Author's Note: If you haven't guessed already, I'm still developing/learning my writing style, so I apologize if anything is inconstant or anything. Plus, I've never written a car chase before, so this was fun. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! This is my longest chapter yet!

####################################

I stood, staring down the shadow-man, gun aimed at his chest. He stood, unarmed, smiling. His smile. All I could see was his smile. All I could see was him. Everything else was a blur of red and black. My hands shook as I stared at him. This man was evil, I knew it, but he also held something important. He knew what I needed to know. What was it? Why couldn't I just shoot him? Would he even die if I did?

"Ah, I see you brought another! Well done!" his laugh reverberated unnaturally around the shadow room, echoing back both quieter and louder at the same time. He spoke to someone next to me. I couldn't turn my head to see, but I knew they were a friend. Someone I owed something to.

Then he looked at me. I could see his eyes without seeing them, and they stared right through me, into my soul. He knew me. His smile was sickening.

"So, how's the family? Doing well, I hope. I know you've met them by now," his smile grew impossibly wide, "You know the truth, now don't you?"

Shock. Fear. Horror. Anger. Disbelief. A flood of emotions. I took a step back and nearly dropped my gun. My hands were shaking uncontrollably. I was shaking. No. This wasn't right. He shouldn't know. He couldn't know. There was no way he could know.

He was still smiling. He knew what he was doing. He was messing with me. I knew it. Anger surged through me. Rage. I raised my gun.

A knife plunged into my back. Pain. Searing, burning, deadly pain. My gun clattered to the shadowy floor, the sound echoing back louder and louder until it sounded like the inside of a hurricane. The pain and the noise blurred my senses.

A hand gripped my shoulder, and another man's face filled my vision. I hated him. I hated him with a passion. But he had won. He had finally won. Desperately, dying, I spun and lashed out, ripping the hand off my shoulder in a final effort to make this man hurt like he had made me hurt.

####################################

NTIgNDggNGEgNmMgNTkgNTcgMzEgN2EgNDkgNDcgNDYgNzkgNWEgNTMgNDIgNzYgNWEgNmUgNTIgNmMgNjIgNjkgNDIgMzMgNjEgNTcgMzUgNmIgNjIgMzMgNjQgN2EgNDkgNDcgNmMgNzUgNjQgNDcgMzggNjcgNjQgNDcgNjggNmMgNDkgNDcgNWEgMzEgNjQgNDggNTYgNzkgNWEgNTEgM2QgM2Q=

####################################

I sat up so fast I nearly did a front-flip out of bed. I spun around to look behind me, only to be met with the wall of the cabin. No evil man, no knife, just a wall.

I tried to calm my breathing. I could still faintly feel the searing pain of the knife in my back. "Only a dream. It was only a dream."

It took a good few minutes for my rattled nerves to settle down. Sure, I'd had nightmares before (with what I've seen, they're pretty much guaranteed), but nothing like this. Just another thing to add to the list of unnatural occurrences. Then again, it had been only three days since our little incident with Jerry and we were all still pretty shaken up about it, so maybe that was it.

Then why did something feel so wrong? All the other sensations from the dream were fading away, but still I had the distinct and powerful feeling that something was very wrong. It was so tangible that it felt like a physical presence. Like I could reach out and touch it. I didn't know what it was, but I had to find out.

I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and ventured out into the hall. There was Monika's room, but for some reason I knew it didn't have anything to do with her. The girls' room was where I was headed. The fact that I knew that worried me even more.

I gently opened the door to the girls' room and poked my head inside. Sayori seemed to be sleeping peacefully in her bed nearest the door, and Natsuki in the next bed seemed to be mumbling to herself in her sleep. Then my eyes landed on Yuri. She was sitting up in bed, staring out the window, as still as if she were carved out of granite.

I froze. Was this what I thought it was, or was it something else? Should I close the door and try not to attract her attention, or should I investigate further? Should I—?

"He's coming," she turned her head and looked me in the eyes. Her eyes were soft, but I could see a mix of fear and confusion in them.

I quietly opened the door, trying not to disturb the others, and went over to Yuri's bed. "Who is?"

She froze, as if racking her brain for an answer. When she spoke, her voice shook. "Dr. L. He's coming," she grabbed my hand and I could feel her hands shaking, "We have to go. Now!"

I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it. But still… "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" No hesitation, no second-guessing, she was certain. I didn't know how, but she was.

From one nightmare right into another.

Great, time to move.

"Get the others up. Tell them to pack essentials and a few changes of clothes. Dress warm. We leave in 15 minutes. I'll get Monika."

She nodded and I rushed out the door, not caring anymore about being quiet. Waking up Monika and getting her up to speed on everything took about five minutes, after which I scrambled off to my own room to get my stuff together. From the other rooms, I could hear the others doing the same. I sincerely hoped that Yuri was wrong, but we couldn't take the chance. If she was right, I had no idea how long we had. We had to move quickly.

I threw a pair of jeans and a few shirts into a backpack, strapped on my pistol, and slung my gun over my shoulder. Monika was in charge of the food, and I could hear her rummaging around in the kitchen. As much as we never wanted it to happen, we were at least slightly prepared for a situation like this. Having some idea of how long we had would have been very helpful, but we'd have to work with what we knew.

