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At 10.45 PM, the highway was ink-black except for a thin shaft of yellow light bouncing up and down in front of Alice. She made her way across Iron Bridge, the cattle grid rattling beneath her feet. She alternated between a light jog and a fast walk, wishing she'd thought to put on some running gear.
The beam of her flashlight revealed sixty meters of countryside at a time. To her immediate left, the tall, sprawling cedar trees of Lantern Wood. Craggy. Eerie. Bats shooting out of the treetops, diving low across Alice's path.
She stopped by the side of the highway and took out her headphones. She slipped her cell out of the arm strap, and tucked strap and headphones in her backpack.
She took out the map and shone the flashlight on the center of the star. She figured it was more or le
