wrong, dumbass." She shook her head. Though, she personally wondered about the 'official' justification for the mountain being constantly cordoned off all the time. They always said there was some kind of "new and super-infectious virus" up in the woods 'round, but they never gave much more details than that. And Claire was perceptive enough to not take that shit at face value. When Billy spoke she couldn't help but agree. Because, for once, he was making perfect sense.

Sharon shook her head, as she kept her mouth shut. So did Britney, oddly enough. Perhaps the girl realize that hole that she had dug was deep enough as is, and that made Sharon grin. Just for a second, however. The stakes were heavy enough as is. She started grinning, just for a second. Their mission was serious here.

"Yeah, it's not that far away. Let's get this over with, already," Sharon said as she shined her flashlight forward and began walking through the halls of the school. Where more of the strange graffiti was written on the walls (REDEEM US seemed to be a recurring thing). It gave some members of the group that this place was closed off for reasons other than... structural safety.

Eventually, Sharon came to an abrupt stop, and shined her light on the door... Room 108.

"Well, here you go," Sharon said, "Go inside - I don't-"

"Shut the fuck up." Claire said as she shoved Sharon inside without a second thought.

"Please! Don't make me go back in there!" Sharon said as she was the first to see it. Room 108. "No!" Sharon shouted.

The room that would change everything.

---

---

The doors fell open, and the first thing they saw was pitch blackness. The entire room was boarded off, and there wasn't much light to be let in. However, the shined their flashlights on the walls of the room, and saw... nothing but disconcerting information. The walls were covered with countless photographs of Farmer Hill's residents, with names, and little notes underneath them.

Claire herself walked over to one of the photographs that caught her eye, and ripped it off the wall, examining it:

NAME: ZOEY GRAY

LIKELIHOOD OF AWAKENING: HIGH

THREAT LEVEL: LOW

"What the fuck?" Claire clenched the photo and threw it to the ground

And it went on, as there were hundreds of photos on the wall. However, Kimberly examined one herself.

NAME: AMY MARTINS

Abstraction: Color Manipulation.

Threat Level: Low

ELIMINATED

"Oh my God..." Kimberly saw at least fifty people that had been "eliminated."

"Now do you all see..." Sharon was curled up against the wall, she said, "You see what being the guardian entails? You see all of this...? This was his hit list. These are all the people my father either killed, or was going to! This is what being the Guardian of Farmer Hill means, it means senseless killings and death!"

There was a chest in the corner that was old and decrepit, but completely unlocked. The group was frightened to open it at this point, because... they didn't want to see what was inside.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@Zombiedude101}
Hillview High – Mason Square

---

Tuyen didn’t want to be here. A midnight visit to an abandoned highschool wasn’t exactly her idea of a fun night out. Really, she’d rather be in her bed right now. She was beginning to regret actually emerging from her room for the longest time in a month. Maybe she should’ve just stayed there and ignored all of this shit.

She stuck close to Min, though even he seemed more shaken than he normally would. A lot of stuff had happened. At least it meant he wasn’t asking her anymore questions. On the other hand, she imagined they both had a lot more questions about what was going on. She didn’t really want to find out the answer to them.

“Someone really had a thing for creepy messages,” Rien added to the graffiti discussion, staring at it from where they were in the middle of the group. “This just keeps getting creepier.”

Tuyen actually jumped when Nate shouted at them to look. Min turned around but neither of them saw whatever Nate had. It just put Tuyen much more on edge. She was surprised she hadn’t seen anything that the others couldn’t yet. Her mind (and whatever tormented her) were surprisingly quiet.

“Yeah, have to say I agree with Billy on the whole not going that way unless it’s the right direction,” Rien turned her eyes to Sharon. Thankfully they were quickly led to their destination.

And a room filled with countless photographs.

“Holy shit,” Rien looked around with wide eyes, and a sick feeling in their stomach. There were so many photographs. It didn’t take her long to find one that she recognised – her stepmom. What the hell. Everyone in town was on here. Did that mean everyone was at risk of being eliminated? “This is unreal.”

Min picked up the photograph he found of himself, for once ignoring the knowledge that came into his mind. He knew who had written this. He scrutinised it as if to find some more information out of it.

Tuyen, on the other hand, had backed away to let her back hit a wall. All the pictures felt like they were staring at her with the words “eliminated” engrained into her mind. Everywhere she looked she saw it. She wanted to leave.

“They really have everyone here,” Rien mumbled as they looked around the walls. They’d found their step-dad now, some classmates and eventually themselves. “No wonder it was so easy to kill people if he had all this information…”

Trying to ignore the pictures, Caelea approached the chest hesitantly. She was trying not to think about any of it. Just figure out the chest that seemed as terrifying as everything else. Like she could somehow know what was inside without having to open it. Because she didn’t want to open it. Not at all. Something was telling her that opening it wasn’t going to be a fun experience. So instead she scrutinised it while trying to work up some form of courage to actually open it.

