Game was 7/12/20, a Sunday. As we get into the heart of summer and baseball is picking back up – COVID 19 be damned – Paul's availability gets limited.

Josh carefully climbs onto the toilet while William jokes about his 'commode of transportation.' Jordan finds that hilarious, but Josh realizes despite the humor, the conveyance is built like a tricycle and has a crude seatbelt, so it's actually quite sturdy. The hunters head out from the Broken Ridge Collective with the wine-dark river on their left, an open plain to their right, and the unknown ahead. The earth is parched gray dirt and the ceiling is about thirty to forty feet above them depending on location. As they traipse forward, they do see some ruins off to the right; detritus of buildings razed in the living world.

Eleanor merrily skips at the head of the column, with Miss Jeffries pushing the empty wheelchair with silent stoicism. Josh is right behind her, with Clarence pushing him. Abby sticks close to him as well but doesn't say much as she's severely wounded and conserving energy. Anita weaves within the column, keeping a weather eye on everybody but focusing more on the hallway ghosts. William sticks mostly to the rear to keep an eye on the Alabamans and any outside threats, and Sergeant Park remains at his left elbow. Leta weaves a bit as well but sticks closer to the front of the column to keep an eye out on her cellmates, while Veltis slips in and out of a fugue as he also conserves his strength. Silas Black, Sadie Hawk, and Benjamin stick together and remain close to Josh and Abby.

Thirty minutes pass, and William spots some ghosts lurking in the ruins, but in this case their sheer numbers work to the travelers' collective advantage; there's simply too many to attack directly. William realizes they likely intend to pick off stragglers, so he marshals the Alabamans into tighter groups. Josh spots a few minor issues as the Alabamans start to fracture, so he implements a buddy system to keep everyone going in the same direction. Anita's ghostly charges are fine, as they're essentially in the middle of the column of skinbags, and they do inquire about Peter, Isobel, and David. Leta notes that Abby is flagging – and that despite Jordan's ingenuity in bashing a conveyance for Josh in only twenty minutes, he didn't install any brakes.¹⁾

As the hunters trundle along in the second half-hour, Eleanor's skipping gets manic as she's fighting exhaustion; she will do anything not to have to get back in the wheelchair she hates so much. The hunters spot more ruins on the right, including one that looks like a tollbooth. They also notice the chthonic things in the river surfacing to eye the column with alien avarice, and a few Alabamans start to drift over. Luckily, Josh's buddy system holds, and no one gets too close to shore. However, William is aware that the ghosts from the ruins are following them at a safe distance. The path they're taking also shifts from dirt to something resembling cobblestones.

At the end of the first full hour, the column comes to another River City. This one is about the size of an apartment complex and is just as rundown as the Broken Ridge Collective, and it also has a defensive wall made of salvaged junk varying in height between five and ten feet. However, the gate is wide open, and no one hears any noise coming from within. Eleanor slows as she frowns with concern, and William notes with alarm that the ghosts tailing the column have abruptly pulled away.

Eleanor elects to keep going forward, as going around the River City will bring them over some pretty bad terrain. The column enters the River City and finds it completely empty of inhabitants. An echoing silence surrounds them as they head down the main thoroughfare, and Leta yells a warning when she sees pulsating vines draped out of windows and strange, vibrant fruits that open as they get close – and watch them with human eyeballs! Leta hurries to Silas Black and his friends and warns them, "I expect an attack coming any second now, be aware!"

William's neck tingles as he realizes something is watching them from up ahead, likely in the only two-story building in this River City. Recognizing the sensation from his time collared by the Silver Lady, he realizes the thing up ahead is fae before he sees the vines and goblin fruits, and that whatever is watching them considers them in its territory. The Alabamans swiftly get very jittery, and then everybody spots shadows of people not present. These shadows resemble the human shadows left behind at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and are on walls, the ground, and one is hovering in midair!

Anita freaks out inwardly but remains outwardly impassive. A few Alabamans call out a warning; the shadows are now behind them too! Anita makes her way to William and warns, "Something's picking us off from the back." William does a quick headcount and realizes she's right, so he reorganizes the Alabamans for greater cohesion. Leta tries not to pee herself from fear, while Josh focuses on keeping the front of the column moving in the right direction as quickly and calmly as possible.

Leta decides to confront the problem head-on and makes her way to the closest shadow. She calls out, "Hey! You! Shadow-dude! Yeah, I'm talking to you!" The shadow does not respond, so Leta picks up and small rock and hurls it close to the shadow, but deliberately avoids hitting it. The shadow again fails to react, but then Leta is hit in the back of the head! She spins and stares at the small rock that hit her – and realizes it's the same rock she threw! She spins around to find the shadow has shifted position, so she falls back to the column and heads for the front. Anita does the same, while William remains at the rear.

