Paul Credence rubbed his forehead in frustration as he looked over the results of his latest experiment, it wasn’t good.
'What the hell is missing? I need something to stabilize the cellular breakdown.' Leaning back in his chair, Paul looked up at the ceiling tiles, his eyes watering from fatigue and frustration of trying to come up with a cure for his daughter's cancer. 'What the hell is missing, damn it. There’s gotta be a way to slow this thing down.'
Looking across his desk his eyes fix on a large colored photograph of a beautiful woman holding a smiling toddler in her arms. The photograph was framed in one of two slots inside a gold-plated frame. In the second slot was a red heart with a black arrow drawn through it, it was one of many drawings Nadine had done in crayons for him and across the bottom she scribbled her name with the help from her mother so it would stay on the paper. Beneath Nadine's name his wife signed, love always, Rebbecca. 'Nadine … Daddy’s working on the answers, hang in there, baby.'
Tracing the heart with his eyes he remembers the day his daily role at the Chapel Hill Research Facility became his passion, working long hours, forgetting his wife, Rebbecca, and missing his opportunities to visit his daughter at the Duke University Children's Hospital. His job used to be boring and held no meaning, the routine was always the same. Take the cancer cells and play with the chemicals until you found something that slowed it down.
It was like the old Dunkin' Donuts commercials he used to laugh at with the exhausted baker waking up early in the morning and walking through the streets like a zombie. 'Gotta make the donuts,' he would moan all the way to the donut shop. But now that his work had found new meaning for him, he wasn't willing to rest while his daughter laid sick in a hospital bed.
Even if he himself became the workaholic zombie. It's been three years since the diagnoses was made. After months of going from doctor to doctor searching for the more acceptable answer, they ended up going to the children's hospital after all and now his little five-year-old sunshine is becoming an 8-year-old vegetable growing weaker every day. Along with her fading life, he was not only losing his daughter, he was losing his wife who hasn't spoken to him for more than two years. He knew it was unfair to hide in his lab and leave the burden of Nadine's chemotherapy appointments and other medical treatments solely on her shoulders. They were both tired, tired of cursing god for trying to steal their daughter from them and cursing each other for not finding the answers. But instead of being their for his wife, he chose the easy way out. He stayed in his lab.


A rather tall and thin man in a white coat walked into the waiting area of Chapel Hill Family Practice Center carrying a neon green plastic clipboard. Clinging to his leg was a small 5-year-old girl giggling as she sat on the doctor's foot.
"Mr. and Mrs. Credence ... You might want to follow me to the conference room down the hall," he said. "We have some things to discuss about Nadine's health."
'Oh god, what is it this time? More medicine? More appointments? Come on, doc! She had a tummy ache! Give her some tummy syrup and she'll be fine!'
Paul was ready to leave the hospital and as he looked over at Rebbecca he could tell she wanted to leave also. They had just spent more than $100 bucks in medicine for the poor child who just wants to play. As the couple followed the doctor down the hall giggling child and all.
As they walked by several rooms filled with parents waiting on results for their own children, Paul noticed the children weren't as playful or patient as Nadine. A few of them were crying and throwing tantrums because they wanted to go home.
'I feel your pain kids.' It seemed like minutes before they found the conference room and sat down. Except for Nadine who was already running in circles around the table and playing with the stuffed animals scattered on the floors. 'Okay doc, just get to the point and let us go home okay?' Paul thought as he squirmed in the small uncomfortable chair. The room was decorated with clowns and other kiddie pictures and furnished with child-sized furniture.
"I'm going to get to the point," he said setting the clipboard down on the table. 'Yes...that's the way to do it doc!' Clearing his throat the doctor started. "I'm afraid Nadine has brain cancer."
Both Paul and Rebbecca gasped at the news. Tears began swelling in Rebbecca's eyes as she watched Nadine hug a giant pink teddy bear and smiled back at her while Paul sat there with his mouth open.
"How? What? Your kidding right? Right, doc?"
"Mr. Credence. Please lower your voice so we don't frighten your daughter."
"But ... but..."
"Sir, its still very small and so far hasn't spread so its still treatable through chemotherapy. But we can't do it here unfortunately, the best place with all the facilities available is Duke University's Children's Hospital. They have been researching cancer for years. And if money is the issue, they will not turn you away. I'm sure they can tell you all about the programs they offer to help pay for her treatments."
"No...no way...not my Nadine," Paul shouted at the doctor. He was angry about the news and unable to accept the doctor's answer. Rebbecca quietly took the now frightened toddler's hand and walked out of the room.
"I know your upset, please think it over. I'll be here all night if you need to talk," the doctor replied and held out a business card with his cell phone number scribbled on the bottom.
'No ... no more talking....if you talk to me right now I'll kill you, doc.' Paul wanted to scream, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scream but I simply can't accept this answer."
"That's fine, many parents often seek a second opinion which you are entitled to, sir."
Instead of a reply Paul simply nodded, wipe a tear from his eyes and rushed out of the room to catch up with his wife who was already sitting in the hallway comforting their daughter.


