January 3rd, 2020
South Fork, Virginia

"Shit! Jack! Are you alright?" Ash jolted Jack out of his unconscious state as everything around them grew suddenly quiet.

"Ash?" Jack hissed in pain through his teeth as he tried to sit up. Something in his shoulder throbbed with burning pain. "What the fuck happened?" All around him were a sea of dead Rabids, a dirty green foam dripping from the corner of their mouths.

"I have no idea. They all just... stopped. All at once..."

Jack's eyes grew wide and fear oozed from his being. "Marley."

"Fuck. We have to go." Ash gathered his bags and headed up to the roof to hand the leadership over to someone else.

"Wait," Jack said before he could disappear, raising his hand to the flesh where his arm and shoulder met and flinching when he touched it, his fingers covered in blood. "Did you shoot me?"

Ash glanced over his shoulder at his little brother sheepishly. "I couldn't get a clear shot. I figured I'd try to go around you, and then they all just... died, and you kinda got in the way. Sorry, Jacky."

"Well it fucking hurts." Ash rolled his eyes.

"It's a flesh wound. You'll be fine. Besides, the bullet just grazed your arm, so you don't have to worry about me or Will having to dig it out for ya." He continued up to the roof, leaving Jack to stem the bleeding on his own.

"Jack!" Sophia's voice echoed from the hatch as she climbed down the ladder into the storage room. "What's going on? What happened?" She stopped suddenly and stared wide-eyed at the piles of dead bodies that surrounded them.

"I think... I think Marley might've done that spell..." He glanced up at Sophia, concern etched into every contour of her face.

She dropped down beside him and pulled his hands away from his shoulder. "No. I mean, what happened to you?" Reaching in front of him, she unzipped his jacket before he had a chance to protest, slipping it off gently so she could see the bullet hole oozing thick gore. "Did that idiot brother of yours do this on purpose?"

"No. It was an accident. I was moving around too much for him to get a clear shot."

Sophia rolled her eyes, digging through her backpack for her first aid kit and pulling out all kinds of gauze and antiseptic to torture him with. "He's one of the best Exterminators I've worked with. He doesn't miss often."

Jack frowned thoughtfully. "Why would he shoot me on purpose?"

"Because he's an idiot," she answered rigidly as she continued to play medic on him, until his arm had been properly wrapped up. "Don't let that get infected, or the next time I see you, I'll shoot you, just for the hell of it." Her threat was dark and serious, but her eyes glistened with humor that she didn't let show very much.

Jack laughed easily, sliding his jacket back over his arm and zipping himself inside, against the bitter chill of the smashed-up pharmacy. "Alright, Dr. Sophie, I'll take it easy."

"You better." Sophia scowled as Ash jumped down from the roof, shooting them a flat look.

"Would you two stop giving each other googly eyes? We have places to be." He stomped toward them and pulled Jack up by his right arm.

Immediately Jack's face turned a beet red color, while Sophia only rolled her eyes at Ash and picked herself up off the floor, slinging her pack over her shoulder after checking again to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything. "Don't be a dick, brute. Why don't you go make yourself useful and start heading out? Jack will follow in a few minutes."

"Fine. Let's go, geek!" Ash called to Will who was still saying his goodbyes to the little kids who'd attached themselves to his side for whatever reason.

When they'd both slammed through the splintered back door, Jack turned to Sophia and asked, "You're staying here?" Something like worry sliced through his question and the woman's lips twisted into a subtle smile.

"It's okay, me and Stix'll handle this mess. We've cleaned up our fair share of Exterminations before."

"What if the coven who did this comes back?"

A wide, genuine, smile spread across Sophia's lips and her warm, sagacious oak-colored eyes sparkled in a way that almost took his breath away for a moment. "I'm really good at my job, Jack. Anyway, I owe you for coming to my rescue and I always repay my debts, so I'll see you."

Jack grinned back at her, slinging one of Ash's duffle bags onto his good shoulder and turning toward the door, however reluctantly. "Text me when you're out of this town, okay?"

"Sure, Jack. Now, get outta here. Your sister needs you more than we do right now." He saw her smile falter just before he turned his back and headed out into the bitter late morning wind, hurrying to catch up with his older brothers.

"Hey, wait!" Jack sprinted through the desolate town, catching a glimpse of the guys as they disappeared into the trees ahead of him. "Come on, jerks!" He pushed himself even harder, as he tried not to trip over his own feet, especially as he entered the forest.

