THE SEARCH BEGINS

The two hurried in the darkness, being mindful not to bump into anyone as they walked, their footfalls loud and sharp. Only several people roamed the night at this hour, making it convenient for the two to quietly slip away into shed. "You know we don't need to act so suspicious," Ellie said a little impatiently as Thomas stepped in behind her, and Thomas groaned. "You know we're dead, right?" he shot back, and Ellie sighed in disappointment. "Guess I forgot for a little. I feel like I'm alive…But I know I'm not. It's all so confusing," she murmured as she leant against the wall of the shed and sighed. Thomas kept watching her, a curious look in his eyes as he stared. "What?" Ellie asked, turning her attention back to Thomas, and Thomas shrugged, "What are we going to do when we find the others?"

Ellie opened her mouth to respond, but then quickly shut it. She had not thought this far ahead. What were they going to do when they found the others? "I was thinking we were going to then hunt for the guy who killed us," she said slowly, and Thomas rolled his eyes impatiently. "Look, I get this means a lot to both of us, but we can't hurt him if we're dead," Thomas said flatly, and Ellie realised he was right. They couldn't touch anything, so how could they possible touch and kill him? "Well, we will figure something out. Maybe we can do something to become alive again? I don't know! I just…need him to pay for what he did to us!" Thomas stared at Ellie, but not with either horror or anger like she expected. It was pity. "I get why you are mad. I am as well. Believe me, I want nothing more than to change all of this…but we can't. We're either stuck like this, or we wait to ascend into a better place."

Ellie went to respond, but a gentle shriek of the night made her whip around to the door of the shed. It was open, yet beyond it, someone was screaming. Thomas cocked his head to the side slightly, confused, and the sound came again. A pitched, wailing screech that sent chills down Ellie's spine. Silence. Then, minutes later, it came again. This time it was drowned and gurgled, as though someone were drowning and doing everything they could to make the sound as loud as possible. "What in the world?" muttered Ellie. The sound no longer came, and it made Ellie's stomach drop. "Come on," Thomas insisted before racing out into the night, Ellie hot on his heels as they sprinted toward where the sound had originated. They came to a stop in the middle of an empty street, looking around in the hopes of finding what had made the sound.

Off to the left, the sky split open, and a beam of light struck down light lightning. Almost immediately, the sky closed again, and Ellie's eyes widened. She had seen that happen to Baxter. She knew what it meant. The two spirits sprinted toward the beam as it disappeared and a short while later came to a skidding halt just outside a house in the next street over. As the two watched, someone left through the front door, her blonde hair flowing freely out behind her as she quickly fitted a gasmask around her face. Ellie couldn't help herself as she murmured, "Livia?" Like the others, Livia didn't respond, but instead sheathed a bloody knife to her side and disappeared between narrow gap between houses. She was gone. "Should we follow?" asked Thomas quietly, but Ellie firmly shook her head before taking slow steps toward the open front door.

She could see the hallway stretching ahead just beyond the doorway as it branched off into the rest of the house. Blood steadily dripped off a wall where a woman lay, her stomach slashed open viciously, guts pouring out onto the tiled floor like solidified jelly. Thomas wretched in disgust, looking as though he were about to vomit, although they both knew that was impossible. "Livia…killed her," whispered Ellie as she stopped in the doorway and stared at the dead woman, her eyes missing, and her chest hacked apart with multiple gaping holes. "Ellie…this is getting bad. We need to do something!" Thomas hissed desperately; his eyes wide with fear as he stared at the mutilated body. "What could we do? Like you said, we're invisible to everybody else. They'd need a Ouija board or some fucking shit to talk to us."

Ellie hated snapping at people, yet now her emotions were running high. She didn't know what to do. She and Thomas were stuck like this, in the spirit world, unable to do anything other than watch the horrific events unfold. Sirens wailed as a police car arrived, and a man immediately jumped out, pistol raised as he slowly entered the house. Thomas and Ellie steered clear of him, and then the man crouched down beside the body. Ellie thought she recognised him, but she couldn't remember where from. Another police car arrived, followed by an ambulance as two more police officers entered the house after the man, their weapons also raised. They came to a crashing stop when they saw the woman, and the man rose from his crouch to stare at them, a sorrow expression in his eyes. "We're too late," he muttered gloomily, and the other two nodded.

"Do we have anyone who could help us?" whispered one of them, a woman, and slowly the man looked back to the dead woman. "Well…there is a group I can get into contact with who would be able to help. I'm not sure they would all be keen on it, but they will have to help one way or another," the man said slowly. The woman looked surprised. "Andrew why would this group want to help?" she asked, her voice high in desperation as they stared at Andrew, and Andrew sighed. "Because one of their friends were murdered by the same people who have murdered this woman. When they hear that this killing streak is still happening even after the police were banned from hunting for this serial killer and the case closed, they will feel compelled to help." The woman scoffed, and Andrew shot her a withering glare.

"Think about it Andrew. Why would even one of these kids want to work with you?" the man next to the woman asked calmly, and once again Andrew sighed before finally taking his eyes away from the disgusting corpse to focus on the two completely. "Because one of them is my daughter. It may take her some time, but I can feel that she will help us! If she agrees, so will the rest of her group. Trust me, I just need a little more time. But once they start helping us, we will finally be able to catch this lunatic by surprise. Think about it. He's too busy looking out for the police or officials looking for him, so why would he bother keeping an eye out for a group of twelve…sorry…eleven young adults. They are out best chance of catching this guy, and honestly if one of you two thickheads have a better idea, you can present it now."

The man and woman glanced at each other uneasily, then the man stepped forward. "I propose we send either a strike team or make it clear he's unwelcomed around here," he said, and Andrew chuckled. "You know," he said softly as he took a step towards the man, "I never thought someone could be as fucking retarded as you. Now you have a minute to pull yourself together and stop questioning my authority before I fire your ass into next week."

Andrew stormed back to the police cars, the other two following at a slightly slower pace, and the two spirits watched interestedly. "You know, I have an idea on where we can find one of them," Thomas whispered, and Ellie whirled around to face him, a surprised expression on her face. "Where?" she asked.