[sub][h3][center]Archie[/center][/h3][/sub][hr]

Nothing and everything changed that day.

Sure, on one hand it was... weirdly comforting knowing that he wasn't alone in this world. It was nice to find that despite everything that had happened to him, losing his wife, his daughter, becoming the horrible _thing_ that resided inside of him... it was a change of pace to feel less alone in this world. The thoughts and fears and emotions that he felt while not entirely unfounded had the most capacity to make him feel connected as well as alone. Until that strange purple light he had been completely unaware that there were any others like him. Granted, the others seemed to be far from abominations, but he would take what he could get.

Delivering that Kayla girl home had been... something. She was pale, probably more so due to exertion than blood loss- although he hadn't seen a nose bleed quite like hers in some time. She had only been semi-coherent in the car ride home. Enough to give him a general sense of direction before conking out and leaving a nice print of her cheek on his car door's window. She practically had to be carried in, and despite himself he was reminded of his university days when he had to help someone back from the bar like a drunk friend of his wi-

Archie tensed, and gripped his steering wheel so hard his knuckled turned white. He hated when that happened. He hated that he did it to himself most of the time. His penchant for self destruction and self inflicted isolation had flared up since the two loves of his life passed. Who could blame him? Inherently he was a man who was robbed of the two people who had made him feel more than he ever had in his life before and since them. His hands relaxed and he breathed out- doing his best to calm that dark thing inside him that coiled around his heart and stirred whenever the memories brought him back to that horrible day.

When he had delivered Kayla to her home, he had been surprised by the lack of greeted from anything other than the dog- which had regarded him with careful intent. Huskies were smart, he knew that, but the way this dog looked at him was unnerving. As if it was thinking and calculating beyond the comprehension of a predator. He had felt the big guy flash its own fangs, which brought the edges of his lips up in what was an attempt at a smile but was more of a grimace. The dog had, at that point written him off and gave him space. Yet it maintained its constant gaze, and he felt its eyes piercing his back from when he deposited Kayla on the couch of her room until he left that house.

Retrieving his boat was another matter, but all things considered it was fairly easy. It had been moored when he had been thrust out of this world and into another so unless something had happened to destroy the anchor or chain it shouldn't have moved. And it hadn't. Navigating the river via a rented dingy was simple enough. If the boat had been any closer than it was, he probably just would've swam. The river ran cold this time of year but...

Whatever [i]it[/i] was, it took care of the cold.

But it had been broad daylight and despite his growing comfort with the thing that dwells inside him after the events of the previous few days, he was not comfortable enough to do that anytime soon.

Archie navigated the boat with practiced ease, scanning the water and riverbanks for any signs of life or activity or [i]something[/i] to keep him distracted. Winds were nonexistent, and he knew the river like the back of his hand. He could navigate it with his eyes closed, and over the past six months he had found monotony to be a bad thing. Anything easy meant that he didn't have to think about it, and if he didn't have to think about things it meant he was going to be alone in his thoughts. That was not something he wanted anytime soon.

Thankfully, or maybe not thankfully, he heard a scream from the woods. Now, Archie was a simple man. You hear a woman scream, you do what you can to help. In a town with mysterious disappearances and equally mysterious killers, people had to look out for one another. If he had been in any other situation he might have called the police before dropping anchor and making for the shoreline and into the woods to help, but he wasn't any other person. He had been too and survived whatever distortion world they had been sent to, and if he was being perfectly frank he wasn't particularly worried about being killed by The Horde. He had nothing to lose.

That and- he housed something with bigger teeth.

He came crashing through the woods and into Rita's just in time to catch the last of the shadowy wisps and rotten stench of whatever had caught his attention. Something inside Archie leered in the direction it had gone. He knew that smell and could sense that presence by instinct- as if the thing inside him was screaming [i]caution[/i]. 

Archie had seen it before when it had called to him from the riverbank. He hadn't succumbed to it then.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He said, grabbing Rita's arm and stopping her from her [i]stupid[/i] death march. Archie recognized her- she was one of the girls who had been in that other world with them. He didn't know what that entity was trying to lure her to, but she couldn't have been smart if she was so easily following it. The disregard for her own health with all the strange things going on all around them... it worried him to no end. "You're going to get yourself ki-"

Archie trailed off, finally turning his head from where the Shuck had gone to look at Rita. The frustration died in his throat.

She was obviously worse for ware. He vaguely remembered her mentioning that she wasn't from Araminta, and the pieces clicked into place when his eyes flashed to the shack. She was dirty, and smelt like she hadn't bathed in days- which was probably not far from the truth. He didn't see any fire pit, or anything that could be used to contain water. She probably hadn't eaten much of anything since he had seen her last, and if her sunken eyes were anything to go by if she had drank anything it had to have been straight from the river. That meant she likely had dehydrated herself even further with what no doubt came after. She wasn't in the right state of mind. She was likely dazed, confused, and ill.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Okay, just... Just sit down." Archie said, forgetting about the Shuck and his own worries and focusing all of his energy on her. He lead her to the steps of the shack and with gentle pressure to the shoulders, sat her down. He knelt down in front of her. "Do you remember me? My name is Archie. You were with me when-" When we got teleported to some horrible parody of this town. "When we were in that strange place. Listen, you're not well. I have food and water on my boat. Would you like that?"

This girl was going to be in a bad way, if she wasn't already. If she had drank from the river she'd need to be checked out by a doctor. But first a foremost she would need something to keep her from getting worse.