…“I wanted to ask you before the others arrive, was it worth it?” Jeramiah hisses through his Cheshire cat grin.

“I-I-It’s not over yet,” Lenny stammers.

Jeramiah laughs softly. “Of course it is Lenny,” he scoffs. “You just don’t know it yet.”

Lenny tries to get to his feet, only for Jeramiah to push him back to the damp earth once again.

“You don’t get to walk away from this Lenny, this is where you end, like the others. In fact,” he says as he stands tall and surveys the lands around them, before looking back down to him. “In fact, I think they are coming to help take you home.”

“W-W-What? H-H-How?” Lenny stammers nervously, as fevered eyes search desperately around him.

“Don’t look out there for your answers BOY!” Jeramiah hisses as he grips Lenny by the hair, and pulls his head back, then drives it into the earth below. “YOU NEED TO LOOK UNDERNEATH THE VERY DIRT YOU STAND UPON FOR THEM!” he bellows, as hands tear from beneath the surface and yank and rip at Lenny’s flesh, as they try to drag him down below, piece by piece.

“N-N-NO!” Lenny screams as he struggles to free himself from Jeramiah and the dozen or so hands that pull at him, only to have Jeramiah force all his weight down upon him.

“There is no use fighting it BOY, for they have chosen YOU, and once you are CHOSEN, you can NEVER escape their reach!…”