"I'm fine! There was a rat!" you shout.

"OK!" Mason replies.

Ant continues whimpering, as a gloved hand runs through your hair.

"Good girl... I don't recognize you in the dark. Let's see who you are... don't scream, by the way."

Your hear the flick of a lighter before a flame splutters to life in front of you, illuminating all three of you. Then, you get the first sight of the Dead Man. His skin is grey and dead, his eyes cold, lifeless and pure black. His mouth has been carved open, the cuts carving upwards into a smile. Blood stains his rotting skin and his shirt. He wears a classic cowboy hat and leather duster, and his neck is covered in the deep bruises caused by a noose. Ant tries to scream, but can't find the air to do so. You freeze, immobilized in terror, as the Dead Man grin.

"Well look who we have here. A Ceder and a wanderer."

You stare at him as he caresses the side of Ant's face."

"What's your name, boy?"

"Anthony Ceder."

"I remember you. I remember your people. I remember seeing your great-great-grand mama. A little Jewish girl who ran the store and didn't have shit. You're one of the few families that didn't string me up in this town. I ain't got no feud with you."

He turns to you, and presses the knife to your lips.

"Darlin', you should smile more. It'd make you a hell of a lot prettier."

He traces the path of a smile along your face with the cold blade.

"Don't hurt me."

"Ah, I'd never hurt a woman 'less I had a reason. I don't recognize you. You're a wanderer, ain't ya? You ain't from Dawnwoods originally,"

"I'm from New York."

"Hell, might cut you up for that if I weren't as nice a guy as I am."

"Are you sure you're OK?" Becca shouts, and the Dead Man presses the knife to your throat.

"What's her name?" he hisses.

"Becca," you whimper.

"I fuckin' know that voice! I fuckin' know that voice! I fuckin'... Becca Montgomery. The great-great however fuckin' many greats grand daughter of Horton J. Montgomery. That bitch..."

The Dead Man is clearly quite distracted by his vengeful rant. If there's a time to do anything, it's now.
> You elbow him and run
You slam your elbow into his face and he drops you with a grunt.

"Fuckin' bitch!" he grunts.

You grab Ant's arm and yank him down the stairs, you turn, yelling at Mason to move the plywood as you sprint towards it. The Dead Man appears in front of you.

"Hiya, darlin'," he chuckles, blood spurting out of his throat.

He begins walking towards you, as Ant lets out a whimper. The Dead Man grins, his skin tearing open as blood trickles down his chin.

"I'm going to..." he says, before pausing.

There's a crunch as a large piece of plywood is pulled away by Mason. A beam of moonlight comes in, hitting the boot of the Dead Man. There's a sizzle as he boot begins to fade, and the Dead Man snarls. In the blink of an eye, he's gone. You don't know where he's gone, but you're not waiting around to find out.

"Come on!" you shout, grabbing Ant running towards the gap in the boards.

You scamper through, collapsing on the cool grass outside.

"What the fuck happened?" Mason asks.

"The Dead Man was there! He was there, and he was so mad, and he..."

"Ant, calm the fuck down!" Lucy shouts, grabbing Ant and shaking him.

"You're d-d-drunk as fuck, Ant. You d-don't know w-what you saw," Carter says.

"I did! Ask Hazel!!"

The group turns to you, and you nod.

"There was a ghost in there. It had it's throat slit and...!" you say in a nervous panic.

"Alright, calm down," Mason says, pulling you in and squeezing you in a hug.

You feel your heart flutter as you take deep breaths, your head nestled in your chest.

"G-get a room," Carter says.

You blush as Mason lets go of you.

"In fairness, you've drunk a fair bit as well. You're more pissed than I am. Maybe you were just seeing things in the shadows that weren't there," Mason suggests.

You shrug whilst shaking your head.

"I don't know."

"Come on, let's head back to Kyle," Becca says.

You walk back through the field and back into the woods, heading towards the trucks.

"S-s-so, this w-was a bad id-idea," Carter says. "We just p-panicked Ant and H-Ha-Hazel."

"We risked our lives to annoy what could have been a harmless old man," Ant says.

You arrive at the camp, and Mason swears loudly.

"FUCK! Where the hell is Kyle?" he asks.

The camp is empty, with no one in sight.

"R-r-remember last time we lost Kyle when he was drunk?"

"Oh dear God, he ended up pissing in my garden. He wasn't pissing into the garden. He was standing in the garden, pissing on my house," Becca says.

"That was funny," Ant says, still shaken up from his experience.

"We need to find him. Is anyone not sober enough to find this place again?" Mason says.

There's silence.

"Good. We'll split up and try find him. Ant, you head towards the Rotten Trees, Lucy, go towards our old tree house, Becca, towards the old drinking point, Carter, back towards town. Hazel, you're new here. There's a stream just over there," Mason says, pointing. "Just walk along there, and keep your phone on. If you can't find him, follow the stream back here."

You nod. Time to find Kyle.
> You walk along the stream
You walk alongside the stream, your shoes squelching in the wet mud. You walk along to the drier earth, but they're already ruined.

"Fuck," you sigh, walking along. "Kyle! Kyle! Are you there?!?"

You hear what sounds like twigs breaking behind you, and quickly twirl around. Must've been your imagination. You continue walking along the stream.

"Kyle! Kyle! I don't care how drunk you are, do something! I'm getting sick of looking for you!"

You hear the rustle as leaves as the wind picks up, and what was earlier a hot, humid night is now turning bitterly cold, as the light that the moon was provided dims considerably. For the first time, you realize that you're walking in the middle of  a place you've never been, late at night, with no one around. You consider turning around and heading back, but you know if Kyle's passed out somewhere, you need to find him.

"Hello!" you call.

Your voice carries out across the trees. Then, the silence resumes. There's a silence so deadly quiet it's painful. There's no birds, no small mammals scurrying among the trees or undergrowth, not even a cricket. You take deep breaths in an attempt to calm yourself down, before you here a low growl. You turn around, flicking your head around desperately to find the source of the noise, desperately wanting to run but not knowing which direction to do so.

"Kyle? Is that you?" you whimper.

The growl stops, and the silence resumes. You stand perfectly still, not wanting to disturb whatever's out there. Then, it lets out a roar. The roar's incredibly loud and you scream in pain as the sound like shattering glass as concrete scrapes against each other. You feel pure, unadulterated terror, which is amplified when you spot the beast.

The Beast stands on four legs, the shape of a bear but the size of a large truck, covered in thick fur that's so dark it consumes what little moonlight makes it through the trees. It's eyes are pure red, the all-consuming crimson of fresh blood that peer through your eyes and bore into your soul. As it roars, it revels a mouth filled with hundreds of teeth the size of daggers, pure white and sharp enough to drill through solid steel. It stands, blocking the route back towards your friends. You need to do something, now.
> You run
You turn, and run as fast as your legs will carry you. Trees are torn up and sent flying away behind you as the beast gives chase. Thankfully, its size means that navigating past the trees is impossible, so it needs to tear them up and throw them away to follow you. You have enough of a lead to know you have two options: You could head towards town, getting help from the many armed residents of Dawnwood who have enough combined firepower to invade a small nation, which would easily be enough to scare away or kill the beast. Hell, the need for that is unlikely, as since there's been a lack of reports about this creature, it probably wouldn't venture out and follow you if you escape the confines of the trees. On the other hand, if you head towards the caves, you might be able to find a place to hide and escape this terrible beast.
> You run towards the town
You run towards the town, letting out a desperate scream for help. It charges towards you, the gap between the pair of you lowering. It sprints towards you faster than a truck, and finally manages to catch you, batting you with its paw with incredible strength. Your bones break and crack as you're sent spiraling through the air. You land in a heap by the soft earth and let out a shriek as your limbs twist at incredible angles that they're definitely not meant to go. The creature walks slowly towards you, and you try to crawl away but find yourself unable to move. You see the flash of the beast's teeth and a spurt of crimson before it finishes off its prey.


You turn, and run as fast as your legs will carry you. Trees are torn up and sent flying away behind you as the beast gives chase. Thankfully, its size means that navigating past the trees is impossible, so it needs to tear them up and throw them away to follow you. You have enough of a lead to know you have two options: You could head towards town, getting help from the many armed residents of Dawnwood who have enough combined firepower to invade a small nation, which would easily be enough to scare away or kill the beast. Hell, the need for that is unlikely, as since there's been a lack of reports about this creature, it probably wouldn't venture out and follow you if you escape the confines of the trees. On the other hand, if you head towards the caves, you might be able to find a place to hide and escape this terrible beast.
> You head toward the caves
You change direction, bursting towards the few caves that these woods have. You can here the beast right behind you, feeling its hot breath on the back of your neck, blowing your hair out of the way. You spot two caves you think... well, hope you can reach before it catches you. One is a small crack in stone that you think you can dive through that's definitely far too small for the beast to follow you that leads into a tunnel further in. The other is an opening to a large cavern that's also too small for the beast to follow you and that widens considerably further down.
> You go through the small tunnel
You dart through the small crack, heading quickly down the tunnel. As you're emerged in complete darkness you stop walking, your deep breaths echoing off the cave walls creating an eery sound. You pull out your phone and turn on the flashlight, illuminating the area. Then, you let out a petrified scream. The walls are covered with vivid symbols of red, sharp and alien characters you don't recognize. But that's not what makes you scream. Three bound figures lie on the ground, their bodies now a scene of horrific cruelty. They're naked, but their skin has been torn off to let you see the wet muscles that glisten underneath. You let out a sob as they begin to writhe. They're not dead, you realize in terror. The figures writhe, and you begin sobbing as you back away in terror. You run with a scream to the opening of the tunnel. You don't dare venturing out in case you're sighted by the beast, so you sit by the opening, sobbing. You begin to smell a strange smell coming from further down the tunnel, this one different from the rotting flesh. Soon, your wretched, sobbing and broken body finds sleep.
> You awaken
"We found her!" a voice cries, awakening you from her slumber.

You open your eyes, spotting a young man you vaguely recognize as the town mechanic.

"It's ok," he says. "You're going to be alright."

The images of the writhing corpses fill your mind as more of the town's residence arrive.

"Jesus, what the fuck happened her?" someone asks.

"God, is she OK?"

"Does she need a doctor?"

"Hazel! Where's my baby girl!?!"

You hear Dad's voice and spot him among the growing crowd.

"Dad!" you cry, as he leans in and hug him.

"Oh Hazel, thank God I've found you. What the hell were you thinking, sneaking out like that? It’s OK, I found you. You’re safe. What happened?”

You sob, and attempt to recount your story to Dad, to his confusion.

