Erin tried to count heads as the kids piled out of the bus, shoving one another and yelling until they were a single mass of irritation and sonic abuse. Even though their entire school population was less than a single grade elsewhere, outside the halls of Lagoe High School it was like counting locusts.

She realized one was missing and walked around the bus to find Gayle, in a hoodie on a 90-degree day, exhaling a plume of smoke.

"Gayle, you can't vape," Erin said.

A look of disgust crossed her face. "I'm not." She held up a cigarette.

"That's even worse and how did you get off the bus so quickly and light up so fast?"

"I went out the window. I just need a break, Erin. You know how stressful these field trips are."

"It's Mrs. Darson and you are too young to know stress!"

"Is she?" Sheralyne asked.

Erin jumped. She turned around to see Sheralyne, in a long prairie dress, clutching her bag to her chest.

"Sheralyne! You have to stop sneaking up on me. You have to."

"Are you okay, Mrs.Darson?" She asked. "You look like maybe you were recently confronted with something, and your world is off tilt."

"I'm fine, Sheralyne. You too join the others."

Sheralyne drew close and whispered: "What did you see?"

Erin exhaled. "Gayle, finish your cigarette. Sheralyne, find the other kids. Jesus."

* * *

Avery's Adventure Camp offered camping and ziplining at the edge of Wildcat Thicket. Kids would shiver at the stories of the lion, of the apes hiding in the woods. For years the school held an annual day at the camp, rain or shine, pandemic or no.

The teachers and adventure camp staff managed to corral the kids. The lack of cell signal limited their usual means of appeasing them. The closer you got the thicket, the less reception you got, only adding to the wilderness's mystique.

Erin stood by Alison Meers, who had been with the school for over twenty-five years. A first-hand witness to the gradual shrinking of the town. She taught generations, as most kids entered their shotgun marriages about midday senior year. She often told Erin her goal was to get them out.

"You're supposed to leave," Alison told Erin, her voice shaking. "You leave the town and have an adventure, then return later when you're ready for calm. God help them, they never leave."

Alison wore a shirt from the last trip to Avery's Adventure Camp, and tried to fan herself with one of their pamphlets. Erin offered her a sip of water.

"It's fine, Honey," Alison said. "Just a lot on my mind. You ever feel like things are shifting?"

"Getting nervous about retirement?" Erin asked.

"Yes! This is what I did for a quarter of a century! Mr. Meers is long gone, hell I don't even have a cat. I've just been a teacher, you know?"

"You've done good here," Erin said.

"I could have done better. I budget for the SAT and ACT books, I've taken them in college tours myself. Doesn't matter. You never escape the event horizon of places like these."

"That's not completely true."

"Retirement. Shit. What am I going to do?"

"I don't, I would trade spaces with you right now this second. You could have my youth if I never had to interact with Gayle again. Or Sheralyne. How are they teenagers and middle-aged all at once?"

"I think it's because we got fluoride in the water. I read a thing on Facebook about it."

"You're gonna get weird in retirement, I can tell," Erin said.

They tried to keep the kids together as much as possible. The next activity was the zipline, and the camp director, a one-eyed man with a massive underbite known as The Colonel would be giving instructions. Alison kept talking about her concerns, what she would do that Sunday before her first day of retirement, but Erin saw another teacher a few feet away. Duane.

Duane knew Jackson. Or rather, Jackson harassed Duane with information about his Bigfoot creatures, assuming the man's native heritage gave him special insight. Duane took it with a smile, but his pity had grown thin in the last few years.

"Duane!" Erin called out, weaving through the kids trying to find reception or pushing each other to the ground.

He nodded to her. "Mrs. Darson. How's Ry, he find anything yet?"

Erin exhaled and caught her breath. "He's looking. It's a bitch."

"I had a ten-month stretch and it nearly broke me. Thank God, I got this job."