Backpack over my shoulders and gun in hand, I strode outside and scanned my surroundings. The forest around our clearing was dark, and I could only see so far into the trees. Everything appeared to be clear, but I couldn't be certain. Either way, I had to get the truck ready, but I made sure to keep one eye on the tree-line at all times.

I threw my backpack into the bed of the truck. There were already a few items there, things I always made sure where in there, just in case. There were two tents, a crate that contained all of Jerry's arsenal (sans a few rifles I kept in the jeep), a small tool chest, and a hefty axe. In the event of an escape, we had planned on using both the truck and the jeep, with me driving the truck and Monika taking the Jeep. We'd have most of our supplies in the truck, and the jeep would carry Monika and two of the girls. Our little sedan had been our initial plan for a second vehicle, but it didn't do so great on the terrain out here.

I made sure both vehicles were fueled up and ready to go, double-checked Jerry's arsenal, and was just starting the truck when the girls rushed outside, all carrying their stuff and looking very worried. Monika carried a large box which I assumed to be our food supply, and Yuri was carrying a cooler. I helped quickly place each of the containers in the back of the truck, tied them down, then closed the tailgate.

Monika was holding up remarkably well under the stress, and I was thankful for it. Now was not the time for a panic attack. I pulled her aside for a moment.

"Remember, I'll lead and you follow. If we're being chased, I'll drop back and act as cover. I'll pull to the side and you floor it to get past. Understand?"

"Yah, got it."

"You going to be ok?"

"Yah, don't worry about me, I'll hold up as long as I need to."

Judging by her expression, she meant what she said and I had no doubt she'd pull it off if everything went well. I prayed everything would go well.

I hopped into the cabin of the truck and was met by Natsuki, already settling into the passenger seat, backpack at her feet. Her expression was nothing short of fierce. "What are we waiting for? Let's go already!"

In spite of everything, I almost laughed, "Not a bad idea, actually." I shifted the truck into gear and swung the nose around to face the driveway. Behind me, I saw the jeep's headlights flair to life. I waited for Monika to pull up behind me, then double-checked our radio, the little green light on the dashboard indicating that we were indeed connected.

"Everything good back there, Monnie?"

"Yes, and I told you not to call me that!"

"Hey, just trying to lighten the mood."

"Just shut up and drive," she nearly laughed. That's good, keep things light. It's difficult to have a panic attack if you're laughing. Everything's going to be fine.

I pulled forward onto the driveway, then hung a right to follow the winding road, my headlights blazing into the darkness. It wasn't long until we were on the old, overgrown dirt road that served as the end of our driveway. In reality, it was less of a road and more of a straight clearing in the trees. It was a miracle we had gotten the sedan over it the first time. After that, it wasn't long until we managed to get the jeep.

Suddenly, from the darkness of the trees on the right side of the road, a deer leapt onto the road in front of us. I slammed on the breaks, the gravel and lose earth crunching and slipping under the tires. We stopped just short of the deer, which promptly bounded off into the woods. Monika swerved around us, unable to stop short enough to avoid hitting us, and stopped a few yards ahead of us.

I let out a sigh of relief, and heard a similar sigh from Natsuki. She had pressed herself into her seat, though when she saw me looking she immediately relaxed and tried to play it off.

The radio crackled, "Give me a little warning next time you decide to get friendly with the breaks, ok?"

"Isn't that what break lights are for?" I retorted.

"Fine, fine. Let's just go."

"Roger that."

I accelerated past Monika who pulled back onto the road behind me. If that were the most noteworthy incident of our little adventure, I'd be happy.

Did we have a destination in mind? Yes and no. Our priority #1 was to get away from the cabin as quickly and safely as possible. We did have a general area several miles from here where we planned to set up camp, but nothing super specific. With our supplies, any little gap in the trees could be transformed into a safe haven in about 20 minutes. If we got separated, we planned on meeting at a specific point as soon as possible and to maintain radio contact if possible. Ideally, we'd stick together and arrive safely with no incident, but we had to plan for everything. Or at least, everything we could.

There were times on the narrow trail that I had to slow to nearly a crawl in order to guide the large truck through the trees, while the smaller jeep behind us was able to navigate the forest with much more ease. Finally, the trees opened up around us and we reached the end of the trail, a large, unused field. We would be exposed here, but as far as I could see, there was no danger anywhere. There was about a quarter-mile to go until we would be on a road that was actually paved, and once we were there we would have plenty of options and be able to travel much faster.

"Remember, nice and easy, Monnie. Try not to get stuck."

The only response was a sigh, and I couldn't tell if it was exasperated, sarcastic, or both. I was just trying to keep some sort of communication going, even if it was sarcastic.

As I crossed the field, the truck's big tires easily kept it from sinking too far into the loose dirt. The jeep, while still good at off-roading, struggled slightly more, so I slowed down to stick close to Monika.

I glanced over at Natsuki and saw her looking out the window and up at the stars. The night was clear and we were far from any lights, so the sky was ablaze with them. She seemed peaceful, so I didn't disturb her. There was a serene air about her, and I could see the starlight reflected in her eyes.