“Your friends said that you had been looking for Kyle. They found him, but then they couldn’t find you. You… you smell of drink. What were you thinking, Hazel? You must’ve got drunk and seen a bear. I’ll tell the sheriff and have a hunting party sent out to kill it.”

“It wasn’t a bear, Dad! And there were bodies! They’re in the cave!”

“Sweetie, you were drunk!”

The Sheriff appears, emerging from the crowd. He stops by Dad, squeezing his shoulder.

“I’m glad you found your gal, Malcolm. We’ll talk later," he says, before pausing. "She smells of drink. I've always believed in the father disciplining the kid, so I'll leave that to you, Malcolm."

 “Come on, sweetie!” Dad says. “I’m getting you home.”

“No wait, check the cave! There’s bodies in there!”

Dad sighs, and the Sheriff heads in. He appears a minute later, shrugging.

“There ain’t nothing in there. There's a few rabbit carcasses that look to be infected, but that's it,” he says.

“What…?” you ask in confusion. "I need to go down there and check...!"

"Calm down, darling. Those animal corpses could give you an infection. You might've seen them wrong in the dark. I'll have someone clear them out later. Come on, everyone, head on home."

The Sheriff stands by the entrance to the tunnel, motioning for people to leave as the search and rescue party heads out towards the town as Dad thanks them.

“Come on, Hazel, let’s get home," Dad says.

You follow Dad out as he leads you back home.
> You go home
The ride home is long and quiet. Dad can clearly tell you don't want to talk, so he leaves you alone. Eventually, you pull into the driveway.

"I've told your teacher you won't be coming in today. Go upstairs and have a shower, you can have the day to relax. I'm staying home to look after you today."

You nod, and walk inside. You pull off your mud-covered shoes, and walk upstairs, leaving a trail of muddy water behind you. You walk into the bathroom, and slowly get undressed. You unbutton and pull off your jeans, then step out of your underwater. You pull off your jumper, than your shirt. As you go to unclasp your bra, you freeze as you notice yourself in the mirror. One of the strange, alien symbols you saw covering the cave walls above the disgusting, shuddering, skinless bodies, is carved into your stomach, just below your belly button. You shriek, and you hear Dad call up to you.

"Hazel? Are you OK?"
> You say "I'm fine!"
"OK, honey."

You stare at the symbol in horror, before taking a deep breath. You open your bathroom cabinet, and pull out some bandages, applying it to the wound. The wound's shallow and small, nothing really to worry about medically, although it terrifies you. Whoever did that to the corpses had access to you while you slept. You shudder at the sight. You decide to shower to feel some bit cleaner.
> You shower
You walk into the shower, and set the temperature as hot as you can without scalding yourself. You step under the water, feeling your hair grow in weight as the water soaks it through. The water warms you and helps clean the layer of dirt and mud from your body. To your absolute embarrassment, you notice the water pooling yellowish beneath you before it goes down the drain and you realize in the terror of last night you must have wet yourself at some point. You blush, both from embarrassment and the scalding water, and finish cleaning yourself. You turn off the shower and grab a towel, tossing your dirty clothes into the wash basket. You dry yourself off and get dressed, before collapsing on your bed. You grab your laptop and turn it on, finding comfort in the endless terrible comedies that Netflix provides. Dad brings you breakfast, then lunch, leaving you in a cocoon of blankets in front of the latest episode of Some random crime show about a police division that doesn't do nearly as much in real life, finding comfort about the stereotypical characters and massively contrived murder methods used to kill people. Eventually, you hear a knock on the door.

"Hazel!" Dad shouts. "Your friends are here."

You wiggle out of bed and jump up, walking down the stairs. Standing there are Mason, Carter, Lucy, Ant, Becca and Kyle.

"Hey, Hazel. You feeling alright?" Lucy asks.

"Yeah," you reply.

"I'm so sorry, I just got drunk and wandered off to find a place to go to the bathroom. I didn't think anything would happen to you because of it!" Kyle says apologetically.

"It's fine," you say.

"Well, we were only stopping by to see if you're OK, and if you wanted to go down to town and get a bite to eat."

Dad stares at you.

"Do you remember what happened last time you went out? Only last night, remember?"

"We'll have her back before sundown. We're only going into town, and I'll take good care of her," Mason says.

"I'm sure you will," Dad says skeptically, looking Mason over. "Hazel, keep your phone on and be back by eight. Not half eight, not quarter past eight, not a single minute past eight. Got it?"

"Yes, Dad."

You walk out the door with your friends out towards town.
> One Hour Later...
An hour later, you sit in the pizza place Lucy and Becca work in, with two other unfortunate teenagers working behind the counter, a large pepperoni pizza in the middle of the group.

"So... you were attacked by a monster... who then led you into a trio of undead dead people?" Ant asks. "No offense, but that sounds like complete and utter bullshit."

You stare at Ant incredulously.

"Do you not recall less than an hour before that what happened? You nearly pissed yourself!"

Ant looks down, ashen faced.

"There were no ghosts. You're just fucking with us," Lucy complains.

"Fine, I believe you."

"I believe her," Kyle says.

"You d-don't have a c-c-choice, Kyle. You n-nearly got her kill-killed," Carter says.

Kyle shrugs.

"Fine, say we believe you," Becca says. "What are we going to do about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's a monster in Dawnwoods.. That's a problem, also the monster's too big to go in the cave you were in or else it would've caught you, so that means the body skinning thing is separate, so we got a monster and at least one Satanist."

"How do you know it was Satanism?" Ant asks.

"Well, it wasn't Christians, hence, it must've been Satanists," Becca says.

"Why c-couldn't it b-b-be any other r-r-religions?"

"Carter, this is the whitest, most Christian town that has ever existed. There was one Sikh family, and they had a cross burned on their lawn and were forced out of town after 9/11. There's no other religions here."

"OK, fine."

"So, what are we going to do about...?"

You groan as a sharp pain hits your stomach. It intensifies, and you let out a yelp.

"Are you OK, Hazel?" Mason asks.

"Yeah, I'm..." you groan, and Lucy helps you to your feet.

"I think I'm going to be sick," you groan.

"Come on, I'll take you," Lucy says, dragging you into the bathroom.

You're pulled past the urinals and into one of the stalls, and drop to your knees, letting out a torrent of puke. You groan in pain as you begin to puke, filling the bowl.

"Thank Christ I'm not on shift now. I'd hate to have to clean up this again," Lucy says.

You puke again, before the pain starts to recede.

"Don't worry, Hazel, we'll get you home soon," Lucy says.

"Hey, Lucy?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you drag me into the guy's bathroom?"

"Oh, oops. Sorry, Hazel. I clean both toilets, so I'm used to entering them both, and this one was closer..."

You sigh, and stand, ready to go home.
> You go home
You friends drag you home, where your father waits.

"Hazel! Are you OK? Carter called and told me you were throwing up."

"I'm fine," you groan, as Dad helps you inside.

"Go upstairs, sweetheart. I'll get you a flat Seven-Up to help settle your stomach and a hot water bottle. Thanks for helping get her home, guys," Dad says.

"No bother," Mason replies. "See you later, Hazel."

Dad helps you up to bed, and you collapse onto your mattress. You fall asleep before Dad even gets into the ktichen.
> Six Hours Later...
When you wake up six hours later, you panic. You're lying in a rusted, iron cage, surrounded by pitch darkness. You stand slowly, finding yourself in the middle of the woods. You look around desperately for a way out, but it seems you're stuck in here. The wind blows through the trees, rustling leaves and giving you a cold chill as you realize you're in your underwear. You look around, spotting a large RV next to the cage. Two figures step out and begin walking towards you. They both wear ski masks, hoodies and baggy black pants, with one carrying a doctor's bag. A third appears, pushing a gurney towards you. You scream for help and back away to the back of the cage. One of them steps forward and unlocks the cage door, and they enter the cage.

"Hands behind your head, don't move," one of the figures said.
> You attack
You charge forward, swinging at the first man. You hit him with some force in the jaw, and he grabs your arm. He slaps you hard across the face, knocking you to the ground. The men grab you, and force you into the gurney. They strap your hands up my your head and your feet together, leaving you stretched out on the gurney. A ball gag is stuffed in your mouth and strapped tightly. You wince one off them puts surgical gloves on, before drawing a thermometer that's pushed into your ear. He checks it, before placing a cold hand on your stomach. He pushes gently, before squeezing.

"I'm right. Get the injections ready."

You shake and try to scream as one of the men takes out a needle that's almost comically large and sharp. He jabs it into your stomach and you scream into your gag and presses down, releasing the liquid into your stomach. You begin to tear up as he repeats the process with several more needles, and by the end your eyes are obscured with tears. He smiles at you through the ski mask, before another man arrives with a large burlap sack. He opens it, pulling out a small mammal like a rat or a ferret, and a large knife. You watch in horror as he slices the mammal's throat open, letting blood flow out onto your stomach. He tosses the carcass aside, and begins to use his fingers to draw various patterns along your belly as you wince and shake. He sighs, and slaps you hard across the face.

"Stop shaking," he says, before turning to one of the other men. "Tomorrow night."

He finishes drawing his patterns, before taking out a small black notebook. He begins to read from it in an insane language you don't understand, like the spluttering of a madman. The pain in your stomach intensifies greatly as you let out a petrified scream as you feel yourself being torn apart. Finally, he stops, as does the pain.

"Ah, good. Get the chloroform and untie her. Then, bring the kids back from their walk."

They free you from your straps, and you notice the door's still open.
> You run for the gate
You leap up and run for the gate. Clearly the men weren't prepared for your newfound strength, so you charge out of the cage and begin sprinting towards the trees. As you hear the men loudly swearing behind you, you break through the trees. You run through the darkness as you avoid trees, before knocking into something. You fall to the ground, painfully scraping your knee on a tree root. You look up, and scream in terror as you see them. A half dozen figures slowly surround you, giving you a view of them. The... creatures are all children, but they're so deformed, so mutated, they barely qualify. One is missing both it's arms, replaced with long, thin, slimy tentacles that reach forward to touch you. A second is missing most of its face, a gaping hole in its place filled with tiny, wiggling tentacles from the walls, back, roof and floor of the mouth. A third looks like a cute, perfectly normal girl of around four years old, except her mouth hangs open and her eyes are completely black. Another, one of the worst, looks like a cross between a schoolgirl, a fetus and an octopus, and stands wiggling above you as it reaches out towards you. You scream, and crawl backwards, terrified. They advance slowly, tentacles extending to rub you, slick goo wiping across your face and hair. You sob as you try to stand, before being yanked up by a man in a mask. He takes out a large rag and a glass bottle. He soaks the rag, before holding it to your mouth. You try not to breath, but after about a minute you take a gasp for breath, inhaling the fumes.
> You lose Consciousness
You awaken in your bed, terrified and curled up in your blankets. You briefly wonder if you dreamed everything, but know that that's impossible. Your knee hurts where you scraped it, your window is still open, and you know your mind couldn't conjure up everything you saw last night.

