In the scene where the riverfolk come before the iron throne they come baring dead fish which the mountain's men scattered as symbolic mockery of the Tully's at which point baelish turns and whispers "Fish!? symbol of house tully. isn't that your wife's house, my lord hand?"
Then when they workout it was gregor leading the marauders he says "Can you think of any reason why the lannnisters might be angry with your wife?"
He clearly is desperate for Ned to figure out what's happening but doesn't have faith in ned doing it himself.

Im trying to animate on clipstudio and I want to copy and flip the second eye to save time, however everytime I copy and paste the eye automatically shows up on a new cel I tried merging them together etc. it didn't work I don't know what to do 😭

Weird one today, seemed worthy of posting. Backstory - In 2017 we hired a boomer builder to design an addition to our house. The results were not quite as promised, I was expecting something we could hand off to a GC to start the build, ultimately they were more conceptual drawings, not really engineered drawings that could be used. I posted a meh google review (2 stars FWIW), he responded, I forgot about it and moved on with life.
This January I get a message from my dad, who is in a Rotary club with said boomer builder, asking why I posted another review so long after the fact. I looked into it a bit, someone had copy pasta'd my google review into Yelp pretending to be me. The builder had responded with a whole manifesto on how wrong I was. I emailed him letting him know that it was not me, I've moved on, but that I'd help get the review removed. I reported it and after a bit of back and forth they pulled it. Though it would be odd to angrily repost a review 7 years on I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and I thought that was the end of it.
Today I get another message from my dad, similar question, this time on Angi. I find the review and report it and send a brief email to the builder saying it's still not me but I'd still help remove it. I also deleted my google review because I just don't care anymore.
Then I get a forwarded email from my dad. The builder had written an unhinged angry rant but misspelled my email so I hadn't received it. Mother fucker, you think 4 months after someone (presumably an enemy of yours) found a fairly good way to give you negative press that I HELPED REMOVE, I would randomly decide to just go ahead and copy paste the same review elsewhere? No you dumb twat, it's the same shit as last time. You could have taken five seconds to dig around that entitlement riddled memory of yours to put two and two together, but instead you decided to be a knob.
He did manage to get my wife's email right, and she is not someone who takes any shit. She has since made sure he knows what we think of him now. I'm half tempted to go ahead and actually repost that review everywhere, but honestly I'm finding it kind of funny at this point and I'll probably just let things lie.

Me (19TM) and my partner of 1 and a half years (20TF) had an argument a few days ago. Since then we decided to take a break for the summer and reconnect in the fall to see if we want to continue the relationship. We also live together currently but my job starts in a few weeks and then I’ll be gone for the rest of the summer.
She has had a really tough life. We are both trans and when she told her conservative Christian family she had no choice but to estrange herself from them so she has no familial support. We also have the same group of friends for the most part. She struggles a lot with money and has to work full time during the summer when we aren’t in university. Sometimes our dynamic is hard to navigate as I have a very supportive family who is willing to support me financially as well. I know that this bothers her sometimes.
I feel like she relies pretty much solely on me for her emotional support. I also do most of the housework (cooking, laundry, cleaning). We have tried to work on her doing more but I find it hard to convince her because she is so tired all the time and I normally don’t have as much going on. The argument we had was about the fact that I felt she doesn’t contribute to our relationship in the same way that I do. She countered this by saying that she works all day and so I should be okay with doing most of the housework. I explained that she doesn’t work for both of us though and that she works only to support herself, which is fine it’s just not contributing to the relationship.
I could tell she was slowly getting more upset and started to get angry. I cant exactly remember how we got there but I remember trying to calm her down while still trying to advocate for myself and it wasn’t working. She started raising her voice and then went on to talk about how I don’t do anything, was “stupid” for not understanding the constant stress money causes her, and how I don’t even need to work because my parents do everything for me. This is a sore spot for me as I have struggled with mental health issues and have found it hard to work in the past. That being said I understand her frustration as I do have it really good and I havnt had to worry in the same ways she does.
It’s important to note that we are sitting on our bed at this point, I am against the wall and she is blocking the exit on the other side. Then she grabs my arm and shakes me pretty roughly while yelling about how useless I am. After that I left and went out of the house. I called a friend and didn’t come home until late when I slept in another room. She apologized a lot the next day and cried a lot. She said she forgot she had grabbed me. It’s the first time she’s ever touched me like that. Even though she apologized I’m still thinking about it.
I guess I just don’t know what to think. I understand why she felt the way she did (at least I think I do) but even at my most stressed and angry I could never imagine touching her like that. I guess I need some advice? I don’t think this is at all abusive because it’s really the first time anything like it has happened. I guess I’m just wondering if others have felt similarly in terms of understanding their partners emotional reaction. Thanks and sorry for the long message.

Don't worry, he's not keeping it for very long and will eventually get a much better name with a more hopeful and happy meaning and vibe. But he starts off utterly miserable in what I call caterpillar phase (start small with ugly mental health, then the healing is chrysalis phase which is messy but necessary to reach butterfly phase, when you leave your old life behind and embrace the butterfly's symbolism as an image of rebirth). I use this little system to manage my characters' growth and this time it's slightly more literal.
He will know the meaning of his name and is going to take it as a sign that he is meant to suffer (again, he'll be fine, he will get past it and have a nice life.)
Please note that this boy has no appearance, he's currently shape-shifting like Camilo Madrigal so I am open to ideas. Only thing of any note is Scandinavian heritage and that could be up to a thousand years back. Age is like 19 or 20, that is also not settled. I basically have everything but my main character worked out, it's like he knows what's coming and is trying to avoid it by staying a shapeless blob.
I will also happily take suggestions for his new name, though that really needs to have some sort of Scottish/Irish/Welsh root because of where I'm putting him, they aren't UK but they have similar languages and names and occasionally throw in a touch of Chinese just because they got bored.
Thank you!

