The air was still in the room. The smell of rose-scented candles filled the air and made the room visible with swaying lights. The door was locked and thick red curtains blacked out any light that would come from the windows. In the corner of the room, a calm jazzy tune played from a crackling antique phonograph. On the bedside table was a needle. It was used, but the residuals of the thick brown liquid clung to the sides and corners of the inside. The bed frame was a darkened wood and the comforter was a red wine-colored satin.

Buried in the covers, off to the side, a man stretched out his arms with a yawn. He rubbed his eyes and stood up to walk to the window.

“That wasn’t as good as usual,” he muttered to himself. “I may have to get a new one.”

Halfway to the window, he stood still. Something felt off to him. There was overwhelming pressure. He looked around with his eyes creased, searching for something out of the ordinary. He walked to the window and drew one of the thick wine curtains and took a peek outside.

He turned his head to the bed. “There’s a storm, Jessica.”

There was no reply. The man turned his head back to the window.

“Wait a minute,” he said.

His eyes grew wide and his lips stretched across his face in a monstrous smile. He began to laugh.

“It’s time!” He cheered. “It has begun!”

He walked back to the bed where a young woman was tied to the bedposts. She was thin with her ribs poking out of her sides and her skin was pale and gray.

“I have been waiting for two years for this, Jessica,” he was ecstatic.

She did not respond. Instead, her head drooped to the side and saliva dripped from her mouth. Her pupils were large but only moved faintly.

He put his fingers to her mouth. She was breathing. He turned to the bedside and looked at the needle.

“Might have used too much on you this time, huh?” He spoke to Jessica. “Let’s get you back to your room and then I can carry on with my duties.”

He untied her and effortlessly picked up her frail body. He carried her over to a bookshelf and pressed a small button on the side. It popped open like a door and he walked down a flight of stairs into a poorly-lit room. When he returned, he cleaned up the room and began to get ready for the next big part of his position as mayor.

Terry opened his eyes, or at least, He could feel his eyelids flickering open. The world was dark. The sound of rain began to flood into his eardrums along with a murmured voice. His brain felt hazy and his body felt crushed. There was a tug and he realized there was something on top of him. It was wet, warm, and smelled of a wet dog. Terry’s mind came back the second he realized what had happened. The wolf was on top of him but he wasn’t dead.

The voice came into focus. “Terry!”

With Bella's help, he pushed the thing off of him. She helped him stand to his feet when they were able to push the large wolf off of him. He could now see what had happened. The wolf had jumped onto Terry’s shovel, effectively stabbing itself through the chest. In the entrance and exit of the shovel wound, a green fog was smoking and dissipating into the air. It was lifeless.

Bella had killed the other one that was heading toward Terry. All three were putting off the same gas that wreaked of a dead animal.

“I think they don’t like whatever metal these shovels are made off,” Bella stated, still out of breath.

Terry looked around. “Where’s yours?”

She picked up a wooden handle that was splintered at one end.

She shrugged. “Broken.”

Terry picked up the shovelhead that lay on the ground near the open grave. Then walked over to his that still stuck out of a wolf.

“We should hold onto these,” he said.

Neither of them said a word. They both knew what needed to be done. Cadence had stolen the crystal from Terry’s pocket. They didn’t know what to do with the crystal, but they knew they couldn’t let her have it. Their breath was fog in the air.

Terry cleared his throat and pointed toward the woods. “We should go.”

“We can’t just go. We don’t know where we’re going and we are the least bit prepared.”

“Then what?”

Bella sighed. Both of them pondered their next move. There could be more of those things that Cadence brought with her. out there. Two shovels, one of which being broke, was not the ideal preparation.

Finally, Bella spoke up with an idea. “There’s this man that lives not too far from here. You know those prepper guys? The ones that are convinced the world is gonna end? He’s one of them. Maybe he can help us out.”

Terry nodded. That was the best plan they could come up with.

The two pulled themselves together, jumped the fence, and took off into the woods once again.

Sheriff Johanson awoke in the open door of his police cruiser. His side that was leaning out the door was soaked from the rain and his chest was bandaged and covered in blood. He had been trained at one point in his life to dress his own wounds and he did that the second Cadence got away and he was no longer under her spell. His trunk was still open from where he had grabbed his medical kit. He gathered the supplies that were spread out on the ground.

The asphalt had tints of a rainbow liquid, even in the pouring rain.

The Sheriff groaned in stress from sharp pains, from the realization that the car was leaking oil, and from finding that his pistol was nowhere to be found.

He decided the car was the least of his problems. He could drive it in the storm until the engine froze from not having oil. To make matters worse, no one was responding to his calls on the walkie. With his taser at the ready, he put his car in reverse and drove slowly to the police station.

Cadence stood in the center of Trident Grove. She took a deep breath, tasting the cool, humid, and salty air.

She held out her hand and a staff materialized in her grasp. It was in the shape of a trident.

“Finally.” She chuckled.

A few monsters began to appear from broken-in buildings. Some had blood on their lips, some crawled, some flew, and they all gathered around her.

Cadence spoke in a booming voice. “I have returned, and I have brought you all to join me in this world.” Some of the nightmare creatures bowed and others titled their heads to one side. She held the crystal in the air. “In my hand I hold the only thing that prevents us from staying in this fruitful world.”

She held the crystal in her hand and pointed the tip of the trident at it.

“And I shall destroy it,” she declared.