If there weren't any thralls surrounding them by the dozens, Miles would have taken the time to look after their wounds and help them to the nearest hospital. If his greatest nightmare was not made flesh before them, he would have the time to chat, exchange names, ask the kid how he grew more than a foot in an instant or ask the other guy how he managed to make Astor back off, since Miles had been distraught during their battle and didn't notice.

But there were thralls surrounding them and neither of them seemed to care. They were more concerned with him mishandling his dogs and talking nonsense about spiders. The guy with the mauled arm even had the gall to ask him what the hell he was talking about! Couldn't he see? They were right there! How could he not see them!?

>>"AGGHHH!!! killitkillitkillit!"

The teen witht he stick squealed like a child and started smacking at the pavement furiously. Kill it? What the hell was he talking about? There was... nothing there.

Just like the guy who tackled Astor didn't know what Miles was talking about, Miles didn't know what the teen with the stick was talking about... or the guy scared of bats was talking about... or the people who were yelling at all sorts of other things... were talking about.

The thralls kept surrounding them but they also kept their distance and sure took their sweet time to get closer to them. It's almost as if they expected them to run away. Something was not right here. Something didn't click. He addressed the older teen and pointed at the thralls.

"The thralls! Tell me what you see! If you can see them. They're black with red eyes and all around us. And you!" he said, pointing now at ex-kid with the stick. "What did you just kill!?"

Lennox was agreeing with the ripped cloths kid beside the whole spider thing nobody attacked Mr. dog whisperer. Then the kid screamed like seven year old and whacking the ground in a murderous fit, while repeating “Kill it”.
‘And people think I’m crazy’ He thought to himself, before another one of those hazy blurs flickered on the ground where the kid was whacking. The blurs, he had completely forgot about them with everything that had happened. He around at the looked around at the others and thier own blurs, before looking down at his arm watching the blood drip onto the grass below. Hopefully it lookes worse than it really is.

*Lennox you need to focus, we are injured and need to feed NOW! The only one in danger here is you thanks to YOUR pathetic act of heroism! *That annoying laughter filling Lennox’s mind now.

“I will.” he spoke back silently not wanting to draw attention to his conversation.

*Ironic isn’t it, you came here hoping to make amends from the blood you’ve spilled, to only have to spill more blood in order to save yourself. Heh, I doubt twenty rodents would supply you enough DNA to recover from these injuries. Looks like were dining on human tonight boy.*His face tightened with anger, the taunting of the voice infuriated him.

"The thralls! Tell me what you see! If you can see them. They're black with red eyes and all around us. And you!" The hysterical teen went on again, then switching to the teen and asking him a question. "What did you just kill!?"

“I DON’T SEE ANYTHING AND HE DIDN’T KILL ANYTHING YOU IDIOTS CAUSE IT’S NOT REAL! THERE ARE NO SPIDERS OR ANY THRALLS OR WHATEVER OTHER HORRORS THESE PEOPLE ARE SCREAMING ABOUT!” Lennox erupted on the two, venting out his frustrations.

*Temper temper Lennox…*
He took a deep breathe before opening his mouth again. "There all just illusions being cast by someone, your worst fear or what ever..."

The gruesome deed done, Clyde finally had a moment to breathe. The shorter of the two teens was rambling on about being surrounded by thralls that were black with red eyes. Funny. The only things that fit that description were that guy's two demonic hounds. Then, he turned to him, asking about what he killed.

“Damn spider,” he muttered, not really in response to the owner of the attack dogs. It should have been obvious. It was still recognizable as a spider. Strange.

A sudden, violent barrage of yelling from the injured teen startled Clyde. Too shocked from the outburst to process what the guy was saying, the only thing he could pick out was that the guy just called both him and the other teen idiots. True, he was righteously angry about getting mauled, and the dog owner could be considered an idiot for bringing those creepy canines to the park, but why was he getting labeled an idiot as well?