This sounds dumb but are the master test kits ever defective?
I cycled my tank with test strips, ran out of strips after cycling, and then bought the master kit. I’ve been testing the water regularly the past few months and everything is ALWAYS 0. I feel like at least nitrates should be showing up for a tank that’s only 3 months old? I’m getting paranoid about it lol. It’s a 10 gal with 6 guppies, 2 mystery snails, shrimp, and quite a bit of plants but def not heavily planted
Could I maybe put some fish flakes in a cup of water for a few days and test for ammonia that way? Just to know if my kit is working? Im new to everything so still not really sure how it all works

its my understanding when applying at texas state for a full time position, is to have my resume and cover letter match the job I am applying to. im looking for clarification- for example; if a required qualification says "Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills" I copy/paste this exact wording in my resume and cover letter- just in my cover letter I give an example? Am I adding this qualification to my job duties already stated in my resume? What am I also suppose to do with the knowledge, skill, and ability sections on the job postings??

(Copy and paste)
https://youtube.com/@wisdomofgod888?si=mheFc0758kOfRVgg
Peace and blessings everyone! I've been searching the Scriptures (KJV) for many years using a concordance for Greek, Hebrew and Arimaic translations. God has blessed me with understanding, visit me on YouTube and leave a comment on. Speak freely please, feel free to ask questions or suggest content.
(Copy and paste)
https://youtube.com/@wisdomofgod888?si=mheFc0758kOfRVgg

Hi! I’m kind of weirded out by this. I’m a US freelancer who’s been hired by a Chinese company to teach English online. I’ve taught a few lessons and am due my first payment. However, I’ve just gotten an email from them saying they have to get a passport scan in order to pay me, according to their bank:
“To process international payments our bank needs to collect details about the recipient of any funds that are leaving the domestic banking system. For non-Chinese citizens, that means we unfortunately need to submit a copy of the main page of your passport. We had hoped that this requirement might somehow be bypassed, but after double-checking with our account manager this week, it seems to be unavoidable.”
(Apologetic language due to me having been particular about privacy in the past, I assume)
Googling around hasn’t cleared the matter up, so I’m hoping someone who is familiar with the matter can let me know if this is needful or not, and if it is, what the most secure way of sending the info would be. Like, would it be better to see if I can send it directly to the bank instead?
TIA for any advice you can give me…

Two of my favorite tweaks were PredictiveShortcuts (which added buttons like Copy/Paste/Select All to the top of the keyboard) and DeleteCut (which would delete by word while holding shift key and pressing the delete key)
Looks like they don't work for iOS 16/Dopamine though. Any chance there's something similar?

This is the most random request, but does anyone know where I can find just like a typed list, no pictures, no crazy formatting, of everything I need to donate to the museum? Bugs fish art sea creatures.
I just want to copy it into my notes app to check off on my phone but every list is super in depth and I want a quick version to tick off!

I’m trying to remember this book, and I can’t…

• Read at some point in the late 90s-early 2000s, so the book is at least that old
  
• Children’s book. Chapters, but short chapters, and I think my copy was illustrated.
  
• Starts in Poole, Dorset. I only know this because this book is how I learned where Poole WAS
  
• A boy decides to become a pirate, and starts this process by digging a huge hole in his backyard and building the ship of his dreams inside. I think at some point the ship is painted white? Definitely painted an unusual colour, it’s a strange and distinctive looking ship
  
• There’s a plot point about a “bear fish”. Not a bare fish!
  

I am a stay at home mom for almost 4 years now, our child is going to be 3 in Dec, and I had been Stay at home since getting pregnant. We had agreed that I would stay home with our daughter til she started kindergarten.
Last week my husband came home with separation paperwork and would not leave a copy with me to read over until this past Saturday, leaving me with only 3 days to look over them and make my decision.
Today he came to my apartment (he moved back in with his mom and dad) and told me that since I haven't called him with a decision I will hear from his lawyer, even though I told him I just need to get some kind of legal representation before signing anything.
He has kept me out of the bank account and off of the credit card leaving me with no money and no credit. He also is saying that he will break the lease soon and stop paying rent. I have no job because I was a stay at home mom.
He did agree to 50/50 custody but he is trying to get me to sign this paper relinquishing my right to Spousal Support. Tomorrow I will be calling legal aid, but I don't know what to do and I have no money for a proper lawyer.

I’ve always had very predictable cycles. I’m 8+ days late. I have walked more than usualy the past 2-ish weeks but that’s never caused any difference. I’m panicking. Taken 4 pregnancy tests and all negative. I drink like a fish on the weekends but I’ve done that for years too. I have no pain, no symptoms except I’m stressed beyond belief because I haven’t started yet. 31 years old and I’ve never had this issue 😭 idk what to do!!! Someone tell me this is normal because I’m losing sleep over this. I’ve never had issues like this.

(This is a copy and paste from my notes app trying to my myself feel better 😅)Hi l'm 17 and a couple a months ago I got into the car of a guy l met on YUBO which is like a teen friend type thing and let give some context. It was the last week of my junior year so school days were half days meaning you could leave early I usually had a guy who I would ask rides for but we were fighting and weren't Talking to each other. So I asked the guy from Yubo for a ride and he agreed to a 25 to 20 minute drive to pick me up and was saying if I was going to give head or have sex... I initially wanted to because I just needed a ride home so he agreed I even went to bathroom and freshened up for it. So he gets here and I immediately notice one he doesn't look like his picture two he smells like fish and three I just didn't want to do it anymore because I was uncomfortable and just didn't want to do it. So he's asking where I wanted to have sex another thing is he had foreskin I personally don't like foreskin so I really didn't want to do it So he starts rubbing my thighs which makes me tense and I try holding his hand to calm myself down I couldn't. I told him I didn't want to have sex anymore and if he could just take me home by saying my dad needed me home. He drives to a parking lot where he wants me to give oral sex I really didn't want to because he smelled like fish. He just kept saying come on just do it and I didn't want to stay in that parking lot and do that I told him I'd do it while he drives me home so l don't even do it I'm just poking my tongue at it I don't want to do it I sit up and tell I'm scared and I'm nervous and maybe we should like her to know each other he just tells me to come on and it's not that serious I said he could just finger me. I regret saying that. It hurt it was painful he pulls into a neighborhood and he starts trying to finger me it hurt. At this moment I was texting my friends to call me so l can get him to take me home l was so uncomfortable and tense. One of my friends answers and l act as if she was my sister while the dude is still trying to finger me it was hurting me. He finally starts driving only if I again do oral sex. I didn't want to. I told him I was scared and Just doesn't Want to be still told me to do it I said what about a hang job. I didn't want to do it again. So he said that was fine he pulled into s neighborhood that was being built and he told me to expose my breasts so he can bum on them. I did. He came on my breast it smelled bad. After that he finally took me home and I called My friend (I had him drop me down the street from my house) I had a mental breakdown and blocked him on everything. I told my friend group and They didn't believe me. I honestly don't know if it's my fault I promised him sexual things but I wanted to stop I feel as if this is my fault it doesn't feel like rape or assault I don't want to put myself in the same category as people who actually were. When I was younger I was touched by multiple men. But I just this time it feels Like my fault yk. I'm sorry if this is long and stuff but l've just been thinking about this. It all feels Like my fault like I Caused this to happen me... Like I go on the rape awareness tao on tiktok because it's something I just think about but I feel like this happenings to me is less serious but it's all I can think about sometimes
I’m finally 19 now I just always think it’s my fault cause I said we could have sex but changed my mind…

