The Heroes of Little Springs

On the path the new hero was currently traveling, the noises of the person stepping on branches grew louder as they drew closer.

Quiver groaned in agitation as she stepped on another branch. She paused, taking a deep breath in order to calm herself and focus on the task at hand.

Whoever the mysterious person was, they had currently stopped moving as they looked around. The clouds were once again moving away from the moon, providing the necessary light once again. The person, who was now visible, appeared to be clearly lost. They spun around in a circle as if trying to deduce which was the correct path to take. Not too far from where the new hero was, a raccoon snapped a twig. Thinking that this might have been a person, the woman, who was wearing a long brown coat, spun around to find the source. She didn't see the Midnight Crusader but continued to stare in the direction of the raccoon as if waiting for something to appear.

Taking notice of the noisy trespassers below, Midnight Crusader observed both a raccoon scurrying along the woods, and another peculiar person in a robe.

He wasn't quite sure who they were, why they were here despite the curfew warnings, and why they were dressed in such a weird costume, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Just because this strange person was out in the middle of the woods didn't mean anything, except that they were putting their well-being at risk.

Both from the cold and this supposed murder(s), but that didn't mean they were affiliated in this murder situation in anyway. In fact the whole thing seemed silly now, why would someone want to come back to the scene of the crime, especially with such fliers and guards posted everywhere. For now he merely spied on this stranger, hidden and camouflaged within the dark trees.

After not seeing anything, the woman cautiously began to walk again to where she thought the correct direction of the exit was. She was trying to step as quietly as possible as if she felt uncomfortable knowing that someone could possibly hear her. The woman reached into her pocket and took out a small cartridge of pepper spray yet managed to conceal it within the sleeve of her coat. By this point, it was clear the raccoon noise had scared her and she wasn't very fond of being alone in the woods at night.

Elsewhere, Quiver had finally made her way to the bridge and was quickly coming to the spot where she had seen the figure. However, just as she expected, there was absolutely nothing there, not even footprints in the snow. Perhaps it had just been a trick of the light.

Quiver began to expect the surrounding path to see if she could find any sort of clue or if the figure had decided to linger after all.

Noticing this skittish women, they immediately realized she was just some overly paranoid citizen. But why come out in the park at this time, especially on a curfew, if you're this worked up? It didn't really make sense, but then again it wasn't much of his concern. Chances were she was going to be fine. People always overreact and the worst case scenario, or even the mildest, never even remotely happened.

With that in mind, he figured it was time to call it in. Besides with such a curfew going on it meant the police force was upping their strength even more. They could handle the petty thieves from here on out. It was time for him to enjoy what hours he had left, until work came again tomorrow. And with that, he slowly made his way away from the park and forest, by traversing further through it.

The last thing he wanted was to confront this jumpy women, who also had something up her sleeve. Whatever it was, he didn't really want to find out. So he just continued traveling through the path he picked.

As the Midnight Crusader left the desperate woman behind, continuing his path through the woods, the area around him became unusually still. It came to the point where the sudden snapping of twigs in front of him appeared to sound ten times louder than they actually were. Walking towards him was the woman he had left behind in the woods just moments ago.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she merely stared at him as if trying to figure out why he had decided to leave a defenseless woman in the woods alone. However, this apparent thought process quickly subsided as if she came to the conclusion that his reasoning was unimportant. Before the Midnight Crusader had time to do anything, her face contorted and her mouth seemed to open larger than any normal human mouth would. A piercing screech soon followed, one that would send anyone on their knees filled with excruciating pain.

In fact, the screech was so loud and terrifying that Quiver could hear it from where she currently was. She desperately covered her ears at the sound as she looked towards where the potential source could be. Quiver forced herself to remove her hands from her ears as she quickly made her way in the direction of the agonizing sound.

After the woman had unleashed the first bloody curling cry, her appearance had completely altered. She no longer appeared to be the average citizen but was instead a partially transparent silvery figure who floated just a few inches above the ground. With a swift motion, she glided towards the new crusader.

