It took a brief moment for her to register Philip's presence, but eventually Denise recognized him. The moment he draped his jacket over her, she hugged it tight around her body, trying to stop her quivering but failing nonetheless.

"I...I don't know what happened." She replied softly with a blank, unfocused gaze. The horrors which she'd just been through wouldn't stop replaying in her mind. Initially, Denise might have thought that a victim wouldn't hold any recollection of their possession, but she was proved very wrong in that aspect. She didn't move nor did she say anything else until she heard someone else show up. Denise craned her neck, seeing Dr. McPherson having a quick word with Philip. She took a deep breath and tried to move, but everything hurt.

It was then the man approached her, and she was relived. Hopefully he had some pain meds to help her. Apparently the wounds she had suffered required additional care beyond slapping on a band-aid or two. That would explain the pain she was feeling as well. "Thank you, doc," she replied with a faint smile which almost looked fake, but Denise wasn't in the mood to entertain, especially after hearing his last statement: "it's over for the moment". Since it had happened once already, would she be susceptible to becoming possessed again? The thought alone made her sick, and Denise swallowed hard.

"Please, doc, you can't let this happen to me again," she urged him, going as far as grabbing him by the edge of his jacket with a rather tight grip.

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Pandora paced for a minute as she tried to calm herself, then when her breathing finally slowed she stood still at the edge of the clearing, water bottle in hand. With her eyes closed and every other sense on high alert, she finally managed to concentrate on the spirit world more than the physical one. Following the trail left by the thing that had possessed Denise, she tried to open her mind to the energies left behind so she could better decipher them.

Unfortunately for Pandora, it was just the opportunity the evil thing had been waiting for.

She suddenly emitted a loud gasp, eyes open wide but unseeing as her water bottle dropped to the ground. Unlike Denise's possession, her body did not move but remained in place, all but rooted to the ground, ever muscle in her body tense and her face raised to the sky. Though her pupils were trained on some distant point in the grey sky, in her mind she saw only what the malevolent entity wanted her to: Joe. Rather, parts of Joe. Strips of his skin fell to the floor of a darkened room as he screamed and writhed in agony, skinned alive by a mysterious figure. Though Pandora could tell that the figure was female, it faced away from her and she could see no facial features, only the back of her nude and filthy body as she went about her bloody work.

"Joe!" Pandora gasped as the spirit released her from the vision and she fell to her knees, back in the corporeal world before she even knew what was happening. "It has Joe!"

TJ was well aware that Denise's smile was not a real one. He couldn't blame her for not really smiling though. She had basically had her soul (to be blunt) raped. That what possession is on many levels. Some entity has taken control of something that you believed was yours and yours alone, and changed how you look at life. TJ treated Denise's wounds very carefully not just because of the severity of the wounds, but TJ knew that intense pain was a fear of hers. Not only was she still in shock from what was going on, but TJ didn't want to tell her that this was about the limit of his first aid skills. If the wounds had been any more severe Denise would've been on her way to the E-R and that could've created a whole different situation. In the back of his mind though, TJ would've given anything for his family to have been here to see TJ's "pursuit of snake-oil science" as they called it. TJ knew that Denise would need to be handled with "kid-gloves" for a bit, but not babied. They all knew the possibility of something unknown or unexpected happening to each of them even TJ knew it was a possibility. It was part of the risk of what they signed up for. However, seeing someone that you viewed not only as a co-worker but as a friend going through it would make anyone rethink their position on this subject. This was a new factor that TJ didn't really count on in his nice-neat-equation of paranormal exploration. The human factor.

Just then Denise was grabbing TJ by his leather jacket and begging of him not to let it happen again. There was no way on this planet TJ could make and keep that promise. If he could've made it he would've done it for everyone before they left. Not to mention this was his beloved leather jacket. It was of great value to him because it was the last Christmas gift his mom got for him, so it had great intrinsic value to him. TJ put his arms around Denise and said, "Denise, listen to me. You and I both know that's not a promise I can keep. I would if I could, but I can't." He let out a bit of an exhale and said, "Okay I have an idea though." TJ lightly patted her hands and said, "I need you to let go for a moment." He reached into the bag with the sweats in it and pulled out a flask with a cross on it. He said, "This is Holy Water. It has been consecrated by Father Mike Galingo of St. Matthew's. I go there every Sunday I have enough for everyone and I wasn't going to just waste hither-yon-and-fro, but only if necessary. I think this qualifies." With that he sprinkled her wounds with it, and on other areas of her body as he began reciting a blessing he heard in Latin. When he was done TJ crossed himself and said, "Amen." TJ said to Denise, "That should help. I wish I could do more for you, and I will understand if you want to leave. If you do I won't stand in your way. Just at least let me finish treating your wounds, and let's get you dressed." TJ didn't dwell on the fact that Denise had been naked the whole time. He knew she was shaken up enough as it was Denise didn't need to feel anymore self-conscious.