Gathering himself, Clyde fixated his glare upon the tall teen. That guy had already calmed down and told them what they were seeing were illusions of their worst fears. Come to think of it, that explanation actually made sense. Why else did the hellhound owner not notice the spider going after him? Additionally, not everyone was running from spiders. The shorter highschooler was ranting about thralls. Other people were instead screaming about things like demons, men with guns, snakes, and swarms of Justin Biebers.

If the spiders were not real, and he was indeed hallucinating or something, it could mean only one thing. The whole time, he was whacking a nonexistent monster spider, not to mention he was a teen wearing kid's clothes, so he probably looked completely ridiculous. This was embarrassing, though Clyde was determined to not let it show.

“I guess we'd better find the cause,” he said. If what was scaring everyone was some elaborate illusion, people might wind up hurt. He redirected his piercing stare at the teenager with the injured arm. “By the way, I'm not an idiot,” he asserted, narrowing his eyes.

Miles expected weird looks from both of them, wondering why he was asking weird questions instead of running away or why he was suddenly avoiding responsibility for what the dogs had done. He didn't expect the guy to blow a gasket, or come up with such a ridiculous explanation... that somehow made sense.

Then again, anything made sense when it came to mutants. Mutations were so diverse, that pretty much anything was possible. Someone playing their worst fears against them? Totally acceptable and viable.

He took the guy's insult in stride because he was wounded and if what he was telling was true, then they must have really seemed like idiots to him, running and yelling from nothing and setting dogs on innocent people. Then again, there was one tiny little piece that didn't make much sense. He could still see the thralls even after being told they were illusions and Miles suspected the teen with the ripped clothes could still see spiders creeping up people's legs...

But this guy couldn't.

"If what you're saying is true, then I bet you're one big, badass, macho dude who isn't afraid of anything" he said, a bit of sarcasm and attitude on his tone. While the guy's theory made a lot of sense, Miles still had his doubts. He sent Astor forward towards the thralls that had them surrounded but were not attemting to turn them or kill them. The dog pretty much walked towards them and the creatures tried to attack him... but here, the illusion pretty much failed to deliver a convincing effect. Their blows left the dog unfazed and he even managed to phase through some of the thrall's legs.

"I guess you're right" he admitted to the older teen. "And I'm not an idiot either. My name is Miles. Since you seem to be the only one unaffected by this, you're the best chance we've got to finding out who is responsible. Is there anything we can help you with?"

“Oh won’t you just shut up.” Lennox muttered to himself in response to the voice hoping no one else would over hear him, His eyes looked to the two teens.

“You’re right I’m sorry for calling you idiots, I guess the stress of everything was starting to get to me. I’m Lennox, and no it’s not that I’m fearless…it just doesn’t seem to effect me.” He looked down at his right hand, before pulling his white bandage from his back pocket slowly wrapping both his wounds and his mutation, hoping the dried blood masked his palm from their eyes. “No I’m good, but I think shreds has the right idea…” He gestured to the teen in ripped clothes. “… we need to find the source.”

*Lennox you know this will only turn out badly, they will turn on you the moment they find out what you are, what you do for survival. Let us leave, let them continue on this pointless search alone. We have nothing to gain here and already you’ve suffered enough.*

He finished wrapping his arm tucking the odd end firmly under itself. “So where do we go from here? Do any of you guys have a clue as to where we start?” Lennox rarely played the hero and was never very good at solving mysteries.

It was just occurring to Clyde that both of these teens seemed to be mutants themselves. The one who called himself Miles seemed to be mind-controlling the demon dogs, while he teen who introduced himself as Lennox was seemingly immune to the hallucinations. Once Miles was finished testing what he was seeing with the dogs, the three of them seemed to be on the same page about the situation.

“Clyde,” he introduced himself to the other two, in part because the others introduced themselves, and in part because the injured teen called him shreads. He didn't appreciate being given any other nickname, for that matter. He noticed that guy was wrapping his injured arm in a long bandage. Strange. What kind of guy kept a bandage like that on him?