"Honey? Are you OK?" Dad calls.

You pause, wondering if you should tell him, before realizing he'd never believe you.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you reply, wondering what you should do.

It's Saturday, so you could visit your friends and explain the situation. If you're more optimistic, you could go through the normal, legal means, although you're almost certain that will be complete and utter bullshit.
> You visit your friends
You shower, noticing the same mark still under your belly button, and head off to meet your friends after a quick breakfast with Dad who remarks how "You look like you haven't slept". He gives you something to help settle your stomach, and you head out, texting your friends. They're already at Ant's house, so you head over there, carefully following their directions. Eventually, you find yourself at a house that's not even worth describing as it's identical to every other house in this shitty town. You knock on the door, which is opened by a short, balding man in a cheap suit.

"Hello?" he asks, peering at you.

"Hi. I'm Hazel, I'm a friend of Ant's."

"Hmmm... Of course you are. I'll admit, it was my mistake calling him Anthony. I wish I had went with something nicer. It was his mother, god rest her, who wanted to give him a nice name like Connor, but I wanted Anthony. Ah, I'm rambling. He's in the games room, last left."

You nod and thank him, heading down towards the last left and going inside, finding a pool table, several beanbags with your friends spread out among them, and an Xbox.

"Hey Hazel. F-f-feeling better?" Carter asks.

"Yeah, I... I need to talk to you about that."

Ant looks up at you, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you... put on weight?" he asks, staring at your belly through your t-shirt.

"Hey Ant: Stop being such a prick. You don't ask a girl that," Lucy says.

"What do you need to talk about?" Mason asks, looking away from the console to look at you, which Ant quickly takes advantage of and both screen peaks and starts heading towards his location for an easy kill.

You explain your situation to the group, and they stare in either disbelief or horror.

"There's no such thing as monsters," Lucy says as you end your tale.

"Hang on," Mason says. "There's a rusted out cage from the old freak show in the woods. How else would she know about it?"

"Maybe she saw it when she was lost."

"I didn't," you say.

"Fine. We have to do something about this, then," Becca suggests.

"She's right," Kyle says.

"Y-You're only agreeing because you f-f-feel bad about getting her l-lost," Carter points out.

"Shut it, Carter!" Kyle hisses.

"Have you called the police?" Ant asks.

"I told the Sheriff, he didn't believe a word I said when he found me."

Mason nods.

"Sheriff's an idiot. We have to check out the spot," he says.

You shake your head nervously.

"I'm not going back there. There's that beast and those Satanists..."

"If you want, I could get my brother to drive us out there in his pick-up," Lucy suggests.

"Will Drake really take us out to the woods?" Becca asks in surprise.

"He owes me. I covered him when he was caught doing business with some kids at school."

"Doing business?" you ask.

"Drug dealing," Lucy explains, eerily matter of factly.

"Oh."

"I'll give him a ring," she says, disappearing off into a side room.

You sigh, nervous at the thought of heading back to the cage, but you know it needs to be done. You wait for Lucy to return, which she does after a few minutes.

"Good news and bad news!" he says cheerfully.

"Go on." Carter says.

"My brother will drive us into the woods and help us look around... but not until eight."

"It'll be dark by then!" you say hysterically.

"It's OK, you'll be safe with all of us! I'll have Drake bring the biggest, most powerful flashlights he can, and a gun or two," Lucy says, smiling.

"I don't... I mean, I can''t..."

Mason grabs you and smiles.

"It's OK, Hazel. I'll keep you safe."

You have to admit, you do feel safer in his arms. Damn his charm.

"Fine, we'll do it," you say.

"Great. I'd feel bad if you were killed by evil cultists because we didn't do anything."

He smiles cheekily, and you begin to regret this decision.
> You nine Hours Later...
Nine hours later, you're ready to go. You've somehow convinced Dad to let you go out, not daring to tell him your actual destination and instead claiming you're staying at Lucy's house. You meet up at the Lucy's house with the group, and walk into the living room, where they're all sitting around.

"Are we ready?" you ask.

"Damn straight!" Ant smiles, holding up a large backpack. "Spare food, water bottles, lighters, matches, rope, fireworks, some knives and flashlights. What'd you guys bring?"

Carter holds up half a chocolate bar he's been chewing on.

"Half a M-Mars bar," he says, before taking another bite. "A q-quart-quarter of a Mars b-bar."

"I brought a penknife and a lighter," you shrug, and Ant looks around disappointedly.

"No one brought anything?" he pouts. "You guys suck."

You hear a horn outside, and look outside. A large RV drives up the driveway, stopping outside. Lucy skips out the door, before running up to him, and you follow her outside.

"Hey, Hazel," Drake says.

"Drake's friend, Ed, has the pick-up, so we're driving to the woods, meeting him and switching vehicle," Lucy tells you.

"OK," you say, walking into the RV. You raise an eyebrow as you notice that the RV's windows are covered with shutters and bin bags, and the actual interior looks like a scene from Breaking Bad, covered with beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners and other Chemistry gear.

"Well, you're blatant," you say.

"Hey, it's effective."

"I mean, yeah, but Breaking Bad made this a trope. Don't police search RV's for this."

"Breaking Bad helped my sales enough that I'm bribing the deputy. You'll be surprised how much extra meth heads are willing to pay for a product when you add some blue dye."

You shrug, and take a seat in the RV, as your friends pack in.

"Be careful back there. Knock one thing over and this place could blow."

"Really?" you ask.

Drake grins and shrugs, and begins driving.

"Maybe. I mean, there's a distillery back there as well as the lab. I'd imagine one speed bump and boom!"

"That's unnerving," Ant says.

"I guess. So, why the hell am I dragging all your friends into the middle of the woods to the old freakshow cage?"

"I told you already," Lucy reveals.

"That nightmare bull isn't convincing me. What's the real reason?"

"That is the real reason."

Drake turns around to stare at you in annoyance.

"What...?"

"Eyes on the road, Drake," Kyle says.

"Fine," Drake says, turning around. "Still, I want an explanation why I'm driving into the woods because the new girl had a nightmare."

"It wasn't a nightmare!" you say.

"Sure," Drake says.

You all sit in awkward silence until you reach the outskirts of the woods. Drake pulls over, and you stand and head out the door. Although you couldn't tell because of the shutters and blacked out windows of the RV, you can now see that night has fallen. An empty red pick-up truck with four seats sits next to the woods. Drake strides forward, pulling out his phone.

"Ah, shit," Drake says. "Of course Ed left the truck here and went off on his quad rather than just take back the RV like he was supposed to."

He locks the RV and hides the keys in the wheel well.

"I'll text my friend and get him to pick up the RV. Come on, get inside. Let's go drive to a dumbass cage in the woods."

Drake, Lucy, Carter and Ant go in the seats while you, Mason, Becca and Kyle sit in the back of the pick-up. You sit, half-lying on Mason who wraps one arm around you. The emotional part of your brain momentarily forgets all fears in favor of a childish infatuation and hormonal lust towards Mason that causes you to blush and your heart to flutter, the rational part of your brain reminds you to stay vigilant in case the cultists or that beast do show up. You and the rest of your friends pull out flashlights and fire the beams off into the darkness, illuminating trees and undergrowth.

"We're nearly there," Drake shouts. "It's a hell of a lot easier to get here because a path's been made."

Your ears perk up at that.

"What do you mean?" you ask, as Drake rolls down his window fully.

"What'd you say?"

"I said what do you mean? You said there's a path."

"Yeah. It's like a big RV drove over the undergrowth and knocked a dirt path along."

"What, you think Ed's been driving out here to work in the RV?" Lucy asks.

"Nah, Ed's terrified of the woods. Said something about a monster or something."

You feel a flash of fear as you remember the RV from last night. You stare outwards, illuminating every shadow, both hoping to and terrified of seeing something hiding in the dark.

"Here it is! The old freak show's cage!" Drake says dramatically.

As Drake pulls the pick-up into the clearing in the woods, you see the massive, rusted cage, although there's no RV. You shiver in fear, and Drake steps out of the truck.

"Let's investigate and get home," Drake says, firing his flashlight beam towards the cage.

The flashlight beam illuminates the cage and its insides. The old rusted gurney sits there, now encrusted with dried blood.

"Well, that's new," Drake mentions.

You step back nervously.

"Hazel said there was a gurney in her dre... when she was abducted," Ant points out.

"Fuck, this is some creepy shit. I'm calling the sheriff," Drake says.

Drake takes out his phone, and makes a call.

"Hello, Sheriff Buckly? I just found a gurney in the middle of the cage in the woods covered in dried blood. I think some weird... oh, really? OK, you know where the cage from the... oh, great.. Cool, see you in a few minutes, or an hour, or whatever."

"What was that?"

"The sheriff said he'll come here straight away."

"Good," you sigh in relief.

You really can't imagine having to deal with this without the help of the law. Now, it's out of your hands. You wait patiently for Sheriff Buckly to arrive. Eventually, you spot a flashlight heading towards you.

"There he is," Drake says.

You shine your light ahead, illuminating the figure of Sheriff Buckly. He swears, and holds his hands to block his eyes.

"Turn that off!" he says, and you do.

"Fuck, how'd you even get the truck out here? I can barely walk through the undergrowth," he says. "Where this bloody gurney?"

You point at the cage, and Sheriff Buckly walks over and looks at it.

"Jesus... who else saw this? I'm going to need to gather all the witnesses and find out what was going on," he says.

"We're the only people who've seen this, although Hazel got a bit of a closer encounter."

"So you didn't tell you pa about this?" Sheriff Buckly asks.

You shake your head, and Sheriff Buckly nods.

"Good," Sheriff Buckly says.

Sheriff Buckly draws his revolver, and quickly aims at Drake's head and fires. Drake's head snaps back as it explodes partially, sending chunks of gray brain matter, pale skull and pieces of red flesh at you. You scream as Lucy runs over to Drake as his body collapses backwards. Mason runs for the truck, before the Sheriff barks an order.

"Stop! Move another muscle and I'll blow the brain out of everyone of you!"

Mason stops, raising his hands. Sheriff Buckly points his gun at all of you, forcing you to raise your hands into the air.

"Everyone, calm down. Nobody needs to get hurt," Sheriff Buckly says.

"Fuck you!" Lucy screams. "You killed him! You killed him you piece of..."

Sheriff Buckly steps forward and cracks her across the head wit his revolver.

"Shut up! Carter, Mason, Ant, Kyle, get in the fucking cage!" he shouts.

Mason, Ant, Kyle and Carter slowly walk into the cage.

