Jeremy and Kara sprinted through the woods toward the cave, oblivious to the scratches that were starting to cover their arms and legs from some of the overgrowth along the path. Their thoughts focused on the horrific screams echoing throughout the woods, oblivious even to the approaching storm that seemed to have come up out of nowhere.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Thick black clouds lumbered toward their location, swallowing the sun in their mass, refusing to let even a trickle of light escape. Clouds and darkness ebbed slowly toward the cave as the tide can sometimes creep up on the unwary beach-goer building his majestic castle of sand.

Jeremy and Kara, focused solely on reaching their friends, took no heed of the subtle change in temperature nor on the steadily building rumbles that interspersed between the frantic screams of which they followed. Adrenaline pushed them faster than they had ever run before and though the branches and brambles lining the path were grabbing at their legs, they never stumbled or wavered on their mad dash through the forest.

The cave within sight, they pushed even harder to reach it. Jeremy and Kara, David and Jean were all speeding forth towards their destinations – one set rushing in and the other surging out. It was at this point, during a particularly loud explosion of thunder that they collided and fell to the ground.

Jeremy was gasping for breath, each intake burned his lungs. The impact had knocked the wind out of him and sent him sprawling, scraping his elbows and kicking dirt up into his face. Claps of thunder boomed in close enough proximity to make the ground shake.

Kara, though shaken, got to her feet and, though out of breath, grabbed Jean and said, “What happened? Where's Billy?”. Lightning struck somewhere beyond the cave, and the air had a charge to it.

Jean jumped at the sound and then turned and looked toward the cave. She was shaking badly, her skin pasty white and covered in sweat. She couldn't speak. Just pointed to the cave, her eyes wide with terror. Kara turned to David and saw the same expression on his ashen face.

Jeremy, recovered from the fall, got up and said, “What's going on?!?! Dave, Jean, what happened to Billy? Where is he?”. He shook David some while he spoke. Enough to jar him out of his catatonic state and get a response.

“He's gone. Oh MY GOD! It got him!!. Run. We have to run! There's something in the mist,” David said while pulling Jeremy toward the path, intent on leaving.

Jean stopped screaming and ran toward the path, crashing through the bushes and undergrowth with careless abandon. Jeremy looked at Kara and then at the cave, hesitating about what to do. David, meanwhile, had stopped tugging him. The storm was picking up intensity, almost as though it was a force directing them to leave in haste.

“I'm outta here. We gotta get help NOW!,” and with that, he was off down the path, back to where they left their bikes.

Jeremy took one step toward the cave but the loudest crack of thunder yet, followed in quick succession by several lightning strikes, stopped him.

“We can't go in there. Can't you feel it? It's coming! Billy's gone, I know it,” Kara said, almost yelling to be heard over the storm. While she spoke, she had a vision of poor Billy, lifeless on the ground and with a look of horror on his face, his death mask. His pale, blue eyes, soul-less now, staring at the ceiling. The wind whipped around them and seemed to push them forward, away from the cave.

Jeremy knew she was right. He could feel it approaching and didn't want to be there when it reached the opening. He was also spooked by this storm that seemed to have come up out of nowhere. They both ran back down the path to their bikes, the wind at their backs pushing, almost making them stumble as they went crashing down the hill. As they got to the end of the path, they saw Jean sitting on the ground crying. Mud streaked tears running down her face and onto her dress. David was already gone.

“Jean,” Kara said, “we need to go. Get on your bike and ride home as fast as you can. Lock the doors when you get there and tell your parents what happened at the cave.”

“I d-d-don't know if I can,” Jean said through sobs.

Thunder boomed and lightning soared through the clouds above them.

Jean screamed and cowered further down, seeming to want to make herself invisible.

“You have to or that thing is going to do the same thing to you that it did to Billy!,” Jeremy said as he got on his bike. “We're going to get help. I'll call Deputy Corigan. He's always been nice to me.”

Jean got slowly to her feet and got on her bike, and pedaled, a little wobbly at first as she couldn't see well due to the tears and her hair getting in her face from the wind. She gradually built up speed as she got her confidence back and was soon out of sight. Kara looked at Jeremy as they both started to pedal home.

“Do you think she'll make it,” she asked.

He looked back toward the direction Jean had gone and said, “I don't know. She's pretty shaken up. I hope she makes it home.” He let out a heavy sigh and then focused on his task at hand, getting home before that thing got to him.

They both peddled as fast as they could and went most of the way together but eventually came to the fork in the road. One to Forest Road and the other to Midway Road. They parted without a word, not knowing if this would be their last adventure together. Jeremy going as fast as he could up Forest Road, though having to maneuver around pot holes and huge bumps that could have sent him in a spin. Kara had a better path as Midway Road had been paved within the past year and was a smooth ride.

The storm, monstrous and angry, followed behind them. Just as Kara reached her home, it started to pour. Big, thick raindrops at first, to warn of an impending avalanche of rain. Jeremy was still 20 feet from his house when the rain hit. It came down so hard once it started in full force, that he had to ditch his bike on the lawn and run the rest of the way home as his tires were getting stuck in the potholes that he couldn't see through the rain.

Curakan watched from the cave as they left. He watched each of them go and followed in his mind to see where they lived. Now that he had fed and regained some of his strength, he could focus and find them – the ones responsible for his imprisonment, and make them pay. He knew that some had passed on, could feel it. Saw it through the one they called Billy's memories. Knew that each of these kids that had come today were descended from his tormentors, his captors. Revenge. It's sweet when it's waited so long and Curakan was in the mood for sweet.