Unfamiliar Territory

“He’s going to fail,” I said as Stallion continued to carry me bridal style down the hall.

“What’s that?”

“His ‘obedience training’. Mutt told me Mr. Mallard ordered him not to break those chains, no matter what.”

“Mr. Mallard can suck an egg,” Stallion said, before clearing his throat. “Uh, don’t tell him I said that, but he’s got enough to worry about. If he’d be upset over that then he’s got his priorities a little messed up if you ask me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sorry, man, it’s not my place to tell. It’s not cause you aren’t one of us, because you definitely are, but I think Mr. Mallard wanted to explain it all himself.”

“I don’t want to hear anything he has to say.”

“I don’t blame you, man,” Stallion said, smiling as we reached the end of the hallway. A weather-damaged wooden door lay before us. It was covered in strange, complicated looking symbols done in spray paint.

As I tried to work out what they might be, I thought I could hear the sounds of people talking beyond it. Stallion went on. “We all did some pretty messed up stuff to you. I won’t try and convince you that we had to and had no other choice or anything like that, but we all agree that you deserve to hear the truth from the Master himself.”

“Master.” I said the word with venom. “What makes you think I would believe any kind of ‘truth’ from anyone who calls himself ‘master’?”

“It’s just how things are done, man,” Stallion said with a shrug. “Can’t say I like it, but I can’t say it doesn’t work, either. Just hear him out, alright? You can decide the truth for yourself afterwards.”

I had more I wanted to say, but Stallion then turned his attention to the door. “Mr. Mallard? It’s me, Stallion. Mind if I come in? I got a little surprise for you,” he called, winking at me and whispering for me to remain quiet. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

The voices inside fell silent for a moment, before a weary voice called out. “Yes, Stallion, please come in. There’s someone here I would like you to meet.”

“Alright, man, this is it,” Stallion whispered to me. “You ready?”

“No,” I grumbled.

“Fair enough.” Stallion kept me craddled in one arm as he opened the door with the other.

Like several times before in this asylum, stepping into this room was like stepping into another world. A large, plush carpet was the first thing I saw—deep red, with intricate designs of all sorts of yellow shaped animals frolicking in a black forest. There was wallpaper on the walls, red to match the carpet. Black shadows of birds, appearing like swans or ducks, were in mid flight all along the walls. I saw mounted animals of all kinds dotting the room and the walls. There were several book shelves lined up beside a roaring fireplace. In front of the fireplace were two large, plush chairs of black fabric. Sitting in those chairs were Mr. Mallard and a man I had never seen before.

He was small for an adult, with short, slicked back blonde hair. He wore an oversized, dark brown coat and I watched as he reached into one of its pockets and pulled out a monocle of all things. He brought it to one of his eyes as he stared at me curiously.

All of this I took in within the few seconds we were in the room before Mr. Mallard shot up from his chair, his walking stick nowhere to be seen.

“Idiot colt! You brought him here?!” Mr. Mallard shouted, red in the face. “Out! Get out this instant!”

Stallion could not have gotten out any faster. He slammed the door behind him and was already heading back the way we came, cursing under his breath.

I was still trying to register everything I had seen. “What was that just now?” I asked.

Stallion made a turn to another hallway that led down a flight of stairs. “Want to go outside? We should probably go outside,” he said, not slowing his pace. “Get some fresh air and all that.”

“Stallion.”

“Kat should still be out there. I bet she’d be glad to see that you’re up and about. Figuratively speaking, of course.”

Stallion hurried down the stairs, I had to grip his arms to keep from bouncing off. “Stallion?”

“I mean, you should be literally up and about in no time. Just need some protein. Take it from me, protein will do that body good.”

He walked towards another door. I recognized it as the door that led out back behind the asylum. Stallion still gave no hint that he heard me.

“Stallion!” I shouted as loud as I could, pinching his arm for good measure.

“Ow! What? Damn, man, we need to cut your nails.” Stallion stopped in front of the door and looked at the spot where I pinched.

“What just happened?” I repeated.

“I didn’t realize Mr. Copper was over,” Stallion said, staring at seemingly nothing in particular before grimacing. “Damn, Mr. Mallard is going to tan my hide big time for that one.”

“Does Mr. Copper have a thing against starving his slaves or something?”

“Please don’t call us slaves, man. We aren’t slaves.”

“Okay, well, maybe you guys don’t feel like we’re slaves, but from where I’m standing–well, carried—slaves is all I see.”

“You’ll understand it when Mr. Mallard explains it,” Stallion said before wincing again. “Once he’s done with me, I guess.”