WE NEED OUR CREATOR. NOT ANOTHER GOD. OUR CREATOR. NOT ANOTHER GOD. CHRISTIANITY TAUGHT THE WORSHIPPING OF ANOTHER GOD, ANOTHER NAME, ANOTHER WAY. SCIENCE TAUGHT THE TAMPERING OF CREATION... ANY GUESSES AS TO WHY WE ARE WHERE WE ARE IN TODAY'S WORLD??? 1. JESUS (ANOTHER GOD) 2. THE CROSS (AN IDOL) 3. BLOOD (DEATH) ALL 3 ABOMINATIONS... HOW CAN YOU REACH OUR CREATOR THROUGH WHAT IS DESPISED??? YOU CAN'T THIS IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST. MARK IN RIGHT HAND: CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM, IT IS USED TO CROSS ONE'S SELF, IN OATHS...AMERICANS USE IT TO COVER THEIR HEART AND PLEDGE THEIR ALLEGIANCE TO A PENTAGRAM COVERED BLOOD OVER PURITY IDOL: SATAN'S BANNER. MARK IN THE FOREHEAD IS REFERRING TO DECEIVED MINDS...THE FALSE WAYS WE WERE TAUGHT. THIS BOOK GIVEN BY FREEMASONRY IS A COMBINATION OF DECEPTION, FICTION, NON-FICTION AND TRUTH. OUR CREATOR IS SPIRITUAL, THE ONLY WAY TO DECIPHER TRUTH IS THROUGH THE SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT WITHIN YOU, WHERE OUR CREATOR RESIDES, THE SPIRIT OF LIFE AND TRUTH , OUR HEARTS...OUR LIFELINES. THE SPIRIT WITHIN. THE GREAT I AM. WHO MAKES US, US: OUR CREATOR. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH AND THE SPIRIT OF DECEPTION CAN NOT CO-EXIST, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH (OUR CREATOR) CAN NOT INNER A DECEIVED MIND, THE ENEMY KNOWS THIS, THAT IS WHY WE WERE TAUGHT FALSE WAYS. A SPIRIT MUST BE COMPLETE TO BE WHOLE, HEART & MIND. IF YOU ARE TAUGHT FALSE WAYS, YOU ARE NEVER COMPLETE. AND THIS LEADS TO DEATH. THE ENEMY'S GOAL. TO GATHER SOULS UNTO HIMSELF, JUST WHAT WAS DONE BY THE WORSHIPPING OF ANOTHER GOD, ANOTHER NAME, ANOTHER WAY...

A Novel Species: Entries from Dr. Marshall
WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT IS CLASSIFIED AND PROPERTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. IT IS A FEDERAL CRIME TO VIEW OR REPRODUCE ANY OF ITS CONTENTS WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION. QUALIFIED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Dr. Marshall, June 8th, 2012 -
Begin journal:
Hanging back at the ranger station today, seems like it should be a nice weekend. Weather cleared up after that long ass winter and the snows about cleared up. We’ve been tasked with monitoring this herd of elk moving through the area. I guess they’ve been displaying some “anomalous” behavior, approaching tourists seemingly unaware or unafraid of the potential danger. Odd but not unlike anything we’ve seen before. I’ve had Tim Dog posted up in the hunter’s perch for a few hours watching em. Gonna go radio for a report pretty soon. Other than that not much going on out here. Just the wind rustling in the pines and my good old girl Taby. She’s such a sweet dog :)
End of Entry #1
Dr. Marshall, June 10th, 2012
Entry: Something strange is going on here. Tim is back but with some interesting news. He spent another day up there monitoring the herd, but…. Something’s off. He used the Elk call we gave him and it worked, but it seems it might’ve worked a bit too well. Soon as the herd showed up, they just…. watched him. For hours. He was too scared to climb back down so he radio’d for a couple rangers. Rangers came and tried scaring em off, but the Elk wouldn’t budge. They just stood there, staring at him. In my 25 years of doing this I’ve never once seen Elk behave this way. Our current hypothesis is some kind of infection, but so far there just isn’t enough to say. I don’t like this. Not one bit. We’re gonna try to take samples from the Elk in hopes of finding out what in God’s name is going on out here.
End of Entry #2
Dr. Marshall, June 13th, 2012
Entry: Well it’s official - something is going on. We took samples of blood and urine from the Elk to be analyzed back at the lab in Sac. One of the rangers spotted what looked like some kind of tick or parasite latched onto one of the Elk. But when he tried to remove the Elk went berserk. Smacked him up badly and he had to go to the medic. We got a closer look after isolating one of em and it seems to track. We found a small, worm-like creature attached just beneath the haunch, tucked in the skin between the abdomen and the haunch of the Elk. It was half burrowed inside and didn’t seem to respond to any physical contact, but when we went for removal, the Elk started acting up again. So we latched it down and tried tranquilizing it. No dice. Elk won’t go to sleep. Won’t do anything except eat and stare. There is no way we’re dealing with some novel species. The hell is going on here? A larva that infects Elk—in North America none the less? It’s stranger than fiction. Anyway I’ve been having trouble sleeping the past few nights pondering the possibilities. In other news apparently some of the townies have been acting up lately. Man found dead out on the trail along with a few others in the same spot. Signs of predation after death. Folks been reporting hearing and witnessing strange behavior from their neighbors. The more I stay here the less I feel safe. If it weren’t for my job security I’d have left days ago. This place is starting to give me the creeps.
End of Entry #3
Dr. Marshall, June 19th, 2012
Entry: Lab reports came back. Supposedly heightened amounts of adrenaline and cortisol are present in the blood. They also found trace amounts of what seem to be tiny hairs, mycelia-like in nature. What. The. Fuck. We’ve begun postulating there could be some sort of fungal infection but this wouldn’t track with the presence of larvae in our Elk. None of it makes sense. I’m concerned we’re dealing with some sort of invasive species but I lack any explanation of what it could be. My sleep has become worse and worse over time. Lately I could swear I’m hearing shit. Thought I heard the voice of old Tim saying “Help, Help” in between strange mumblings and clickings. But when I get out of my bunk to look around—nothing. Hope I’m not losing it. I’ve heard the townies have been acting up even worse. Wandering about aimlessly in the woods. There was a bear attack just yesterday. Apparently the man sat there while the bear ate him, completely straight faced. I put in a request for transport back home to Sacramento. I’m done with this shit. I’ve seen enough. This ain’t the one for me. I know some young up and comer might want to come out here to finish my research. But I’m getting too old for this type of shit. I want to see my kids graduate.
End of Entry #4
Dr. Marshall, June 24th, 2012
This could be my last entry. I honestly don’t know. I’m to wait for transport home hopefully by July 2nd but I don’t know if I’ll make it that long. Tim is gone. He’s gone. Found dead in a cougar’s den about 10 miles away from base camp. But I swear to God I keep hearing him. I think I’ve lost my mind. There’s something in the goddamned cellar. And it’s mimicking Tim. I can hear him cry. I can hear him beg for my help. It’s real. I swear to God it’s real. I can’t get a wink of sleep and I’m counting the minutes till sun down every night. I’m scared. I want to go home. The rangers all left base camp overnight. I don’t blame them. Something’s the matter. Half the population in town has gone mad. People in droves, just wandering into the woods.
I’m going to go into the basement. I need to find out for myself what’s really going on here. Janelle, I love you. I’ll never forget that time we spent in Bora Bora after you finished your thesis. Take care of the kids. Tell Jackson his daddy loves him. Show them my catalogues. Teach them to love nature. I have to go. I love you.
Final entry.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROPERTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE. IF FOUND, IMMEDIATELY CONTACT THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES. REDISTRIBUTION OR RETELLING OF THE DETAILS IN THIS DOCUMENT IS A FEDERAL CRIME.

