Vicki looked out of the window in amazement. Cars, RV's, buses and trucks. Anything with wheels and a motor was on the move. Where they ran out of gas, cars were pushed to the side of the road and people walked.

Rogers twirled the police cars flashers once or twice and nudged the car into the centre of the road, crossing into the empty oncoming lane. He slowed and rolled his window down. 'Hey son.' He said to a man in a Pizza Place uniform. 'Where are you going?'

The young man blinked. 'Oh. Yeah. Um.' He said, then he grinned, embarrassed. 'I don't know exactly. That way.' he said, pointing.

Rogers narrowed his gaze. 'Are you ok son?'

The young man smiled. 'Sure, I'm great. I'm going to see for myself, to make up my own mind.' He said firmly.

Rogers raised an eyebrow and pulled the car forward a little quicker. He thumbed the steering wheel microphone toggle and called it in. 'Hey Dispatch? I'm on the old south road, there's a whole bunch of people and traffic. What the hells going on?'

'No reports. Do you want to call something in?' the radio officer replied.

'Nope. Just mighty strange that's all.' Rogers switched the flashers on one more time, and pulled into the oncoming lane. 'Let's see if we can't get you there faster little lady'

---

Rufus walked back into the hall, white faced. 'Holy shit JJ, you gotta see this.'

JJ snapped out of his reverie. 'Huh?'

Rufus grabbed him by the shoulder and walked him towards the doorway. From the porch they could see the streams of people pooling at the base of the hill.

'What the f...' JJ said.

Rufus slapped him on the shoulder and danced with joy. 'I frickin knew it man. Your voice, my songs. We're gonna be frickin rock stars baby', he chuckled, 'This is awesome.'

JJ looked at the people. 'This isn't right Rufus. This just isn't right.'

Rufus stopped dancing. 'Right? What are you talking about? This is so right in so many ways. Jesus JJ, did you want to keep playing the indie scene for ever? It might be God rock, but we're connecting with people. We may even be doing some good. What the hell's wrong with that?'

JJ shrugged.

Rufus scowled. 'I can't figure out what you see in her man. I really can't.'

'It's not about her' JJ protested.

'Yeah riiiight' Rufus said, letting it drawl. JJ looked a little steamed up. His fists had balled up. Rufus raised an eyebrow. 'You're not about to hit me, are you JJ?'

JJ looked down at his hands and flung the palms wide. 'No.' He said. 'Fuck.' He said. Rufus burst out laughing. 'JJ! My man! You're back! Where you been?'

JJ looked away, but smiled. 'I'm sorry Rufus. My head has been all bent out of shape. It's like I'm being pushed by something. Maybe it's her…' JJ watched Rufus's lip curl. 'Ok' he continued. 'It's her, but now all this too? What are we going to do?'

Rufus smiled and waved his hand magically over the crowd below. 'We're gonna play 'em some music baby. We're gonna rock their little church going socks off.'

---

Alvin scratched his head and handed the ID back to the man with the sunglasses. 'Sure mister, I'd like to.' he said uncertainly.

The man stopped moving back towards the aircraft. 'What do you mean, 'like to'?'

Alvin shrugged. 'I really would like to oblige, but I think their plane trumps your one.'

Alvin pointed to the sleek gulfstream jet rolling from the tarmac.

The man with the sunglasses stormed over and lifted his sunglasses, that's how mad he was. He'd had them on so long that he had those little circles around his eyes where the sunglasses had halted the tan. Alvin thought he looked like an angry racoon.

'Buddy, if you don't start filling this plane up within the next five minutes, I am going to charge with you obstruction of justice!' the man snapped.

Alvin looked him up and down. Alvin was shorter than him by a head. He even bet the FBI feller had a gun on him. Alvin smiled.

'I'm sorry mister. National Security. That's all they told me. Maybe you can go talk to them?'

The FBI man looked twice at Alvin to make sure he wasn't joking. 'When did they get here?'

Alvin shook his head. 'Don't know, don't want to know.'

The FBI man gave up on him and stomped off instead towards the gulf stream. Men in black outfits and high tech duffel bags were descending from the stairs. The FBI man stopped, did an about face and scooted for his own plane.

Alvin watched with a smile.

---

John called Luka back from opening the street door to the gallery.

'Wait.' John said sharply, bending to touch a smudge on the floor.

