"Walk with me," the cat's voice echoed in Spere's mind.

"I'm not asleep."

The cat hissed, "Then starve! Or shall you comply?!"

Spere growled lowly, "Fine! Okay, I'll go with you. Take me away!"

"At your command," he whispered, and then his presence grew overwhelmingly, and Spere began to see a black door up ahead. She moved towards it, suddenly in a new space, a new space of emptiness and nothing, like a dream world. She touched the door, and pressed a hand against the surface of it. It felt like how she'd imagine jello or slime to feel. The faceless cat sat on her shoulders, digging his claws into her shirt. "Open the door," he said, swishing his tail in front of her face. "Do it quick." Spere didn't know how to feel about this.

She finally took a deep breath and said, "Alright." Spere quietly pushed the door open, took a step forward in the dark abyss, and then began floating. Drowning. It felt like she was in water, but couldn't feel or see anything. Could she breathe? She didn't know. The cat floated in front of her face smugly, now.

"You can't hide from your destiny, Spere. But you can change this fate," he said.

"What fate?" She tried to ask, but couldn't speak or move. Her skin was icy cold. She felt her lips and mouth fill with ice and frost. She couldn't speak. She tried to panic but couldn't. Her mind panicked.

"Death," the cat whispered. "You either bring it to others or bring it to yourself and the rest of the planet. Your lover can be spared. It's your choice, my love. I will stay with you, from now on."

Spere's eyes flashed open, in real life, in reality. She couldn't breathe. What was on her face? She pulled the thing from her face and gasped for air.

A cat?

"Of course it's a cat," Spere growled, holding the innocently-eyed black kitten in her hands. The sun was blinding. It was just her alone in the barrel now, the lid gone. It was much more roomy, but still cramped and uncomfortable. She stood, still holding the fat kitten in her arms, and looked around. Corn feed was iced to the ground all around her.

"Windy?" She called. Her voice echoed in the alley way.

"Oh, sorry!" She heard his voice from somewhere nearby. Then, after a moment, he appeared in the alley way. "I was just scoping out the second neighborhood," he said. "Where'd you get the cat?"

Spere glared at Windy, "Don't ask. Come help me get out of this thing."

"Sleep well?" Windy asked, grinning, as he walked over and offered a hand.

"Splendidly," Spere grumbled, handing the cat to him. He placed it on the ground, and then offered his hand again, and helped Spere pull herself out from the tub and onto the slick ground. She slipped, but Windy caught her with an arm around her waist.

"Careful," he said. "It's slippery."

"Oh, yeah, that would've been nice to know about 15 seconds ago," Spere said sarcastically. She glanced down at a touch on her leg, and saw the black cat rubbing his face against her ankle.

"He's so cute," Windy said, squeaking slightly. "He likes you!"

"Unfortunately. I'm not a cat person," Spere said, and bent down and picked the cat up again, who purred, and attempted to nuzzle her as she held him out far from her. After a moment, Spere begrudgingly murmured, "Well, maybe I could be a cat person..." and pulled the kit close to her chest. "Just not white cats."

"Why not? Oh. The cat in your dreams?"

Spere nodded, "I saw him again last night. I drowned, I guess. He said I could either let..." Spere thought for a moment. "Nevermind, it was nothing," She said.

"You sure?"

"Yep." Spere didn't want to hide anything from Windy, but she didn't feel quite comfortable telling him the details yet. She didn't want him to know she was having these constant dreams and illusions that she should kill people. She turned down and looked at the black long-hair kitten in her arms. "What now?" She asked.

"We have to go back to camp and warn them. Your friends will probably gather people to attack us. We need to prepare," Windy said.

Spere asked, "Will they even believe us?"

"I don't know," Windy said, "but we have to try. It shouldn't be very far from here." Spere nodded. They began walking back the way that they had come, careful not to skid on the ice underfoot. Spere carried the cat with them, but then decided that it was too heavy, and placed it on the ground. It followed the two on its own after that. They walked back to where it had all went down, and paid respects to Boss and the other travelers. The people who had died, iced over, and barely recognizable. The place had already been looted, so the two moved one quickly and continued walking in silence for quite some time.

Finally, Windy piped up, "So, have you guys looted all these houses?"

"Yeah, I did almost all of the looting for our group. I liked the time alone."

"I see."

Spere continued, "But, I haven't looted those houses on the other side of this neighborhood. To be honest, I never even thought of looking over there."

"Well, do you want to?" Windy asked. Spere shrugged, although she was feeling a mixture of bright excitement at looting houses how she used to and unease at what they may find.

"If you want to," she said at last.

"I think it might help us defend ourselves if we get caught at the hands of... you know," Windy said, motioning with his hands. Spere nodded. He was talking about Mayhem and Stonehenge.

