As though the man’s capture was the signal they were looking for, all the other Wraiths started evacuating the battlefield. They retreated across the open ground, heading into the same woods as the one who had burst out of the police station had done.

Dez tried to chase after them. His black flames arced over the battlefield as he tried to hit the monsters at the head of the sudden exodus. Rory joined in belatedly, but there was no point. The Wraiths were too fast, moving almost like they had planned this sort of manoeuvre beforehand. Soon enough, they were all gone.

“What just happened?” Dez ground out when he jogged over to Rory, breathing a little hard. “Did they just carry off someone?”

“I don’t know.” Rory turned to the police station’s glass-plated building, starting to trudge over. “But I figure the others might.”

Said others met Rory and Dez when they had reached the small parking lot at the back. Trish was armed to the teeth with her Sigils of Steel and Concrete, Allen looking like half-a-statue with a rubber shield. They sagged when saw Rory and Dez. Ned and Evelyn followed behind, all looking downcast.

“Someone going to start explaining what happened here?” Rory asked. “From the top.”

Trish let her summoned gear fade to nothing. “Uh, it’s a long story. But we need to get to Alves first. Who knows what they’re going to do to him.”

Alves had to be the poor kidnapped guy. Shoving aside all questions that he could ask later, Rory focused on what was pertinent. “Do you know where they’re taking him?”

Trish nodded. “Alves was talking about how others had been abducted to somewhere on Wither Elm Street. That’s where they must have taken him.”

“Then we don’t have much time to lose. Where’s your car?”

“You’re right,” Allen said. “But there’s also a lot of supplies here. I don’t think we should just leave everything behind. It’s why we came to the police station in the first place.”

Rory was about to argue that someone’s life came far, far before any supplies might, but idealistically true however that might be, he had to be practical too. “Some of you need to stay back here then. Gather everything you think is good and wait for us to return.”

“It’s not just him, though,” Trish said.

“The bunker people.” Dez shook his head, opening his mouth as though to curse, but then bit down on it. “We can’t be everywhere at once. They’re just going to have to wait.”

“They’re not in any immediate danger, right?” Rory asked.

“Well…” Trish exchanged nervous glances with Allen, who nodded grimly. “I don’t think the Wraiths know where the bunker is or can’t get to it for some reason. But now that they’ve got Alves, that might change.”

Rory sighed. Yet another direction they needed to shift their attention to. “We’ll just have to prioritize and hope we reach Alves before these Wraiths can get anything out of him. Let’s go.”

They decided to separate with Ned and Allen teaming up to scavenge the whole police station while the rest of them went after the monsters and their captive. Rory wanted Trish to stay behind too, just as a sure defence against any wandering monsters for Ned and Allen, but she was adamant about rescuing Alves. She felt personally responsible for letting him down.

Rory could understand that, though he did emphasize that there were to be no heroics or a anything of the sort. He might be bringing Evelyn along but having ready access to instant healing didn’t mean they ought to take any wild risks.

“I don’t like separating again,” Dez said as he revved up the pickup truck. They had left Trish’s Spyder for the others to use. Thankfully, the Wraiths hadn’t completely overturned it yet. “But what can you do?”

Evelyn cleared her throat. “Let’s just hurry for now.”

Rory said nothing. It was concerning, he agreed, but there wasn’t much they could do about it on such short notice. Desperate times were far from ideal.

They pulled away down the road, Dez driving roughly, sacrificing comfort and safety in favour of speed. Wither Elm Street wasn’t far from here, from what Rory remembered. He hadn’t visited this end of town in a while, though he did recall all the food stores and restaurants on Wither Elm.

Rory cleared his throat. “Alright, we’ve got some time, so I want you to tell me everything that happened, Trish. Start from when you and Allen left the bank.”

Trish shook her head. “There’s not a whole lot to say. We didn’t find any new people for a while. Nobody responded to my shouting except those monsters.”

“The Wraiths?”

“That’s what they’re called? Then yeah, them.”

“You spent almost three hours just driving around until you got to the station?”

“We… lost track of time, alright? It was a fun drive, productive, and you know, we weren’t restrained in any way. We were free. We enjoyed it.”

