The house was quiet. Mark paced restlessly, nervously, muttering quietly to himself under his breath...

His father laid into him: "Knock it off! Show a little backbone, will ya, boy?"

Mark turned on him. "The world is gonna end!" he cried. "If the monsters really have come back and are invading, desolation is inevitable! Just look what happened to Obion."

Marvin, who was sitting in the recliner in the corner, said, "Are we forgetting that mom obviously isn't in ship-shape right now? Has no one stopped to consider that perhaps she's hallucinating? That zombie bite is no doubt messing with her head some."

Their father frowned. "Maybe," was all he said.

Mark sat down, running his hands through his hair again and again in agitation. "I'm scared, man. Are we gonna die? Is it over?"

"Keep your head, son," his father told him.

He sighed in exasperation. "I won't have a head if we stay here much longer. We should go, like mom said. We should get out of here."

"And where," Marvin replied slowly, "do you intend to go?"

"That's right," their father said. "It's not like we can leave the island."

"Why not?" Mark challenged. "We could take a boat and sail out of here."

"For crying out loud, calm down!" his father barked. "We don't even know for sure if anything is wrong! You want us to just up and leave without that kind of confirmation? I'd rather not abandon our home and animals unless I know for certain there's no other choice!"

Mark drummed his feet on the floor. "I can't just sit here anymore. I'm going crazy."

"No, I can see that."

Mark stood. "I'm going to ride down to Kadin and see if they have any news."

"Okay, if it'll make you feel better. Be careful; take some food and weapons."

"Okay."

He went upstairs and got his bag, came back downstairs, filled it with bread, cheese, some other stuff. Then he went back upstairs, opened his chest and got his diamond sword, armor, and anything else he thought he might need.

He said goodbye to his father and brother and headed out. He untethered Romeo, repositioned his saddle, and climbed in. He guided Romeo down the road. The trees closed in on all sides, they were so dense in fact that they almost blocked out the sky.

He was nervous, jumping at every little sound. It was as if in one moment, his sense of security had been dashed on the rocks, and he was left feeling helpless and scared.

Seeing other people, talking with them, would help reassure him, even if the report was true and the monsters had risen from the dead to exact vengeance on the living.

He reached Kadin before sun high. The place was crawling with people. He recognized some people from neighbouring farms. One of them, a bushy-eyed man with a hook instead of a hand, was conversing with a couple of merchants. Mark dismounted, and walked over to the man. Quinn, was his name.

"Quinn," he said. The farmer turned to him, fixed him with a steely blue gaze; "Ah, Marvin, how you doing?"

"Well. And I'm Mark, not Marvin."

"Ah, of course." The man's breath stunk, but he was a nice guy; "Listen 'ere, have you heard all them reports about the monster invasion?"

"I have," Mark said, his heart sinking. So it must be true.

"And can you confirm if them reports are true or not?"

"No, I can't."

Quinn scratched his chin. "Well, neither can nobody in this town. It's a mess, as you can see; everyone's heard the reports. Everyone's scared."

"Me too," Mark said. "So how is the Government planning on retaliating?"

Quinn wrinkled his nose. "Retaliate? No, don't get your hopes up, lad. Obion was the Capital. All our leadership was in there. So they've either run for it, or they're dead. Son, there'll be retaliation, mark my words. But it won't be for a while. They gotta reorganize themselves first."

Mark sullenly digested this information; "And what can you tell me about the monsters?"

"Personally, I don't suspect we're dealing with monsters here," Quinn replied; "There hasn't been a monster army in thousands of years. No, I think someone else is responsible. A new enemy. Someone from beyond the Equator. That's my guess."

Could it be possible? Could enemies from outside their world be the ones responsible? "They must have powerful ships, then, to make it through the Equator."

"I suspect... Sorry son, I got to go. You keep an eye on your folks for me, aye?"

"Sure. Thanks for your help."