"Jesus, that bad, huh?" Erin laughed. Duane said nothing. "Because, you know, to thank God for this... you know, never mind."

Duane chuckled.

"Look, have you heard from Jackson? You know we're renting a place on his land but we haven't heard from him in a while."

"No one does, he only comes into town for supplies maybe once a month, less since you guys started handling things for him."

"I know, but it's been a while. And to be honest, there's some weird shit happening out there."

"Has Jackson made you a believer?" Duane raised an eyebrow.

"No, but, I don't know. It's been weird."

"Weird how?" Duane asked.

Weird something attacking our trailer. Weird something trying to get in. Weird Ry seeing monsters. "I don't... it's nothing. I just didn't know if you heard from him."

"It has been a blessed three months since I heard from him. He's convinced I can help him with his project, but I keep explaining to him that I got nothing. Well, no, I got debt."

"I got debt too," Erin said. "Like, a shocking amount and nothing cool to show for it."

"It's bullshit, right? Our parents got into debt buying cool shit, we just spend it on medical bills and food. Not even good food!"

"If Ry was here, he'd be loving this," Erin said.

"Oh God, it's gotten so bad that I sound like Ry? Shit."

Erin laughed. Ry often lamented the things going wrong in the world. He kept up with the news and wanted to talk about it with Erin. She understood, but so many times she would tell him to shut the hell out. Climate change? Failing democracy? What the hell was she going to do when all she could think of was what they owed and how they would pay it?

"Look," Duane said. "I think Jackson is fucking crazy, but weird things happen out that way. It's an odd place. A thin place, ya know?"

"We'll keep our heads on a swivel."

"You're better off getting a palace in town."

She could see The Colonel approaching and excused herself. Duane called out that if he heard from Jackson, he would let her or Ry know.

The Colonel, dressed head to toe in military gear, snapped to attention. Next to him, a shorter man called out for everyone to pay attention. The teachers shushed their students. And eventually, the cacophony settled down.

"You can call me The Colonel. This is Oliver, my assistant. We are about to embark on the ziplines. I ask that everyone, and I mean everyone, first hit up our restrooms. They are clean and waiting."

The Colonel began to pace. "Listen to me, everyone. There will be no piss on my zip lines. I don't like that there are kids on my ziplines. What have you ever sacrificed to enjoy this? What have you ever gave? But every year at least one of you loses it on the zipline and it won't happen this year! I did two tours. Two tours in Iraq. What I saw devastated me and left me a wreck. What the war could not break the VA and years of bureaucratic red tape finished. I built myself up with this Colonel persona. You will not learn my real name, none of you will. That man is dead. The colonel lives. Don't piss on my zipline!"

He's getting better, Erin thought. Calmer. She was honestly proud of The Colonel.

Following the half hour it took for every teenager on the trip to use the bathroom, they lined up under the shade of a row of elm trees. The kids ascended the winding wooden structure to the top. Half of the teachers waited at the other end to keep them together. Alison and Erin stood at the bottom of the steps, sending the kids up to receive their harnesses and clips.

Alison muttered to herself, almost pushing the kids forward.

"Alison?" Erin said.

"I'm sorry," Alison said. "It's so hot out, you know?"

"It's not the heat."

The women turned to see Oliver, The Colonel's assistant from before, in his Avery's Adventure Camp shirt and shorts. He looked at Alison.

"You've been looking out there across the field, at the trees. Nothing back there but woods, no sign of man. Go on."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Erin asked.

"No, continue," Alison whispered.

"Go on. Freedom awaits you. Go!"

With that, Alison bolted. She stumbled forward and almost collapsed, but regained her footing and dove into the tall grass, coursing through a field of ticks and chiggers to the thick nest of trees on the other side. Erin called out to her.

The Colonel walked up to Oliver, gazed at the smiling man, and shook his head.

"You really gotta stop doing that."

Erin ran to the edge of the tall grass. She could see Alison vanish into the trees.

"What the fuck is this week?"