i'm working on a novel and would like to know if anyone could tell me any improvements i could make to the first chapter and prologue
Prologue
The day had started the same way it had for the past two years. The only difference was that I was going home. The hallway was crowded with people walking to and from their classes. Everyone was crowded next to each other so the halls were making the area feel claustrophobic. All the people talking mixed with the summer heat made me feel like I was locked in a sauna. I walked with Preston to the last class we would ever have together and as usual he was smiling. I never got why he always smiled even in situations where people should be sad he still smiled. He knew what today meant for me and he tried to keep light of the situation. I kept my head down away from what was ahead of me. My mind was too clouded about returning to see my family to notice anything in front of me. I walked into another student. It felt like I had walked into a wall. I knew immediately I had walked into tree. I stumble onto the ground and the commotion around me slows down to make room for us. He turned his bulky body around and apologized profusely without saying a word even though I had walked into him. He helped me off of the ground before hurrying down the hall.
“Alexandria, are you doing okay?” Preston said he had tilted his body downward so I had to look down to look him in his eyes. The way he was standing made him look like an idiot but he didn't seem to care. The way he acted made me laugh, which caused his smile to widen.
“I'm doing fine, just got lost in my head.”
“Thinking about how you’ll leave soon,” he said
“Was it that obvious?” He was the only person I told about me being an exchange student. I came to spend high school in Newkinawa and he was the only person I ever hung out with.
“I see what you mean,” he said “Newkinawa is a beautiful place with beautiful people to live in it…myself included”
“You wish,” I say with a smile we continue walking through the hallway “I'm just not excited to go back yet”
After I say that his smile grows wider “So you will miss me after all”
“I wouldn't say that much” I responded whilst smiling.
We had made it to our last class only to see it closed with a sign labeled “Uma incident” Uma was a student known for messing with the chemistry lab and destroying school property in the process. I've never actually met her but Preston says “She's a little weird but still nice”
“Guess class is canceled for today,” Preston remarked with a smile “Wanna go out to the court till the bell rings.”
“Sure let's go” I respond
The place we ate every day was outside. It used to be a tennis court before I moved in. Now they put trees and flowers all over the place. Preston really liked the blue color of the flowers but it just never clicked for me. I look over at Preston and he's staring up at the sky. There are a number of clouds in almost enough to block the sun but it still pokes its rays through and lands on Preston's face. The clouds swim in front of the sun till they block out the sun's light. Preston faces towards me.
“I'm gonna miss you Alexandria” he says
“You know you can just call me Alex,” I replied. I start to smile again. “I'll miss you too!" He smiles toward me again as we get up to leave as the clouds start to clump together and rain slowly falls. As we're walking back to the school there's a loud tearing sound followed by screams as the ground shakes.
The ground tears itself apart as the dirt and stone erupt from the ground. The sky blackens and a pale blue light escapes the earth. Then creatures erupt from the ground in a violent ejection from the earth creating a white pillar diffusing as they reach higher in the air. Some are clawing their way out of the cracks like maggots out of a corpse. People are swept into the updraft screaming for their lives.
The creatures descend like a tidal wave and tear apart any people caught in their path. They storm out of the crack in hundreds as more cracks in the earth form. Me and Preston started running away as people were screaming behind us. A girl running next to us has her legs slashed by a creature. The monster begins to tear open her chest as she chokes on her own blood. The monster shovels her lungs and innards into its decrepit mouth. Me and Preston keep running until we're met at the entrance of the school and we catch the attention of a monster as it begins to savagely rush toward us. The monster resembles ghosts my father told me about. But this one looks monstrously horrific. It floats in the air and opens its mouth so wide it nearly replaces its entire torso; its jaws hold savage teeth each the same old gray color of its body. Its eyes glow a rotten yellow color through the dark. It stretches out its arms showing its giant hands and claws like fingers. It swipes at us leaving a giant claw mark on the door behind us but Preston ducks my body down to avoid the attack. We run around it as the monster swaps its focus to another bystander. Screaming past us. Me and Preston run into the parking lot as people scream around us. We hide next to a car.
“What the hell is happening!?” I yell to Preston. More of the creatures fly over us and swoop down to people like vultures on roadkill devouring the fleeing people.
Preston starts to breathe heavily ”we need to get out of here and someplace safer”. As we were talking one of the monster phases through the car we were hiding next to forcing us to run into the street.
“Lets go to your house till things cool down” i say to Preston through panted breaths
“Wait couldn't we head to your house instead” Preston says.
“Why would that matter your house is closer anyways” i respond
“But-” Preston is interrupted by two creatures swooping above us to grab another person. The two monsters begin to pull the person apart while he writhes in pain before having his flesh be torn in half and having his organs be devoured.
“Come on lets go!!” I say as I grab his hand and run even faster.
By the time we reach Preston's house any living person is gone. On the street are just corpses laying torn and mutilated on the roads and sidewalk. The air in the neighborhood feels cold despite the season being summer. When I walk down the street I can still hear the occasional horrific wail the monsters give off. We move closer to Preston's house and I can see him sweating. He looked more worried than before when the creatures were chasing us and he kept darting his eyes away from his home.
“Preston, are you feeling okay?” he doesn't respond to my question and keeps darting his eyes. He walks slowly behind me and as I reach for the door handle and when I touch it it feels nearly freezing. I wrap my hoodie around my hand and slowly open the door. The house is quiet so me and Preston creep further into his house. The inside is cold and damp as if we were locked in a freezer. The further we move into the house the louder a subtle chewing sound is heard.
“It sounds like rats are eating a dead cow over there” I whisper. Preston continues to stay silent behind me. We slowly walk closer towards the kitchen and the sound gets louder and louder and louder until we reach the room.
