It was a warm afternoon in early May. Alice and Nick sat amongst the other graduates at the University of Georgia; their families sat in the crowd of on-lookers, applauding as each graduate walked across the stage.
Nick had pursued a degree in botany, his love for plants had -sprouted- when Alice had given him the mushroom field guide. Plus, all of their camping trips together had led to a love of foraging that the two shared. Nick wanted to use his degree to become a field botanist. He hadn't traveled around too much as a kid. Apart from his camping trips and archery tournaments, Nick had seen very little of the world. The desire to travel, paired with the desire to spend as little time behind a desk as he could, Nick knew that botany was the perfect fit for him.
Alice had seen even less of the world than Nick. Growing up, she and her parents did not have a lot of money. Almost every spare cent was saved so Alice could go to college without having to worry too much about student loans. She still had them of course, but combined with the money that her parents had saved and the educational scholarships that she had earned; Alice was not looking at too heavy of a burden. She counted herself lucky for this. Alice had been right alongside Nick at the beginning of their freshman year. Botany just seemed like the perfect fit for the both of them. But, Alice had fallen in love with ecology after taking an intro class during her second semester of freshman year and the two bid farewell to their identical schedules.
Even though the two of them were thicker than thieves, they didn't have to spend every waking moment together to justify their friendship. Nick was often busy with his course load and the archery club that he was a part of. Alice had her own classes to worry about, and the job that she had gotten at the local kickboxing gym didn't exactly offer her a lot of freetime. Alice and Nick still found time for each other nonetheless. Their junior year had them moving out of the dorms and into a small house with two of their other friends, Emily and Connor.
Emily had dated Nick on and off throughout their time at the university. She was a sunkissed girl with curly blonde hair and light brown eyes that shone in the sunlight. Nick had met her on the archery team during their freshman year, where they instantly clicked. After introducing her to Alice, the two girls struck up a strong friendship. Neither girl felt threatened by the other's relationship to Nick. It was Emily who had gotten Alice the job at the kickboxing gym after hearing her concerns about money one girls night over a bottle of wine. Alice had tried to return the favor with some discounted kickboxing lessons, but quickly came to learn that Emily was already highly skilled in kickboxing. Not too far into their junior year together, Emily and Nick had broken up. After moving in together, they found that they preferred their original friendship over their romantic relationship and mutually decided to go back to being friends.
Alice had met Connor in one of her ecology classes her sophomore year. He was a fun loving kid, with dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Alice couldn't help but notice that both Emily and Connor had the same shade of brown as her own eyes. All three of their eyes seemed to hold the same ability of "lighting up" in the light of the sunset and sunrise. Nick had playfully pointed out that all three of them could be long lost family members, after witnessing the familiar warm glow that came from all of their eyes during a sunset that they had all watched together on a beach trip. Alice and Nick had not seen the glance that Emily and Connor had thrown to each other at this, as Alice was crouched down over some wood trying to discreetly help Nick get a fire going.
After three years of friendship between the four of them, they would be saying goodbye to each other after commencement ended. Emily and Connor would be flying out to the East coast to begin their internships. Emily was an architecture major, and had secured an internship with a company out in New York, whereas Connor had been accepted into a graduate program at a smaller university in Connecticut. Alice and Nick had tried to pry the name of the university out of him multiple times, but for some reason, Connor was adamant that the location remain a secret.
Alice was thinking about how upset she was going to be to see their little gang split in half, when her name was called for her to walk across the stage and receive her diploma. Nick followed shortly after her, shooting her a quick grin and a thumbs up as he walked back to his seat. They both cheered loudly as Emily and then Connor received their diplomas.
After the event was over, the four of them met back up with Alice and Nicks families at their apartment to finish packing up. The Bets, Nick's family, and the Barlowes, Alice's parents, agreed to load the last of their furniture into the rental moving truck while Nick and Alice drove Emily and Connor to the airport.
Walking their friends to the baggage check, Nick and Alice said their final goodbyes.
"Call us when you land, and again when you both get to your apartments, ok?" Alice said, wiping tears from her cheeks as she hugged Emily tightly.
