Carl blinked awake as Katie shook him awake looking and sounding panicked. Her voice sounded momentarily distant and muffled, and even the dim lights felt too bright and painful in the basement. As everything came into painful focus, he got up to his knees wincing and grunting. 

“Dad, are you ok?! What’s wrong?! You wouldn’t wake up for hours!” she looked pale. 

“I feel... hungover... What do you mean I wouldn’t wake up for hours? My medicine never did that before.” he rubbed his head then froze “Did the sheriff ever come by here? Or Joe?” 

“No! Nobody came except the monsters! They would leave then come back!” Katie looked like she was going to cry. 

“What do you mean nobody except the monsters ever came by here?” Carl staggered to his feet “Where’s your mom?” 

“She went upstairs to see if the door and windows are still good.” Katie pointed to the stairs with her arm visibly shaking. 

Carl put his hands on her shoulders “Now, Katie, I know we went through a lot, but trust me when I say that there are no monsters out there, ok? I’m going to talk to your mother then check outside, alright?” 

“Ok...” Katie nodded with her voice cracking. 

Carl went up the stairs hearing Veronica’s voice. When he reached the top, he caught her putting her cellphone away. 

“We got service? Did you manage to make a call?” he walked over. 

“No, no. I was... I was making some recordings. Helps keep my sanity in this situation.” she replied while holding up her hand. 

“Katie says that no one ever came by here except our attackers, but that doesn’t make any sense. Joe would have come by at the very least. After all, my call came through on the radio.” Carl he reminded her. 

“She’s right. Nobody except those things kept terrorizing this cabin on and off.” Veronica shuddered. 

“They’re not things. They’re people. And they seem to be gone now which means we should take the time to leave this place and go to the sheriff's office. I’ll make sure it’s safe first though.” he headed for the door when everything around him suddenly smelled stronger. 

Veronica recognized that he was having an attack “Hang on! Take your medicine first!” 

She rushed downstairs and came back with a dosage. 

“Thank you.” Carl took it then injected himself. 

It immediately went to work, but not in its usual way. His sense of smell only slightly dulled and he suddenly felt sleepy. Carl never enjoyed taking his medicine, but it always worked at least, and it never made him drowsy. Just abnormally depressed. He wondered if he needed his dosage to be stronger though he had to worry about that later. Right now, a bunch of sickos were terrorizing his family. 

Once outside, he immediately noticed the scratch marks on the walls, the porch, the furniture and even on his car. Moreover, the pots, chairs, the bird houses and even the scarecrow had been knocked over. Despite all the chaos, messiness and damage, all of this was surface level and kind of performative. Aside frpm the scratches and knocked over things which only got broken from being thrown around or knocked over, there was nothing superficial or unusual. The windows were intact, the car was not so much as dented, and the validating moment which confirmed Carl’s suspicions was a dried faded soiled footprint on the porch. 

“So monsters wear work boots now?” he chuckled while kneeling and shaking his head, when he suddenly noticed a strange smell. 

He sniffed while looking around and realized that he didn’t smell just one single thing. While the obvious still smelled stronger than usual, he also noticed new scents. One of which came from the footprint. He could even smell the rubber of the sole of the boot that made it. He also caught the whiff of something metallic and followed it under the porch where he found a gardening fork. He stared at it and then back at the scratches before comparing then realized they were caused by the fork. Unfrotunately, he could not savor being right about the monster attack being a hoax as being able to smell so many things killed the mood. Still, he continued to survey the area and found the electrical box had not been properly closed. He opened it and saw that all the wires had been cut, meaning that their power outage was isolated and intentional. It also hit him that if it was just the cabin that was out of power, maybe they could get some cell service. He checked his pockets, but they were empty. He rushed inside and checked his backpack but found nothing either. 

“Aw, come on! Don’t tell me I forgot to pack my phone too!” he rubbed his forehead groaning before taking a good look at his hand “Did I forget to cut my nails too?” 

“Carl?” Veronica came over. 

