It couldn't last forever. It couldn't even last for a while.

The townspeople have gathered outside of Hubert's door. They knock, which is at least polite. The pastor stands at the head of the pack, a solemn expression stretched across his face. It is the middle of the night, and they have, (quite literally) brought pitchforks and fire.

"It seems we weren't as stealthy as we previously thought," Hubert points out as he heads to the door.

The others, gathered in the living room, attempt to listen. None of them no French well enough to get the gist of their conversation.

"The exorcisms are not working," the pastor tells Hubert. He adjusts the collar of his robes. "We must act quickly, before they infect the town."

Hubert sighs. He wonders if it is any use explaining all that they've been through. "Who is possessed this time? They explained that the girl you believed to be possessed had died."

"One of the men," the farmer nearest to their previous farm shouts from the back of the mob. "I could identify him."

"We've already cured him," Hubert insists. He looks behind them. "I can bring him out. He no longer speaks French."

"How did you cure him?" the pastor asks.

"Holy water."

"Impossible," the man in the back shouts back. "We have already tried holy water, and it failed us."

"You know the legends," Hubert argues back, his voice trying to fight back against the chattering of the mob. "We must let them finish clearing the rot."

"Monsieur Tremblay, the people of Alaque live by the virtue of patience," the pastor adds (though Hubert would argue that it doesn't seem like it, and I would have to agree with him). "We would be willing to make a bargain. If by sundown, they have not been taken care of, then we will be back. Do we have an agreement?"

Hubert knows that this is a gesture of good faith. He'd rather they not die, but he is prepared to start again if need be. More people, in and out. A story that writes itself in couplets, identical to each other. No person is meant to say. They zip through his mind. He tries to remember them all, but he simply can't remember any.

If he is doomed to this for eternity, than that is his fate.

He goes back inside, where the others wait for answers.

Maverick turns to Hubert. "How did you get them to leave?"

"I promised them that you would have solved everything by tomorrow night, or you die," Hubert answers.

He heads into his bedroom without another word.

For the most part, things do not go back to normal.

Maverick and Adwin are up half the night, whispering to each other about the rot and the disease and the spectre. It is not safe enough to go to the forest, which means they are at an impasse. There is no hope to go home, they must escape to Alaque.

Unfortunately, only Beverly, Maverick, and Clara know how to ride a horse, and Beverly cannot move. It seems that their options are limited. There are no cars (Maverick learns what a car is when Alvaro mentions this). Their only chance is to try and run to another town, and get help there.

They don't know how far the legend spreads though. They doubt they'd be able to make it far without food and drink. They can't clear the rot. It seems they are stuck.

While they plan, Alvaro listens intently. He wants to touch Maverick and hold him. After all, they all assume that death brings them nowhere pleasant (even Alvaro, who believes in Heaven and Hell). Instead of dwelling, he tries to help, but he can't offer much.

Mickey pulls Clara to the spare bedroom. No one stops them.

"Do you love me, yes or no?" he asks, standing across the room from her. He can't bear to be any closer.

"I beg your-"

"I didn't ask for you to beg," Mickey cuts in, sighing. It's hard to be this hard, but he has no other choice. "Do you love me, yes or no?"

"That's a hard question," Clara says. "And do not interrupt me."

"Then do not say anything if it isn't a yes or a no," Mickey wants to snap, but his voice is soft and soothing. Rather than find himself full of anger, he is full of something else. Probably exhaustion. It is, after all, the middle of the night.

Clara does not know the answer to his question. She loves the way he makes her feel, but is that love? She hates the way Hubert makes her feel, but she likes his intricacies. His mysteries. She likes to think about a future here, and has never considered if it would involve Mickey. Yet here he is, standing before her.

Still, she can't say no. Saying no means losing him.

"Yes," she finally answers.

Mickey stumbles. It isn't what he had expected. Instead of answering, he swallows his words, letting them choke him by the throat. Finally, he dares to speak. "That isn't enough to keep you from him, is it?"