The truck bounced smoothly on its suspension as I eased it up and onto the road. We had made it safely, but before I had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief I noticed headlights from a third vehicle not far down the road, heading towards us at high speed. The driver must have noticed us too, and in a moment, red and blue lights were flashing. What flawless timing.

The car was maybe thirty seconds away, tops, and Monika still hadn't gotten onto the road. There was no way we'd be able to get going soon enough to actually get away, and I'd rather avoid a car-chase if possible. Plus, it was just a cop. As far as I'm aware, the worst we could be penalized for would be trespassing, and that could easily be explained away.

I picked up the radio handset, "Looks like we've got a cop headed our way."

The jeep rolled to a stop, just short of the road, "No, no, no, no, no, oh no, oh no—"

"Monika! It's fine! I can handle this, just get on the road and pull over ahead of me. Just stay calm and we'll make it just fine."

Silence. Then, the jeep carefully accelerated and climbed its way onto the road, stopping just ahead of us.

"Is it them?" Natsuki peeked over the back of her seat at the fast approaching cop car.

"No, it's just a cop. He's just coming to check if everything's ok. Nothing to worry about!" I gave her a reassuring smile, partially reassuring myself with it. She smiled in return, but promptly went back to watching the approaching car.

It felt like an eternity when in reality it was probably only a few seconds, but finally the cop car reached us, slowed, and pulled up in front of Monika. I had been hoping they would pull up behind us, but it hopefully wouldn't be a big deal. In a moment, the officer stepped out of their car, and I responded by exiting mine. I didn't want him going to talk to Monika; she was already flustered as it was.

"Good evening, officer!"

"Good evening!" The voice was stern, but not unfriendly. He was slightly shorter than me, but he was sturdily-built and moved with confidence. "I saw you both driving across that field there and thought I should check it out. Any explanation?"

We met near the rear of the jeep, and I leaned on it, trying to look casual, "We were out camping, but we got a call and needed to head back early. We just took the direct route."

"Hm. Disappointing when that kind of thing happens, I know," he had his hands in his pockets and was leaning on the jeep himself. "You mind if I take a look in the back of your truck?"

"Sure, I don't see why not."

I turned to lead the way, but a small click made me spin back around just in time to see the man's sidearm leveled at my head, a grin on his face. "Sayonara, doctor," he spat.

A gunshot rang out, and the man's expression twisted into one of excruciating pain before he stumbled and fell forward onto the pavement, blood beginning to pool around him. There was Monika, leaning out of the window of the jeep, a pistol still aimed at the man's body. For a moment, we both stared at each other in silence.

"So you had it under control?" Ouch. I guess I deserved it for how much I'd picked on her already.

"I guess I owe you a thank you."

She gave me a very tight-lipped smile, "Shall we get going?"

"Hold on just a moment."

I made my way over the apparently fake cop car and looked in the window. The car itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but on the passenger seat a small tablet lay. It appeared to be displaying a GPS map of some sort. I leaned in and grabbed it. Sure enough, it was a map of the area with a small triangular icon to indicate the user's current location… but there were at least two dozen other triangles… and they were all headed—

I threw the tablet on the ground, drew my sidearm, and fired several bullets into it. I turned and sprinted back to the truck, swearing under my breath. "Monika! We have to move! Now! I'll catch up!"

"What is it?"

"They know where we are. A few of them are about a two minutes out at best. Go!"

"Where?"

"East! Most of them are coming from the west!"

As I jumped into the truck's cabin, Monika floored it and went flying off down the road.

Natsuki had a death grip on her armrest and looked extremely pale in the starlight, "Was he—?"

"Yah, he was. We've got time though. Just hold on tight."

"But—!" she was cut off and pressed back into her seat as I pressed the gas pedal nearly to the floor. The engine roared and we shot away, kicking up gravel and dust as we went. I could see the taillights of the jeep ahead of us, but we were a long ways behind.

The radio crackled to life again, "Sayori has a map and says that there is a branch in the road up ahead! You said they were coming mostly from the west?"

"Yah, that's what it looked like," I did my best to hold the handset in one hand while also not driving into a ditch. Natsuki wordlessly took the handset from me and held up so that I could speak into it without taking my hands off the wheel. I smiled a quick thanks.

"Well, then it looks like we're going to have to take a left up here! Careful, it's pretty sharp."

"Copy that!"

It wasn't long until we reached the branch Monika was talking about. Monika slowed down significantly in order to take it safely, so I managed to catch up slightly. As we made the turn, I saw headlights in the distance reflected in my mirrors. Left had been the right choice, but they almost certainly saw us now.

"Floor it!"

"Already doing that!" came through the radio static.

We were already hitting 85-90 on a road only intended for about 60 tops, so every little bump was testing our suspension and jostling us around. The lights behind us seemed to get closer and closer, and I became increasingly worried. Whatever they were driving, it was much faster than us.

"Another branch ahead!" Sayori's voice came through the radio, "Three ways this time!"

"Anything other than west!" I called back while Natsuki tried to steady her arm and keep the receiver close enough to my face.