Quinn wandered off into the crowd, leaving Mark to consider everything he'd heard. It seemed to ludicrous... that after thousands of years of peace, someone could just come in, and in the span of a day, overthrow their most powerful city.

On the one hand it made sense. They weren't expecting an attack, so they weren't prepared. An attack, quick and decisive, would completely catch them off guard.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the shouting at first... it was so noisy, what with all the people yammering. But then he snapped awake, and he realized, well and truly, those were screams of fear. Everyone began running, in a frenzied pack, toward him, trampling one another underfoot. Mark ran to get out of their way. He wanted to know what was going on but he knew better than to hang around. He ran back to Romeo. But before he could reach his horse, a hundred voices screamed in alarm. He spun around and saw a big puffy ball with a mouth and eyes, rising up above the houses. The ghastly creature opened its cavernous maw and from it shot a burning fireball. The projectile struck a house. The roof was engulfed in flames.

Terrified, Mark forgot about Romeo and sprinted to find cover. People bustled all around him in an effort to get away. Above the screams and trampling footsteps, Mark heard the sound of arrows being fired, whistling through the air; the soldiers were fighting back!

He hid behind a house, along with a pack of ten or so people. All of them looked frightened. Suddenly, one of them, a man, keeled forward, an arrow stuck out of his back. A skeleton stood at a distance, bow in hand, its jaw twisted in a menial grin as it reloaded.

Mark and the other villagers scrambled behind cover. A woman was shot. Her body fell a couple feet away from Mark. Her eyes looked up at the sky, expressionless.

His heart pounding, Mark peeked above the barrel he was hiding behind. The skeleton was advancing on them, bow strung and ready to fire. Mark knew he couldn't stay here; he'd be killed. But what could he do?

With a cry of alarm, a man jumped out from his hiding spot, and proceeded to attempt to climb the house. The skeleton trained its bow on him. Mark reached up and grabbed the man's calf, and yanked him back down. The arrow thudded into the wall. The man looked at him with an immeasurable sense of gratitude. "Thank you!"

Mark nodded; "We have to kill it, before it kills us," he said.

The man looked around for a moment. There was a loose board sticking out of the house. He grabbed it and began prying it. Mark helped. The board came loose with a crack. The man wielded it like a baton; "I'll crack him upside the head!" he declared, and bolted at the skeleton. The skeleton turned and shot him. But the man didn't stop. He swung that board like a club, connecting it with the skeleton's head. The skull came loose with a pop and rolled to the ground. The now-headless skeleton crumpled. The man turned to Mark, an arrow sticking out of his chest. They held each other's gazes for a moment, before the man collapsed.

Mark began to hyperventilate. He knew he had to run, but he couldn't. He'd lost all strength in his limbs. Instead, he pulled himself into a curled-up ball and just laid there. He couldn't take it, he just couldn't. He could only pray, that he would somehow make it out of this alive, and that it would all be over soon.

He ended up falling asleep, and when he woke up, it was to the sound of voices. Gingerly, he lifted his head and listened. Those weren't normal human voices; they were rough, scratchy. He didn't know who they were, but he didn't want to find out either.

I have to get out of here.

Quietly, he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around. He saw figures in the distance. They were just standing around. Didn't seem human. Better not go that way.

He got to his feet. The bodies of the three people who the skeleton shot were still laying right where they fell. Mark picked his way around them, and proceeded to creep to the edge of the village.

Where was Romeo? He wasn't tied up where he'd left him. Mark quickly scanned the surrounding area, but his horse was nowhere to be found. He held back tears at the thought that he might be dead.

No time, no time to look.

He checked to make sure the coast was clear, and then sprinted like mad for the forest. For all he knew, every villager in the town was dead and he was the only one left. He couldn't hang around.

He managed to reach the treeline. He looked back to see if he was being followed. Nope. He saw several skeletons dotted around the landscape. The street was covered in bodies.

Turning away from the grisly sight, Mark ran into the woods and didn't look back.