December 2nd, 2019
Foghills, Arkansas

"I need a drink," Will groaned after a few silent minutes. He stood up and stretched, heading to the kitchen, with Jack and Ash following right behind.

"Ooh, hand me the ice cream while you're up. I'm been craving some since we stopped at that burger joint for dinner." Ash sat down at the tiny table in the coziest room in the house and looked like a little kid when he was tossed a pint of mint chip.

Will grabbed a cold can of beer from the fridge and took a long swig within seconds of opening it. Jack almost laughed when he fell into a coughing fit. He'd never really been much of a drinker before.

Leaning against the counter in front of the sink, Jack had a perfect view of the backyard where he saw Marley and Kit's flashlights wading through her unsightly greenhouse that stood nearly as big as the main structure. "What are we doing here, bro?" he finally asked, looking at Ash, who was inhaling ice cream straight from the container. "That's gross, man." He gagged, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I thought you liked coming here." Ash swallowed a huge bite of ice cream, licking the melted drops off his fingers.

Jack shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and shaking his dark hair out of his face. "I mean, I do. But why are we here? Really, man?"

Ash sighed, leaning back in his chair and gazing up at the ceiling. "Alright, look, I have to take a job. Kit caught wind of something, and I really need the fucking money. So-"

"What, you're just gonna leave us here and go do your dirty work?" Will demanded, and Jack wanted to slam his own head against the counter repeatedly. It seemed to him that Will just wanted to go against anything that came out of their oldest brother's mouth.

Ash's response was little more than a shrug as he continued to devour the pint of mint ice cream. "That was the plan."

"Let me go with you," Jack spoke up as soon as the idea was in his head, removing his gaze from the impressive greenhouse.

"Jack..." Will growled warningly, while Ash's chair fell back to the ground as he thought it over.

"Sure," he responded, albeit a little reluctantly.

Will's icy glare sent shivers down Jack's spine, but he did his best to ignore it. "Why would you want to?"

"Because, it's the family business. And I want in."

Will shook his head derisively. "Right. And what about the Pleasant family business? You know, the one that's legal?"

"If I never have to dig another grave again, it'll be too damn soon."

"Shut up you two." Ash intervened before Will could respond. "Why don't you both come with me?" Jack didn't miss the timid hint in his voice, but the obvious reluctance did nothing to deter his curiosity. In fact, it only served to heighten it that much more.

"No."

"Come on, nerd, see what the job is all about," Ash urged. "Don't knock it 'til you try it."

"Is that why you're such a goddamn crackhead?"

Jack laughed. "Let's do it," he agreed. "It'll be like the old days when we used to go hunting together after Dad left." The mention of the old hunting trips they took when they were younger caused Will's face to soften for the first time all day. The memories of their secret excursions into the woods were some of the best the brothers had ever shared.

"...Fine. One time. But I'm staying in the car."

"Deal." A genuine smile crossed Ash's face.

"When do we leave?" Jack asked just as Marley and Kit stomped through the back door, their boots muddy from the yard and their faces crimson from the cold.

"Tonight," Kit responded with a sly grin, and Jack wasn't sure whether she was talking to Marley or them.

"Where are they going?" Marley wanted to know, a frown etched into her face. Her skin held a deeper, darker tan than her brothers' and her eyes were almost burgundy in color, but when she glared at them the way she always did, there was no denying they shared a father.

Kit must've noticed her discomfort because she laughed softly. "Don't worry, sweet, they're just going to run a few errands for me. Might take 'em a day or two, but shouldn't be longer'n that," she promised, throwing an arm around Marley's thin shoulders, and Jack was mildly impressed when his sister didn't pull away automatically like she usually did.

"Can I go too?" Her eyes trailed to where Ash brooded at the flimsy little table that looked almost a size too small for him.

"No." His tone was steely and abrasive as he studiously ignored the scowl Kit fixed him with.

"You can stick around here with me, darlin'. I'll show you my gun collection," the old lady offered with such a proud smile that even on her worst day she couldn't have refused.

"Okay." Marley's reply was unenthusiastic as her shoulders dropped, and Jack wanted to hit his brother for being the one to make her feel that way.

"I'll bring you back something," he promised her, hoping to ease at least a little of the hurt he knew she was feeling.