"Ok! Does straight look good…?" She must have put down the handset but have forgotten to stop transmitting because all I heard was faint voices through the static. Sayori returned, "Ok, Straight leads to a town and we don't want to go to a town so we'll have to go left agai—"

"No! We go to the town!" Monika's voice rang clear through the receiver.

I was taken aback, "Monika! You know they've been spreading rumors! It'll be dangerous there!"

"Yes, but it'll be dangerous for them too," she replied smoothly. "I'm sure people there will be more reasonable than the people behind us, at least!"

I couldn't argue with that. It was certainly a risk, but it appeared to be a necessary one, verified by the fact that the headlights behind us were indeed getting much closer. As dangerous as it would be for us to be around people, the people behind us had a whole lot more to hide than we did, and a whole lot more to lose if they did decide to follow us.

"Let's do it! Lead the way, Sayori!"

"Roger that!" a little nervous laugh floated into the cabin through the radio.

"Intersection coming up!" Monika warned.

Sure enough, in the beams of our headlights I could see a nice 4-way intersection. I was still about a quarter mile behind Monika. For a moment, everything seemed fine.

Then, out of the shadows, a black HUMVEE emerged and parked itself in the intersection. Its lights blazed to life, blinding in the darkness, and the occupants of the vehicle began to emerge, all carrying firearms and all in very familiar guard uniforms. Monika managed to swerve around the shadowy vehicle, leaving a cloud of smoke from the jeep's tires behind her, but before I could reach the intersection and do the same, another shadowy HUMVEE pulled into the intersection from the other direction, blocking it completely.

"Hang on!" I shouted and cranked the wheel as far to the right as I could while pumping the breaks. I could hear the screeching tires and smell burning rubber as we screamed around the corner. I felt the right wheels begin to leave the pavement and heard Natsuki scream. My heart sank and I braced myself for the inevitable.

If we didn't die in the rollover, it wouldn't be hard for the guards to pick up whatever was left of us. I forced myself to keep my eyes open and on the road, though I knew it was useless. The truck was top-heavy and we were going around too sharp a corner at too high a speed.

Then, abruptly, the wheels connected solidly with the pavement again. The jolt was so strong and so unexpected that I almost lost my grip on the wheel, but I recovered quickly. I wasn't sure how we'd survived that, but I wasn't about to stick around to find out. I floored the accelerator and sped away as the first of the bullets began to whizz past us.

"John! John! Are you ok? Please tell me you're ok!" Monika's voice came from the radio.

"Yah! Yah, we made it! We're going to have to find another way! Just… Just find somewhere safe in town. Somewhere with people. Try not to talk or draw too much attention if you don't have to. I promise we'll find our way to you and meet you as soon as we can."

"John… be safe, ok?"

"Will do, Monnie."

"I said don't ca—!"

The radio static rose and overwhelmed her voice and the green light on the dashboard flickered out. We were out of range now. All I could do was drive. Thankfully, it appeared as though the roadblock behind us was more effective on the vehicles pursuing us than it was on us, and we were gaining some serious ground on them as they slowed to navigate it. We had a little room to breathe.

"Where are we going now?" Natsuki asked after a pause.

"Give me a moment, I'm figuring that out."

Thoughts ran through my head faster than we were flying down the road. There was no way we could turn around and follow Monika into town. We were still being pursued and they hadn't lost us yet, so we couldn't stop to figure it out. Clearly whatever the pursuing vehicles were, they were faster than this truck, so we couldn't run forever. In fact, we probably couldn't run for very long at all. We had to figure out something, and quick. Come on, John! Think! What else is there around here that we could use to lose them…?

"The freeway!" I said out of nowhere, making Natsuki jump.

"The what?"

Oh yah, she'd never seen a freeway before. There were a lot of things she hadn't seen, actually. This would be interesting.

"You'll see! It's just a few miles ahead of us. If we get on it, they won't be able to follow without drawing attention to themselves!"

"Oh! Well can't you go any faster?"

"Not unless you want to get acquainted with the insides of a ditch!"

She gave me a sour look, but I stayed focused on the road ahead.

The next few miles were an incredibly tense silence as we flew down the road, being jostled by every bump and watching the headlights behind us get closer and closer. It wasn't long before the headlights ceased to be one spot of light and separated into two separate beams. They were close, but we were almost to the freeway. I could see its glow from just over the hill. We were almost there!

There was a loud, metallic crack somewhere behind my head, making me instinctively recoil from its source and making Natsuki exclaim in surprise. It was quickly followed by more, similar cracks. They were shooting at us now. They saw where we were going.

"Get your head down!" I shouted to Natsuki who promptly ducked down in her seat and held her hands over her head. I ducked down slightly myself, and not a second later a bullet crashed through the glass behind me and left a hole in the windshield in front of me. Natsuki shrieked, and I gripped the steering wheel harder and tried to coax any more speed I could out of the truck. Wind whipped through the cabin through the new holes in the glass and my eyes began to water from it.