Midnight Crusader, stared at this peculiar women, not allowing his guard down, even against a frail old lady. Once they began to scream loudly, luckily for him, his earmuffs proved to soften the screeching. However it still hurt nonetheless, as he clasped tightly on both ears, before groaning in agitation and pain.

He watched as this women transformed before his very eyes. He wasn't sure what to make of this, but he knew it was not natural. He had heard about this kinds of people before, but surely they were just fake legends? They couldn't be real, but here one was, standing, or floating beside him.

Once the screaming ceased, he slowly unlatched his hands from his ears, readying himself for whatever. Once it swooped in for him, no doubt for some kind of attack, and looking like they were on the prowl for meat, they readied themselves.

There was no way he was going toe to toe with this thing right now, so his blades were out of question, and he didn't want to waste his projectiles or risk having his rope entangled at this moment. That left his last piece of equipment, which he pulled quickly off of his backside.

He held in his hand, a small bag, which sagged from the great weight of whatever was inside. The bag itself seemed to be of weak useless material, which was tied loosely with a string. Chucking it in the thing's path, it burst upon contact, sending white dust, which engulfed the entire section.

It was a crude design, but he didn't have the money yet to rig a part of his armor for it, or a way to better launch and disperse it. Still he wanted to see if such a design worked in the first place. It was mostly a cloudy mix of flour, with some different added seasons, to irritate anyone's senses.

Although he wasn't sure if it would irritate this thing's senses, it would at least create enough of a smokescreen, as he then dashed through the forest, no doubt to get away from this beastly creation.

And if this thing was still following him, he still had a few more tricks up his sleeve. Jerking his one shoulder slightly, his first grapple hook came undone, popping out of place. Grabbing it quickly, he then twirled the end, aiming for a nearby tree's branch, before tossing it overhead.

Once it caught between the branch and tightened itself, they quickly leapt off of the ground, before forcefully kick pushing off of a nearby tree, which allowed them to fly through the air around the other side.

The creature was not at all phased by the smoke screen the Midnight Crusader had created as it continued to rush forward. However, it stopped when it realized its victim was no longer there. But once it managed to figure out where he had gone, it continued to follow him through the woods.

Just when she thought she had him, her opponent swung to the other side. Although it was menacing, it was clear the creature was agitated by the difficulty this man was creating. So she let out another piercing screech before going to charge him again. However, she was not approaching him as fast as if she knew he was possibly going to allude her and she wanted to be ready to make the sudden change if need be.

Meanwhile, Quiver was no rushing through the woods again. She had no longer cared about her footprints in the snow or how much noise she was making. Whatever was happening, she was certain an attack was occurring. But luckily she wasn't too far away from the source and it would seem the figure she had seen earlier may not have been an illusion at all.

Judging from the sound, Quiver could only conjure up what sort of thing may have been in the park. And, she guessed she would be completely alone in the situation. Because even though there were guards in the park, they were just simple park guards. She didn't expect any of them to actually venture towards the sound even if it meant one of their own was being attacked.

Swinging through the air, with the grapple tightened onto the tree's branch, Midnight Crusader held onto the rope with both hands. The screeching of this beast was again quite a nuisance, but now was not the time to be bothered with petty irritations. Flinching from the shrieks, they extended their feet outwards, before swinging upwards, to the point where the hook unlatched itself. However such a move was intentional, and the rope raveled itself quickly back into his rear compartment, while he continued to freely move in the open space.

Quickly twisting around, so that he was facing this demonic entity, projectiles slipped out of their arm compartment, which they then clasped tightly, before launching them. Four metallic shurikens in total, spiraled towards this silvery abomination, all on target. Before he reached the ground, the Midnight Crusader quickly grabbed a nearby branch, as they fell the rest of the way.

With their dropping weight, the tree's branch bowed greatly, almost to the point of snapping, as they touched the snow covered ground. Waiting for the right moment and almost immediately, as the beast swooped in, they then released the branch, which sprung upwards with great force.