Marley smiled blandly. "Thanks."

* * *

They left less than an hour later, like Kit told them to, but not before she packed them down with two duffel bags filled with more weapons and snacks than they would need for the one or two nights they were supposed to be gone.

"Bye, boys!" she called after them. "Love ya!"

Jack was jittery with nerves as they waved goodbye and hopped into the Blazer, eager to get out of the frosty chill that had settled over Kit's property. "Love you!" he shouted back, waving his hand out the window, even while Ash rolled it up.

"Hey, keep the heat in."

"So who's the target?" Will wanted to know after they'd been driving for a couple of quiet minutes.

Jack watched Ash tense up and knew in that instance, that he wasn't about to give them the answer. His shoulders stiffened and his gaze was strictly focused on the road. "I'll tell you when we get closer to Briarwood."

Will looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he asked, "Should we have brought the runt with us? I mean, isn't she a target too?"

"No." Ash's bitter reply was almost instantaneous. "She's safer with Kit."

"You should be nicer to her." Jack spoke up tentatively, ignoring the part of his brain that told him to shut up and drop the matter entirely.

"No I shouldn't," Ash responded, his voice laden with steel and laced with a silent warning to let it go. But he wouldn't, not again. Jack had seen Marley disappointed one too many times to stand by and watch it happen anymore. She'd only ever wanted to be a part of their family, she'd only ever wished that their mom had been her mother. She didn't deserve to be treated like shit.

"What did she ever do to you?" Jack demanded, petting Keala's thick black fur while she slept with her head in his lap.

The car was silent for a long time except for the sound of Led Zeppelin playing quietly through the speakers. "You look like hell." Ash finally just changed the subject entirely, and Jack caught him looking his way through the rearview mirror every couple of seconds. "Did you sleep at all last night? Really, man?"

In the passenger seat, Will had nodded off, so Jack didn't feel as bad when he told his brother the truth. "For a few minutes." As he spoke, his gaze never left the window, staring unseeingly at the passing scenery.

"Mom said you stopped having nightmares when you were eleven." Ash's deep voice held a hint of accusation.

Jack let out a strangled laugh, realizing just how tired he really was. "No. I just stopped talking about them." His eyelids drooped as he spoke, but he snapped himself with the rubber band around his wrist and reeled backward, slightly more awake. "And it's not just the nightmares either." There was a reason he'd stopped talking about everything, even to his brother.

Ash shot him a deadly look through the mirror. "What are you saying?"

"Nothing," Jack yawned. "I'm tired. Forget about it." He leaned his head back against the headrest despite his brother's irate protest, and succumbed to the slumber that had stalked him for hours.

"Jack!" He heard his name faintly, but the claws of his nightmare had sunk deep into his mind and refused to let him go. "Jack! Goddammit!"

Two hands on his shoulders shaking him wildly managed to jolt him from the icy depths of his subconscious, much to his infinite relief. His clear blue eyes shot open, his breathing ragged, and the first thing he noticed was Will's face just inches from his own. Close enough that he could see the faint scar that cut through his lip from the time he'd accidentally pierced it with a fishhook. "He's awake, Ash! You can hang up now!" Will called over his shoulder. "You okay?" Worry colored his expression as Jack tried to catch his breath.

He attempted to say yes, but vivid scenes from his nightmare flashed through his memory and he cringed. Squeezing his eyes shut, he took deep, slow breaths, counting to ten. "Fine," he grunted, pushing himself up onto his elbows, while Will stepped back away from the open car door. Jack didn't remember falling asleep stretched out across the whole backseat, but he figured he'd probably moved when he was unconscious, it wouldn't have been the first time.

"Nah, it's okay. He's awake now, Kit. I swear," he heard his brother saying from somewhere outside the parked car. Off in the distance vehicles sped by, leading him to believe they had stopped just off the highway. "I will. Yeah, I don't get it either. Mhm. Bye."

"Says he's fine," Will informed him the second Ash snapped the phone shut, leaning against the Blazer, while Jack stumbled out of the truck. It was shockingly cold outside compared to the heated car, but it felt good against his sweat-slicked skin. His clothes stuck to him like glue and his hair was matted to his forehead. His hands and knees wouldn't stop shaking, and it wasn't because of the cold. The after effects were sometimes worse than the dreams themselves. His skull felt like somebody had used it for batting practice and his vision was nauseatingly blurry.