Then, the bullets stopped. We were on the bridge over the freeway. I slammed on the breaks, slowing us just enough to make the turn onto the entrance ramp. More screams from Natsuki, but they were almost entirely drowned out by the shrieking of the tires. I shifted pedals and accelerated down the ramp and onto the freeway, merging in just in front of a large semi-truck. In my mirrors, I could see the vehicles, shadowy black HUMVEEs, that had been chasing us stop at the top of the ramp and watch us disappear. Part of my mind wondered how on earth they had been going so fast in such bulky vehicles, but relief quickly swamped all other thoughts.

We had done it. We had gotten away. They didn't risk pursuing us with so many other people around.

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, a small fist connected firmly with my shoulder, making me exclaim more in surprise than pain.

"Don't scare me like that!" Natsuki was pouting and sulking in her seat, refusing to look at me. She was probably embarrassed for screaming, but that was ok. We were alive.

"Ok, sorry, I'll try not to do it again," I replied, playing along.

"You'd better not! Or else…" She trailed off, finally looking out the window at where we were. Her jaw fell open, and I smiled. She'd probably never seen so many cars or people in one place her entire life. I could see the headlights reflected in her wide eyes as she took in the surrounding vehicles.

It was strange. Something that seemed so normal to me, like a freeway, could be so awe-inspiring to her. She'd never seen anything like it before, and thus it was amazing to her.

"Where are they all going?" she almost whispered the question, still not taking her eyes off the vehicles and people in them.

"Lots of places. The big trucks are probably hauling stuff from city to city or maybe even across the country. The people in the smaller cars could be going home after a day at work, or going other places. It's hard to know, really."

"Across the country…?" She echoed my words in the form of a question. That's right, Monika had only started homeschooling them about a month ago, and even that had basically only been teaching them to read, write, and do math. (They all knew how to do that stuff to some extent, but none aside from Yuri really knew fully how to read or write yet.)

For the next 10 minutes or so, I answered all her questions about where we lived and what 'normal' people were like. All of it was so new to her, and every answer seemed to leave her with five more questions.

Finally, I found a rest stop and pulled into the gas station there. We both got out and stretched our legs while I topped off the truck's fuel tank and took a look at our windshield and rear window. I settled on the good old method of using duct-tape to "fix" them until I could find a better option. Thankfully, I'd thought to strap everything in the back down… except my backpack which was now nowhere to be found. I kicked myself for not keeping it in the cabin with me, but at least it had only held clothes.

I looked around to find Natsuki hiding behind one of the fuel pumps, watching the small, somewhat run-down convenience store that every gas station has. I smiled and joined her, standing next to her. I decided to try something fun.

I took her hand and began gently leading her towards the brightly-lit windows of the store. At first she was surprised and resisted, but it was only seconds before her curiosity got the best of her and she followed me, excitement written plainly on her face.

The little bell above the door jingled as we entered, and Natsuki looked up in surprise, then around at all the shelves of commodities and junk food. Thankfully, apart from the cashier who seemed a little more than half-asleep, there were only two biker-type guys at a table in the far corner eating hotdogs or something. They didn't even look up when we came in.

I couldn't resist. I had to get her a treat of some sort. But what to get? All this was so new to her.

"Oh!" a small exclamation came from Natsuki and she took a few steps toward the brightly-colored plastic bottles of pop in a fridge along the side of the store. There was my answer!

I smiled at her, nodded, and lead her over to fridge where she stood still, staring at all the bright colors and exciting logos on the bottles.

"Go ahead, pick one," I barely contained my laughter. It was both so funny and so amazing to see just how excited she could be over something as simple as this.

"Really?" She looked up at me, and when I nodded, went back to examining the bottles with renewed interest. Finally, after much decision, she settled on an orange soda, and I grabbed a root beer for myself because why not. She almost instantly tried to open it (with no success) before I explained to her that we had to pay for it first.

The cashier barely looked up when I paid for our drinks and gas, and I almost wondered if he was indeed asleep. Back in the truck, I showed Natsuki how to open the bottle and watched intently as she took a first, tentative sip. Her eyebrows shot up and her eyes went wide. Then she laughed, and I joined in.

"It's so sweet! And it… it kinda burns a bit but I like it!" She struggled to describe it, but it was clear enough that she enjoyed it as she went for another sip.

"Yah, pop is generally pretty fizzy, which is part of what makes it fun," I winked, opening my own bottle.

"I love it!" she said. The look on her face was one of simple happiness and enjoyment and it warmed my heart, "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome, Natsuki!"

"I just wish—!" she stopped short, mid-sentence, her smile fading. "I just wish the others were here. Sayori and Monika and Yuri…" she turned to me, "Are they alright?"

Suddenly I felt guilty. Monika and the others could be in trouble, and here I was, running away down the freeway and stopping for a snack. Natsuki's conversation had distracted me, and I kicked myself for it.

Natsuki replaced her bottle in a cup-holder as if she'd lost interest in it. Clearly my expression gave me away. "We need to go back. Please."

"Yes, I know. We'll leave right now," I did my best not to swear in front of her, but god damn it I was really upset with myself.