I was about to point out how that was a text book example of what I was trying to say when Stallion proceeded to head out the door. “Now, how about that fresh air?” he said, pushing open the door with a shoulder. “I bet you I need it more than you after—”

He fell silent when we got outside and saw the fog. The Sorrow. It was everywhere. So thick that you could not see the trees; you could not even tell we were on a hill. We might as well have been up in the clouds.

“Oh, no. Oh no no no no,” Stallion muttered as he hurried down the steps. “Kat! Kat, where the hell are you?! Come on, it’s me, Stallion!”

Stallion stepped out into The Sorrow. I gripped his arm, not caring much if my nails dug into it. I was looking all around, as much as I could. Looking for Hero, the dogs, Fawn, or some new threat that would come slinking out from the mist.

“Kat! Are you out here?! Come on, Kat, where are you?!”

“Stallion, we need to get out of here,” I hissed, looking all around. Something was coming; something always came from The Sorrow. It was coming and it was coming for me. “Stallion, we need to go back! Please, we can’t stay out here!”

“I’m not leaving Kat out here!” Stallion nearly shouted. I heard the fear echo in his voice, but was it the same as mine?

No. It was different. He didn’t fear for himself, he didn’t care if he got hurt. He was scared only for Kat.

“I’ll bring you inside, but I have to go find her,” he said, turning back around.

I felt whatever words I had prepared catch in my throat as Stallion froze. His large arms tightened around my frail body.

There was someone there. Standing in the Sorrow. I could barely make them out; just a dark shape standing there, unmoving.

But I could feel it staring at us—waiting for us to make a move.

“Hold on tight to me,” Stallion whispered.

I was already doing just that, digging my fingers into his arms until they bled. He did not seem bothered by it.

Stallion held me against his chest, then yelled at the phantom before attempting to charge it down. From standing to running, Stallion built up speed fast. It was less than a second before the phantom sprang away and I caught a glimpse of the backdoor before I had to shield my eyes.

I heard the door splinter as he burst through it, but Stallion did not slow his pace. He was down the hall and going up the stairs a second later. I peeked behind him and my heart dropped in my stomach.

The Sorrow was creeping in from the exposed doorway and, with it, more dark figures moved in after us. I could not tell how many there were in the darkness, but I could feel eyes, I could smell the damp scent of the woods on them.

“Mutt! Mr. Mallard! They’re here!” Stallion shouted as he reached the top of the stairs.

He took another step and cried out in pain. I almost fell from his arms, half my body dangling in the air. From my new angle, I could see hands with long, sharp nails reaching out from the darkness and digging into his leg.

“Stallion!”

It was Mutt. He was at the other end of the hall, chains still clinging to his arms and legs, his eyes wide. He ran down the hall towards us as the chains rattled behind him.

“No, Mutt, you got to take Foxy. Get him out of here!” Stallion cried, and then I was flying through the air.

I didn’t have the time to scream before I collapsed into Mutt’s arms. Without a word, he pulled me in against his chest. I gasped in pain and shock as I gripped his back.

“Go, run! You have to find Kat!” Stallion shouted.

More of them had crawled onto Stallion. They were all bathed in darkness and mist, but I could make out Stallion’s large form thrashing against them as the things dug into him.

“No! I won’t—!” Mutt started taking a step towards him when someone new stepped out in front of us.

He appeared from a doorway I knew wasn’t there just a few seconds ago. Even in the darkness, I could make out the dark coat and the short, thin stature of the person inside it.

“Go,” Mr. Copper said, gazing down at us through his monocle, making one eye appear much bigger than the other. “I made a window for you.”

“But Stallion is in trouble!” Mutt argued.

I looked past Mr. Copper and saw Stallion still struggling. Two had broken away, however, and were running at a blinding speed towards us.

“There is no time. Go,” Mr. Copper ordered, turning to face the coming attack.

Mutt still made no move to run.

I gripped his back and he looked down at me. I looked back up at him. I could see the gritted teeth, the bitter tears in his eyes. I was too scared to voice my fears. I could only stare up into the dark brown eyes of a beast and hope that it didn’t turn its wrath on to me.

Then the look softened. I felt a warm hand rest against my face.

“Don’t be scared, Foxy. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

He smiled as something dark and foreboding entered the corner of my eye.

“Ezekiel!” Mr. Copper shouted.

With me still in his arms, Mutt leapt backwards as something swiped the air we were just in. This close, I could see it for what it really was.

Twisted, corrupted, broken. Its hair was matted with mud, sticking out in all sorts of odd directions. It wore clothes, but they were torn in various places, caked in more dirt and blood. And, as I looked into its bloodshot eyes, something struck me. I almost screamed.

Blue eyes. I had seen them before. They had looked away from me once, their owner nervous when I confronted her and her friends.

It was Em. A student. One of the victims of The Sorrow.

The eyes now met mine. Unafraid. Wild. Excited. Em grinned, revealing sharp, inky black teeth.

