As James had predicted, the storm lasted well through the night. It wasn't until morning that the storm clouds dispersed a little. The sky was still as gloomy as ever, but at least I could see the vague light of the sun through the dark clouds. Waking up, I could feel my muscles tense up. My whole body was still as sore as ever. Looking around I saw that Brandt was already awake, standing on the balcony. As I got up he turned and walked back into the room.

"Come on, let's gather the rest of the crew. It looks like James is waiting for us outside." Groggily, I nodded in response and stood up, my back popping as I did so. Walking out of our shabby room, I noticed Roscoe, Felman, and Tova were up as well, waiting in the hallway outside of their rooms. "Let's see what James has to tell us." Brandt said as we began to make our way downstairs. The storm had done some considerable damage to the hotel's first floor, flooding in the lower portions of the ground and increasing the ever-present musty stench. James was standing a good distance away from the entrance of the hotel, holding a tattered umbrella over his head. He waved as we exited the building.

"Good morning." the pale man said, smiling. "Before you bombard me with questions, I want to ask you one first. I'm sorry I didn't ask it sooner. What are your names?"

We introduced ourselves and we cocked his head at the mention of our names.

"Strange." he said. "Where do you come from?"

"United Scandinavia." Felman replied.

"Interesting. So the unification still exists? United Scandinavia was only around for a few years last time I heard."

"When was the last time you received any news outside of here?" Tova asked.

James scrunched up his face, rubbing his chin.

"Must've been awhile ago. I don't remember."

"How old are you?" I asked. He didn't look old at all. In fact, he looked only a few years older than me.

"I haven't kept track. I didn't feel a need to. The years seemed to pass more quickly once I got... you know, sick."

"Speaking of that," Tova said, pulling out a notebook, "what is this disease? And how does it function?"

"And what's with the umbrella?" Roscoe added in.

"I can explain that as we walk. I want to show you around." We followed James as he led us towards the heart of the city.

"From what I've been told and from what I've found out by myself, it's a parasitic infection that takes over the human body. To put it simply, it's worms. Thin ones, almost invisible. They can be anywhere between one and five inches. They feed off of their hosts, stealing any nutrients that the body produces. That's why our skin is white. They prey on blood. Once they're inside, they stay there for good and never leave unless the host's body gets damaged. But still, you shouldn't get too close to me." James then gestured at the umbrella which shaded him. "But, I've noticed that the worms don't like extreme heat. That's why I try not to keep a fire, or stay out in the sun for too long. This umbrella helps me somewhat."

Tova looked up into the overcast sky.

"It's not hot out right now. The sun's barely showing."

"The people on the west side of the city have become accustomed to the sun over the years. I, on the other hand, haven't yet. I bring this umbrella just in case the sun decides to show itself."

"Yesterday you were talking about your people. Where are they?" It was Brandt who asked. Looking around, we were surrounded by buildings. I kept an eye out for any movement. If this was a trap, we would be done for.

"They're gone." James said mildly. "The west and east side of this city have always been at each other's throats, so the rest of my people moved away to head inland. That was years ago. I decided to stay here. So far, the people from the west side haven't found out they've left. But once they do, they'll be crawling all over this place. Our side has always been more civilized than theirs. You've seen them for yourself."

"Why don't they just cross through the forest?" Felman wondered.

James gave a slight grin.

"I see you've noticed Spalding's Woods. Over the years, both the east and west city people have grown to believe in superstition. They believe that if anyone crosses into Spalding's Woods, that can somehow anger the gods and cause a storm." James gestured to us with an arm. "You entered the woods and looked at what happened last night. Of course, last night's storm and your entrance into the forest was nothing more than a coincidence, but that should discourage them from coming any closer. It might even strengthen their superstitious beliefs. Here we are." James stopped, and I looked up, seeing that he had led us to a tall structure. "This is the highest building in the city. I'm guessing you came here on a ship?"

Brant nodded.

"Then you should be able to spot it on the coast from up there. Don't worry, my people designed a system that'll get us up there. We won't have to walk." I sighed with relief. Just looking at the tall building started to exhaust me. As we proceeded to the entrance, something else was brought to my attention. It was my stomach, in particular, which was growling ravenously. Then it occurred to me that I hadn't eaten anything since we left the Voyager.

"Not to complain or anything, but do you have any food around here?" Everyone turned their gaze on me.

"Sorry, Alvarsson. Any food you might find around the city is either infected with worms or spoiled. I hope you can last a few more days without food."

"What about water? We can't keep going without that." Felman said.

"That, I can help you with. Even though our people were infected with the disease, we still needed clean water. The parasites inside us can't take dirty water. I can show you one of our purifying stations later."

Leading us inside the building, James walked us over to where the elevators were.