I pulled out of the gas station and back onto the freeway, and I had to explain to a very upset Natsuki why we couldn't just turn around and go the other way. I took the first exit I saw, crossed the overpass, and got back on the freeway going the other direction. On the trip down we had been trying to blend into the traffic more, but on the way back we flew past most of the traffic, going well over the speed limit. I pulled off the freeway two exits before where we'd gotten on, and decided to try to approach the situation from another angle. I was fairly certain that they'd be watching the town. If Monika had gotten in, she should be safe, at least from them.

After we had traveled a while, still in silence, the road began to go uphill. Good, I'd picked the right exit. It wasn't long until we reached the lookout point I had remembered. I used to come up here and just relax and read a book or something to get my mind off whatever I'd seen that I wished I hadn't. I also remembered that you could see for miles from up here, and it afforded a great view of the town. I pulled off the road, into the grass and killed the engine. The headlights switched off and we were left in darkness, lit only by the stars above and the half-moon. I grabbed a pair of high-powered binoculars (that originally belonged to Jerry) from the glove compartment and stepped outside. Natsuki followed, carrying her orange bottle with her.

I surveyed the town and the roads leading into it. The town itself seemed quiet, with only a few vehicles visible on the streets I could see. Most of the lights in houses and businesses were out, aside from the few that were either open late or never closed. Outside the town, there seemed to be nothing…

For a brief moment, about a mile and a half outside of town, a light flickered alongside the main road in and out of the town. It was small and looked like a flashlight, but I could already guess who it belonged to. Looking carefully at the spot where the light had been, I was able to faintly see the starlight reflecting off the windshield of a black HUMVEE just like the ones which had chased us and blocked our path before. That meant the main road was out of the question, how about other roads?

As it turned out, from looking at a map of the area, there appeared to be about five roads entering and exiting town. Checking all of them through the binoculars, I was able to find a shadowy vehicle about a mile and a half outside of town on each one. They must either intend to catch me going in, or Monika coming out, assuming Monika had made it in in the first place.

I sincerely hoped she had made it in and found somewhere safe.

Then I noticed it. There was a small house a ways out from the town. The house's driveway opened onto a small, gravel road that wasn't on the map, and, as far as I could tell, there were no vehicles parked on it. It was perfect.

I turned to return to the truck, and noticed Natsuki. She was sitting up against the rear wheel of the truck, carefully sipping her drink and staring up at the stars. She didn't seem to be paying attention to anything else, just watching the stars twinkle in the night sky. I almost hated to bother her.

"Hey Natsuki, we've got to go."

She shook her head as if clearing it, put the cap back on the bottle, then hopped to her feet and jogged around to the passenger side door, "Alright, we got a plan?"

"Yah," I said, getting in the driver's seat and starting the engine, "They're watching all the major roads going in and out of town, but there's a gravel road that looked clear. We're going to head in on it."

"Wait!" Natsuki gripped my arm, "They're watching the town?"

I winced. Her grip was tight. "Yah, but not this road. We should be able to get in without being noticed."

"Well… You'd better not be too noisy then."

"I'll be careful. I promise."

She released my arm and sat back in her seat, arms crossed, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

I couldn't think of a witty response, so I just shifted the truck into gear and drove down from the lookout point in the direction of where I thought the gravel road would intersect this road.

I missed the road once, realized I'd gone too far, turned around, missed the road again, and finally found the road on my third attempt. It was so well-hidden among the trees alongside the road that it was a wonder I found it at all. It was quite the squeeze, but I managed to get the truck onto the narrow road without hitting anything. Thankfully, we broke through the tree-line after only about a minute of crawling along, inches away from trees on either side.

Our drive was slow and stressful, but mercifully uneventful. Initially I assumed the road was just one that had been abandoned a long time ago, as evidenced by it being plowed over in some spots, requiring me to drive around the fields and try to find it on the other side. It wasn't until we were driving through a yard between an old farm house and a shed that I realized the road we had been on was probably what was left of an old driveway onto the paved road we had come from. As we got onto the new driveway into town on the other side of the yard, I heard dogs start barking behind us and saw a few lights coming on in the farmhouse. I guess they weren't used to unknown vehicles crossing their yard late at night.

The driveway into town was in much better condition, allowing me to drive much faster than I had been up until then. Neither of us had spoken a word since we left the lookout point, and the tension smothered any hope for conversation. If we were seen before we got into town, we were in for a whole lot of trouble.

The driveway seemed to stretch on forever, the lights of the town never seeming to get any closer. Then, in an instant it seemed, we were on paved road underneath streetlights in a quiet residential area of town. I let out an audible sigh of relief. Natsuki started giggling. "You were so tense! It was so funny!"

I couldn't decide if I wanted to be annoyed or laugh along, so I gave her a sarcastic grin and turned my attention back to the road ahead of us.

We had made it into town, now where was Monika? The green light on the dashboard was still out, so either she had the jeep parked and the radio off, or… no, she was here. She would want to be somewhere with people, and that narrowed things down significantly at this time of night. Maybe a convenience store? That would make sense, right?