"That true?" Ash asked him pointedly, his voice hard and edged with disbelief. "You're fine all of a sudden?"

Jack shrugged. "More or less." He groped his pockets for the Altoids tin that had once belonged to his best friend. Inside, were seven neatly rolled joints that he usually kept on him at all times. He didn't smoke a lot, but it was something his friend had been doing since they were in middle school, so he continued with the ritual. There were always seven, no more, no less. "One for every day of the week," Justin had boasted probably a thousand times. Or more.

"You were yelling at something." Will tugged his jean jacket tighter around his body. "You sounded scared-"

"Fucking terrified, Jacky!" Ash exploded, and Jack jumped involuntarily, almost dropping the lighter he fumbled with. He sparked it a few times before it finally lit and he torched the end of the joint, inhaling a big lungful of smoke. "You shouldn't smoke that." Ash shook his head, and Jack saw the time flash on his phone when he flipped it open for half a second to check. 4:30 AM. If they were on schedule, they were already almost halfway to Briarwood.

"My nerves are already shot to shit," Jack defended. "It'll calm me down."

"Fine, whatever. What was it about?"

"Ash!"

"What?" His voice exuded innocence.

"Let him breathe for a minute, man."

"No. This is important." Ash turned his prying gaze on their younger brother. "What did you see?" Jack cringed, not wanting to remember. "Jacky, come on. Please."

Letting out a shuddered breath, he said, "Zombies."

Nobody spoke for a long moment and bitter cold wind blew viciously through the air while they stood in silence just off highway 412. At least, it was, until Will reached over and slugged Jack hard in the arm. "They're nightmares. It's not fucking real. It's just the DMT in your brain making you trip balls. Get over them already. And pass the joint, man."

Jack shook his head. Will had always given him shit about his night terrors, never once believing the true impact they had. It was all easy for him to say, though, when he stopped remembering his dreams at age eight. "Whatever, man." He passed the joint to his brother and exhaled the hit he'd been holding in.

"Put that shit out, guys. We need to get back on the road." Ash kicked at the gravel and hunched his shoulders against the wind.

Will passed the Marijuana cigarette back to Jack who took one last drag before putting it out and sticking it half-smoked back into the Altoids tin. "So how do you know where to look for this guy?" Will asked, shivering a little and shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

A smirk finally replaced the scowl that had been etched into Ash's face for hours. "Professional secrets. Let's go, guys. Jacky, get that wild animal back in the truck if you don't want to leave without her."

Jack whistled for his dog, and she came darting out of the shadows in seconds, leaping into the car as soon as he opened the door. "Good girl, Keals," he praised sweetly, scratching her behind the ears and expertly dodging her strong, wagging tail. "Oh. I like this song, turn it up."

Ash ignored his request, listening to whatever he wanted as loud as he wanted until they were only about a half hour away. "Listen, this is serious. We have to be as prepared as possible. I need your back up. I have an... odd feeling about this one."

"Who's the target?" Will repeated his question from earlier, slamming one of his textbooks shut and watching Ash distrustfully.

"Guy named, Solomon. Kit sent me his info a few days ago when she asked me to take the job. Said it paid pretty well and it's time sensitive," Ash explained, his voice serious and business-like.

"Where's he holed up?" Jack asked.

"Some farmhouse on the outskirts of Briarwood. First place we're hitting up though, is the diner." Ash took the exit off the highway, heading down the sparsely populated dirt road toward the bustling town settled in the mountains just outside the New Mexican border.

"Why?" Will asked, his voice low and the calmest he'd sounded since they'd left the estate.

"Get a feel for the place, talk to the locals. Read the newspaper," Ash answered automatically. To Jack, the routine felt familiar, he remembered being dragged into random diners and helping his brother get folks to talk to them, apparently people trusted a guy with a kid.

"Pretty sure Finn Summer's older sister lives way out here somewhere." Jack shrugged. "Maybe we could hit her up."

"Which one?" Ash asked dubiously. He'd been in the same grade as the Summer triplets all through school and even dated the oldest sister, but it had been a volatile relationship, ending with his severed ties to the family.

