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They are dark figures, hovering over the ground, yet their bony, decrepit feet hang from the bottom, confirming that whatever they are, they aren’t alive.
I scream so loud my throat gives out, and I swear I can feel the trees shake from the force.
My front slams into Atticus, and he wobbles, his arms shaking in front of him. I can only see a glimpse of the edge of the cliff before a body knocks into mine, and then another. Until all of us ram into each other, and Atticus can’t hold on, all of us tipping over the edge of the hill, crashing into each other as we roll down the other side.
“Oomph,” I grunt, slamming into Blaire. She lets out a scream as we roll chaotically, our limbs locking and slamming. Felix grabs me around the waist, protecting me with his body as he rolls down the hill. He takes the brunt of the impact against the ground, and I burrow my head into his chest as we roll, colliding with stumps and rocks, branches and overgrown brush.
Someone screams again, and it sounds like Piper.
The hill feels as if it goes on forever, our bodies at the mercy of the earth, tearing us to shreds.
Thump.
My head slams against Malik’s shoulder as we crash to the bottom of the hill.
I gasp in a breath, my mind disoriented and my body turned upside down as I look at the sky.
I can hear everyone panting in their breaths as we catch our bearings. Felix lays half on top of me, and I’m half on top of Malik, and Piper’s legs are pinned under my back. All of our limbs are twisted together, as we slowly shift to untangle ourselves, shoving up to stand.
Shit.
I spring up quickly, fear clutching my heart as I glance at top of the hill. Felix is quick to stand right after, walking up to me with a calculated expression on his face. As if everyone realizes what happened at the same time, they jump to their feet as well, glancing up the hill.
“It’s empty,” I whisper. The top of the cliff is nearly pitch black, but all I can see are the shadows of the trees in front of the night sky. Everything else is empty. Eerily empty.
“Where did they go?” Felix asks.
“It doesn’t feel like they’re gone,” Malik growls.
“No. No, it doesn’t,” I mumble.
“Let’s keep moving. I don’t want to stand around and wait for them to come back,” Atticus says, and I can hear the crunching of twigs underneath his feet as he takes a step back.
I nod, brushing the dirt and grass off my body. We all turn around, only to stop in our tracks once again.
Holy shit.
It’s Castle Pointe.OldCastle Pointe.
An abandoned town, with a strip of small businesses on each side of the street. It looks like what you’d see in an old western movie, with each building a little different than the next. A small mountain town, shoved between trees and hills. It’s all on a single street, and looks like it was deserted, like people fled on a moment’s notice.
A door remains propped open, cars still sitting on the side of the road. It’s been years, yet for some reason, it looks as if people left only yesterday. I can taste the desperation they must have felt to leave this side of town.
What happened here?
I slip sideways between Malik and Atticus, grabbing my backpack and looping my arms through as I make my way toward the town.
“Whoa, Hazel, what’re you doing?” Vera barks at me.
I glance over my shoulder, at all my friends who are looking at me like I’m only a little crazy. “We didn’t just go through that”—I nod my chin toward the hill—“for us to enjoy the scenery. Let’s get moving. Sticking in one spot probably isn’t the safest thing to do.”
I keep walking, and the rest of them catch up to me. We’re silent as our boots crunch loudly, moving from the woods and onto the street, the remaining grass overgrown into weeds. I glance at the different shops, from the post office, to an old police station, to an apparel store. The clothes still hanging in the window are ancient, ridiculously ruffled dresses against men’s tuxedos. There’s a small movie theatre with the dusty wordsThe Baffled Burglarprinted on the front of the sign. There’s also a bar, along with a few other broken-down shops that are indistinguishable.
We don’t speak as we make our way down the road, not really sure which direction we’re supposed to be going but taking everything in around us. All the colors are faded, almost a washed-out gray above the bricks of the buildings.
The cars that sit along the side of the roads are much older as well, like what you’d see in a black-and-white movie, with their rounded tops, and so small you wonder how they could fit two people in the back seats.
“Wow.” I step apart from the group, going up to the car and pressing my hands against the window. It’s cloudy, and I rub my hands over the glass, wiping away the decades-old grime. “This car is super cool.”