“It’s not monsters. I’m sure of it and I can even prove it. Monsters don’t need gardening forks to scratch nor do they wear work boots. And they definitely don’t cut electrical wires with scissors.” Carl explained to her. 

“Carl, you’re not making any sense.” she replied looking worried. 

“Ah, I can’t find my phone. Can I have yours please? We need to call for help.” he extended his hand while sniffing as his nose felt very itchy. 

Veronica held her purse protectively under her arm “Carl, we have no cell service. We can’t make calls.” 

“M-Maybe we can. Please, let me try.” Carl urged while scratching his nose. 

“Honey, you need your medicine. You can’t make any calls with your condition flaring up.” she replied while pointing at him. 

“G-Good point. I can’t make a proper call like this.” he went back downstairs and gave himself a dosage, but it did nothing. 

The only thing that got dulled down was his mind. He felt so tired that he felt like that if he kept his eyes closed for too long, he would fall asleep. 

“Dad?” Katie looked from halfway down the stairs. 

“Uh... Katie...” he swayed and nearly lost his footing before falling against the wall then fell down sitting on the floor. 

“Dad!” she came over then kneeled “Dad, what’s happening to you?” 

“M-My medicine isn’t working... It’s just making me... tired...” Carl explained while trying to stay awake. 

“Hang on, dad. I’ll get you an energy drink from the car.” Katie then ran up the stairs but her mother stopped her from opening the front door. 

“Katie, what do you think you’re doing?!” Veronica grabbed her hand. 

“I’m going to get dad an energy drink, mom. His medicine is making him too tired.” she explained. 

Veronica narrowed her eyes while pulling her away “Katie, there are monsters out there and it’s getting dark soon!” 

“But dad said there are no monsters.” she insisted while trying to free herself. 

“Your father has schizophrenia! We can’t take his words seriously! You stay inside where it’s safe, young lady!” she shoved Katie into the armchair. 

“But, mom-” Katie stood back up. 

“No buts! You stay inside this cabin until help comes! Do I make myself clear?!” Veronica commanded while waving her finger in her face. 

Carl walked in frowning “V-Veronica, enough! My condition makes me see a-and hear a lot of things, but doesn’t m-make me dumb. I really do have proof that our attackers are people not monsters. And as f-for help, Joe should have come b-by now or sent someone at least.” 

“Then why isn’t he here yet? Do you think something happened to him, dad? Do you think... the monsters got him?!” Katie began to panic again. 

“No!” he took a deep breath “No. The monsters didn’t get him because there weren’t any, Katie. I swear on the family name that there are no monsters.” 

“There are stories of monsters like beast folk around here since the first settlers! Are you telling me that there is no truth at all to those stories?!” Veronica shouted back. 

Carl rubbed his aching temples as her voices sounded more shrill than usual “Veronica, people come up with all kinds of stories when they’re panicking or can’t explain something. Also, suppose there is that microscoping chance that there are monsters around here, it doesn’t make what happened to us a monster attack. Like I said before, I have proof.” 

“I’m still not going out there and I won’t let Katie either!” Veronica yelled back. 

“No, quite the opposite. We need to get to car and get to town where it is safe.” Carl tried to protest. 

“And you think you can drive in your doped up state?!” Veronica got in his face. 

“You can.” Carl pointed to her. 

“I said I’m not going out there!” Veronica swung her arm away dismissively. 

“Veronica-” Carl groaned. 

“Besides, I can’t because your stupid car is a standard!” Veronica hissed bitterly. 

Carl tightened his lips “You were the one who insisted on us bringing my car up here.” 

“So all of this is MY fault now?!” Veronica shot back at him. 

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT!!” Carl roared at her with his voice sounding distorted for a moment and his eyes even looked off before he caught himself “I-I... I’m sorry for yelling. I understand that you’re scared, Veronica. And you’re right to be because whoever is out there, is clearly not right in the head, but the smartest thing we can do is leave.” 