"Daveigh. The Search and Rescue girl." Ash's eyes seemed to light up.

"When we get to the diner, give her a call would you?"

"Sure. The Summer kids still like me," he bragged, skillfully dodging Keala's wild, wagging tail.

"That's not a good thing," Will muttered. "They've been menaces since the day they were born. The way Mom says it, their whole family is as troubled as they come. It's in their DNA."

Ash let out a deep, low chuckle. "They're not all like that. Nico was delightful."

Jack shook his head indignantly. "Dude, you torched her car and she literally took a bat to your kneecaps."

His older brother shrugged. "Wasn't all bad. She was really something else when it came to-"

"Don't wanna know," Jack interrupted, reaching forward and turning the music up. Will smirked, pulling out a physics textbook and a worn composition journal, tuning them out while he studied.

"Come on, don't be a prude."

Jack ignored him, rifling through his duffel bag for one of the sketchbooks he'd shoved inside, along with his overflowing pencil box that only closed with the help of half a dozen rubber bands. Once he started drawing it felt like nothing in the world existed except for the pencils and paper.

"Time to put away your coloring book and homework, kids," Ash announced little more than twenty minutes later, as he pulled into the diner parking lot.

An oversized, fading pink neon sign proclaiming, Annie's Diner, flickered boldly over the building, meant to catch hungry commuters from the highway, and an old bum stooped outside the main entrance with a piece of cardboard propped up against his knees that read, PENNILESS AND THIRSTY, in big, bold letters. Well at least he's honest, Jack thought when he first saw it. Despite the unsightly look of the joint, the lot was full, so he figured that had to be a good sign at least.

"Will and I'll get a table. You go call that Summer girl." Ash turned and headed inside before Jack could even get a word out.

"Yeah, sure," he muttered under his breath, sliding out of the truck, with Keala following at his heels. She hated to be away from him for too long. He usually had to take her almost everywhere he went or she'd lose her marbles and bark her head off until he was within smelling distance once again.

Pulling out his phone, he scrolled through his contacts until he found Daveigh's name glowing across his screen. He pressed the DIAL button and listened while it rang nearly eight times before it was picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Daveigh, this is Jack. Um... Finn's friend."

"Oh! Yeah, I remember you. What's going on?" she replied, sounding like she was cooking something in the background.

Jack felt like an idiot for even thinking about calling her and dragging her into Ash's mess, but he forced himself to spit out the words anyway. "Finn gave me your number. Said to call if I was ever in the area or needed some help..."

"Sure. Anything. I owe you one. What's going on?" Her voice had become infinitely more serious.

"Well... my brothers and I are in town, and we were wondering if you'd meet us at Annie's Diner, the one off-"

"I know where it is. You guys aren't in trouble or anything, are you?"

"No. We just have some questions we wanted to ask. It'd really help us out, Daveigh."

"Okay, okay. I'll be there in ten."

"Thank you. For real."

Daveigh laughed. "You're welcome. See you in a bit." She hung up, and Jack made quick work of forcing Keala into the Blazer before he followed his brothers inside. It didn't take him long to locate their table in the very back corner of the restaurant, situated in the most secluded part they could find.

"What'd she say?" Ash asked, the second he slid into the booth beside Will.

"She'll meet us here in ten minutes," he answered right before a waitress came around to take their orders.

"You tell her anything?" Ash stared at him pryingly the second the woman was out of hearing distance.

"No." His eyes kept straying to the window every few moments to make sure Keala was okay. He could see the Blazer from his spot, which made his anxiety level drop almost by half.

Daveigh made it in eight and a half minutes. Jack counted. The bells above the door jingled, and he swiveled his head, waving his hand when he spotted her standing in the doorway glancing around curiously. A guy that Jack didn't recognize followed closely behind her, but she barely seemed to take notice.

"Jack Slayer!" She bounded over and leaned down to give him a quick awkward hug, before sliding into the seat beside Ash, directly across from him. "Damn, you've grown up so much since the last time I saw you!"

Jack shrugged, not knowing what to say in return. "Um... yeah. I don't know if you remember my brothers..." He gestured to the guys at the table as Daveigh's shadow slid into the empty booth behind theirs.

