"Thanks, Sada. I'm fine."  Joe gave his hostess a wide grin as she closed the door behind her.  Hobbling over to the bed, he stifled a tired moan as he sank to the mattress.  It would be so good to just lie down, the substantial snack Sada and Ben had provided for him and Frank had made him sleepy. But he wanted to stay awake until Frank got back. As safe as Ben assured him the trip to the car would be, he still didn't like the idea of his brother being out there alone. Picking up a comic that was sitting beside the bed, he did a double take. It was an Amazing Mysteries comic book from the mid-1940's, but it looked like it was only days old.   He had just started to flip through it when he heard a quiet tap at the window.  Thinking it was just the wind blowing up some dust, he almost ignored it. But the tap came again and this time it was more insistent.  Going to see what it was, he did his second double take of the night.  

"Frank?" Joe was incredulous, but more startled when his brother held his finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet.  Frowning, he carefully turned the latch that released the window. Once he had it opened he stepped back allowing Frank to step inside.  "What is wrong with you?" he whispered. "What are you…oooff!"  He almost had the wind knocked out of him when his brother enveloped him in a bear hug.  "Hey, what's wrong?"  

"You're okay."  Frank smiled his relief and hugged Joe again.  "I was almost too afraid to hope," he whispered.   Seeing his younger brother start to ask a question, he shushed him again.  "I can't explain now. We've got to get out of here."  He went over to the door and listened for any noises coming from the hall.  Not hearing anything, he quickly cleared knickknacks from a solid looking bureau and then shoved it against the door.  

"Frank?!"  Joe squeaked in disbelief. He stood there, looking at his brother open-mouthed.  "Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?  You haven't been gone ten minutes. What happened?"  

"No time to explain," Frank said again as he gathered up his brother's sweater and shoved it at him.  "Put this on, we've got to get out of here now.  Please, Joe. Trust me, we have to get out of here and I haven't been gone ten minutes.  You've been missing for almost a day."  He moved to the open window.  "Do you need help?"  

Joe shook his head slowly and shrugged into his sweater.  Giving his brother a puzzled look, he perched on the window ledge and hoisted one leg over. "You're not making any sense," he whispered.  "And I always trust y…" His last word was drowned out by a woman's shout and pounding at the bedroom door. Without another thought he slid to the porch just outside the window and waited for his brother to follow.  

"Go! Head for the graveyard. It's off to the left in a straight line!"  A cold band of ice had formed around Frank's heart. He was sure that the shout had come from Ellen, telling them to hurry. "I'm right behind you, Joe."  

Not being able to remember the last time his brother had looked that frightened, Joe shook his head no.  "I'm not going anywhere unless you're right beside me. So get your butt off that ledge and let's move it."  

Frank hopped down beside his brother.  "You are so stubborn. I meant what I said." As much as he wanted to make sure that Ellen was safe, his brother was his first priority. He could only hope that the older woman had been right when she said that she would be all right.  "I'm right behind you, now go!" Joe didn't have to take more than a few steps for Frank to realize that he was going to need help crossing the distance to the small cemetery.  Grabbing him around the waist, he tried to take some of the weight off of Joe's injured leg.  "I know it hurts, Joe. I'm sorry."  

"It's all right," Joe grunted.  "I'd really like to know what's going on, Frank.  Just promise me that you haven't lost your mind." He could just make out the dark forms of the tombstones up ahead.  He was puzzled that he hadn't noticed them before.  Risking a quick look back at the house, he saw something that nearly caused him to stumble as he tried to change direction.  "Aunt Gertrude?  Frank! Stop!"  

The older Hardy turned to see Ellen Watkins running from the house.  Her slim form was outlined in the pale light coming from the front porch.  But Joe was right.  The woman had reminded Frank of someone, from the very first time he that had seen her.  It had been his aunt. "That's not Aunt Gertrude, Joe. It's someone who's trying to help us.  We're almost there!"  He could make out the shape of the fenced off area. Another few feet and they would be safe, if Ellen was right about the graveyard.   

"Frank! Didn't you hear that?"  Joe stopped just inside of the gate.  "That scream? I…I think it was Sada. We have to go back!"   

Terrified, Frank snared Joe's shirt before he could leave the small cemetery.  "No! We have to stay here." He dragged him deeper into the graveyard and pushed him down behind a large tombstone. Diving in behind him, he wrapped his arms around his brother's chest to stop him from bolting and going back to the house. "It doesn't matter what you hear, Joe. We can't leave the graveyard."  

Joe twisted around in his brother's grasp. "Frank, you can't just ignore that! Let me go! You pulled me out of there for a reason. They're probably in trouble too."  He froze when another ear-splitting scream came from the house. He peered around the carved granite stone to get a better look at the house.  Orange and yellow flames were pouring through the windows.  "No!"  Giving Frank a hard shove back against the tombstone, he wrenched free of the vice-like grip.  He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain in his thigh and ran for the farmhouse.  