Emily rubbed her back as she let go and turned to give Nick a hug, "We will, you two better be careful out there." Emily said as she pointed her finger at Alice and Nick. She was referring to their plans of a three month trip where they would travel around the US and document data on climate change and how it is affecting the local flora and fauna of each state. They had received this opportunity through one of Alice's professors, who would be coordinating with them throughout the trip and help them organize their data.
"Oh you know we don't like trouble," Nick winked at Connor who grinned back at him. "I promise only one life threatening occurrence per state." Nick quipped, as Emily threw a glare at him. Flames seemed to dance in her eyes. As sweet as Emily was, she had a bit of a temper when she was stressed.
"Bye kid," Connor spoke up, trying to end Emily's irritation towards Nick. He wrapped one arm around Emily and the other around Alice, bringing them both in for a tight, one-armed hug. Emily rolled her eyes playfully as Nick joined in on the group hug. The anger had gone from her eyes, replaced by sadness as she knew it was time to part ways.
"Have a safe flight you two!" Alice shouted after their friends as they moved through TSA. Emily and Connor turned around for one last wave goodbye then disappeared around the corner to go to their gate.
Wrapping his arm around Alice, Nick comforted her as he led them back to his truck. "It's ok Sparkles, we'll see them again."
"Yeah, but not for a long time." Alice sniffed. She hated to be apart from her friends. Connor and Emily had been the first true friends that she had outside of her friendship with Nick.
Nick shook her shoulder with his arm lightly as they entered the parking lot, "But think of all the fun that you and I are going to have, out there in the vast wilderness of these United States!" Nick's face flashed in confusion for a split second, "Not that I'm complaining, but don't you think it's kinda wild that this kind of opportunity just drops onto our laps not even a week before graduation? Like, we're freshly out of college and all of a sudden we get an opportunity to go on a research trip that would usually be reserved for graduate students?"
"I mean it is a little strange, but I'm trying to look at it as if Dr. Hanisan sees something in us that we might not, you know?" Alice shrugged, "Besides, it's not like we're just doing this for the fun of it, we're planning on going back to school in a few years for our masters and PhDs and all that."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Nick brushed off his concern as they got to his truck. Things had always tended to work out for him when Alice was around, like how they both managed to get into the same university, and how he had received enough money in scholarships to be able to afford his tuition without having to worry about student loans, which was something that he never expected to not have to worry about.
They pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway, headed back to their apartment. Alice had one last shift at her job that night, then the next morning they would leave for Clarksville with their families.
Alice rolled the window down and let the warm wind blow against her face, throwing her light brown curls all over her face before she tied them back with a scrunchie that Connor had given to her on her twenty-second birthday.
"I'm gonna miss all the warmth, especially towards the beginning of fall when we hit those Northern states." Alice hummed as she let her hand hang out of the window, surfing on the wind.
"But it'll be just like camping," Nick assured her as he drifted the truck into the speeding lane, the engine whining in protest as he pushed eighty.
Alice raised an eyebrow at the sound, "Are you sure the truck is gonna make it all the way back to Indiana?"
Nick scoffed at this. "Sparkles, this bad boy could make it all the way to Canada and back if it wanted to."
"Mmmhhhmmm."
"Hey don't sass me!" Nick yelled in fake anger as he used his free hand to shove at Alice's knees. She laughed at this, as the car started to swerve lightly in their lane.
"Hey! Eyes on the road, dumbass!" Alice exclaimed as Nick looked over to take another swipe at her legs. Trying to fend him off, she flexed her fingers at his hands and sparks jumped off of the tips of her fingers and onto his outstretched hand.
"Ah! Owwie, that really hurt, Sparkles!" Nick complained dramatically as he waved his uninjured hand around, making a show of it.
"That'll teach ya." Alice giggled as Nick returned his hand, and eyes, to the steering wheel.
Miraculously they made it back to the apartment in one piece. Their parents took them out to an early dinner so that Alice could get to her shift at the gym on time. Nick had offered to drive her, Since the gym was only about five minutes from the restaurant. But Alice had insisted on walking as it was a warm afternoon and she wanted to enjoy the last bit of her college town before she went back home.