Luka followed the smudges with his eyes and saw more around the door handle to the stairs. He touched it, it was still tacky.

'It's blood.' Luka said, rubbing it between his fingers.

John put his fingers to his lips.

'Ewww gross' Charlie said, shuddering. 'I thought they only did that on TV.'

John frowned. 'This isn't good.' he said, standing up.

Luka unbuckled his holster and withdrew his pistol. John looked at the gun. 'What are you going to do with that?'

Luka shook his head in amazement. 'I'm a cop, Redman. They give these to us to shoot bad guys with, remember?' Luka pointed to the trail. 'It goes in. It doesn't come out. Whoever scared your rotund friend enough to call is still in there.' Luka started to open the door. John grabbed his wrist. 'Maybe you better let me take point on this one.'

'Uh uh.' Luka said, slapping his hand away.

John drew closer. 'Detective, this isn't your ordinary perp. This is different.'

Luka found John's face a mite too close. 'Let go of me.' Luka warned.

John held him even more tightly. 'Not until you guarantee not to use that weapon.'

Luka struggled again. 'Unhand me Redman, I'm not kidding.'

'You cannot kill him with that.' John insisted.

Behind them, Charlie made a soft moan. John turned around to see her, a look of panic on her face. 'It's him, isn't it?' She whispered. 'He is here.'

Luka struggled to break Johns grip until they were both shunted aside by Charlie, stepping into the doorway and pushing the door aside.

'Charlie, wait.' John said, letting go of the Detective and running after her. Charlie had a far away look in her eyes. 'Charlie, wait, wait.' John pleaded. Charlie began ascending the stairs. Soft waves of air were flowing away from her, pushing him back.

Luka ran up the stairs after both of them.

'Help me' John urged. They took a hold of Charlie's shoulders and pulled her to a halt. She turned her gaze on John. 'No John Redman. It ends now. This time, forever.'

'This isn't the way Charlie.' John said quickly. 'This isn't the answer. You can't go back and fix the things he did, that they did. You can't keep punishing everyone.'

Charlie snarled. 'He will pay for what he did. He has to pay.'

Charlie seemed to flow up the stairs, leaving the two men in her wake. The doors opened before her, announcing her presence.

Luka and John Redman ran up the stairs after her and found her stopped still in the middle of the floor, looking at the couch where Erles sat. A man shaped figure in bandages stood in front of the couch. 'Scharrrliieeee' it whispered.

-

The little bell on the door tinkled again. Erles eyes didn't leave Deaths face. Death smiled.

'Scharrrliieeee.' It said.

Charlie looked positively radiant, like she had done her hair. Erles waved to her. She didn't seem to see him, fixing her eyes on Death.

'Erles, get up slowly and come towards me.' Luka said quietly levelling his pistol at Death.

Death just watched him, glass of white whine held in its claws.

Erles looked askance at the policeman. Correction: the crumpled policeman. Where did he get his clothes? Erles took a sip of his wine. 'I'm not sure what that will accomplish.'

It let out a small gasp that seemed to contain a thousand sighs of pain. Luka edged backwards and bumped into another bandaged man. Quite an entourage his girl was developing.

There was a popping sound as the air around Charlie fled from her and fresh, cooler air was sucked in to replace it. Death ceased moving.

'John.' Charlie said, looking at Death.

'Schaaaarrrllieee' it wheezed, stepping forward. 'Waaaaaaittteddddd..sssssooo. lonnggg…waaaaitedd……scharrlieee.'

It staggered another step forward, pushing as if the air had been replaced with gelatine. Charlie was drinking all of the light in the room into her.

'Come to me, John Rainbird. Come to me and I will set you free' she spoke to him. Waves of heat shimmered around her. The thing that had once housed John Rainbird tried to walk towards the bright light. Its legs strained and heaved to make the few feet between them.

'Come to me.' Charlie cooed. 'Come to me.'

The heat was too much. It fell to its knees, screaming as the flesh struck the ground. It clawed its way forward, still screaming.

Charlie opened the flood gates of her mind and saw everything around her. She gathered it into herself and prepared to cleanse the world.

The thing on the floor lifted its ruined face to her. 'Scharrlieee.'

John Redman stepped between them. Charlie shifted to the right, reaching out with her mind. John Redman recoiled as if he had been slapped, but stood his ground.

