Another of the mistwalkers approached Alex, and he swung his staff and cracked it hard across the face. Above him, the girl who had shouted watched. Alex wasn''t sure if she was horrified or intrigued, but it didn''t matter. With such a low level of seepage in this area, a rift in the Veil wasn''t nearly as dangerous as some places on the nightsea.


    After following the trail of Goldfist and his men for a few hours, he had come upon the mist and promptly lost the trail. He knew it was a sign of a rift in the Veil that separated the Real, the Surreal, and the Outside. An old mystic had tried to explain to Alex the details once, but Alex never really understood it.


    The Real was the real world. The Surreal was the origin of all magic and supernatural powers that existed alongside the Real. The Outside was everything else. The Veil was what separated all three. The barrier was strongest with the Outside, where the mistwalkers came from.


    All he knew was that it meant he had business in this town.


    "Rail Gun."


    Two of the mistwalkers came for him, interrupting his thoughts. Alex threw his staff at the first, opening his gate to direct it at the creature''s head. The ironwood staff slammed into its skull at a distance, piercing through the softened skeleton and exiting in an explosion of white blood and green puss on the other side. It collapsed to the ground, and Alex turned his attention to the other.


    A swift kick bent one of its knees in the wrong direction, causing it to tumble. The creature began to scream, but Alex slammed his boot down on its head, ending it before it could react. These were weak fodder in the Veil—creatures made from people and animals who got lost inside the mist. Alex pulled on his staff and called it back to himself—four more to go.


    "Mind if I come in to talk?" Alex turned his head back up to the window as the four remaining monsters shambled toward it. "I could keep this up all night, but honestly, it''s been a long day."


    She hesitated. Alex knew the look. He was just some random person out in the night. It didn''t matter that he could just break the door open or release the locks with a little manipulation of the metal on the latch. That wouldn''t help his case at all.


    Thunk.


    He swung his staff without looking, taking down the closest of the monsters with a hard hit to its head. He kept his eyes trained on hers until he got the answer—three more to go.


    "There ain''t nothing else you want?" she asked, biting her lip. "Just some shelter for the night and to talk, right?"


    Thump.


    Alex spun his body, hitting another of the approaching monsters in its midsection with a two-handed swing of his staff. It practically flew across the yard, landing hard against a wooden fence before crashing to the ground—two more to go.


    "Yeah," Alex said. "I just don''t feel like fighting all night, and I need to know some things. I lost the trail I was following in this mist."


    "Nothing else. Do I have your word?"


    "Iron Scythe."


    Alex opened his gate a little more, going into a spin and releasing his staff with a whirling throw. It flew in an arc toward one of the remaining two monsters, and he directed it with the currents of magnetism. The top had a positive charge, and the bottom had a negative. He sped it up by pushing on the positive, making it rotate faster and faster until it crashed through the first one and sent it sprawling to the ground. He kept the staff going after the impact, catching the last remaining monster in the neck from behind. As it fell to the ground with a thump, he reached out his hand and caught the staff, planting it on the ground.


    "You have my word."


    She nodded and disappeared from the window. Alex stood out in the night and listened as he waited. The seemingly endless moans and scratching of shuffling monsters were far off in the distance. He could only barely see the lights of the stars and moon above him in the mist.


    Metal clinked, and something slid away on the door to the barn before one of the doors opened. The girl stood illuminated in the light from a lantern, and Alex had a moment actually to see her for the first time.


    Spotted freckles lined her face, though they were mostly hidden against her tanned skin. Her skin contrasted heavily with her short, crop-cut blonde hair and her light blue eyes. Her blue overalls and green shirt marked her as someone with no time for anything beyond work. She held a pitchfork in one hand as the other held up the lantern.


    "Thank you," he said as he walked in.


    The door closed softly behind him, and the girl busied herself locking it again. Alex had a moment to look around, but it was just a typical two-story barn with only one animal housed inside. A donkey with a grey coat gave him a side-eye as he walked to the middle of the barn.


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    "I''m Sam," she said, reaching out one hand. "Sam Appleton."


    "Alex." Alex returned her handshake with his own. "Alex Ortega."


    Her hands were rough with callouses, but she probably thought the same for him. His had more to do with constant fighting, while hers would be from working on the farm. Alex couldn''t help but crack another smile as they both released the handshake. It was good to meet people who weren''t trying to kill him. At least she wasn''t trying to kill him yet.


    "You said you were looking for information," she said.


    She walked across the room and pulled a wooden stool out from behind a door. She handed it over to him before she leaned against the wall. She still held the pitchfork in her hand and used it to push her back against the wall.


    "I am," Alex said, setting the stool beneath him and letting his staff rest on the ground before he sat down and looked back up at her. "How long have you had that mist problem out there?"