Putting in her headphones, Alice began the fifteen minute walk. Some of the streets that Alice walked down were deserted, and she began to feel like someone was watching her. She sped up for the rest of the walk. She couldn't shake the feeling but began to calm down once she entered the gym.
Alice clocked in at 6 o'clock and sat at the front desk to begin her shift. It was the end of the spring semester, and most of the students were either out celebrating the end of the term or packing up and getting ready to go home. Alice didn't see too many of the usual gym members tonight. She checked a few in and discussed membership rates with some younger students who were looking to join, but other than that she wasn't too busy.
When Alice first started working at the gym, the manager had given her the O.K. to use some of the equipment if the gym was experiencing a lull. Looking around the mostly empty space, Alice decided to get in thirty minutes with a bag before she would have to close the gym.
After changing out of her uniform and into some shorts and a tank top, Alice walked out onto the gym floor and waved goodbye to the last remaining member as they packed up and left. Putting her headphones back in, Alice began to throw punches into the bag. She let the stress of finals pour out of herself. She knew that she had to be careful, too often she had burned small holes in the bags as she got lost in her workouts. Those had been hard to explain to the manager.
She had gotten so into the zone that she didn't hear a skittering sound across the tiled floor of the gym entrance. With her back turned to the creature, Alice didn't see it as it moved around her in a half circle, watching her. It was about the size of a racoon, but instead of fur it was covered in feathers. Like the creature that she and Nick had encountered in the woods six years ago, this one had what looked like a rat's tail, only it was flat with a ridge of scales running along the length of it, pointing up at the sky. It also had a mouth full of teeth, layered in rows like a shark, each tooth was a shade of poisonous green. It clicked its jaws at Alice's back, slime falling to the floor where it sizzled and burned holes into the floor beneath it. In a flash it spun its back legs wildly as it slid across the floor towards Alice's legs.
Just then Alice's music changed and in the split second of silence she heard the wild scuttling of the creature's feet as it slithered from the tile onto the floor mats. Dread flooded her veins like ice as the encounter from six years ago came flooding back to her.
She ripped her headphones out of her ears and spun around, screaming. The creature was already almost on top of her. She could see its beady eyes flashing in some sort of sick satisfaction as it closed the small distance between them. Disgust and bile rose up in Alice as the odor of the creature washed over her like a tsunami. It was overwhelming, it smelled like decomposition and raw sewage. Alice's eyes watered as she screamed again. The thing launched itself into the air, swiping its claws at her face and snapped its jaws. Alice spun and roundhouse kicked the thing in its squat, stumpy face. It let out a squeal and flew across the room. Alice used this moment to bolt out the back door into the alley beside the gym.
She sprinted down the alley, heading for safety when the thing materialized in front of her. Alice felt her arms grow warm as fire spiraled down her shoulder to her wrists. Her hands now ablaze she faced the creature, which arched its back in what Alice perceived as excitement. Missy would not be here to save her this time, she would have to get out of this situation on her own.
She stepped towards the creature in what she hoped would be a threatening move, but the creature arched its back even more as it hissed at Alice.
It bolted forward as Alice shot a blast of fire from her hands, which the creature dodged. It launched itself into the air again as Alice prepared to kick it again. She heard the unmistakable sound of an arrow being notched and pulled back, then released from somewhere above her. There was a soft "thwack" as the arrow found purchase in the ribs of the creature. It gave a snarling squeal as it thrashed on the ground wildly, then stilled, before its body melted into a puddle of murky darkness.
Alice looked around wildly for where the arrow could have come from, and she saw a shadow moving along the rooftops above her. "Nick?" Alice called out uncertainty, watching as the shadow disappeared.
Alice shook her head, turning her attention to the puddle on the ground before her. The arrow was still standing upright, and little wisps of smoke were trailing from its head. On the opposite end sat a note. Alice grabbed it, carefully avoiding the puddle.
"Be careful" it read.
Pocketing the note and taking a few pictures of the puddle, Alice took one more look around the alley. Alice then ran back into the gym to grab her things and lock up. She ran back to her apartment, which was only five minutes away. She needed to tell Nick what had just happened.