A/N: Long chapter. Mostly explanations. But once it's over I can move on to bigger and better things. Enjoy!


Part One

Stage Eleven: History of Woolsworth

The Tower swam into focus like the eyes of a great shark approaching through muddy water. The suncatcher by the window now lay in fragmented pieces on the floor from where it was knocked down by the wind. Jude watched the crystallized orange glass splinters rock back and forth from the vibrations under Scott's feet.

He'd been pacing since Jude woke up.

Skyler was slumped in the corner, twirling one of her white feathers he'd found on the floor between his fingers distractedly. The rain had ceased but the cold returned with the setting sun. Jude closed her eyes and rolled over until her stomach pressed against the inflatable mattress. Why did it seem like it was always night here?

Scott had dutifully patched up the scratches on Jude's arms and feet. The half-moon bite mark on her palm still throbbed from the fizzing cleaner Scott had poured on it a few hours before. Her stomach still felt queasy, and several vertical stretches of blood stained the back of her shirt.

Her cuts on her shoulders were the only wounds she would not allow Scott to tend to. He'd tried before…but his hands felt so cold. As cold as the needled nails that had put the cuts there in the first place. It made her want to cry hard and curl up; so she politely refused and lay down with the wounds still open.

Scott stopped pacing abruptly, running a hand through his dark hair and collapsing on the floor next to Sky. "Don't suppose you've changed your mind about letting me clean up your back?"

Jude shook her head, keeping her eyes shut tight against the candlelight flickering in the corner. Scott nudged Sky and lowered his voice to show that Jude was not involved in their conversation.

"Are you going out?" Scott whispered.

Sky curled his hand into a loose fist and shook his head silently.

"Father Igbi will be upset…"

Jude sat up suddenly; wincing as the cloth of her shirt ran over the cuts, "Look at me." Scott glanced up, surprised at the forcefulness in the usually quiet girl's voice. Jude lowered her head, running a nail over the wood grains in the floor, "I want to know…everything. Why are you keeping things from me?"

Scott shuffled his shoulders hesitantly, drawing his knees up to rest his arms against them. "I…we…didn't want you to be afraid. We wanted you to get comfortable here before telling you. It's a lot to take in."

"Tell me now," Jude breathed, sitting cross-legged on the mattress.

Scott stared hard at the tips of his shoes and took a deep breath, the heat from his lungs fogging the glasses perched on his nose. He wiped them off patiently and leaned back against the wall, his gaze growing distant as if he were summoning a distant memory.

"I suppose you could say that it started almost thirty years ago…the day that Alfred Jay Cunnigan set foot on this island. Woolsworth was younger then. A fresh tourists town build right on the bay. It drew in a lot of sightseers, but there were very few permanent residents. Cunnigan set up residents in a shack by the beach. He fit in well locals, and very soon became one himself.

"Many of the townspeople were curious as to where Cunnigan had come from and why he had chosen to settle here. He told them he'd just got off a job and was looking for some peace before heading back out into the real world. Apparently he'd retired from a lab facility near Nevada. He was a technician for genetic research."

Scott paused, rubbing his palms together to ward off the chill that had crept into the room. Jude could feel her knees going numb beneath her, but she pushed the strange sensation away, focusing her full attention on the words spilling from Scott's lips.

"About five years after Cunnigan settled," Scott continued, "a scarlet fever epidemic broke out over Woolsworth. An English woman on her deathbed had always dreamed of coming to this little island. Her sickness spread just days after she passed away in the hotel.

"The tourists stopped coming…a lot of people died. Luckily the sickness was isolated on Woolsworth. 'Evacuate,' the government said. A lot of the locals did…but most stayed. Cunnigan included. He became determined to put a stop to the scarlet fever that took hold of these shores. In a matter of months he build a small lab on the far side of the island. He spent most of his time holed up in the lab…fighting to save his new home.

"Years passed by…and people grew desperate. The government refused to send help for those that were already infected. And often the antidotes they did send failed to adapt. The population was dwindling faster than it could rebuild. Just when it seemed that Woolsworth was lost…Cunnigan recovered a cure.

"The people were given the medicine, and in weeks most had recovered quiet well. The tourists never did come back…but everyone was okay with that. They were alive, and they still had their town. So everyone was happy."

Scott paused, lowering his head as if he'd finished. Jude blinked hard, fighting back the tears of frustration rising in her throat. "That's it?" Scott refused to meet her eye. Jude glared at him hard, "That's everything, then? It doesn't even explain anything!"

"Calm down," Sky muttered, nudging Scott's ribs with his elbow, "he's not done yet. Keep going…you still have a lot to explain."

Scott smiled meekly and massaged his eyes, "Yes…I know. But this next part…it's hard for me to relate. So many of the records were lost in the epidemic, the people of this island aren't even absolutely sure this is how it happened. One thing for sure is that after Cunnigan found the cure…he didn't shut down his little lab. He kept it running. And he kept it to himself.

"The people of this town started seeing less and less of him. He abandoned his shack on the shores and lived almost constantly on the far side of the island…away from everybody. He named his lab after the company he used to work for. He named it Itex."

