Back in Virginia, the sun has set over the Appalachian woods. Now, the cicadas sing. Now, every Virginian commando's wife sleeps in silence.
This includes Sara. Alas, she's not actually asleep. She's in the nude, buried in bedding. The darkness surrounds her.
Since Donnie left her, home has gotten rather spooky. But then, being married to a commando has its disadvantages. When he's not here, things get scary. He challenges much, when he's home. In the meantime, the news of his presence invites competition. Hence, in his void, the competition requires more than a hint to realize that he's no longer here to resist them.
Alas, once some of it senses that there's a very nubile wife in his cottage just waiting to be made off with... Sara's not sure if she likes to think what'd happen next.
She knows she should get a more high-tech security system installed. She knows Donnie would. Alas, she trusts herself with a shotgun. It's just a simple twenty-gauge; better for turkey-hunting, than for deer. Even so, it'll kill a human who's not wearing body armor. And even in the closest neighborhoods, body armor is a joke.
Improvising a robe from a sheet, Sara drifts outside, to the patio. She's got a telescope set up. She lets the sheet fall to the patio, looks inside the telescope, and adjusts it.
She can see the planet Saturn...and several of its moons. She zooms in on Titan.
From Sferë, it has a very sepia appearance to it. Alas and naturally, she can't see Donnie on it. Hell, she can't even see most of the native Titans on it. To her, that's surprising; the Titans are ten times bigger than humans.
Without luck, Donnie's already run off with a titaness, now that he's there. This causes Sara to shudder. At this time of night, she doesn't know if it's that thought, or how much cooler it is at night. After all, she is in the nude without that sheet on. But then, it's just a good thing that this patio overlooks the back garden, rather than the front one.
Sara yawns. She looks around for her sheet. She sees it...but she's not in the mood to put it back on her. Nonetheless, she returns inside...and locks all the doors. She also makes sure the windows are all secure.
Her woman's intuition tells her that there are predators on the prowl...and that she's their new target. Don't ask her how she knows. She's hardly a leader in human intuition, but she's feminine enough.
Now, she's back in the sheets, and back in the dark. The 20-gauge is leaned next to the wall near the bed. With luck, it won't fall over in the night and blow a hole in a wall.
She tries to rest. She tries to drift to sleep. Alas, she knows something's coming. She knows that someone or something is after her, somewhere out there. Jackson City isn't too far away from here...and neither are Virginia Beach or Baltimore...
Out there, the cicadas still sing. They're SO noisy...
Hours later, Sara still lies in bed. Her eyes are closed...but she's far from asleep.
At last, she hears it. It's big. It approaches from the woods. Her eyes open. Her pulse quickens. She lies frozen in bed, as that huge thing approaches...
Slowly, she rises. Shit, she wishes the bed springs weren't so noisy. With a gentle hand, she takes up the 20-gauge. She stands, and creeps her way through the house.
A black bear has made his way into the back garden. Sara foolishly left some food out, one night. The bear has just now picked up its essence.
A tunnel leads to a trap door within a cement platform in the back garden. With her hand, Sara gently pushes it open from above. She's got the shotgun handy. Through a crack in the trap door, she watches the bear.
He's at lunch. There isn't even that much of it. But then, it's amazing how the biggest of world predators can prefer the smallest of prey. Sara might not be small...but this black bear has a way of making her feel it. Even so, she's prepared to use this trap door as a foxhole, if need be.
Alas, this shotgun is only a 20-gauge. If she wanted to stand a chance of killing this bear with one shot, she'd be better off with a two-gauge...or a .338-caliber rifle.
At last, the bear lifts his head. Nervous as hell, Sara reaches for the shotgun barrel. Good; she can still feel it. She might need it.
The bear makes his way back to the back gate. Good; with luck, he won't stop until...
Ugh; he stops. He raises his head, and turns it.
Sara's heart freezes in her chest, of course. Now, she's got her hand around the shotgun barrel. She's ready to hoist it up and start blasting, if she needs to. Thankfully, this shotgun can fire three shots in a row, before needing to reload.
Sara waits. The bear stands still. Shit; Sara should go lighter on the perfumes and baths...
To her fortune, though, the bear moves on. He lumbers right through the back gate, and on, into the woods.
Sara waits at least three minutes. Then, she comes out of the hole. Nude, and with the shotgun close, she makes her way across the yard. She pulls the gate closed. A closed gate is hardly an impermeable defense; but it's more likely to deter intruders than an open gate.
Sara shakes her head and heads back to bed. God, living out here can be terrifying. Sometimes, she doesn't know what the hell she was thinking, when she married a commando...
Halfway across the back garden, she stops. Now, she feels strange. It comes from her bloodstream...and it spreads fast. It calms her. Alas, it doesn't feel normal. Sara should still be shaken, after all. She just survived a bear's invasion.
Around her feet, a portal opens. Its border glows with orange light, and generates orange smoke. Moments later, she falls into it, flailing and screaming. It expels the shotgun, and seals itself, trapping her inside the Dusk Dimension.
In her absence, the cicadas sing on. Meanwhile, that shotgun is way too valuable, lying there on the back garden like that. It won't likely be long, before someone comes by and claims it...