As TJ was finishing up he heard Joe yell. It was enough to make him stop for a moment. He said under his breath, "Oh my Lord." He looked at Denise for a moment and shook his head. He said, "I'm staying with you. There's really nothing else I can do for him." TJ continued his work and said, "He's like those morons in the slasher movies who thinks he's tougher than he really is and doesn't respect the situation." It was, at best, a cheap rationalization but it was all he could offer himself for now. TJ closed his eyes and said, "Let the dead bury the dead." TJ also knew that if he took off now and something happened to Denise he would never forgive himself. In fact he would probably call off the whole operation then. He made a note to himself to call Father Mike later and confess his sin. He wasn't sure what it was but TJ knew in some ways Joe's blood was on his hands unless someone else got to Joe to save him. TJ realized he couldn't save everyone, but being there for Denise was enough for him for now.

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Philip backed away from the sabotaged SUV, a slight smile tugging on his lips, they'd have to go into the house. After he left Denise in the woods he'd been too busy trying to get away to think; but now, with escape no longer an option, his mind began to turn. YES, there was something evil here and YES, it appears malevolent. Whether the evil was associated with the witch and the stories around the place he couldn't say, and if there was some riddle to solve which might help them escape the night alive there was no telling. At this particular moment there was only one thing to do: find safety.

He looked at the others who were also now gathered around useless vehicles. "I think we have to go hide in the house," he said in a hoarse voice, "Does anyone's phone work?" He cackled around the lump in his throat at the insanity of going into the haunted house when all he wanted to do was run.

Walking with a slight limp, Denise tried her best not to slow TJ down. That, and she did not feel like being in those dark woods any second longer than she had to. They were practically unable to see anything save for the path in front of them which was illuminated by his flashlight. Now that Denise had been clothed, fed, and her wounds had been tended to, she felt a little bit better, though not enough to squash that uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Eventually, the pair arrived back on site. Denise looked around for a moment and noticed what everyone else was staring at.

"This can't be happening..." She took some long, determined steps towards the gear that was scattered around in a mess, pushing some of the others along the way. "What are we gonna do?" Denise went on, inadvertently ignoring Philip's comments. "We don't have a ride back, and given the equipment is inoperable, should we just try to get as far away from this place as possible on foot?" Denise's voice slowly lowered until she was more or less talking to herself. She remained still for a moment, then moved closer to the vandalized vehicle.

"Hey, you guys, has Joe showed up yet?" Like TJ, she too had heard his screams, and that worried her. Yes, who knows how long him and his uncle had been on the grounds, but that didn't mean he was immune to whatever evil lurked around.

Denise's limp wasn't too much of an inconvenience for TJ to deal with. After all that she had been through TJ was relieved that a limp was the worse physical side effect that Denise appeared to be dealing with. TJ knew though that that psychological damage could take longer for her to deal with. TJ made another mental note but this was to recommend a good friend of his to Denise. His friend was a therapist who could help Denise sort through her feelings if necessary. TJ was hopeful that the others were not dealing with issues similar to Denise's issues. He realized that Joe could very well be dead by now, and that was a burden he would have to accept if he was. However, TJ was more concerned about his crew at this point.

Coming upon the scene at the vehicles TJ's mouth hung open for a few seconds. He looked around and said, "Mama said there'd be days like this." TJ closed his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts and then reopened them to take in the scene. TJ said, "The scratching on the side of the door is meant to make us believe that this could be a spiritual attack. However, I beg to differ." TJ walked over to the SUV and said, "First off how would a spirit or entity not of our dimension know what lines to rip out? Or how to open a hood to? Or which pieces of our gear to wipe out? Not to mention..." TJ shined his flashlight into the SUV and said, "A lot of these lines are cut. What kind of spirit needs to cut something? No this was deliberate sabotage."