And if that was not enough, both of their blades protruded quickly out of their leather compartments, glistening in the moonlight, as they also held onto two shruikens they had not thrown with the previous wave.

Seeing the shurikens, the creature flew higher into the air to avoid them, swooping over the Midnight Crusader and thereby missing his branch attack completely. However, by flying higher in order to avoid the first attack, she had to continue even higher still in order to avoid hitting the trees. She looped around, her body appearing even more transparent than before now that the moon was showing directly over her. When she had once regained a position she seemed to be comfortable with, she merely hovered in the air as if studying the crusader. It was almost as if she didn't know what to make of him.

By this point, her face was no longer that of a human but rather a decaying corpse. Her eyes were completely white as though she were blind (though this was obviously not the case) and her hair was as wild as Medusa's.

The creature let out another screech. However, this one was vastly different from the first two. It was more refined and controlled as if it were aimed especially at her opponent. The sheer sound of it combined with being so close to it could easily send someone unconscious or worse. But because of the crusader's armor protecting his ears, it would be unable to do so yet was still powerful enough to cause anyone to stop their current actions if only for a moment. But she didn't attack right away as she waited for the crusader's reaction.

Although Quiver didn't know it, she must have been very close to the fight now because she could still hear the concentrated blood curling screech. She had to stop for a moment and lean her hand on a tree as the sound ached in her head. For a moment she thought her ears might start to bleed and she might lose her hearing altogether. But she didn't and when the moment had passed, she continued.

The Midnight Crusader knew that his combined, carefully thought out, and quickly performed attacks would not stop this entity. It was something he had never seen before and would only expect to see it in movies and books of fantasy. However it allowed him the time he needed to recover, as this thing had to hoover above the forest in order to reach the other end of the tree, where he was.

However once the entity did come down, they would soon notice that the Midnight Crusader was not where they once were. The only thing they left was their sunken in foot prints and a dropped shuriken, standing upright in the snow.

A glare of light shone in the distance, erratically moving quickly, until a nearby police guard, equipped with a flashlight entered the area. They aimed their light directly where the commotion was happening, covering anything in its bright lights.

With the terrible screech rushing through the cold thin air, the guard's flash light covering cracked severely, before they gasped in terror, after the irritating and painful echoing had ceased.

Realizing the Midnight Crusader was gone, the creature was clearly not of the happiest sorts. However, shortly after learning her victim was gone, a bright light was flashing nearby. She turned to see the police guard, clearly down due to the recent screaming. Swiftly, she lowered herself to the point where she was just a few inches above the ground and began to float towards the man.

However, before she could fully reach him, fully attack him, Quiver shot an arrow from behind. It went through the creature and she knew it would. She merely wanted to get its attention, to draw it away from the police guard.

Yet, what Quiver wasn't expecting was the creature to cry out in pain from the attack. It turned towards the source and Quiver couldn't believe was she was looking at. She knew of mythical creatures and although she recalled Jet fighting a gorgon, she still couldn't believe that she was facing a banshee.

The guard was now much more alert than before and by this time had drawn his pistol. However, his hands were shaking and it was clear he possessed no confidence whatsoever.

And yet, the banshee was still more interested in the police guard than Quiver as she turned to look at him. But rather than fighting and potentially taking on the two, the banshee appeared to vanish from sight in the blink of an eye. Quiver wasn't sure if she had flown away or merely disappeared out of thin air.

Now that the creature was gone, Quiver grabbed her arrow that had hit a nearby tree before turning towards the guard. She conflicted for a moment, unsure if she should bother getting herself involved or just leave him.

After the screaming had subsided, the guard uncovered their ears from the pain. They were disoriented from such a loud scream, they didn't think anything could muster a yelp that loud, or powerful. He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at, but it sent chills down his spine.

