They found Joel beside Cassy. The thirty-foot trail of blood drops showed how he crawled to reach her side before passing out. Zoe’s heart slowed as she approached the two bloodied bodies.

But they still lived.

She felt relief, even though these two were strangers to her. Hell, she was surrounded by strangers. Maybe all that time as a doctor led to her disliking death?

Despite this, part of her mind viewed them as liabilities. Had any of them even really helped beyond serving as distractions? Could any of them offer more than a place as a meat shield?

That wasn’t the route she wanted to go. Not if she could help it. She dismissed these thoughts and tended to the two college kids.

Joel was simply exhausted. Bruised, battered, but otherwise fine. He woke when they checked on Cassy and begged Zoe to do something.

Do something magical.

She nodded, but there was nothing she could do. The young woman remained unconscious. She didn’t want to call it a coma, not yet, but she felt useless as she helped Joel carry her over to the side of the church they were using as a makeshift camp.

As it became clear there was no more danger, Zoe burned her Skein boosting her Vitality. She continued burning as it recharged into the night, and her wound slowly closed.

For the sky deepened from pale blue to indigo, and a wind rose that whistled through the scattered bones of the fallen. It grew cold. Not as cold as the power that came from killing, but enough for them to seek out any form of shelter they could.

With the help of Bella’s sword, they dried branches into firewood. Anton still had a lighter and a crumpled packet of cigarettes. He used both to set a fire going, and they sat around, roasting lilly-pillys, smoking, and reminding themselves that they were still alive.

If anyone needed water, to relieve themselves, or solitude, they would wander off, but for a while, everyone sat in silence and let the silence grow.

Bella sat with her back against the wall. The once broken leg extended out before her. It seemed fine, not any trace it was broken, but still, she winced with every step. The sword lay across her lap. Unsheathed, but cleaned of the crusted blood. Not once had Zoe seen Bella set it aside. Even now, her fingers traced the patterns of the runes.

The silence, broken only by crackling fire and howling wind, grated at Zoe. Choked her like a leash. How much responsibility did leadership entail? Did they expect her to start conversation as well? The thought ate at her, and she wondered what they were thinking, which caused her to pause.

She had no family, but that wasn’t true of everyone. Joel and Cassy were traveling together. Bella was returning home. Anton… she wasn’t sure, but the filthy Hawaiian shirt he refused to abandon meant he was going on some kind of holiday.

Just because she had nobody except a crooked ex-boyfriend didn’t mean everyone else was alone. That didn’t mean they weren’t thinking about loved ones. Thinking about a world torn apart and scattered.

She opened her mouth, found it dry, and coughed.

Everyone looked at her.

She bit back a sigh and said the first thing she could think of to fill the silence.

“Anyone want to know why I was flying to Sydney?”

They looked at her, firelight dancing on blank faces, before Bella grinned.

“I’ll bite,” she set the runeblade beside her. “And what did it have to do with the surgical tools you had to dispose of?”

Zoe chuckled.

“I forgot about that,” what she wouldn’t give to have those tools with her now. “I was chasing my ex-boyfriend. He sent me off to a retreat for a few days. Out of nowhere, right? So I thought he was doing something nice, and I had been stressed at work and in general. There’s some debt built up, though I suppose that doesn’t matter anymore…” She stared at the fire for a moment as the realization dawned. She laughed and wiped away a tear. “So my boyfriend robbed me. Broke into the safes I had at my house and my office, then they left. Him and our receptionist. No idea how long that had been going on, I thought she was flirtatious with everyone. You know I’m the one who performed her breast implant surgery? Just… ungrateful. Anyway, they flew to Australia the day I got back. I saw red and chased them. No idea what I planned on doing with the surgical tools, but I wanted to make my ex suffer.

Bella raised her eyebrows.

“You flew across the world to kill someone? That’s...”

“No!” Zoe flushed at having the words said aloud. “I mean, of course, I wouldn’t do that.” She wouldn’t, she was sure she wouldn’t. “But I was furious, you know? I probably would have demanded the money back, screamed at him a bit, nothing dramatic….”

Was that all? After fighting literal monsters, it should be easier to admit to how easy the violence came. How crystalline her plans for hurting Ben had been. There are so many ways to skin a cat…

But she didn’t want to become another monster in this world so full of them.

She caught Joel’s eye. Red rimmed behind his red hair, but a puzzled expression as he watched her.

“What’s up?” she asked, tossing the invisible conversation ball to him.

“Why didn’t you go to the police? If your boyfriend stole the money…”

Zoe grimaced.

“I didn’t earn the money legally. Nobody was harmed, but the police weren’t an option.”

Bella sat up.

“Now I’m even more curious.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“If we find some alcohol, I’ll tell you.”

“Sounds like a date. First thing we do once this is over, is march into a bar and drink them empty.”