It was after the life in Nadine's eyes had started to fade that he began hiding from his family and worked late hours as well as weekends in his lab, trying to come up with a cure rather than a vaccine to slow the cancer down like the scientists at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center in California. 'This is the triangle research center, one of the best on the east coast. Not gonna let some egghead from the west coast show us up,' he thought to himself then chuckled. 'Egghead...that's what Jack calls me. Hmmmm. Eggs. Isn't that what we used to call brain food?' Paul looked at his report then at his copy of the Science Daily report featuring UCLA's discovery. "... An experimental vaccine for brain cancer has shown promising results in preliminary investigations at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center. The results were published in his copy of the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Research. ... The vaccine at UCLA is designed to boost the immune system's response against brain cancer by exposing the antigens, or specific proteins, that brain tumors produce."
'That's gotta be it ... the brain needs food to fight off the cancer ... yes!' A small smile crossed Paul's face as he looked at Nadine's drawing again and reached for his microscope and a box of slides. As he pulled a purple latex glove over his right hand, he felt refreshed as if the answer just popped into his head. 'Hang in there, baby. I know it hurts, daddy's gonna try to make you all better.'
Putting the reports aside he walked over to the refrigerator where cancer samples were kept and took out a box of sterilized test tubes, a tray of chemicals and a raw egg that he meant to boil for lunch. 'The answer is in here, I just know it is ... I wonder if I not only added cells from this egg that if I increased the strength of the solution ... would it work?'
Opening a new pack of sterilized syringes he reached for the first slide and a small tube of cancer cell samples. After extracting the cell samples into the syringe and carefully pushed it into the center of the slide he gently places it under his microscope.


Nadine slept in her hospital bed, barely able to move or even show a facial expression for her mother who was sitting in a chair next to the bed reading her a story. It was her favorite book, Peter Pan, she wanted to smile when her mother would lift the book to show her the pictures. She could tell her mother had been crying by the redness of her eyes and how her lips trembled as she forced a smile. 'Where's my daddy? Doesn't he love me anymore?' she thought to herself as she tried her best to stay awake to hear the happy ending of her book. But soon she drifted off into her dreamworld, where she often goes when she's tired. But lately, her dreams have become a little dangerous and a bit scary.


"Hello, Nadine!" called out a voice as a handsome boy wearing green came down from the sky to greet her. "You've come back to visit us? Wow, your parents must not miss you much for you to come visit us often."
"No. My parents miss me and I miss them. I just can't find my way out of here, Peter. Can you help me find my way home?"
"I don't know. I'm not good with directions. Let's go ask Tinkerbell, she may know where to go."
"Oh, no thank you. Tinkerbell is starting to scare me. Last time we went somewhere she tried to hit me."
"Who? Tink? Nah. She just gets playful sometimes. I'm sure she didn't mean it. Let's go talk to her."
"Oh ... okay, Peter."
"Here ... hold my hand and let's go."

Nadine reached up and took Peter's hand and the two of them flew over the woods of Never-never-land towards the dismal swamp where Tinkerbell has been hanging out more and more recently. Nadine was scared but as long as Peter Pan was holding her hand she didn't care. As they neared the area where Tinkerbell was found sprinkling her pixie dusts on a few frogs a loud noise rang through the area. Frightened she squeezed Peter's hand and looked around. Not far beyond the dismal swamp was a huge pirate ship.