From there, he turns and heads out of the room.

Even though the only bed could be hers, she heads back into the living room.

The group eventually lulls to sleep, carried off by whispers and secrets. They all, essentially, sleep in a huddle on the floor. None of them can bare to sleep in a separate room, since it has been so long since any of them has slept alone.

The next morning, Beverly can no longer open her eyes nor speak. Her face and body have lost feeling, so she doesn't know that Flo is wrapped tightly around her.

"I love you," Flo whispers, her cheek against Beverly's. After all, they are the only two awake. Her body was warm, and it is beginning to turn cold. She wonders if Beverly is even alive in a body that is still taking breaths.

Beverly tries to squeeze, but she can't. She wants to show some sign. Her eyes twitch back and forth beneath her eyelids, but Flo doesn't take notice.

If Beverly could speak, what would she say? That she doesn't love her yet, but knows that she could? If the days and nights had been longer, if they had months instead of weeks, Beverly is sure that she could have fallen in love. Perhaps that is the adventure she could have reached after all this time. Just maybe, Flo could have breathed the wind into her sails.

She doesn't get to say good-bye. She dies instead, her chest going still.

Flo won't let go of her, even though it is clear to her she is dead.

Once the others wake up, Flo stands. She doesn't tell them the news, and instead shuts herself inside Hubert's kitchen and refuses to come out.

Alvaro feels for a heartbeat and finds none.

After forcing a distressingly sober Hubert out of his room, they bring Bev's body to the back of the trolley, and lie her down gently. While Hubert lies on the horse, the rest of them walk to the beach. The day is already halfway through when they are done.

Adwin clutches Hubert's notebook as they walk, still trying to piece his way through their mystery. None of it makes sense. He tries to understand, he really does, but he feels like he is falling. He will never save his family, no matter how hard he tries.

Flo walks forward, steady. Each step she feels like she is stumbling down a dark pit, but she refuses to fall. Her cough causes her to crumble over, until she kneels on the ground retching out of a stomach that hasn't eaten properly in days.

It is Mickey who helps her up. Mickey who keeps his head high. Mickey who refuses to look at Clara, or at anyone else.

Clara so desperately wishes he would look at her. Is loving him not enough? Perhaps it was the lying that did it, although how could he know if she herself isn't sure who is telling the truth and who is not?

While they walk through town, Alvaro wonders whose house belongs to the couple they had seen in the woods. He wonders if he could say or do something to make them feel safe as well. Even though Adwin and Maverick deduced that they cannot stay, maybe there is a spot for them all to fit somewhere in history.

Finally, Maverick walks. Solemmly. He can tell from the way Clara cradles her hand that the rot is spreading up her wrist, and in a few weeks she too shall pass. If they had survived that long. The ghost in the woods (because that's what he believes it is, a ghost) must be the centre of this all.

After all, he has seen it avoid both the rot and the salt water before.

Once they arrive at the beach, the men build a barge. By the time they are done, the sun is three quarters of the way through the sky, and the day is coming closer to its end. They have such little time left, and they are using it to say goodbye to Bev, knowing that no one except Hubert will be around to say good-bye to them. Eventually, Hubert will have to greet another group.

When they finally built the barge, they let Bev go on it. It immediately sinks, hitting the shallow bottom of the ocean.

They watch as her body flecks away. Like dust in the wind. She evaporates into the water, leaving behind nothing but her clothes.

"That's what happened to Tim," Adwin points out. "When he said the ocean began to consume him around the ankles. And... and that's what happened to Maverick's face."

Maverick, with that realization, sighs. "I think I know how to defeat this thing. And I don't think anyone is going to like it."

~~~~~

Argh so close. Crazy. Crazy, crazy. Anyway, check out Degrade. There are a ton of applicants but not too many ladies. (Which is always my problem alas). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this and I will see you soon.