Later, Richard learns that his friend, Joe Baker, had been attacked. Joe told a mutual acquaintance he was sleeping under a bridge when the unknown assailant struck. At the time, it was dark, and Joe was drunk and disoriented, so he couldn't tell what was going on, except that he was being dragged into the creek. The assailant broke off the attack and escaped into the water after Joe clobbered him with a baseball bat.

Now, Joe is missing.

That night, Richard is sitting under the bridge while a thunderstorm rages. During intermittent bursts of lightning, he sees a boy being attacked. He rushes to help the kid but finds no one at the scene of the attack. Seeking an explanation for the mysterious events, he follows clues left by the boy and discovers a bizarre world dominated by terrifying creatures, bent on inflicting unthinkable horrors on him and on Humankind.