"Took you long enough." Ash moved out from behind a tree, and grabbed Jack's arm before he could fall flat on his face. "What did the Ice Princess want to talk to you about?" Will appeared from out of the woods, and grinned at Ash's words. "She demand your soul in exchange for whatever you desired? 'Cause if so, it's a trick, and she's coming back to kill you in ten years. Maybe less."

"Gee, thanks," Jack wheezed sarcastically, his arm throbbing so badly that his stomach churned with the threat of vomit. "No. We just said goodbye, that's it." He hoped it would get them off his back. But both Will and Ash – mostly Ash – berated him for the first half of the hike.

"I will find out what's going on between the two of you," Ash warned as they stomped through the snowy forest, moving as quickly as they could to get back to Marley.

"There's nothing happening. Have either of you heard anything from Mars?"

Ash shook his head, leveling him with his piercing dark eyes, before ducking under a tree branch and vaulting over the fallen trunk of a giant Scotch Pine. "I know you're trying to change the subject. But no, I haven't heard a thing, and I tried to call her four or five times already."

"Neither have I. But her phone is still on, so that's a good sign at least. I think..." Will stared at the tablet in his hand and nearly tripped over an exposed root as they neared the clearing where they'd left Marley and the Blazer.

"Marley!" Ash shouted the moment the trees started thinning out, and they caught sight of the first glimpses of the Blazer. "Marley!"

"Maybe she's just sleeping." Jack took a deep breath to maintain control over his emotions.

"Or maybe one of the Rabids got to her..." The blood drained from Will's face as he pointed to a pool of thick crimson liquid staining the ground just outside the truck.

"What the hell...?" Ash drew his gun with a murderous glare in his eyes. "Marley!"

"Ash!" Marley's mousey voice came from the Blazer where she was huddled inside with Keala lying beside her calmly, something the wild dog did rarely.

"Fuck." Ash ripped the side door open and dragged Marley out, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing so hard, she struggled a little, but when he loosened up she didn't pull away. She buried her face in his chest, mumbling something as she burst into tears. "I don't know what you're saying, kid." He gently grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

Tears slid down her dark skin and she gazed up at him with eyes full of pain so deep, Jack could almost feel it in his gut. "I-i-i-it was an accident, I swear!" Her wide gaze shot to Jack and shame colored her features as she admitted, "I wasn't going to do it. I was just gonna wait for you guys, 'cause I was scared they would find me again and you wouldn't be able to stop them this time. But I got the ingredients ready like Jack said. I put them all into my ceremonial mixing bowl, but I didn't have everything. I needed two things, and I... I didn't know how to get them..."

"What were they?" Jack asked when she trailed off, not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Part of the infected and part of me." Her voice was a hollow whisper as Ash motioned for Jack to drive and ushered Marley into the backseat with him. Will climbed into the front seat and barely even had his seat belt on before Jack started the truck and headed away from South Fork.

"Ew." Ash shuddered. "Fucking witches."

Marley offered him a faint smile, her tears beginning to dry up a little. "I swear I was going to listen to you, Ash. I didn't want to do the spell. I only prepared it 'cause Jack told me to. But then, when I was out this morning walking with Keala, this big guy came out of nowhere and started chasing us. He had a piece of a branch stick through his arm but it was like he didn't even feel it."

"An unfortunate side effect." Will ducked his head and typed away on his computer, his focus split between the information he was devouring on the screen, and Marley's story.

"I ran back and I grabbed a gun and I shot him. I killed that man and it wasn't even his fault he was like that." Tears dripped from her eyes, making muddy tracks down her cheeks. "Some of his blood splattered into my ingredients and I started crying, and I tried to clean it all up. I think my tears mixed in with everything else, 'cause I was reciting the spell in my head to keep calm, and all of a sudden I heard a big crash near that building down there." She pointed to the first one they'd searched when they first arrived in town. "When I went to go look, they were all dead."

Ash wrapped a comforting arm around Marley's shoulders. "You did good, Mars. Jack was about to be killed, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop it when you recited that spell. You saved us."

Marley shook her head. "But I killed all the others..." Despair leaked from every pore in her body. "That whole town..."

"They were already dead anyway." Jack never once took his eyes off the road ahead of him, despite his exhaustion.

They drove for hours before Ash finally directed him to a town in Kentucky where he met up with a friend to sell off some of the bulk drugs they had, so they could raise some money. While they were there, Jack and Will took Marley shopping for any ingredients she needed to redo the spell that had worn off quite a while ago.