Rory sighed. He understood that. Back when he was younger, he might have done something similar in their shoes too, losing track of time as he enjoyed his newfound freedom. “Not going to say that was responsible, but I get it.”

Dez grunted like he didn’t get it, but Trish scowled at him and then beamed at Rory.

“Thanks,” she continued. “Anyway, we got to the station at some point and figured it would be a good place to raid for supplies. When we broke in, we found out there was already someone there, gathering up everything useful. That’s how we met Alves, and he explained how there were a few more families hiding away in the bunker.”

“Is that when the Wraiths attacked you?” Evelyn asked.

“Right. I figure they must have seen our approach and followed us, then surrounded the police station to barricade us all in. Not the smartest move to get locked in, but oh well. We’re free now!”

“I think the point was that it probably wasn’t great to go roaring down the street and attracting monstrous attention,” Rory said.

“And we were the ones who rescued you,” Dez added. “You didn’t exactly break free.”

Trish turned her scowl on Dez again. “Yeah, yeah, kick someone while they’re down, why don’t you.”

Dez was too busy twisting the truck around onto the next street to reply. They were getting closer. Rory still couldn’t see any Wraiths hiding anywhere, but in the spaces between the pickup’s rumbling and jolting, he was sure he heard distant ethereal shrieks and other noises.

As they drove, Evelyn, tapped on the dashboard. The call connected and Viv replied all too soon.

“What’s going on?”

Evelyn explained the situation and context quickly. “We’ll be safe, but we can’t talk for long. Take care.”

“The same to all of you. Stay safe. Don’t take unnecessary risks.”

Rory didn’t want to think about what that implied, but he bid her farewell too.

The street curved onto what Rory finally recognized as Wither Elm. All the buildings here were either boarded up or abandoned. Several doors stood gaping open and windows seemed to creepily invite them inside. Most were store shops, some groceries and other food vendors, along with some cafes and restaurants dotting the area, usually clustering intersections with other streets. A few food trucks lay overturned here and there as well.

“Slow down, Dez,” Trish said. “I think I see a few of them.”

Dez obliged. They all started looking everywhere. The open doors and windows now looked sinister, a glimmer of Wraiths hiding in their shadows.

“I see one on the roof to the left,” Trish said, pointing high.

“There are more.” Evelyn’s head turned in all directions. “Everywhere.”

“We need to leave the truck behind, guys,” Dez said. “We’re too out in the open.”

Rory nodded. “Get us to a vantage point. We need to survey the whole area.”

Dez drove for a while, slower than ever before. They all kept their eyes out for more Wraiths. Rory saw some waiting at corners, one climbing up a streetlamp, another lying beside a fire hydrant. So strange. There was a slow-moving group of them coming out of a side street, so Dez veered into a different road and got them close to a small cell tower.

“That should serve, right?” Dez asked.

“Yes,” Rory said as the car came to a stop. “So long as you don’t expect me to climb it.”

Trish smiled fiercely up at the top. “I got this.”

They got out of the car, and Dez parked it deeper into the driveway so that it was swathed in the shadows of the nearby building. That ought to keep it safe from any wandering Wraiths. Hopefully.

Trish was already climbing up the ladder on the tower’s side. Rory admired her fearlessness. It wasn’t just youth. Rory was certain he’d been almost as sensible in his twenties as he was now, and it would have taken a strong impetus to get him up that ladder back then. There wasn’t much worth the risk of falling and breaking his neck.

“What do you see up there?” Rory asked, raising his voice. “Any sign of Alves or large groups of Wraiths?”

“Give me a minute,” Trish called down. She looked around, shading her eyes as she turned in a near three-sixty-degree rotation to survey the entire local neighbourhood. At a point, she froze. “There’s something there.”

Rory followed the direction of her head. She was looking farther down the area around Wither Elm Street. “What do you see?”

“Lots of Wraiths. And another kind of monster too, though not as many of them. There’s no sign of Alves with them yet. They look like they’re scouring the entire area, like a patrol or something.”

“Anything else anywhere?” Dez asked. Rory hadn’t noticed him join them from the pickup.

Trish looked around again. “A few Wraiths here and there, and there’s a small group approaching this location too.” She swallowed. “There’s no sign of Alves anywhere. What did they do with him?”

“Come on down, Trish. We should get moving before they get here.”

