Young Writers Society

Orrin and Lucifer both stiffened.

They should have known about the creature, if they were from this place. They didn't want to risk disrupting the scene if they admitted they weren't and discovered that these people weren't ever supposed to have outsiders in their town. But the moment that understanding dawned on them, the two frantically wished to ask for more information. Lucifer had even begun to glance nervously in the direction of the others, horror clearly written across his face when he realized that he would have to tell Jaron that Kendrik and Thytes had been kidnapped by a horrible beast.

If only God was here, Lucifer thought. This wasn't just a strange magical excursion. This was what they would do on his days off - it was a job, and he needed his brother's help. He wasn't a fighter. He was just there to support people.

"We really should go looking for them, then," Orrin said, but his smile wasn't half as confident as it had been earlier. He started to get to his feet; Lucifer was so shocked by the sudden twist that he had to hoist him off of the ground. "Thanks for the help."

Reaching out an arm, the lady floated forwards. "Dearies, please don't go," she said, gesturing to the bodies stretched out behind her. "It's still out there, and this is the safest building in town. Other than the radio station, that is." She shook her head. "I'm guessing they told you as much about the thing as they told everyone else."

Orrin and Lucifer immediately stopped dead in their tracks and glanced over each other, neither one realizing that the other wouldn't go through ghosts as well; they didn't want to think about what would happen if the woman realized she was deceased.

"We don't get out much," Lucifer finally said, his voice quiet as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do next. The woman didn't want them to go, and she could give them the information that they needed.

Luckily, he didn't have to.

"And our radio's been on its way out for a long time," Orrin said, giving her a sheepish expression as he rubbed the back of his neck. Lucifer hurried to adopt a similar look on his own face. "So we haven't actually heard that much about it."

"Oh, you poor things," she said, shaking her head. "How could you get ready for his coming without one?"

The young man next to her lifted his head up, having just spread a sheet over the latest body. A small body. "Ma'am," he said. "They walk all over town talking about it. It's kinda why we're here."

The lady rolled her eyes. "Dearie, we've gone over this before - the prophet never leaves the radio station. Who else can we trust more than the man who saw his coming?"

She seemed to realize something. Raising an eyebrow and tilting her head slightly, she watched the two men in front of her. "Say," she said, "I swear that Templeton just sent new radios to the whole town. It's what he did with the month's dues. How-"

Fixing her eyes on the door, the lady stiffened. The men around her raised their rifles and shouted, while the young man tried to run towards the back of the building.

They froze, blown into particles of dust by a nonexistent wave.

Where she'd stood, embedded into the floor, was a crushed skeleton.

Orrin and Lucifer slowly turned and stared at each other, gazes simultaneously dropping down to the crushed skeleton in the floor. Lucifer felt sick to his stomach when he realized they had likely just witnessed the woman's last moments, and Orrin turned a noticeable shade of pale as he glanced over at the door.

"We need to go to the radio station," he said.

"But what if they're not there?" Lucifer asked.

Orrin crossed his arms; for someone who was immortal, he looked so scared. Lucifer wished his brother was here. God was always the best at comforting scared people, even if those people happened to be just as immortal as he was. "I think the radio station is where we're going to find out what exactly we're up against," Orrin guessed.

Someone suddenly tapped the two of them on the shoulder, and both wildly spun around to face them. Kartiel gave the two a wave and an expectant look. "I'm guessing the ghosts are gone, now?" he asked, though even he looked a little frightened--despite not seeing what they had just watched.

Lucifer managed a nod.

"Good. Ghosts are weird. I don't like dead things that are actually dead." When the two gave him a funny look, he sighed and mirrored Orrin's crossed arms. "Never mind. You wouldn't get it--I'm just used to seeing these guys walk."

He nudged the woman's skeleton with his foot, then promptly teleported right next to Leo--startling him so much that he jumped back in his surprise.

James, though shaking, finished drinking the water and handed the canteen back to Adeline. He didn't look back into the building. He sat down on the ground, facing away from it, deciding to wait on the others for further direction.

Back in his regular form, Jaron poked his head out of the hole in the floor. He looked around until he spotted Reyes and Lucifer near the entrance. Waving to them, he vanished back down the hole.

Adeline pocketed the canteen and wordlessly sat a few feet away from James. She snuck several glances over, obviously working very hard to keep herself from speaking. Her translucent cheeks filled with air and she gripped the edge of her tunic tightly.

Orrin and Lucifer rejoined the group, though it apparently had been reduced to just Jaron, Leo and Kartiel. They came to a stop near the first of these three; he was the one who needed to hear what they had learned the most out of all of them. "We need to go to the radio station," Orrin said, his voice shaking ever so slightly. "They couldn't give exact details, but the ghosts made it sound like whatever destroyed the town has Thytes and Kendrik."

Thytes and Kendrik were captured by a murderous ghost. From the sound of Orrin's wavering voice, it was urgent and likely to be dangerous. He had to pull himself together. With a sigh, he unsteadily got up to his feet - though probably too quickly - and felt a swarm of dizziness around his head. He lifted a hand up to his forehead in an attempt to diagnose if he had a fever. Though he tried to do so subtly, he felt it was rather obvious.

He felt warm. Though there was no way for him to really tell, if he truly was feverish. If his clammy hands were any indication, at the very least, he wasn't faring well. There wasn't much he could do about that.

They had other things to worry about now.

"Then let's not waste time."

Adeline's eyes widened, and she quickly scrambled to her feet. With a worried glance around the group, she suddenly felt very small and very weak, but that only increased her determination to help.

"Oh dear," she whispered hoarsely. "yes, let's- let's find them, and quickly."

Orrin and Lucifer - both as pale as the ghosts they had seen - wasted no time in leading their small group outside to join James and Adeline. Leo immediately pulled away from the main chunk of the group and remained by James's side, while Kartiel teleported beside Adeline with a loud pop.

They were ready to go.