"Ready, guys?" Ash met them back at the Blazer as the sun started to set, casting longer shadows over the city they'd stopped in.

"Yep." Marley climbed all the way into the very back to complete her spell. Ash didn't like to watch her cut herself or see what other nasty things she used to create her magic.

"Good. Jack, you look like hell. Get some sleep, man." He nudged Jack toward the backseat and took the wheel of his prized truck.

"I'd rather not." His eyes drifted toward the window. Even if he didn't have some horrible dream about a ghost, he could guarantee what he'd seen back in South Fork would haunt him for a while without an apparition's help.

"How long has it been since you've slept a whole night through?" Will wasn't about to let it go.

"Uhm... before the Tolliver job?" Marley, Will, and Ash all groaned at his answer.

"Your body functions are going to start shutting down if you don't let them rest soon," Will said matter-of-factly, while beside him Dick Grayson appeared, a scowl on his face.

"Listen to your family, Jack. You guys did good back in South Fork, but one more night without sleep and you might kill someone who isn't infected by a curse. We all need you alive. Not just coasting through your existence because you're afraid of a few bad dreams."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Jack kept his voice low so he didn't startle anyone else with his random musings.

"Maybe not. But I do know you need to sleep if you want to function like a human."

"Fine." Jack laid back against his seat as Keala jumped up and laid half in his lap. "I'll try to get some sleep."

"Good. Oooh, Ash, I like this song, turn it up!"

While Ash, Marley, and Will joked around and enjoyed each other's company, Jack drifted off into the clutches of dream world. At first it was just flashes of color and blurred figures, bleeding into each other, but that didn't last long. Something changed suddenly, his dream becoming clear and decidedly undreamlike.

"Jacky Slayer, you're a hard man to find," a voice spoke as light filled the darkness, and when he looked around he was standing in the middle of a luminescent white room, while a man sat at a lonely wooden desk, looking at something Jack couldn't see.

"Who are you?" He stared at the man until he glanced up, and scooted back his chair. Evil emanated from his being as he stalked toward Jack, his black eyes glowing with something that Jack couldn't put his finger on.

The man smirked, his lips twitching slightly, and tingles rolled up and down Jack's spine as he stared at the guy, having a hard time looking away. "I'm the boss around here." His answer was vague as he clasped his hands behind his back. "You sleep so little, Jacky, and with the dream magic you've been hiding behind, I haven't heard a word of you since my spooks in Johnston caught a whiff of your whereabouts."

"I didn't even know you were looking for me." Jack blinked against the bright lights, trying to breathe through the anxiety that had settled in his chest. "Who are you really?"

A scowl flitted across the man's face. "Like I said, I'm the boss. You've heard stories of me."

Jack's mind whirled as he tried to guess who the fuck the guy could've been. "Satan...?" The man in front of him laughed heartily. It was a sinister sound and the expression on his face held very little humor.

"That's very flattering. But no. I am Death."

Jack's entire body relaxed instantly, despite the man in front of him. "Oh, okay. I've met a reaper before. What do you want with me?"

Death didn't look pleased by his response. "I'm not just any reaper. I'm the head councilman. I am Death." His words sent fear slicing through Jack's veins, though he tried his hardest not to show it. "And right now, you're not just dreaming. I've brought you to purgatory, where my kind resides when we're not out reaping souls, leaving your body dying out in the real world. We have about a half an hour to forty-five minutes before you don't have a human form to go back to."

Jack stared at Death in horror. "Why? What did I do?"

Death shook his head, adjusting the silk black robe he wore around his shoulders, shading the rest of his body from view. "Nothing yet, boy. But you will. You're the only one who can."

"Can what?" Jack demanded, tired of Death giving him the run around. Why couldn't anybody just say things clearly without all the stupid riddles?

"You, dear boy, are far more of a tool than you can imagine. There's a reason most other Ghost Talkers have been wiped out. In fact, your family has been targeted for generations, any time anyone in your family even showed signs of the ability, they were murdered before it could manifest into something greater. Except for you, Jacky. Not even my spooks have had luck killing you, and they've been trying since you were in diapers." Death glared rigidly at Jack as he moved to stand in front of him, inspecting him.

"Why do they want me dead so bad?" Jack's chin set stubbornly as he watched Death just as calculatingly.

"Because you have the power to command an army. If you harness the real gift inside of you, you can call any ghost to you without killing yourself to do it. You could take out the witches, monsters, humans, you could create chaos in the world. You could destroy everything." A cruel smile crossed Death's pale lips.