With a heavy sigh, Trish started descending. But she’d only gone down a few steps before she paused. Even at this height, Rory could see her eyes widen as she peered ahead, her mouth gaping open in surprise.

“What is it?” Dez asked. “Trish, what are you seeing?”

“They’re here! I see them. All the Wraiths who ran from the station. And they’ve got Alves with them too, I’m sure of it. We’ve got the bastards!”

“Where?”

Trish pointed. “They’re coming from… the east? Not sure. It’s to our right. They’re heading towards the Belleview Luncheonette. I know that place!”

Rory did too. It was one of the better-known restaurants and Viv’s favourite place to get brunch. “Let’s get going, then. We can intercept them.”

Dez started hurrying to the truck. “We can get there faster if we drive since they’re already here.”

“No, Dez,” Trish called, still twisting this way and that on her perch near the top of the cell tower. “There’s a bunch of them all blocking the roads. The pickup won’t work.”

“Then on foot it is.”

“My Sigil can restore energy,” Evelyn said. “So we don’t have to worry about getting tired.”

“But if the streets are blocked, we’re never going to get to him in time,” Dez said, looking around. “Not sure how many we can bulldoze through.”

Rory took a deep breath, trying to think. He was looking around like Dez too, as though an answer to their predicament would pop out of one of the gaping open doors or windows.

Oh. He grinned.

“I know how we can get to them quickly,” Rory said. “Trish, come on down. You’re going to have to guide me.”

Trish jumped down when she was only a few feet above. Once they were all together again, Rory led the way into the building beside the cell tower, taking the stairs quickly to the roof. He was wheezing a little when he reached the top. The door was locked, but he Wove the lock away into a Sigil of Locking, then went to the edge of the roof.

“Where to next?” Dez asked.

Rory heard the edge of doubt and panic in his voice. He was worried they’d be trapped and cornered here.

His concern wasn’t unfounded. The first of the Wraiths had reached their area and were staring up at them from the road. Several were already charging into the building to get to the top of the building. They needed to move. Fast.

“Watch,” Rory said.

Hopefully, he remembered the lich’s motions correctly. Rory pulled out his staff and thumped its butt on the ground. A light shockwave rapped their legs and shoes before a patina of frost started expanding outwards from the point where the staff had struck. He followed up immediately with a quick wave and a stab, shooting out an icy bold and a freezing wave.

It worked perfectly. A grin stretched across Rory’s face as a bridge of ice formed between the roof of their current building and the next one.

“Oh wow.” Trish whistled. “That’s some nice ice.”

Rory laughed. “Don’t jumped across it yet. We need to let it grow thick enough to bear our weight, and let those Wraiths get close enough to see what they’re going to miss.”

The first monster appeared then, charging through the roof’s open doorway. Several more followed hot on its hem-hidden heels, crowding around Rory’s group. He wondered how smart these creatures were. Definitely possessing a strong degree of intelligence if they could go around taking captives for whatever reason.

Dez’s fists flared with dark fire. Rory placed a hand on his shoulder, using the other to throw another icy bolt at the bridge to make it sturdier.

“Don’t attack yet,” he said. “Wait for it.”

As the Wraiths grew in number, their green auras started whirling over their heads. Shapes twisted through the ethereal mirk, and a depressive gloom started settling on them.

“Rory…” Dez warned.

Rory recalled how the Wraiths had attacked Dez back at the police station. There was no time to waste. “Alright, let’s go. Move carefully.”

He led the way. Rory had made the bridge so that it sloped downwards to the side of the next building, just a couple of feet under the edge of its roof, and about as wide as he was tall. There wasn’t too much danger of falling. All they had to do was step on the icy bridge and push themselves to the other building.

Rory thanked everything he could think of that the bridge held. It didn’t deem him too heavy. He climbed onto the other roof, Trish, Evelyn, and Dez finally following him.

Just behind Dez, the Wraiths swarmed in closer. They were also attempting to use the ice bridge.

Dez put a quick stop to that. He flashed his dark flames and the Wraiths screamed as they caught fire and plummeted to the ground. The rest of the Wraiths were stuck on the other roof.

“Well, that was exhilarating,” Rory said, heart still beating far too hard in his chest. “Come on, let’s get going.”