Leta tells Anita, Josh, and Abby quietly, "I have a theory. I think this place overlaps with the Hedge. I think the inhabitants of this River City are trapped in the Hedge, and those are their shadows!" Anita falls back to tell William, who listens, nods, and tells her, "Whatever is watching us is in that two-story building ahead." Anita curses but runs back to the front to pass on William's warning. The hunters realize they're about a minute from that building in question, which is about three-quarters of the way through the River City. However, diverging from the main road would lead the column into shadowy alleys, so they decide they have no choice – they need to power through.

The hunters hustle the column along as fast as they can, and then they reach the two-story building. As soon as they reach it, a massive shadow detaches from the second floor! The shadow has an unblinking red eye in the center of its 'head,' long spindly arms, and rotten wings draped with vines! The hunters run forward, but Leta now sees faint facial features in the shadows gathering around them! The shadow-monster looms over the road and casts its gaze along the column, and each person it sees feels its gaze penetrate into their very souls!

To their horror, the hunters see a hapless Alabaman suddenly elongates up towards the shadow-monster and then the man disintegrates without a sound! That sparks a full-blown panic and the Alabamans rush forward! Josh yells, "Roll tide!" to try and restore order, but several more Alabamans elongate and disintegrate without a sound! Then the shadow-monster screams, and the living and the dead stagger as the sound claws into their brains! The River City shakes like its suffering an earthquake, but Leta realizes the shadow-monster yelled, "Unchained!" Without thinking, she yells back, "What does that even mean?"

To her surprise, the shadow-monster screams, "Traitors!" even louder, and the buildings within a four-block radius collapse! Then the entire column is hit with flying pebbles as they stagger out of the River City, and Leta gets several glares as the Alabamans realize she taught the shadows a new trick. Thankfully, the column exits the River City relatively safely, and the hunters realize they were inside the River City for only fifteen minutes. The shadow-monster watches them as they flee, and the column lurches forwards for another fifteen minutes in an unspoken need to get clear of whatever it was.

The column staggers to a stop at a sign posted by the path that reads simply, 'Halfway Point.' The living and he dead stare blankly at the sign, until Anita finally mutters, "Huh. OK." The column regroups and William realizes they lost twenty Alabamans to the River City, leaving them with one hundred and ninety-five souls remaining. Eleanor collapses into her wheelchair with a sob. Silas Black whistles sharply and asks Eleanor, "So, anything else up ahead?"

Eleanor nods and says quietly, "The Nexus. It's new. It's a place where two Rivers of the Dead converge, and after we get through, we'll be following the River of Scorpions. However, the region nearby is the Flood. No one knows why, but the Flood attracts all the victims of the floods in western Massachusetts, starting with the Mill River Flood of 1874, the Springfield Flood of 1936, and the flooding of Dana, Greenwich, Prescott, and Enfield in 1939 to create the Quabbin Reservoir.²⁾ The Flood is dangerous, but fordable."

William, Sergeant Park, and Clarence work to restore some order to the Alabamans, with some surprising assistance from the hallway dead, and then the column continues. They walk for another half-hour and as they walk, they hear a sound that starts off faintly, but grows in volume. Finally, the hunters follow the path around some rubble, and nearly stumble as a massive lake appears before them with no warning!

The waters of the Flood stretch as far as the eye can see to the right, and on the left the hunters see the wine-dark river meet the River of Scorpions. The sound is quickly identified as the roar of thousands of gallons of rushing water that pours from the ceiling of the Underworld! The water plummets into the Flood but causes only a few tiny ripples; the vast lake is otherwise mirror-still. They see a handful of structures poking up from the flood, like a church steeple. Then the ghost of a man from the 1840s, at least judging by his clothing, steps out of the Flood and walks over to them. The hunters note he has waterlogged features, shark-like teeth, and webbed fingers, but otherwise appears 'normal.'

The man greets Eleanor warmly, and she replies in kind and calls him Mr. Gavin. Mr. Gavin stares blankly at so many living souls and he murmurs, "I have questions. Who are you?" Josh waves and replies, "I'm Josh. Hello, Mr. Gavin." Mr. Gavin approaches Josh and leans in. He stage-whispers, "You all realize you're still alive, right?" Josh nods and Mr. Gavin hesitates before murmuring, "I don't think I want to know." Josh nods again and replies, "Trust me, you're going to save a lot of time with that answer."