Upon hearing the options of either stay where they were or leave out on foot TJ said, "Staying here is the safer of the two options actually. Whoever did this to our gear is still out there. I have the feeling that some of these people look at the movie 'Deliverance' is a 'how-to' movie, and I would hate to think that someone like that is out there waiting for us. Besides trying to navigate a rocky road at night not exactly a smart move." Nodding TJ said, "However in the daylight we have better odds. The main road is less than four miles from here and our cell phone signals would improve significantly in the wide open areas." TJ took a deep breath as reality was sinking in and said, "Any documentation or evidence that we gather is a bonus or not even a blip on the radar right now. Priority one is our survival. Not that it hasn't been already, but now it's on a whole different level."

TJ paced for a couple of steps and said. "All right here's my suggestions at this point. First off we gather whatever gear is working and we prepare to stay the night inside the orphanage. It's not an ideal situation but at least it's four walls and a roof. Second, we gather whatever gear we can that is still working and see if we can possibly coble it together to form some kind of perimeter defense or an alarm. Third we stay in pairs under all circumstances. If you go to the bathroom your partner goes in there with you. Modesty is a moot point now. Get over it right now because surviving the night is goal number one. Forth, we sleep in shifts. First team is on from 9pm thru midnight. Second team midnight to three, and the last team is on from three to six. 6am we all get up grab a granola bar and some water and whatever gear we can carry and we try to make it to the main road. Lastly, if your team is on watch your phone is on power save mode only. If your team isn't on watch cut the phone off. We need as much battery power as we can get for when we try to leave tomorrow."

TJ looked around and if not, "Any questions or suggestions? Or a better idea? Then I suggest three of us put our driver's licenses in my hat and the other three will draw at random to see who is paired up with whom for the time being." Looking around one last time he asked, "Anyone else got anything to add?"

"Joe's DEAD, Denise!" Philip said with eyes strained wide, "The trees ATE him. Do you understand?" He was making an immense effort to maintain control but loosing rabidly. "Your body was taken over already, there's no time to ask if this is real or staged like some kind of murder mystery."

He snapped his head towards TJ, fear overwhelming his rational mind. "You keep stepping up like your still in charge of this fuck fest! This place is a goddam mouse trap! We are Walking Dead!" He grabbed TJ by the collar of his jacket, "I'm tired of your fucking 'reasonable' recommendations! I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING DIE!!!" He screamed into TJ's face and then dropped to his knees, his breath heaving in and out of his chest.

Demons, that was his obsession. If demon's were real, then God was real, and then there was hope and meaning to life. Find the monster, find the hero, that was his plan, but everything was going so very wrong. In the video's and the training the monsters had always been distant, maybe affecting some poor innocent person by possessing them or making a book fly across the room; there was no precedent for the power of the evil of this place, and they had only seen the beginning! How could no one know what was possible? How could the church be so ignorant of the truth? Maybe, just maybe, evil kept the truth of its power a secret by killing everyone who ever saw it. That did not bode well for the team's chance of surviving through the night!

"I'm sorry TJ," Philip said weakly from his position on the ground, "I'm so sorry... I'm just really scared, I... i.... don't know..." Philip moved to try and stand up.

None of the others seemed too concerned about Joe, but her vision weighed heavily on Pandora's mind for the entire walk back to the vehicles. It was easy enough for them to ignore, to choose to focus on the phenomena they had actually seen, but the young psychic had gotten a better look at Joe than even Denise. She could still hear the wet sound of freshly-peeled skin hitting the floor, hear his strained breathing, his screams...

the sight of the vehicles finally pulled her from her dark thoughts with a shot of adrenaline. This was no time to be freaking out - like TJ said, this was life or death. Her powers weren't some party trick anymore, now they could potentially be the thing to save her life or the lives of her friends. Memories of the car accident all those years ago sprang into her head, but she pushed them down again. She could not, would not, dare fail again.

"Denise will be my partner," She told their self-elected leader in a voice that wasn't taking any arguments. "She's the most vulnerable to psychic attack, and I'd rather pee in front of another girl, thanks." Trying to look braver than she felt, the blonde stepped over to the other woman, giving her a reassuring smile. Pandora couldn't imagine how she was feeling right now, but surely having another woman with her after such a traumatic event would be a little easier, not to mention having a psychic around in case it came back.