His flashlight's bulb flickered erratically until it finally died out, due to the screaming which shattered the glass, and no doubt ruined the bulb in some way. With his pistol drawn, erratic clouds of visible breath, and trembling body, he noticed the two different figures. There was more!? And if there was two, would that mean there was another, perhaps a group of these...these things?

Unsure what to do, the rookie guard did the only thing he could think of. He unloaded his entire clip into the floating ghost like abomination. The pistol fire echoed in the cold, still, and thin air, sparks lighting the area, until all that remained was the smoky end of the pistol's barrel.

This didn't seem to phase this thing at all...in fact it disappeared. With an empty weapon, a nightstick, and a can of mace, all which seemed completely useless in this situation, the guard quickly turned around, before dashing for the exit of the forest, where the park, and his allies no doubt were.

He didn't even bother with the archer like figure he momentarily glanced at, he was already leaving them in the dust, or snow. Yanking their radio out, they clicked on the button, before bringing it up to their mouth. "This is Officer Daniel! This is Officer Daniel, suspects are inside the forest!" They repeated several times through the radio, although all they were getting was static.

It seemed the forest was too thick for any kind of communication. So they erratically rushed for the exit, which seemed impossible to reach, no matter how far and fast they ran.

Seeing the guard run away, Quiver rolled her eyes. Clearly, he would be fine.

But now, Quiver had another, more important dilemma to face. The serial killer was a banshee. She absolutely certain of this. And yet, she knew with the guard frantically running, the police guards would be all over the place. Which was something Quiver did not want to deal with at the moment. Yet, at the same time, she had no way of knowing if the banshee would attack again. Even if she had managed to hit the banshee, Quiver was not at all confident in facing such a creature again without any further information or speculation.

With this in mind, Quiver quickly and quietly slipped out of the park but with every intention of returning. She figured if the banshee had left to recollect itself, she had at least an hour before it would potentially strike again. She just hoped she was right.

By the time the other police officers entered the area where Quiver and the banshee was spotted, there was no sign of anyone.

"There's nothing here," one of the police guards said irritably, glaring at the one who had insisted they come and check it out.

"B--but there was! I swear!" the guard insisted.

"It was probably just a trick of the light or something..." another offered.

"Well, be on the lookout regardless," the first one said who appeared to be in charge of the situation. With that the guards were on alert, thinking they had an edge on their enemy. For, they were expecting the enemy to appear again. However, they didn't realize that if any one of them faced the creature, they would be completely and utterly at its mercy.

Narrowly escaping the clutches of whatever he was once facing, the Midnight Crusader entered a convenience market. However, he wasn't in his armor or uniform anymore, he had the mind to change to avoid suspicion of all kinds.

Heading straight for the baking aisle, he quickly picked up three bags of flour, several spice containers, some twining, and paper thin bags, before purchasing them. Of course this was all for his supposed flour bombs, but they didn't work that well.

Not all that pleased with the results, he still needed some kind of diversion if ever needed. It then hit him, as he passed by a local gun-store on his rounds back to his home. Carrying all his grocery items in a brown paper bag, he entered, heading straight to the counter.

Inside the glass case were some percussion caps and black powder, which got him thinking. Sure the prices would throw his budget even more out the window, but it was the most likely ingredient to work with his smoke bombs.

Counting what change and money was left in his wallet, once he arrived at his tiny apartment room, he threw his bag of ingredients to the side. He would make some later, he still had two unfinished prototypes left over anyway.

Instead he headed straight to his desk, where he had a microscope. It was old fashioned and he bought it off some yard-sale, but it still functioned perfectly. Twisting the dials so that the lens was levitated enough, he placed a strand of fabric underneath.

He managed to scuff some of the robe that the being was wearing with one of their shurikens. He wasn't sure what help inspecting such cloth closely would do, but he did it anyway.

To his shock, this cloth, which was once new, with lush color, and strong, was now faded, and seemingly decomposing. It was so brittle to the touch, that a few particles broke off of it. Confused, he pulled away from the lens, unsure what to make of the situation.

