After a few days of refusing to leave the house on principle, I was starting to go stir crazy. Food wasn’t the issue; there was enough food to last the entirety of the Wondrous Twelve through any sort of apocalypse. Which, I thought, was beyond ridiculous. Whether it’s demons from hell, an alien invasion, animals gone rogue, or whatever else the end of the world has to throw at us, there’s no way the Wondrous Twelve would resign themselves to being locked away in a safe house while the world around them burns.

“If the apocalypse starts with boredom, though,” I sighed, flopping down onto one of many couches. “That would be a challenge.” I flipped open the phone Savannah had given me and checked the time. It was past ten o’clock. I could leave, if I wanted to. 

Enough was enough. I jumped up and grabbed my wallet. I didn’t bother refilling it with the cash Savannah had left- I had plenty left over from before my banishment. 

The door hit something when I swung it open. I looked down to see a small brown package with a note scrawled across in sharpie. Quite a few words had been scratched out. One sentence had been blacked out completely. 

I slammed the door shut and kept walking, pausing only to scan my ID at the gate. It was slow to open, so I stormed forward to grab it and shove it open quicker. The iron whined in protest, but I was soon able to slip through.

I didn’t quite decide to walk towards the town so much as it was the only way I could go. The beach I eliminated right away, of course, and I didn’t much feel like following the road further into the middle of nowhere. That left just one option. 

I kept my eyes firmly on the pavement, avoiding the tumultuous sea at the end of the sand that sloped to my left. There wasn’t much to see on my right. I passed by a lone cow, a long-abandoned gas station, then nothing for another mile but grass, sand, and salted wind.

My second impression of the town was no better than my first impression. The only difference was that outside of a moving car, I could really appreciate each and every crack in the dilapidated sidewalk. I could see why the Wondrous Twelve chose to have their secret base here. These people probably didn’t even have cable.

I finally decided to enter a coffee shop on the corner that looked reasonably patronized. A bell jingled obnoxiously as I swung the door open.

I kept my eyes to the floor, not wanting to know if I was attracting attention. An unfamiliar face was sure to stand out.