Another vision came to her abruptly, disorienting her entirely with the smell of smoke & burning flesh and the sensation of heat against her face. When she finally managed to make out a clear image it was Maxwell's face, staring at her from one of the second story windows. The building was dark, illuminated only by Maxwell's burning body. In a matter of seconds hair and skin were reduced to ash, their body blackening and crumbling leaving only their eyes, which glowed a demonic red and hung in midair for a few moments even after their body was gone.

Coughing and gasping for fresh air, Pandora came back to reality to find herself on her knees, trying to breathe through the thick clouds of smoke that were never physically there. "Maxwell," She sputtered. "Where's Max?!" She needed to warn them, to tell everyone what she saw so they could stop it from coming true.

Between what happened to Joe, Denise, Phillip and Pandora, the equipment being destroyed, and now with the more than likely scenario that Maxwell was dead (if he was lucky) TJ reached his breaking point. Without saying a word he went to the back of the SUV and pulled out his baseball bat. It was metal, black with gold lettering on it and TJ was twirling it along his right side. He found a large piece of equipment that was pretty much wiped out in the sabotage, and TJ decided it was time to finish the job. With a primal scream he let loose with five solid shots yelling with each blow and obliterated the broken tool into a pile of useless plastic and wires. The driver's window to the SUV was already smashed so TJ just threw his bat back into the SUV through it smashing what was left of it.

TJ took a deep breath and looked over to Phillip and said, "So much for me being the reasonable one." He nodded and said, "You're scared? Join the club. I am scared out of my fucking mind Phillip! Anyone with three working brain cells would be scared. Hell I'd be more worried if you weren't, but we need to work the situation so we have at least a fighting chance to live."

He looked over to Pandora and said, "You and Denise? Works for me."

TJ closed his eyes and then reopened them and said, "Look, I know that when we agreed to this we knew somethings could go wrong even the possibility that one or all of us could die. I doubt though we thought that it would actually become reality, but it has. So now we all have to do something about it. I know that I'm being a jackass right now spouting off suggestions and so on but I wasn't hearing anyone else give any ideas." TJ exhaled and said, "If you got an idea then damnit say something! I don't have all the answers! We all bring something to the table. This thing got off the ground because we worked together, and now we have to do that again. I'm bankrolling this yes, but that doesn't mean I am the Dictator. We have to work together or we might as well go our separate ways right now and take our chances out in the woods."

Looking around TJ said, "Before we left I called Beth and left her a phone number. It's to a friend of mine at the FBI field office. He and his partner like to dabble in paranormal studies. I told her if she didn't hear from me in three days she was to call them. Whether or not they come looking for us is an entirely different subject, but there are those who know where we are and Beth can be a force of nature." He showed his Fitbit and said, "This has a GPS embedded in it they would be able to find me. That's one reason I'm thinking we should stay together so that if I'm found they'll find you all as well." Walking over to the SUV he said, "We have three days to try and tough it out. I'm also aware that we might not last those three days. Hell we might not even last the next three hours but by God I'm not going down without saying I did everything I could to survive." TJ walked over to one of the bags and looked it over and said, "There's some salvageable gear in here." He slung it over his shoulder, walked over to the SUV and grabbed his bat, and said, "Here ends the speech. You can help me out by grabbing a bag or some gear and heading inside." He then gave a look as if to say "whatever" and said, "Or you can do whatever you want." With that he began to head towards the Orphanage.

Philip, ashamed and red faced, dusted himself off and grabbed what he thought was one of the bags with infrared cameras and a display monitor. There might be time to set up some of the cameras and at least have something of an idea if things started going 'fucky.' He looked at the others in their turn, "I haven't seen Max," he said shyly, "I... i don't know what to think," then he turned and jogged to catch up with TJ.

The forest was getting darker by the dusky evening but surprisingly there were no sounds of birds or insects. Philip's eyes shot from bush to bush, unsure if he saw movement, the only noise the crackle of leaves under his and TJ's boots. "I'm sorry I freaked out," he said, steeling himself, "you're right, we need to focus and remain rational. This is just.. this is my first.." he swallowed the lump in his throat, "I've never encountered anything real like this, only the reading. I thought I was prepared, but it's different when things happen that are like magic."