Jack scowled at the man like he was insane. "You think I'll command an army? I can barely even get my dog to listen to what I say."

Death shook his head. "That's not true and you know it. You're connected to your pet's spirit, you understand each other in a way nobody knows. That connection, is partially because of your abilities. You have a unique mix of being able to influence the emotions of those around you as well as see, feel, and speak to those trapped in purgatory. That connection to the shroud between worlds is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The only other human alive to have a similar ability, you have already met, and hers isn't nearly as strong."

"Who?" Jack tried to think back to all the people he'd met in his life who could've shared his ability.

Death smiled grimly. "My daughter, Arizona."

Jack choked on his own spit as the blood drained from his features, and he stared wide-eyed at Death standing before him. "You're the reaper. You're her dad?"

Death nodded firmly. "Yes. And she's in a lot of danger right now. If anyone ever finds out what she is, they will try and use her like you. Or they'll kill her. I've already seen one of my daughters dead and buried. I'd like to not have to see her die young too."

"So what do you want from me?" Jack had a niggling thought about his dying body somewhere back in the real world, driving through the Midwest. Had any of his siblings even realized what was happening to him?

Death's expression grew somber. "I want you to protect my daughter. Develop your abilities, Jacky. Because if anyone goes after my little girl thinking she's the one who can lead their army, I'm going to kill you and everyone you've ever loved."

"So basically, if I don't tell the world that I'm the one they need to go after, you're going to kill me anyway? It sounds like I die no matter which choice I make." Despair leaked through his voice.

"At least this way you still have a chance to save your family. But I swear to you, if anyone touches a single hair on my daughter's head, you'll face my wrath. Understood?" Death's black eyes flashed with overprotective rage. "I have all the influence here, Jacky, but not nearly as much in your world. Fight for me, and I could make sure you're protected as much as possible once you cross that threshold back into the real world. I can make sure you have any spook under your control that you desire. All I ask is that you live up to your fullest potential before the spring Equinox. That will be the day everything comes to a head. You will be most powerful. So, get your army together. You don't have much time."

"How am I supposed to develop my abilities?"

"Tap into them. Your emotions, your dreams, everything. Try to bring the spooks out of your head and into the real world. Control them like you do your dog, Jacky. You'll see, once you get the hang of it, there will be no going back. No forgetting. And best of all, no more tortured dreams. You'll be able to control all of that."

"Alright," Jack agreed slowly. "I'll do it." But it wasn't just because he'd been threatened. If Death was right, he didn't want to be a slave to the nightmares anymore. He didn't want to be afraid every time he went to sleep that it wouldn't last. He didn't want to see that look of pity and concern from everyone ever again. He wanted to tap into whatever Death was talking about.

"Jack!" he heard a screeched voice and when he looked back at Death, the reaper, had disappeared and his surroundings went black. "Jack! Come on, man. Get up!"

His eyes fluttered open, and he sucked a deep, greedy lungful of air, as he sat straight up, almost headbutting Will in the face. "What...?" The Blazer had been parked along the side of the highway and Marley, Will, and Ash were staring at him with wide eyes, as sirens erupted from somewhere nearby.

"Lay back down, Jack." Will shoved him down so he was lying on the seat again, while Keala whimpered at his side, curled up on the floor between the seats. "An ambulance is coming, you'll be okay."

"What?" Jack fell into a coughing fit and everything in his body felt sore, like he'd just had the worst flu of his life.

"You were screaming and having a seizure, and your skin was so hot it hurt to touch it!" Tears filled Marley's dark eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

Jack shook his head as an ambulance pulled up behind the truck and a team of paramedics stepped out to help him. "I'm okay," he insisted as they swarmed around, shooing his siblings out of the way. "It was just a fever dream."

The medics gave him a thorough look over, dragging him into their vehicle and testing him every way they could outside a hospital, before they finally rebandaged his arm and agreed with his assessment. They offered to take him to the nearest hospital to have his head checked to make sure everything was okay, but he refused before the words were even entirely out of the lead medic's mouth.

"I'm really okay," he said for the hundredth time before the paramedics left, and his siblings glared at him, promising hell for what he'd done. "It was just a fever dream." He followed the rest of them as they all piled back into the Blazer and Ash started back toward Foghills.

"No it wasn't. We all saw you. It looked like you were on death's doorstep." Jack almost grinned at how accurate Ash actually was, but instead of saying anything, he opted to keep his mouth shut until he learned more. Until he could actually control a ghost army like Death seemed to think he could.