"Now, back the fuck up to the end of the cage!"

The boys comply, and the Sheriff draws a set of keys from his pocket, locking the cage door. He turns to you, Lucy and Becca.

"Just don't move. They'll be here in a minute."

You stand in silence, the cold wind blowing, the silence only broken by the occasional soft sob by Lucy as she stands over Drake. After about half an hour of waiting, you see the RV pull up along the path. It stops, and four masked men step out.

"Anyone escape?" one asks.

"No," Sheriff Buckly responds. "Fuck, I didn't even know they were coming out here. You said whatever the fuck you injected the girl with would make her forget everything."

"I said it probably would. Her phone's bugged. How didn't you find out?"

"She didn't make any calls saying she was going to do it!"

"Well, at least no one escaped," the masked man says, pulling off his mask.

The group remove their masks. You vaguely recognize them, one being the mechanic who found you, one being the town doctor, Doctor Kessel, another being a German teacher from school and the final one being the bartender of the local bar.

"What are you going to do with...?" Becca asks, before Sheriff Buckley lets out a bark.

"Hey! Shut the fuck..."

"No, Jake, let the girl ask her question," Doctor Kessel says.

"What are you going to do with us? Who are you? Why did you send a monster to hunt me?"

"What are we going to do with you? Nothing, ideally. We only need to borrow you. Who are we? Well, surely you must recognize us. Louis, Sheriff Buckly, Mrs Jordan, Alison and me, Doctor Kessel. "As for the monster, I assume you're referring to the Black Beast. That's not an issue, I assure you. Although I'm not sure of its origins, if you look at town records, it actually kills most of the bears in the area, which reduces the amount of attacks so much it's saving lives. If I was in your situation, I'd be much more worried about us."

"What do you want? Are you going to sacrifice us to Satan?" Becca asks again.

Doctor Kessel lets out a chuckle.

"No, Rebecca, we're not. We're not satanists. Real satanists don't even believe in Satan. We're... researchers. We're humanitarians. We're explorers. When we were little kids, we used to be the best of friends. We played in these very woods. When we were little, we found... a book in one of the caves. We took it and read it, and we found out the most amazing things. Do you know how insignificant not only we are, but this planet, this solar system, this galaxy and this universe is? There are so many amazing things we learned about these beings that we can't even comprehend, but compared to what's out there, we learned so little. So we kept reading. The book included some instructions to summon them, to summon these beings that are stronger than any gods we've ever imagined, more alien that any alien we've created in fiction, more incredible than anything you could experience here. If we create a Key-Bearer, we can create a portal to these beings."

"That's insane! How do you know they won't wipe us out, or enslave us all, or worse!" you cry.

"I don't," Doctor Kessel admits.

"It could destroy everything!"

"You just need to calm down and listen!" he hisses. "Imagine you're stuck in a room. There is a small tap for water, a toilet and a small machine that creates a nutritious yet tasteless paste. You have everything you need to survive and continue your blank, boring existence. Now, one day, a door appears in the room. It's unlocked. Do you go through?"

"What the fuck does...?"

"We are trying to open that door. Just as the person in the room doesn't know what's on the other side, anything is better than the bland, boring existence of the room. We're trying to open the world up to experiences unknown to man, good or bad, because it has to be better than this meaningless existence."

"What are yuo even talking about? What the fuck's a Key-Bearer?" Mason shouts, as Sheriff Buckly aims his gun at his head once again.

"Shut up," Sheriff Buckly grunts.

"Ah yes, the Key-Bearer. That part's the worst for you guys. A Key-Bearer is a creature birthed of the beings' power of a human womb. We've had several attempts at this, but every time we failed. Instead of creating a Key-Bearer, we created half-human, half-monster children who aged rapidly. Finally, we settled the problem. The mother of the Key-Bearer had to be a virgin, post-puberty, below 21 and to have AB Negative Blood. You'd imagine my luck when I found one such target walking around the cave where I was sacrificing some former mothers to keep the beings' interested in our world. I simply pumped out some gas I had on hand to help knock her out, and voila! I got to work."

You stare at him in horror, putting a hand on your stomach. There's a series of gasps and shouts from the group, before Sheriff Buckly fires his gun in the air.

"SHUT IT!" he roars.

"I'm sorry, Hazel. It'll be over in a few hours."

"A few hours? It's only been two days, how...?" you ask in horror.

"The Key-Bearer grows incredibly quickly. It should be able to be birthed within a day at most."

You feel something wiggle in your stomach, in your womb, and a pain shoots through you.

"Listen, Hazel, it'll be OK," Doctor Kessel says. "In a few hours, you'll be fine, and we'll be in a whole new world."
> You agree to birth the Key-Bearer
"Fine," you say. "I'll do it."

"Fantastic!" Doctor Kessel says eagerly. "I promise, you're helping save humanity."

Doctor Kessel takes your hand, and leads you towards the RV, where a second, newer gurney awaits. You climb up in it and are strapped down. Doctor Kessel stabs a needle into your neck, hushing you.

"Don't worry, I'm going to help you sleep for the next few hours. When you wake up, it'll be all over..."

You begin to feel sleepy, before closing your mouth. Your heavy eyelids close, as the needle presses into your veins, sending you into a deep sleep.
> You awaken
Mother of the Apocalypse

You awaken, lying in a small bed. Sheriff Buckly stands above you, looking eerily joy-filled.

"You're awake! Good, we can begin!" he says.

You stand, looking down. Your legs are covered in dried blood and other liquids, and your body immediately runs out of strength. You're helped along, out of the RV. Your friends are gone, but you only look for a second before you see the preparations for the portal. A large circle of stones lies, each stained with a drop of blood. Standing around the circle are the six cultists; Louis, Doctor Kessel,Mrs Jordan and Alison. Standing around them are a half dozen monster-children that make you want to vomit, the failed attempts at rearing a Key Bearer. They're so deformed, so mutated, they barely qualify as children. One is missing both it's arms, replaced with long, thin, slimy tentacles like pasta. A second is missing most of its face, a gaping hole in its place filled with tiny, wiggling tentacles from the walls, back, roof and floor of the mouth. A third looks like a cute, perfectly normal girl of around four years old, except her mouth hangs open and her eyes are completely black. Another, one of the worst, looks like a cross between a schoolgirl, a fetus and an octopus, and stands wiggling. Still, that's nothing compared to what sits in the middle of the circle. Sitting in the middle, wiggling, is your child. The Key-Bearer is nothing but a seething mass of tentacles that whip around, seemingly drawing lines of purple lightning around itself in the symbol that was carved into you.

"Ah, you're here!" Doctor Kessel says eagerly.

"Where are my friends?" you ask.

"It doesn't matter now! Now, we begin! We will witness the glory of Crexiciliatanian's creation!"

The Key-Bearer speeds up, painting the symbol across the very fabric of reality. The ground begins to crumble away, turning in pure blackness. Suddenly, there's a flash, and the portal opens.

Then, it begins.


Nine hours later, you're ready to go. You've somehow convinced Dad to let you go out, not daring to tell him your actual destination and instead claiming you're staying at Lucy's house. You meet up at the Lucy's house with the group, and walk into the living room, where they're all sitting around.

"Are we ready?" you ask.

"Damn straight!" Ant smiles, holding up a large backpack. "Spare food, water bottles, lighters, matches, rope, fireworks, some knives and flashlights. What'd you guys bring?"

Carter holds up half a chocolate bar he's been chewing on.

"Half a M-Mars bar," he says, before taking another bite. "A q-quart-quarter of a Mars b-bar."

"I brought a penknife and a lighter," you shrug, and Ant looks around disappointedly.

"No one brought anything?" he pouts. "You guys suck."

You hear a horn outside, and look outside. A large RV drives up the driveway, stopping outside. Lucy skips out the door, before running up to him, and you follow her outside.

"Hey, Hazel," Drake says.

"Drake's friend, Ed, has the pick-up, so we're driving to the woods, meeting him and switching vehicle," Lucy tells you.

"OK," you say, walking into the RV. You raise an eyebrow as you notice that the RV's windows are covered with shutters and bin bags, and the actual interior looks like a scene from Breaking Bad, covered with beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners and other Chemistry gear.

"Well, you're blatant," you say.

"Hey, it's effective."

"I mean, yeah, but Breaking Bad made this a trope. Don't police search RV's for this."

"Breaking Bad helped my sales enough that I'm bribing the deputy. You'll be surprised how much extra meth heads are willing to pay for a product when you add some blue dye."

You shrug, and take a seat in the RV, as your friends pack in.

"Be careful back there. Knock one thing over and this place could blow."

"Really?" you ask.

Drake grins and shrugs, and begins driving.

"Maybe. I mean, there's a distillery back there as well as the lab. I'd imagine one speed bump and boom!"

"That's unnerving," Ant says.

"I guess. So, why the hell am I dragging all your friends into the middle of the woods to the old freakshow cage?"

"I told you already," Lucy reveals.

"That nightmare bull isn't convincing me. What's the real reason?"

"That is the real reason."

Drake turns around to stare at you in annoyance.

"What...?"

"Eyes on the road, Drake," Kyle says.

"Fine," Drake says, turning around. "Still, I want an explanation why I'm driving into the woods because the new girl had a nightmare."

"It wasn't a nightmare!" you say.

"Sure," Drake says.

You all sit in awkward silence until you reach the outskirts of the woods. Drake pulls over, and you stand and head out the door. Although you couldn't tell because of the shutters and blacked out windows of the RV, you can now see that night has fallen. An empty red pick-up truck with four seats sits next to the woods. Drake strides forward, pulling out his phone.

"Ah, shit," Drake says. "Of course Ed left the truck here and went off on his quad rather than just take back the RV like he was supposed to."

He locks the RV and hides the keys in the wheel well.

"I'll text my friend and get him to pick up the RV. Come on, get inside. Let's go drive to a dumbass cage in the woods."

Drake, Lucy, Carter and Ant go in the seats while you, Mason, Becca and Kyle sit in the back of the pick-up. You sit, half-lying on Mason who wraps one arm around you. The emotional part of your brain momentarily forgets all fears in favor of a childish infatuation and hormonal lust towards Mason that causes you to blush and your heart to flutter, the rational part of your brain reminds you to stay vigilant in case the cultists or that beast do show up. You and the rest of your friends pull out flashlights and fire the beams off into the darkness, illuminating trees and undergrowth.

"We're nearly there," Drake shouts. "It's a hell of a lot easier to get here because a path's been made."

Your ears perk up at that.

"What do you mean?" you ask, as Drake rolls down his window fully.

"What'd you say?"

"I said what do you mean? You said there's a path."

"Yeah. It's like a big RV drove over the undergrowth and knocked a dirt path along."

