I stand in the middle of the road looking back into the zone, the fog obscuring the figures to the point that I cannot identify what they are, just that they were there. Overhead the light of the two red flares in the sky gives everything a tinted red colour through the fog and the lights cause shadows to dance across it. I am ready for whatever is coming, my axe is gripped firmly in my left hand and the shield is strapped tightly to my right arm.

The others are now a few minutes away, lost in the fog. I know that we are close to the zone age. They would be out soon. The flares would have triggered the activation of the support team. Usually, they would have come in looking for the operative, but the second red flare indicates that they are not to, so they will join the perimeter guard on the camp.

I rolled my shoulders to help loosen up; the grave chill was causing my joints to ache slightly from the cold that had invaded my body. Whatever is out there has not attacked yet and this has me wondering why. I’m in no rush for them to come and I am pretty happy to wait. I am no fool and I know the odds of surviving this are the worst I’ve ever had.

I’m contemplating a retreat along the road back to the zone edge; if the worst comes, I can actually run for it. The problem is with Edwardson’s injuries. I don’t know how far they’ve got away from me, so I can’t go just yet.

If they have run into trouble, I wouldn’t know due to the fog and how it suppresses sound. If they fired off another flare, I would be aware of that but very little else. So, I’m caught in a Catch-22 situation.

“All right, John, give them another minute or two and then we’re out here.” I tell myself quietly.

Typically, time moves much slower when you are aware of it and being in a zone with no way to tell time proves to be extra challenging. I count under my breath. The second count was to the best of my ability; when I reached 120, I would begin to pull back.

Unfortunately, I don’t even reach 100 in my count when things start to happen. Out in the fog, the figures have stopped moving and seem to be waiting for something or someone. Every instinct tells me I don’t want to find out either way, so it’s time to go!

I start walking back down the road, my eyes scanning in every direction as I move my head in as many directions as possible. I know the road is clear behind me of obstacles, but whatever is out there might have surrounded me; it’s a risk but one I have to take. I walk backwards as the known threats are all still facing me and if they come, I will be able to react faster.

I keep my breathing steady. I don’t even bother trying to lie to myself to deny that I am terrified. True, my anger sits in my chest and the day’s effects from the zone are messing with me mentally and physically, but I know the truth.

Many times in the last few years, I have been close to death, but they have nearly always been fast and brutal events. Here and now is a very different scenario from those I normally encounter. There is no brutal action, no sudden encounters with life and death, just this waiting.

Around me, the fog itself has come to be very still. The flares in the sky still cast the red glare filtered through the fog, but everything else has become still. It’s like the zone itself is waiting. This realisation only adds to the fear that is swelling within me.

As I walk, I notice that my left hand is slightly shaking from the fact that I can see the axe head also shaking. This is from the cold and now the fear. My anger stirs to meet it and acts as a balance; it does not suppress the fear but gives me something else to focus on.

The tingling chills up and down my spine, indicating that I’m being watched, are now screaming at me. Whatever is happening or coming will be soon. I know this with a terrible certainty. I fight down the urge just to turn and run, knowing how close I am to the zone edge and possible safety. I would likely be run down and killed as what is out in the fog is keeping pace with me.

Cold sweat has broken out over my body and I’m struggling to keep my breathing in check. My heart rate and breathing have both spiked as I can feel my heart beating in my chest much faster than normal, like I’m in a fight or just after one.

Give in.

The words hit my mind like a sledgehammer and I am staggered by the sheer force of it. Of the things that could have happened, I was not expecting this. I quickly got my mind back to the situation I was in. I looked around frantically, trying to identify where it came from as this time, it did not come from just behind me but all around.

We are here.

Again, the words slammed into my head with such force that it was like being hit. As I recovered this time, however, I realised that the words were not sounds, but like they were being projected into my mind.

You are not alone.

I was still not prepared for the third time it happened. I was gritting my teeth and did not stagger back this time from the force of the words. I could feel a headache building within my mind and rage erupted in my chest. I cannot lose control here! I need to stay focused.

I still looked around but could identify nothing. At the limit of my vision in the fog, I could still see the figures and shapes moving with me. As far as I can tell, they are not advanced any closer but seem to be waiting or watching. Maybe both; I could not tell.

The air suddenly changed like it was charged with static electricity, the type of air you find just before a thunderstorm. I braced instantly, knowing that whatever was about to happen, it was now.