Again, the oversized spider was trying to climb his leg. He had to keep telling himself that it was not real. It looked real, though. The creature made him want to scream, but he did his best to ignore it. They definitely needed to do something fast. Miles sounded like he was on to something when he suggested that Lennox might be able to find the source since he was unaffected, but from what he said, he looked just about as clueless.

“Not sure what's causing this. A mutant, probably,” he said to the other two teens. He knew well enough that mutants could do many things, but he hadn't had much experience meeting other mutants, let alone trying to single one out from a crowd. “Not quite sure how to pick them out. Maybe someone who's acting strange,” he continued, shrugging his shoulders. How was a person supposed to look when making people see terrifying things? All he could do was throw out ideas.

Clyde's idea was sound but neither took the initiative. Miles prided himself of having a 'problem solving' mind, though he'd never had to deal with a problem like this before. He quickly studied his options and tried to come up with a possible solution.

"All right, we'll go with the 'it's a mutant' angle. We still don't know if whoever is doing this is doing it intentionally or by accident so I guess we find him or her first and then... ask questions later."

Duh, Mr. Obvious. That still doesn't answer how you're going to find the mutant.

Regardless that he knew the thralls were illusions, they still didn't stop being creepy and giving him shivers. This scenario was his perfect nightmare. An uncontrolled 'dark mode' creating an army until there was nothing left but thralls, who still happenned to be surrounding them and they were not transparent.

"Lennox, you can't see the hallucinations and Clyde, you see spiders, which I take are small. I can't see that far ahead because thralls are huge and black and... terrifying, but I can help you fight fire with fire" he said, as an idea just popped up in his head.

Whoever was doing this probably scared everyone out of their wits and made them run away. He or she would likely be at the center of a pretty empty area, whether sitting, standing or hiding, Miles did not know, but he had dogs who could smell and who were pretty scary themselves. He still remembered from where they had been running from, so going back in the opposite direction seemed like a good place to start. Miles snapped his fingers and whistled. Both of his dogs perked their ears and stood on alert at each side of him.

"Astor! Tinaker!" he said in a commanding voice to both canines "You go in there and bark, growl and scare anyone in your path!"

Their eyes flared a bright red as both dogs let out loud but deep barks, that made them seem even larger than they were. They ran forward and unrestrained into thralls, spiders, bats, clowns and Justin Biebers, salivating and growling like rabid monsters. Miles made a motion to the other two mutants to follow as he ran behind the dogs.

"You two keep your eyes peeled because I'm going somewhat blind! Anything out of the ordinary that pops out at you, Lennox, you let us know!"

He watched as the dogs lead the way deeper into the park. At first he had no clue as to what would seem out of the ordinary giving the circumstances, but as the dogs followed their orders it became clear those affected by the illusions paid them no mind.

“I guess dealing with your inner demons takes priority over demonic canines.” He said aloud as he worked his way through and over the terrified civilians. Lennox could feel the pressure in his head mounting, becoming less of an annoyance and more of a pain. “I think we are getting close.” Lennox whispered behind him, having taken point behind the barking canines. As they approached the center of the park it seemed the illusions worsened, even causing some to do themselves physical harm. Walking past one man who had nearly scratched most of the skin and clothing off his arms and body, screaming about being covered in ants, another woman scratching at her face and choking, as though she was being asphyxiated.

‘I should make a mental note to come back to them…’ Lennox thought to himself. “I really didn’t just say that…” he murmured under his breath, still not believing he actually though that. Lennox stopped and looked back to Clyde and Miles wondering if the illusions were getting worse to them. Cause something was clearly affecting him.

“You guys alright?”

As they prepared to charge back into the chaos, Miles shouted that they should stay alert. They all still had no clue what to look for, so all they could do was observe the area and try to find the cause. As much as Clyde hated being a kid, the better option was to let his form snap back. His focus had to be on finding the cause, not staying shifted nor thinking about how much his feet were killing him. For a couple of seconds, he felt that weird pain that came with returning to normal, the pain that felt like his entire self was being compressed.

