Everyone shot out of bed at once, gasping, their hearts racing. The same horrifying image burned into their minds.

  "Man..." Yahd muttered, rubbing his temples as he got up from the table where he had fallen asleep. His voice was groggy but laced with unease. He glanced around, noticing Mitani and Kalimba rising as well, their faces pale.

  “That was weird,” Mitani grumbled, stretching but unable to shake the chill running down his spine. “It felt so real.”

  “Hold on,” Kalimba said, his voice unusually tense. He headed upstairs, his steps quick and purposeful. Halfway up, he crossed paths with Zoe coming down, her expression blank but her voice barely above a whisper. “Asher’s not in his room,” she murmured, her tone detached.

  Kalimba’s heart sank. He reached the second floor and checked the first door on the left. The bed was messy, but the room was empty. A growing dread coiled in his stomach as he hurried back downstairs.

  “I wanna say,” Kalimba began, his voice steady but uneasy, “I’m not a superstitious person, but right before I woke up…” He hesitated, glancing around the room. “There was this image in my head. This is gonna sound a little wacky…”

  “Asher was dying,” Zoe interrupted, her voice flat, her gaze fixed on the floor.

  Yahd looked at her, surprised, then looked around the room; everyone had the same expression—one of sudden realization and dread, except Melody and Palmer, who looked confused.

  "Who's Asher?" She asked Palmer.

  "We should at least try and search for him, right?" Zoe asked, her voice slightly shaky.

  "Yeah," Kalimba swallowed, "Yeah, we should. After all, we're probably just imagining things. Ya know, from what we've been through we probably would have some weird nightmares; only coincidence that it was of the same person."

  "I felt energy when I woke up," Yahd said, his eyes glued to the ground.

  "This town isn't that big, okay? There's only so many places where he can be," Kalimba said sternly, looking around at each of them. "Come on, we gotta find him, and get outta here."

  "No!" Yahd screamed, coming across the town square. "Not again!"

  The rest of the group came to where they heard him, all standing, looking at the chunks of human in front of them. In the center of the square stood the gruesome scene: blood-soaked bricks and a bronze statue turned red. The metallic stench of blood filled the air, making several of them gag.

  “What’s happening?” Melody asked, her small nose twitching as she sniffed the air. “What’s that smell?” She tried to break free from Palmer’s grip to investigate, but he held her tightly.

  "Do you think he's one of them?" Zoe asked. Her wide eyes, staring unable to look away.

  Before anyone could answer, a voice rang out, light and casual, cutting through the tense silence. “Oh, it’s them again!”

  They all spun around, witnessing Leo's female colleague emerge from inside a bush. Simultaneously, Leo and the male colleague stepped out from the front door of a nearby house.

  "Oh, goodness," Leo muttered, observing the horrified expressions on the kids' faces.

  Leo quickly ushered them away from the gory scene.

  "Okay, I'll look for him. But you guys should really get outta here," Leo warned. "By the way, if you want a quicker route to Outback, you go literally straight from there," he pointed straight ahead, "but when you hit the small mountain range, go to the right, not the middle; trust me, it'll save you time."

  "Okay thanks," Kalimba said. "You gotta promise, that you'll try to find him."

  "Hey, I promise," Leo chuckled. "When you get there, tell em' I sent ya'. Say 'Leo and his two compadres sent us here,' they'll let you in."

  'Dude, I'm not saying that,' Kalimba thought. "Yeah, okay," he smiled.

  Leo watched as both of their cars flew off into the morning sun. He turned back to the village, a yellow aura surrounded him. With a snap of his fingers, the massive condor swooped down from the sky. He and his colleagues climbed onto its back, and the bird was off, circling high above the town.

  “Ooh,” the female colleague said, clapping her hands with a grin, "There it is. The red thingy between those buildings right there,"

  “Good eye,” Leo said, his grin sharp as his aura pulsed.

  The condor swooped low, landing in the narrow street.

  "Hey ugly!" She yelled.

  The beast turned toward them, its bright yellow-orange eyes locking onto the group. Its muscular form twitched, anticipation radiating from it.

  "Yikes," the male colleague pulled a face, "That thing has changed a lot."

  "Doesn't look all that different than one of us, maybe," Leo observed. "This is just weird," he scratched his chin in deep thought.

  Zoe climbed out of the back seat of the jeep and stared up at the imposing white wall that loomed before them. Several heads peered down, their silhouettes sharp against the glaring sunlight.

  "That goes for you too, woman," Someone at the top of the wall called down.

  Zoe sighed, reluctantly getting on her knees. She tossed her knives onto the ground in front of her and held her CraterID card up for them to see before, putting her hands behind her head.

  The gears groaned and squealed as the massive metal gates began sliding open. The sound echoed ominously.

  Zoe wasn’t sure what she expected—perhaps dirt paths or ramshackle buildings—but instead, the road beyond was pristine. The sidewalks gleamed, perfectly edged, and the rows of bright, identical houses stood at attention like soldiers, each with manicured lawns and cheerful flowers planted in neat beds. The uniformity was uncanny, almost artificial.

  A group of figures clad entirely in black emerged from the gates, their faces hidden by sleek helmets. Rifles trained steadily on the group, they advanced with practiced precision. One of the men, tall and broad-shouldered, stepped behind Zoe and snatched her CraterID from her hands. She heard a faint electronic blip as he scanned it, confirming it was real.