"Peter! Peter! It's Captain Hook! Look!" She shouted as a huge canon ball came flying right at them.


A loud noise woke Nadine up as her eyes flew open and looked around. She saw her mother standing in the door, but she couldn't see past her mother to tell who she was talking to. Then she heard his voice, it was Uncle Jack. She loved her uncle but he always seem to show up at a bad time according to her mother. 'Uncle Jack! I'm in here! Come play with me, like we used to!' Nadine waited a few minutes before her mother would let her uncle into the room. They always seemed to be talking about her daddy who she hasn't seen for a few months. She misses her daddy very much, but she knows uncle Jack will play with her and tell her how much her daddy loved her.
After a few minutes, her uncle finally came into the room.
"How's my favorite niece?" Jack shouted holding out a stuffed unicorn in front of her and laid it beside her. 'I'm fine uncle Jack! Have you come to play with me?' "I'm sorry your daddy hasn't come by yet, but I know he loves you very much, kiddo."
'That's my uncle Jack. If anyone knows if my daddy loved me he would.'
Nadine tried to force a smile but nothing happened, as she watched her uncle make goofy faces that would normally make her giggle something caught her eye. Her uncle had a huge red scar on his arm and for a moment it looked like it was bleeding. 'What's that uncle Jack? Did you get a boo-boo?' As if he could hear her, she listened as Jack explained the cut on his arm. He must have seen her stare at it. She watched as he talked about all the artifacts he found and things he's seen. She always loved his stories. As he explained she kept her eyes on the scar, 'there it is again. Uncle Jack why are you bleeding on me?' Her eyes moved between Jack's arm and her mother who obviously doesn't see the blood dripping on her covers. 'Mommy! Uncle Jack is bleeding! Help him!' The blood was making her nauseous as she had to deal with seeing nurses draw her blood almost every other day for testing. As she watched Jack turn his attention to her mother she noticed a shadow on the wall but before she could make out what the shadow was she fell asleep again.


"Hello Nadine, come to see us again?" called out a strange voice. Nadine looked around expecting to see Peter Pan and gasped when a tall balding man descended from the sky.
"Peter? Is that you?"
"What? You don't recognize me? I'm very sad that you don't recognize me," he said as he leaned forward and held out his hand. "Come on. Tinkerbell has been waiting for you. She said she has something important to tell you."
"Why are you all grown up now?"
"Me? No way. I'll never grow up! Come on. You know how Tink is when you make her wait too long."

Nadine held out her hand but as soon as she laid her hands into Peter's grown up hands, something felt different and frightening. As they flew over Never-land she saw that the dismal swamp had taken over much of the woods and everything was quiet. To quiet for comfort. As they landed her body began to tremble more and more. 'What's going on? Why is Never-land so dark now?' As they landed on the door step of a small cottage made of sticks and mud, Peter opened the door. "Tink! We're home!"

"Be out in a minute, dear!" a voice answered. It was the voice of an adult woman and she guessed right as a tall beautiful blond woman stepped out into the room. "Why hello Nadine, you've been gone a long time."
"What happened to everyone?"
"What do you mean? We're still in Never-land," she said motioning her arms in the air. "The lost boys began missing their parents and went home. Guess they didn't want to hang out with us anymore so over the years me and Pete fell in love and got married."
"Married?"
"Yep! So ... now I don't have to worry about you stealing my Peter cause your still a kid."
"What? You thought that? I'm just a kid!"
"I know... how foolish of me. But hey. We're friends right?"
"Sure. I thought you hated me."
"Oh...don't get me wrong. I do. But I need you to do me a big favor."
"What? Why? If you don't like me send me home."
"Can't kiddo. The new boss in Never-land wants you. In fact, let's go see her right now."

When Tinkerbell turned towards the door, Nadine gasped when she saw her fairy wings were now crumpled remains that looked like the wings of squashed locust in the windshield of her mother's car. 'I wanna go home.' Nadine was really scared now, she wasn't happy about Never-land's new changes.