Outside the sheltered Tower, the rain began to pour again. Pounding harmoniously against the windows like a drummer at a rock concert. Scott paused to watch the rain for a second before continuing.

"His disappearances continued for over a decade. Almost twenty years passed…and then people started going missing. First it was the postman. Next one of the firefighters. Then the man who owned the merchant store. People started to worry again. Had the fever somehow returned? Those who went missing were never heard from again.

"Several of the townspeople went to Cunnigan, hoping he might have an answer. Only one made it back…and in a sorry state, too. He was babbling ludicrous accusations, insisting that Cunnigan was the one to blame for the disappearances. He said that Cunnigan was…experimenting on the ones he'd kidnapped. Morphing them…infusing them…deforming them…and then killing them. The Mayor, despite the one survivors plea for him to stay, decided to check on the lab himself."

Scott glanced over at Sky and rubbed at his chin, "He never came back."

Jude shivered as a droplet of rain wormed through the tiling of the cathedrals roof and dropped to the floor by her hand. "What was Cunnigan doing?"

"It's hard to say," Scott shrugged, "but one thing was for sure. People were dying. And Cunnigan was to blame. The town was at its breaking point when the first Demon showed its face. She was nothing more than one of the locals that had gone missing a few weeks before. Her face was haggard and her ribs were showing…like she'd been starved for months.

"Her actions were…different. Predatory. Like an animal. She was always in motion, staying low to the ground and keeping to the shadows. She attacked a pedestrian in the street…a fisherman whose house was near retrieved a rifle from his closet and shot her. He had no choice. The pedestrian died later in the hospital, her throat torn out by her own neighbors bare hands.

"The town mounted an investigation. Taking in the woman who had been shot and keeping her aside. Her skin burned at the touch of iron, practically falling apart at any of their tools. The most surprising however…was her blood.

"They found…bugs. Small bugs the size of your pinky-nail burrowed into her veins. More were in her heart, in her throat, in her stomach…but most were in her brain. These bugs they…weren't natural. They burrowed under a human's skin and killed the person from the inside. Yet somehow the people remained capable of movement. Though their actions were unstable.

"Some think that the bugs attach themselves to the person's nerves. Controlling the dead body like a train conductor in perfect harmony. It was a time of crisis for Woolsworth. Worse than the scarlet fever. The town was being gutted, and every night more of these…infested Demons made their way into people's houses.

"The only person with the guts to stand up to these monsters was Father Igbi. He was younger then, and full of ideas to save his town. He ordered a wall be built. A wall of iron that cut the island in half, trapping the infested away from those who could be saved. Things quieted down, but every once in a while one would get through. The wall wasn't enough to save Woolsworth, and many people simply decided to leave."

Jude swallowed the icy stone in her throat, "Why…why didn't anyone call for help? Bring in the army…or something."

Scott smiled softly, "The Government had provided no help even when the disease was an easy one to understand. Surely they would turn their backs on an epidemic like this. No…the people of Woolsworth stopping putting their hope in the government a long time ago."

Jude felt numb, "What happened to Cunnigan?"

Scott shrugged, "Some say he's dead, killed by his own creations. Others say he's still out there in the forest, recruiting an army of Demons to destroy the town he once called his home."

Sky shuffled next to Scott, turning his attention to the window with unblinking eyes. Jude watched him for several seconds. He looked uncomfortable, like the story got under his skin somehow. She turned back to Scott, trying to stay focused. "Why are you here then? Why don't you leave?"

Still smiling, Scott rubbed his knees sadly, "This place has become my home more than anywhere I've ever been. I have responsibilities here…as groundskeeper." His eyes darted over to where Sky was slumped, a strange look fixed on his face. He noticed Scott's stare and turned away, stiffly getting to his feet and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I'm sleeping," he said bluntly, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Jude bit her lip and hugged her knees to her chest, "Why is he here?"

Scott stared at the closed door sadly, "I met him my first night on this island. He was near death when Lilly and me brought him to the hospital. Remarkably the people of Woolsworth accepted him…some even cherished his arrival. Father Igbi especially. He was convinced…being a religious man himself…that the creatures created by Cunnigan were Demons. Skyler was nothing more than an Angel sent to save them."

Scott snorted and scuffed his feet, "The deal was that Skyler could stay at the cathedral. The townspeople paid for his food, his clothes, and his shelter. And in return, he goes out every night to fight the Demons. In the four years he's been on this island we've only lost three people. It's a miracle, really. The bugs don't seem to take to Sky's blood system. I suspect you'll be exactly the same."

Scott got to his feet with a sigh, stretching his arms above his head to loosen the knots in his shoulders. "Listen. If we don't tend to your back soon it might get infected. Can I please take a look?"

Jude nodded mutely, rolling over onto her back and biting her thumb as she rolled Woolsworth's story over in her head. If Father Igbi insisted Sky was an Angel come to save them…would he expect Jude to save them as well?

Scott's hands were cold on her back…but not nearly as cold as the fear in her chest.