Min turned away from the picture he’d been looking at, brow furrowed. “So if the guardian wants to eliminate awakened and there’s another force out there that does to, where does that leave us?” Pretty hopeless, was on the tip of his tongue. But he didn’t say that instead indicating the pictures. “They have all of this information and we have nothing. And I somehow doubt this guardian business was just John.”

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

Redeem us, redeem us, redeem us. Billy couldn’t help but think that whatever creepy tagger that had hit up the old Hillview High either needed a new hobby or a thesaurus, although it still did the job of giving the guy a serious case of the chills. He had the cure for his anxiety sitting in a little plastic baggie in the console of his car, but that was something that’d have to wait until after they had finished their little ghost tour of culty weirdness. When they came upon room 108 he felt a reservation about going inside; he felt his heart plummet as Claire forced Sharon inside and the rest followed suit. Better to be with the group in the scary room of doom than alone in the hallway with Nate’s poltergeists. Forcing a brave face, he stepped into the room while Sharon protested.

“It’s gonna be okay. We’re here with you,” he said with more than a hint of uncertainty in his quaking voice.

He muttered a curse. The room, with its mural of notes and photographs, looked like something out of one of those movies where an intrepid journalist is trying to uncover a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. All that was missing was the strings of red yarn tying everyone together. Slowly easing his way to the wall, he looked through the pool of residents or, rather, victims, both previous and planned. He found Penny’s picture on the wall. She would probably be pleased to find out that she had been considered a high threat. Next was his, listing him as a low chance with a low threat. Frustratingly enough, there was no abstraction listed next to his name; turns out there stalker was as clueless as he was when it came to whatever was going on with Billy.

The next photo he saw caused his throat to tighten as he croaked back a cry. It was a young teen with a wild bush of blonde hair, a crooked, goofy smile, and squinty eyes. Henry Lawson. His brother. He looked at the slashes through the notes attached to the photo as he tried to fight back the tears. For once, Billy found that being right was the worst possible result; deep down, he had always hoped that Penny would one day be able to say, “I told you so.” He couldn’t let her see this, fearing that she’d go absolutely berserk. He plucked the picture and note off of the wall, quickly shoving it in his pocket, turning to see Caelea hovering around the chest.

“Hey, kiddo, maybe we should let creepy closed chests stay creepy closed chests, yeah?” he said.

“I can’t fucking believe you,” said Penny from behind him, her voice flaring with anger. He froze, thinking that he had been caught in the act. With a guilty grimace, he looked over his shoulder to find that his sister was not talking to him. Instead, she was shoving past the mousy girl who seemed to not be able to take her eyes off of the chest and making her way over to Sharon.

“How the fuck could you?” growled Penny, jabbing her finger at the shrinking Sharon. “You knew about this, you knew about all of this, and you didn’t do anything? You didn’t say anything? What the hell is wrong with you, you stupid ginger bitch?” Penny grabbed a handful of photos randomly off of the wall, shoving them in Sharon’s face so that she couldn’t look away. “It wasn’t just your father who murdered all of these people. You knew what he was up to, and you didn’t do a goddamn thing to stop him.” She threw the photos at Sharon. “Their deaths are on your hands as much as—” She felt the drowsiness again; her words had begun to slur. “Billy, stop fucking with my head!”

“Penny, look.”

She turned her head in time to see Rita crouched in front of the chest, her hands on the lid.

“What the hell are you doing?” and “Seriously, dudes, maybe we should leave it alone,” said Penny and Billy simultaneously.

At the prompting of Penny’s question, Rita had started to babble, “Maybe it’ll explain why he was doing these things. I...I just need to know what’s inside. It’s killing me.”

Penny reached out to grab the smaller girl away from the chest. She caught the back of her shirt and gave her a tug, sending Rita to the ground—but not before Rita was able to flip the lid open.

---

“I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that we shouldn’t investigate.” Nate felt Billy's nervous palm clapping him on the shoulder, the beam from their flashlight casting the derelict corridors in new shadows. “What did you see?” he heard another voice ask him, drawing his gaze from where the shadow had been to where Rita was standing.

"I saw-" Nate cut himself off, halfway along. None of the others had seen it? He wasn't going to finish that line with nothing, because it sure wasn't nothing that he'd seen turning back and disappearing out of sight. "I saw someone walking down there. Probably Freddy Krueger, deciding which of us goes first," he shot Billy a brief grin, "Anyone else feeling sleepy?" For emphasis, he loosed off a long, drawn-out yawn, just pitched enough that it echoed down the corridors, accidentally unsettling himself in the process.

It was enough that he almost lost track of some the conversation that was going on with the group again - he recalledthe tail end of Kimberly's musings, "-know all know the mountain, right? There's a rumor - no, an urban-legend - surrounding it - that it's cursed... that anyone who goes near it disappears, and anyone who comes back... comes back wrong."

"What kinda wrong we talkin' about here?" Hagan had asked a question that was rhetorical for most of them, only for Claire to jab at the mural and state the obvious, "This kinda wrong, dumbass." Maybe he had a point, though - mountains didn't just make you disappear unless you were talking about climbing accidents. He'd seen enough of them back in Bellevue whenever he got a good view of the skyline, imposing structures standing vigil over the city that they weren't exactly alien to him, but here, thinking of ut as some kind of omen - it reminded him of the night of the massacre as he'd been making his way to the camp, when he'd seen it in the without any daylight to frame it.