As Jack began telling his only niece about his trip to the Aztec temple he could see her fading in and out of consciousness. 'Poor baby, it will be over soon.' Jack kept telling his stories as if nothing bothered him, but the truth was he wanted to cry. He never had a child of his own, his last wife left him after years of trying to have a child. He was too afraid to talk to a doctor or even his brother about his little problem. So in his mind he adopted Nadine as his own daughter and always did his best to bring her a toy from every country he visited. If he happened to visit the same country again, he'd find her something different and unique. This trip he bought her a colorful unicorn he found in one of the tables at the bazaar in south America. But as Nadine closed her eyes and fell asleep, he sat back and watched. 'Where's Paul? Why isn't he here with Nadine instead? This isn't fair. Why am I sitting here watching her teeter on the brink of death and lying to her about her cowardly father.' But as Jack sat there thinking to himself the scar on his arm began hurting and he quickly holds his arm to his body. As he held his arm a strange voice begins whispering in his mind. "I can help the child," a voice whispered. Jack looked around and saw Rebbecca standing in the door.
"Did you need me? Sis?" he asked.
"No...I didn't say anything ... is she asleep now?"
"Yeah."

On cue Rebbecca started crying, muffling the sobs with a handkerchief as she walked back out into the halls to sit. 'Did I say something wrong? Rebbecca I'm sorry.' He wanted to say, but the throbbing in his arm was getting out of control.

"Take this fragment to your brother," said the voice as Jack's arm felt like it was going to split apart. "I can help this child. My Netta is already doing what she can, let's do our part."
"Who? What? I'm going crazy ... the stress is killing me. Sorry Nadine, I need to go see your mother for a few."
Jack shook his head a few times, making a silly noise as he did, and the pain stopped. Looking down at his arm he could see the scar was bright red and a clear puss has begun oozing out from under the liquid band-aid he bought from the drug store on the way to the hospital. 'I seriously should have this checked out.' Wiping the excess puss from his elbow he wiped it on his flannel shirt and walked into the hallway to comfort Rebbecca. Rebbecca has been his best friend since his divorce and he loved her for that. If it wasn't for his little problem he wouldn't mind filling in for Paul until he got his head out of his ass and took responsibility for his daughter. He would drive over to the laboratory if it wasn't for a little episode after Paul had disappeared for one month.


"Stop being a bastard!" Jack shouted as Paul continued staring into his microscope. As Paul continued scribbling on his clipboard Jack got mad and pushed the microscope towards the end of the table and grabbed his clipboard. 'This is for your own good big brother.' "What's this, huh? What are you scribbling! What are you using to hide yourself these days?"
"Look, Jack. Your not supposed to be here ... now get out!"
"No. You know what? No." Jack shouted throwing the clipboard on the floor. "You have run away from your problems ever since we were little."
"What? No I haven't"
"Yes you have egghead! You ran away from Mom and Lauren's funeral! You ran away from me and dad after he had his car accident that left him crippled! And now! Now your running away from Rebbecca and Nadine!"
"No I am not! Jack, if you must know what I'm doing. I'm trying to find a cure for Nadine. I can't find it being couped up in a hospital room every single night."
"You know what. You don't know what your missing."
"I'm doing what's best for my family."
Family? Family! You don't have a family anymore! Rebbecca is fed up with you running away and Nadine is turning into a vegeta ...."

Paul suddenly punched Jack in the mouth sending him backwards to the floor. 'Well, that got your attention.' Paul shook his hand in the air to dull the stinging and reached up to wipe a tear from his eye. Glaring down at Jack he turned and walked over to the lab door and pushed the intercom button.

"Security."
"This is Doctor Paul Credence in section B. I need my visitor removed."
"Be right there, doc."
"If it wasn't for the fact you were my brother, I'd kill you."
As a security officer opens the door and walks in with a night stick in his hand, he motioned for Jack to step outside. Jack stood up and as he got ready to follow the officer he turned and replied "No. I'm sorry. I mistaken you for the brother who on many occasions saved me from school bullies growing up and helped me get my life back together after my messy divorce. Your just a pitiful coward."


