When Ajay was alive, his body never betrayed him. He isn't sure what he is now, but he aches in ways he never did at his peak fitness. Ajay is no stranger to struggle though, not in any version of existing, and so he pushes himself to chase after Ambrose and Audrey, getting closer and closer as he jogs through the streets.

Ajay is much faster than Ambrose and Audrey, who are dragging a body. He sees them down the street, only a few blocks from the church, and it is the dead of night after all. There are no cars. He steps a foot onto the road.

The loud honk of a horn blows out in front of him. He squints his eyes at the bright flashing light. Ajay stumbles back, landing on the ground.

He covers his eyes to block out the light, but it's gone. There is no car. Maybe there never was one. Maybe there was one, but not here and now.

Ajay is no stranger to pushing himself past his limits. He gets up and jogs toward them, finally catching up.

"What are you even thinking?" Ajay asks.

Still, Ajay helps grab the bag. Together, Ambrose and Audrey are able to pick up the pace. The smell is rotten, but at least not putrid. Ajay isn't sure what to make of it.

"You can keep your mouth shut if you want to uphold our deal," Audrey snaps, one hand on their hip another gripping their pen and notebook so tight the plastic pen cracks in their fist.

Ajay glares at them. His eyes cross Audrey's face, and something about the way their face creases so easily makes him think Audrey has done this before. They have been on the brink of everything and lost it all. Ajay tends to think of himself as proper-mannered and so he doesn't ask the question that pops into his head.

This is how you died, isn't it?

