At least ten minutes passed before anybody dared to utter a word.

"It was so big... What... What was that?" Aaron asked, his voice shaking.

I took a deep breath, this time I might be able to offer an inkling of an answer, "I'm not entirely sure how... but that thing is causing the storm. I'm sure of it."

Silence reigned for a moment at this suggestion, but then Aaron spoke again, "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you feel it? Somehow, someway, I know that that thing is causing or at least controlling the storm," I replied.

Jared spoke up, "I think I know what you mean," he shuddered, "I could feel it too; the energy coming from it. I couldn't even move when I started to feel it, I never felt anything like that in my life, not ever. It makes sense what you say, that it's what is making the storm."

I nodded, "Everything makes sense now. It was the shapes and sounds in the storm. The earthquakes that followed the storm; those were its footsteps..."

"And whenever the storm stopped, remember how there was always a huge hole where it disappeared. That thing must have dug underground and made its way here," Jared said. The sudden reappearance of the storm made sense now. But like all answers we had gotten so far, it brought up even more questions. Why would it dig underground? Why was it moving around like it did?

"But where did it come from? What is it trying to do?" Aaron asked, voicing the other questions in my head.

None of us answered, and silence reigned for a moment once more.

"Markus, why don't you pull over and let us switch places now, I'll let you sit with your son."

"Alright, thanks," I gently pressed on the breaks until we came to a stop and put it in park. I went to the backseat next to Aaron and Jared went into the driver's seat, put it in drive and we were off again.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for back then," Jared spoke up, "I'm sorry I couldn't snap out of it and get us out of there."

"Hey, you don't need to apologize. You couldn't help it. That thing... Like you said, it was unlike anything we've ever seen. There was no way anybody wouldn't have gone into shock having that thing in front of them. The only reason I even moved at all," I turned to Aaron, "Was because Aaron pulled me into the car and snapped me back. It's all thanks to you that we made it out of there, Aaron."

I brought my arms around him and we hugged, "Thank you." Aaron stayed leaning against me, and I could feel him shaking. I silently cursed myself again for bringing him into the city.

"You should get some sleep Aaron, I can tell you're exhausted." I suggested.

He nodded and rested onto me. His breathing became slower and slower. In only a few minutes he was sound asleep.

"So when we get out of the city, what do you plan to do?" I asked Jared.

"I lived alone," he sighed, "Both of my parents died in an accident when I was seventeen."

I didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry, I'm over it now. What I'm saying is, I have nowhere to go. I haven't really thought of it, but, I guess I'll stay with you guys for a while. I don't know what it's like in other parts of the country, but Arborline and the surrounding area are... finished. With that creature roaming around, I don't think order will ever be restored around here. So, we may as well stick together. It will make surviving easier. What are you thinking about doing?"

I blinked. Though I had asked him that question, I realized I hadn't even thought of what I'd do myself. "I agree we should stick together. I don't really know where we should go... But we should just keep moving until we make it out of the range of the storm, then we'll figure out what to do from there. But we should definitely stop for a break somewhere along the way. We all need to get a little rest..."

Suddenly, Jared stopped and honked the horn. A thousand dreadful hypothetical scenarios flashed through my mind in the instant before I glanced through the windshield. I was relieved to find that it wasn't some sort of horrific monstrosity, it was only a young girl standing in front of the car, in the middle of the road. She was looking down at something that she was holding in both hands.

Jared honked the horn again to try to get her attention. She didn't even flinch. She just kept staring down at the object in her hands. Jared rolled down the window, and yelled out, "Hey! Are you okay?!"

She still didn't move.

"Hey! Are you alone?! I'm a police officer, I can take you out of the city!"

Still, she made no reaction.

Jared got out of the car, and I saw him walk up to the girl. He gently tapped her shoulder to try to get her attention, and when that failed, shook her by the shoulders. She was still just looking down. I finally realized what it was she was holding. It was a phone. She was tapping away at it as if it was still working... but it wasn't. I could tell from here that it wasn't even on. Who knows how long it hadn't been working for? With the way things were, these types of people weren't that uncommon nowadays, but they never failed to unnerve me.

Jared reached for her phone to try to snap her out of it. Finally, that evoked a response. She actually growled, and slapped his hand away. "Don't touch it!" she wailed.

"Wh-What?! Hey, it's dangerous here, so you should come with-"

"Leave me alone!" she cried out, and ran off into a nearby alley.

Jared stood there stunned for a moment, getting soaked in the rain. I saw him shake his head, then he got back into the car.

"What was her problem..." he sighed.

As I stared down the alley that she had run into, something else came walking out, standing at the edge. It was a dog, which I recognized as the same dog I had seen earlier. Did it follow us all the way here? Before I could think any more about it, it spun around and ran off into the alley again.