As soon as they stepped inside Colony House, Julie scanned the room, looking for her father, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Where's Dad?"
"He's off chasing wires with Jade." Tabitha let out a sigh that blended pride with exhaustion. "The two of them want to get the radio working before lunch."
As they crossed the living room, Ethan suddenly stopped and pointed toward one of the sofas.
"There!"
Fatima was speaking quietly with Ellis, who had one leg stretched out on a small wooden stool.
When the couple noticed the siblings, Fatima broke into a broad smile.
"There you are."
Julie laughed and hurried over.
"Hey."
She hugged her friend before turning to Ellis.
"So? How's the foot?"
"Much better." He flexed his ankle carefully, testing how far the pain would let him go. "It still hurts if I push it too much, but I can stand without looking like a drunk sailor now."
"That's great." Julie faced Fatima again. "Speaking of which... Mom said you were looking for me."
Fatima narrowed her eyes in mock reproach.
"I was. You disappeared yesterday without even saying goodbye."
"You two seemed like you needed some time alone." Julie shrugged, a knowing smile slipping onto her face.
Fatima exchanged a brief look with Ellis. He proudly reached over to take her hand.
"He asked me to marry him."
Julie stood frozen, taking in the news. Then her eyes widened.
"You're kidding."
Daniel had never mentioned that. Maybe it was just another change brought about by the butterfly effect.
The thought of her friend's fate gave Julie pause.
But seeing how much happier Fatima looked than she had over the past few days, she pushed those thoughts aside.
Daniel had already said he'd help her when the time came.
"Oh my God, that's amazing!" Julie stepped forward and hugged her tightly. "Congratulations! Seriously, congratulations!"
Tabitha, who had been watching from a few steps away, placed a hand over her chest.
"Congratulations to both of you. It's wonderful to have some good news in the middle of all this madness."
Fatima offered a shy nod before turning back to Julie.
"Thank you. And actually... I wanted to ask if you'd be my maid of honor."
Julie covered her mouth, visibly moved.
"Of course I will. I'd be honored."
The celebration was interrupted by Ethan's impatient voice.
"Okay, that's great and all, but Daniel said you were going to tell us how you fought the monsters yesterday."
Fatima and Ellis exchanged another glance, this time sharing the same curiosity.
"I want to hear it too." Fatima leaned forward.
The expression on Tabitha's face revealed the same interest.
"So do I. I could see some of it from the window, but not much. The angle was bad, and it was too far away."
"Speaking of that..." Julie noticed the absence of the newcomers around them. "Where are the new people?"
"Donna's showing them the upstairs rooms and explaining the safety rules." Ellis gestured vaguely toward the staircase.
Julie nodded. When she looked back at the group, she realized they were all watching her, waiting expectantly for her to begin.
She let out a resigned sigh.
"All right… Looks like I'm going to have to tell the whole story."
Ethan wasted no time. He sat cross-legged on the floor and waited, completely focused.
Julie smiled at her little brother's enthusiasm, settled down beside Fatima, and began recounting everything that had happened, from the bus's arrival to Boyd's attempt to convince the passengers to take shelter in the sheriff's station before nightfall.
As the story unfolded, Ethan interrupted her from time to time, unable to contain his excitement.
"And then?"
"What happened after that?"
"Were the monsters already coming?"
Julie patiently answered each question before continuing. She chose her words carefully as she reached the part where some of the passengers fled in panic, the exact moment the man stepped onto the spike strip and was caught by one of the creatures.
The excitement vanished from Ethan's face. Fatima and Ellis also fell silent, and the lighthearted mood from only moments earlier disappeared.
She told them how Daniel had blinded the creature and how Kenny had seized the opportunity to rescue one of the passengers.
The only part she left out was drawing her gun to stop two passengers from running straight to their deaths.
As she continued recounting what had happened, more residents quietly drifted over.
Some arrived without saying a word. Others stayed where they were, but the way they tilted their heads made it obvious they were hanging on every word.
By the time Julie finished, a small circle of people had formed around the sofa.
Ethan still seemed to be processing everything he'd heard when he turned to his mother.
"Daniel's an incredible shot. He blinded the monster in the dark." He paused dramatically before adding, "I'm gonna ask him to teach me how to shoot!"
Tabitha reacted almost before he had finished speaking.
"Absolutely not."
Ethan made a face.
"Oh, Mom..."
"Absolutely not, Ethan."
He stuck out his lower lip in an offended pout.
"But Daniel..."
"Absolutely. Not." Tabitha repeated, emphasizing every word. "You're still a child. Guns aren't toys."
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are."
Fatima let out a quiet giggle, covering her mouth with one hand at the sight of the boy's sulking expression.
Ellis was hiding a crooked smile as well, clearly amused by the family's dynamic.
