Tamara watched the ground swallow her best friend whole in a burst of beautiful purple light and the sounds of Marx screams growing fainter as they grew more distant. She ran over, shivering in the December air, and stopped at the edge of the Rift. Strange vapors floated out of it, along with horrible smells and sounds.

"MARX?" Tamara called, looking frantically for any signs of life. The Rift was so deep that she couldn't see the bottom, just darkness. "MAAAAARX!!" She yelled, hearing an echo but no reply. Her heartbeat sped up and she started to get really worried.

Deep below, Marx stirred slightly at the Outfitter's but didn't wake. His name echoed throughout the entire Rift, making monsters stir uneasily.

Tamara gave herself a mental slap to the face and turned around, running to get help. Her feet pounded the ground like a mallet on a drum. "Help! Someone please help!" She cried, willing herself to run faster. "Help," She gasped.

She ran up to the nearest house and began banging frantically on the door. Suddenly, she remembered her phone and reached into her pocket. Her hand grabbed at emptiness. It's on the nightstand, she realised. She started knocking again, more frantically this time, and the door swung open.

"What is it, kid?" A burly, slightly out-of-shape man said irritably. His curly beard was sticking up all over the place as if he had been sleeping on it.

"Please, Mister, you have to help me; there was an earthquake or something and my friend just fell down this hole, please, please help me." Tamara gasped, pushing her hair from her face and shivering in the cold air. The man's eyes went wide. "Alright, alright, just calm down and come inside. We'll call the firefighters or police, okay?" Tamara thanked the man and went inside.

"Honey, come down here, there's a girl who needs our help over here," The man called. His wife came down the stairs.

"Steven, I think it's happening," She gasped, fear on her face. The man's eyes went wide but he focused on Tamara first. 

"Call someone who can help this girl, her friend's in trouble." He turned to Tamara. "Tell us what's going on, kid." The man said. Tamara nodded. "My friend's mom is sick and in the hospital so he's been staying with us and he's been sleepwalking lately and I heard him pacing in his room so I went to see if he was alright and the window was open and he was out in the Bowl and then there was an earthquake and that crack opened in the ground and he fell in-" Tamara choked back a sob. "Oh my God he could be dead!"

The couple immediately went into action.

"Come on, show me where this crack in the ground is," The man said, pulling on his shoes, nervous. His wife put on her slippers and explained what was going on to the operator. Tamara nodded and all three of them went as quickly as possible to the Rift.

Tamara slowed to a stop next to it, gasping. "This... This is the place." She wiped her eyes and looked at the couple. They were frozen in place, staring in open-mouthed shock at the rent in the Earth. "Get back," The woman whispered. "Get back now!" She shouted, grabbing Tamara's arm and dragging her away from the Rift.

"Stop! My friend is in there, please," Tamara clawed at the woman's arm but she wouldn't let go. "I'm sorry, but if your friend is in there then he's dead, or worse. I'm sorry," The man said quietly.

"No! You didn't even look to see if he could have lived, didn't even give him a chance-" Tamara broke down and started crying. "Shh, there there, please don't cry," The woman said nervously. She obviously didn't know how to respond to a fourteen-year-old crying.

"No!" Tamara screamed, pulling herself free and looking down into the Rift once more. "MARX!" She yelled. "MARX, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

The woman pulled her away and slapped her on the face. Hard.

"Be quiet, girl! You'll alert them of our presence!" She hissed. Tamara's eyes narrowed and she felt her anger bubble and boil just below the surface of her skin.

"You can't tell me what to do," She started out low and quiet, her voice slowly growing in volume and intensity as she continued. "You can't slap me, you can't tell me whether or not my friend is dead, you can't just stand there and spout some nonsense about alerting something of our presence, you can't just sit there and do nothing, you just can't do that!" Tamara yelled, trying, and failing, to control her temper.

"You're of the New Generation, girl. You don't know what we know; we were told to keep it secret from you so you may live without fear. That Rift means that the curse has been fulfilled and the Creature's rain of terror will come once more. Whoever your friend is, he's either dead or the one who opened the Rift." The woman said quietly.

"Welcome to the Apocalypse." The man growled, horror on his face.