Ambrose doesn't care about any of this. There is very little left for Ambrose to care about anymore.

~~~

After calming down Leo, Clare went out to tell everyone not to leave. She didn't let them in, not yet. Not with Leo, sobbing in the top of the church tower, trying to muffle his cries. It is better than it was before, at least. She couldn't even hustle them all into the basement, since Este is drunk and Clare worries that whatever has happened to her is just as bad.

Then, eventually, she welcomed everyone inside. They needed to have a meeting, even though Lydia had fallen asleep on the steps even with Barry shaking her every thirty seconds, trying to keep her awake. Nico's lips were blue, bluer than Fallon's since they kept giving up their coat for her.

They all collected in the basement, unaware they were passing by Leo who was in the bathroom. Leo stared at himself in the mirror, trying to blot out the tears off his face. It was clear he had been crying. Behind him, he can see Miko pressed so close to him in the corner of the room. She doesn't look at him though. Leo knows her well enough to know that there are very few things to keep his ghost quiet. It must be his face too. Maybe she doesn't even recognize him.

Leo never thought about ghosts being haunted. If he wasn't certain Miko was a manifestation of his mind and not related to death, Leo might think she has ghosts of her own, haunting her. Leo's been with the RCMP long enough to know that there aren't people who don't have ghosts. Miko's shadow might not be hers.

Clare goes up the stairs and knocks on the door. The others are adjusting. It wasn't cold enough for frostbite, but the wind ate away at many of their hands and lips, all chapped and dry yet still blossoming violet and red. Este pays them no mind. She's gotten into Eva's stash now, drinking herself silly. No one is brave enough to confiscate her liquor.

Having been outside for the shortest amount of time, Kaia tries to keep up everyone's spirits. Clare doesn't want them asleep, so Kaia tries to entertain them. She makes Nico and Fallon laugh at her jokes while she puts away the groceries, and she sits next to Barry to ask them about their poetry.

Barry tells her there is nothing new, mostly to keep the conversation short. Lydia is half asleep on Barry's cot. Her hair ripples across their lap. Like the little pond where they danced together.

Eventually, Kaia seeks out Clare, who is still waiting outside the bathroom.

"He won't come out?" Kaia whispers.

Clare shakes her head. She looks back at the door. On the other side, she is sure Leo is holding the lockbox.

The front doors to the church open above them. Clare stiffens.

In walk Audrey, Ambrose, and Ajay. They make their way to the stairs. Audrey waits for Ajay to open the door despite the body he is lugging around. He keeps his face calm. It's a skill that Ajay practiced in front of many a drill sergeant. Then, he opens the door.

Kaia and Clare blink back at him.

"Oh good, you're up," Audrey rolls their eyes, squeezing down the narrow hallway past the others. "We should all talk."

Then, Leo emerges from the bathroom. He's wearing his t-shirt, the sweater he had on early wrapped around the lockbox. He looks at Clare and Kaia. Clare raises an eyebrow. He brushes past her, down into the basement.

Ambrose and Ajay follow, but Ajay puts the bag in the bathroom, shoving it in tightly.

"We've got news," Audrey says. They step into the centre of the room everyone stares, spinning around. Then, Audrey's eyes narrowed in. Bed frames creaking because of the shivering bodies on top of them. Este at their table, one arm sloppily propping up her chin, her hair static over her head. Nico's burnt face even more red than usual. "What happened to you all?"

Fallon shuffles. Three blankets have been draped over top of her, none of them enough. She bites her lip, looking at Nico, and they look back at her.

"Someone has found us," Barry glares at Este. They are no stranger to alcohol, but Barry has a hard time accepting Este's drunken state. Before this, they had seemed so planned and poised. "Or maybe Este just wanted to get herself off alone, and then get drunk."

Este looks up at Barry and bats her eyes, "do you think talking about your fantasies about me in front of your little girlfriend is wise?"

Barry stands up, staring at her.

Ajay moves over to Barry, puts a hand on their shoulder. In return, Barry shrugs him off. They are unaware of Lydia's eyes, trained on Barry. The anger in them isn't familiar to Lydia, and so many things about Barry have become that way this week.

"Who was it?" Nico asks, swallowing.

"She's not going to tell," Este mumbles to herself.

Clare looks over. A name. They need a name, and Clare knows Este's but only because Audrey saw Este's grave. There are too many ideas for true crime podcasts in small towns. Potentially corrupt police officers, murders unsolved, deaths that may be more connected than Clare hopes they are.

Leo still hasn't spoken.

"Who isn't?" Audrey narrows their brow. "We've been found?"

"Ex-husband's current wife," Este points out. "She's not going to say anything. She's smart enough to know he will kill her if she does."

Ambrose looks around at the others. A shame washes over him. He thinks of his mother finding him inside a coffin as a child. He can smell the body even though it's in the bathroom. His coat is soaked from where its dampness leaked through the bag. The dirt and muck are stronger than the stale air they've been breathing daily for weeks. The earth of it all. He always liked finding dead things in the woods and his mother hated it. People aren't supposed to see the bodies of things that have passed on. They shouldn't have shown that woman what they are.

Leo still hasn't spoken.

"You're sure?" Clare asks.

Kaia nearly snorts, a small chuckle forcing its way through her throat, "we're so fucked."

"I trust Este's judgement," Lydia offers, looking over at her.

Este laughs, looking over at Barry, "but no one trusts yours, darling."

The cold was so bad that the flush of anger feels so lovely. She's already so red that there is little left to burn except her ears.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that now," Audrey starts to shrug off their winter coat. It's getting too hot in here. Audrey holds out their notebook. "We found something."

Everyone looks at Audrey. Except for Leo. Leo still has not spoken.

"Where?" Nico asks.

Audrey glances at her men, who have come back empty-handed. They blow a stray hair out of their eyes and head up the stairs.