That was when a calm voice spoke from just behind them.
"Actually, I found this young lady very brave."
Everyone turned.
Tillie was standing a few steps away, watching Julie.
No one could say where the elderly woman had come from or how long she'd been listening to the conversation.
She wore her usual serene smile as steam slowly rose from the ceramic mug she held with both hands.
"Drawing her gun to stop those two from running saved their lives."
Tabitha slowly turned toward her daughter.
"...What gun?"
The entire room seemed to hold its breath.
Julie felt her blood run cold. She stared at Tillie through narrowed eyes. How had the old woman appeared out of nowhere? More importantly, why wasn't she upstairs with the rest of the bus passengers?
Tillie noticed Tabitha's rigid posture and Julie's reaction. Her smile faltered.
"Oh... I'm so sorry." She blinked a few times, looking genuinely embarrassed. "Did I say something I shouldn't have?"
Julie didn't answer. Instead, she turned to her mother, lifting her chin slightly, as though she'd decided to face the situation instead of trying to avoid it.
"Daniel gave me one."
A quiet murmur spread among the nearby residents, as though many of them had already suspected as much.
Tabitha drew a deep breath through her nose, pressing her lips into a thin line.
"Fatima," she said without taking her eyes off Julie, "could you keep an eye on Ethan for a little while?"
Sensing the mood, Ethan stayed quiet.
"Of course." Fatima gave Julie a supportive pat on the shoulder.
Julie answered with nothing more than an awkward smile, the kind that had already accepted a long and inevitably unpleasant conversation.
She followed her mother out of the house, moving away from everyone else.
Tabitha crossed her arms.
"This is crazy, Julie. It's dangerous. You don't have any training, and walking around armed in the middle of all these people could end in a terrible accident."
"It was necessary." Julie didn't back down. "Or did you already forget what Rick did?"
The question struck home.
Briefly, Tabitha faltered. Her gaze drifted into the distance, as if reliving the afternoon Ethan had been taken into the woods with a revolver pointed at his head.
"I haven't forgotten." Her voice came out quieter. "But understanding why you did it doesn't mean I have to like the idea. It's one thing for Daniel to know how to use a gun... it's another for you." Her eyes instinctively dropped to her daughter's waist, searching for any bulge beneath her clothes. "Where is it now?"
"I put it away." Julie answered without hesitation. "Mom, if I hadn't used it yesterday, those two would've run straight toward the monsters. They'd be dead."
Tabitha still didn't look convinced. They argued for several more minutes, repeating the same points from different angles without either of them giving an inch.
Julie was the one who cut the conversation short when she spotted Kenny running toward Colony House.
She didn't even wait for her mother to finish speaking.
"Looks like something serious happened."
She was already walking away before she'd finished the sentence.
Tabitha let out a frustrated sigh and followed after her.
The conversation in the living room died when Kenny walked in. The newcomers had already settled around the sofas and along the staircase railing, and the young man's heavy breathing, combined with the sweat running down his forehead, was enough to put everyone on alert.
Donna was the first to approach him.
"What happened?"
Kenny braced his hands on his knees while catching his breath.
"Daniel found the two who ran off."
Kelly's name didn't even have to be mentioned. Sitting in one corner of the room, she immediately tensed.
"Looks like they're alive." Kenny met her eyes. "But they're in bad shape. Your boyfriend wants to see you."
Kelly's shoulders slumped. Her face twisted into a mixture of relief and pain. Brian was alive. At the same time, he was the same man who had abandoned her the night before, fleeing alone while leaving her behind to die.
Donna watched the conflict play across the young woman's face and stepped forward, speaking in a calm, almost motherly tone.
"If you don't want to go, no one's going to force you."
Kelly lowered her head, staring at her hands in silence for several seconds. Then she lifted her chin, resolute despite the tremble in her lower lip.
"I'll go."
…
Daniel cut through the forest with long, deliberate strides, brushing aside the low-hanging branches with little effort. Just behind him, Kristi did her best to keep up, breathing in short, labored bursts.
Marielle had fallen several yards behind, leaning against the trunk of a tree while trying to catch her breath.
"Go." She waved them on, barely able to speak through her exhaustion. "I'll... catch up."
Daniel didn't slow down. Kristi hesitated for only an instant before pressing on.
A few minutes later, they reached the circular clearing. The stone ruins rose from the moss-covered ground, silent and indifferent to the horror they sheltered.
Kristi stopped at the edge of the clearing. Her chest was still rising and falling rapidly when she spotted the two men pinned to the stone slab.
She instinctively raised a hand to her mouth, but her pause lasted only a second.
She rushed to Brick's side and dropped to her knees, examining each of the five iron rods piercing his body. Two pierced his arms, two his legs, and the last one had been driven through his abdomen.