Before me, along the road that led to the centre of the zone, I saw a figure approaching. The fog initially obscured the figure, but it approached at a steady walk and I quickly saw more detail.

What approached me was the figure of a woman. Tall with long black hair that was unkept and reached down to her waist. She was wearing a black ball gown and no shoes. As she approached, it was clear that her skin was the whitest I had seen and her eyes were solid black.

I was assaulted by a myriad of emotions that I did not expect. Desire, loneliness, hate and fear are some of the ones I could barely identify as they swept through me as she approached. I desperately tried to focus, stay in the moment and be ready, but the emotional assault was causing me to become distracted.

She continued walking toward me slowly, her face projecting an appearance of inner calm; I was anything but. She stopped from 4 meters away from me and seemed to be studying me, taking in all that I was. Nothing was said for a few long seconds and everything was calm in the space between us.

“Why do you resist us?” The word slammed into me not just physically but mentally as well. It was how she spoke; her voice was different. It was the voice I’d heard the last few years in my dreams and in the zone. A wave of intense sadness and confusion swept over me. Whatever the woman before me was, she seemed content to wait for my answer.

“Because I must!” I spat out, pushing through the pain and emotions that accompanied the voice. I could not explain why I had said it. It just erupted from me.

“Heed the call. Come to us and be one.” Again, she spoke. I felt like I was standing in front of an industrial size sound speaker cranked up to full. Such was the power of her words. I was knocked back as they hit me physically and emotionally. I was forced to push back against the voice and ground my feet to stabilise myself again. Every time she spoke, it hit me harder. Yet she spoke like we were having a casual conversation in terms of volume.

“What do you want from us?” The question exploded from me, the question that had haunted me and the rest of humanity. She cocked her head to the side slightly. I had an expression of my confusion.

“Many, loud, not part of us.” Was her reply and she answered with apparent confusion in her voice. She wondered why I asked the question as if the answer was evident to all.

The power of her voice hit me, but it was not as bad this time as she did not speak as much. I now have a throbbing headache and my body feels like it’s been three hours of intense training the way it is aching.

“Come. Follow us. We will be one.” She continued to speak and the assault continued on my mind and body. Knowing now what was coming every time she spoke, I was able to brace myself to some extent.

“No. I’m not going with you.” I said to her with great effort. This revelation shocked me more than I could say. It was hard for me to say, for part of me wanted to go, and part of me demanded that I go.

She looked at me again with that strange look of confusion, but she also looked like a parent dealing with a stubborn child. She shook her head and spoke again.

“Come to us. This world will be ours. The rest are not important.” Even with the casual tone, she said it with the word slammed into me. My rage erupted and surged through my body at this callous dismissal of humanity. I wouldn’t say I truly liked the bulk of humanity, but I did not want to see them dead, as she indicated.

Part of me wanted to go, but my mind went back to my recent conversation with Henry and why I did this. The reason I did burned within me and I took strength from it. I knew that I could not lose control here. I had to keep my head in the game if I was going even to try to survive this.

“No!” That was all I could say. My mind and body were being punished brutally every time she spoke. I did not know how much longer I could stay conscious, let alone standing upright. Each sentence with a brutal assault on me that I seem to have no defence for. I was swaying on my feet, now barely able to hold my axe and shield up. Punch-drunk was the best description.

“Enough. Follow and become one.” As the word slammed into me, I could sense their growing frustration. My natural ability to piss off women was more universal than I had realised.

“No!” She looked at me again, frowning and said nothing for many long seconds. It seemed she had come to a decision or maybe seen something in my face I did not know. I sound like a petulant toddler, but it was the best I could do at the moment.

“Very well.” That was all she said, but somehow, I knew something had changed. She lifted a hand into the air and I knew things were about to become violent. “Your choice is made.”

Grave chill, the likes of which I have never experienced before, slammed into me. It was like my whole body was now frozen and my mind was flooded with depression like it was a physical thing. The physical effects were so cold that I felt that I was being burnt from the inside. I cried out in pain, falling to one knee by the sheer force of the attack.

She stood there watching me as I struggled back to my feet, fighting back against the effects trying to get back to being ready for an attack. Once I was back on my feet, still unsteady but defiant, she dropped a hand and the battle was joined.