While he took the time to shift, the hellhounds and the other mutants had begun to charge back towards the area where he had first seen the spiders. He sprinted in order to catch up to them, the whole time cursing them and their long legs.

Now that he was closer to the chaos, he could see there were giant arachnids everywhere. Despite knowing about the hallucinations, those dang spiders weren't looking any less scary. If anything, they were getting larger and more fierce. Okay, maybe that was because he'd returned to normal, but Miles was completely wrong about them being small. Again, he had to remind himself that it was all in his head.

The people nearby were even worse off. Many were thrashing around and injuring themselves trying to fight unseen monsters. He tried shouting, “Stop! They aren't real,” to them, but they were far to preoccupied with their fears to even hear. If they didn't find this possible mutant soon, those people were going to seriously hurt themselves.

Lennox had taken a moment to turn around and show concern for him and Miles. Clyde neither needed nor wanted concern – he believed he could handle a few scary illusions. “Oh, sure I'm all right,” he answered him, sarcasm evident in his voice. “We've only got a dangerous situation on our hands!”

Clyde's mutant ability was one of the strangest he had seen. He could pretty much turn into a kid. His clothes at least fit him right back though they were already ripped at places and Miles didn't know why he decided to turn back into a child. Maybe it was the other way around and he WAS a kid who could turn into a teen.

Lennox followed close behind the dogs, keeping an eye on his surroundings. Miles worried about his two newfound allies because his thralls had caused them both harm, so he wasn't sure in what sort of fighting condition they would be. That was the other reason why the dogs were their first line of defense AND offense, though he was hoping it wouldn't come to any of that.

As they pushed through, he couldn't help lagging behind. The thralls were getting closer, their red eyes staring at him as he approached them until he came face to face to them and then... phased through. He closed his eyes and could feel a shiver when he went through them but once he was past the first, there were many more of them blocking his vision, along with random people screaming at their own fears.

>> "You guys all right?"

"I can't see much! The place is getting crowded with thralls. I'm seeing many more of them!" he replied.

Did this mean they were getting close? If that's what it meant, what would happen when they got there?

A sea of black bodies and red eyes surrounded him, ethereal but thick and ominous. Miles closed his eyes again and his senses changed to those of Tinaker. His sense of smell could help him figure out what was real and what wasn't, since hallucinations had no scent and the real life people near them stank of fear. Also, it was easier to see through their legs than through their bodies.

In between the thralls legs, he managed to see someone standing far away near a tree. Whoever he or she was, it got spooked by the dogs.

"Lennox! By the tree! The tree!" Miles yelled, losely pointing the way, since he was looking through his dog and not really sure where his hand was pointing to.

And that's when the nightmares started.

Lennox was lost, not as far as his location but in his thoughts. The moment he turned to face his comrades it became clear he was no longer all the way there. The pain in his mind had all but faded but that pain had only been exchanged for hunger a hunger for blood.

‘No going after Miles would prove too difficult, those damn dogs would eat me alive…but Clyde yes we could easily take down the child….mmm I we can almost taste it…’ His hand twitching excitement, as his murderous thoughts continued to wander.

To the others Lennox just stood there staring almost as if he was in a trance, hiding the fact that he was planning to feed on his new friends, his hand literally drooling. He took two steps towards Clyde before the sound of his own name pulled his attention elsewhere. He watched with cold eyes as Miles pointed and yelled, but Lennox heard nothing.

‘We are too wounded to fight them both, then we shall kill the child first....’

Almost instantly Lennox was snapped back into realty his head throbbing with the pressure again, he looked to Miles and Clyde before shaking his head, attempting to regain his senses.

"By the tree!" Miles yelled.