"Rebbecca? Are you alright?"
Rebbecca reached up and grabbed Jack's hand. '
Guess the news was pretty bad today.'
"They said she's not getting any better. The chemotherapy isn't working any more and the cancer is beginning to spread ... they don't think she's going to make it to her birthday next month."
Jack's body began to tremble as he sat down next to her and reached his arm across her shoulders. 'Oh dear god, why isn't Paul here.'
"Rebbecca. I know you'll hate me for this, but has anyone seen or call Paul?"
Rebbecca began sobbing uncontrollably as she buried her face into Jack's shoulder. He wanted to cry too, but he knew he had to be strong for Rebbecca and Nadine. He didn't want to, because this is where Paul should be sitting and doing the comforting. When she stopped, he gave her a quick hug and stood up.
"Where are you going, Jack?"
"Going to get that bastard of a brother of mine down here where he belongs."
Just as he got half way down the hall Paul rushed past him. 'Okay. What just happened?' Jack stopped and turned as if he saw a ghost and smiled when he saw that it was Paul. As usual Rebbecca turned away and let him do what he pleased because Nadine really wants to see her daddy.
"Is that?"
"Yeah. Go see what he wants. I'm going to the break room for some coffee, okay?"
"Sure, sis."

Jack watched Rebbecca disappear down the hallway to the elevators. He felt bad that she had to endure this hardship alone and was angry with his brother for letting his family fall apart. 'I would treat her so much better that this if she were my wife, egghead.' He heard a noise inside the room and ran inside to see Paul inject something into Nadine's arm. He could see Nadine was awake with fear in her eyes.

"Hey! What are you doing? Your scaring her!"
"I found a way to slow the cancer down enough to work on a cure."
"What?"
"Trust me! It worked on the experiments."
"Your just gonna inject that shit into your daughter without even talking to her doctor or her mother first?"
"She's my daughter, I'm doing this so we'll be able to play together again."
"That's great and all. But look at her. You scared her, she was just sleeping a second ago."
"I'm sorry baby, daddy thinks he found a way to cure you. I know it stings, but this will let you walk and play again."

After emptying the contents of his syringe, Paul returned it to his coat pocket and brushed Nadine's hair from her eyes.

"I'm sorry I've been gone a long time, I really missed you. But I wanted to make sure I had something that will make you feel better, baby."
"Bro, you better get out of here before I report this incident to the nurse."
"What? For finding a way to make her feel better again?"
"Paul, that's just wrong using your own kin as a guinea pig."
"I promise you. I ran the tests and it worked. This will make her feel a little bit better for a while longer."
"Give him the fragment. It will help the child." The voice called out and as if by some mysterious force, Jack reached into the chest pocket of his flannel shirt and handed Paul the fragment.
"What's this, Jack?" Paul asked taking the fragment and reading the inscription on it.


Anita sat her desk filling out paperwork for all the cases she had to mark closed, 'Standford kid, case closed. No leads ... no witnesses ... no suspects.' She spent weeks on each case with no results and she was furious, 'Another damn kid gone missing without a trace, and within weeks of the Credence kid, too.' She couldn't believe the number of missing children cases she had to close this month alone, the only case remaining open is the Nadine Credence case. Gone for three months now and unless she can get another lead besides her father the investigation will close along with the others. 'What is the connection? Are they still in North Carolina, even?' North Carolina was a huge place, especially in a city like Raleigh. Anita always laughed about Raleigh when she used to live there, but it was no joke. A person could get lost just crossing the street for a carton of cigarettes and a diet cherry cola. Anita was frustrated, she could use a cigarette and a swig of whiskey if she had any. But since her diagnoses for cancer last year, she promised her doctor while laying on the cold examination table that she would change her diet to help the chemotherapy do its magic. To her that was the ending of her good luck and soon the end of her career. She used to pride herself at being able to solve a case within two weeks. But she's off her mark these days and her fellow investigators are quick to expose her failures. Often coming to work with a yellow sticky on her monitor that read: 'It's 10 a.m. in the great city of Durham ... do you know where your children are? Detective Storms needs your help.' It wasn't a good year for Anita, she would take a bullet in the stomach over breast cancer any day. 'I'm still alive, which means I still have work to do, I guess. Shouldn't complain about anything but the pain.' She would lie to herself. But lately the pain has gotten worse, the doctor's offered surgery but Anita was afraid of being put under and refused to be operated on. As she leaned forward to finish typing and send her reports to the printer the phone rang. As she answered the phone she could hear the raspy voice of a man on the other line.