"What, you think Ed's been driving out here to work in the RV?" Lucy asks.

"Nah, Ed's terrified of the woods. Said something about a monster or something."

You feel a flash of fear as you remember the RV from last night. You stare outwards, illuminating every shadow, both hoping to and terrified of seeing something hiding in the dark.

"Here it is! The old freak show's cage!" Drake says dramatically.

As Drake pulls the pick-up into the clearing in the woods, you see the massive, rusted cage, although there's no RV. You shiver in fear, and Drake steps out of the truck.

"Let's investigate and get home," Drake says, firing his flashlight beam towards the cage.

The flashlight beam illuminates the cage and its insides. The old rusted gurney sits there, now encrusted with dried blood.

"Well, that's new," Drake mentions.

You step back nervously.

"Hazel said there was a gurney in her dre... when she was abducted," Ant points out.

"Fuck, this is some creepy shit. I'm calling the sheriff," Drake says.

Drake takes out his phone, and makes a call.

"Hello, Sheriff Buckly? I just found a gurney in the middle of the cage in the woods covered in dried blood. I think some weird... oh, really? OK, you know where the cage from the... oh, great.. Cool, see you in a few minutes, or an hour, or whatever."

"What was that?"

"The sheriff said he'll come here straight away."

"Good," you sigh in relief.

You really can't imagine having to deal with this without the help of the law. Now, it's out of your hands. You wait patiently for Sheriff Buckly to arrive. Eventually, you spot a flashlight heading towards you.

"There he is," Drake says.

You shine your light ahead, illuminating the figure of Sheriff Buckly. He swears, and holds his hands to block his eyes.

"Turn that off!" he says, and you do.

"Fuck, how'd you even get the truck out here? I can barely walk through the undergrowth," he says. "Where this bloody gurney?"

You point at the cage, and Sheriff Buckly walks over and looks at it.

"Jesus... who else saw this? I'm going to need to gather all the witnesses and find out what was going on," he says.

"We're the only people who've seen this, although Hazel got a bit of a closer encounter."

"So you didn't tell you pa about this?" Sheriff Buckly asks.

You shake your head, and Sheriff Buckly nods.

"Good," Sheriff Buckly says.

Sheriff Buckly draws his revolver, and quickly aims at Drake's head and fires. Drake's head snaps back as it explodes partially, sending chunks of gray brain matter, pale skull and pieces of red flesh at you. You scream as Lucy runs over to Drake as his body collapses backwards. Mason runs for the truck, before the Sheriff barks an order.

"Stop! Move another muscle and I'll blow the brain out of everyone of you!"

Mason stops, raising his hands. Sheriff Buckly points his gun at all of you, forcing you to raise your hands into the air.

"Everyone, calm down. Nobody needs to get hurt," Sheriff Buckly says.

"Fuck you!" Lucy screams. "You killed him! You killed him you piece of..."

Sheriff Buckly steps forward and cracks her across the head wit his revolver.

"Shut up! Carter, Mason, Ant, Kyle, get in the fucking cage!" he shouts.

Mason, Ant, Kyle and Carter slowly walk into the cage.

"Now, back the fuck up to the end of the cage!"

The boys comply, and the Sheriff draws a set of keys from his pocket, locking the cage door. He turns to you, Lucy and Becca.

"Just don't move. They'll be here in a minute."

You stand in silence, the cold wind blowing, the silence only broken by the occasional soft sob by Lucy as she stands over Drake. After about half an hour of waiting, you see the RV pull up along the path. It stops, and four masked men step out.

"Anyone escape?" one asks.

"No," Sheriff Buckly responds. "Fuck, I didn't even know they were coming out here. You said whatever the fuck you injected the girl with would make her forget everything."

"I said it probably would. Her phone's bugged. How didn't you find out?"

"She didn't make any calls saying she was going to do it!"

"Well, at least no one escaped," the masked man says, pulling off his mask.

The group remove their masks. You vaguely recognize them, one being the mechanic who found you, one being the town doctor, Doctor Kessel, another being a German teacher from school and the final one being the bartender of the local bar.

"What are you going to do with...?" Becca asks, before Sheriff Buckley lets out a bark.

"Hey! Shut the fuck..."

"No, Jake, let the girl ask her question," Doctor Kessel says.

"What are you going to do with us? Who are you? Why did you send a monster to hunt me?"

"What are we going to do with you? Nothing, ideally. We only need to borrow you. Who are we? Well, surely you must recognize us. Louis, Sheriff Buckly, Mrs Jordan, Alison and me, Doctor Kessel. "As for the monster, I assume you're referring to the Black Beast. That's not an issue, I assure you. Although I'm not sure of its origins, if you look at town records, it actually kills most of the bears in the area, which reduces the amount of attacks so much it's saving lives. If I was in your situation, I'd be much more worried about us."

"What do you want? Are you going to sacrifice us to Satan?" Becca asks again.

Doctor Kessel lets out a chuckle.

"No, Rebecca, we're not. We're not satanists. Real satanists don't even believe in Satan. We're... researchers. We're humanitarians. We're explorers. When we were little kids, we used to be the best of friends. We played in these very woods. When we were little, we found... a book in one of the caves. We took it and read it, and we found out the most amazing things. Do you know how insignificant not only we are, but this planet, this solar system, this galaxy and this universe is? There are so many amazing things we learned about these beings that we can't even comprehend, but compared to what's out there, we learned so little. So we kept reading. The book included some instructions to summon them, to summon these beings that are stronger than any gods we've ever imagined, more alien that any alien we've created in fiction, more incredible than anything you could experience here. If we create a Key-Bearer, we can create a portal to these beings."

"That's insane! How do you know they won't wipe us out, or enslave us all, or worse!" you cry.

"I don't," Doctor Kessel admits.

"It could destroy everything!"

"You just need to calm down and listen!" he hisses. "Imagine you're stuck in a room. There is a small tap for water, a toilet and a small machine that creates a nutritious yet tasteless paste. You have everything you need to survive and continue your blank, boring existence. Now, one day, a door appears in the room. It's unlocked. Do you go through?"

"What the fuck does...?"

"We are trying to open that door. Just as the person in the room doesn't know what's on the other side, anything is better than the bland, boring existence of the room. We're trying to open the world up to experiences unknown to man, good or bad, because it has to be better than this meaningless existence."

"What are yuo even talking about? What the fuck's a Key-Bearer?" Mason shouts, as Sheriff Buckly aims his gun at his head once again.

"Shut up," Sheriff Buckly grunts.

"Ah yes, the Key-Bearer. That part's the worst for you guys. A Key-Bearer is a creature birthed of the beings' power of a human womb. We've had several attempts at this, but every time we failed. Instead of creating a Key-Bearer, we created half-human, half-monster children who aged rapidly. Finally, we settled the problem. The mother of the Key-Bearer had to be a virgin, post-puberty, below 21 and to have AB Negative Blood. You'd imagine my luck when I found one such target walking around the cave where I was sacrificing some former mothers to keep the beings' interested in our world. I simply pumped out some gas I had on hand to help knock her out, and voila! I got to work."

You stare at him in horror, putting a hand on your stomach. There's a series of gasps and shouts from the group, before Sheriff Buckly fires his gun in the air.

"SHUT IT!" he roars.

"I'm sorry, Hazel. It'll be over in a few hours."

"A few hours? It's only been two days, how...?" you ask in horror.

"The Key-Bearer grows incredibly quickly. It should be able to be birthed within a day at most."

You feel something wiggle in your stomach, in your womb, and a pain shoots through you.

"Listen, Hazel, it'll be OK," Doctor Kessel says. "In a few hours, you'll be fine, and we'll be in a whole new world."
> You get the Key-Bearer out of you
You desperately search your pockets, finding it after a few seconds, pulling your switchblade out. You pull up our jumper and t-shirt slightly, revealing your stomach. You can see it is slightly extended, and if you take a deep breath and stay still, you can very vaguely feel something moving around in there, which begins to increase as you feel a sharp pain hit.

"Drop the knife. I'll put a bullet between your eyes before you get near any of us," Sheriff Buckly says.

You raise the knife, and plunge it into your stomach, towards the center mass of the movement.

"NO! For fuck's sake, stop her!" Doctor Kessel screams.

Sheriff Buckly charges towards you, knocking you in the side of the head with his gun. Your head snaps backwards, and you quickly lose consciousness.
> You awaken
You awaken strapped to a gurney, covered in blood, wearing a hospital gown. You're in the RV, and the lights are turned off. You can't see anything, but you can here a someone whimpering.

"Hello?" you ask.

The whimpering stops, and you begin to hear a deep, guttural panting.

"Hello?" you ask again.

As your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, you make out two figures in the darkness. One sits in the corner, the other stands above them, rubbing them with a long coil of rope that moves like a snake.

"Mason? Becca? Kyle? Carter?" you ask, staring towards the figures.

The standing one turns, and you see the sitting one quickly flick on a light switch, brightening the RV. In the light, you notice that the sitting figure is Becca, whose eyes are red with tears and seems terrified. Your eyes scan, and see the second figure, slowly approaching you. The figure is one of the monster-children. It has long brown hair, but her face is nothing but a mucus-encrusted, lipless mouth and two nostrils. It wears a tattered, blood-stained blue dress, with a long, red tentacle coming from it's stomach and wrapping around its body. The tip of the tentacle slowly moves towards you, and you spot a yellow eye poking out from the end of the tentacle slowly edging towards you, staring into your eyes. You scream, and struggle against your bonds, before the tentacles begins to wrap around your leg, leaving a long lane of sticky pus that oozes out of the tentacle. You scream as it continues to edge towards you, heading towards your face. The tentacle snakes up your chest, before intertwining around your neck, before stopping inches from your face.

"Hello..." the monster-child rasps.

You stare at the eye, seeing a mixture of pain and child-like curiosity in the eyes. Then, you hear a yell. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Becca charge forward with a long, thin knife, stabbing the monster-child through the neck. The creature howls, gargling blood, before Becca draws her knife and begins slashing at it's face and neck, before finally running the knife through it's skull. It collapses, and the tentacle in front of you falls on your face, wiggling like a dying fish. You whimper, and Becca comes over to you and begins cutting you free of both your restraints and the tentacle that intertwines around you. You eagerly get up, pulling the bits of tentacle off you as you struggle not to vomit.

"What happened?" you ask, shivering.

You feel a dull pain in your stomach, pulling it up slightly slightly to reveal you're thankfully still in your underwear, although you see your stomach is heavily bandaged.

"They cut you open and pulled... something out of you. It was alive, and wiggling, and..." Becca says, before shivering in terror. "We need to get our friends and get out of here."

You hear a thumping from the bathroom door, and quickly go to listen.