“Right I’m on it…” He replied before chasing after the dogs, right now he needed to get away from his friends before he eats one. The dogs could be heard barking at something just ahead, as Lennox grew closer it seemed as though they had it cornered Lennox continued his approach feeling that pain in his head increase, then nothing and he was lost again.

Lennox was acting awfully funny. For a short while, he just stood there, as if he were possessed. There was something just a bit creepy about him, but Clyde had no clue what it was. At least Miles' shouting about something near a tree seemed to snap him out of it.

There was a girl, maybe around eleven or twelve year old, hiding near the tree some distance away. Miles might have figured something out. She was not screaming about monsters or anything else, but seemed really scared in a different way, the type of fear that makes a person want to hide. The guy's hellhounds probably weren't helping. Was she really the mutant behind all of this? Clyde had been expecting someone doing it all on purpose, but a girl who lost control of her powers or something made sense, too. She probably didn't quite understand why everyone was so scared, and that was making her scared herself. As they got closer to her, these illusions were getting more real.

“You might be right, Miles,” he called out, still running behind the dogs.

And then came the terror. Suddenly, a horse-sized spider lunged at him, pinning him to the ground. This one was so real that he could feel the pressure of it holding him down. It's not real it's not real, he keep repeating in his mind. Even the knowledge of the trickery was no use. He struggled against the imaginary monster, but it did no good. It wouldn't let him back on his feet. He thought about shifting, but that wouldn't work, either. Running around and getting attacked by a dog, not to mention already shifting earlier, had taken too much out of him. He was helpless and he hated that fact. That spider continued looming over him, staring at him with its eight unblinking eyes and snapping its mandibles. It wasn't attacking, but it was frightening. He was breathing so fast that he was not able to say anything.

He hoped that this girl was indeed the cause, and that the others could help stop the hallucination. Fast.

Miles closed his eyes and opened them. Then he closed them and opened them again.

There was no difference.

It was pitch black everywhere he looked. Had he gone blind? Had he tried to phase through a thrall and never gotten out?

Red dots started to appear all around. Red eyes in the distance, A pair of them opened closer to him and in the dim reddish tint the other eyes provided, he managed to catch the glimpse of a silhouette. A dark figure stood in front of him, charcoal black like the rest, but of familiar shape somehow. The creature opened its mouth and its voice was raspy and deep, but Miles still recognized it.

"Milessss... Whyyy...?"

The boy paled. He hadn't done this. He hadn't done it ever and he'd never do it. His heart started to beat faster as other figures appeared behind and to the sides of the talking one. One was a woman, another a girl and the last one an old man.

"Whyyyy...?" they asked in unison.

"You're not real!" he screamed, trying to convince himself. "You're not dead! You're home! I haven't done this!"

The first figure got closer, until it's red bright eyes reflected over Miles face allowing a crimson tint to reveal it's own features. It didn't have the glasses his father wore, but his nose, his chin and everything else was just the same. It uttered two words that chilled him to the bone.

"Not... yeeeet..."

"NOT EVER!" screamed Miles, trying to push the creature back, hoping to feel it's ghostly essence phase through his hand and convince him of it's fakeness, but he felt the heat of the body on his fingers and they registered as solid. They were there. They were real. Or were they?

"Lennox! Clyde! Do something! This s*** got real!"

Lennox looked around, a thick fog masked the distance, but he was sure that this was no longer in the park. The air smelled of blood and flesh, the ground littered with body after body some still moaning as the last bit of life left them, other mortally wounded and suffering.

There was no sign of Clyde or Miles and even the dogs seemed to have vanished. He started to walk forward stepping over who ever these people were. “Where the hell am I?” He asked as he lifted his hand to scratch his head, his heart sinking as he looked at his hand.

“It’s normal?!” Lennox announced, gripping his right arm at the wrist, while staring at his palm in disbelief. For a moment he was filled with joy before the overall weirdness set back in. “Okay what the hell is going on?” Cupping his hands to his mouth he continued to walk forward calling out for the others. He attempted to continue forward before feeling something snag at his leg. Looking down Lennox was horrified at what he saw.
A slender arm had him from the bodies below, that arm of course was attached to a body and that body had a face.

