She's in the forest again, gun in hand. Everyone has scattered save for Duke and Nathan. The two men trudge silently behind her, doing the best they can not to make eye contact. The tension between the two radiates in waves. Audrey knows that she should say something, but, lacks the strength for anything but the task at hand. Until they find and stop the wendigo, there's no time to make her boys hug it out. It's all she can do to keep following the path in front of her. Wait, that can't be right. Since when did the forest have paths? Yet, here they were, following an old dirt road into the middle of nowhere. This is different; it's wrong. Before she can point this out to Nathan and Duke, the path suddenly splits. To the right, it remains a dirt road through the forest. To the left, it veers towards a cave with an opening that appeared more carved than natural. Cold dread starts to knot into her stomach. This can't be right. The map she and Nathan reviewed before entering the forest said nothing about caves. Duke moves past her and walks a little ways towards the cave opening. As he shines a flashlight into the entrance they can see that it opens to a long tunnel. The split trail continues on and on into the darkness.

"I think that we should stay to the right." Audrey says, throat suddenly dry. As she looks warily at Duke the dread in her stomach spreads all over her body.

"Agreed." Nathan replies hoarsely behind her. Turning slightly, she can see that his gaze is fixed on Duke with a pained, knowing expression. Does Nathan feel the same thing?

"Duke?" Audrey calls. The man doesn't turn from the mouth of the cave. "Come on, Duke, let's stick to the path."

"I am sticking to my path." He says quietly as he proceeds toward the cave.

"Please, no!" She cries out, surprised by the desperation in her voice.

Tears start in her eyes but she doesn't understand why until Duke finally turns to face her. She's seen him angry, hurt, frightened, and out of control. However, she is completely unprepared for the dead, icy, glare shooting out of his eyes. Never had he been so devoid of the life and passion she'd come to appreciate in him. There was nothing behind those eyes; not even hate. Audrey knows that they've already lost him to whatever wants him to walk down that dark path. With a shrug that was so like Duke and not, he turns back and walks into the cave.

"Sorry, Audrey. This is where I get off."

Audrey woke with a start, tangled in blankets. There was no forest, no dark cave with a never ending tunnel, no paths appearing out of nowhere, no Duke looking like he was already dead. Just her bed, nightstand, sheets, and a heart about to leap out of her chest. She drew up her legs and rested her head on her knees. It was the same nightmare every night since they'd gone into the woods. There were other dreams too. They were terrible ones filled with death and blood. For some reason, the dream of the cave terrified her the most. Looking up, she saw that she'd gone to bed with all the lights on. Audrey sighed and shook her head at the memory of her childish plan. Why had she thought that the simple act of leaving the lights on would keep away bad dreams. What was she, four?

The clock on her stand told her it was only 1:00 AM. This time, the nightmares came only after two hours of sleep. While that was disconcerting, maybe she could calm herself down enough to fall back asleep for a few hours before her alarm sounded at seven. She needed a soothing distraction. Sighing again, she rose and stretched. Maybe some of that tea Laverne had given her a few weeks ago when she had a cold would do the trick.

A light knock on the door interrupted her walk to the kitchen. Who could be calling on her at this time of night? Nathan would've called her if they had a case. That left only one person and she wasn't sure she could face him right now. Audrey hesitated until the knocking started again. He wouldn't be here without a good reason. While she was upset with him, he was still her friend Resigned, she opened the door and ushered Duke in.