"Hello?"

"Hazel? Get me out of here!" Lucy screams from inside.

You unlock the door, finding Lucy.

"Thank God. They locked us in here and put the guys in the cage. We need to get out of here and stop them."

You nod, and head to the kitchen, finding a large butcher knife. The door to the RV opens, and Lucy and Becca quickly hide behind the counter with you.

"Iris? Are you finished playing with your new friends? I hope you didn't hurt them. We're going to need them if this newborn isn't the Key-Bearer. I haven't even got to see the k... Iris?"

Louis the Mechanic walks in, looking around.

"Hello?"

He takes a few steps forward, walking into the kitchen towards you.
> You attack
You wait until he's closer, take a deep breath, feel the adrenaline coursing through your veins, and charge. You turn around the counter and in a single bound reach him. His eyes widen in panic before you stab your blade, slicing through skin and flesh, straight through the neck. You pull your blade out and stab again, and again, until his neck is nothing but a hunk of meat that falls to the floor, blood spilling into a puddle on the floor. You stand over him as he dies, watching as the life goes out of his eyes. As a result of an adrenaline rush and primal instincts taking over, you try not to focus on the pathetic, dying man in front of you, and head to the door. You open it to a crack, peering out. Mason, Kyle, Carter and Ant sit in the rusted cage, with Sheriff Buckly watching over them. Mrs Jordan and Alison are placing blood-stained stones in a circle. Doctor Kesel stands with something cradled in his arms, although it's too dark for you to see.
> You escape to formulate a plan
You slowly open the door, and begin creeping out of the camp. You slowly tiptoe away, staying low and staying wrapped in the shadows. As you edge away from camp, you freeze as you hear a shout.

"Shit, they're escaping!" Sheriff Buckly roars.

You break into a sprint, heading away from the camp. You manage to make it to the trees, but you hear gunfire behind you. You turn your head slightly, seeing a spurt off blood go from the back of Lucy's leg as she collapses forward, skidding along the earth to a halt. Becca makes it to the trees next to you and stops.

"Shit, do we go back?" she asks in a terrified panic.

You look back. In the darkness, you might be able to get to Lucy and help her disappear into the trees. If you both reach the tree line, it'll be almost impossible for Sheriff Buckly to track you.
> You try rescue her
"We have to," you say, determined.

Becca nods and you turn and burst into a sprint towards Lucy. You see Sheriff Buckly heading towards you, aiming his gun. You grab Lucy, yanking her up.

"Come on!" you shout.

As you begin to help pull Lucy towards the trees, Sheriff Buckly takes his shoot. You feel a bullet thud through your chest, and you collapse forward. You cough up blood, before closing your eyes for the last time.


You slowly open the door, and begin creeping out of the camp. You slowly tiptoe away, staying low and staying wrapped in the shadows. As you edge away from camp, you freeze as you hear a shout.

"Shit, they're escaping!" Sheriff Buckly roars.

You break into a sprint, heading away from the camp. You manage to make it to the trees, but you hear gunfire behind you. You turn your head slightly, seeing a spurt off blood go from the back of Lucy's leg as she collapses forward, skidding along the earth to a halt. Becca makes it to the trees next to you and stops.

"Shit, do we go back?" she asks in a terrified panic.

You look back. In the darkness, you might be able to get to Lucy and help her disappear into the trees. If you both reach the tree line, it'll be almost impossible for Sheriff Buckly to track you.
> You head off into the trees
"We have to go!" you say, and Becca nods.

You break off into a sprint heading into the shadows and darkness, escaping into the trees. You run for several minutes, before you stop, bending over and panting.

"Jesus, what do we do now?"
> You think
OK, you need to act fast, before the cultists do whatever they're planning.you could call the police. Although Sheriff Buckly is one of the only cops in town, if you called the State Troopers, there's a good chance they'd be able to arrive and clear this place out.

You could also sneak back to the trucks and steal some of the weapons that Drake brought, and force a confrontation and end this.

Then again, you know where the location of Drake's keys are for the RV. You know the RV's highly explosive, and with that you could easily disrupt the ritual and do a lot more.

Then, there are the more... dangerous solutions. You could use the Dead Man. That terrifying spirit no doubt has some rage toward the town locals such as the cultists. Perhaps he could be bartered with.
> You call the State Troopers
"So what do we do?" Becca asks.

"Call the State Troopers."

"Are you sure that'll work?"

"I don't know," you admit. "Just... it's worth a try."

You ring the number, and immediately get an automated voice in your ear. You wait as they go through the numbers, before you hear a shout.

"HANDS UP!" a voice screams.

You turn, and see Sheriff Buckly walking out from the trees.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Alison suggested I track your phones, but I told her it'd be insane for you to use it after I told you I had the equipment to track it. Jesus Christ. Come on, girls. I'm taking you back to camp. I'm going to hurt you, hurt you so, so bad for what you did to Louis."
> You attack
You take a deep breath as adrenaline surges through you, and charge forward with the knife. As soon as you near Sheriff Buckly, he quickly backpedals and aims, before blowing your brains out.


"So what do we do?" Becca asks.

"Call the State Troopers."

"Are you sure that'll work?"

"I don't know," you admit. "Just... it's worth a try."

You ring the number, and immediately get an automated voice in your ear. You wait as they go through the numbers, before you hear a shout.

"HANDS UP!" a voice screams.

You turn, and see Sheriff Buckly walking out from the trees.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Alison suggested I track your phones, but I told her it'd be insane for you to use it after I told you I had the equipment to track it. Jesus Christ. Come on, girls. I'm taking you back to camp. I'm going to hurt you, hurt you so, so bad for what you did to Louis."
> You surrender
Apocalypse

You raise your hands and drop your knife. Sheriff Buckly binds your hands with rope and ties a rag around your eyes as a blindfold, before marching you both off back towards camp. You walk for several minutes, before you're dragged within earshot of your friends, who let out disappointed groans and swears at your capture. Then, your blindfold is torn off. A large circle of stones lies, each stained with a drop of blood. Standing around the circle are the five remaining cultists. Standing around them are a half dozen monster-children that make you want to vomit, the failed attempts at rearing a Key Bearer. They're so deformed, so mutated, they barely qualify as children. One is missing both it's arms, replaced with long, thin, slimy tentacles like pasta. A second is missing most of its face, a gaping hole in its place filled with tiny, wiggling tentacles from the walls, back, roof and floor of the mouth. A third looks like a cute, perfectly normal girl of around four years old, except her mouth hangs open and her eyes are completely black. Another, one of the worst, looks like a cross between a schoolgirl, a fetus and an octopus, and stands wiggling. Still, that's nothing compared to what sits in the middle of the circle. Sitting in the middle, wiggling, is your child. The Key-Bearer is the size of a cat, and is nothing but a seething mass of tentacles that whip around, seemingly drawing lines of purple lightning around itself in the symbol that was carved into you.

"Ah, you're here!" Doctor Kessel says eagerly. "I wanted you to see this!"

"You're insane!"

"I don't care! Now, we begin!"

The Key-Bearer speeds up, painting the symbol across the very fabric of reality. The ground begins to crumble away, turning in pure blackness. Suddenly, there's a flash, and the portal opens.

Then, it begins.


OK, you need to act fast, before the cultists do whatever they're planning.you could call the police. Although Sheriff Buckly is one of the only cops in town, if you called the State Troopers, there's a good chance they'd be able to arrive and clear this place out.

You could also sneak back to the trucks and steal some of the weapons that Drake brought, and force a confrontation and end this.

Then again, you know where the location of Drake's keys are for the RV. You know the RV's highly explosive, and with that you could easily disrupt the ritual and do a lot more.

Then, there are the more... dangerous solutions. You could use the Dead Man. That terrifying spirit no doubt has some rage toward the town locals such as the cultists. Perhaps he could be bartered with.
> You steal weapons from Drake's truck and confront the cultists
"We need to get the weapons in Drake's truck. We get them and use the advantage of surprise to fend off the rest of the group."

Becca nods with determination, and you swivel around in the darkness, heading back towards the truck. As you head towards the camp, you can hear the sound of Sheriff Buckly berating Lucy.

"You fucking bitch! Louis was a good friend of mine!"

You sneak forward, staying low and moving as quickly as you can, avoiding stepping on anything that would make noise and disturb the cultists. Eventually, you reach the pick-up truck, Drake''s lifeless body lying alongside it. You lean in through the window, grabbing one of the large revolvers Drake brought. You pull it out, pulling the hammer back and flicking the safety off. Thankfully, many years of FPS games have given you some help in this. You take a deep breath, and stand, aiming your weapon at Sheriff Buckly. He turns, and grins.

"Hiya. Why don't you just drop the weapon, darlin'?"

"Fuck you."

Yuo fire your revolver, but the hollow click eats into your soul as you realize it's empty. Lucy fires her gun, and realizes it's the same thing.

"Taking the ammo from the guns was one of the first things I did. I'm the only one who gets to have a gun."

He grins, raising his gun, and fires, the bullet embedding itself in your skull.


OK, you need to act fast, before the cultists do whatever they're planning.you could call the police. Although Sheriff Buckly is one of the only cops in town, if you called the State Troopers, there's a good chance they'd be able to arrive and clear this place out.

You could also sneak back to the trucks and steal some of the weapons that Drake brought, and force a confrontation and end this.

Then again, you know where the location of Drake's keys are for the RV. You know the RV's highly explosive, and with that you could easily disrupt the ritual and do a lot more.

Then, there are the more... dangerous solutions. You could use the Dead Man. That terrifying spirit no doubt has some rage toward the town locals such as the cultists. Perhaps he could be bartered with.
> You steal Drake's RV Meth Lab
“What are you thinking?”

“Drake’s RV.”

“What about it?”

“We get the keys, and drive it straight into the cultists’s camp and hop out.”

“What? Like ram them.”

“No, we make it explode. I’m pretty good at Chemistry and I watch a lot of crime shows. I should know what to mix to make it go up in a fireball.”

Becca stares at you nervously, before nodding.

“Yeah, OK. Let’s do that.”

“Do you remember which way the truck is?”

Becca nods, and you begin following her through the dead night. The silence is only broken by the trudging of your feet and the occassional hoot from an owl. Eventually, you near the edge of the woods. Sure enough, the massive RV sits by the trees at the edge of the forest.

“Do you know how to drive?” you ask.

“I guess. I’ve never drove an RV, nad I sure as hell haven’t driven one through the woods, avoiding trees and… whatever.”

“You’re going to have to,” you say.