Mutt turned and fled, and she shrieked. If I wasn’t clinging on to Mutt for dear life, I would have covered my ears with how piercing it was. But it wasn’t just loud, it was inhuman. It sounded more like the shriek of some terrible banshee rather than a high school student.

I shut my eyes as I held Mutt. I didn’t open them even when I felt the sensation of falling as Mutt leaped through the window Mr. Copper ‘made’ for us. Not when I almost fell out of his arms when we landed. Not when I heard the animalistic growls and cries of Em as she pursued us.

It was only when Mutt had ran a good few minutes, came to a stop, and said my name that I opened them.

From what I could see, we were still in the woods. We were still in the thick of The Sorrow, but we were also beside a pond. The pond where I had bathed myself in preparation for my date with Mary.

Mary...

“Mutt, where’s Mary?” I asked as Mutt sent me down gently into the shore of the pond. I braced myself, expecting frigid temperatures, and was surprised to find that the water was fairly warm. Just how long had I been out for?

“Mouse?”

I nodded.

“She went to get us some stuff from a store,” Mutt said. He placed a hand on my back to keep my whole body from going under before decanting water over my chest and shoulders with his free hand.

“She’s not here?”

I couldn’t believe what I heard. She was out? Not chained up somewhere? She might have escaped; she could be getting help right now!

“She shouldn’t be back for awhile,” Mutt said. “Close your eyes, Foxy.”

I did so without really thinking about it, still lost in thought about Mary. The warm water was poured into my hair, on my face. When Mutt said he was finished, I finally had the presence of mind to ask him: “Mutt? What are you doing?”

“Masking your scent,” he said, hoisting me back up with as little effort as Stallion had. “You should remember that next time we play chase.”

“I doubt I’d be up for that, let alone physically able to, any time soon. Anyways, we have to get out of here—those things are going to find us!”

He carried me over to a nearby tree and placed me down against its trunk. His face and eyes were still serious, focused, but he smiled at me as he began to back away.

“What are you doing?” I asked. I tried to move, but my body was still unwilling. The best I could do was reach out for him. Something was rising inside me, making it hard to breathe. “Please...”

“I can’t out-run her,” Mutt said, smile vanishing. “I’m gonna fight her and I’m gonna kill her. When I get back we can go find Kat, okay, Foxy?”

“Mutt,” I breathed, still reaching out.

The weakness was unbearable. The heavy, rapid beating in my chest was unbearable. I could imagine one of the lost students finding me. Tearing into me with those claws and black teeth.

Mutt kept backing away until I could barely see him.

“Mutt, please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he repeated, and then he was gone.

I sat there against the tree, looking all around The Sorrow. Trying to control my breathing as my heart pounded painfully in my chest. I wanted to move so badly. Every second that ticked by felt like a second closer to Em or the others finding me.

And this was my chance to escape. Not just from those things, but from everything. I was alone, unchained, and free. I thought back to the dream I could not forget.

I breathed heavier as I forced my arms to move. It was like trying to move a mountain, but I didn’t stop. I reached out with both arms; I pulled at myself to get off from the tree.

Just get away from the tree. That was the first step. That was all I had to do.

I felt something pop the moment my back left the trunk. I tumbled forward as pain wracked my shoulder. It was terrible, almost unbearable. I let the tears come as I stifled a scream.

Then I took in breaths. Slower, deeper. It was terrible, but I could suffer it. I got free from the tree—that was step one.

I could no longer move my right arm. The smallest twitch sent the entire thing ablaze in agony. It didn’t matter, it was just one arm.

I breathed as slowly and as deeply as I could as I reached out with my left arm and dug the long nails of my hand into the ground. I screamed as I pulled myself forward, there was no stopping it.

Just move forward. That was step two. That was all I had to do.

I reached again and dug my hand into the fresh earth. The Sorrow brought a chill with it that stung my wet skin, but it was nothing, just vapor. It had no real power.

I howled again as I pulled myself further. I had power. Compared to me, The Sorrow was nothing.

Just move forward.

I reached again, I pulled again, I screamed again.

My body was in anguish, but I couldn’t give up. If I gave up, I was going to die.

My hand hit something warm and wet. I looked up from the dirt and saw the pond. I was reaching the pond. I was so light, I could probably float all the way across.

Just get into the pond. That was step three. That was all I had to do.

I dug my finger into the mud and made to pull. I heard something behind me. I froze.

No.

Footsteps. So quiet, so soft, but in the stillness of the woods I could hear them like thunder.

They had found me. Mutt had failed. Stallion had failed. They were all dead and now Em and the others had found me.

I gripped the loose mud in my hand. At least Mary was gone. She had escaped. She would miss me, but it was better this way. I was dead anyways. From the moment I met Mutt, I was dead.