"Let's go, then," She said, took a turn, and began walking towards the side of the road, where houses lined. Windy followed her in stride. After walking through a tight-knit alley way, they began walking through the frozen lawns of different houses. The first one they decided to loot had a surprisingly solid door, boarded windows, and sturdy brick walls. Spere wondered if someone had lived here recently. She first knocked on the door, to no response, then tried opening it, with no luck.

"Maybe we should move on," Windy suggested.

"Oh, believe me. There is something good in this one. It hasn't been touched!" Spere said excitedly, attempting to break down the door with a few kicks, but unable to. Spere stepped aside as Windy also tried, and failed, to open the door. Spere glanced at the kitten that was clawing at her pant leg. Once noticed, the cat mewed, and then ran around a corner of the house, out of sight. Spere groaned, "That punk." And then, began shuffling along after him, leaving Windy out front.

Spere followed the small silhouette of the black cat all the way around to the other side of the house, where a chain link fence and a tight-knit four foot wide backyard waited. And, low and behold, a back door. The wire gate was locked with a heavy bolt, and the top of it was jagged, as though the top of the fence had been cut off by an amateur. Of course, Spere knew that whoever lived here previously had done that on purpose, to act as a sort of barbed wire, to discourage climbing. But why would they do that if the door was also visibly locked?

Spere began to climb the length of the wire fence, her side wound hurting profusely, and once she reached the top, she attempted to climb over the jagged and exposed, rusted metal ends by swinging a leg over. The wire caught on her outer layer of pants, and tore a small hole in them. She cursed beneath her breath, but continued, and somehow managed to get up high enough to plant a foot on the other side of the fence firmly, and then carefully and slowly climb her way down without even tearing her shirt. She had gotten lucky.

Energized now, she moved over to where the door was, knocked, and heard no response. Then, she attempted to kick the door open-

The wood cracked, and split down the middle, as her entire foot broke straight through the flimsy door. She scoffed, slowly pulling her leg back. That's why they cut the wire, she assumed. Then, with her hands, she gently pulled the boards from the door, and gave it a few more kicks with the heel of her shoe, until the hole in the door was large enough for her to squeeze through.

Spere began hacking as soon as she'd pushed her way into the building. Every surface was layered with dust and grime and ash. Once she managed to catch her breath, she looked around in the dark room. She was in a sort of small mud room, with tile floors and a few little shelves, and two old laundry machines. She didn't see anything of value right off the bat.

She began slowly walking through the building, through a short hallway and then into a small main room, dusty furniture intact, and then she opened the front door, where Windy was waiting.

"Woah! Wait! How did you get inside?" He asked, slowly entering the dark house, and of course, entering a fit of coughing.

"Back door," Spere said, smugly. She closed the front door, and her and Windy began to wander around the small structure.

Windy sighed, "It's like a walk in the deep past. The pictures on the walls, the furniture, the solid walls and ceiling. Everything is still here."

"Maybe they lived here directly after The Event," Spere suggested.

"Directly after...?" Windy asked, turning again to admire the stiff walls. "That could make sense," he said after a pause. Then, he gently drug his fingertips across the surface of a wall, leaving a streak in the dust.

Spere turned away from him and began rummaging through different objects she found. Through the cushions on the couch, the ash in the fireplace, leaving her hands black, and through a side table beside one of the living room couches. It had three wooden drawers, and she went through every one. One had a TV remote, the next some old magazines, and the third seemed to be a sort of junk drawer, with a few lighters (that Spere of course took), some papers and cords and coasters and loose toothpicks and batteries, among other things. Spere eventually found something that would interest her- a letter, sealed with a wax stamp and unopened at the bottom of the drawer.

She stood and shut the bottom drawer with her foot, delicately holding the old pale yellow envelope in her hands. She finally ripped it open, and took out the letter inside, unfolding it.

Windy walked back into the living room, and seeing the letter, asked, "What's that?"

"A goodbye letter," Spere said, solemnly. Then, remembering Windy couldn't read, she began to read the letter out loud. "Dear Jordan,

"We hope we have made it clear that we love you and Mary both. She is like a daughter to us just as much as you are a son, and we know you will make great parents. We are sorry to have left so soon, and wish we could've said goodbye, but the urgency is important. Today will be your last day of school. Do not go after today. Stay at home, cut wood, and begin buying non-perishable items and canned foods. Me and your mother have seen the events leading up to this at our job."

"We are leaving to try and stop what we believe is about to go down. We think that The United States has found a digitalized method of causing ground interferences. I don't know the details, but it's a way to purposefully cause problems with underground systems. Like intentionally setting a volcano to erupt, or a tsunami to occur. But please, be prepared for anything. Board up the house and windows and back door, lock the front door, and be prepared for staying home for a long time. We left you and Mary two cross necklaces for protection. We love you."