Becca retrieves the keys from their hiding spots, and you enter the RV. Becca goes to start it up, while you head to the back and start looking at the various pieces of equipment and chemicals at your disposal. You find a few choice substances from the distilerry Drake had set up, including plenty of flammible alcohol. As you struggle to remember your many science classes, you work with the chemicals for several minutes, before you’ve made the RV into a jury-rigged bomb.

“Hey, Hazel, is it ready?”

“Yes.”

“Should we have waited until we were a little closer and not going through bumpy terrain before we made this into a bomb?”

You shrug, and Becca begins driving. Although she finds it considerably harder to navigate the trees unlike the others who did so with ease, she manages to keep you on track and alive. After a while, you begin to near the camp.

“So, what do we do?” Becca asks.

“We ram them,” you say. “You get out now. I’ll ram it.”

“You don’t know how to drive!”

“I have a straight line to the camp. Just press down on the accerator, I suppose. Which one’s the accelrator?”

Becca shows you, and you nod.

“OK, get out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll just speed it up and dive out. Easy,” you reply.

You take a deep breath, before Becca gets out of the RV. She stands to the side, staring nervously ahead. You take another deep breath, hoping the oxygen will calm you, and hit the accelerator. The vehicle quickly begins to speed up, as the RV bumps you around in your seat. You enter the clearing, and get your site. You see slithering, monsterous and malformed children in the RV as the rest of the cultists lay stones in a massive circle. Doctor Kessel cradles a bundle in his arms, and looks up at you in shock.

“What the hell…?”

“Stop her!” Alison yells, as Sheriff Buckly fumbles for his gun in a panic.

You point your RV at theirs’, and quickly drop a large piece of equipment on the accelerator. As the wheels begin to spin and start speeding toward RV. You jump out of your seat and rush to the door. You dive out of it, hitting the dirt, as you watch one RV speeding towards the other. Doctor Kessel screams in a panic, and the Meth Lab rams into the RV. They impact with incredible force,  knocking them both onto their sides as they flip through the air. After a few seconds, they slow down, and land in a mangled heap. You hear horrible growls, shrieks and hisses from inside the metal as the seemingly unharmed monsters inside begin to pull themselves out by hands, claws or tentacles. The wreckage begins to leak, a large puddle of alcohol, fuel and various other chemicals forming. Doctor Kessel looks at it and laughs.

"I thought would've exploded..." Doctor Kessel says.

He begins walking towards you, and you see what he's holding: a wiggling mass of tentacles, flying around the air and stroking his face. The long, thin tentacles, covered with a thin veneer of slime, begin stretching out, stroking your face and you scream.

"Ssssh..." Doctor Kessel whispers. "This is your child. Isn't he beautiful?"

You stare at the center mass of the tentacles, and see a light blue, incredibly human eye in the center. An eye just like yours. You let out a terrified cry, as you hear a shout from Sheriff Buckly.

"STUPID BITCH!" he screams.

You look up, and see Becca has snuck up and is trying to open the rusted cage. Doctor Kessel looks up, and you have a moment to act.
> You kill the Key-Bearer with your switchblade
You grab your switchblade and stab it into the center mass of the Key-Bearer. Doctor Kessel notices and lets out a petrified scream, grabbing at your throat. The Key-Bearer's tentacles intertwine around your hand as a green-yellowish pus comes out and begins sticking to your hand. You feel a sharp prick, and then another, and then another, as bone teeth begin to grow slowly out of the tentacles, digging deeply into you. You scream as a black liquid begins to steep out of the teeth and out of your wound as your veins begin to turn black. You scream as your arm goes number, before the numbness begins to spread throughout your body. You let out a mangled cry before it reaches your chest, and finally the darkness consumes you as it stops your heart.


“What are you thinking?”

“Drake’s RV.”

“What about it?”

“We get the keys, and drive it straight into the cultists’s camp and hop out.”

“What? Like ram them.”

“No, we make it explode. I’m pretty good at Chemistry and I watch a lot of crime shows. I should know what to mix to make it go up in a fireball.”

Becca stares at you nervously, before nodding.

“Yeah, OK. Let’s do that.”

“Do you remember which way the truck is?”

Becca nods, and you begin following her through the dead night. The silence is only broken by the trudging of your feet and the occassional hoot from an owl. Eventually, you near the edge of the woods. Sure enough, the massive RV sits by the trees at the edge of the forest.

“Do you know how to drive?” you ask.

“I guess. I’ve never drove an RV, nad I sure as hell haven’t driven one through the woods, avoiding trees and… whatever.”

“You’re going to have to,” you say.

Becca retrieves the keys from their hiding spots, and you enter the RV. Becca goes to start it up, while you head to the back and start looking at the various pieces of equipment and chemicals at your disposal. You find a few choice substances from the distilerry Drake had set up, including plenty of flammible alcohol. As you struggle to remember your many science classes, you work with the chemicals for several minutes, before you’ve made the RV into a jury-rigged bomb.

“Hey, Hazel, is it ready?”

“Yes.”

“Should we have waited until we were a little closer and not going through bumpy terrain before we made this into a bomb?”

You shrug, and Becca begins driving. Although she finds it considerably harder to navigate the trees unlike the others who did so with ease, she manages to keep you on track and alive. After a while, you begin to near the camp.

“So, what do we do?” Becca asks.

“We ram them,” you say. “You get out now. I’ll ram it.”

“You don’t know how to drive!”

“I have a straight line to the camp. Just press down on the accerator, I suppose. Which one’s the accelrator?”

Becca shows you, and you nod.

“OK, get out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll just speed it up and dive out. Easy,” you reply.

You take a deep breath, before Becca gets out of the RV. She stands to the side, staring nervously ahead. You take another deep breath, hoping the oxygen will calm you, and hit the accelerator. The vehicle quickly begins to speed up, as the RV bumps you around in your seat. You enter the clearing, and get your site. You see slithering, monsterous and malformed children in the RV as the rest of the cultists lay stones in a massive circle. Doctor Kessel cradles a bundle in his arms, and looks up at you in shock.

“What the hell…?”

“Stop her!” Alison yells, as Sheriff Buckly fumbles for his gun in a panic.

You point your RV at theirs’, and quickly drop a large piece of equipment on the accelerator. As the wheels begin to spin and start speeding toward RV. You jump out of your seat and rush to the door. You dive out of it, hitting the dirt, as you watch one RV speeding towards the other. Doctor Kessel screams in a panic, and the Meth Lab rams into the RV. They impact with incredible force,  knocking them both onto their sides as they flip through the air. After a few seconds, they slow down, and land in a mangled heap. You hear horrible growls, shrieks and hisses from inside the metal as the seemingly unharmed monsters inside begin to pull themselves out by hands, claws or tentacles. The wreckage begins to leak, a large puddle of alcohol, fuel and various other chemicals forming. Doctor Kessel looks at it and laughs.

"I thought would've exploded..." Doctor Kessel says.

He begins walking towards you, and you see what he's holding: a wiggling mass of tentacles, flying around the air and stroking his face. The long, thin tentacles, covered with a thin veneer of slime, begin stretching out, stroking your face and you scream.

"Ssssh..." Doctor Kessel whispers. "This is your child. Isn't he beautiful?"

You stare at the center mass of the tentacles, and see a light blue, incredibly human eye in the center. An eye just like yours. You let out a terrified cry, as you hear a shout from Sheriff Buckly.

"STUPID BITCH!" he screams.

You look up, and see Becca has snuck up and is trying to open the rusted cage. Doctor Kessel looks up, and you have a moment to act.
> You crawl away from them
You crawl desperately backwards, away from Doctor Kessel. You hands touch the puddle of fuel, and you have an idea. You fumble through your pants, pulling out your lighter. Doctor Kessel charges forward, pressing his foot on your chest with a swift stomp.

"Stop fighting, girl!" he growls.
> You light the puddle
You flick your lighter on, and ignite the puddle. Flames burst out as the liquid sets alight. The flames lap at your side, but Doctor Kessel desperately backs away in a panic, allowing you to roll away from the fire. The flames race along, igniting the puddle, before it reaches the RV. As flames reach the insides where the lab and make-shift explosive are hit. Then, it explodes. A wave of heat and shrapnel tear through the air as a thunderous boom goes off. Your ears ring as a fireball explodes into the night with tremendous force. Chunks of metal go off in all directions, and you collapse on the ground. After a few seconds you manage to look up and survey the carnage. Miraculously, you're safe, and all your friends in the cage as well as Becca and Sheriff Buckly seem mostly unharmed. You can hear the sizzling of the monsters' corpses in the burning skeleton of the two intertwined RVs. Alison and Mrs Jordan were closest to the RV and consumed in the wall of fire and barrage of shrapnel, their burned and torn apart bodies now lying on the earth. Doctor Kessel lies, badly burned with the scorched remains of the Key-Bearer lying on top of him.

"NO! NO!" Sheriff Buckly screams, staring at the wreckage in abject horror.

Becca raises her knife and stabs Sheriff Buckly in the neck with a scream and he yelps in pain. She pulls it out, and Sheriff Buckly collapses to the floor.

"You... you've taken everything... from me," Doctor Kessel pants.

You look at him, burns going across his face and across his smoldering chest. The Key-Bearer moves slightly, but you quickly finish it off with a few stomps, wincing at every squelch.

"No...!" Doctor Kessel pants. "You've... doomed man... to nothingness."

You stare down at him as his breathing slows, before the rise and fall of his chest ceases. You walk over to Becca, who's pulling a pair of keys out of Sheriff Buckly's pocket. She unlocks the rusted cage, and your friends spill out. Carter and Mason help Lucy hobble out, followed by Kyle who eagerly hugs Becca, and finally Ant.

"Holy shit. You just blew up an evil cult. I'm impressed," Ant says.

"Holy shit, I don't... what the fuck just happened?" Kyle asks.

"I don't know. We should probably leave," Mason says. "Thanks, Hazel, thanks, Becca, you saved our asses here.

"We n-need t-to get out of here and g-g-get Lucy help f-for her le-leg," Carter says.

You nod, and begin to walk away from the burnt out ashes of the camp, just as the sky begins to rise.
> One Year Later...
After the Bang

You're surprised how quickly and eagerly the media pick up on this. A tale of a bunch of kids discovering what a cult and driving a meth lab into it and blowing it up entirely. Of course, the story gets botched considerably. The cult is said to be Satanist, the monster-children are claimed to be simply malformed or mutilated, and any and all super-natural presence is rationalized. Still, it does turn Dawnwood into a media hotspot for some time and turns you into somewhat of a celebrity some time. Still, it doesn't take long for the media to move on. With celebrity pregnancies, terrorist attacks in the Middle East and an endless amount of mass shootings, things move on. You continue living in Dawnwood, staying with your friends. There's a special type of unbreakable bound that arises when a group of people face death together, and because of that you stay as a tight-knit group of friends. Time passes, you settle down in the town and for the first time you're glad you moved to the town. Sure, you still have many unanswered questions about what happened and still wake up with phantom pains in your stomach and nightmares of that night, but for the most part you're able to move past it. You're looking forward to your future in Dawnwood.


