"Listen, this isn't...!" Travis protested with wide eyes.

"Shut up!" Joe barked at him, "Hands up, all of you, and over here, now."

"We're not worth it, really, just...!" Tracy tried her hand at protesting, nonetheless obeying his order and throwing up her hands.

"You heard him, zip it, princess," Norman ordered, "You're going back to that asylum; we're not losing our protection from them. From what I hear, all four of you ought to be done in by them. Right over here."

He roughly grabbed hold of Holly's arm-only to have her kick him hard where it really hurt. She bit his hand as well, making him drop his gun. "Why you little...!" he roared, lunging towards her, only to have Max leap right into his chest, sending him crashing into his partners and bowling them all over. "Shoot them!" Joe bellowed, struggling to raise his gun up, but Travis and Tracy rushed forward and bashed him and Moose over the head with heavy lamps, which shattered over the men's heads, knocking them out visibly. "Run for it, quick, before they wake up!" Travis shouted at everyone, snatching up all the men's guns before rushing out the door with them. "Where do we go now?" Holly asked him, visibly rattled at the sudden intrusion, "Do you know the exact way off this mountain...?"

"No, but we've got to come out at some road if we keep going down-I hope," Travis seemed less than certain, taking all the guns and tossing them down into a deep ravine to their right, "And we'd better hurry; if Noxen knew we were there, Avor does too. They won't be all he'll send after us..."


"Imbecile!" Avor was berating Imperio in the main asylum office, "How could you let them get away like that!?"

"I beg your mercy, Your Excellency; my nephew and his cursed friend sabotaged the electrical outlets to blow out the power in the building, and how was I to know they'd burn the vines down to allow our sacrifices to escape," his second in command protested weakly, "I notified Noxen..."

"We'll have to do more than just him and his gang. Send our entire brotherhood out onto the mountain to find them, for as you know, Bastor will destroy us all if he is not given an offering, any offering, by sunrise. Meaning," Avor lifted Imperio off his feet and held his adjutant's face right against the iron demon mask he was wearing, "If you don't get them back, I'm offering up YOU to Bastor. Understood!?"

"Extremely clearly, Your Excellency," Imperio gulped.

"Open up the vaults; let all our creations out," Avor ordered him, "I'll pray to Bastor to aid us as well. And if we successfully catch them, Brother Imperio, they will ALL be offered up, including your pathetic nephew as punishment for his treason of me and Bastor..."

"Go right ahead, Your Excellency; he's dead to me now for this betrayal of us, blood or no blood," Imperio muttered bitterly. He bustled out the door, barking orders to several robed figures standing outside. Avor shut the door again, then opened the closet holding the Bastor statue again. "Oh mighty Bastor," he fell to his knees before it, "I pray to you to give me assistance in bring you sustinence this evening..."


"How much further!?" Holly was gasping for breath again. They'd been running hard for close to ten minutes, but it was still solid, dark woods all around them, with no signs of light anywhere around the four of them except for the beams of the boys' flashlights.

"I don't know, but we can't stop now," Travis huffed himself, looking more than a little worried, "They'll probably be throwing the works at us real soon..."

"Sorry, Travis, but I think I need another breather myself," Max looked winded too. Travis reluctantly pulled up to a stop, as did the others. "Let's see, let's see..." he murmurred out loud, glancing around the dark, silent woods. "You girls said you were from Marshfield, right?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Tracy nodded. "Since Terrell Mountain Road's up there," she pointed back the way they'd come, then arced her finger around in a half circle. "I think we are going in the right direction..."

"Where's the lights of the town, Tracy; where's the sound of traffic, of anything?" Holly wasn't as convinced, "I think we're lost..."

"We're not lost, Holly, we're just...we still have a way to go yet," Tracy tried to reassure her, but she wasn't looking as convinced herself, "If we just keep going, sooner or later, we'll reach Hemlock Creek at the bottom of the mountain; we'll then just follow it back into Marshfield..."

Suddenly, a loud growl rose up behind the four of them-a very familiar, ominous growl. "Uh oh...!" Max turned pale, turning slowly with the others to see the glowing red eyes of the banetra in the bushes...seconds before it lunged forward towards them with a roar. "Stay back!" Max pulled out the piece of cloth with the cult's symbol on it and held it up, making the banetra come to a sudden stop inches in front of him. Travis quickly did the same. "Start running, girls," he whispered to them, "We'll hold it off as..."

Without warning, a gunshot ran out, blasting the piece of cloth he was holding into pieces and making him jump in shock at how close he'd come to being hit. Another blast shredded Max's as well. "No you don't," Joe and his colleagues were standing atop the nearest rise, new guns in their hands, "You're not using that mumbo jumbo to save yourselves. You're going back with us, unless you want..."

The rest of his sentence was lost as the banetra roared again and leaped at the teens again. "RUN FOR IT!" Max hurled a rock at the creature, striking it in the head and momentarily dazing it. He rushed after the others, hunching low as gunshots rang out behind them. "Just terrific!" he moaned in disgust, "They found spare guns and ruined our protection!"

"Well we can't run from them forever, pal," Travis glanced worriedly over her shoulder at the two pinpoints of red huffing ever closer to them.

"We need to climb; Tracy and I climbed out of danger from this thing the first time we ran into it-there!" Holly breathlessly pointed to a large, elderly oak about fifty feet in front of them.