"Mom and dad," Spere finished, a bit breathlessly. So that's what happened to the world?

"Why wasn't the back door boarded up, then?" Windy asked.

"No idea," Spere shrugged, and placed the envelope in a pocket. "Did you find anything?"

Windy nodded solemnly, "Follow me." Spere did. They walked down a short carpeted hallway and into a second bedroom. Spere nearly gasped.

It was a baby's room, with a crib, and pale pink walls, and toys scattered across the floor. But more than that, was a boy, about the same age as Spere, lying face first on the floor, in a dry pool of blood, and naked.

Spere immediately thought of the girl she'd found so long ago on the floor of a grocery store. She gently touched the cross necklace around her neck. She held out an arm to stop Windy from following her, then walked over and leaned over the pale body. She gently moved some hair from the back of his head, and sure enough, the glimmer of a metal necklace lay there. She clipped it from his neck, and stared at the gold cross on the end.

"What is it?" Windy finally asked. Spere thought about the faceless cat. About God.

"Someone killed this boy. The same someone killed a girl a few months ago," Spere said. "He's been dead for a while. Probably longer than she has. The cold has preserved him." She thought for a moment, trying to connect the dots, but simply couldn't. "There's no baby in here... Could there have been? Windy," she turned, "Are there wooden boards by the back door?" Windy shrugged and walked down the hall to check.

He quickly came back and nodded, "Yes, quite a few, with nails in them. Was it boarded up but then taken down? How did you know?"

"I don't know, I just had a feeling. I'd say the son had kids here, who knows how many generations, and this boy is a relative of that, and this boy is the one who tore the planks off of the door. But why? I can't figure it out. And where would his parents be? Does he have a kid himself? Otherwise wouldn't he have designed the room to be a storage room or spare bedroom? Are there any other members?"

"Wow, you're quite the detective," Windy managed. Then, he said, "Maybe we should stay here tonight? Spend the day looking and see if we find anything?"

Spere stood from the body and turned to him, "What are you? Crazy? Are you crazy? Like sure, that'd be great, but have to get back to camp and warn them!"

Windy sucked his teeth, "Sorry, sorry. I just know that this is important to you."

"What, more important than other people's lives?" She hissed. She wasn't sure exactly what had made her so angry. Her mind was scrambled with thinking, and really, she was so upset about everything that had happened recently. The loss of her friends, of Fallen World. The danger their camp is facing.

Windy sighed, "Well, we had time to stop here in the first place. So I figured..."

"No, it's okay," Spere assured him. "We should just scavenge what we can and then make a straight line for camp. Once we warn them, then maybe we can come back."

Windy shook his head, "No, no way. Once we get back, if they believe us, then they'll want us to lead. If they don't, then we will be imprisoned."

Spere was disturbed by the cat clawing at her leg, but she ignored it the best she could, and instead responded, "But we can come back on scout or scavenging missions, even if we do lead."

"Not for forever. It will be a long time until that's safe again, especially for us. They wouldn't want us risking our lives," he explained. Then, he took a step closer to her, and said, "Look, I'm not saying that this is more important than all of those lives. I'm just saying that maybe we need a day to ourselves, a day where we aren't running for our lives or dealing with thousands of responsibilities. Stonehenge and Mayhem won't try anything while they're weak. They'll have to find more people first, which will take at least a few weeks, and probably much longer."

Spere was intrigued by the house, and the cat seemed to want her to stay.

The cat.

Did God want her to stay?

"Fine. Okay, we will stay one night," Spere said, a bit reluctantly. She had a bad feeling about this. She wanted to get to camp as fast as they could. The cat immediately stopped gnawing on her leg and instead began to purr.

"Alright," Windy said, then looked down at the cat on her feet. "Have you given him a name?" The question caught Spere off-guard. She looked down at the little black cat.

"Stinky," she said, making a face at him. "I don't like this cat."

Windy laughed probably more than he should've, and then said, "No, no, you can't name him Stinky. Don't you have a soul?"

"Hey, wait," Spere perked up. "That's a good name. Let's call him Soul."

"Oh, yeah. Didn't think of it," Windy said. Spere began to walk out of the room. She didn't want to be there beside the dead boy, laughing and talking casually. She shut the door gently behind her.

"I'm still going to call him Stinky," Spere said. Then she paused, and said, "Wait, no, I'll just call him Dumbass. That's much more accurate."

Windy chuckled, "Aw, he's your spirit animal! Be nicer to him."

"Make me, punk," she said. Windy laughed. Spere made her way into the other bedroom, and Windy followed her. There was a large bed in the center of the room, carpeted floors, a dresser, some side tables, and a wooden closet. Spere went straight to the side tables, but didn't find anything useful. Then, she moved to the closet. Nearly all of the clothes were worn and dirty, and there was a mix of girls and guys' clothes, although they were all about the same size.