OK, you need to act fast, before the cultists do whatever they're planning.you could call the police. Although Sheriff Buckly is one of the only cops in town, if you called the State Troopers, there's a good chance they'd be able to arrive and clear this place out.

You could also sneak back to the trucks and steal some of the weapons that Drake brought, and force a confrontation and end this.

Then again, you know where the location of Drake's keys are for the RV. You know the RV's highly explosive, and with that you could easily disrupt the ritual and do a lot more.

Then, there are the more... dangerous solutions. You could use the Dead Man. That terrifying spirit no doubt has some rage toward the town locals such as the cultists. Perhaps he could be bartered with.
> You attempt to barter with the Dead Man
"So what's our plan?"

"The Dead Man."

"What? The ghost?"

"Yeah. We could use him."

"Ghosts aren't real, Hazel. Maybe you should sit down."

"I saw him."

"Ghosts aren't..."

"Becca, our friends have been kidnapped by demon-summoning cultists, and you don't belief in ghosts at the moment?"

"I... I guess."

"Yeah. Let's go pay him a visit."

You turn and lead Becca off towards the Dead Man's Barn. After about five minutes of jogging, you reach the empty field that's brightened in the moonlight, with the large, old abandoned barn standing there.

"Come on!" you say.

You reach the barn, and begin prying plywood out of the way. You pause, remembering the Dead Man's hatred of Becca, pause.

"I'll go inside alone," you say.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," you say.

Becca shrugs, pulling the plywood out of the way and clambering inside. You are immediately engulfed in darkness. The soft rustle of the grass ceases as the entire barn is filled with a silence. Then, a whistle breaks out. The Dead Man begins whistling a slow, soft tune, the only thing that breaks the silence. Each note is mixed with the wet squelching you heard the last time. You see him leaning on a large wooden beam, his long, cut open grin staring back at you. The whistling stops as shadows seem to enrapture him. He disappears from his position leaning on the beam, and you feel hot breath on the back of your neck.

"I didn't think you'd come around here, darlin'. I was certain you'd be smarter," you hear him whisper from directly behind you.

A gloved hand begins to stroke your hair as you feel a metal blade press against your throat.

"No bother. I won't mind cutting you up a little."

"Wait! I want to make a deal with you!"

The blade stops and twists so that the flat of the blade is rubbing your neck.

"Alright... you bought yourself a minute. Explain."

"I want to help you get revenge."

"No you don't.You want something that coincides with me getting my revenge. What?"

"I need Mrs Jordan, Alison, Sheriff Buckly and Doctor Kessel."

"Alison. What's her last name."

"Parker."

"Oh yeah, Parker... Damn right I want my revenge. But it seems you're far more desperate than I am."

"I..."

"I want something. The Montgomery girl."

"What?"

"I want you to bring me her."

"I don't have her. She left..."

The Dead Man smiles as his grin is elongated once again because of the cuts as a wave of blood spills down his cheeks. He leans forward, running a hand against your cheek and down your neck.

"Bring me the girl... and I will help you kill every last person you want dead."
> You agree
You take a deep breath, and nod.

“OK. Fine,” you say.

It’s for the best. It’s the only way to safe your friends. If you don’t sacrifice one, you all die.

"Call her, then."

"Becca!" you shout.

"Yes?"

"Come in here!"

"I though you said..."

"Just do it!"

You see the Dead Man disappear, and seconds later, Becca climbs through the hole in the wall.

"What do you need?"

"I'm so, so sorry," you whimper.

"What...?"

The Dead Man is formed from the shadows directly behind Becca, leaning against the wall. He raises an old-fashioned revolver, and points it at the back of her head.

"Tell your ancestors I sent you," he says.

The Dead Man fires his gun and the revolver explodes with a thunderous roar, as does Becca's face. The front of her face explodes, sending blood, bits of flesh and grey matter onto the floor. You scream in horror as your friend collapses on the floor as all the life flows from her eyes and her face takes a dull expression.

"Ah... you can't imagine how good that felt."

You choke back a cry, as tears stream down your face.

"You have to kill everyone I mentioned."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

"What? You said you could! You promised."

"I promised I would try. You bring those people into this barn, I'll kill 'em all and leave you alive."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" you shout, echoing the Dead Man's complaint.

The Dead Man grins, and fades into the background and is absorbed by shadows once again. You sigh, and walk out. You climb out of the barn, your mind racing. Then, you have an idea. The one thing any of them care about is the Key-Bearer. If you can get that,or it, or whatever the fuck the creature is, you can lure them into the barn. You begin walking back towards the camp.
> Five Minutes Later...
You stare at the camp, watching the cultists work.They all pile stones in a large circle. You hear horrified moans from inside the RV, and you can vaguely see the horrified shapes of the failed attempts to birth a Key-Bearer inside the RV, the monstrous, contorting shapes howling desperately. Still, you see what you're looking for. Doctor Kessel holds a large bundle of contorting tentacles You look around the earthen floor of the woods, finding a large tree branch with suitable weight and length. You pick it up, and begin creeping towards Doctor Kessel. You silently creep forward, aas he watches the circle being formed, oblivious to anything else. You take a deep breath, and raise the tree branch. You swing it with as much strength as you can muster, and it smacks into the back of his head. It slams into his head and he collapses forward, the Key-Bearer flying onto the floor. You spot your friends in the cage, Sheriff Buckly watching over you, but know you don't have time to rescue them. You grab the Key-Bearer and get your first real look at it. A seething mass of tentacles, with at the base a small, spherical body. You shiver in terror as you notice the creature has a single, bright blue eye, the same color as yours. You grab it, wrapping in the blanket Doctor Kessel has been coddling it, and turn.

"Fuck! Get her!" Doctor Kessel screams.

Sheriff Buckly turns and raises his gun, but Doctor Kessel screams at him to stop.

"No, no! For god's sake, don't fire! You could hit the key-bearer and ruin everything!" Doctor Kessel screams later.

You break into a run, as you see Alison open the RV.

"Children! Go, go track down your brother and the girl!"

You see demented figures emerge from the RV. There's a pair of small legs that waddle forward, although everything above the waist is a seething mass of tentacles. There's an armless child who's eyes are just two empty caverns that are blacker the pure darkness. There's a small girl, each limb replaced with a long coil of muscles that it uses to crawl along the ground. They all see you, eyes filled with pain and angst, and begin to follow you. You turn and begin running as fast as you can towards the Dead Man's barn. You run as fast as your feet will carry you for several minutes, hearing the howls of the monsters behind you grow louder as the cultists follow just behind you.

"Stop running! We won't hurt you!" Doctor Kessel screams.

You feel the Key-Bearer writhe under the blanket in your arms and you wince, but don't dare stop runnign. Eventually, you break free from the trees, into the field under the moonlight. You spot the hole in the boarded up barn, and begin desperately running towards it. After a minute of running as fast as you can, you dive through it, into the darkness of the barn. Seconds later, you hear a slithering, shivering sound as those monsters enter. You stay perfectly quiet, and begin crawling under a small gap in the fence, into a horse stall.

"Hazel... you better come out now..." Sheriff Buckly whispers. "It's better we find you then one of the kids..."

You try not to breath and stay perfectly silent as you hear figures wandering around the room.

"Oh, there you ar... what's this?"

"Ah, look who it is. A Buckly... I always did know your family was a generation of snakes and government cocksuckers..."

"How... what the fuck are yo...?"

"I'm the Grim fuckin' Reaper."

"No! Wait! Please, don't!"

"Tell ol' grandaddy Buckly you died beggin' me!"

There's a gunshot, and Sheriff Buckly falls silent.

"Well, look at this... the Kessel family's newest generation are all pig-fuck ugly monsters. See ya, kids."

There's a series of gun shots as you hear the knife whistle through the air.

"Jesus fuck! What's...?"

"A Parker. Your gran' daddy had the dumbest horse grin I'd ever seen."

There's the noise of a knife, slicing through the air and the squelching sound of blood.

"Oops, there goes a Jordan and a O'Riley. Huh, your grand daddies on your mom and dad's sides were fiddling, only makes sense their kids would have kids."

There's a series of gunshots and squelches from knife stabs, before you hear a single, solitary voice.

"Hazel? Whatever you've done, stop this... please..." Doctor Kessel whimpers.

You hear a gunshot, and the thud of a body hitting the floor. Then, silence. Suddenly, the Dead Man stands, staring at you.

"Alright, darling. You never said there'd be a dozen monsters in tow."

"I didn't think they'd release them."

"Alright. Well, I reckon we're about even."

You nod, before the bundle wiggles in your arms again. The Dead Man raises his gun and shoots the wiggling bundle twice. You scream as blood flies up, before throwing the dying monster off you.

"There. Now we're sure as fuck even."

The Dead Man is absorbed by the darkness once more, and you're left alone in the darkness. You stand, walking out into the carnage. Corpses lie everywhere, shriveled tentacles and bleeding bodies around the room. You find Sheriff Buckly, lying on the floor in a growing puddle of blood. You search his pockets, pulling out the keys to the rusted cage. You leave the barn, and begin walking off to rescue your friends,  just as the sky begins to rise.
> One Year Later...
Death and Vengeance

You're surprised how quickly and eagerly the media pick up on this. A tale of a bunch of kids discovering what a cult. Of course, the story gets botched considerably. The cult is said to be Satanist, the monster-children are claimed to be simply malformed or mutilated, any and all super-natural presence is rationalized, and its claimed that you and Becca made a stand against the cultists, leading to Becca's death in the fire fight. You don't disagree with them, because you know you'd come off as crazy. The Dead Man is happy to stay hidden every time they investigate the barn, knowing the difference between picking off a few trespassers and ambushing a police investigation, and not wanting his barn covered in police tape for any longer than needs be. Still, it does turn Dawnwood into a media hotspot for some time and turns you into somewhat of a celebrity some time. Still, it doesn't take long for the media to move on. With celebrity pregnancies, terrorist attacks in the Middle East and an endless amount of mass shootings, things move on. You continue living in Dawnwood, staying with your friends. You still have serious guilt over what happened to Becca, and any and all attempts to rationalize it lead to you just wallowing in self-depreciation and depression. Time passes, you settle down in the town and for the first time you're glad you moved to the town. Sure, you still have many unanswered questions about what happened and still wake up with phantom pains in your stomach and nightmares of that night, and nightmares of Becca's corpse slumped over in front of you, but you're able to move past it somewhat. You're looking forward to your future in Dawnwood.