“Clyde?!”

“Lennox….” His voice was weak and dry, a severe wound on his neck seemingly the cause of his death. “…You did this… why..?” Then he was dead, his grip loosening on Lennox’s leg as he slowly backed away.

'‘What did he mean I did this…’' Lennox asked himself his brow lifting slightly as he glanced around.

“Because you did….” The voice chilled his spine, the raspy sinister tone was one he knew all to well. Turning Lennox watched a shadow appeared from the fog, grew closer with each step it took before finally coming into clear view.

“This can’t be..?” Lennox said as he stared into the eyes of his himself, his hands dripping with blood, that slimy tongue dangling from his palm as he stood there grinning.

“Oh but it is Lennox it is all very real... I told you one day I would take control that you’d give into me.” The doppelganger looked around the area admiring his handy work. “And what a wonderful massacre we’ve created. Tell me Lennox do you remember all these people? Can you still taste their blood on your tongue? Feel their life force drain into you?”

Lennox could taste it, looking down his hands were bloody and his palm mouth returned. He blinked and now there was a woman, her eyes wide with fear as she scratched and clawed at Lennox’s face. His hands were firmly around her neck her blood rushing into his neck only to be syphoned into his hand as he felt the delicious rush of killing flood his core.

“Remember Lennox you are a parasite, a death dealing bloodsucker with no remorse for what you’ve done or will do. No matter what or how hard you try that is what you are destined to be and all you will become…..”

“No … not true...” Lennox spoke weakly still draining the body in his hands of her most vital possession, her life, he wanted to let go but he couldn’t he could draw himself away from the kill.

Suddenly the world around him blinked in and out, like a glitch in a game. The girl he held in his hands seemed to melt away like a wax statue in a hot room. The bodies on the ground withered away and the normal surroundings of the park seemed once again visible, the sounds of the dogs echoed throughout the park now. A young girl laying at their feet. Lennox approached slowly until he was close enough to see she was out cold, her face and body heavy with sweat but no signs of assault or trauma.

“She must have passed out from exhaustion.” He looked at the ebony beast at his sides not sure if they would listen to him or not. “Find Miles and bring him here.”

>>“This s*** got real!”

No kidding. Miles seemed to be in a similar situation, too scared to help with anything. As for Lennox... he was talking to his hand? Great time to start hallucinating, too. Who was going to stop this now?

This menace had him where he couldn't move. He was so scared he could hardly breathe.

“Look at you. So helpless,” the giant arachnid hissed.

This thing... it was talking to him! Spiders weren't supposed to talk! Well, they weren't supposed to be that big, either. In a hallucination, anything goes.

“I'm n-not helpless,” he managed to a respond with a cough.

The spider retaliated, pressing him down even harder. “Fool,” it growled, “you'll never be an adult to anyone. You're just a burden to them. Look at yourself now, all scared of a spider. Such a petty fear. You're nothing more than a pathetic, worthless child.” It's head dove down, ready to deliver a fatal blow. Clyde squeezed his eyes shut. Was it even possible to die from something that shouldn't be real?

Suddenly, the spider seemed to dissolve away, like dust does in the wind. The weight on his chest disappeared, allowing him to sit up. Looking around, he could see that some of the park goers stopped screaming and clawing themselves and started looking around with dumbfounded expressions. No more seeing monsters? Was it over?

>>“Find Miles and bring him here.”

The young girl from earlier was lying on the ground near Lennox and the dogs. She appeared to be breathing, but unconscious. Clyde jogged over to the area and knelt beside her. “Kid, ah you all right?” he asked, trying to gently shake her awake. He wasn't sure if she wore herself out or fainted out of fear or what. “What just happened?” he asked, in case Lennox or Miles were listening.