Sharon led them further into the building, more cult graffiti decorating the otherwise barren walls. In hindsight, it was definitely a factor adding to the 'this town is crazy' vibe, allowing him to feel some measure of understanding as to why the old man had moved out early on. Why had Aunt Viv come back here, though? Perhaps he was thinking too much on it - maybe they all had a filter on this kind of shit and maybe they'd just never run into any of the crazy shit he had since the massacre.

Back on track.

The 'Room 108' sign met the light as fast as their guide stopped outside, though her reluctance to enter was obvious. Claire seemed to be in that take-no-shit mood again though, shoving her inside. Everyone else started filing in, varied expressions contorting their faces - Nate followed suit and found himself cringing as he saw the checkerboard of photos adorning the walls wherever there had been space to place them up.

Faces on the photos weren't exactly unfamiliar, either - some he actually recognised, if only from brief glances in classes or because the others seemed to be recognising them. Curiosity seized him, more than the sense of dread at the pit of his stomach, so he followed it along, even taking time to look at the 'eliminated' faces. But something else that he caught, just off the edge of his torchbeam, managed to make his stomach lurch.

It was a yearbook photo, taken long before Nate had been a crude look in his parents' eyes. But it was a face he knew very well.

KENNY WARD - LOW - LOW

It wasn't the only one he recognised. There was another yearbook photo, this time of a girl with a few features that he instantly recognised.

VIVIAN WARD TAYLOR - LOW - LOW

Nate kept on following the trail, looking to confirm his fears. It had to be here, the third photo - he just needed to find it.

Oh.

QUENTIN TAYLOR - LOW - MEDIUM

Naturally, it wasn't a yearbook photo. It wasn't even a personal one that had been stolen off Facebook or anything like that - it was a close up from a PR photo of the whole Sheriff's Department from about a year back, at most. Why was he marked as a threat at all? Because he was a cop? Something deep within him felt a surge of frustration, maybe just a little anger. Without wasting time, Natetore down the three photos that he did recognise, scrunching them up and shoving them into his pockets. Was there anything else? A photo of himself, maybe? He glanced around, searching for one, but he found nothing - it was impossible to tell with the mass of photos spread around.

"What the fuck is this?" He found himself directing his question towards Sharon, in spite of the onslaught she was facing from Penny. "Why- why would your dad be out to kill everyone? Some of these guys - some of them are guys that I know haven't even been around for all this crazy shit. How's that being a Guardian of... shit, anything?" Engrossed in the moment, he almost missed Penny reaching over a couple of moments too late to stop her from cracking open an ancient pandora's box. Well, it looked ancient.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

The first to come to Sharon's defense was not Britney, but was instead Justin Liao. Whom forced himself between Penny and Sharon, because her triad towards the girl just didn't sit right with the boy. He put a hand out and shouted, "Before we jump down her throat, at least hear her side of the story!" Justin pleaded with her. Because he knew that, despite how fucked up the situation is, they needed to get the whole picture.

Having someone on her side, even if it was most likely temporary, was all that was needed to keep Sharon from blowing up on the girl. She took a step back, and just softly said, "Oh, I did the only thing that was needed to stop all of this." She crossed her arms, and looked off to the side, "And I only found out about all of this a few months ago! How about you start asking your little leader these before she learned about this far before I did!"

In the midst of all the yelling and screaming, not a single person paid attention to Rita. Which worked in the favor of Britney, whom quickly swiped a photo off the wall and put it into her purse while they were all distracted. Through, when it was thrown open, the first two to investigate were Kimberly and Lynette. Whom were all too happy to take a look inside.

Instead of something creepy, or anything that would disturb the kids... inside were books. Many, many, books. Lynette was the first to grab one, before going through it. It was in a strange and indecipherable language... yet she recognized some of the words. It was almost like a mish-mash of different languages. Still, near-impossible for her to read. At the moment.

"What are these?" Kimberly asked.

Sharon just walked over, before shrugging and flatly saying, "These are texts from Glint."

"... Glint?" Kimberly asked.

"Oh my goodness," Sharon said. "Britney has you all under a rock..." She groaned as Britney was put more and more in the spotlight.

"Brit, what is she talking about?" Claire asked, hesitant about her old friend.

"Look, Sharon, now is not the time..." Britney quickly closed the distance between them, and put a hand on her shoulder, which was brushed off by Sharon's hand.

"Tell them about your buddies in the Watchers, tell them all about your hand in all of this!" Sharon gestured around the room. "Tell them about the League, and their plans for you all, tell them the truth, Britney."

Britney's heart was racing, as everything was unraveling before her. Sharon, please, I know what you're thinking, but it's just going to make our lives harder in the long run. Britney thought to herself as sweat trickled down her cheeks.

"... Sharon, they are watching," Britney pleaded. "I want to tell the truth, but now isn't the time!"

"Well, when is it going to be the time?" Claire stepped in with a raised eyebrow.