Saga of a New World - (Audiobook Available)

9. A Grim Return

Back at the farm, the Mayor and several others are awaiting their return. The amount of people there has grown substantially and, as those from the Sheriff's house have arrived, so has the number of guns. A man in hunting gear sits on top of the roof, watching the surrounding area with his rifle at the ready. Every few minutes he raises his weapon to look at something through the scope.

Before Lukas can bring the tractor to a full stop, Fynn jumps off.

The Mayor asks him, "How did it go? Do you have—" She doesn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Fynn walks up to her.

He balls his hand into a fist and from no more than a pace away yells, "Why didn't you tell us?!"

The Mayor recoils slightly. "Tell you what?"

"Don't pretend you didn't know about the magic ghosts!"

The Mayor stammers, "There... were no... ghosts."

Fynn opens his mouth, but before he can say anything else the Sheriff puts her hand on his shoulder and says, "Calm down. I don't like her either, but she would have told us had she known. Right?!"

The Mayor quickly looks back at Fynn and says, "Of course. Why wouldn't I? I had no idea. What happened?"

The Sheriff answers instead of Fynn. "At first everything was quiet, so we just entered the pharmacy and started rummaging through the shelves. The pharmacist and the two other people working there must've died in the storeroom. They were deathly pale and covered in gray veins and fog seemed to be leaking out of their bodies. As we got closer to them, the fog came together and ghostly figures rose from their bodies. They instantly swarmed Mr. Rot. I'm not a coward, but I can't even begin to tell you how freaking scary that was. One of them also managed to touch Noah so we know that where they touch skin or fur, it immediately turns white. He said their touch burned like hell. We of course immediately tried to shoot them, but our bullets just passed through them. Shooting the corpses they rose from also didn't do anything. I don't know what they did to him, but after screaming, Mr. Rot's body crumpled to the floor, and another ghost rose from where he fell."

The Mayor says, "I swear, I had no idea that the people who died from that accursed fog turned into ghosts. Everyone will tell you; we saw nothing like that when we left."

Several people from the town mutter in agreement.

The Mayor shakes her head. "First, half the people and wildlife get turned into fantasy creatures, and now we find out that the magical death-fog that swallowed our town turns people into magical murder ghosts. Please at least tell me that they can't leave the cloud."

The Sheriff replies, "I'm not sure, but it looked like the ghosts are made from the fog. I think it's safe to assume they can't leave it."

The doctor, who silently watched the entire scene, steps out of the crowd. "Hmm. Were there any signs those people are still alive? If they are and we can get them out of the cloud, they could recover."

The Sheriff shrugs. "If you want to try, Doc, it's your funeral. I can tell you though that shooting the corpses did not deter the ghosts and the fog... it really feels like it's eating you up from the inside. I'm sure those people are dead, or at least their bodies are."

"Well," the Mayor claps her hands and turns to address the small crowd, "so much death and bad news. Best to get it all out of the way now. Me and Mr. Kalk have made an inventory of everything left on the farm. Some of the cows transformed into these things with big chests. At least one of them transformed into a massive, armored thing that busted down half the barn and crushed several other animals. It's a huge mess. There were also some geese, but they're all either dead or gone. Anyway, there are no animals left. Parts of the fields were also transformed, but we might be able to harvest some things from them. We should be able to survive on this, but we'll have to figure out a way to find more food. Luckily, fresh water won't be a problem."