Chapter 4: Loss and Resolve

Clearly, the America I found myself in was different from both history and the stories I knew. This world was filled with danger and strangeness. Even familiar faces had become twisted and unrecognizable.

I gripped the steering wheel, knuckles white, headlights carving tunnels through the night. This wasn’t the America I’d grown up believing in—the rules had changed, and the monsters wore familiar faces.

Now, the only thing I could rely on were the seven instructions Professor Livingston had given me.

"When the bell rings eight times, the world becomes a purgatory, powerless to return."

Thinking back, it seemed all the weirdness began with the bell when I first entered Maple Heights. But where did the bell come from? How could I stop it?

Every time I shut my eyes, I heard its echo—a sound that seemed to shake my bones loose in their sockets.

After much thought, I decided to return to the South first. With chaos everywhere, I was powerless without support.

We mapped out back roads on a battered paper atlas, Tanya tracing routes with her finger. But just then, Tanya burst in, panic etched on her face:

"It’s bad! The tribal leaders have joined forces in rebellion—Derek has already been killed!"

Her voice broke on the last word, and for a second, it didn’t seem real. I blinked at her, waiting for the world to make sense again.

"What?!" I rushed outside, but the messenger had already died of exhaustion, collapsed on the ground.

His boots were still muddy from the fields back home. His face was twisted in pain—whatever he’d seen, it had driven him beyond the limit.

Clearly, his message was true, or he wouldn’t have paid for it with his life.

"How could this be? They swore they’d be loyal only to me!"

Tanya shook her head, tears streaming down her usually strong face. All our kin had died in this uprising—we could never return to the South.

She dropped to her knees in the dirt, sobbing so hard it hurt to listen. The future we’d built together was gone, just like that.

"Then what do we do now?"

Tanya looked at me helplessly, hatred in her eyes, but there was nothing the two of us could do.

I wanted to tell her it’d be okay, but I couldn’t lie. We stood there, lost, as if the road itself had disappeared from under our feet.

In my despair, Professor Livingston’s words echoed in my mind:

"Peter Caldwell and Lucas Chan are the key to breaking the situation. Sam Mason can be used."

I had no wish to see Lucas Chan, who had executed Professor Livingston, so Peter Caldwell was my only option.

His name felt like a rope in a storm. I wiped my face, set my jaw, and tried to focus.

I packed my things and declared, "We go north—to Caldwell’s territory, to seek out Sam Mason."

Tanya nodded, wiping her eyes. There was nowhere else left to run.