    "About five years," Sam said, looking toward the door as the shuffling noise of feet resumed outside. "It''s been like this since Goldfist killed the sheriff and took over at the mines."


    "Big guy with a gold fist," Alex said with a nod. "Not that the name leaves much to the imagination."


    "You''ve seen him?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrow as she looked back at him.


    "He just hijacked a train south of here with his ''deputies'' in tow," Alex said, raising his hand to make air quotes around deputies. "He hits like a truck."


    "A truck?" Sam turned her head.


    "Don''t worry about it," Alex said, raising one hand to stifle any protest. "Where am I at?"


    "Dry Gulch."


    "That the island or the town?"


    "Tombstone is the name of our island," Sam said. "Dry Gulch is the town. The nearest towns are Portsmouth to the west and Haven to the east. Haven''t seen either since I was a child, though."


    "I take it the mist is the major problem with that," Alex said. "Those towns are probably both far enough away that you wouldn''t be able to reach them without supplies either. Either you would bring enough that you would be slowed down, or you would bring too little and never make it."


    "How''d you guess?" Sam asked.


    "I just walked from the tracks to town, and it took most of the night," Alex said, stretching his arms out and yawning. "I might be able to make it, but I''m..."


    He trailed off and stopped himself from saying more. The end of that sentence was something he didn''t want to share. He wasn''t entirely human anymore, after all.


    "What''s Dry Gulch like?" Alex asked.


    "Five years ago, it would be your typical small town," Sam said. "Nothing like Portsmouth. Everyone knew everyone else, and most people got along most of the time. We had a sheriff, but he never had much to do. Until those two came, we were peaceful."


    "I take it things changed when they took over."


    "The few who cared to fight back are gone. Don''t know if they survived the mist. Even my brother left after our parents died. The people left in town may not like what''s going on, but they''ll take whatever they can get from Goldfist to keep their lives running. They''re surviving, but they ain''t living."


    Alex raised his eyebrow as he looked up at the donkey. It huffed and shook its head at him as if backing up everything she said. Alex smiled and nodded.


    "That Goldfist guy chose a great place to set up operations," he said. "Too far away for easy help. Still has access to the rails to the south. He probably only needs to knock over a train every few months. The people who are lost can be written off as dying of starvation out in the desert. Most people would blame it on monsters roaming the island."


    Alex looked back up to her, and she was on the verge of tears. Put that way, the situation really sounded hopeless. He mentally kicked himself. He shouldn''t have said that, either.


    "Sorry," he said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.


    "It''s okay," she said. "I already knew. It just hurts to hear it laid out like that. What did you want out here anyways?"


    "I was involved in the recent hijacking," Alex said. "Initially, I was just looking to find a place to rest before I figured out where I would go. Now that I know there''s a rift in the Veil here that changes things."


    "What does that mean?"


    "It means I might need to deal with this Goldfist," Alex said. "You said he''s taken over the mines, right?"


    "Yeah," Sam said. "He''s been digging in there for years. Nobody knows what he''s looking for down there, but he does sell the gold to the general store for supplies."


    "The general store has supplies?" Alex asked. "After five years?"


    "Yeah..."


    Her eyes widened in realization. Alex smiled. Basic supply logistics wasn''t something most people in town would have to think about. Supplies were coming into town through some method unless the people left in town could generate everything on their own.


    "Where''s Sloan been getting everything?" she asked, though the question wasn''t directed at Alex. "If no one can get out, how does he keep getting new stock?"


    "That can be on a list of things to find out," Alex said, reaching down to pick up his staff. "And it can be found out in the morning."


    He pushed himself up with his staff and walked over to the door. He sat on the ground and leaned his back up against it. It wasn''t supremely comfortable, but he didn''t need to be comfortable to get sleep anymore.


    "I''ll take this spot if you don''t mind," Alex said, resting his staff over his shoulder and against the wall. "I take it you were sleeping on the second floor. I don''t know how much you can trust me, but if you wait until the morning, I wouldn''t mind some help when I go into town. I want some information, and I think the answers are in Dry Gulch."


    Sam watched him, her face unreadable. He knew he didn''t present as a hero because he wasn''t one. He was an outlaw, a wanted man with a bounty on his head. If it hadn''t been for the mist, he might have offered to help get her and any others out of town who wanted to leave. That would have been the limit. However, the mist meant that there was a core nearby. A core was an opportunity. It was a chance that he might actually be able to go home.


    "We can see in the morning." Sam nodded, climbing up the wooden ladder to the second floor.


    She took the ladder up with her, and Alex smiled. Not a full amount of trust, then. He hoped she would be able to get some sleep. He could easily jump up to the barn''s second floor, but nothing in him would ever want to. Once she was settled in, he reached his hand onto his heart and pressed down on his chest.


    In moments, he was asleep.