00:26 UTC | 19:26 EST | The Old Man's House, Columbus, Ohio, United States

Ohio. Yeah. It was a place that existed. Like many within, Hayley would be happy if it were wiped off the map. Well, many of the people that mattered, not those [i]sports people[/i] and their thoughts about college football and how it would save the planet because they were warriors going to battlegrounds, not a bunch of kids going to play a game all about throwing, kicking, and catching a ball. Like that was going to help them somehow in a war. She wouldn't have been prepared for it either, but she was more the 'loot-the-corspes' type anyway. Not like they needed what they had, so she'd just use their stuff if it came to that.

Her room was cold, as normal. She was sure this guy probably appreciated her for not turning the heat on. The other tenants were other girls like her, but...not. They were just young. Most barely educated. Most...with less than desirable jobs. They also tended to not pay rent with money. Not like this guy cared; he'd been loaded since his great, great grandparents were kids. And if she had her way, she would be too when he died. He didn't have any family - something she didn't understand, since he was so nice and funny and told all the good stories - so his money had to go somewhere. Not that she was conning him out of it or anything. By all means, she was nice to him because he was nice to her. Not her fault he treated her like a daughter sometimes. She probably wasn't the only one. But for all she knew, he was picking up all these PYTs 'cause he wanted to get laid all he could before he died.

She couldn't blame him for that.

She flipped up in her bed. Her reflection in the mirror on the vanity across from the bed looked back at her. Looking to her right, so did the one reflected off the mirror on the wall next to her. She was sure if she looked back, the mirror in the corner opposite both these mirrors would be looking back at her, too, but it was in the dark corner. No one looked there. Not because it was the dark corner, but because she hadn't bothered to put anything there. The mirror was a nice decoration. She wasn't sure why he had three mirrors in this room. She didn't mind at all. The bed was comfortable, even if the slatted Ikea frame was cheap. The nightstand matched it. And that's all that was in here that wasn't in the small corner closet. The lack of anything interesting in the room kept all the distractions away.

Except for her incessantly buzzing phone. She'd been awake for what, 20 minutes? Tops? [i]No need to send a million texts to the nocturnal girl, 'k, people?[/i] She didn't much care what they had to say, either. Regardless, all the buzzing made her phone very hard to unlock with her thumb, and basically killed the screen's input. "Mother$%(&$&s, let me unlock this &(#*! What the actual mother^@$&ing &%(* people?! If it's that important, send a little text. I'll get to you. No need to try to wake me up or whatever. I'm awake. %(^#."

When it finally unlocked, she looked at her texts. Contacts all over, not just one person. She found the person most important to her on the list. Some video and a quick message. Exactly what she wanted from people. It read, "Friend of a friend got this. Seattle. Looks fake as hell, but they say it's real." She watched the video that went along with it. Some portal opening, demon-dudes coming out. The CG skills were better than any other art video she'd been sent, so at least the friend of a friend of her friend had some skill.

Naturally, like any concerned citizen should, she texted back. "Whether it's fake or real, that bitch is lucky. Maybe they'll come here."