Now that Quiver was out of the park, she thought about where she ought to go next. It was pretty obvious to her. The hardest part was finding a decent place with a computer. Normally, she would prefer to do such research in the comfort of her home but that would simply take too long. And she didn't have all night.

As she was sticking to the shadows and just about ready to change out of her superhero outfit in order to go into a nearby internet cafe, she heard a yelling. It wasn't hard to figure out that someone needed help. Quiver groaned a little at hearing it: she knew she couldn't ignore it but at the same time, she didn't really have time for this when there was a banshee serial killer on the loose.

Not far from where the Midnight Crusader's apartment was, an older woman was being mugged. Or, about to.

However, Midnight Crusader would not heed the call, or even hear it, as he was already out and about for the night life. This time without his hero costume or armor. He was just his normal self, going about his normal chores.

Although one thing needed to be clarified until he could resume these chores, as he walked into a library, which was still opened. At this time of the hour, few were even in this vast space of information and books. There were a few receptionists, who seemed completely bored, what with the little customers they had at this hour. And only the studious of students and scholars were still burrowing their faces deep into the text of many thick books or novels.

He had little information to go by, but remembered key details that he witnessed. It also helped that he slightly remembered things that he learned from his days in school. A few hours and several fruitless books later, he finally found something, in a myth and lore book, as he flipped to the following page.

The illustration was almost the same, the frightening depiction perfect and flawless. Though what it detailed and read was even more revealing. The screaming and high pitch noise, painful to the ears, the floating, the dress, the corpse like features. It was all here, and to the top was the title, Banshee.

So what he saw was a Banshee? He had heard of that word before, even recognized the details, but it didn't seem possible. This was just a myth a folklore, wasn't it? And even if it wasn't, the book stated that it was an Irish myth, where they would scream for the future death of someone and sometimes themselves.

So were they the cause of the disappearances? The murderer? Or were they one of the murdered? And if that was the case, did that mean there would be more then one of these things?

Quiver rushed over towards where the crime was happening. The old woman was cowering against a wall as her pursuer was cornering her. The man clearly was a simple, petty thief though he did possess a knife. Still, the woman felt the need to gaze towards a particular building, one that seemed to be for apartments.

When it appeared as though no one was coming, the old woman's expression changed. No longer looking terrified, the old woman's mouth slowly opened. However, her jaw was extending far beyond a human's jaw. At first, her attacker had no idea what to make of this situation other than he had picked the wrong person to rob.

As Quiver came running, she saw the jaw extending, saw as the banshee was about to let out a screech. She aimed an arrow directly at the creature and fired. But the banshee had seen her coming and just as she had done in the park, vanished before the arrow hit its intended target.

The man that had been trying to rob the old woman froze in place as Quiver approached the area. She looked at him, glaring. With a swift motion, she took the knife out of his hand.

"Get out of here," Quiver ordered. The man merely nodded: clearly, he wouldn't be attempting to rob people anytime soon. He didn't need Quiver to say anything else before he ran off. Once the man was gone, Quiver picked up her arrow and examined the arrow. Just what the hell was going on here? Why would the banshee suddenly leave the park and break its pattern? She needed to get to a computer. And fast. Quiver quickly changed out of her outfit and ran to the internet cafe she had spotted earlier. She started with Wikipedia and then worked from there.

There was no doubt in her mind that she was dealing with a banshee. However, she had never heard of a banshee that killed people except maybe in Darbie O'Gill and the Little People. But even a movie summary managed to correct her and in fact it was a dullahan that kills people while the banshee merely foretells it. So what gives? Why is this banshee committing murders? It didn't make any sense.

Still, she managed to get some useful information. For one, the banshee was a fairy rather than a ghost (even though it appeared to be a ghost). And, upon looking up fairies, fairies could be stopped with iron. She wasn't entirely sure if this meant the banshee could be killed with iron but it was still good to know that this was why her arrow had hurt the creature. And, that she at least had some form of self defense.