"We installed a simple pulley system here. The ride shouldn't take us no more than a minute or two." Stepping inside and giving us a wide berth, James stood next to a hand crank which was positioned in one corner of the elevator. James closed the door behind us and began to crank the handle. With surprising speed, we lifted off the ground and started to go up the shaft at a steady pace.

"Won't you get tired out?" Felman asked James, who was cranking away at the handle with one arm. The pale man shook his head.

"I don't get fatigued or tired anymore. I could continue this for days if I wanted."

"How does that even work?" Tova asked.

James shrugged.

"It's as if the worms control me from the inside. But I don't feel a thing. I'm not too sure how it works. We're almost there." We stood in silence, the only sound coming from the creaking of the elevator advancing up the shaft. And then we were at the top. James opened the doors and we stepped outside and into a derelict open space. The windows on all sides were gone, replaced by wooden boards that were secured to the frames. Only a single square portion of the boarded-up windows were left uncovered, allowing a view of the city below. James walked over to the opening, motioning us to come and see.

"This lookout faces the ocean, so you should be able to see your ship."

"I see it." Brandt said, pointed off to the right. "The Voyager is still there."

Following Brandt's outstretched arm, I saw the small ship, a speck in the distance still waiting idly next to the mole. But then I let out a curse under my breath. Around the Voyager, I could see slight movement encircling the ship. It was people, a crowd of them.

"It looks like they're still trying to get in." Felman said, a hopeful tone in his voice.

"Captain Knud can't keep them out forever. They'll get in if we don't do something now." Brandt said, scratching his chin in thought.

"Well, what should we do?" I asked.

"We have to lure them away from the ship. And once we do that, then maybe we can gain control of her and get the hell out of this wretched place."

"So how are we going to do this?" I asked as we exited the tall building. James had brought us back down and left us to make plans.

"First we're going to see how the Voyager is doing." Brandt said as we began our walk out of the city and across the empty field. Soon, we reached the forest on the other side and decided to revisit our camp from the day before. What was left of our makeshift beds was scattered around, washed away from the extreme rain and wind that the storm brought. Passing the remains of our flooded camp, we continued through the thick woods to where we first spotted our ship.

"Anyone hungry?" Tova said, unslinging her backpack. Seeing that no one else was saying anything, I shrugged and called out to Tova.

"I am."

She reached into her bag, producing four ration bars. She tossed one to me and I caught it, making sure not to unwrap it too hastily. I bit down on the bar as we walked, savoring every bite as best I could. The tasteless stuff had the consistency of chalk, but I waved the minor inconvenience off. It was better than nothing. Minutes seemed to last hours as we trudged through the overgrowth.

"Hold up." Brandt said from up ahead. We all got down and Felman motioned for us to come forward. Silently, we crawled forward and formed a line at the edge of the forest, just out of sight.

"They're patrolling around her." he said, pointing to where two dozen or so pale figures roamed around the Voyager. Unlike the people we encountered in the city, the figures that surrounded the ship sported less worn-out clothes, most of them similar in design. They were clad in a gray, both dark and light, and all of them carried brandished some kind of weapon. Makeshift axes, clubs, and spears were held at the ready by most of the people. I was surprised to find that a few of them even carried rifles and pistols.

"Where'd they get those?" I wondered out loud.

"They must've picked them up from around the city." Felman responded in a low whisper.

"So are we going to do something or are we just going to wait here until they find us?" Roscoe said from behind. I gritted my teeth at how loud the comment was. Simultaneously, we all shushed him. Then we all froze as we heard the sounds of shouting coming from the Voyager.

Looking back at the ship, I watched as several figures pointed in our direction with their weapons.

"Let's leave, now." Felman said in a harsh whisper, getting up from his crouched position. Just as he rose, a startling shot rang out and I heard a sharp whizzing sound overhead.

"Damn it!" Felman cursed, reaching for his shotgun. Roscoe did the same, lifted his own rifle up to shoot. I drew out my sidearm and leveled it at the nearest pale figure. About a dozen or so people were running at us now. Clubs, axes, and guns raised, they shouted as they closed the distance to us with incredible speed. Aiming at a bald man, I fired off two rounds and retreated backwards. I cursed myself as only one bullet found its mark, hitting the man in the shoulder. Roscoe shot at a group of three people who rushed him, knocking the leading man who then fell and stalled the other two.

"Run!" I heard Brandt say as I continued dashing away. The sound of gunfire and bodies hitting the dirt pushed me on, and I struggled to keep my footing as fallen trees and brush blocked the way. And then I slipped, my foot skidding through the mud and catching a vine. I fell face-first into the dirt, my pistol almost dislodging itself from my hand. Quickly, I turned onto my back, just in time to spot a pale figure racing right at me. It was a woman, her mouth now open, letting out a blood-curdling cry. Frantically, I unloaded my remaining rounds on her, and she fell like a bag of rocks. My hands shaking, I discarded the empty magazine and loaded in a new one. My stomach churned at the sight before me. The woman had fallen face first, her limbs spread out awkwardly. One side of her head was caved in where my shots had hit her, and inside I could see hundreds, if not thousands of worms wriggling around. They were translucent and thin, but the sheer amount of them made them easily identifiable. Screaming, I scrambled back, and felt a hand pull me up. It was Roscoe, who was already raising his rifle to shoot at another pursuer. There were too many of them, and even more were coming.

