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Frank had little trouble finding his way back down the mountainside, although he did find himself walking in circles once. He'd always been a nature lover and found the fresh air to be a great healing tool for his grief.

He found the hearse on the old dirt road where they had left it, with no apparent signs of being tampered with besides a couple of hundred leaves blanketing the roof and hood. Frank climbed behind the steering wheel and keyed the ignition. The old 8 cylinder engine roared to life and he threw the gear stick into drive.

Before he pulled away, he gave one last look up the tree-covered side of the mountain, hoping he'd catch one last glimpse of Benny and Autumn.

He found no one.

To say the trip back to Indiana was uneventful would be an understatement; it was downright boring. A sharp contrast to the trip up. There wasn't a vampire, werewolf, witch, or living tree to be seen the entire time.

Though he had not stayed at the house much since Abby died, he certainly felt overjoyed to see it when he pulled into the driveway. As he brought the old death cab to a stop and shifted into park, he caught movement in his rearview mirror. An unmarked police car had followed him up the drive. He got out of the car and looked back to see a pretty, middle-aged Hispanic woman climbing out of the vehicle behind him.

"Good morning, Mr. Writeman," The woman said cheerfully, "and welcome home. My name is Detective Gloria Perez and I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."

Frank gave her a crooked smile and said, "Your parents named you detective? Good thing you became a cop, huh?"

Gloria let out a short giggle and knew she had given up the bad cop façade she was trying to wear. "That was a good one, you're very funny. May I come in?"

"Of course," Frank led the way up to the front door and produced a key chain from his pants pocket. Once inside, he turned to his guest and asked; "May I take your coat?"

"No, I won't be staying long."

"That's a shame."

The detective felt her cheeks flush and mentally scolded herself for acting like a schoolgirl. She cleared her throat and tried to emit a tougher exterior. "Mr. Writeman, I worked a very interesting crime scene recently at your bank building. Do you know what I'm referring to?"

"I have an idea."

"My partner and I found some very strange things in your office. Then, we found even more of these strange things in your son, Jack's house, at the graveyard where your daughter-in-law, Autumn, was buried, and we heard about the piles of bodies that were left strewn across a cornfield in Nebraska."

"Nothing out of Gary?" Frank asked playfully.

"Why? What happened in Gary?"

"Nothing worth mentioning."

Gloria stared at Frank for a long moment as if trying to word her next set of statements very carefully.

"Mr. Wr-"

"Please, call me Frank"

"Frank, before I could get very deep into my investigation, the F.B.I. swooped in and took over. Now, the feds are gone, the bodies are gone and everything's been cleaned up as if it never happened."

"Wow, that's convenient for me."

"Very. Furthermore, my partner, my forensics team, and every other cop who viewed the scene are acting like they were never there and didn't see anything."

"Maybe they're the smart ones," Frank said with sudden seriousness.

"I want in on this. I want to know what's going on."

Frank only stared at her with a doubtful look on his face.

"Where are your boys, Frank?"

The Old Man looked down at the floor, suddenly saddened by where the conversation had turned.

"Benny is dead," he stated plainly.

"I'm sorry, Frank. What about Jack?"

"I have no idea where he is, but he's in trouble and I need to find him before others do."

"What others?"

Frank didn't answer.

"Look, I'm a detective. I could be helpful in finding him."

The Old Man knew she was right, and though he wasn't comfortable with putting yet another life in danger, finding Jack was more important than anything.

"I'm very tired from my trip," he finally said.

Gloria let out a sigh of defeat.

"I want to get some rest," Frank continued, "but if you have dinner with me tonight, I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Gloria smiled, "Are you asking me to go out on a date?"

"Well," Frank said with a sudden nervousness, "yeah, if that's okay."

Again, the detective felt her cheeks blush, "I suppose that would be alright. I can meet you back here at around six. would that be ok?"

Frank grinned like a boy in a candy shop. "Six is good."

He walked the detective to the door and as she stepped out onto the porch, she turned and asked: "We're not going to take the hearse, are we?"

"It would probably be better if you drive."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

He watched her leave and felt relieved that she didn't look in the back of the hearse. The illegal weapons he'd hauled across the country and back would have landed him in prison for a nice, long stint.

Frank didn't lie to her, he was exhausted and he fully intended on getting some rest, but there was something else he had to take care of first.

The stairs gave their old familiar creaks as he walked up to the second floor, a sound he found comforting after being away so long. As he entered the den he thought of the last time he was there and echoes of his conversation with Benny bounced through his head. He was trying to help his son through the grief of losing his wife.

Now Benny was gone too.

The Old Man pushed this thought to the back of his mind. He had spent enough time mourning his youngest boy, he still had a son out there somewhere that needed his help and he knew if he focused on that, his sorrow would soon be forgotten, if only for a little while.

Frank picked the cordless phone out of its charger and dialed a number that very few people in the world knew. The phone rang three times before a nasally voice answered on the other end.

"Yellow?"

"James, it's Frank."

"Oh, hey buddy, are you back in town?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to need your help with something. How do you feel about relocating?"

"Where to?"

"My place, tonight. I want to make this a base of operations of sorts."

"Base of operations? Are we going to war?"

"Eventually, but first we have to find Jack. I can't really say much over the phone, just come over tonight around 7:00 and get set up, I'll explain everything later."

"What are you going to do?"

"First I'm going to take a nap, and then I'm going on a hot date."

"You got a date? You've been in town for like three minutes. I haven't had one for three years."

Frank smiled, "The first step is to leave the house, James. Look, I'm going to go, but I'll see you tonight."

"Alright, see ya."

The Old Man hung up the phone and collapsed on the nearby couch. He eventually fell into an uneasy sleep filled with dreams of things to come.

The approaching snow, his changing son, and the mysterious vampires known only as; The Wintermen.