'No Charlie. Not like this.'

She surged towards him, filling the space around him with the scent of autumn, dry crackling leaves in a fire. 'I can end it.' She said, caressing his jaw. 'I can make it stop hurting.'

John Redman took her hand and laid her palm on the creatures face.

'This is what we have wrought. These are the works by which we are called 'monster''

Charlie looked down into the ruined eyes of John Rainbird and for an instant, she saw into her past. She jumped away from the touch; looking down at her hand and seeing the skin come away from his cheek as it broke contact. She recoiled in horror.

'Schaaaarrrllieee!' it hissed desperately.

'If you send him into the next world like this, he will burn eternally. His spirit will scream in pain through the ages and the sound will never leave your ears.'

John looked into the ruined face, easing the body down onto the floor. 'Uncle, the elders have sent for you. The ancestors are calling for you. They await you, my uncle. They await you in great fields of grass under the forever sky. There is sweet water, sweet and cold. It will refresh you on the long journey.'

John Rainbird sighed, his eyes fluttering. John Redman turned to face Charlie. Tears rolled down his long cheeks.

'Charlie, I beg for him. I beg for him, in spite of the blood debt he owes. I beg you to let him pass to the next world whole'

Charlie's vision cleared and she suddenly saw an injured man squatting beside a dying man, a dying family member. John Rainbird was wheezing, leaking fluids, disintegrating before her eyes.

'I beg you for mercy from the justice of your Father.' John Redman implored. 'When you said you owed me, I did not accept the obligation, but when I asked you for your help, freely given, you gave me your word. I hold you to that word now.'

Charlie sank down onto the floor. 'What can I do?' she said quietly. 'I can only kill him.'

'Your daughter, Charlie. Your daughter has it within her to forgive him, to let him die.'

'Vicki can't. She can't do it. I made it so she couldn't do it anymore.' Charlie said numbly.

John nodded. 'I know, but will you try?'

'I don't even know where she is, John.'

Erles tapped his glass. 'I'm not entirely certain I follow this whole conversation, but am I correct in assuming that …the thing…on the floor is in fact…human?'

John and Charlie looked over at Erles.

'Don't look at me like that Charlie.' Erles scolded. 'And you, whoever you are, I don't even know you, so you turn that glare away. Now, what was I saying?'

'You wanted to know if that thing was human' Luka chimed in.

'Ah yes.' Erles said. 'Thank you Detective. That thing is a man?'

'Don't ask me' said Luka, lowering his pistol.

'Yes.' Charlie answered. 'He's an old….friend.'

'Who did you think it was?' Luka asked.

'Death.' Erles replied. 'Things have been slightly unusual recently so I am afraid I rather leapt to conclusions. Charlie, you cannot kill this….man. I've almost talked him into buying a watercolour.'

Charlie laughed involuntarily.

Erles sniffed. 'You do as the…what's your name?'

'John Redman.'

Erles nodded. 'Yes. You do as John Redman says. In any case, the point I was trying to make was that Vicki visited here not long ago.'

'Where did she go?' John Redman asked quickly.

Erles emptied the wine glass into his mouth and swallowed it and held a hand up to forestall further questions. 'It should be simple to locate her. She was with your partner.'

'My Partner? I don't have a part..' Luka paused. 'She was with Rogers?'

'Yes, I believe she mentioned the name. Something about transmitting from a community hall.'

Luka quickly put his gun away and retrieved his mobile, dialling a number. 'Rogers? It's Wachowski, where are you?'

---

Phil nudged the truck into the parking lot and turned off the engine. He sighed. 'Poor old girl.' He gave the dashboard an affectionate pat.

Cassie smiled. 'Well, let's get run-over-rover out of the back.'

Phil chuckled. 'Black humour from such a sweet looking girl? Who'd a thunk it?'

They got out from the truck and Phil picked up the shovel.

'I don't see why we couldn't just bury it out there you know.' Phil thought aloud.

Cassie helped him to lever the dead dog out from the rear of the truck, trying not to touch it with her hand. 'The things we do for people we love.' Cassie said sadly.

Phil gave her a strange look but said nothing.