The woman in front of him stiffened slightly, but the smile remained on her face. "How could I forget? Hey, Will. How're your knees, Ash?" She smirked triumphantly and Jack bit back a smile.

"Fine. Thanks," Ash responded brightly. "How are you, Daveigh?" He actually sounded genuinely interested. Jack had to give him brownie points for his acting skills, they'd significantly improved over the years.

Daveigh seemed momentarily taken aback by his sincerity, but it didn't take her long to recover. She was part of the Summer family after all. "What do you need?"

"Information." Ash didn't even hesitate.

Daveigh nodded. "Jack said you had some questions for me." She brushed a strand of long black hair out of her face and her eyes locked briefly on the man in the booth behind Jack. At first, he thought it was her bodyguard, before he remembered Finn mentioning something about her having a scary boyfriend.

"We do. You heard of any strange deaths around here lately?"

Daveigh's eyebrows knit together at the brash comment. "Not recently..."

"Strange disappearances?" Ash pressed.

The confusion on her face only deepened before a light sparked in her eyes. "You didn't hear this from me," she whispered, leaning forward so they all could catch what she was saying. "There've been six missing "hikers" this week."

Will shot her a curious stare, a frown etching itself into his face. "Doesn't sound too strange to me. This is Briarwood. People go missing all the time in these woods."

"Yeah," she responded lightly, "except that everyone who went missing never even stepped foot out of town."

"I'd classify that as strange," Jack agreed warily. He had a bad feeling about everything they'd heard.

"Know if the cops have dug up anything yet?" Ash asked.

Daveigh opened her mouth to respond, but the giant man with scars for a face, who'd followed her into the diner, stood up and dragged a chair to the end of their table. "Sounds like you outsiders should be asking me these questions, fellas."

"Who the hell are you?" Ash demanded mildly.

Daveigh sighed in annoyance. "Slayers, this is my fiancé, Zander. He's a journalist for the local paper. He's working on a story about the disappearances."

Ash perked up almost immediately, eyeing the guy up and down. "So, you know if the cops have found anything, Scarface?"

Jack kicked him from underneath the table and shot him a dark look, mouthing, "Don't be an asshole."

"Shut up," Ash mouthed back, reverting his eyes to the journalist, who'd watched their exchange with interest.

"The sheriff is insisting that they all disappeared in the woods, but none of it matches up." He eyed them suspiciously. "Before I tell you anything else, why are you guys interested in this anyway?"

Will and Jack simultaneously turned their gazes to Ash, opting to stay silent. "I'm a P.I., got a call in the other day that something weird was going on in this town. I was hired to investigate. My brothers are just tagging along."

Zander's barely-there eyebrows rose and a skeptical expression etched itself into his scars. To Jack, it looked like his face had been held against a burner. "You were... hired? You?"

Ash's gaze grew colder, and Jack barely refrained from kicking him again. "Yes, me. Is that a problem for you?"

"No," the journalist answered quickly. "No, I just didn't expect you to be so... young."

Jack stiffened at the man's words. "You were expecting him?"

"I was expecting somebody," Zander answered fervently, running a hand over his shiny bald, head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daveigh asked chillingly, shooting the guy a look Jack was glad wasn't aimed in his direction.

"Sheriff Barnes is covering something up, Day, and I wasn't getting anywhere with the station. So, I called in... an expert." Daveigh glanced from Zander to the Slayer brothers and back a couple of times.

Lowering her voice to just above a whisper she jabbed a thumb in Jack's direction. "The Slayers are witch hunters?"

"No. Exterminators, ma'am," Ash answered icily. "Anyway, tell me about the disappearances."

"So far, except for the second one, they've all gone missing at dusk and always from the streets. The cops said they were hiking, but none of the people who knew the victims ever said anything about them going into the woods that day. Granted, most of them were avid outdoor folks, but if you throw a rock in this town you'll hit someone fitting that description in just about every direction," Zander explained, keeping his deep voice low and discreet.

"What makes the second guy different?" Will asked curiously.

"Disappeared in the middle of the day. A little girl said she saw him get dragged away by-" He was interrupted by the waitress bringing the Slayer boys their orders and asking if they needed anything else. Receiving no for an answer the woman turned on her heels to help another customer.

"By what?" Ash asked, his voice serious and his body rigid with tension.