I Am Chosen

Rot and Ruin

They had spent a while debating what to do next.

One idea was to simply wait there in the rec room, in shifts, armed with the Winchester rifle so that when Crowe or Rhonda returned, they could put a bullet through their heads-after all, if J.D. was right and their enemy was collecting the Chosen for some terrible purpose, they needed to make sure it didn't reach whatever "magic number" of people it needed.

The plan to stay certainly had its merits, but there were drawbacks as well: first, there was no way to be certain that this was the only way in or out of the mines. Second, and most important- they wouldn't be solving the problem. Killing Crowe or Rhonda would only be a stopgap. The real problem, the Traveler That Walks Unseen, would still be there, biding its time. Kacey had a suspicion that the presence lurking below could wait multiple lifetimes if it so desired. The greatest question, of course was simply this:

Was there any way to destroy it? Be rid of it once and for all?

J.D. had asked Hollis and Kacey to repeat the tale of their descent into the mines, and to not leave out even the smallest detail. They had done so, and when they had reached the point of describing the seam of white stone, Kacey's little brother had stopped them.

"Quartz," J.D. had said.

"That's what we think it was, yeah," Hollis had responded.

Hollis and Kacey had already told J.D. about the cabin, and it was at that point that J.D. had announced that they must return there, that he had an experiment in mind; something to test on the black stone.

And so they had debated, and in the end they had settled on a combination of both plans: Hollis would stay in the rec room, clean up the blood, and wait with the Winchester. He would update Kacey and J.D. constantly as they set off once again for the cabin, and Hollis would monitor the police radio for any indication that the authorities would be paying a visit to Coolidge Estate.

It was odd for Kacey, driving Hollis's Taurus. But once they had formulated a plan, they had all agreed that time was of the essence. J.D. sat in the passenger seat now as they neared the turnoff for the cabin.

They had made a few stops on the way; first to one of those metaphysical crystal places-getting in just before closing-and then to a hardware store. At the crystal shop, J.D. had purchased four large quartz crystals; at the hardware store he had bought a loop of copper wire.

Throughout the ride, he had been chattier than Kacey could ever remember him being- talking at length about the supposed metaphysical properties of quartz as an absorber, amplifier, balancer, focuser and transmitter of energy. Hell, he had even said that back in medieval times, the "crystal balls" psychics supposedly read fortunes in were made of quartz.

Then he had gone off about the "practical" uses of quartz, and something called piezoelectricity, and that was where he had lost her.

The Taurus's headlights washed over the trunks of the sheltering trees as Kacey pulled onto the cabin's long approach. When she swung around to ease up to the cabin, she stopped, headlights bathing the trees to one side. "What the-"

The trees were... dead, but not just dead; blackened. As if some blight had afflicted them. "Grab a flashlight from the glove box," she told J.D.

A second later she was outside, shining the light all around the cabin. "Dude, look what's happened," she said. All of the trees in the structure's immediate vicinity were similarly affected. And the cabin itself looked... rotted; worn down, decayed. Worst of all, the front door was wide open.

"You want to leave?" J.D. asked. Kacey shook her head, though she wished that she had the Winchester with her right about now. Taking a closer look at the door frame, though, Kacey let out a small laugh. J.D. asked what was funny.

"The bear," she said, stepping forward. "Stupid bear got in. Whatever happened to the wood must have weakened it enough..."

"Take this," J.D. said, handing Kacey a large quartz crystal before she could go any further.

He brought the bag with the remaining crystals and the wire as they moved cautiously ahead. When they reached the door, the claw marks on both the door and the frame made it obvious that Kacey was right. Her biggest concern was that the black stone might somehow be missing.

She crossed the threshold and flipped the switch; the lights came on, but they were... dimmer than they should have been. Weak. The glow they cast had a sickly quality to it. Kacey looked over; the stone was there, where they had left it in the middle of the seating area, on the floor. The floorboards beneath it, however, were blackened like the trees.

J.D. entered and shut the door as best he could, then turned and looked at the stone. "Do you feel anything?" Kacey asked. J.D. shook his head. "If you do," she continued, "as soon as you feel... off, you get back to the vehicle."

"Yeah, okay, but... I think I was right. I think the crystals are blocking... whatever it does."

Kacey looked back to the rock. "Okay, what now?" She asked.

"Now we get to work," her little brother answered.

A few hours had passed, and Hollis had just gotten off the phone with Kacey.

She and J.D. had made it to the cabin safely. Moreover, neither one of them were being affected by the stone-Kacey's brother believed that the quartz was blocking its influence.

Sounded promising. Kacey had certainly seemed to be in her right mind. She had said that they were placing the crystals around the stone, then they would perform some kind of experiment and she would call him back.

Hollis sat now with the Winchester firmly in his grip, his back propped against the wall opposite the dart board, staring across at it, waiting for the section to swing inward; waiting for something unimaginably hideous to emerge from the darkness.

Briefly, he imagined himself falling asleep, awakening moments later to see the door already open, then turning to behold... something. Maybe Crowe. Maybe Rhonda White-

Hollis shook off the thought. There was no way he would fall asleep. Lives were depending on him; neither Crowe nor Rhonda White were going to make it out tonight; not on his watch.

Just then a tremor became evident throughout the room- a slight vibration at first, growing in intensity to a massive, rocking jolt and with it the stark, terrifying sensation that the earth itself was about to drop right out from beneath him.

The lights blinked. Arcade games swayed and teetered. Hollis dropped the Winchester and curled his knees to his chest. Deafening crashing sounds erupted around him and then...

The lights went out.

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Whatever's happening, it can't be good. But hey, at least Hollis has the Winchester. We'll see if it helps him. In one week.