Veronica's eyes were tearing “But how? You can’t drive in your state, and I can’t drive a standard.” 

Katie looked out the window at the scratched-up car and whipped her head around “What if we biked to town, dad?” 

“Biked? Yes! The bikes! It’s not as armored as a car, but it’s something.” Carl thought for a moment “Ok, new idea. I’ll bike to town while you two stay here preferably in the basement and keep the radio on in case Joe or someone tries to make contact, ok? Those sickos can’t come in here.” 

“What about you, dad? Will you really be ok alone?” Katie looked worried. 

“I know this place by heart, honey. I can sleepwalk my way through it so biking while being half drugged won’t be so hard. Also, I’ll be armed.” Carl picked up the shotgun. 

“Carl, take some of your medicine just in case.” Veronica held out a dose. 

“Ok... Though I don’t know if this stuff is helping me at all.” he took it reluctantly and pocketed it into his vest “Ok, I’m going. Lock the door and make sure every other door and window is locked, ok? Remember, there are NO monsters. It’s just a bunch of bad people pretending not that I’ll be long.” 

Carl went out the door and Veronica closed it fast behind him. He took a moment to look up at the sky which was slowly shifting to nighttime. He unlocked the trunk of the car and pulled out his bicycle before riding it away onto the dirt road. He tried his best to bike carefully, but it was hard when he felt so drowsy, his nose ached from all the scents, and the world was becoming noisier. Also, his sight was off too now. Night was coming and the world was looking brighter rather than darker. Logically, he knew that he should be taking another dosage, especially since it was clear that he needed more, but he feared that he might black out again. Once he was halfway to town, he began to feel something new and alarming. His skin felt abnormally itchy as though something was pricking him all over from the inside. He stopped and began scratching, then noticed it. 

“M-My hands...” Carl gasped upon seeing that his nails had grown even longer and while he was always a hairy person, the hair on his hands looked almost as thick as the hair on his head “Great. I’m hallucinating too now. I guess I gotta take my damn medicine now...” 

He unhappily injected himself and this time, the medication hit him so hard, that it felt like a literal blow to his head. Everything went quiet, dark and calm all at once before he fell to his side out cold. 

Meanwhile, at the cabin, Katie was in the basement petting a chicken when she suddenly heard the front door open and then close very quietly. She ran up the stairs and saw her mother outside sitting on the porch calmly while talking on the phone. Katie was stunned when she realized that her mother was even smiling. She noticed Veronica’s purse on the coffee table and felt compelled to open it to find her father’s cellphone. She looked out the window and then tiptoed to the kitchen where she unlocked the phone recalling that the password was her parents’ anniversary before making a call. 

“Hello?” Joe’s voice was heard. 

“Uncle Joe, it’s Katie.” Katie whispered into the phone. 

“Hello, Katie. How are you enjoying the countryside?” he asked her cheerfully. 

“Uncle Joe, what are you saying? Don’t you remember how your call with dad on the radio went? Why didn’t ever come here or send someone to check on us?” she was scared. 

Joe was silent for a moment “I do, but your mother called soon after to explain that your father was just having an episode and that everything was a false alarm.” 

“It wasn’t a false alarm! We really were attacked! Dad left just now to go to town by bike to get help. We really are being attacked by someone or something.” Katie explained while not whispering anymore “I don’t know why mom lied to you and lied to us about the cellphones not working or why she took dad’s phone-” 

“Katie, I understand you’re scared and clearly, something’s not adding up. Please, tell me everything from the beginning.” Joe soothingly instructed her. 

“O-Ok. We-MMMM!!” just as she was about to answer, Veronica snuck up behind her and put her hand over her mouth before injecting her with a dosage of the medicine she had been giving Carl. 

“Katie, can you repeat that? Katie? Katie, are you still there?” Joe’s voice persisted over the phone while Katie fell asleep. 

Veronica picked up the cellphone with an annoyed expression before hanging up and then putting the phone in the sink where she soaked it in water to destroy it.