As I pulled onto the deserted main street of town, I scanned the buildings on either side. I spotted a convenience store with its lights on, but I didn't see the jeep anywhere nearby. She could have hidden it or parked it elsewhere, but that wouldn't make sense for if she wanted to make a quick escape… I continued down the main street, checking each storefront and each alley for the jeep with no results. She had made it in, right? She had to be safe…

Growing slightly more desperate now, I began checking side streets off of the main street, still with no success. No Jeep. No Monika. No Yuri. No Sayori. Nothing but dark storefronts and shuttered windows.

Just as I was giving up hope, Natsuki sat bolt-upright in her seat and pointed out her window at a building we had just passed, "Wait! That's our jeep! That's them!"

Instantly I slammed on the breaks and spun around in my seat. Sure enough, there was the jeep, parked in front of… oh Monika why. Of all the places…

I did a U-turn and pulled into a parking space next to the jeep. I grabbed my gun, my big gun. There was no telling what kind of situation Monika had gotten into, coming to a place like this, especially this late.

As I shut off the engine and stepped out of the truck, I began to think. I guess it did kind of make sense. A bar was a lot closer and more likely to actually have people in it at this hour than a convenience store. Plus, it wasn't on main street and, as I'd found out, that made it much harder to locate her. But still, you didn't usually find many wholesome characters at a bar, especially this late. Maybe she hadn't been thinking straight? That was certainly a possibility.

No matter why she had come here, I had no idea what kind of situation she was in so I had to be careful. I slung my gun over my shoulder and kept my hand near my sidearm at my hip. Natsuki followed close behind.

I walked into the bar and a bell above the door announced my presence.

The first thing I did was take in my surroundings. The place had a rustic feel to it, something that felt natural for a town like this. Fancy glass light fixtures cast a warm, red-orange glow, and a TV just behind the bar emitted a quiet murmur and displayed some sports game or other. Three men sat at the bar. Two of them were having a rousing conversation about the pros and cons of using fresh bait when fishing, while the other, a grumpy-looking fellow, sat on the other end of the bar, eying his half-empty bottle as it had offended him in some way. Strangely enough, there was nobody behind the bar.

I scanned the booths along the wall. They all seemed to be empty, save for the one nearest the far wall. The figure was facing away from me, bent over some task on the table in front of them, but they were small, with peach-colored hair and a red bow. A little stuffed cow sat on the table in front of them…

"Sayori!" I struggled to keep my voice level and keep from shouting with relief, "Sayori it's me!"

Instantly the figure shot up from the table and came flying towards me. "John! John! John! You made it! You're here! You're aliiiiiiive!" She didn't even bother slowing down when she reached me, she simply crashed into with me an in a big hug.

"Hey, I'm here too, silly!" Natsuki said, trying to pry Sayori off me. By now the two friends at the bar were looking over at us in what appeared to be mild confusion, while the grumpy man seemed to have not noticed anything. I summoned my best "nothing to see here, don't worry" smile and waved them off. They turned back around, but now they were clearly whispering to each other. Maybe I shouldn't have brought my gun into the bar after all…

A shorter, slightly bald man with a thick, brown mustache and square-rimmed glasses burst out of a door just past the bar nearly at a jog. His eyes landed on me and his face blanched slightly, but he skidded to a stop when he saw Sayori hugging me, Natsuki still trying to pry her lose and grumbling about how clingy she was. We stood staring at each other in an awkward silence for a good ten seconds, his face contorting in confusion. I had no idea what was going on, but I decided it was time to break the ice.

"Hey, good evening. You haven't happened to have seen a woman come in here, have you? Brown hair, green eyes?" The man's face continued to morph from one expression of confusion to the next, and I was starting to get concerned. "Her jeep is out front, so I'm pretty sure she's here. She brought two girls with her, correct? And this is one?" I patted Sayori's shoulder.

The man seemed to finally gather himself and cleared his throat. He took a deep breath, then finally spoke, "What's it to you? I mean— I'm… I'm just wondering why you want to… and why the gun…? And why was she running from you— I mean who was she running— I mean I don't know what you're—!" He shut his eyes and pursed his lips in an expression of sheer exasperation, presumably at his own stuttering.

Slightly inebriated laughter erupted from the two friends at the bar, "Good ol' Wally! Never able to keep a secret to save his life!" Wally, or so the short man was apparently called, shot the two a death glare before turning to me again and cringing.

"Look," I said before he could start again, "she's waiting for me. Where is she? And the other girl?"

Wally hesitated a moment, pursed his lips, then sighed, turned, and beckoned me to follow.

I followed him into the back room he had emerged from earlier, Natsuki and Sayori following close behind. I felt the eyes of the two men on my back as we passed through the doorway, but once I saw what was inside I ceased to care. There was Monika, sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, hugging her knees to her chest and burying her face in them. She was shaking and mumbling something to herself, though it was muffled by her knees and interrupted my occasional hiccups and sobs. Yuri was kneeling nearby, and when she saw us come in she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes in an expression of pure relief.

So Monika had broken down after all. Thankfully she'd gotten herself and the girls here safe first. I looked over at Wally who was nervously fiddling with his glasses, "How long has she been like this?"

"About half an hour…I think," he glanced around the room at everything except me, "I was going to call 911 about her but… the purple one… she said—she didn't want me to."