"Is this detective Storms?"
"Yeah? What can I do for ya, sir? Who is this?"
"Listen. I can't talk long ... my last name is ......Credence ......... shoot......they found.....me."
"What? Doctor Credence? Is this Paul?"
"No! ... Jack ... look, I'm in danger. Meet me .... at the Cracker Barrel in Smithfield ..... hurry .... don't have much time...."
"There he is!" a male voice shouted in the background.
"Jack? Where?" Anita asked as the phone suddenly hung up. 'Smithfield. Hmmmm. Oh, okay, I remember now. The factory outlet mall.'
Scribbling the name of the restaurant and town on her notepad she began looking for quick directions to the Cracker Barrel on map quest. 'Better get there soon before he disappears.'


Jack slammed the phone down on the receiver and took off running into the parking lot of the outlet mall. Hiding behind cars and making his way towards the Cracker Barrel across the parking lot. 'Shit. Go towards the mall ... go towards the mall.' He watched the zombified followers of Netta track his prior location, not caring who they shove out of their way they practically tore through the walk way looking for him. 'This is my fault. This is so my fault.' As he neared a pink Buick in the parking lot he followed the frame to the next car and ran as the car's alarm system sounded. 'Great.' he thought to himself as he quickly ran between cars towards the restaurant keeping his head down hoping Netta's thugs don't find him. 'Way to go dumb-ass.' Once inside he was greeted by a smiling waitress with her thick North Carolinian accent. Jack loved the southern ladies for their flirty ways, he always loved eating at southern restaurants because it made him feel like he was the one women would kill for when they flirted. His ex-wife hated it with a passion but would never complain, only glared at him over her salad. There was nothing like a freshly pulled pork barbecue, home-style mashed potatoes, sweet hush puppies and a mound of coleslaw piled on his plate to make a southern man like himself happy.

"Welcome to Cracker Barrel, sweetie! What can I do for ya?"
"Hi. I'd like a table for two and can we sit in the back where its darker?"
"Ooh... Plannin' to pop the question, sugar? *giggles* No need to tell me, I'm just being nosey ... of course you can sweetie pie. Follow me."


It took a bit longer than she expected but Anita finally found the Cracker Barrel, the route has changed from Raleigh to Smithfield due to all the construction. She looked around the parking lot for a frantic looking man, finding no one she went inside. Just as she stood there looking through the gift shop and peering around the corner into the restaurant area a robust woman approached her smiling ear to ear.

“Are you Anita?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oooooh. Right this way sweetie. Your fiancee is back over this way, dear.”
“What?” ‘What in the world did this moron tell the waitress?’
“This way sweetie.”

Anita followed the waitress to the back of the restaurant where a middle-aged man sat, his features barely noticeable. He quickly motioned for her to sit down and handed her a menu.

“Jack Credence?”
“Yes. Go ahead and order anything you want. My treat.”
‘Wow. This is sassafras.’ “Okay. Um, can I have the barbecue platter? With extra hush puppies?”
“Comin' right up darlin’”

Anita watched as the waitress winked and scurried away to get their plates. Anita cleared her throat and leaned forward to speak quietly to Jack.

“Look. You said you had something to tell me, what’s this all about?”
“My brother took my niece, Nadine. I can’t stay that long because they will eventually find me.”
“Who? Who’s after you? Your brother?”
“Yes and no. Nadine is after me too. It’s hard to explain.”
“Well. Your not going anywhere until I hear it all, mister. Quite honestly, I'm through chasing guesses and running into deadends. Ever since I took this case, strange things have been happening ... Nothing surprises me anymore, but I still want answers.”

Just as she was ready to barrage Jack with questions the waitress returned with two plates piled high with barbecued pulled-pork, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and hushpuppies. Giggling she disappeared back to the front of the restaurant to seat other customers.

"Look. My time is short, so, go ahead and eat your meal. I'm not going anywhere til the restaurant closes and I'll tell you everything that has happened til today."

