Trayrock, A few days after the stormThe farmhouses were beginning to press in on the road, which was a sign that they were nearing Havermouth. The closer to a town or city, the nearer the houses were built to each other and the road. The further out, the houses moved back from the road, up long driveways that could stretch for kilometers.Lyric pulled off down a dirt road.“We’re going to have to abandon the car,” she decided. “We’ll park it somewhere, walk until we find another, steal it, and then come back here to transfer our supplies over. We are nearing Havermouth, but the town center is on the other side of the river. The dam is on this one. So, we’ll drive up to the dam, and check it out, before risking the town.”“You think that the religious people are here too,” he stated.“I think something is going on and until I know that they’re not here, I’m going to assume that they… Ah, over there. That should do it,” she headed towards a dilapidated hay shed and reversed in. “You co

Lyric turned on the headlights as the sun slipped below the horizon. She had to decide whether to drive through the night or to find somewhere to stop and try to get some sleep. She had a swag in the back. It would be a tight fit with Niarthen, but they would be able to get some sleep.She did not feel entirely comfortable with the idea of sleeping within a crowded canvas structure with things like the person they had run over roaming the highway. Were there more out there? What was he anyway? Niarthen had spoken about him as a creature and as a type of weapon.What was going on? She wondered. How was the Order of Nexsis involved? The situation was far beyond what Arthur had ever speculated might happen. At no time had he spoken of mermaids, werewolves, and vampires… Or people who should have been dead and yet didn’t fucking die.This was far beyond anything she had been prepared for.“My mother died when I was young and I was raised by Arthur,” she said slowly, picking up on a conver

Havermouth, A few days after the stormThe dam was both more and less dramatic than Lyric had anticipated. She had followed the signs along increasingly weaving roads framed by the tall, dark plantation trees that Zeus Forestry both planted and cut down in a perpetual cycle, until they drove along a narrow two-laned road pinned between an excavated rock face and a gorge.Ahead, the road narrowed even more where a curved wall spanned the gorge, connecting one side of the road to the other.Or it had done.A section had crumbled away under the pressure of the water held back by it, spilling the flood into the gorge, and from there into the river. At some point, the water had equalized behind what remained of the wall, only a drizzle slowly seeping down to the draining waters below.Perched just below the road, on the side of the gorge, was a building – a monitoring station. A black 4WD was parked in the narrow driveway down to it. Lyric put the Ute into reverse, backing up slowly until

Havermouth, A few days after the stormThey pulled off the main roads, and wove into the back tracks, far beyond the region that Lyric was familiar with before pulling into a farm. A graveled car park was filled with black vehicles and the light that spilled out of the windows of a farmhouse cottage cast moving shadows in the tinted windows that gave them the impression of being occupied.On the porch swung a sign “Haven Farm”. It was not a place that Lyric would consider a haven.As the soldiers dragged her and Niarthen from the 4WD, she could see tidy rows of vegetable gardens, but the vegetables appeared to be rotting unharvested. A travesty, she thought as they were hustled up the narrow pathways between them. Beyond the gardens, she could see some smaller cottages, and a campsite of little tents, as well as several makeshift gun-towers, in which she could see soldiers tracking their movements.Floodlights lit the area in glaring, unforgiving white light.Beyond that area, they we

Havermouth, A few days after the stormToby knocked on the door of Compound A and blew out a breath when there wasn’t a response. “Fucking arseholes,” he muttered before pounding harder with the ham of his hand.An intercom near the door scratched into life. A scream echoed through the speaker standing the hair on Lyric’s arms on end. “What?” A man asked, his voice distorted by his proximity to the microphone in an effort to be heard over the screaming.“What the fuck…? Ergh,” Toby huffed out irritably. “Father Isaiah wants the girl secured here until he’s finished his phone call.”“We’re busy.”“Father Isaiah,” Toby repeated with emphasis. “He’s at Compound B. If you want me to take her back there, you can deal with the fallout.” There was a click and Toby nodded. “Smart move.” He waited until the speaker went silent, his hand on the door handle. “Just keep to yourself,” he recommended to her. “Don’t do anything stupid.”“Sure,” she replied wondering what precisely they were about to