But what if she were wandering around the compound looking for her? "Damn damn damn!" Lydia said again, slapping her hand angrily against her thigh as she took off in the direction of the farm at the end of the path. Tina had told her how much she loved the animals there – especially since she'd always lived in New York City and never even had a cat as a pet. Lydia guessed her friend might return there to watch the dogs, horses, and God-only-knows-what-else until she came to fetch her.

"Tina!" Lydia cried out again, quickening her pace as she realized the sun had almost completely set. Already the whirring sounds of thousands of crickets filled the air. The thick, humid, musky odor of the damp earth and dewy grass was drifting through the cooling atmosphere while shadows in the forest grew darker.

Lydia felt her skin crawl with a kind of primitive terror as she moved along the narrow dirt path, past the Quaker Meeting House and Presbyterian Church, the copper shop and leather shop and an area surrounded only by thick woods. At the end of this section was the covered bridge where Lydia had encountered the two lewd men earlier.

"God," she shuddered out loud, raising her hands and rubbing her upper arms as the dark mouth of the old bridge yawned before her. Her head moved from side to side as she stepped into the dark structure, the sounds of her heels clattering in the covered bridge. Sounds as if someone were following her made Lydia break into a quick run through to the other side.

"Tina!" she cried angrily, hating herself for acting so strangely. Just beyond the next hill could see the top of the farmhouse rising above a small clump of tall bushes. In a few minutes the young blonde had reached the top of the hill and found herself peering down on the farm below. It had been recreated by the founders of this compound.