Dust. There was an ungodly amount of dust on the table in the front room. The dust covered everything in the room, leaving a fine grey film over every surface. Every surface except the armchair, which had been dusted off by the person now sitting in it, flipping through a leather-bound journal with a pen made from a feather fastened to the front. The initials J. H. were embossed on the bottom left of the front cover in a gold paint, which was peeling slightly. The person reading it was a man, looking in his early twenties, wearing a red jumper that looked a size too big for him. He had dirty-blond hair that partially obscured his eyes, and he wore a look of confusion as he read. What appeared to be a very old and very large set of jewellery lay on an armchair opposing. Or, it would have appeared as a set of large gold jewellery if it hadn't been moving. This instead was a second man, dressed very oddly, as if coming strait out of a historical description of one of the great Egyptian pharaohs. The first man spoke up.

"You say that you...found this at the medical tent the day that Joe went missing?" The second man simply nodded in response, but then said

"I did, but I kept it quiet for a while."

"Well, I don't think it was worth it, Cub. This whole thing is full of Joe's nonsensical poetry."

"I thought that too. But look at the back pages, he's written stuff."

"Hasn't he written stuff throughout the entire book?"

"No, this stuff is weird. take a look."

Grian flipped to the last few pages. There, scrawled in handwriting that looked different than the rest, was written "help me. can't escape. bring me back."

"Bring me back... What the... What does that mean?"

"I don't know, I thought you might be able to help. By the way, did a couple of the hermits try to talk to you about seeing anything weird?"

"Yeah, Stress and Mumbo tried to talk to me. I was going to tell them about...nevermind."

"About what?"

"I saw something. Well, someone."

"Who?" 

"It would take a while to explain."

"We've got time."

"Why don't we go somewhere else? He might be lurking somewhere around here. He likes this house, you see."

"Sure, sure. The Herald building's been pretty empty, and the only other person I can think of that has access to the offices aside from me is Cleo."

"C'mon, Cleo, the medical tent isn't far from here"

ZombieCleo was leaning heavily against a short wall on the side of the steps up to the town hall. iJevin was next to her, trying to get her to the medical tent, which was only a short distance away. She, however, was rapidly shaking her head. 

"N-not safe there," she said in a very hoarse and raspy voice. Jevin gave a look of understanding, and looked around.

"What's near here?" he said under his breath, looking for buildings that were owned by either him or Cleo. His eyes fell on the hilltop Hermiton Herald building. "The Herald," he said. It's empty.

Jevin approached the door to the Herald. Cleo had gone unconscious again and was slumped over his shoulder. Locked. He awkwardly fumbled around in Cleo's pocket, before finally retrieving the small brass key. *click.* The lock opened, and he walked in.

Cleo awoke to the feeling of being dragged into a building. She saw Jevin pulling her inside the Herald building, and hoisting her onto a bench. He didn't seem to take a notice to the rustling noise coming from Cub's office, nor did he notice the silhouette of a man raising a club directly behind him. In an instant, Cleo saw the club strike Jevin's gelatinous head, sending ripples throughout it, before a sharp jabbing pain shot through her and everything was dark. 

"They're coming to!"

"Get them upright, it's better for them."

"That's a nasty dent, Cub, do you think it'll heal?"

Voices were surrounding. Only seeing in flashes. Cubfan. And Grian. Jevin was sitting on a bench, but looked okay. 

Grian got up to speak.

"Will you make an alliance with us?"