They trudged up the stairs to the back entrance of the veterinary clinic and rang the bell. The vets' assistant opened the door to find a tall farmer holding a dead dog on a shovel. 'Can we please use your incinerator?' Phil asked politely

Cassie left him standing at the door and walked back towards the truck. Two white cars had pulled into the parking lot, they parked on either side of the truck and men began to get out. They were all wearing sunglasses. Cassie shielded her eyes and smiled at them.

-

The Boss stuck his head in through the doorway. 'Where's Wachowski?' he asked.

'Don't know sir.' said one of the junior detectives. The Boss looked around. 'Where's Rogers?'

Again, he was greeted by shrugs. The Boss scowled at his men and called the Desk Sergeant. 'Despatch, where're Wachowski and Rogers?'

'Rogers is on the old Southern road. I don't know where Wachowski is, Sir.'

The Boss nodded. 'Ok...' he put the phone down and walked out into the central room.

'Listen up everybody. We're about to have some Federal visitors so I want everyone on the line. Start drawing vests and riot gear.' When nobody moved, he stamped his foot. 'NOW people, this isn't a drill!'

The Boss walked back into his office. 'Are you sure this is necessary?'

The Blind man reached unerringly for the coffee cup. 'I can assure you Captain; I wouldn't be here if it wasn't'

---

Aarons hands were shaking all the way to his lips. Then the lighter flicked on and the smoke curled out and his jingle jangle nerves were smothered with a soft buzz. He leaned back and passed the pipe to the next guy. Aaron staggered to his feet, seeking the source of the sound that was making his ears hum. He looked out through the dirty window and realised it was the sound of cars, lots of cars. He also realised through a haze that it was getting late. He would be missed.

'I have to blow.' He said to no one in particular, then turned around and put his money down on the table. 'I need a couple of bags.'

---

Vicki struggled to push through the crowd until one of the men from the community spotted her and intervened.

'You're Vicki, right?' the man said. Vicki nodded, grateful to be separated from the crowd. 'Come with me.' He said.

The man led her up through the people to one of the buildings. A man was waiting for her on the porch. Vicki recognised him as the Hitchhiker who had volunteered the hall.

'Vicki.' He said. 'My name is Daniel.'

'I know that' Vicki replied, irritated.

He reached forward and hugged her. Unsure of how to respond, she remained motionless inside his arms. He whispered into her ear 'I knew your father.'

Vicki gasped.

The man was grinning at her. 'Dalton was my brother. I'm your Uncle, my child.'

He took her by the hand and led her into the building.

---

The front of the building was swarming with Police. The FBI agent grabbed one on the shoulder as he tried to run past. 'Hey.' He said. 'What's going on here?'

The officer looked down at the hand holding his arm. 'The hell if I know. The feds want us out at some farm.'

'What Feds?' the man demanded. 'We're the Feds, I mean, I'm with the FBI. Who's in charge here?'

'I am' said a voice and the FBI man looked further up the stairs where an old man was being helped to navigate the steps by a young Filipino.

The FBI man blinked. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

'Now Now, Special Agent Westacott. Not in front of the Children.' warned the Blind Man. Westacott released the officers' arm. The officer gave him a sour stare and then ran down the stairs.

'What's the NSA doing here?' Westacott demanded.

The Blind Man held out a hand. Westacott took it, feeling the strange force in the grip. 'Don't interfere, Special Agent.'

'That was your team in the Gulfstream, wasn't it?' Westacott accused, helping them down the stairs.

The Blind Man shook his head. 'No son, it wasn't ours.' He gestured around them. 'These are our people.'

Westacott snorted. 'You're mobilising the locals against what, a black ops team? Are you fucking insane?'

Felipe stepped forward and was about to do something, but the Blind Man held him back. 'Don't be concerned, Felipe. The Agent here is just a little scared, and he has a right to be. He's helped to make this mess.'

Westacott scowled. 'This doesn't have anything to do with…'

The blind mans grip tightened. 'It has everything to do with it. You left a small detail unattended to and we have a mutual blow-back issue. I suggest we cooperate.'

They reached the bottom of the steps and a black town car rolled to a halt.

'Get in' said the Blind Man. 'We can talk on the way.'

They settled into the car and it pulled smoothly away from the stairs.

'What are the locals going to do?' Westacott asked curiously.

'Establish a perimeter. Try to turn as many people back as possible.'

Westacott lost his cool. 'From what?'

'From the end of the world.' Felipe replied. The Blind Man smiled.