Mr. Gavin nods and steps back. His eyes sweep the group, but he speaks to Eleanor, "So, there's some bad news, some good news, and some so-so news. The bad news is the Reapers destroyed the primary bridge recently, but the good news is we won't charge you a toll." Eleanor nods and Mr. Gavin continues, "The so-so news is that you and your friends can take the secondary bridge to cross the Flood, but it's under the surface of the water. It's ankle-deep for the most part, although a few places it sinks to waist-deep, at least on me. This also means that the dead like me and the Joined will see the bridge, but the living probably won't – and this amount of living souls is too tempting a target for the Reapers."

Josh asks quietly, "How far does the Flood go in that direction?" as he points to the right. He adds, "Can we bypass the Flood that way?" Mr. Gavin shrugs and replies, "Theoretically. Problem is the Flood's expanding, and last we checked, it was about a hundred miles that way before you'd reach dry land again. I don't think you living souls would make it." Josh grimaces as he realizes Mr. Gavin is right; they simply don't have any food. Mr. Gavin adds, "OK, I have to know. How in tarnation did you all get down here?" Leta tersely gives a bare-bones summary but refers to the River City overtaken by shadows; she says flatly, "We came through it, but I don't recommend it."

Mr. Gavin nods and replies, "Thanks, missy." Leta blinks in surprise, but immediately realizes this is simply how Mr. Gavin talks. He motions for them to follow him and he leads them several feet to the right. He stops in an apparently random spot and announces, "Walk where I do. This is the secondary bridge." He steps back into the water and starts walking, the water laps at his ankles. The hunters lead the column onto the bridge, and swiftly find Mr. Gavin was right, the living can't see the bridge at all. Thankfully, the hallway dead can, and they spread out to lead small groups of Alabamans to cross it. Anita and Abby can see the edges of the bridge just fine but realize it's narrow; the rear wheels on Josh's commode of transportation partially hang off on both sides.

While William stays at the rear of the column, the rest of the hunters gather near the front and listen as Mr. Gavin recounts prime town gossip from Dana – and from the 1840s. He also rants about the moving of the bodies, leaving the hunters confused as to which era he dates from. Anita assumes he died in the Mill River Flood but may have been from Dana, and she knows a ghost's primary anchor is their bodies. Exhuming and moving a corpse is always a traumatic experience for the ghost left behind. Josh listens raptly to the old-timey gossip.

As the column reaches a third of the way across, a Reaper surfaces on the right. The masked creature watches them with naked hunger and Sergeant Park screams, "Weapons free!" Several Alabamans pull out their sidearms and Leta silently curses at the thought of so many damaged men and women with firearms. The Reaper dives beneath the surface, and the column hustles to the rough halfway point. They see ghosts pop out of the water on the left and watch them with irritation, but then a handful of Reapers emerge on the right! The Alabamans open fire, and one guardsman fires at a Reaper reaching for Josh! Unfortunately, he fired his gun right by Josh's right ear, so he is deafened!

The Reapers fall back under the water, and the ghosts on the left start yelling about the skinbags in their Flood and how they're driving the property values down. Leta shakes her head in disbelief and then the Alabamans run out of ammunition. Clearly this was what the Reapers intended, and they suddenly surge up on the left in huge numbers, grab whoever they can, and drag them into the water! The hunters, the dead, and the Alabamans fight back as much as they can while rushing forward, but they note that the Reapers are going for the living but do not – or cannot – exit the water fully, and they're only attacking from the left. Unfortunately, Anita sees at least one of her dead charges get swept underwater.

Mr. Gavin leads the column across the secondary bridge, and the Reapers vanish once the last of the Alabamans reaches the far side and steps onto dry land. The hunters regroup and Anita finds she lost two of the hallway dead. Unfortunately, William lost a lot more; seventy-five Alabaman are gone, leaving only one hundred and twenty-five of the original two hundred and fifteen. Eleanor looks exhausted but tells the hunters, "We have another hour left, but it's a straight shot over relatively flat terrain." The column sets off again, and the last hour is an excruciating slog – until Eleanor cries out in triumph and points straight ahead. The hunters all recognize the stairs leading up to the portico overlooking the River of Scorpions, and Josh mentally marks the spot where they found Abby last Halloween.