We're met with a rancid smell of vomit and blood. My blood starts to run cold and every instinct in my body is telling me to run. I can feel Preston breathing get heavier as we get closer. We turn the corner and see Preston's mom lying on the ground dead with one of the creatures hunched over slurping her intestines. The sight causes me to vomit alerting the monster to our presence. The creature turns around and its mouth turns into a mortifying grin as it flies into Preston's moms body. The corpse begins to rise and spur splashing blood over the kitchen. When the corpse stops spasming it picks itself up from the ground and with glazed over eyes it holds its intestines in its hand and gives us the same grin it did when it was outside her body. The possessed corpse lunges at me and starts to chase me around the kitchen. The body is running into the walls and cabinets spraying its blood and other loose organs around the area as I'm avoiding its assault. The corpse leans over and ejects one of its loose intestines towards me, wrapping me in it. It pulls me towards it so fast I'm flung towards the ground. The corpse limbers over to me and raises its free hand aiming for my head. The creature's deranged smile causes the corpse’s cheeks to tear apart. It places both of its bloodied and demented hands on my face and starts to press my skull into the ground. I struggle to breathe. The room starts to get dark and blood escapes my head.
Until Preston jumps on top of his mothers corpse with a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabs it in the head. The possessed body tries to shake him off but he keeps stabbing, blood gets in on his face and tears start to escape his eyes. The creature violently ejects from the corpse's mouth causing her head to nearly explode and Preston stops stabbing the body. The body falls over in a splash of blood and organs. The monster leaves phasing through the roof leaving Preston crying over his mother's body. As the blood mixes with the tears he collapses to his knees crying. I walk over and hug him as the air around us turns bitter and the chill of death leaves the room and us with it.
Chapter 1 Eclipse
It's been 2 months since the apocalypse started. We've kept ourselves alive by looting grocery stores and houses, we hide from the creatures as we have no way to fight back against them. Preston came up with the idea to call them glanter’s. He’s looking better since we left his family home but I can tell something is wrong with him that he's not telling me. Everytime I ask him about it he tells me it's no big deal. I asked him earlier today and he just told me
“don't worry about it, I'm over it” without even looking at me. Now we're walking through the street and I'm walking behind Preston, I can barely see his head past the giant bag we're both carrying on our backs we use to carry supplies. I look up at the sky and it's still pitch black except for the moon giving us any amount of light. Preston turns around to face me.
“Let's check out that house, it might have some cool stuff in it” he points to a white house to our right. The house is a two story building with steps leading to the front door. There's a generator poking out from the backyard. The driveway is empty save for a couple of dried blood stains and tire marks. It's similar to the other houses in the neighborhood except for a couple broken windows.
“Sure why not” We head over to the house and I see something shining on the side of the house in the corner of my eye. I turn my head to look at it closer but it quickly disappears before I can see it clearly.
“Probably squirrel or something” I mumble to myself. Preston walks up the stairs to the house and I walk up the steps behind him as a breeze blows past my face. Preston tries to turn the door knob but the door is locked. I start to pull out a lockpick I grabbed at the store earlier. I motion towards Preston to move out of the way as I kneel down to pick the lock. It takes me a couple of minutes to unlock the door so I walk inside the house and Preston follows behind me while closing and locking the door. The doorway of the house leads to a dark room so I take a flashlight out of my bag to illuminate the area. Were put into the living room and bookshelves are on the walls and a large TV sat in front of a large black couch with smaller chairs surrounding it. Dust is covering every surface of the room and spiderwebs litter the corners of the walls. The area smells like moth balls and there's a lack of blood anywhere nearby.
“Guess the owners got out before the Glanter’s got in, '' I say to Preston. When he doesn't respond I turn around and he's already looking further into the house. When I find him he's managed to find a flight of stairs that lead to a lower portion of the house.
“I'll check on him later,” I think to myself as I headed towards the kitchen to see if we could restock on food. I walk past a bedroom and remark on how childish it looked. The walls were painted with blue and green stripes and a bunk bed sat on the right wall. There's a chest at the foot of the bed so I walk over and lift the top off of it. The box is layered with children's toys, a multitude of dolls, bears, and figures all jut out of the box. I notice a small robot toy and inspect it in my hands.
The cold metal makes my hand shiver and the sharp body shape makes the robot bigger than my hand. There's red lining around the robot's buttons surrounded by the cold gray of the robot's “skin”. It reminds me of a toy my little brother had. My heart feels heavy as I worry about what happened to my family. If they're alive, dead, or worse…possessed. The thoughts send a chill down my spine but I push them aside for now. I put the toy in my bag and exit the bedroom.
I can see the kitchen is down the hallway so I walk down the hall and enter. The kitchen is pretty clean except for a couple of dishes in the sink and the dust. There's a table seated for 3 people in the center of the room. I start opening the cabinets in search for any food or water. There's boxes of cereal leftover on top of shelves and a mix of chip bags and cookies in neat boxes stationed in the cabinets.
“Score,” I say to myself as I begin to put the snacks into my bag. When the cabinets are empty I look inside the fridge. The inside of the fridge ran out of power so most of the food inside is rotted. There are a couple of bottles of water in the front so I shove those in my bag. There's also a bag of oranges that still seem to be healthy in the back. I grab them and toss them on the table. There's rotten sandwich meat hidden in the drawer of the fridge.it smells like a dumpster outside of a butcher shop. I wrinkle my nose at the smell. I look around the kitchen for any bread with no luck.
I continue to look through the fridge until I hear Preston scream from another room. Immediately I bolt out of the kitchen leaving my bag behind and run towards the lower part of the house. I run down the stairs and nearly trip on the steps. The stairs lead to a big room. There are posters to tv shows and movies I don't recognize. The walls are painted black and there's a bear skin rug on the floor. I notice Preston standing next to a really big TV hyperventilating. I walk over to him and ask him.
