"I don't think we should do this." Denver declared following Leslee down the grassy hill.

"Come on they might have a phone," Leslee informed. As she descended down the steep hill she gripped onto the narrow trees for balance.

Denver stepped into her footprints not needing to use the trees for balance, "I still don't think we should go knocking on people's door." He washed the sweat off his face with his arm. "Not after my cabin just blew up."

"Do you want to keep wondering around, lost?" She stopped clenching her waist, pulling in deep breaths. "Don't you think I want to go back?" Her gaze shifted back up the jagged hill. "Find Ethan. But we have to get help. They need us to get help."

"The cabin...blew up." Denver held firm to her shoulders. "We can't trust anyone."

"You don't know if that was a bomb." She tore away from his hold. "It had to be a gas leak."

"Eric heard ticking."

"Eric heard ticking." Leslee started walking again. "That ticking was probably from the clock."

Denver shook his head watching her walk away. Something in him didn't want to go the way she was going. He wanted to go back to the cabin and wait in the woods to see what was out there. Eric heard ticking. Eric said bomb. He knew Eric all his life and his instincts told him his old friend wasn't wrong. Even though, his brain didn't want to go his feet started moving.

 It was Leslee. Ethan's Leslee and if it was Ashlyn, Denver's heart flinched at the remembrance of her name. Of all the people, he knew she was dead. Ashlyn's painful screams as the flames hugged her body still played in the back of his mind.

"Bad idea." Denver murmured before catching up to Leslee.

The rickety cabin rested upon the dirt plot in a treeless valley. A red '98 Chevy pickup with a rusted paint job and an equally old Ford Explorer sat parking in the crooked driveway. Denver climbed up the lopsided porch with less pep in his step that Leslee. He watched as she knocked on the dull brown door. He prayed no one would answer. He rather they walked until they reached Dallas than meet a stranger. No one answered her police-like knocks and he thanked God.

"No one's' home let's go," Denver said heading for the steps.

Leslee tsked banging her fist against the door. A low cry rung out as the door creaked open.

"It's unlocked. Go figure." Leslee pushed the door open wider.

Denver caught her arm, "We can't go in there." The confusion in Leslee's eyes told him she didn't understand him. "We shouldn't go in there." He tried to clarify.

"We're just using the phone." She peeled his fingers off her arm. "Just one call." She held up her finger. Her hair whipped across his face as she walked into the house. "People this trusting have nothing to hide. It'll be safe."

"I'm not too sure about that." Denver placed his hand over his heavy thudding heart. "This is Texas. In God we trust. In Smith and Wesson, we rely."

"No one's here." She proclaimed as she searched the seemingly normal living room for a phone.

Denver ran his finger over the coffee table and it was dust free. "Just find the phone and make your call so we can get the hell out of here." He walked past the run down sofa and plasma TV. The sun washed over his face as he leered out the patio door seeing nothing but trees as far as the eye could see.

"Found it!" Leslee harked holding up a black cordless phone. "Who should I call?"

Denver turned away from the door, "Your parents. The National Guard. Barack Obama. I don't give a damn. Just call someone to come and get us."

Leslee dialed the first number that flashed in her head, her mother's cell. Denver eyed a silver revolver laying on the coffee table. He picked up the pistol letting his hand mold to the cold metal. He cocked and uncocked it as he walked to a wall covered in picture frames. He glanced at the frames only picking up little things. He rubbed out his contacts after the smoke irritated his eyes. Denver pulled the frame off the wall bringing it closer to his face.

"The phone's broke," Leslee told standing beside him. "Found these, though." She jingled the keys. "How do you feel about grand theft auto?" She smiled.

"What's that?" He pointed to something on the photo.

Leslee's smile faded like snow during springtime. A tear bloomed from her eye. "Where did you bring us?" The glass shattered as the picture frame hit the floor.

"It's my dad's place." He stated

"Look what we have here." A robust voice roared from the doorway calling their attention.

"Fuck!" Denver shouted cocking his pistol.

Leslee jumped as the dingy glass patio door whipped open. Two men stormed drenched in sweat with dirt painted faces.

"We aren't looking for...for any problem," Leslee affirmed. She didn't know she was tugging on Denver's shirt until he took her hand. "We just want to get our friends some help and go home."

"Ron. Karl. You hear that." The large bear-like man spoke about Leslee and Denver. "She just wants to get her friends some help." His dialect was different than theirs, not a Texas twang.

"No shit!" Ron, bulky and bald said as he took a small step forward. "Well, darling if you pass the test you get help."

"Test?" Leslee followed Denver as he inched closer to the door.

"The OXRO test," Ron answered.

"She ain't an OXRO, man." Karl, a lanky redhead declared pulling his gun from the back of his camo pants. "The double X's don't allow the dormant genes to activate."

"Oh, shit!" Ron pointed his bloodstained finger at Karl. "You retained that biology bull shit Dr. Cummings talked about."

Karl nodded as he used his shirt to clean the smudges off his gun, "What can I say, mixing human DNA with wolf.... that shit intrigues me."

"Move the fuck out the way!" Denver ordered raising his gun toward the bear-like man.

The man laughed twirling the handle of the machete in his hand. "You'll shoot me, you little fuck?"

"I don't know, Nick," Ron spoke. "He could be one of 'em." He shrugged locking eyes with Karl then the two burst out laughing.

Denver tightened his hand around the gun handle as the men's laughter filled the room drowning out Ashlyn's screams from his mind. It took two seconds for him to decide. His finger pulled back the trigger. A flicker burned in his eyes as a thunderous bang postponed the men's laughter. The bullet stung Nick right between the eyes. He fell to his knees shaking the floor with his rotund body.

"Bastard!" Ron yelled aiming his gun at Denver.

Denver and Leslee darted jumped over Nick's body and darted out the door ducking the bullets fired at them. They ran to the red truck before any bullets landed in their skull. Leslee shoved the key into the ignition and started the engine. She reversed the truck onto the road, shifted gears and stomped on the gas pedal.

"Fuck!" Denver slammed his fist into the dashboard. "I knew we should've gone in there!" He banged his fist on the door.

"I'm sorry." Leslee apologized steering down the road. "I'm sorry." She repeated with labored breath.

"Are you okay?" Denver breaking out of his rage-fueled trance. He saw the blood seeping into her yellow tank. "Your shot."

"I guess you can see without your contacts." She weakly chuckled looking into the rearview mirror. "They're behind us."

Denver turned to see the Explorer barreling down the road. "Floor it." He pulled the seatbelt over his body. "We're almost out." He could see the end of the two-lane road leading them back into town.

Leslee nodded as she pushed the pedal down as far as it could go. She whipped the car into a sharp left turn and evened it on the road; back in the old town that welcomed them on their arrival.

Denver smiled at the sight of the sign reading; you are now leaving Tranquility Woods.

"We have enough gas to get to Dallas." He told reading the fuel gauge. "Do you want me to drive?"

Leslee shook her head gripping the steering wheel, "I'm...."

A Hummer T-boned the red truck sending it flipping out the lane. The old truck stopped rolling on the side of the road.