Avery opened her mouth to speak just as the tires of her little car bounced over something. Bounced? That meant her tired were touching the ground. And the tell-tale vibration of her car backed up her assumption. She whipped her head toward Conner even as she slammed on the breaks. “Do you feel that?” The vehicle lurched to a stop.

He nodded slowly. “Felt like a bump in the road and then you stopped…which means we have wheels touching the ground.”

“Yes, yes!” Her heart beat a fast tempo of fear and anticipation. Had they somehow been spit out back in town? Please, God, let them have been. The gray fog still hung around the car, obscuring their surroundings from view.

Though she could now probably steer the car, she didn’t know if she was on a road or in the middle of a field. Driving blind was never a good idea. Avery peeled the fingers of her left hand from the steering wheel and rubbed the pained digits against her jean-covered thighs.

“What now?” She knew the answer but wanted reassurance, anyway.

His hand tightened around hers. “We wait, I guess.”

“Yeah.”

They lapsed into silence. The edginess afflicting her killed any desire to talk. When would this damned fog let up? It was very similar to the fog that had started this all. Would this take them home?

She squinted. Was it the fog lifting? After a few long seconds, faint outlines shone through the lifting veil of gray. Everything was tinged with a red haze, though. “Can you see those shapes?” she asked, not ripping her gaze away from the sight. Everything within her prayed she’d see a familiar sight from Green Meadow, the town they lived in.

“No, what do you see?”

Avery frowned. “Not sure. Just indistinct shapes.”

Conner leaned forward in his seat. “Still nothing for me.”

“This is so weird. The whole afternoon has been strange and frightening.”

“Let’s hope it’s over,” he said, but the doubt in his tone leaked out.

She hated to look away, afraid she’d miss something that would give them hope—and equally terrified she’d see something that would scare them even more. Minute by minute, the fog grew fainter until it revealed the red-tinged area she’d been staring at so intently. The sight was one she’d never forget.

Complete desolation had fallen on the place. She swallowed the ball of nerves forming in her throat. This wasn’t Green Meadow or anyplace she knew of in Michigan. Sharp rock lay scattered across a barren land. Only a few dead trees that leaned precariously to the side showed that any life had ever inhabited the area.

She ghosted her gaze across to the left, and her heart thudded to a stop. Bodies of human-like beings and misshapen things—she couldn’t even describe them and didn’t want to—littered the ground like a sea of dead. At the back of that macabre scene, a faraway battle of laser light shone against the horizon. A scream welled in her throat, and raw terror caused her to hit the gas. A wide unhindered path of stone rested under her tires. She spun the car around, hoping to find the tunnels that brought them to this hellish place.