"That's where it happened," he says. "But it's not over. You saw something out in those woods," he says, nodding in the direction of the mist, "didn't you? He used to work for them. So we…some people had to get rid of him, because he was working for them. Do you understand?"
You try to think of a question, because you really don't understand—but he just talks faster and faster.
"That's when things really started getting out of control," he says. "And it's still happening. You've smelled the corpse smell, haven't you? Carried by the wind. You've heard the drone of flies. You have to cut 'em just the right way to get the flies to come. Shit, I should've killed him all the way when I had the chance."
Now you think you get what he's talking about. The bad meat Clay ate, the flies that swarmed around the Bane, the flies at Broad Brook. And the Field Notes that you found at Banicki Gunworks: those strange scribbles are a map that would let you navigate the swamp, and follow the flies to…
…to what?
You have to find out.
Ravens explode up into the air from a nearby field, and you both scan the treeline.
"My name's Hobland, kid," he says. "You should get the hell out of town."
He says the last two sentences as he hurries to a parked Jeep. He doesn't offer you a ride, just takes off in a blast of mud and slush. You head back toward the shuttle.
A dreadful feeling of being watched as you trudge through the muck of the abandoned baseball field next to the municipal building.
The church down the street is a black spire in the growing darkness. Students hurry out of it, back to the shuttle. You thought you had more time, but the students are already leaving, and you don't want to be stuck in this town when the light fades. You hurriedly join them, and the shuttle carries you back across the Connecticut River to Northampton.
You return to your cabin, make the fire, and sleep.
Next