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  After they had checked the rest of her group, they told them to all stand and follow them.

  The group was led down the spotless street and into a vibrant orange two-story house. The smell of freshly baked bread greeted them as they stepped onto the crisp white porch.

  "When inside, take off your shoes and sit at the dining room table," One of the men ordered.

  Zoe hesitated for a moment before toeing off her boots. She exchanged a glance with Kalimba as they entered. The interior of the house was just as immaculate as the outside. Pictures of smiling families adorned the walls, their faces unfamiliar but unsettlingly perfect.

  They walked through the house, pictures of different families hung on the walls, following the smell, and reaching a large circular oak table.

  "Bro," Yahd huffed, collapsed into a chair. The morning light from a nearby window streamed across his tired face, "Why's everyone gotta make everything so stressful all the time?"

  Zoe sat in the chair next to him, not sitting properly but perching like a bird. She took her deck of cards from the now-worn box and began spreading them out in front of her, flipping them with nimble fingers.

  Yahd watched her for a while, flipping cards, making them disappear and reappear seemingly out of thin air. "You're like really into cards, huh?"

  Zoe glanced over at him, "Yes."

  "I've just noticed you're constantly messing with them. What do you like about it?"

  Zoe thought for a moment, considering his question, "It's not so much that I like doing it; more like, I have to do it."

  "What does that mean?" Before he could ask the question, they all turned, hearing someone walk down a set of stairs next to them. Their shoes clicking on the wooden steps.

  "Oh hello," a man said. He was slender, with messy brown hair. He wore dark blue slippers, with a word etched in gold on each one. 'Lewis.' As well, he had on brown dress pants and a robe with nothing underneath.

  The man walked to the kitchen, grabbing a wooden basket full of fruit on the table, walking back into the dining room, and placed it carefully in the middle of the table.

  "Help yourself while I make breakfast. Any requests?"

  Everyone exchanged surprised looks.

  "Uh," Yahd was the first to speak, "Do you got like, pancakes?" He asked hopefully.

  "Yeah sure," he nodded. "Anything else you guys want?"

  Everyone shook their heads except Zoe who shot up in her seat, her hand in the air.

  "Uh, yes?" He pointed at Zoe.

  "Do you have chicken nuggets?"

  "As breakfast? I guess…I think so," he turned around, opening the freezer portion of the silver refrigerator. "By the way, my name is Lewis."

  Less than fifteen minutes later, all the food was placed in front of them.

  "So," Lewis said between bites, "What do you need from us?"

  Everyone glanced at Kalimba. "Uh," he mumbled. "Well, I guess we need to call Damon. Tell him that we've completed it and will be back in a few hours."

  "Oh, okay," Lewis smiled. "You don't have to drive those cars, you know? We can you some aerial support to the boat."

  "You can just get us a helicopter?" Mitani asked.

  "Well, yeah, I am one that sits at 'the table of five,' after all," Lewis had a smug smirk on his face.

  "What does that even mean?" Palmer asked.

  'So I guess he'd be Outback's equivalent to a Hound,' Zoe thought.

  "Why are you helping us so much?" Yahd inquired, scooting forward in his seat, looking at Lewis with untrusting eyes.

  "Well, an optical answer would be that since we..well, most of us here are of the same ilk. We are like an extended family. But in reality, it'll make us look pretty good, helping out some kids from Crater, of all places."

  "Ah, and there it is," Yahd sighed, pushing his empty plate of food toward the center of the table.

  "Well, we should get going," Lewis said, noticing everyone had stopped eating. "By the way, there's a phone hanging up on the wall over there. In the hallway with the sunflower wallpaper," he pointed.

  Kalimba reached into a backpack, pulling out a business card with Damon's name printed on it with golden letters in large font. Under it was his personal cell phone number, pressed in black ink.

  He walked to the house phone, dialing the number. "Oh hey, Damon?" He paused. "Oh yeah, this is Kalimba…Kalimba, the guy you hired to retrieve Melody…Yeah, that's the name of the girl. Anyway, we have her. We're getting a lift by Outback and will be there pretty soon."

  The small silver aircraft landed several hundred feet away from the shoreline, right next to the black dinghy.

  The group thanked the captain as they hopped out of the vehicle. He nodded and quickly took off, flying back to the colony.

  Once everyone else had hopped into the dinghy, Palmer pushed it into the ocean, hopping on himself.

  Elsewhere, Leo crouched next to the beast; he reached down, prying open its eyelids. Its orange and yellow eye tried to focus on Leo but just couldn't manage to do it.

  "You really dosed this guy, huh?" Leo chuckled.

  "It wasn't goin' down," His male colleague shrugged.

  "What an odd thing, though," Leo poked it in the side with a slim plastic gun he had in his hand. "It's like something trying to imitate a humanoid, but is like an animal at the same time," He scrunched his nose, "The more I look at it, the creepier it looks. Guessing on what we've seen, I'm guessing when it ingests a living thing, it can steal some of the traits or properties of it." He put the gun to the beast's arm, pulling the trigger. There was a faint beep, "Alright, he's chipped. We can call this a success."

  "So now we'll be able to track this thing anywhere in the world, right?" His female colleague asked.

  "Yup, basically pinpoint it anywhere. Underwater or hundreds of feet inside a cave, we can keep tabs," Leo reassured. 'I wonder what this thing would turn into if I dropped it in the middle of Outback,' A smile crossed his face as he pondered that thought.

  End of Part 1