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“Maybe there are others, and maybe there aren’t,” Kent interjected. “I, for one, sure as hell do not want to place my life into the hands of an old stranger… especially if this is another world.

“I don’t care if he’s the best older sneak in the universe, and could have crept up on us, and cut our throats in broad daylight, right in the middle of a barren desert plain, with us wide awake and sitting back to back looking out in every direction. You’re giving him way too much credit for trustworthiness, too soon… way too much.”

“Then I wouldn’t expect you to follow the suggestion,” Janus retorted in a more resolved tone, drawing upon a sudden dose of inspiration and willpower that rose within him. “I’ll test it out myself, and Derek can stay with you here. Right now we don’t have many, if any, options, and at some point we need to begin to understand this place.”

“And what if it is some kind of trap?” Kent asked with a trace of fear splayed upon his face.

“If it is, then those enemies would move on us sooner or later anyway. The old man got up to us without us catching a glimpse of him, like I said. We all know that. And like I said, it wouldn’t be too hard for others to do the same, I’m afraid, unless we get our heads on straight and figure some things out,” Janus stated.

“So what are you going to test out? You don’t seriously mean in there, do you?” Kent asked incredulously, gesturing towards the darkening boundary of the forest.

“I’m going to go on a little trek, just a very short one, and I will be back before nightfall,” Janus said. “I just want to get a better idea of what’s going on, and maybe even see if I can find something we can consider eating. Is that okay with you both?”

Derek nodded, and Janus was appreciative that he had heeded Janus’ unspoken wish. Janus knew that Derek understood that it would be foolhardy to even suggest leaving Kent alone, especially after the horrific trauma that he had been through in the moments when he had been trapped alone in this foreign place.

From the stoic look on Derek’s face, Janus knew that he had made solid, nearly irrefutable points to his friend.

Janus’ own appetite was just starting to nag at him, but he knew that food would not be the only need of theirs in the coming days. They would have to begin making some headway in several areas, and take some chances, if they were going to survive for very long in this strange new environment. To remain ensconced in indecision was accepting almost certain ruin.

Unless they suddenly woke up and found out that this was all some sort of unbelievable, shared dream, or were suddenly whisked back to their familiar grounds, they would have to begin facing the stark reality of their situation.

“I’ll return before nightfall, remember that,” Janus said, mustering as much confidence as he could into his voice as he started off.

Janus then turned his full attention on the scene ahead, increasing his stride until he was almost jogging. The riverside and his friends fell farther behind him, as the distant line of trees steadily rose up to greet him.

If this was indeed another world, he hoped that the progress of time, and the passage of day into night, went at a similar rate to that which he was used to.

He felt a mounting trepidation as he drew closer to the line of trees. His imagination started to unfurl as he wondered what manner of life might be within the shadows of the forest. The first animal that they had encountered seemed to indicate that there would indeed be some surprises, though the trees themselves looked to be normal enough.

His imagination starting to run amok, he silently admonished himself to regain his grip upon his fraying nerves. His steps crunched beneath him as his shoes met a higher concentration of twigs and fallen leaves. Before he knew it, the forest suddenly loomed right before him. With a deep breath as he girded his resolve, he stepped forward into the trees and was enveloped within just a few strides.

The trees of the forest were fairly well spaced apart, proud, older sentinels that had long since carved out their space and spread their branches wide above to secure it. The ground itself was carpeted by low growths of grasses, moss, and wildflowers, and pockets of more significant brush grew wherever adequate light was available through the foliage canopy.

Walking out of the clear, unobstructed daylight and abruptly entering into the dimmer forest environs jogged Janus’ senses. He decided to pause for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the shadowy depths around him.

He could perceive the thumping beat of his own heart, feeling much smaller as he tried to gaze through the assemblage of towering trees ahead of him. His mind started to play tricks with him again, cruelly reminding him that he was too far from his friends to get help if something truly unexpected and threatening did occur.

There was a discernible stillness to the air, an unsettling disquiet that made his pulse race a bit faster. Glancing around, Janus searched for something that could be used as a weapon. He conceded that anything he found might not be very effective against whatever might ultimately lurk within the depths of such a forest, but he knew that it would suffice to provide him some confidence.

Studying the trees, he saw that some of them had sturdy-looking lower branches that were not too big to be snapped off and utilized as a rough staff, or club-like weapon.

Without further delay, he walked over to the nearest tree and fixed his attention upon a suitable branch. As he set his hands upon the tree branch, readying to put his muscle and weight into bending it to break it off, his ears heard a strong male voice call out. “Excuse me!”

Janus whirled about, nearly falling over in his haste and panic. He faced the four strange people now a few short paces before him, three males and a female. Unlike the old man, they all wore familiar styles of clothes, and to all appearances looked like people of his own community.

Janus’ jaws clenched. His mind immediately set itself to analyzing possible options for defense, and for considering potential escape routes. He cautiously backed up a few steps in the direction of the forest’s edge. His muscles bunched in readiness to run at the slightest provocation.

“Let me guess… you were doing your own thing, in a world that made a lot more sense than this one. Then a fog came… and next you found yourself in this world, wondering what the hell happened… just like us,” a tall man with dark hair addressed him, the one that had first spoken.

Though he had a very stern countenance, and his words were firm, Janus did not sense any imminent threat from the speaker.

Janus must have looked quite puzzled, as one of the other males, a stockier Hispanic fellow, ventured, “I’m sure you have no idea of what this world is, and probably neither does anyone that might be with you. Am I right? You know what I am talking about? I bet you do know.”

It then crossed Janus’ mind that perhaps these were the individuals that the old man had so recently spoken of.

“Have you seen an old man near here, in blue, robe-like clothing, and with a long, white beard?” Janus queried cautiously.

To his disappointment, all of the others answered in the negative, a couple of them looking perplexed at his question.

“Then tell me something of your story,” Janus told them, darting his gaze behind him as he took another couple of slow steps backward.

The serious-looking male who had first addressed him proceeded to explain the details of their situation. He described taking a car ride with his friend, who was evidently the second speaker, and encountering a similar, impenetrable fog, then undergoing an inexplicable arrival into the new environment. He spoke of later meeting the woman and the other man while wandering within the woods.

The woman in the group then interjected at that point to relate the origins of their own escapade, which had evidently begun at the University of Lexington’s campus. The dark-haired man finished the story with a brief description of the things that they had since discovered about the forest, with a few comments added in by the woman.