(no subject)
Allison Rowland and Joe Dubois met in college. She was studying law; he was studying engineering. They fell in love and got married. Allison dropped her law degree to look after the kids, Ariel, Bridgette and Marie. Allison was working on getting her degree, interning at the Phoenix District Attorney's office, when she accepted a gift she had long denied - her abilities as a medium and a psychic. She'd always tried to ignore the dead people she’d seen or the impressions she got from people or objects. Now, she embraced it after seeing that she could use her abilities to do some good in the world, by solving crimes for the DA’s office.
They were good, loving parents who wanted their girls to be the best they could be. Ariel was an easy child - social, bright, and did well at school. The only one who could get under her skin was her sister Bridgette. Bridgette was different - highly imaginative, creative and eccentric, she had trouble making friends.
She did make one friend - who happened to be dead. Alison found out and talked Bobby over to the other side while Bridgette watched. Bridgette still misses him sometimes, but life goes on and she soon found real, living friends. Bridgette slowly got involved in her mother's day-job as she manifested another power; the ability to receive dreams from the Other Side, albeit filtered through a child's mind.
Captain Trips happened when Ariel was thirteen, Bridge was seven and Marie was three. It took their father first; he died in a hospital hallway, spewing phlegm. Captain Trips took their mother, too, but in a different way. Allison Dubois fell into a coma as the dead swarmed around her. Her mind couldn't handle the strain of all the increased spiritual traffic.
She died two weeks later. Ariel and Bridgette's first act as orphans was to bury their mother with their father in the front yard. Then, they left Phoenix. Ariel dreamed about a group of angels riding on black and red horses - when three motorcyclists with angel tattoos stopped and made camp at a gas station where they were scavenging food, Ariel decided to make their acquaintance. They weren't the type of people Mommy and Daddy would have had them know, but, as she convinced Bridge, her dreams had told her they were okay. Indeed, the bikers were good people, willing to pick up three strays. The bikers helped them get to Wyoming, where they decided to stay in the town of Filmore and build a new life for themselves.
Ariel knew that they should keep moving. She had dreams of a bad man coming into town. She tried to tell the bikers - they were good people, but they didn’t listen to dreams.
The bad man came. He'd just been Brian Wilcox, a nurse, who abilities as a medium he'd long denied. A malicious ghost named Dr. Charles Walker specialized in finding people with that sort of ability, in order to urge them into horrific acts of sadism that he'd practiced while alive. Well, Brian Wilcox's slight ability grew after the onset of Captain Trips, and Charles Walker took advantage of it to possess him.
Walker didn't start his new life intent on revenge. He was simply wandering the states, having made a few friends who enjoyed the same activities he did. However, he happened to come across a sign one of the bikers had left in order to encourage more people to join them and contact relatives. They'd seen a few signs like that, but this one held Walker's interest. Ariel, Bridgette and Marie? He remembered those names well. If the medium's children were alive, he'd be a fool to pass up this opportunity. They were blonde, beautiful little things.
The bikers were good people, not stupid people, and they patrolled the area with guns. But there were only three of them, and Walker's gang was larger. They killed the bikers and took the children; bound them hand and foot in the trailer of an SUV.
Charles Walker was a bad man. He took Marie first. Marie was very quiet when she came back. In reality, Walker had done what he did with young girls and killed Marie. Bridgette doesn't know this.
Bridgette had a dream that night, about a young man playing tag with two young girls. She didn't know why she dreamed it until she saw the man the next day, when he brought them a tray of food. Bridgette spoke to the man, Donald, about his sisters, Erica and Suzie. They were dead of Trips, but Bridgette knew he still loved them. She knew he missed them - and they missed him.
Ariel spoke. She said Erica and Suzie missed him, but they were mad at him, too. Mad at him for giving three girls to a monster. Donald fed them and left.
Later that night, he came to rescue them. Ariel told Bridgette to run. Ariel would lay a false trail. In reality, Ariel was going to take care of Mr. Walker. Bridgette doesn't know this.
Bridgette ran into the forest. Marie ran beside her. She ran until she had to stop. Then she kept running. The men in the town were busy. Bridgette doesn't know why. Ariel told her not to come back, no matter what, and for once Bridgette listened to her.
She ran until she came to a gas station on the side of the road. She waited for her sister. Ariel didn't show up, but someone else did....