I closed my eyes.

A hand, calloused but gentle, pressed down against my back. I held my breath, preparing for the worst.

“Foxy?”

I opened my eyes. The voice was soft, frail. Something cold and wet dropped on my back. First one, then two, then three.

“Don’t you dare be dead.”

I almost gasped in pain and surprise as someone’s head hit my back. More muffled words as more of the cold droplets snaked down my back, sending chills down my spine. I opened my mouth, barely able to breathe. I was about to forgo my plan to feign death and tell my tormentor to get it over with when said tormentor shouted: “You can’t be dead!” before striking my back.

I would have cried out if the wind hadn’t been knocked out of me. “You idiot! How could you die before I could tell you that I was sorry?! Well I’m sorry, Alex!”

Hit.

“Okay?! I’m sorry!”

Hit.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

Hit. Hit. Hit.

“I’ll forgive you,” I finally managed to wheeze out. “If you promise to stop beating me up.”

I heard her gasp and then I was spun around. I groaned at the aching of it all before gazing up at Kat. She was dirtied, pale, and her eyes were red and puffy. I had forgotten not to look at those eyes, the source of the vile love curse.

I had forgotten how much I missed them. Still, I was grateful for the moment to pass when Kat pulled me up into a tight hug--then immediately regretful as pain surged in my shoulder and up and down my back.

“Still kinda broken here,” I gasped.

“Right, sorry,” Kat said, chuckling awkwardly as she laid me back down. She gazed down at me and, though I did my best not to gaze back, I still noticed the smile. “You’re pretty tough, for a fox,” she said.

“Yeah, well, you’re actually pretty sweet for someone who tries so hard not to be.”

Despite the pain, I took a great deal of satisfaction from seeing her smile fade away and a red shade fill her face. The satisfaction was gone in an instant when Kat placed a hand on my right shoulder and instead replaced with searing misery.

“Your shoulder appears to be dislocated,” she observed.

“Well, it definitely feels dislocated,” I said through gritted teeth.

“We are going to have to set it before we get moving.”

“What—”

It was all I had time to say before Kat grabbed my right arm and placed a hand on my chest with her free one. In one swift motion, she pulled and pushed at the same time. My world disappeared for a moment of white hot agony and, when I came back, Kat was digging through her backpack.

My shoulder was still sore, but nowhere near the pain it had been in before. “Guess I should be thanking you this time?” I asked, breathless.

Kat stood up, something familiar clenched in one hand. “You may,” she said, turning to me but not looking at me. “But if you tell anyone about what happened here today we are going through the same process again, understand?”

“Sure, of course,” I said, rubbing the shoulder. I watched apprehensively as she walked closer, holding the thing she took from the bag behind her back.

Which Kat was walking to me? The one who wanted the best for her friends and drew pictures of squids? Or the one who had looked so ready to kill me?

I had to look into her eyes as she stood over me. They were emotionless—but not emotionless. They were guarded, reproachful. Maybe she was trying to determine which Foxy she was looking at.

“I brought something for you,” she said, kneeling down and pulling her arm from out behind her back, “if you still wanted it.”

I flinched, looked away, and closed my eyes. I don’t know what I was expecting. More pain, maybe. But when nothing happened, I opened my eyes. Instead of Kat, I saw a little fox head in the shape of a triangle. I reached out and grabbed it. It was as soft as the first day I felt it.

I held it in both hands.

After all this time. All this effort. All this pain.

I looked back up into Kat’s waiting gaze. I held the hat back out to her but, before she could say anything, I smiled. “Thanks.”

With the beanie securely tucked into a pocket, Kat proceeded to carry me on her back. A position I was grateful for, as the bridal style thing Stallion and Mutt seemed to favor had gotten pretty old.

However, I was very aware of the hands on my backside that were keeping me from sliding off as I feebly clung to her neck. With every jerk or sudden turn, I would feel them clench. Despite the dire situation, I was looking forward to the moment when I could be put down again.

“Are you sure Mutt went this way?” Kat asked after we had been running for about a minute through the woods.

“Well, yeah, in this general direction,” I said, trying to peer through the fog.

The Sorrow was still going strong. More than once, Kat had to perform some mighty feats of agility to dodge the trees that would suddenly appear in front of us.

“You know, that was uncharacteristically smart of him to try and mask your scent. Those things see just as well as the rest of you in this fog. They rely on their sense of smell to navigate through it.”

“I’ll remember to thank him when we find him,” I said, hoping beyond hope that we would find him. “How are you sure that’s the case, though?”

“It’s the only reason I’m still alive.”

“Oh...”

I fell silent as terrible, terrible thoughts came to mind. Of Em, or the others, finding Kat or Mutt and tearing them apart with their fangs and claws. I tried my best not to think of poor Stallion.

