~ Dawn's POV ~
She drives the three hours to Centralia after hearing more about the "mining town four" and seeing the connection to the boys and the old mining town. Dawn exits her car and walks along the broken roads.
She has no idea what's going to happen next, but she clears her throat. She knows he's watching her, waiting to see her first move. He will become what she most fears. Or he will take the form of the lover she had ....
"I know you're out here somewhere," she says.
A shadow glides through the trees by the road, and then he appears, disguised as her lover. She feels anger, raw and powerful, surface at the sight of him. She stares at him as he advances. He smiles, a smile that would normally have melted her soul. But not this time. She knows it's Habit.
"What do you want, little girl?"
"Take my life, and leave my daughter's alone," she says.
He smiles. "Intriguing. A trade. Your life for hers. But you must put a lot of thought into you being worth more to me than she is." He walks closer to her. "Why is that?"
"You know what I am capable of. And I've found some people who know what you are capable of. She's safe, far away from here," Dawn says.
"Yes, she is ... " Habit walks over and grabs her stomach. "But the real question here is, would you even be here if you knew you were pregnant again?"
Dawn's heart sinks. No.
"Oh, you didn't know, did you?" He chuckles. "Poor Dawn, always losing everything. First your lover, then your daughter, and now your life as well as your other daughter's."
"Please, spare her. Spare them both and take me, I don't care. Just please, let my girls live."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dawn. And besides, why would I waste your trip out here?" he says.
She turns and runs. She hears him call after her, but as she reaches her car, she's shocked by what she sees. Evan is in the back seat, and he climbs out brandishing a knife.
"Evan?" Dawn asks.
"Are you okay? Stay behind me!" he says.
She turns to face Habit, and sees he's only feet away. Evan growls and then charges right at him, and stabs Habit straight through the chest. Dawn screams, and it echoes off the silent town. Habit collapses. She doesn't have to be near him to know he's gone.
"Evan, what ... how ... ?"
He whirls around and stabs her straight in the stomach. She gasps, eyes wide, and he grins. He twists the knife around inside her. She cries out in pain. She can't fight back, she can't move around the sheer pain.
"I'm not Evan," Habit growls.
The illusion of Habit lying dead vanishes.
"Don't worry, I'll take real good care of Pandora. Our daughter will be the strongest girl in the whole world," he whispers into her ear. "And once I have taken over Evan's body, she will not know to fear me."
"You ... will never be a god," she snaps. "And you will ... never win ... "
"Oh, but I already have, Dawn. I already have."
He yanks the blade out and she falls. He sighs and wipes the machete off on his sleeves. "What a fuckin' waste." He smiles darkly at Dawn, then he's gone.
Her world goes dark.