Banshees could also take the form of a beautiful woman, an old hag, a hooded crow, stoat, hare, and weasel. That certainly explained the old woman appearance. Sometimes, a banshee turns out to be an Irish battle goddess. Well, that was certainly comforting. Additionally, banshees often appear around wooded areas.

There was additional history on some of the more famous families who were said to have a banshee that would foresee the death of their people. Mac was the most common surname in these cases. The O'Gradys, O'Neills, O'Briains were also mentioned. Sometimes more than one banshee would appear if it was foretelling the death of someone particularly holy. The tales also sometimes said that the banshee was the ghost of a specific murdered woman or a mother who died in childbirth.

In South Dakota, a banshee was said to wail upon a hill though the legend only connected her to her own death rather than that of another person.

After having her fair fill on the banshee lesson, Quiver next tackled the newspaper articles for Little Springs. Specifically, she looked for the ones that indicated the murders that had already occurred.

With what good information he had found, Crusader scanned each page to be printed, for a nickle a piece. Once he was done, he stowed away the printed pages, and headed to his workshop. It was just a rundown construction shop, that was used by a lot of people without a work-lab of their own.

Besides him, there was two other people, but they paid him no mind, and he did the same. Instead he flopped his grocery bag of ingredients onto the table and began his work.

Over the course of the time, he managed to mix his spice and flours perfectly, pouring them into another bag, for his flash smoke bomb. However now he needed to test something else.

Pouring a small slither of black powder onto the table, which was very coarse and grainy, he eyed it closely. With all his tools and equipment out of the way, he flicked a match, before gently applying it to the black grains. The flame immediately took, as the powder hissed, flared, and flashed quickly, leaving a smoky trail behind afterwards.

It was fast, bright, and slightly warm, with a smile, he knew this is just what he needed. Now he just needed to figure out how to ignite the black powder when it was mixed into the bag. And so he began to work with the percussion...

As Quiver searched for anything on the recent murders, in the end, she came up with very little. There was no knowing which deaths were connected to the banshee because the information provided was so scarce. It seemed the police were trying their hardest not to allow these murders get out.

With a sigh, Quiver left the internet cafe. However, she stopped by a convenience store nearby and picked up a pair of ear muffs. She doubted they would completely protect her from the banshee's screech but at least it was something. Once she had the earmuffs, she then left the store and changed back into her costume.

She had no idea where the banshee would be striking next or why it had even left the park in the first place. Hadn't the other murders taken place in the park? She had thought so, could have sworn so. But perhaps there was some information being withheld from the public. It wouldn't surprise her given the lack of information the newspapers provided.

Which meant there were only two options: either to try and go up against the banshee without the information or to make a stop at the police station. She loathed the idea of going near the police station. But she couldn't think of anywhere else to obtain the information she desired. Well, she could, but it would take much too long. So, Quiver made her way towards the station all the while trying to figure out how she was going to approach the situation. It was a ways so she had the time to think over her strategy.

With a piece of string tied to an end of something long, metallic, and thin, Crusader quickly jerked it, which caused the entire string to rip out, and it struck against the percussion. A smaller flash emitted, not on the same level of the black powder, but this did not displease him in the least. In fact he smiled, he found a way to strike and ignite his larger smoke bomb.

With that in mind, his prototypes would be completed, except for the fact that he still didn't have a way to actually launch them, without having to waste time to remove it manually from a compartment and then strike and throw. From there, he began to craft a crude design onto a piece of leather, in hopes of coming to a break through.

When Quiver finally arrived at the police station, she had deduced that the best way to get what she wanted was to sneak into the police station. Of course, this really wasn't the best way to go about things. But she couldn't help herself: she wanted nothing more than to avoid the police. She didn't want to ask them for help, didn't want to even have to go to the station in the first place.