“Are you ok? What happened?”
He talks through deep breaths “I… saw a… spider.”
“What?!” I respond in confusion.
“It was really big and I had jumped at my face”
“Sure it was.” I say while laughing “Let's go upstairs there's some food in the fridge we can eat”
“Wait, I think you should check this out.” He says while pointing towards one of the walls. I grab Preston's flashlight off the floor and face it towards the wall. Hanging halfway off the wall is a large map labeled Newkiwana scavenger hunt of 76.
“I think we should take it,” Preston says “You can read a map right?”
“A little but I'm not the best at it,” I say to him “can you read a map?”
“it shouldn’t be too hard it’s mainly pictures any way I'm sure I can figure it out”
I walk over to the wall where the map is hung there are trophies covering tables and shelved in their own personal cases one of them reads “1st place 100-meter swimming competition for 1986 Zack Hemmingway” and another one reads “2nd place 100-meter swimming competition for 1989 Zack Hemmingway”
“Guess this guy really liked swimming,” Preston remarks while staring at a wall of newspaper clippings. All of them are about the same person in swimming competitions. All labeled different things like “a new record for Zack “the dolphin” Hemmingway”,
‘Zach Hemmingway our star plans for the future” all the newspapers are about this kind he has paler skin and a bulky enough build to swim pretty well. Most of the pictures have him coming out of the water in a pool, his long black hair soaked and sitting at his shoulders. Another one has him sitting at a desk over a pile of books and his hair in a knot , “vicious wipeout ends the Dolphins career”, and “ex-swim champ Zack Hemmingway found in a drunken stupor outside strip club.
“Everyone has their own hobbies I guess,” I say as I take the map off of the wall and fold it up. “Sucks what happened to Zack though” I walked over to Preston’s bag and put the rolled map in one of the pockets. I walk back up the stairs and Preston grabs his bag and follows behind me.
We make our way towards the kitchen and Preston starts looking through the fridge for anything to eat. I grab an orange from the table and throw it at his head. The fruit bounces off his head and rolls on the floor. He turns around and grabs the fruit from the floor
“Why did you throw an orange at me?”
“It's the only food we have unless you plan on eating spoiled a sandwich“ He starts to peel it while walking towards the table. We both take a seat and start to eat the oranges from the bag. He plants his feet on top of the table and bites into the fully peeled orange. I grab a water bottle from a bag and start to drink from it as Preston says.
“I saw a dvd player in that man cave downstairs we could watch a movie if it still has power”
“Sure it could be fun.” Me and Preston spend the rest of our time eating until the bag of oranges is emptied and we head back downstairs. Preston grabs the DVD player from under the table and blows the dust off the top of it; he plugs it into the wall as I plop myself onto the couch. He plugs the DVD player into the TV and sits on the recliner next to me. He presses a few buttons on the remote and the TV lights up. I squint my eyes at how bright it is. It's the most amount of light I've seen that didn't come from a flashlight. I notice there's a box filled with DVDs. I pull the box over towards me. I ruffle through the box and see movies like Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2, and Home alone.
“Dude some of these came out just before the world turned inside out” I say to him.
“Really? Let's play one.” He responds. I toss him Terminator 2 and he puts it into the DVD player.
We spend the next couple hours watching movies and laughing together. It's some of our only moments of peace we’ve had since the end of the world and to me it's the most fun I've had yet. We're putting in the next DVD when there's a loud crash outside and the TV shuts off. Preston goes behind it to see if it's still plugged in.
“I think the generator outside is busted” i say
“It seems that way” Preston replies while backing away from the tv” i'm gonna go check it out”
“Don't worry I got it” I say as I hop out of my chair. Preston waves goodbye as I head up the stairs. I make my way back through the hallway leading to the living room and front door. I reach the door and start to turn the knob. I open the door wide as a car speeds down the street. I step out of the door to see what had happened when I hear the screech of a glanter. It cuts through the sky like an unholy opera singer. A group of them fly by and chase the car as I rush back inside the house. I slam the door shut and look through the window as I see a couple of smaller glanters grab and shake the car violently looking for the driver. They tear at it, ripping off doors and breaking the windows. The driver screams as the seats cover with blood and he's ripped out of the car as multiple smaller glanters tear and bite off parts of his body like piranha's until his body is completely devoured. I run back to the man cave to warn Preston about what had happened. I spot him laying in his chair spinning a DVD disc on his finger.
“It's not safe outside right now”
“Why not?
“There's glanter's outside, they just ate a dude in his car”
“Did they see you come inside?”
“I don't think so , they flew off before I went inside.”
“well we're not dead so I'm gonna say they didn't see you. But let's stay here for a couple more hours just to be safe”
“Sounds good i'm gonna go find the master bedroom.” I start to walk back up the stairs to the house
“ Hold on why do you get the master bedroom” Preston says while walking after me.
“Because I'm gonna find it first” I say as I start to run to find the bedroom. He chases after me in pursuit of the bedroom. Me and Preston run around the house looking for the master bedroom. We look through room after room finding closets, the garage, a bathroom and a door leading to a balcony in the back of the house. I manage to run into the bedroom and yell out to Preston.``Found it!!”
He comes walking into the room breathing heavily from the running. We both check out the room. The walls are painted a cream yellow and the bed takes up most of the room's center. The bed has burgundy sheets poking out from its bottom and a quilt with multi-colored floral designs lay sprawled out on top of it. There's a wardrobe built into the wall and a black leather couch sits comfortably on the left wall.
“Dibs on the bed” I say as I jump on top of it. I stretch out on top of the quilt and search for a comfortable part to sleep in.
“Where am I supposed to sleep then?” Preston complains
“You can sleep on the couch it looks soft enough” I respond while pointing towards the couch “I saw some spare blankets in one of the closets”
“Alright i’ll be right back” he mumbles to himself “why do i always get the couch”
