Not a scratch. No bite marks. Nothing. Whatever had attacked her in the dark was not visible in the light. Cybil had passed out from the pain of having her throat bitten into. That shadow pressing down on her in the darkness should have been the last thing she ever experienced. Overcome with a strange mixture of relief and bewilderment she lay, unable to move.

The early autumn mist had returned. It was still as cold as the past few days. As new snow fell she gathered Barkin's jacket around her. Frost was nipping at her extremities and her joints were reluctant to move. She sat up.

How long had she been there?

A figure approached, emerging from the mist. Harry was running along the middle of Crichton Street. Focused on his destination, he turned on to Sagan Street, failing to notice her crumpled by the station. Attempting to call him resulted in a guttural rasp. Physically her throat was fine, the problem was in her mind…

"Harry…" she whispered hoarsely.

She watched him fade into the mist. There was no time to get her voice back - she had to follow. Dragging herself onto her feet, she saw him pass Wilson Street. It was painful to run, her frozen limbs complaining as she pounded the tarmac. She found it difficult as they went by the shops, all the way to the crossroads and onto Simmons Street. Heading north, Harry was almost out of sight when he stopped briefly, before disappearing into a doorway.

By the time Cybil caught up she was quite out of breath.

The sign above the doorway read 'Green Lion Antiques'. Gloomy stairs led down to a gloomier passageway. Descending slowly, she coughed and wheezed. Pausing at the main entrance to the store, she tried to compose herself.

Harry stood by a hole in the wall...a passageway. She coughed again, attempting to clear her throat.

"Cybil!" he cried.

"I'm glad you're okay." she croaked in reply, "I shouldn't have left you. Things are worse than I thought."

"What are you doing here? I thought you left town."

"I saw you go in here, so I followed you." she answered in a slightly healthier, husky tone, "I couldn't get out. All the roads out of town are blocked."

"Are you okay? Your voice sounds…"

"I'm fine. I've just been riding around in the cold for too long." Cybil lied.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing here. I'm hoping this will lead me to Cheryl somehow. This crazy lady-"

"Wait, Harry…I did see a girl." She was reluctant to tell him, but he deserved the truth.

"Was it Cheryl!?"

"Yes. I tried to rescue her friend, Andy, from the aqueduct. I got him out but they fought and she fell in."

"Andy Morgan…Dammit! I knew that kid was weird…is she…"

"I went after her…I'm not sure if I saved her or she saved me but she's alive Harry!"

"Oh thank God!"

"But she got away from me…moved too quickly…vanished."

"And you just let her go?" Harry raged.

"Wait." she stalled, hoping to pacify him, "I know what it's like to lose someone. Seven years ago a girl went missing here. My girl, my Alice. That's why this case is a little strange for Ed and I, why we aren't following all the proper procedures…we never found her."

"Cybil…I'm sorry…I…"

"We desperately want to find Cheryl. To get her back to you. That would restore some balance to the world…for me at least."

"Do you think…Alice…is still…"

"It was during the big fire. We've never found a body but…" she trailed off, trying to keep those pesky emotions under control.

"If you've never found a body then there's still hope, right?"

"No…she's dead. It's time I faced it, time Ed and I both faced it…but Cheryl is alive Harry, that's my point. You still have hope, I saw her."

"Where was it?"

"On Bachman road, she was heading towards the lake. Now don't get excited." she warned, "It wasn't like she ran off exactly. There was no place for her to go. The road has been obliterated."

"What, so then Cheryl..."

"I know it's crazy but…it was like she was walking on thin air…"

Silence pervaded the room. Cybil wasn't sure what to say.

"I'm sorry. That made no sense, did it?"

"No."

"I don't know how she did it. I couldn't follow. I can't explain it."

"I can." he smiled.

"How?" asked Cybil, somewhat surprised.

"I didn't want to tell you at first, in the hospital. Kaufmann already had me in the nut house. But now you've seen it too!"

"Seen what?"

"Impossible things. Things that don't make sense; the eclipse; the earthquake."