Anita looks up and notes the portico jutting from a cliff rearing up to the right, significantly narrowing the path ahead.³⁾ Eleanor tells them, "This is as far as we're going. Miss Jeffries and I will head back." The hunters thank both women for their invaluable help, but Josh expresses worry about re-crossing the Flood with the Reapers so agitated. Leta points out, "Two ghosts aren't as likely to catch as much attention as two hundred living." Eleanor nods and says, "We have friends at the Flood. We'll stay there for a few hours before re-crossing. And we can bypass the abandoned River City."

The hunters thank Eleanor and Miss Jeffries again, and the two ghosts depart. The hunters then notice the unmoving Ferrymen along the River. Josh waves but gets no reaction. Anita snorts but realizes the commode of transportation is too big to go up the stairs to the portico. The hunters reluctantly abandon the toilet and help Josh up the stairs. They exit the portico into the Egyptian temple. Ignoring the polished human fingernails that make up the floor, walls, and ceiling, the hunters ascend the steps an enter the hallway.

The ghosts immediately scatter to reclaim their rooms. As the hunters move forward, they hear the music from Frogger. William and Josh have no idea what the music is, but Anita and Abby stop. They backtrack to the correct apartment and enter to find the faceless teenagers playing their game on an Atari system with a television – although the shattered debris of the original television and Atari lay on the floor! Anita wonders, "Is it part of them?" The teenagers don't answer, so Anita and Abby exit.

The noise level increases drastically as the ghosts settle back into their homes and start rebuilding. Anita stops and backtracks to the brothel to speak to the Madam; the other hunters stop and linger nearby. Anita steps inside to find the silent ghosts rebuilding. The Madam glides over and Anita asks what happened. The Madam explains that something massive attacked the hallway; Anita nods and says, "We know, we're working on eliminating that threat. Keep an eye out, though."

The Madam then starts describing the assault, but she gets so emotional she reverts to courtly French. Although French and Spanish are closely related languages, the Madam's archaic – and rapid – speech means Anita is almost immediately lost. She calls out to Abby to join her, hoping her geist Petite can translate. Abby enters along with Leta, while William and Josh linger outside. Abby and Petite listen to the Madam as she continues ranting, but then Veltis wriggles out of Leta's pocket and eyes the room. He rumbles, "Oh, nice. Hello, ladies!" Leta and Anita look askance at him, but he retorts, "What? I'm an incubus and this is a brothel! That reminds me, I have a story from the 1400s about a brothel and incubi…."

Leta, Veltis, Abby, Petite, Anita, and The Witch depart the brothel after the Madam finishes her story. Veltis muses, "How long ago did Sethic attack this place?" Anita replies, "Sometime between the 15th and the 22nd, so about two weeks ago." Veltis grunts and says, "He did it to soothe his ego. This was personal." Abby interjects, "According to the Madam, Sethic attacked from the temple." The brings the hunters up short, until Veltis hazards, "Are the ghosts trapped in this hallway? Can they leave voluntarily?" Anita admits, "I don't know, but I've never seen any of these ghosts anywhere but here." Veltis theorizes, "So, presuming they're trapped or linked here, then Sethic attacks from the river, sweeps through and pushes the ghosts here against the other end but they can't leave. He then harvests them like wheat."

Abby and Anita tentatively agree that this is at least a possibility as they rejoin the others. The hunters realize the Alabamans are eyeing the brothel hungrily and some of the female soldiers complain, "How come there's no boy whores?" Anita retorts, "There are, they're inside!" That really causes excitement, and William has a flashback to his days as a MP in the Korean War – and retrieving drunken GIs from similar establishments.

The living part ways with the hallway dead and continue heading up. Anita and Abby lead the hunters and the Alabamans through the dead garden and the maze of shattered glass, exiting into the buried street. The ghost-nun eyes them in confusion from one of the buildings, but Anita gives her a 'tell-you-later' wave. They climb the rickety stairs up and Anita opens the Avernian Gate then brings them into the forgotten subbasement of the Old First Church in Court Square. As the hunters slip through the shuttered building, their electronics reset, and they realize it's 4 o'clock in the morning!

The hunters exit the church to find Court Square awash with lights from trucks and ambulances. Director Austin Templeton of Task Force: VALKYRIE's Project FORT division steps forward to greet them, and Leta exclaims, "I'm actually glad to see you." As the hunters bring out the Alabamans, federal agents and soldiers of the Massachusetts National Guard move in cautiously to collect them and bring them to triage stations. Leta gives Templeton a basic rundown and William provides details on the casualties. Templeton notes William's military demeanor and points out, "There were two hundred and fifty Alabamans in the unit that vanished. You brought home half of them. That is no small feat. Sadly, with 95 lost in the Underworld and 35 MIA, we have to consider them lost." William nods sadly in agreement.

