The world outside of Scott’s door was not on fire. Monsters did not attack him immediately, and there were no corpses to be seen. If anything, it seemed no different than when he left for the dream world.

“Everything seems normal,” said Sonja.

Scott did not answer her for a moment. He was certain that there had to be something out of place. Yet, he saw nothing.

“I suppose.” He looked over to his neighbor’s house. “We should see if Shara’s home.”

They went to check on the beautiful weirdo, but no one answered the door. He thought to smash the door open just to be certain that she was not inside injured or unconscious. Ultimately, he decided against it. There was no sign that anything had happened on the outside of her home. He did inspect her back yard, but nothing seemed out of place.

“If she’s here, she is probably sleeping,” said Scott. “I know Ashton was having trouble.”

“Might Shara be with her?” asked Sonja.

“Possibly. If she could not get ahold of me, she would probably have asked Shara to come in and help them out,” he replied.

Scott turned from the door and nodded to Sonja. “Let’s head to Archers.”

They left at a brisk walk. The transference between worlds alleviated some of his issues, but he was more closely tied to his dream form than ever after recent events. The damage bled through even more readily than before.

There were no moving cars on the road, but there were cars left behind on the street. The closer that they got to town the more abandoned cars they saw.

“Damn.” Scott stopped to consider an old Buick that was sitting in the middle of the road. The windows were busted out, and the driver’s side door had been ripped away. More than that, at some point it had caught fire.

They drew closer to town, but before they could make the turn off to head toward Archers a black and white patrol car appeared from around a corner. They were spotted by the police. Soon an obnoxious siren began to blare.

It was not long before they pulled to a screeching halt nearby and two officers got out with their hands to the grips of their firearms. The driver held up his hand. “Hold it right there!”

“Problem, officer?” asked Scott.

“The town is under martial law. It is illegal to be out on the streets. Looting will not be tolerated,” said the officer.

“We just woke up,” said Scott. “We are trying to check on two of our friends. One of them sent me a message about all of this.”

“I understand that, but we can’t have you wandering the streets unescorted,” said the driver. “Go home.”

“Look. I know you’re just doing your job, but I need to know if they are alright,” said Scott.

The other officer growled at him. “Are you deaf?”

“There’s no need for that. These people don’t know,” said the driver to the man. He looked back to Scott. “It’s too dangerous to let you walk around the city. Most of the monsters disappeared the next morning, but they aren’t gone. Some are hiding in buildings and a few more pop up at night.”

“We are more than capable of taking down monsters,” said Scott.

The second officer snorted at him. “Go join the emergency militia if you want to die that bad.”

“Emergency militia?” asked Sonja, beating Scott to the punch.

“Yes,” said the driver. “Emergency rescue services are woefully understaffed for this and it is dangerous for them to operate. When large groups of people gather, monsters tend to appear.”

“This militia? It’s for patrols and protecting the emergency workers?” asked Scott.

“Yeah. It was the only way to keep every yahoo with a gun off the streets the next day, but they only take people with military or law enforcement background,” said the second officer. “You don’t look the type.”

Scott stared at the man for a moment then snorted. “Where do we go to join this militia?”

“Do you have any military or law enforcement experience?” asked the driver.

“No,” he replied confidently.

The other officer grunted at him. “What can you do then?”

Scott glanced at the man for a moment the pointed to a burnt-out car nearby. “See that car? Would you like me to move it out of the road?”

“How you going to move it? The wheels are burnt off?” asked the driver.

“Maybe he has a tow-truck in his pocket,” said the second officer.

“Gimme a moment,” said Scott.

He started to walk over to the car, but the second officer became a bit squirrelly. “Don’t move around!”

“How will I move the car if I don’t?” asked Scott.

“He’s got you there,” said the driver. He grinned at his partner briefly then sobered up and looked to Scott once more. “Don’t try to run off. If you can do something with that car that’s better than military training, we’ll take you to emergency headquarters.”

“Fair enough,” he replied in a light tone.

Scott walked over to the car then reached down underneath the front. He slowly lifted the front end of the vehicle then grabbed a solid piece of metal that he found there.

The police officers stared at him slack jawed as he dragged the car off the road like it was nothing more than simple debris. Scott, however, seemed a little disgruntled. It was heavier than he had thought that it would be.

“Damn,” said the second officer. He blinked briefly then took his hand from his firearm. Any man who could pick up and drag a car that had no wheels would have ripped him apart already if he had a mind to do it.

“Well, I guess that’s something worth discussing…” The driver scratched his head then gestured turned the back seat of the squad car. “We’ll take you to the militia HQ. It’ll be up to them to see if they want you, though.”

“Fair enough,” said Scott. Joining the militia might not be a bad idea. If he did not out himself as a dragon, he could help people while also traveling through town. It could be the only way to find out what happened to Ashton and Shara.