The corporal got back on the line and directed him down the blessedly smooth pavement, utterly deserted by order of the military. It reminded him of driving on the abandoned Louisiana highway, with no one but a dying old man and a terrified little girl as company.

“William,” Wolve’s voice shot through the speakerphone. “We think we’ve found it.”

“What do you see?”

“It’s isolated. Apart from the others. And we’re seeing it now. There’s something above it, moving. Your grandmother says it’s how the beetles looked above the trees. Stand by, we’re figuring out how to get you to it. It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

William pressed the pedal further, thankful that the gas gauge read nearly full.

“Mr. Chance, you should be passing over the Little Missouri River now,” Corporal Sava said. “You’ll have to start slowing down. You’re going to have to take what looks to be East River Road. There’s no exit, you’ll have to off-road onto it.”

He could feel the proximity of Lily’s sister growing stronger as he exited once again onto the jarringly bumpy earth. As he jumbled onto the road, he accelerated.

“You’ll stay on this for a while. But get ready to off-road again,” Sava said.

Clearly designed to be a sightseeing destination, the road provided stunning views of the sprawling Badlands and the towering mesas beyond. A half hour on the road, the feeling of déjà vu began to creep in.

“Alright, at that next curve, you’re going to have to just head northeast. I can tell the terrain isn’t smooth.”

He steered onto grasslands, thankful for the military vehicle’s stabilization as he rumbled through the wildflowers and wheatgrass, nearly colliding more than once with a petrified tree. As he approached a particularly isolated butte, the smell of rotten meat hit, and nearly caused him to gag. A herd of dead buffalo, at least twenty strong, lay surrounded by a swirl of flies. He lifted his shirt over his mouth, trying not to breathe.

He vaguely remembered from his junior high geography class that buttes were typically smaller than mesas and plateaus. But the solitary imperial formation, building from the earth with sheer walls and topped with a staggering array of jutting rock, was massive.

He’d seen it so many times over the past year, but only for that fleeting moment, as the dream took him from the hospital into the stone itself.

It defied logic to think that anything could be alive inside.

His throat clogged, and he wished there was water nearby. Thudding across the earth, he at last came to park before it.

“Ok, proceed with caution.” The general was back on the phone. “Take the satellite phone with you. There should be a rifle in the back. Grab it. We’re watching. Keep talking to us.”