Noah stood beside Lyn at the edge of the grassy field. Behind them, the fungal zombie waited patiently, illuminated by the collapsed, burning wreckage of the cottage. The pair looked at each other before nodding in silent agreement to enter the field. The overgrown meadow held an otherworldly beauty as it glowed with white-light below the aurora in the night sky above. The long strands of grass would shimmer with lifeforce wherever they brushed against the pair. As the pair crossed the clearing, Noah noticed a familiar light in the distance. He pointed toward the prismatic light beam breaking through the aurora in the sky to illuminate something obscured by the woods.

"Is that beam the entrance to the Store?" Noah asked Lyn.

"Yes, it appears once every few weeks above the village. It might still be there after we search for your friends at the beach. The village is filled with soulless and hell-hounds, although I don't know why people call them that. It started as a joke. They're actually soulless sheep," Lyn replied.

Noah laughed briefly in response before glancing behind him. He smelled something similar to rotten eggs, sulphur. It came from their silent fungal zombie companion. Any grass strands that made contact with the ooze coating the fungal zombie would sizzle and melt. The smell was the result of the chemical reaction.

"Good thing we never touched that thing. We should have it walk at the front to clear us a path through the woods. It will save me from having to use this," Noah said as he hefted the fire escape axe in his hand.

"Okay," Lyn accepted.

The fungal zombie walked ahead of the pair as they crossed the meadow. They arrived at the edge of the iridescent woods not long after. The hair on the back of Noah's neck stood on end as he felt eyes on him. He paused before entering. Lyn continued to follow the fungal zombie into the woods before noticing that Noah had stopped.

"What is it? The beach is only a few minutes walk from where I found you in the woods," Lyn asked.

"It's nothing," Noah answered before jogging to catch up.

***

The pair followed the trail previously created by dragging the unconscious Noah through the leaves littering the forest floor. It was a respectable distance to trek for a child of little more than ten to pull a larger than average, adult man. He had also transported the carcass of the deer. Noah suspected that Lyn must have made multiple trips or had help. The Arrival of the Pylons had enhanced everything's physical attributes to adapt to the alterations it brought with them, but it was still unlikely for the boy to have done it alone.

They walked for more than thirty minutes. Noah peered into every shadowy corner of the glowing forest because he was on high alert as he searched for the origin of his unease. They arrived at a clearing caused by broken branches overhead and even tree trunks, showing the flight path of something crash landing from above. There was a shallow pit on the forest floor, surrounded by scattered clumps of earth. There was a patch of blood in the location the deer was shot. He vaguely recalled the sound of dogs barking from when he was dragged away semi-conscious. He wondered what had happened to the fawn, but he didn't have the heart to ask. Noah looked at the damage caused by his meteoric landing.

If my newly awakened ability had been something different, could I have survived this? All I have is some bumps and bruises, with only a slight ache in my joints. My knee has been getting worse as we walked, but it's not slowing us down yet.

A howl echoing through the woods interrupted Noah's thoughts. He raised his axe into a defensive posture while investigating the surrounding area for signs of movement.

"No, no, no…" Lyn said while clutching his ears as he sat down on the ground, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Noah asked as he rushed to the distraught boy's side, putting the axe down beside him.

"Dogfighter Darren and his pack are back. He was supposed to be at the village looking for anybody who was with you after taking you back to the house. He wanted to find more people for Granny Yaga's garden," Lyn said as his body began to tremble.

"Who is Dogfighter Darren?" Noah probed.

"He has three big hunting dogs that he used to track for him whenever he hunted. He would also enter them in underground dog fights. Nobody stopped the dog fights because Darren is the police chief's brother. Grandpa Finnigan caught him poaching in the woods around here as the Arrival happened. He saved Granny Yaga from the soulless before burying it in the garden. Because of that, they let him stay. We need to get away before he catches us, but the dogs will have our scent. We won't be able to escape," Lyn said while gesturing at the fungal zombie before breaking down in hysterics.

"Get up. We need to find my crew. We won't be easy prey for the Dogfighter. He's going to have to earn it," Noah said as he pulled the boy to his feet before picking up his axe.

"The beach is this way," Lyn said as he began to lead Noah in the direction of the destruction caused by his rocky landing.

***

Answering howls could be heard as the pair followed the fungal zombie through the woods. They arrived at the beach a few minutes later. Noah could see the wreckage of the fishing trawler spread across the sand, along with the crater caused by the boss's landing. Crocodiles lazed sporadically along the shoreline, but he couldn't see any human survivors. Tracks led from the hole into the forest not far from where they stood. Noah decided to start there.

They walked toward the crater while Lyn repeatedly cast anxious glances over his shoulder at the woods behind them whenever he heard a small sound. The fungal zombie shambled behind them through the sandy dunes to act as their first layer of defence. The howls had been getting closer before suddenly going silent only minutes earlier. Putting the pair on edge.

Noah was first to arrive at the crater. It had filled with water from the tide coming in sometime during the period Noah was at the cottage in the woods. He could see the remains of the crocodile, or at least what was left of them. It looked like Uncle Joey had used his [Create Rations] ability on it. There were no signs of the boss's corpse. Lyn crouched down to examine the tracks leading from the crater after investigating the ones leading to it.

"Someone climbed out of this pit to join them. There's an extra set of tracks leading into the woods," Lyn suddenly spoke, throwing a handful of sand into the crater. Noah's mind reeled.