Part 35

David's scream merged with that of the women and children. He backed away instinctively as the lead figure stormed into the house. He was a large, angry man-

-a man that David almost didn't recognize as his father.

This Lowell Vern... the Lowell Vern of several years ago... was larger and uglier than the father he knew; almost inhumanly so. The features were distorted, and the man's shoulders barely fit through the door. Behind him, the faces of Oskar Bartleby and Fenton Barney stretched across huge, misshapen heads that sat atop wide, bulging bodies.

There were more shapes outside. Hulking shapes trotted across the fields, occasionally barking with nearly-human voices.

"D-Dad?" David squeaked. He retreated to a corner.

"You see through the eyes of the spirit!" Gravious Thule blurted quickly. He moved across the room like a wraith, seeking the best vantage point for what was transpiring. "The truth is colored... you see things as they felt them, not as they truly were! Now watch! Listen! Listen for names!"

Lowell Vern's eyes quickly swept across the room, passing the corners where David and Thule stood without reaction, and then fixed on the people clustered before him.

Thomas stood in front of his family. Behind him, mother and daughter stood hip-to-shoulder, concealing as much of the young boy as they could.

The boy...

...what was his name? Had they said it?

"HOW DARE YOU-" Thomas began.

"HERE!" Lowell trampled Thomas's outrage with a voice like rocks grinding together. "THE BOY IS IN HERE I SEE HIM!"

"You leave him alone!" the girl shouted back. "We're not afraid of you!"

But somebody was. Someone was terrified... so terrified that they saw the intruders as barely-human monsters instead of men.

"We WON'T let you take him!" Thomas added.

"You act as if you've got a choice." Lowell stomped toward them. His footsteps shook the room. Oskar and Fenton swept out to either side. "You act as if ANY of us have a choice!"

"Dammit, he's your SON!"

"Not any more. He belongs to all of us now. He belongs to the TOWN! And soon he'll belong to-"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!"

"Aren't you listening!" Lowell snarled. "WE HAVE NO CHOICE!"

"There's always a choice," said Thomas. Lowell towered over him now, but Thomas stared unflinchingly upward into the distorted face. "You made yours. Now we've made ours."

"Difference is... I chose to save my family. You're choosing to watch yours burn."

"SAVE your family!? How are you SAVING it by killing your own son!?"

"I don't have a son," said Lowell. "Maybe one day... but you won't be around to see that. Not you. Not your wife. Not even your little baby girl there. You'll all be ashes and bones, along with everything you ever worked for. Even your name. You'll join the rest of the traitors on the Far Side of the Hill.... forgotten, like you were never born!"

"Give us the boy" said Oskar as the trio surrounded the family. "Make us TAKE him, and we'll make sure you're still alive when we light the fires."

"No," said Thomas.

"No?" Lowell frowned. "No!? We're offering you a charity, here! Give us-"

"NO! MAGA, ANGELA... RUN!"