“ I'll be right here if you need me,” i call after him. I sit up on the bed and start to look around the room more. I notice the entrance to the wardrobe is cracked open slightly. I hop out of the bed and grab a flashlight from my bag as I walk into the wardrobe. I turn on my flashlight and stare in awe at how many clothes are in there. The room is only half as big as the bedroom but it's still bigger than any closet I've ever had. The wardrobe is full of shirts, dresses, pants, and shoes for men and women. I immediately start to look through the shoes to see if any fit my size. I throw a pair of black high heels behind me as Preston finds me in the wardrobe. He looks around before asking me.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding a new pair of clothes to wear cause I've been wearing the same pair of jeans for waaaaay too long”
“Fair enough. Is there any guy stuff in there?”
“Yeah right there” I hook my thumb behind me to point to the other end of the closet.
“I'm sure they won't mind if we take a couple of things…they're probably dead by now anyways,” Preston says with a slight grin on his face. The way he said made me spin my head to look at him but he was already on the opposite end of the wardrobe looking at suits.
I shake away the thought and continue looking for any pair of sneakers in my size. 40 minutes pass before I walk out of the wardrobe holding a new pair of jeans and a black guns-N-roses t-shirt. I toss the clothes on top of the bed and check to see if the shower in the bathroom still works. I turn the dial and wait for a moment. The shower head chokes a little before water comes pouring out. I reach my hand under the showerhead to feel the water. The water is cold, it causes my hand to shiver when I take it out. I shake the water off and say to myself.
“Good enough” as I start to take off my old clothes and get in the shower. The cold water bounces off my skin, it sends shivers down my spine but I still get the old dirt from the last few months off of me. I step out and see a couple of dry towels hanging off of the door. I grab one and dry my body off and grab another to wrap around my head and dry my hair. I step out of the bathroom and Preston is still inside the wardrobe. I put on my new clothes while his back is turned and walk over towards him when I'm finished.
“Still haven't found anything,” I ask him
He turns around “Nothing yet, the only thing interesting was this coat.” He holds a leather coat up to me. The coat is made of black leather and has a skull covered with blue flames on the back. There's a black shirt inside the coat with a skeleton hand making a thumbs-up embroidered on the front.
“ That's pretty cool, it's better than what you're wearing right now at least” he's outfitted in a blue hoodie with holes on the chest and tears at the sleeves. He also has a shirt with a faded picture of a blue flower printed on it.
“I guess you're right” he gets up from the floor and exits the wardrobe. He lays the clothes on the couch along next to the blanket and pillow he brought into the room.
“The shower works so you can get yourself clean In there,” I say to him
“You know, a shower sounds really good right now.” He gets up from the floor and grabs a pair of pajama pants that were laying next to him. He leaves the wardrobe and enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him. After a moment the water turns on and I hop on the bed to get ready to sleep. I squirm myself into the quilt and rest my head against one of the pillows. I shut my eyes and fall asleep listening to the passive sound of the shower like rain on a car.
I'm in a void. It feels like I'm standing in a puddle of water that reaches to my knees. I wade my way forward looking around for anything in the darkness. In the distance I can see 3 figures l. I moved closer to them and their silhouettes get clearer. I realize they are my dad and brothers. I start to run towards them kicking up water behind me until something grabs my leg. It pulls down violently forcing me under the water without a breath of air. I kick at the thing grabbing me until something grabs my other leg. I look down and see two glanter's each with a monstrous smile on their faces. They stare back at me and one of them tugs my leg harder than before and tears it off of my body. The water around me turns red as the glanter laugh's. The other smiles wider as it starts to fling me around the water forcing any air left in my lungs to be forced out as I scream in pain. The glanter throws me away and I can see my family slowly fade into the distance as I'm flown away.
I struggle to swim back to where I was, one of my legs is missing and the other is broken. The glanter's find me again and I try to get to the surface to escape them. I'm flapping my arms in any attempt to escape as one of the glanter's flies in front of me and grabs my arm. I look at the monster with tears in my eyes as it bites my arm and tears my body away from it. It flings my body away and with my remaining arm I clutch the wound as the water floods into my body leaving me in the void I started in. I look around and the glanter's seem to have left. I turn behind me and see my family again, this time I'm closer than before.
I grit my teeth and drag my body towards them slowly as I leave a trail of blood and tears behind me. I finally reach my family and grab one of my father's shoes. I stare up and he looks at me. His stare causes me to feel cold as a grotesque smile grows on his face. I stare in shock as my brothers each have the same look as my father.
I shoot up from my sleep panting heavily in a cold sweat.
“It was just a dream..just a dream…just a dream” I look at my hands as tears fall into them. I look around the room and see Preston sleeping peacefully on the couch. The room feels frozen in place as a chill runs down my spine. I get out of the bed and walk out of the bedroom. I make my way through the dark hallway and find the entrance to the balcony I saw earlier. I creak open the screen door and head outside. The Balcony is pretty large, about the size of the kitchen in the house. There are some chairs knocked over next to a table and I pick one up to sit on it. I look out into the expanse of the neighborhood, houses lined up next to each other, dozens broken apart by roads, and dead bodies scattered across the roads.
I look up in the sky and sit back in the chair. The sky looks empty except for the moon giving this world its only source of light. Without the moon, we’d be left in darkness. It hangs in the sky alone, no stars, no clouds, nothing but itself, and the void of the sky. I think back about the dream I had. My dad and my brother's all dead and possessed and then they kill me. I start to tear up thinking about it. I try to wipe away the tears but it’s no use. I'm too scared for my family. I don't know where they are if they're alive if they're worried about me I don't know anything! I start to quietly cry into my hands. I don't know how long I'm sitting there until I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to face it and I see Preston. He was smiling and looking at me. I turn away to wipe my tears and he walks next to me.
