AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Cranston kept scanning the paper, curious, and replied to Whitney with hesitance, "The Mayor's house isn't crossed out. I think they were the last one standing...regardless though, I think Pierce has a point. We ought to investigate these houses and the river and see if there's any trace of this village on the map, if we really are in the same place."

"Sounds like a plan, rookie. Where should we start?"

"The mouth of the river on this map is right outside Re-Tail as is the house belonging to 'Tom', so I say we investigate there first. We should probably hide the map as well, in case Nook doesn't want us to have it. I'll keep it under my sweater for the time being."

"Let's get going, then. You coming, Whitney?"

"I suppose so." Whitney took one last glance at the merchandise in the store. "At least this map is something new."

Pierce waits until Cranston leaves, then turns to Whitney.

He speaks in a low voice.

"By the way, I hadn't forgotten that I'd like to speak with you. Once we finish up here, why don't we meet at one of our houses?"

"Fine," she whispered back. "We'll meet at your house."

"All right, then."

Pierce holds the door open for Whitney.

"Shall we?"

Lucky heads to T&T Mart to see what is there.

Cranston, having gone ahead to look at the cliffside, turned around to see Pierce and Whitney still at Re-Tail. "Everyone alright? What's the holdup?"

Whitney walked out, giving Pierce a small, tight-lipped smile. "No holdup," she said, approaching Cranston. "Let's get going."

At the cliff

You dig around the ground where the house should be and find nothing. There doesn't seem to be any remaining structure if something were here before. This is really Hope Town, isn't it?



"Hello future victim! Oh yes."

"Would you like assistance with anything? How sad."

"We have essential goods here such as tools and stationary, and if you need items not currently in the store, order it from the Catalog and it'll be shipped to your house the next morning. I bet you have burns under those bandages."

They're right. There's no furniture in the store, but there are fortune cookies, tools, medicine, and stationary. The catalog machine seems to advertise having any furniture you can imagine.

"Nothing here..... So what gives?"

Pierce glances at the map again.

"The landscape is so similar."

Cranston's brow drooped. "What about where the river should be?..." he wondered aloud, pacing the ground where the old map directed it would go.

"You'd think there would at least be signs of dirt being moved."