[b][Park Entrance - North][/b] (Mortosh/Zam)

Sam trudged along through the woods, letting his feet guide him along the well worn woody path towards Alice's home. Or, well, what was left of it. Well, more accurately, the amount of it Old Ambros's construction friends had managed to rebuild. He hadn't spoken to Alice or her grandfather since the old man had gotten out of the hospital, and even that had been only few strangled words of apology that he couldn't be sure he'd actually said anywhere but inside his own head. He honestly wasn't sure what he was going to do once he got there. What could he say to her? That house, it had been special to her. Even he could tell that. He supposed he could hammer nails, or whatever it was you did when building a house. Maybe he should apologize again. Maybe he should have brought a gift. Maybe, Maybe,[i] Maybe, Maybe...[/i]

Maybe he should have been watching where he was going, because it was during this stream of self doubt that he suddenly stepped out of the woods and through a gate. He stopped mid-stride, held in place by a finely developed sense that things had gone very weird. When a crazed, hatched wielding rabbit was out for your head you learned to listen to this sense. He looked around quickly, taking in the surroundings. In the calm, serene sort of atmosphere that permeated the place the only living inhabitant that Sam could see seemed starkly out of place.

A mysterious hooded figure wasn't exactly the sort of person you wanted to meet in a dark alley and Sam couldn't decide if meeting one after walking through a mysterious gate was better or worse. He didn't exactly believe in fairies, but if the events of the past few weeks had taught him anything it was that you didn't have to believe in something for it to hurt you. He took a deep breath, spun on his heel, and ran back the way he came.

A loud [b]BANG![/b] echoed through the area as he ran right into the only partially open gate and tumbled back into the park on his butt, gripping his throbbing head.