"Why the hell are they still chasing us? I thought the forest would protect us." Roscoe said, letting loose round after round as he yelled. I opened my mouth to answer him but something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was too late. As I turned to whatever was coming at me, I instinctively ducked to one side, avoiding the lunging figure. As I regained my composure, I dodged out of the way again just in time to see a crude axe swing by my head, missing by inches.

"Get out of the way!" I heard Roscoe say. Throwing myself away from the assailant again, I heard the sound of steel on flesh and looked up to find Roscoe bringing his sword up and down savagely onto the attacker. with incredible agility and speed, his sword strokes cut deep into the man, sending him reeling backwards. By the time Roscoe was done with his onslaught, the man's jaw was hanging by a thread and deep cuts were strewn about his body.

"Go! Get out of here!" he yelled as he thrust his sword into the ground and took up his rifle, letting loose several more rounds into the oncoming horde. I raced away at a full sprint, taking no time to look over my shoulder. Looking forward I saw that Brandt, Felman, and Tova were already a hundred feet ahead of us, also at a sprint. They slowed down now, covering me with gunfire as I leaped through the unforgiving brush.

"Where's Roscoe?" Felman asked as I neared them. Taking a quick glance back I saw the distant figure of Roscoe holding off the mob alone. He let out a burst of gunfire and then discarded his rifle, picking up his sword again. I watched in silent horror as Roscoe lived out his final moments. Sword in hand, the blond man cut and thrust at the approaching attackers, slashing and hacking away with unbelievable speed and accuracy, downing opponent after opponent. But as I had feared, there were too many of them. Five pale bodies lay around him by the time he went down. I took one last look back as we made our nonstop dash through the forest, and saw dozens of bodies overcome Roscoe, obscuring him from sight. And just like that, he was gone.

"They've stopped chasing us." Tova said, her words coming in ragged breaths.

"They got Roscoe." I said, my words trailing off. We were deep in the middle of the forest, and a painful stitch was beginning to grow in my side. With every step, I could hear the thumping noise of my heartbeat resounding in my head. Even when we came to a stop, the sound boomed like a cannon.

"I know we're tired and exhausted, but we have to keep moving." It was Felman, who was leaning on a tree, sweat dripping profusely down his face and neck. "Let's circle around back to the east side and go find those water purifiers James was talking about." My legs strained and my whole body screamed at me, telling me to stop as we continued our trek back to the city. Head down and vision blurring, I almost passed out a few times, catching myself just before I fell to the ground. We were at the edge of the forest just outside of the open field, when Tova collapsed to her knees. She stumbled to one knee, raising up one hand.

"I'm fine." she said in a hoarse voice. "Just fatigued, that's all."

"You take a breather, Tova. Me and Alvarsson will go ahead and find James." Brandt pointed to me. "Let's go."

Stretching my aching limbs, I walked with Brandt across the field. Looking at Brandt I could see that he too was tired. But I could tell he was trying all he could not to show it.

"This whole mission was a mistake." I said quietly as we crossed through the waist-high grass. With a sick feeling growing in my gut, I thought back to Roscoe's last stand.

"You're right. And I don't know why the hell I was picked." he responded.

"Look, Brandt. I know you're not the type to believe in coincidences."

"I'm not."

"Well you see, every time before we run into something, I get a queasy feeling in my stomach. It's like a warning before something bad happens."

"I get that all the time, Alvarsson. It's just your instincts kicking in. You should already know that by now."

"I don't think it's just my instincts, though. I think it's something more than that."

Brandt scoffed, or at least I thought he did. His throat must've been dry because it sounded more like a wheeze.

"You're starting to sound like one of those religious fools back home, Alvarsson. I'm sure you're just dehydrated."

"No, it's not that. I've been getting these warnings ever since we left Toft. I first felt it at the great hall, when I was picked."

"Look, Alvarsson. I'm sure you also experience visions of the future, but right now I'm just focused on getting the Voyager back and going home. You should be focused on that as well."

I opened my mouth to respond to Brandt's comment about visions, but I stopped myself. If I told him about my strange meeting with my father, he'd only think I was going crazy. A short lull came between us as we trudged across the grassland.

"Roscoe's dead." Brandt said abruptly, breaking the silence. "But we can't let that preoccupy our minds. What we do need to think about is how to survive this damned place."

Slowly, I nodded. Brandt was right. The important matter at hand was to survive. And if we couldn't do that, Roscoe's sacrifice would be for nothing.