"That'll be a start; it can't climb trees," Max smiled at her, "Although, if the gunmen are back there too, we'd better switch trees soon, and..."

"All right, JUMP!" Travis leaped for the lowest branch on the tree. Everyone else leaped as well at the last second, causing the banetra to slam hard head-first into the tree's trunk, shaking the whole tree. The four of them frantically scrambled up the branches until they were close to the top. Below, the banetra growled and circled the tree, but it was well below and unable to get to them. "There we go. Real good thinking there," Max rubbed Holly's hair warmly, "You're just as smart as you are beautiful, Holly."

"Why thank you," she blushed and rubbed his shoulder in turn, "Now we can..."

Suddenly the tree shook head. "I don't know if we're out of the woods just yet, guys," Travis looked worried, glancing down. The banetra was charging straight into the tree again and again, and each impact shook it harder and harder, amplified by what sounded like the roots creaking. "He just might be powerful enough to knock it down like that," the blonde-haired boy gripped the trunk worriedly.

"That's not our only problem if he does, Travis," Tracy glanced fearfully over the side; their tree was dangerously close to a steep drop-off into a deep ravine, at least a hundred feet down off the ledge, "We've got to switch to another tree before...!"

But it was too late; rearing up on its hind legs, the banetra pushed hard on the tree trunk, which cracked loudly as it started toppling over. Screaming as one, the teens held on tight to the tree as it fell towards the small cliff...

...where it landed about halfway over the edge. Unfortunately, they were clinging to the edge hanging over the deep ravine. "Oh God, oh God...!" Max shut his eyes, holding onto his branch with all his might.

"We've got to get out of here, quick; it could go at any minute!" Tracy hastily tried to climb onto the trunk itself, but froze as the entire tree leaned ominously down towards the ravine. "Don't, we have too much weight!" Holly begged her, gripping the trunk hard herself. With everyone frozen still, the tree seesawed back up into a flat position, but it still creaked and groaned loudly, as if it was going to fall at the slightest push. "Now what!?" the brunette fearfully asked out loud.

"I think I see some vines," Tracy squinted in the dark at the side of the cliff walls near the top, "If we can get over there, and they're strong enough..."

With a loud growl, the banetra had appeared at the edge of the cliff. It stared down at its potential prey, crouching down into a springing position. And the tree was creaking again and ever so slightly starting to bend down towards the bottom of the ravine again. "Jump as one," Travis whispered loudly, looking nervous, "NOW!"

The words left his mouth just as the banetra leaped for the tree. The four of them simultaneously jumped for the cliff and just managed to all grab onto the top of it (Travis slightly missed and had to grab onto one of the vines, but it was anchored deep enough to support his weight). The banetra sailed over them and slammed into the tree, its weight being more than enough to send it crashing over the side of the ravine, the creature's howls mixing with its thunderous descent until it impacted hard in the ravine far below. The teens quickly pulled themselves up to solid ground and stared at the dust cloud far below. "Is that the end of it...?" Holly asked.

"I don't know; it's shown it can take a lot of punishment and keep going," Max looked unsure the creature was dead. "That was sure close," he breathed a deep sigh of relief, the color starting to return to his white face.

"Not over yet," Travis pointed to the beam of a flashlight above them on the hill, which was followed seconds later by another gunshot that plunked into another tree dangerously close to them. Exchanging fearful glances, the four of them silently took off running again through the shrubbery along the crest of the ravine. More gunshots rang out behind them blindly. "You kids can run, but you can't hide!" Joe warned them loudly, "You'll never get off this mountain if we can help it!"

The teens came to a sudden stop at the edge of another dropoff directly in front of them, although this one wasn't as steep as the ravine the tree and banetra had just fallen into-no more than twenty feet down, and below them, glistening in the moonlight, flowed a high stream. Hemlock Creek," Tracy recognized it, "Finally, a landmark..."

Another shot rang out very close. "Is that deep enough to jump into without breaking our necks?" Max frowned worriedly at it.

"We don't have much choice, pal," Travis took Tracy's hand, while Max reluctantly took Holly's, "On three, THREE!"

The four of them dove off the ledge into the creek as the footsteps got closer to their position, splashing down into the cold mountain stream, which started pulling them gently along at once. "OK, that wasn't so bad," Max conceded, relieved, "And if this carries us down..."

Suddenly, they stopped moving, and the water suddenly became much thicker around them. To their horror, the creek had suddenly changed into...

"QUICKSAND!" the four of them cried out loud as one. And it was already up to their waists and starting to rise. "What is this!?" Tracy shrieked, terrified, struggling around in it, but only sinking herself down further.

"It must be Avor, he must be invoking Bastor's power to cause this!" Travis looked equally terrified, glancing around for something to grab on to.

Cold laughter came from the shore. "Yep, I can't say I understand the cult's ways, but they sure can come in handy sometimes," Joe snickered as he and his colleagues climbed down the ledge and approached the shoreline. "You can agree to surrender and let us take you back to them," he pressed the four of them, who were sinking up to their chests now, "If you don't agree, we'll let you drown. The choice is yours, kids."

"We're not going back!" Tracy shouted defiantly, trying to force a brave face as she and the others sank deeper into the quicksand.

"Go to hell!" Max added, spitting towards the shore.

"OK, but you've got no more than two minutes before you drown," Joe folded his arms confidently across his chest while his partners kept their guns trained at the teens, now up to their shoulders in the quicksand, "Let's see how brave the four of you really are..."