“I heard you sneaking out of the bedroom so I followed you to see where you were going.” he says “but that's not my question.” he pauses and looks at me “my question is what’s got you feeling so down?” he leans over the railing of the balcony
“It's nothing, I just came out here to clear my head.” I say as more tears escape from my eyes in big slow drops that ride down the sides of my face.
“if you don't feel like telling me you don't have to but i'll be here if you ever change your mind”. He looks up at the moon before turning to face me and his smile widens “I'll always be here with you…trust me I'm not going anywhere”
I stare up at him and wipe away my tears as a smile grows on my face to match his. I get up and stare over the balcony with him. “So where are we heading next?” I say to him, Preston pulls the map we got from the man cave downstairs out from his pocket.
“After I got out of the shower I decided to take a look at the map for anything interesting we could see.”
“Ok did you find anything?” i ask
“I did,” he points at a spot on the right of the map. “We should head to the museum”
“I didn't want to go to a museum before the apocalypse why would i want to go now?'' I ask him.
“Well the best part of museums is the cool stuff right”
“Yeah what about it”
“The only problem is that you could only look at the fossils and armor but you could never take them.”
“So you want to rob a museum?” Prestons eyes light up at the question
“Exactly they might have a really cool sword I could use, or I could sharpen a dinosaur tooth and use that as a weapon, there might be a cursed shield that can summon the dead to fight for you. This opportunity is too good to pass up. We need to go!”
“That does seem pretty cool but wouldn't carrying that stuff weigh us down. What if a glanter is chasing us and we can't run fast enough because of the stuff we took from the museum.”
“We’ll only take things that are light. Even then I could just block the glanter with my newly acquired 2000 year old shield.”
“Fair enough we can go in a couple hours” I yawn and stretch out my arms. “Cause I'm feeling way too tired to walk all the way over there right now.”
“Alright i'm heading back to my couch and THEN we’ll head out to the museum” he leaves the balcony and heads back to the master bedroom leaving me alone on the balcony.
“Thanks Preston I'm not leaving either” I say into the sky. I turn around and walk back inside the house, closing the balcony door behind me. I walk back into the bedroom and Preston is hunched over and holding a flashlight looking at the map. He’s drawing lines through roads and marking X’s in different areas.
“What are the X’s for?” i ask him
“They’re places that glanter’s usually stay around. I'm marking them off so we remember not to go through them, or at least be more cautious.”
“Cool. Did you find where we are right now?” He points to an area where the lines all converge out of.
“Right around here is where the neighborhood ends. So if we follow this path we can make it to the museum in one piece” I pat him on the back and take the map from his hands.
“Get some sleep Preston, we have a full day tomorrow” he grins to himself before laying down on the couch. I put the map back into my bag and hop on the bed to get to sleep. I cover my body in the quilt and roll over facing away from Preston as he falls asleep. I nestle myself into the bed and slowly fall asleep to get ready for the next day.
I'm awoken by Preston shaking the bed I'm sleeping on. My eyes open and the room is foggy, I wipe away the sleep from my eyes and focus my attention towards Preston. He's practically jumping out of his skin with excitement, he's already fully dressed for the trip and shaking the bed with a wide smile on his face.
“Ok ok i'm up the air feels heavy as a groggy feeling fills my body. I wipe my eyes and the room starts to clear up. I turn to face Preston. He's still shaking my bed to wake me up, he’s already fully dressed and nearly jumping out of his skin in excitement.
“Ok ok, i'm up you can stop shaking the bed” i say
“Then get up we’ve got a long walk ahead of us” he says as he stops shaking the mattress. He grabs the map from my bag and points to one of the red lines.
“We're gonna follow this way to the museum. We’ll move past the hotel around the ice skating rink and around the park. We’ll mainly stick to walking through the streets, we might have to go rooftop hopping to avoid any glanter’s if we see them but i'm sure we won’t reach that point.” he explains
“Wait, wait, wait, why are avoiding the skating rink and the park” i ask
“ everytime we go near the park there's weird noises and light coming out of it”
“And why can't we go to the ice skating rink?”
“I didn't think it would be important”
“It couldn't hurt to check it out at least”
“Fine we could make a detour”
“Ok and how do you plan on getting on top of roofs?”
“I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get to it”
“Ok man as long as you’re sure '' I yawn and step out of the bed. Preston starts to put the map in his bag. I walk into the bathroom with my clothes and change out of my pajamas. Minutes later I walk out and see Preston sitting on the couch twiddling his thumbs.
“Finally you're out” he smiles at me before handing me my bag and slinging it over his shoulder. We took a last look inside the kitchen to see if we missed anything. Afterwards we leave for the outside. The cold air bites at my face but Preston walks down the stairs, his face buried in the map. I jog to catch up to him as we both head into the street.
“Hey Preston, could I see the map?”
“Sure” he hands over the map and continues walking. I look at the map and the numerous lines drawn on roads. I look at the corner of the map and notice a small map key with numerous symbols for different areas like a library, school, hospital, and more. There's even a way to tell how far away each location is. The text reads “1 inch=5 miles” I quickly count how far we are from the museum.
“Dude this museum is like 100 miles away.”
“Yep it'll be a long walk, it'll take us a while to get there”
“Did you plan on us walking there the whole time?”
“We might find bikes or something.” he pauses “well i did think we would walk the whole way”
“This is gonna take us weeks to get there!”
“Did you have anything else planned?”
“Well…i guess not but we should still try to find some bikes or something”
“Ok if we see any way to travel faster we’ll take it”
“Alright cool” I hand him the map back and he folds it back up and puts it in his bag. We walk further until we leave the gated neighborhood we started in. Preston takes the map back out and looks at it before he turns right and continues walking. I follow him staring forward at the expanse of the road. The outside of the neighborhood is surrounded by roads all leading to different parts of Newkinawa. We walk past a sign that reads “Coretown 20 miles ahead” I nudge Preston towards the sign and he checks the map again.
“Yep, the museum’s in Coretown. Would you believe the residents were pretty proud of it. Should be a fun place to explore” he says
“Yeah but it’ll take us a million years to get there.” i complain
“Lighten up, I'm sure it will be worth it”. We continue walking down the road slowly making our way to Coretown.