I was at a loss of what to say until something struck me—reminded me. “Wait, Kat, I think those things are the students that went missing,” I said as Kat continued to wind through the trees.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah! Yes. What happened to them? Do you know?”

“I’m not really sure. Or, rather, I only have guesses at the moment.”

“Well, do you mind sharing?”

“This really isn’t the time to start getting into it,” she said, suddenly stopping against a tree. “Now be quiet.”

I bit my cheek. I was getting real sick of all the mystery. “Kat, I’m really—”

“I said shut it!” she hissed with enough force to actually make me close my mouth. Kat pressed her shoulder against the tree as she peered around it.

I held my tongue until the tension became too much. “Kat,” I whispered, “what is—”

Something razor sharp dug into my back. I screamed as it tore me from Kat and flung me backwards. I only got a brief instant of her horrified face before it was swallowed by The Sorrow.

I hit the ground hard, sending a shockwave up and down my body. I gasped for air as I lay in the dirt and the rocks. It hurt to even breathe.

A growl, low and sinister, reached my ears. I opened my eyes and saw one of them—one of the missing students—crawling towards me on his hands and knees. As I took in the features barely hidden by mud, I recalled his name to have been Adam. A big guy—someone from the football team. I remembered his friends and family helped to organize a pretty large search for him but, like everyone else who went missing, he was never found.

There were deep gashes down his face and arms. One had even cut through one of his eyes, but he didn’t seem to mind it much. The one good eye was trained on me as he inched closer.

I forced myself to squirm backwards from the beast with my only good arm. He took his time approaching me, enjoying my screams for help, relishing in my pleas for life. When he had apparently sated himself with my fear, he arched back and pounced. I couldn’t look away as he sailed through the air towards me, eye wild, black teeth bared and ready to tear into me.

All in that instant I felt my concerns and pleas wash away as I was overcome by the desire to live—to fight. It was so sudden, I wondered if it was yet another side effect of the tea. Even as I pondered this, my body seemed to move on its own as it gripped the dirt with my good hand and flung it into Adam’s face. The creature let out a howl of pain as the dirt hit his eyes and the open wounds.

Still, it was too little too late. He hit me with the full force of his jump, sending us both tumbling backwards down a hill I had no clue I had been on the edge of until then.

There was a flurry of teeth, claws, and dirt as we tumbled down. I could smell the wild of the woods on him. It was putrid, overpowering. The smell, coupled with the pain of the fall, was almost enough to send me into the darkness—until we hit water.

I struggled with both arms, even the one with the messed up shoulder, to put some distance between me and Adam. Before I could get away, a stray claw dug down the length of my calf. I screamed. The pain was immediate and burning.

I choked as the water filled my lungs. I had to get out or I would die. I had to get out or I would die.

Thankfully, the water was only about knee deep. I pulled myself, hacking and coughing, out into the fresh air. I could barely make out the shore, on the outskirts of The Sorrow, and paddled frantically towards it.

I knew my body was broken. I was killing myself further with each movement. But the growls and shrieks of Adam as he struggled in the water to get a hold of me overpowered all pain and rational thought. I just had to get away from him. Over everything else, I had to get away.

But I wasn’t even halfway there when I felt a vice grip on my ankle. The terrible howl that followed it hammered in the final nail of dread. He had caught me. I was dead.

The grip pulled me back. My head went back underwater. I struggled futilely with Adam as he grabbed my throat. I was pulled out of the water and back into the dirtied, mangled face of the lost boy. His mouth was open and I saw the dark teeth, like terrible black daggers coming to strike me down.

And then I was reminded of someone.

A cry of fury, worse than anything I had yet to hear that day, shook the tree line beyond The Sorrow. It was enough to make me unafraid of the blackened teeth. I almost welcomed them. Anything would be better than having to see whatever it was that made that noise.

But the teeth stopped mere inches from my face.

I saw Adam, his face void of joy—of any enjoyment he once had in the pursuit of me. He looked down at me, then up towards The Sorrow. I couldn’t stop looking at his face. There was confusion in it, something that reminded me there was still someone in there.

Then I looked to where he was staring. There was a creature—a beast bathed in blood, breaking through The Sorrow. It sent out enormous splashes as it charged the lake towards us, chains flailing through the air behind him. He yelled that terrible yell I only had just heard a moment ago, somewhere deep in the woods. I could see his eyes—red and filled with remorseless fury.

It was worse than any bear, or lion, or tiger. It was Mutt.

Adam’s face contorted with rage right before he tossed me into the lake. I fell under for only a moment before surfacing, enough time to see Mutt and Adam collide. They thrashed halfway between water and air as I paddled myself back as far as I could. It was so hard to see—I could make out only flashes of teeth, claws, hands, water, blood, and shrieks.