"Hi. My name's Kristi. I'm a doctor." She remained composed despite the scene before her. "I'm going to examine both of you first. What are your names?"
"Brick... just... get me out of here..." the young man rasped.
Daniel informed her that the other man, who hadn't responded, was named Brian before handing her the medical bag he'd been carrying.
Kristi unzipped it and slipped on a pair of disposable gloves.
"Let's see what we're dealing with."
Brick's eyelids were heavy, barely open. His face was pale, covered in a sheen of cold sweat.
The moment Kristi gently touched the skin around one of the wounds, a groan escaped his lips.
"It hurts..." He gasped. "Please... it hurts so much..."
Beside him, Brian drifted in and out of consciousness, muttering incoherent words that no one could make out.
Marielle arrived, still out of breath. As soon as she fully took in the scene, she stopped abruptly. The shock made her unconsciously take a step back.
"Oh my God..."
She stood frozen for several seconds, unable to tear her eyes away from the horrifying sight.
The two men's cries of pain finally snapped her out of it. Forcing her legs to move, she knelt on the opposite side of the slab to help Kristi, despite the visible tremor in her hands.
A few steps away, Daniel let the two women work. His gaze drifted to the partially ruined structure nearby.
This was most likely the Temporal Fracture where he could use Story Walking.
Even so, he wasn't suicidal enough to test that theory now.
His attention eventually shifted to the cave farther back. In the original timeline, there had been a cave that led to the creatures' lair, but as far as he remembered, it wasn't this one.
Stranger still, something like this—something resembling a ritual—had never happened.
The sharp crack of snapping branches announced Boyd's arrival.
He froze the instant he cleared the tree line; the man who normally faced every horror with an unreadable expression allowed genuine shock to show.
His mouth fell slightly open.
"What the fuck is this..."
Recovering quickly, he strode forward, studying every detail the way he always did whenever confronted with the unknown.
"Who did this to you? Was it the creatures?"
Brian, who had regained consciousness, tried to lift his head, but the effort seemed to drain what little strength he had left.
After being informed that the undersheriff had gone to get Kelly, he finally responded.
"I don't know... I was running... then everything went black..." He closed his eyes before continuing. "I only woke up when I was... already stuck here."
Brick confirmed the story with a slight nod. Neither of them remembered the journey. Neither could say who had brought them there.
"What's your blood type?" Kristi asked.
"O positive," Brick answered through gritted teeth.
"I... don't know mine..." Brian murmured, his voice barely audible.
Kristi stood up and discreetly signaled for Boyd, Daniel, and Marielle to step away with her.
"They've lost a lot of blood, but that's not the biggest problem," she said quietly, making sure the patients couldn't hear. "The real issue is removing those rods. I have no way of knowing whether they've pierced any major blood vessels."
"And if they have?" Boyd asked bluntly.
"Then they could bleed to death." Kristi swallowed hard. "But leaving them like this isn't an option either. Every minute those rods remain inside them increases the risk of infection... not to mention the pain."
No one spoke for a while.
"We'll start with Brick. He's more stable." Kristi straightened her shoulders, her fingers still encased in bloodstained gloves. "If either of them starts hemorrhaging, we'll have to do a direct transfusion. And since we don't know Brian's blood type, we'll need someone with O-negative blood."
"I can donate. I'm O-negative." Boyd already had his sleeve rolled up before he finished speaking.
[What a helpful man. He can barely hold his morning coffee without his hand shaking, yet he's volunteering for an improvised blood donation. Admirable. Or suicidal. Probably both.]
Daniel said nothing, but his eyes lingered on the sheriff's hand briefly before looking away.
"Good." Kristi exhaled.
The four of them returned to the stone slab.
Kristi knelt beside Brick again, softening her expression as much as she could.
"Brick."
She waited until he managed to focus on her.
"I'm going to explain exactly what we have to do, and I need you to understand the risks before we begin."
Without sugarcoating anything, she explained the procedure, the risk of hemorrhaging, and the intense pain he would feel as the rods were removed.
Brick listened in silence, his face twisted by exhaustion and suffering. Once she was done, he didn't think twice.
"Just... get me off this damn thing. I can't take lying here anymore."
Kristi nodded and signaled to Daniel and Boyd.
"Ready?"
The two men took their positions, bracing their hands firmly on Brick's shoulders and hips to keep his body as steady as possible.
"On three." Kristi took a deep breath. "One... two..."
With one careful motion, they lifted Brick, pulling his body free from the iron rods that had been firmly embedded in the stone slab.
His scream ripped through the clearing, raw and desperate, echoing through the forest and sending even the most distant birds into flight.
Only a single crow remained where it was, perfectly still, watching everything from a safe distance.
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