[1] Along a residential street in the suburban town of Wentworth, Ohio, a paperboy is suddenly shot by a mysterious stranger in a red van.

Former police officer Collie Entragian directs the affected residents and corrals them into the homes of victim David Carver and veterinarian Tom Billingsley.

Seth, meanwhile, is sent into the deep recesses of his mind while Tak is in control and suffers poor hygiene and nutrition as a result of the creature’s neglect.

Seth also often watches a Western movie named The Regulators, and Tak eventually transforms the neighborhood into an Old West landscape with no way to escape, as some of the residents soon find.

After several other people are killed in various ways (including Collie, after being mistakenly shot by a neighborhood teenager named Jim Reed, who then committed impulse suicide), Seth makes time for Audrey to escape the house while Tak is preoccupied.

After Audrey puts a laxative in Seth's milk, she takes the chance to go across the street to the Carver's home and explain the situation to the others.

Distraught over the death of her son, Jim, earlier, Cammie kills Seth, and mortally wounds Audrey as Tak tries to re-enter the boy’s body.