The blur of motions suddenly stopped when Adam grabbed hold of Mutt’s arm. Howling in triumph, he pulled and threw the boy half his size through the air, far past the shore and into the obscuring Sorrow.

I stared in amazement, no longer moving. My blood ran cold. No way could any normal human throw someone like that. No way.

Then Adam turned his attention back on to me and I was reminded that he was no longer a normal human.

He roared at me, I screamed, and then a new figure burst from the fog, landed on Adam’s back, and jammed a knife into his neck.

His roar was cut off, blood pouring from his mouth in its place, but he managed to grab Kat by the leg and throw her off of him. She landed somewhere between he and I. The throw appeared powerful, but Kat was already back on her feet in an instant.

Adam hunched over, dagger still in his neck, and was already preparing to make a run at her when Mutt reappeared, bursting from The Sorrow. Before Adam had time to react, he tackled the once football player back into the lake.

“Hold him, Mutt!” Kat shouted, running over to where the two were struggling.

Mutt tried to get on top of Adam as the latter gurgled and shrieked. Kat had only just reached them when Adam sent his forehead into Mutt’s exposed face. The latter howled in pain as Adam slipped away.

He sunk into the water, and I watched in amazement as he just...vanished.

“Oh, god,” Kat breathed. Her eyes scanned the waters around us, but they had all calmed like he wasn’t somewhere beneath them, waiting for the right moment to strike.

I couldn’t handle it. I cried out Kat’s name. She looked at me, prepared to say something, when Adam emerged.

He shot out of the water like a bullet, directly behind Kat. She didn’t even have time to gasp as he gripped her around the neck and pulled her under.

“Kat, no!” I shouted.

“No!” Mutt roared. He removed his hands from his heavily bleeding nose and dove into the water after them.

It was only knee deep. How could Adam do something like that?

Mutt came back up with nothing. He howled in rage. I searched everywhere but the waters, had calmed again.

How was that possible? How could he even do that?

But it was just like Mutt and Stallion’s supernatural speed and strength. Just like Kat’s amazing agility and dexterity. Whatever Adam and Em were...they were just like the people I had come to know.

Just then, Adam burst back out from the water, less than a foot away from me. I fell back, expecting an attack, but he was crying out in pain. He still had Kat gripped in his arms, but she had a hand on the handle of the dagger still stuck in his neck, and was twisting it.

But Adam wasn’t done. I saw his powerful arms flex over Kat’s neck. Her cry came out as a weakened gasp as the grip on the dagger loosened.

I was moving. I wasn’t thinking. I rose from the water with strength that shouldn’t exist. I ran towards Adam on legs that shouldn’t even be able to stand. I saw flesh, exposed through the torn remains of his shirt. Fresh, unblemished—begging.

I sunk my teeth into his side and bit down with all the strength I could muster. Blood poured into my mouth as the skin broke. Adam let out a howl before a claw struck my back, digging deeper into the old wounds, but I only bit down harder. Kat’s strangled breathing filled my ears. I dug my own nails into Adam’s side to resist getting torn away.

I opened my eyes, not sure how much more I could take, and heard that horrible cry of rage again. And then Mutt was there, teeth bared, ramming into Adam.

I was thrown aside, the force of impact dislodging my teeth and nails from him. As Mutt and Adam struggled once again, I searched for Kat.

She was lying face down in the water. She wasn’t moving.

“Kat,” I groaned as I reached out to her. I pulled myself towards her and grabbed hold of her body when I was close enough. I flipped her over and sat down so she could lie in my lap. My body was near impossible to control, but I tried to keep her head above water.

Her face was purple and she wasn’t breathing.

Tears filled my eyes. “Kat!”

I looked up at Mutt to ask for help only to see that he was in the process of tearing out Adam’s throat. Their faces were both drenched in blood.

I looked back at Kat. She still wasn’t breathing.

I felt sick but, held back the bile. I brought my mouth to hers and blew in. I had no idea if I was doing it right.

I was weak.

The other world was calling me. I felt it pull on my body, on my mind. With every breath of life I tried to breathe into Kat, I felt another piece of me die. The last gurgled murmurs of Adam filled the silence as we both lay in the lukewarm water.

Kat’s lips were so cold. Her entire body was so cold. I breathed into her mouth again and again. The final breath turned into a kiss. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just couldn’t pull away. I couldn’t look at her face. So still, so unmoving. Hot tears burned my eyes as I kept my lips pressed against hers.

There was splashing. I broke the contact and met eyes with Mutt. I could see nothing in the brown orbs that were lost in a sea of blood. He reached down and grabbed Kat’s arm, then grabbed my arm. I had no more energy to do anything. I felt nothing.