"But that's all they are, natural occurrences."

"Both at the same time?"

"However unlikely, there must be a rational explanation for all this."

"But...Detective Briggs told me...you thought it was the apocalypse." said a crestfallen Harry.

"I'm afraid that was Ed's twisted sense of humor." she lied. When she was on her back covered by those leathery wings, the Book of Revelation was foremost in her mind.

"Listen...I met this bizarre woman. She said something about the town being devoured by darkness. I'm sure it had something to do with the eclipse."

"Darkness devouring the town? I know that things were a little weird last night, but...she must be on drugs. They used to sell them to the tourists, then it became a problem amongst the locals. Ed still can't figure out who's behind it. No leads have panned out...stalled investigation."

"What does drug trafficking have to do with all this?"

"I really don't know. Ed wrote something about it on the board at the station yesterday, some new information...the problem has been pretty intense here...maybe that's the darkness she was talking about."

"But there's so much I haven't told you...things that can't be explained. Things that happened at the school..."

Harry trailed off. Cybil had wondered if his amnesia over Midwhich Elementary was a touch too convenient. If he remembered what happened there then his statement was a lie. Very aware of the repercussions of aiding and abetting, she prayed that he had good reason.

"What do you know about, well, the other world?" he asked, sheepishly.

"What are you talking about ?"

"I'm not quite sure. I try to make sense of it, but my mind goes blank. Everything's dark there, and I hear sirens in the distance. I met this nurse, Lisa. It's like I was there, but not really…it's all a blur…like some kind of hallucination, you know?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Harry."

"But everything changed last night…everyone saw it."

"Harry, you're tired." she said, disappointing him again. The thought of an explanation beyond science, beyond reason for these extraordinary events terrified her. The monsters were all in the mind and someone not something was responsible for kidnapping Cheryl…the drugs…the murders…everything.

"Yeah Maybe." he relented.

"What's this?" asked Cybil, indicating the opening and hoping to change the subject.

"Just discovered it. Maybe there's something back there."

"Let's have a look."

"Wait! We don't know what's back there. I better check it out first."

"I'm a cop, I should go."

"No! If anything happens to you, Detective Briggs is going to kill me...I'm going!"

"You're right. He probably would…this is against my better judgment." sighed Cybil, adding, "Wait! Have you got a gun?"

"Ummm... no. I don't…"

"I shouldn't be doing this. Here, I have another one, take it…" she offered as she pulled out her weapon, "…and hope you don't have to use it."

Harry took the firearm and studied it warily.

"Now listen to me, before you pull the trigger, know who you're shooting. And don't do it unless you have to…don't go blasting me by mistake. Got it?" she instructed, "If anything looks fishy, get back here on the double."

"Yeah." he mumbled, "Thanks." and disappeared into the darkness of the passage.

Cybil knew that giving a firearm to a civilian was a big mistake. And Harry had almost admitted that he lied about what happened to Lydia Findly. But she had supported him so far and she wanted him to stay safe. There was no turning back now.

Things were a little quiet. No sound came from the hole in the wall.

"Harry?" she called. He didn't answer.

"Harry? Are you ok?" she called again. No voice came in reply. Had she been duped? If he absconded now…

Breathing in, she squeezed into the narrow fissure in the wall. The passageway swept on and on, tight and grimy. Following the light coming from the other end she wriggled through. The tunnel finished in a small, dank room. Golden candlesticks and draped red material surrounded a small table. It appeared to be an altar, complete with chalice. Something had been burned recently in the chalice, remnants of a white powder giving off a faint scent of vanilla….just like the white Claudia flowers…the raw material of PTV…some kind of ritual using mind altering drugs. This had something to do with Wolf…those little white flowers had been all over his garden. If only Ed could see this…

On the wall was a painting of…Cybil froze…a painting of a creature…the same one that hovered – that she imagined hovering over her. This was impossible. Didn't make sense. Just like Harry had said. Cold sweat began to bead on her forehead.

Worse still, there was no sign of him. Harry was gone…her friend had become a fugitive.