James blinked when the Governor finished his speech. 'Is that all? Crawling around underground? That's what has these people all riled up?' he thought. In his 8 months as a citizen of the Colony James had never seen these alleged 'monsters of the night'. He was under the impression that the monsters were just animals that some overzealous guard had decided to make up a story about. Looking at some of the people around him, however, James began to think that maybe the threat held some level of merit. He couldn't help but consider the repercussions of these 'monsters' actually existing; going down there could be a death sentence. Thoughts of Sam flashed into his head; without power, there wasn't any heat. Without heat, and considering the recent drop in temperature, Sam's recovery will be long and difficult. And on the off chance that the 'things' were real, if they were to come up to the surface...

James set his jaw as he raised his hand in silence. No way was he going to risk Sam's life. He began working his way through the crowd, hand still raised as he breached the mob of people to stand right in front.

No fucking way.