A pair of blinding white headlights cut through the darkness as a solitary car sped down the two-lane Kentucky highway. Inside the car, Officer Nick Hayes kept his eyes squarely focused on the road. Hayes was frustrated to be called out to Kentucky on such short notice, but sadly for him, the Hopkinsville Goblins were back. Nick was an officer for the Department of Paranormal Activity (The DPA). About 45 years ago, the U.S. government had discovered the existence of another dimension that was housed by the "spirits" of humans and other creatures who had departed from earth. While they were "mostly" separate, some ghosts managed to cross the barrier and return to our world, but many were the worse for it. The process eradicated what sense the spirit had left and often turned them into mad and rampaging monsters. The Goblins were a group of spirits that popped up in rural Kentucky every few years. They weren't a major threat, but they could cause serious problems if they got out of hand, which was why Nick and his partner were hot on their tail. As the car pulled up to a lone farmhouse just off the highway, Nick turned to his partner and groaned. "Jesus, Thea... can you not stick your head through the window while I'm driving? You know that creeps me out..."

Thea drew back and sat the conventional way in the passenger seat, minus the seatbelt. She made the motions of smoothing her long skirt over her legs, an unnessary act given she had no mass. "If that frightens you," she said, her words soft and enunciated clearly, "You picked the wrong line of work." A slim cigareete holder was held delicately on the side of her mouth, and she removed it and blew a thin line of smoke. So much of what she did was pointless given her ghostly form, the smoking, the careful speech she was taught almost a century ago, and the smoking. But, she often said, little separated her from the evil creatures they fought and she wanted to make that line as thick as possible. Besides, she was a lady.

"This place reeks of goblins. Don't pack too close to the house. They're hiding." She leaned over and looked through the door of the car to see the ground below the moving vehicle. "The tracks are fresh, too." Her flowing hair was as unchanged by the wind outside as it was inside.

"I wouldn't worry too much. This is just gonna be a routine extermination," Nick said with a sigh as the car began to slow to a halt. "I've tangled with Goblins before. The only time they were ever a problem was the Hopkinsville Incident, and the upper brass want to make sure that NEVER happens again." Getting out of the car, Nick proceeded to open the trunk and withdrew some items they'd need for the upcoming extermination. Among them, he grabbed a clip-board and a forged U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service badge. He then turned to approach the house, flipping a signal for Thea to turn invisible. If the people in the house proved uncooperative, standard procedure would have Thea possess them to comb their memory and then wipe it once they had the information they needed.

When he reached the door, Nick gave it a stiff knock that echoed in the darkness of the night. After several moments, a middle aged woman pulled the door open partway. She had a frail build and mousy brown hair pulled back into a bun. Nick smiled as he flashed the badge that he'd tacked to his shirt.

"Good evening, Miss. Sorry to bother you at this late hour, but I'm with the Fish and Wildlife Service. There was an issue involving an oil spill a few miles south of here and it's causing some of the animals in the area to migrate. We're just running a survey to see if you've noticed anything... unusual in the last few days?" Based on her expression, Nick wasn't altogether sure she was buying his story, but he hoped the official-looking nature of the badge and clipboard could make up for his explanation.