Mutt dragged us slowly through the water. Each step seemed like a great, impossible struggle for him, but he never stopped. When we reached the shore, I saw something on his leg. It looked like a bite mark, but the wound was black, the veins around it purple.

“Mu...” I tried to say his name, just his name, but it wouldn’t come.

When Mutt pulled us free from the water, he collapsed and did not get back up. I couldn’t tell if he was dead or not.

Someone coughed, sputtering out water. I quickly shifted my focus back to Kat. Her eyes were open. The bright green. So bright it hurt to look at them. I didn’t care if it was a trick anymore. I smiled. “Ka...”

“Thank you,” she whispered, smiling back at me.

I felt like I could cry again, but instead I blacked out. No more energy. I was done.

When I woke back up, my throat and mouth burned from dryness. I crawled towards the nearby lake, falling away from against a tree. I could crawl on my hands and knees. It hurt like hell, but I could do it.

When I made it to the lake, I drank and drank. It was disgusting, even somewhat metallic tasting, but it quenched the thirst. When I finished, I looked around, and then almost threw it all back up.

Adam, or what was left of him, was lying on the shore of the lake right beside me. His once rage filled eye was cloudy. The blood had been mostly washed away. The scar over his other eye was still as bad as I remembered, but nowhere near as bad as his throat. It looked like some animal had torn it open.

“Hey, Foxy, you’re up.”

Speak of the devil. I glanced behind me and saw Mutt resting against a tree, his face and chest caked in dried blood. Looking back, I could also see that The Sorrow had gone. There was not much else to see besides trees.

Mutt smiled. His clothes were torn near shreds. There were more gashes on his face, arms, and chest that I could count. A piece of what looked like his shirt had been wrapped around the bite on his leg. I could still see the purple veins protruding beneath it.

“Oh, god, Mutt,” I breathed. I could not stop staring. He looked near death.

“I’m okay. I’m okay, really,” he insisted. His voice was so weak and forced. It sounded a lot like Mr. Mallard’s when he wasn’t being a psycho.

Mr. Mallard.

“Where is Kat?” I asked, looking around but finding only us and Adam. “Did she try and go find Mr. Mallard and the others?”

“Yeah, she just left, Foxy,” Mutt answered, wincing in pain. “Hey, Foxy, do you think you can get me some water, too?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Hold on.”

I looked around again, trying to find something that might hold water. Finding nothing, I looked down at my hands which were still covered in dirt and some blood. I turned back to the lake and washed them out the best that I could before cupping water into both.

The crawl back to Mutt was arduous. Whatever energy the severe thirst had given me had left, and then some. My muscles, or the lack thereof, were on fire. I had to move even slower still to lower the risk of spilling it. By the time I made it to Mutt, I was close to collapsing.

He lapped the water from my hands. It tickled. He was done in less than a minute. “Can I have more?”

“Sorry, I don’t think I’d be able to survive the trip,” I said, rolling over on my back. I howled in agony as the pain returned with a vengeance before flopping back onto my stomach. I didn’t think I’d ever move again.

“Are you okay, Foxy?” Mutt asked, his genuine concern breaking through the weakness, slightly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. I mean, I’ve been better. Way better. But I’m alive, right?”

“Yeah, you are.”

Inspecting myself, I saw that my clothes were mostly torn to shreds, too. Though I could assume that was more from whoever tore them to wrap the make-shift bandages that were wrapped over the wounds in my back and calf.

“Jeez, you wouldn’t think from knowing her that Kat would be such a good caretaker,” I said, mostly to myself.

However, Mutt laughed weakly in response. “Well, yeah, Foxy, she has to be. It’s what her Master wants.”

“Mr. Mallard?” I asked, but from the tone of his voice I already knew the answer.

“Noooo, her real master. Dr. Quincy, I think. He’s got a lot of kids so Kat’s gotta know how to take care of them.”

“What the hell kind of doctor needs a slave to look after his kids?” I asked, trying to piece it together in my head even before Mutt could answer.

“Well, Kat told me that his wife was a witch, and that she’s trying to kill his kids, so he needs Kat to help protect them.”

Okay, things were starting to get into crazy territory again. “You keep using that word, witch. Do you mean, like, a bad person?”

“Witches can be bad people,” Mutt agreed, seeming to mull it over for a moment. “Yeah, some witches are bad. But some are good, like my Master. I bet your witch will be nice too, Foxy. Don’t worry!”

“Mutt, what the hell are you talking about?”

Had that bite gotten to his head? Mutt looked back at me, as confused as I felt, but then his eyes lit up and he was suddenly embarrassed. “Oops,” he said, glancing around at everywhere but me. “Mr. Mallard didn’t tell you yet?”