I grimaced. Half an hour? That must have been horrible for her. Without responding, I knelt down and gently laid a hand on Monika's arm. She shied away from it and mumbled slightly louder, but I still couldn't make it out.

"Monnie? Can you hear me?" I began gently rubbing her shoulder, speaking softly and trying to get through to her. "I'm here now. Everything's alright. We're all safe." In the corner of my vision I saw Yuri gently lead the now silent Natsuki and Sayori out of the room while Wally remained, fidgeting with his glasses even more furiously than before.

This went on for about ten minutes or so, Monika shaking and mumbling and me doing my best to comfort her and get through to her, before she finally stopped mumbling looked up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot and red from crying, and her face was a mess of tear stains. Slowly her eyes came into focus and her breathing slowed to something more natural. She stared into my eyes for a long moment before wordlessly collapsing into me. I held her for a while, still trying to comfort her. After a very long few minutes, she stopped shaking, took a few deep breaths, and sat up on her own.

"…How long…?"

"About half an hour," I said, "sorry I didn't get here sooner."

She winced, and I now felt even worse about my little rest stop. She began to rise, and I helped her shakily to her feet.

I turned to Wally, "Can you get her a glass of water?" Still not looking at me, Wally nodded, turned, and hurried out the door. Carefully I lead Monika out after him.

The girls were sitting quietly together in the booth Sayori had occupied earlier, and the looks on their faces when I came out with Monika where ones of immense relief.

Sayori jumped up and I had to keep her from tackling Monika in a hug, "Monika! You're ok!"

Monika managed a weak smile and gently messed Sayori's hair, "Yes, yes I am."

The other girls weren't far behind in greeting Monika, and I said a quiet thank you to Yuri for sticking with Monika. She nodded slightly and gently smiled, saying nothing. I don't think I'd heard her say a single word since we'd gotten here, but I guess that's just Yuri for you.

Thankfully the bar carried a bit more than just drinks, so I got everyone some sandwiches and joined them in the booth. Monika quickly seemed to recover her strength, though it was clear through her watery eyes and weak laughter that she was still quite shaken up. That's ok. As far as I was aware, we were safe for now. This bar would be open a few more hours, so we should be able to stick around for a while. As for the other people here, the two friends kept glancing over at us but they didn't seem like much of a threat, they were just curious. The grumpy-looking guy *still* hadn't so much as looked at us, so I guessed he wouldn't be causing us any trouble. Wally was still skittish as ever, constantly glancing over at us, fidgeting, and mumbling to himself, but he seemed like he could hardly be a threat even if he wanted to be. Clearly I was making him uncomfortable, but wasn't going to go put my gun away. I've already brought it in, so I'm certainly not going to go put it back in the truck.

When we had all finished our sandwiches, we turned to the topic of what we were going to do next. Monika suggested we try to find some place to spend the rest of the night, maybe a hotel or something, and then work out what we would do next tomorrow morning. She was clearly stressed out and just wanted to sleep, but we needed to have a plan as soon as possible, just in case anything happened. I agreed that we should find some place to spend the night, but I also pointed out that daylight was going to be our friend. Those chasing us couldn't operate as freely without the cover of darkness, and daylight meant more traffic we could hide in and less of a need for stealth. In theory, we should be able to evade them indefinitely as long as we traveled by day and stuck out the night somewhere where there was plenty of people around. Monika thought for a moment, then agreed that it sounded like it could work. For a moment, it seemed like everything could still be ok.

Then the front door burst open and a loud, deep voice bellowed into the bar, "Alright! Where's he hiding?!"

My blood turned to ice. My hand went to my gun. My back was to the door, but the high back of the booth hid me from sight. Monika, however, was perfectly visible to anyone coming in the door, as was Sayori who was sitting next to her. Monika's face lost its color, and her eyes shot between me and whoever it was who had just entered. I readied myself and waited for whatever happened next.

"You lost your marbles already, Mark?" a laugh came from one of the two friends at the bar, "I thought that only happened when you got some drink in you!"

The man, Mark, seemed not to heed them. "Jerry you ass! You forgot about our fishing trip and then you come here? Where are you hiding?"

From where I was sitting, I couldn't see the two friends or the man who had come in, only the third man at the bar. At these words, the man, who had hardly seemed to have even blinked up until now, sat up straight, glaring intently in the direction of the door.

"What makes you think Jerry is here, you idiot? He's been missing for almost five days now!"

You could almost hear the bewildered shock coming from the man at the door, even before he said anything. "Missing? What did the poor ass do? Get lost in the woods? Step in his own trap?"

"We don't know!" the man at the bar bellowed, his face slowly turning red. "We've spent days searching for him! We haven't even found that monstrosity of a truck of his! Nothing!"

Oh no. Oh god damn it. I knew what Mark was going to say before he even said it. I double-checked to see that my gun was loaded, just in case.

"But… But his truck is parked right outside! That's why I thought he was here!"

Silence.

"You're sure it's his truck?" the man at the bar asked quietly, his voice suddenly dangerously level.

"You think I could mistake that beast?"

The man nodded…

…Then turned to look at me.

"Son, you've got some explaining to do, and you'd better do it quick."