Templeton leads the cell to a Task Force: VALKYRIE nurse named Valerie. She performs quick triage on them but when she sees Josh she exclaims, "Were you crucified?" Josh replies, "There was a family misunderstanding." Valerie eyes William angrily and demands, "What did you do?" William insists, "Not me," and Josh nods. Valerie grumbles but continues her examinations. However, she gets to Veltis and says quietly, "I'm afraid I can't help him." She cleans everyone else's wounds and bandages them, knowing full well they will have access to Dr. Ranjip later.

Templeton heads over and tells them, "Who is the other crucifixion victim?" The hunters realize in the chaos and family reunion they totally forgot about Caleb, but luckily the Alabamans made sure he got out. Leta replies carefully, "An ally, an Ascending One." Templeton frowns but nods and says quietly, "He's in real bad shape. We're bringing him and the Alabamans to Baystate. We'll keep you informed, and you have my number." Leta nods and Templeton adds, "We have a car for you, whenever you're ready." He then heads off to pitch in.

Anita calls Mick quickly to let him know they're out safely and they'll be driven back to Daytona Street shortly. Leta spots Silas, Sadie, and Benjamin off to the side; the three politely spurned medical attention and have kept a low profile. Black is on the phone, so Leta wanders over. Silas ends the call and tells her, "I've got a car coming. Do you need a ride?" Leta shakes her head and tells him, "We're going to talk later." Black retorts, "No, we're not." Leta grins widely and promises, "Oh, yes we will! We're buddies now! Talk to you later!" Black snarls and walks away as Leta eyes Sadie Hawk and they offer each other a mutual "Fuck you." The trio departs without fanfare.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Templeton gathers the hunters one final time and takes their statements. Leta and Anita do most of the talking but do share most of what they experienced and learned, including Sethic, his ghostly minions, and the bridge he's apparently building. However, by unspoken agreement, they leave out any mention of Peter and Jessica Troy. Once that's done, Templeton directs them to a waiting car, and an unfamiliar Task Force: VALKYRIE agent drives them the ten minutes back to Lila's house.⁴⁾ They get out of the car to find Mick sitting on the porch while Lila stares at the hole in her house uncomprehendingly.

Lila turns to them and gestures vaguely at her house before asking about Caleb. Josh admits, "He's in bad shape, and our VALKYRIE friends brought him to Baystate." It takes a second for Lila to parse his meaning, but she nods. Josh eyes her damaged home and offers helpfully, "Grandpa, do you think your friends can help repair this home too?" William hesitates before replying, "I don't have their number." The others eye him and Leta asks, "Did they just show up without you calling?" William looks uncomfortable and Anita asks, "Do you have the receipts?" William hedges and Anita retorts, "You're old, dude, you keep receipts!"

William hotly retorts, "Why is everyone questioning me right now? I don't think they come this far south!" Somehow the conversation then veers to his kidnapping; Lila interjects, "Wait, what?" Leta explains, "We visited my family last Christmas." This time Lila figures it out immediately; she asks sarcastically, "And how the hell did you get through customs?" Mick says, "Private plane," while Leta deadpans, "I'm white. It was easy." Anita and Lila growl, "Fuck you!" simultaneously.

The hunters say their goodbyes as Mick heads in to retrieve Polly and Dr. Ranjip; both settled in for a nap. Dr. Ranjip promise to stop by each of their homes tomorrow to check on them. Anita calls out to Lila, "When people recover, get in touch? We still have the original problem." Lila agrees as the others get to their cars. Anita adds, "Oh, we did learn another thing about Silas Black tonight. He can fly!' She waves and gets into her car as Lila swears at her. The hunters drive off, and all but Anita head for I-91 North. The Troys pull into their driveway at 7:30 AM, and William and Josh head inside. Josh limps carefully to the couch while William sees several messages on the answering machine from Chief Vandernoot, and promptly decides he's not dealing with her right now.

Anita's drive is significantly shorter – less than two miles⁵⁾ – so she pulls into her driveway just before 7 o'clock in the morning. Abuela is sitting in her chair when Anita walks through the door; she demands, "And where were you? I couldn't track your phone!" Anita replies, "Downstairs, by accident. Where's the really good coffee?" Abuela blinks in surprise and asks, "Wait, are you really going to go open the botanica?" Anita shrugs and replies, "I have to. But shower and breakfast first." Abuela mutters, "I'll go wake your sister. You'll need a second pair of eyes." Anita heads up the stairs and retorts, "Well, I'll definitely stay awake if I have to keep an eye on her!"