“Tell me what?” I asked. Mutt didn’t answer. “Mutt, tell me what?”

Mutt looked all around, like he was searching for something. But then a smile came to his face as he stared back at me. “You’re gonna be a familiar, Foxy!” he announced, like it was the greatest thing in the world. “You’re gonna have a really awesome and nice person to look after and take care of. We all are. I don’t know who your person is gonna be, but Mr. Mallard went through a lot to make sure you joined us, so it has to be someone really special!”

“What? Familiar? What are you even saying?”

There must have been something in that black bite. It was getting to his head, making him crazier sounding than usual. I looked away from him and closed my eyes. I wasn’t getting any real answers out of him.

Familiar. What did that even mean?

There was a knock on the door.

Wait—the door?

I opened my eyes and, sure enough, there was a door. It was against a tree—no, it was a part of the tree, like it had always been there. A solid and red door carved into a tree with someone behind it knocking.

“It’s Mr. Copper!” Mutt called out, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s us! It’s safe!”

Then the door opened and sure enough it was Mr. Copper. Same oversized coat, same slicked hair. Only this time he sported a large gash down one side of his face, most of it covered by an eye patch.

Also, he was holding a hand gun. “Hello, boys,” he greeted casually, like he had just dropped by for a visit.

Someone pushed passed him and my heart almost stopped when my eyes fell on her. “Alex!” Mary cried, running up to me before I had time to move or say anything. She looked like she was prepared to throw herself on me, but hesitated.

“Alex,” she repeated in a soft breath. Her big brown eyes behind the glasses were wide and filled with tears. “Oh, Alex.”

I couldn’t stand her looking at me like that. Despite all the pain and confusion, I stared back at her and smiled “Greetings, Sir Knight. It appears your damsel could, er, could use some assistance?”

She laughed—laughed and cried. Then she collapsed on top of me. I held in the groan of pain as she scooped me up and cried into my chest.

While she wasn’t looking, I cried as well. Quietly.

I was alive. She was alive.

Why was she still here?

“Mary...” I began, but stopped when I saw Mr. Copper appear behind her.

“Not to interrupt,” he said, raising a curious brow as he looked down at us, “but perhaps this should be saved for later. The enemy is still out there.”

“Yes, of course!” Mary exclaimed, tearing herself away and standing back up, brushing down the black coat I just then noticed she was wearing. “Forgive me, Master.”

Wait, what?!

I remained silent as Mr. Copper holstered his gun and picked me up in his arms, bridal style. I contemplated a great many things as Mary went up and helped Mutt stand and walk. Together, we made our way towards the door in the tree.

The doorway was still open. I looked beyond it, but could not believe my own eyes.

Inside the tree was that room I had seen Mr. Copper and Mr. Mallard in. From where I was I could see a lot of the stuffed animals and elaborate wallpaper. But that didn’t make sense. As we continued to walk towards it, I opened and closed my eyes, I rubbed them, but the illusion would not go away.

And then Mr. Copper was taking us through the door. And then we were inside the room.

I looked back towards the door. The door that should now be leading out into a hallway in the asylum, but all I saw was the forest, the lake, and Adam’s body.

I still could not speak. It was taking my entire concentration just to keep from passing out again. Mr. Copper walked me over to one of the black chairs beside the fireplace. When he sat me down in it, I saw the other one, across from me, was occupied by Mr. Mallard.

He looked at me with those enlarged blue eyes. I saw no sign of emotion in them. Not anger, or joy. Nothing. Unlike everyone else, he was the only person with no sign of visual damage. The marks from the dogs had long since healed.

At the sound of the door closing, I turned back to see Mary was still supporting Mutt. She watched me for a brief moment before turning her attention back to the door.

There was a strange, complicated symbol drawn in chalk over the center. It was circular, but the amount of shapes and detail inside of it made my head swim. Mr. Copper walked over to the door and wiped away the symbol with a few motions of a coat sleeve. My heart almost ached at seeing something that must have taken hours wiped away just like that.

Mr. Copper reopened the door and beyond it was now the hallway I had been expecting the first time. He held the door open as Mary began to lead Mutt through it. I opened my mouth to call out to her when a hand was placed on my knee.

I turned back and saw Mr. Mallard’s withered old hand, his face taking on a touch of concern. “Not now,” he said in that weakened voice I had missed so much.

I looked back to the door. Mary and Mutt were gone, but Mr. Copper was still there. He met my eyes and I could tell he was studying me with his one good eye. Like Mr. Mallard, I could not tell what he was thinking. After a moment, he nodded a farewell and left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Now, Foxy,” Mr. Mallard began, bringing my attention back to him. He had reclined himself back in his chair and folded his hands over his slightly protruding stomach. “I believe it’s time we had our talk.”