Joe's relief at seeing his brother get to his feet was short-lived.  One look told him that Frank wasn't going to be able get out of that thing's reach.  He was going to have to get to his brother before Elderbridge did. Frank's pleading expression as he began his painful gait back to the graveyard was easy enough to read.  How Frank could think that he was expendable, his younger brother couldn't fathom. Joe answered that plea with a shake of his head and a reassuring grin. His message, that they would leave that farm together or not at all, was just as easy to understand. Satisfied that Frank would do his best to meet him halfway, he made a run for his brother.  Surprise would be on his side; Elderbridge was completely focused on Frank.  

The pounding thud of Joe's feet, as he raced across the gnarled yard, was echoed by the staccato beating in his chest.  The creature's slow and lumbering pace was getting it closer to Frank more quickly than Joe had anticipated.  Pouring on every ounce of energy and speed that he had, he did the only thing he could think of.  As he came up alongside Elderbridge, Joe changed his plan of heading directly for his brother.  He needed to slow that thing down and give Frank more time to reach the graveyard.  Years of practice on the gridiron and close studying of the moves of the game suddenly all came down to one moment. This moment. Steeling himself, Joe waited for the perfect opportunity.  Putting all of his weight into it, the blonde-haired teen threw a perfect block.  

The blow caused the creature to stagger and stumble. For one fleeting moment, Joe knew the feeling of victory.  He and his brother would make it to the graveyard and safety.  Stopping a few feet away, to catch his breath and to give the throb in his leg a chance to subside, he leaned forward to rest his hands on his thighs.  

"Joe!  Behind you!"  Frank's terrified shout caused the younger Hardy to look quickly over his shoulder to where Elderbridge should have been sprawled out on the grass.  The thing was already on its feet, albeit unsteadily, and swinging one clawed hand at him.  Twisting away and almost out of reach, Joe winced as he felt the sting of the sharp talons rip through his shirt and sweater to graze his skin underneath.  Mentally berating himself for letting his guard down, he ran to where Frank was waiting for him.  The gate to the graveyard was only a few feet beyond them now.  

"Are you all right?"  Relieved that Joe was finally back with him and in one piece, Frank looped his arm under his brother's shoulders as they made their way through the small cemetery's entrance.  "You're an idiot, you know that?"  

Dropping down behind a tombstone, Joe sagged against it.  "I know," he smiled tiredly, "just like my big brother."  His smile faded when he heard Frank's stifled groan as he sat on the ground next to him.  "What about you?  Elderbri…that thing…" He stopped and swallowed hard as everything that could have happened suddenly sank in.  "I nearly got you killed," he whispered.  Turning slightly, he looked into his brother's exhausted expression.  "I'm sorry."  

"Like I said, you're an idiot.  There's nothing to apologize for."  Frank gave his brother a crooked grin. "There's nothing to be sorry about.  I'm okay. Just had the wind knocked out of me."  

"Frank?  What's going on? I saw Ben turn into that thing?"  Joe peered around the tombstone, barely suppressing a shudder, when he saw the hulking figure pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the small cemetery. A furious howl reached his ears. "You're sure we're safe here?" He absently rubbed at the spot where the sharp nails had scraped his skin. "We shouldn't try to make a run…?"   

"We're safe.  They won't cross into the graveyard."  Stifling a chuckle at the absurdity of what he had just said, he shifted to sit against the cold stone and next to his brother.  He caught Joe's curious look and grinned.  

"I'm happy to see you've kept your sense of humour, Frank." The blonde-haired teen gritted out, failing to see anything worth laughing at. Then sighing deeply, he returned the grin briefly.  "None of this can be happening. I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up in that creepy hotel in Castle Rock and that this is just one really bad nightmare.  That maybe you were right and that baseball hit me a lot harder than I thought."  He paused.  "Okay, I see you don't know how this game works.  This is the part where you say something reassuring like 'That's right, Joe, it's just been one really bad nightmare'."  

Sliding closer so that he was sitting shoulder to shoulder with his brother, Frank said quietly, "That's right, Joe, this is just one really bad nightmare. But neither one of us is sleeping." The warmth of sitting that close to Joe seemed to fight off some of the chill that was seeping through his clothes from the tombstone.  Relaxing a little, he closed his eyes to the smoke filled night sky.  "We just have to wait it out. It'll only be a couple more hours. That's what she said."  

"She? Who's she?  What are they?"  It wasn't hard to miss the exasperation in Joe's voice.  "Tell me what's going on, Frank."  

"Her name's Ellen. I don't know how she found me or figured out what was happening, but she did."  He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.  "I don't know if I would have found you in time if she hadn't.  She'd been through this before."  He gestured futilely at the house. "She told me what to do."  

"I'll have to remember to thank her," Joe said softly.  "Ben and Sada?"  Frowning, he tried to move to ease the growing ache in his side.  

"I don't know, Joe.  Ellen told me this story about them. When she was telling me it, I was sure that I had put my faith in some lunatic."  Frank straightened and ran a hand quickly through his hair before continuing. "It was crazy. People coming back for fifty years to reclaim their son.  It was crazy," he repeated again in barely more than a whisper.  "But I guess it wasn't. You saw them. They're…They're not human anymore."  

"What do you mean 'reclaim their son'?"   

"It's all tied up with the town, Castle Rock, and a hit and run.  That's how the Elderbridges' son died.  Someone hit him on that side road and left him there.  And now…" Frank turned to look at his brother when he heard a sharp intake of breath.  "Joe? What's wrong?''   

Beads of sweat had broken out across Joe's forehead and were starting to soak into his hair.  The ones that weren't caught in the blond strands trickled down into blue eyes that were squeezed tightly shut.  "My side. Where he clawed me."  Joe's fingers dug into the torn sweater as if he was trying to pull the pain away. "Hurts."  

The younger teen's gasp was almost lost in another angry scream coming from just beyond the gate.  Elderbridge hadn't given up his post.   

Frank was on his knees immediately.  "He clawed you?!"  He pulled his brother's hand away from the ruined material and gently lifted the shirt and sweater.  "Why didn't you say something?"  In the slowly dwindling light from the fire that still reached into the graveyard, Frank could make out three long welts that travelled just under Joe's ribcage.  The skin had been broken only on the surface. There was no blood seeping from them.  Putting his hand over the scratches, he couldn't feel any heat that would have signaled an infection or poison.  In fact, his brother's skin felt almost too cool to the touch.  "He didn't cut you, Joe. It doesn't look too bad."  

"It doesn't…doesn't feel too good, either."  Curling his knees up to his abdomen, Joe rocked against the pain.  "So cold it hurts...feel like ice inside."  

Peeling off his jacket, Frank wrapped it around Joe and then pulled his brother to rest against him.  Joe did feel like ice. "Lean against me. It's going to be okay."  He felt his brother shiver against him and try to burrow deeper into the warmth of the jacket and his arms.  "I'll get help. The car's just down the path. You'll be okay."  

"You can't do that. You'll never make it."  

Frank's head snapped up at the voice.  His mouth dropped open.  "You," he breathed.

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