He adjusted the bag to a more comfortable position on his shoulder, "I've read a lot about demons and the like, and I know they feed off negative energy, they like when people are afraid and suffering, it seems to give them... I don't know, it's like food maybe. I think the witch who was here might've summoned something that protects the land. I don't know why it doesn't just take us all unless it's limited on how much it can do at one time or maybe it's playing with us. It might've been saving the energy to take Joe and possible Max for a century, I just don't know." Philip looked serious, "I think maybe the strength you and Denise showed might have scared it away, or taken its battery away, which was me, I was feeding right into it." He looked back down at his feet as he walked.

"I'll keep a cool head, I promise," he said, "and if I have any thoughts that might be helpful I'll share them. I'm sorry I fucked up, I'll keep it together from here on out." He stepped resolutely, assured by his own pronouncement that he was going to do better.

“Hey, Pandora just breathe!” Denise rushed to her side, ignoring the pain shooting up her ankle. It seemed as if none of them could catch a break, with one event after the other. Denise started panicking even more—if that was possible—though this time she remained silent. It appeared as if bodies were dropping left and right, leaving those in the group feeling vulnerable, confused, and just about ready to lose their minds. In the midst of it all, Pandora had advised that them two would be pairing up. Denise noticed how it wasn’t merely a suggestion, though she was fine with it and obviously was in agreement. She was, after all, someone that could keep Denise safe on some level.

“We’re sticking together in there then,” she informed TJ. “You have GPS capabilities and that helps tremendously given our situation. We take shifts, with our partners of course, and keep all the equipment with us if we decide to make ourselves comfortable elsewhere.” Denise then looked around. “The radios, were they destroyed?” She went on to one of the equipment bags, hoping that what she was looking for was still intact. “It’s best we stay in communication if two of us go to the bathroom or something. To save battery, I suggest we keep one radio with the main group and the other one with with whichever two of us steps out of the room."

Denise then picked up a back and swung it onto her shoulder. She also grabbed some more of the equipment to hand it off to Pandora, hoping that it would somehow help her shake off whatever she just experienced.

“Hey, come on, let’s head inside."

TJ took a couple of steps in front of Phillip and stopped in front of him. He said with a great deal of focus in his voice and a scowl on his face, "Listen and listen good. You freaking out and all that crap I want you to remember two things." He held his right index finger and said, "First off, if you weren't freaked out by all of this I would be worried about you." He held up another finger and said, "I'm coming off cool and calm but I need you to realize something Phillip. My first time ghosting with a group the first time I saw something out of the ordinary. I didn't run away or freak out." He shook his head and said, "No I didn't." He very calmly and with great focus said, "I passed out." His scowl slowly melted into a smile and then laugh as he said, "That's right cool calm rational TJ went lights out. So man, I'm not judging you and what you said about whatever this thing might be feeding off of negative energy..." He nodded and said, "It's a plausible theory. I can't really disagree with you. That being said I'm more concerned about whoever trashed the vehicles and our gear. That's a bigger issue because it usually means someone is trying to make sure that the perfect cover up stays that way." He gave Phillip a couple of light taps on the shoulder and said, "You're all right Phillip. You're all right man. In fact you can partner up with me and we'll put Danny with us as well. We'll figure out the sleeping shifts amongst ourselves."

TJ gave Phillip a quick wink and continued walking on. Hearing Denise's idea about the radio and partners TJ gave a couple of nods and replied, "Good ideas I'm on board with you on that. I think you and Pandora got things wired up pretty good amongst yourselves." In the back of his mind though TJ had an uneasy feeling that like in most horror movies the radios, despite the fact that they looked undamaged and had full charges, they weren't either going to work or they were going to die out suddenly when they needed them the most. For the time being though TJ wasn't going to give that possibility much thought. There was still much more pressing matters in front of them at the moment.

As TJ approached the front door he said, "You know if I opened the door right now and the entire house collapsed, and only the door and the door frame remained standing..." TJ nodded and said, "I wouldn't be too shocked, and for some reason I actually find that scenario oddly comforting." TJ looked back at the group and said, "Once you go in here you're in this for the long haul and there's no backing out. We're in this together. We get in there I suggest we set up our main area in the living room close to the door. Any other ideas or suggestions let's hear 'em."

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