"Uhhh." Frank's head had connected solidly with the stone, sending flashes of light to dance before his eyes.  His vision cleared in time to see Joe reach the gate.  "Stop! Oh, God!  Joe, stop!"  He raced to his feet and charged after his younger brother who was now beyond the perimeter of the cemetery.   

Night was almost turned into daylight as the flames engulfed the Elderbridges' house.  Flickering light cast wavering shadows that turned the overgrown yard into a surrealistic landscape.  The shouts coming from the house and grounds had now become chilling screeches and howls.  Frank detected nothing human in those cries, but he could only guess that Joe heard the agonized calls of the elder couple.  He was steadily gaining on Joe, perversely thankful that his brother had injured his leg in the crash. It was slowing him just enough. Almost close enough to touch Joe now, Frank saw another figure crossing the grassy area and heading towards them. His breath caught in his throat when it stepped out of the glare of the fire behind it.   It seemed to ripple--its form and features wavering between something human and something that definitely was not.  

Pouring on more speed, he passed his brother and put himself between him and what must have been Ben Elderbridge at one time. He didn't know how he was going to stop it, but he had to try. Joe hadn't even slowed his pace.  He still saw it as the old farmer.  Frank nearly gagged as it got closer.  The smell of something rotting, mixed with the acrid bite of smoke, was almost overpowering.  Steeling himself against the fetid smell and the terrifying sight of the creature, he searched the ground around him for some kind of weapon.  His search was rewarded as he spotted a fairly thick branch just a few feet in front of him.  He scooped the limb up, almost certain that it wouldn't be enough.  Raising it up, Frank swung with all his might as the thing came within range. The wood hit the back of the creature with a solid thud, but that was all. The blow hadn't slowed it at all.  He barely had time to utter a gasp, when it turned on him.  Its mouth dropped open releasing a putrid stench and a scream that Frank was sure he would hear until the day he died—which he fervently prayed would not be this day.  He raised his arms too late to deflect the answering blow.  It sent him to the ground, dazed and defenseless.  

Joe had stopped his race for the house and watched all of this in astonishment. The insanity that had started with their stay in Castle Rock seemed to grow worse with each passing moment. Nothing his brother had said or done since his return had made any sense.  And now Frank was suddenly running in front of him, yelling at him to turn around and go back to the graveyard, which Joe knew he couldn't do; not with the possibility of Sada being trapped in the burning house. His eyes grew wide as he watched his brother.  He had picked up a large tree branch and looked as if he was going to attack Ben with it.  Joe was just about to shout at him to stop when Frank did swing at the older man with a force so hard that it shattered the limb.  Horrified, Joe waited for the farmer to crumple to the ground, but Elderbridge reacted as if he hadn't felt it. Nothing of what he was seeing could be possible.  That blow would have downed anyone, especially someone as old as Ben.  Instead, the old man shouted something that Joe couldn't understand and, raising a fist, hit Frank hard enough to send him flying.   Joe felt his bewilderment turn into rage as Elderbridge began to move in on his brother who was still lying on the damp ground, stunned.  He wasn't sure what was happening, but he wasn't going to give the farmer a second chance at hurting his brother.  Running across the short distance that separated him from them, he yelled at the old man to stop.  He knew it was futile, but he did manage to get Ben's attention.  Halting his advance on Frank, Elderbridge turned to look at the younger Hardy.   

Joe gasped as reality seemed to fold in on itself.  At first he thought it was a trick of the wavering light from the fire that still raged behind them, but when the face didn't change as he got closer he knew it couldn't be that.  The kind and weathered features of Ben Elderbridge had flickered and changed, turning into a grotesque mask of decaying flesh.  The once straight and wiry body was now hunched and hideously deformed.  Whatever it was that he was looking at, and his brain was working furiously at trying to explain it, was no longer a person.   

"Frank!! Move!"   

Frank rolled over onto his side, wincing as his muscles protested against the abuse they'd just taken.  Elderbridge had sent him a good six feet, knocking the breath out of him and jarring every inch of his body.  Raising himself up on one elbow, he tried to shake his head clear of the cobwebs and take in enough breath to move.  All he could see was the shape of that thing turning towards him again.  He knew he had to get up and get as far from it as he could, but his body refused to cooperate.  Breathing was still an effort. With one more try he managed to make it to his knees, but no further. He'd never get away in time.  Looking past the creature, he saw his brother's horrified expression turn into one of determination.  He was going to try to save him, putting himself in danger again. Don't do it, Joe! Frank's mind screamed it out, but his tortured lungs were still begging for air. It came out as a painful wheeze.  Trying one more time to stand, he got shakily to his feet.  

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