She knew what room the files were kept in and quietly crept towards the window using the fire escape. Using one of her membership cards, she pushed the latch over that was locking the window. Quietly, she slipped in. Her heart was racing the entire time and it seemed as though any sound would send her jumping. Every few seconds, she couldn't help but to check the door and see if anyone was coming. Within a few minutes, she had found the file she was looking for. Quickly, she scanned its contents.

Suddenly, there was someone walking down the hall. Quiver didn't wait to see if they were coming towards this particular room before shoving the file back in the filing cabinet. Whoever it was, it was now clear they were coming into the room. They turned the handle and this motion seemed to be a long, agonizing one.

One of police officers entered. He frowned upon seeing the window open.

"Who left the window open?" he said aloud even though there was no one there to hear his complaining. He locked the window before going about his business.

Quiver was climbing down the fire escape, cursing under her breath. She hadn't gotten much information just that the first victim was a woman and the second two were men. She didn't even have a chance to get names. Just faces. But it wasn't like the photos was at all helpful. Though, unbeknownst to Quiver, the woman was the same woman the Midnight Crusader had encountered in the woods before she had transformed into the banshee.

Now that this operation was a bust, Quiver headed towards the park, the only place that seemed plausible at the moment.

Elsewhere, where the Midnight Crusader was working hard on his new invention, something was lurking outside of the rundown construction shop.

Rigging together a complete prototype piece of leather, which he could shove his flash powder bombs into, Crusader smiled at his success. It slipped and attached onto his leather arm pieces quite easily, where it would remain.

The only problem was now figuring a way to have it launch. He knew what he needed to work on and how to do it, but it was getting late. There was still work to be done tomorrow, so with that, he began to pack away his things.

With everything in his one bag, he slung it over his shoulder, making his rounds to the exit. Before he did however, one of the people working in the shop came over. "So are we still on tomorrow?" They asked.

"Right, after work I'll help you move you." Crusader replied, as the two headed to the exit.

"Oh hey you two." Another said from the other side of the room. "There's been a change of plans, they're shutting down operations because of the nearby murders." They remarked, before shrugging. "I don't know, some garbage that it would interfere with their investigations."

"What?" The second patron replied in shock. "Sorry, I'm going to have to drop your hours for the next few days." They remarked, clearly the boss of the two. Slightly annoyed by the information, they soon got over it.

"So now that we have off tomorrow, want to grab a beer?" Shrugging indifferently, Crusader nodded. "Not like I have anything else planned." He replied, as the two exited, soon to head to a bar.

As the men exited the construction shop, there was a faint wailing. A sound so faint that it did not sound as though it were coming from a distance but rather that its source had yet to fully appear. It was not strong enough where a person could easily identify what the sound was unless they had heard it before. In fact, someone who had not heard the sound before might mistake it for merely the wind. But it was most definitely not the wind.

Neither of the two took any notice to the peculiar wind, as they never heard such oddities in the first place. However as they began to trudge through the snow, the other person stopped immediately, "Shoot!" They exclaimed, causing Crusader to stop abruptly.

Turning to see him rummaging in his pockets, he yanked them out annoyed, with a note. "I got to go pick up my nephew. I almost forgot." He explained, slightly down.

"Go on ahead of me, I'll be there in a bit." He added, as he walked off to the opposite end, as Crusader simply nodded. "...Ok."

Since he had time now, Crusader began heading towards his apartment, to drop off his stuff, as the other man began to trudge through the snow, heading towards Little Springs Elementary. He was nowhere near it yet, but on the right course, walking through the dark unlit streets.

As the Crusader now walked alone towards his apartment, the street was quiet and desolate for the most part. Obviously being in a city as big as Little Springs, there was undoubtedly people still walking about. However, for a brief moment, a woman passed by him, bumping into him.

She didn't apologize or anything of the sort. But when their eyes met for a brief moment, her features were unmistakable: she was the same woman as the one in the park, the one that become a banshee right before his. Her expression was, for the most part, blank. However, there a small curl of a smile at the edge of her lips as she looked at him before continuing on.