Ambrose goes to help her, but not Ajay. In that moment, Ajay looks over at Este. He hadn't expected her to look pretty when she was drunk. Especially not now. At the pool, in his drunken stupor, she looked magical. All sharp edges, harsh looks, burning stars in her eyes, surrounded by the vast cold of space. Now though, her cheeks are flushed and so he is sure there is blood in her. Her typically smooth hair has static, it too bound by the laws of this world. And she has an ex-husband, and not just a secret. He had thought she was beautiful then. Then what word could even capture what she is now?

They hear thumping above them. Only Ajay knows it is the body being dragged down the stairs.

Fallon jumps in her bed at the sound of them banging. At first, she doesn't recognize Ambrose when he crosses the threshold into their main room. When Fallon blinks, she realizes he is not as tall as she had imagined him to be, not as hulking, not as erratic. He's Ambrose. Just Ambrose.

The smell pours into the room, a few hands going to noses. It's not yet snowing, and Audrey's body has been decaying for so long that it's hard to identify the smell. It aired out across town too, but it's still there. Just like they are.

"We dug up my body," Audrey says. "So we have bodies. I just need to identify if it's mine."

A beat passes. The basement at times feels like a liminal space. No working clocks, only the smallest of windows. It is the middle of the night.

"You dug up your body?" Barry cocks an eyebrow up, a smirk on their lips.

"Hardcore of you," Este smirks.

"We can't have that here," Clare whips her head around the room to find Kaia.

Kaia had thought about people finding her body. She hadn't thought about it still existing out there. Now, it's all she can think about. Worms in her skull, meat slipping off her bones, giving everything to the earth. This wasn't supposed to happen to her.

Fallon bolts up the stairs. She died recently enough that her nails might still be growing. Fallon and Corrin sometimes did trivia nights, and that was a fact she learned. Even though she makes it to the bathroom, the others can hear her retching.

"Well, I think we're clones," Audrey points out.

Barry rolls their eyes, "we're not. Eva disappeared when we crossed the town line."

"Eva is drug user. How do you know whatever she's smoking didn't get you high too?" Audrey snaps.

Barry squeezes a fist until their knuckles crack, "I know what I saw."

"So we are like, ghosts ghosts?" Nico says. "But... but we're corporeal. Right? Like, we very clearly exist."

"Has anyone actually touched a living person?" Clare asks, looking at all of them.

She doesn't remember shaking hands with any of the cops she's met, not even her old partner. She thinks back on trips to the motel, nights at the diner, and days in the library. They've been eating, absolutely. They've been sleeping. They are so tired all the time, they constantly hunger, but can Clare remember ever being full?

"Holy shit," Nico mumbles the words. "Holy fucking shit."

Ambrose knows they aren't supposed to swear in churches.

"It's got to be cloning," Audrey rolls their eyes. They haven't touched a librarian though. Plants, sure, but Audrey supposes that even in life they had a disdain for touching things that could breathe with lungs and heartbeats beneath their skins. "We really don't need to freak out."

Fallon stumbles down the stairs. Her head is pounding. She leans into the doorframe.

Leo drops his sweater to the ground. He opens the box.

"Serial killers can sometimes keep mementos," Leo whispers the words. Everyone leans in to listen. "I found this box in the bell tower. It's got bloody earrings in it."

None of them can quite breathe. Especially not Ajay. Fallon presses her head against the cold wall.

"Is it a prop?" Lydia swallows, leaning in closer. "I mean..."

She cannot actually justify it. She can't even make up something. Words could come about the other props they've found, for religious plays put on by children. Lydia's parents never wanted her to write her own music. She finally did, and it might have killed her, and even without every obligation on her shoulders, she cannot do it now.

Kaia looks at the jewelry. She shouldn't, but no one looked for her. How many Jane Does are there? The same thought runs through Leo's head, unbeknownst to her. How many people has he failed to save? People were killed, maybe by the pastor, definitely someone who has stepped inside the church. Why him? He never deserved this. Why him when so many others get to lie dead?

"You broke it," Ajay notices. "The pastor is going to notice."

Leo nods his head, "we can't stay here."

"We can't leave town, right?" Nico shouts back, nervous. "I mean... we don't even have money to shower more than twice a week. We, there... we don't have anywhere to go. We don't have any money."

Fallon leans her head against the cool wall. She just wants to feel colder. Even colder than she did outside. The lower you get the colder the air is. She should be buried. She should be in her buried body.

"What do we do?" Nico asks.

"Can we get another lockbox?" Clare asks.

Leo shrugs, "it's a matter of time. We don't know the code."

"I do," Ambrose says.

Leo stares at him. His arms go slack in his hands, "you knew?"

"The code is his favourite passage."

"You knew?" Leo's voice starts to shake, rising. "You knew this whole time?"

Audrey looks at Ajay. He doesn't look back. The pair of them knew too, but neither of them say anything.

Leo storms out of the room, pushing through Ambrose and Audrey on his way out. Fallon makes a movement to grab him in the doorway, but stops herself. He takes the steps two at a time, putting the energy into exhausting his body, forcing the anger to expel. They hear the church door slam behind him, but none of them are aware that he didn't open it.

"The Home Hardware will have the same box, probably," Audrey says in the silence as he leaves.

"You think we should stay!" Kaia feels herself shouting.

Audrey shrugs. Kaia goes to storm out of the room, only pausing because Fallon is looking up them. She hears someone coming.

Rounding the corner, Eva heads into the basement, completely covered in dirt. She grins at them all, "is the welcome home party you're holding for me or for the body?"

~~~~~

I did say these would speed up, so just let me say mwahahaha. The class has shared their information, and probably nobody is happy about it. As always, let me know what you think in the comments. Any ideas as to what they are? Why they are here?