Anita sat back in her chair and began pulling the barbecue from the pile. 'Damn good barbecue, I should come back when all the investigations are closed.' As Anita ate she listened to Jack's story.


Walking through the thick jungles of South America Jack did what he could to keep up with Paul. Paul had been acting strange since Nadine began her amazing recovery two months ago. Even Nadine has been acting strange, milking her father for every bit of his attention.

"Paul this is madness! Where are you taking Nadine?"
"We didn't ask you to come along," Paul and Nadine answered in unison like robots. "We would have been fine on our own."
"Paul this is madness ... please ... where are we going?"

Soon as they made it to a clearance in the jungle he recognizes the temple. And standing at its base was Degregory and his crew waiting like puppies for its master to toss it a treat. As Jack looked closely he noticed something different about them. As he continued to follow his brother and strangely behaving niece he became nervous, his arm began itching and the hairs began standing on its end as it usually does when he's frightened.

"Paul ... this is suicide man. I am totally against this," he whined keeping an eye on the strange people and children that now line the halls of this old temple. Each eyeing his every move like ravenous dogs licking their lips.
"You don't have to stay," the duo replied. "Ah. Home sweet home, come now Jack. Don't be such a wet blanket."

Jack turned his attention from the group of people to his brother and screamed in horror as the two seemed to melt into one huge creature.


As Jack watched the detective finish her barbecue meal he was amazed that she hasn't slapped a handcuff across his wrists and dragged him out of the Cracker Barrel. But as he watched her something inside began churning, he knew what it was ... it was Nadine ... she is calling him to return to the temple and he was scared ... shitless. He has been fighting the transformation and the calling for two days just to be able to tell someone and now he's unable to continue. As Anita popped a hush puppy into her mouth Jack stood up trembling, his face began changing as he apologized as he threw his wallet down on the table and ran for the door. The waitress who was bubbly and friendly earlier was now sneering at her from the front door, as Anita looked around her she noticed others staring at her as well with devilish grins.

As Anita reached down under her coat and released the strap across her handgun and slowly stood up reaching for Jack's wallet. As she slowly walked towards the counter to pay for the meal she heard something snarling in the back of the restaurant. Turning around, her eyes grew large as a huge creature approached her and as she reached for her gun the creature swung its arm towards her knocking her into a table near the register. Her gun flung to the floor and slid behind the front counter. Quickly crawling for her gun the other customers screamed and moaned as a few began transforming into monsters while others ran in fear into the parking lot.

'Shit! Not here too!' Anita began to panic as she reached for her gun. She was getting rather tired of being attacked each time she came closer to finding the answers to her case. 'Where are these monsters coming from?'

Anita fired off a few shots at the monster, remembering to aim for the head based on her first encounter.

Anita received a lead on the possible kidnapping on the Nadine Credence case. The mother claimed she suspects the girls' father took her from the hospital. She spoke with the landlord and got the keys to his apartment. As she opened the door a strange odor filled the room. It was so foul Anita had to back into the hallway for a breath of air. It was a stale rotten smell and some how she had to go in.
'Please lord don't let that smell be the child,' she prayed before covering her nose with one hand and held out her gun with the other. "Doctor Credence? Nadine?" she called out hoping to get an answer when something in the back room made a noise. Rushing through the dark apartment she felt the walls for a light and ran towards the back. "Freeze! Come out with your hands where I can see them!"

Out from the darkness a vile looking creature rushed towards her. At first Anita let out a scream which quickly turned into a shout as she pulled the trigger of her gun aiming for the creature's head. But the bullets didn't seem to stop it as it rammed her into the door frame hissing. Her gun fell to the floor beside her as she was knocked down to the ground. Her back throbbed with pain. 'Damn! What is this? A nightmare?' she said to herself as she braced its snarling muzzle away from her own face with her arms.

"What the hell are you?!" she shouted as she glanced around her to look for her gun. The creature snapped and snarled at her as it tried to ram her again. This time it succeeded in pushing her away from the door frame andsmash her into a dresser that was near the door. She let out a scream as she felt the raw burning of her skin where the corner of the dresser pressed against her spine. It hurt so bad she curled into a ball squeezing her fists when she found her gun. It had been thrown under the dresser.