But the reminder of all this being over, of them being safe, and thus the implied alternative of their deaths, killed the conversation. Fire crackled, and wind howled as dark clouds raced across the dark mirror in the sky. This little pocket dimension had no moon, no stars, only a deep cold night swallowing all hope.

Bella cracked her knuckles.

“I was going home, obviously from my accent,” she chuckled. “I just spent six weeks going around America. You know what I’ll miss the most?”

“What?” Joel asked as he stroked Cassy’s palm.

“Ranch dressing.”

“Oh, boo! No way.

Zoe shook her head.

“I’m with him, that’s atrocious.”

Bella laughed.

“It’s great on pizza, and I never see it in Australia. Honestly, you Americans know what you’re doing when it comes to your sauces. Best mayonnaise in the world.”

“Ranch isn’t mayonnaise…” Joel threw up his hands. “You know what? I can’t.”

“Why were you on the plane?”

A sad smile touched his lips as he looked down at Cassy.

“We’ve been at university together for two years, met as freshmen. She’s always wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand, so we saved and got tickets,” he took a deep breath, and let out a sigh. “We were going to elope. I had a whole underwater photoshoot planned for the great barrier reef. It was meant to be the best two weeks of our life.”

“That’s really sweet,” Bella patted his shoulder. “You’ll get your chance, mate.”

“Thanks.”

Joel smiled, but his eyes darted toward Zoe. Seeking confirmation, but what could she say? She wanted Cassy to wake up, but there was only so much she could do.

“What about Anton?” she turned and looked about the fire. “Wait? Where did he go?”

“He bailed?” Bella asked. “Must have your talk about cutting off your boyfriend’s junk with a scalpel.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Subtext, mate. He walked off that way,” she pointed. “What’s with you two anyway? There’s a weird tension…”

Zoe stood.

“I’m going to go and find out.”

She walked away from the fire, away from the shelter of the wooden church wall, and into the cold wind that whipped shadows through the graveyard. Her eyes, little mirrors now, reflected the world. With her enhanced Insight, she found Anton amongst the scattered remnants of the Puppeteer of Bones. He kicked at a loose rib bone and sent it flying.

She saw that he saw her arrival, and he saw that she saw him see her. They stood, with the corpse of the once pulsating puppeteer between them.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“What are you doing over here?”

“I can’t wander off?”

“You can. I trust you to be safe more than I trust the others. Who knows what else lurks in this place.”

He shook his head.

“I think I understand this dungeon. We cleared out this room, so now this room is done. Can’t you feel this place staring at us? It’s waiting for us to move on.”

“I suppose I feel that,” Zoe parsed some watchful intent from the all-encompassing. “But tell me, were you really going to abandon us and run?”

He stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Maybe? I don’t want to die. All this power we’re getting. Stronger, faster, and I can see more than ever before! My mind’s exploding! I can’t give this up. Do you?”

“No.” Zoe didn’t hesitate. “But I don’t want the others to die.”

“I mean, sure, I don’t want them to die either. But why should I die in their place?”

“Nobody has to die if we work together.”

“See, I think that’s just naive.”

“You would have died today if I didn’t help you. If Joel and Bella didn’t buy us time.”

“I would have run!”

“You didn't run. And you know you wouldn’t survive through the gate alone. No longer than you would have here.”

He scowled.

“I found the puppeteer. I dug it up. You think you would have survived without me?”

“No I don’t,” Zoe smiled. “And that’s exactly my point. We need each other. This dungeon? It’s only going to get harder. Once we leave, I don’t care what you do or where you go, but in here we need to work together.”

He stared at her, that same expression from the plane, as though he knew a secret. She would figure out what that look meant, she swore to herself, even if she had to beat it out of him. But not yet, not right now, first she needed to survive.

She stuck out her hand.

“Can we work together?”

He nodded.

“Sure thing, boss.”

They shook hands, and a tiny portion of the load on Zoe’s shoulders fell away.

“Do you want to come back to the fire, or do you have more brooding to do?”

“Actually,” he rubbed a hand through his hair. “I leveled up twice during the fight. I want to find some elements and incorporate them.”

“Good idea. What are you thinking, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He reached out and stroked a mirrored headstone.

“I want more Insight, as much as I can get. So mirror for one, but I also want more of the lightness that Sky brings. I think I’ll climb atop the church, and see if I can’t incorporate the wind.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot.”

He shrugged, but she saw the prideful smile.

“It seems important.”

“I think it is,” she said. “Good luck, and come back to the fire when you want. We all need rest, and food I suppose.”

“If I have to eat another one of those nasty ass fruits I might just go through the gate by myself.”

Zoe grimaced.

“I know. Hey,” she pointed at the puppeteer. “Do you think that thing is edible?”

“Only one way to find out.”

It felt silly, to pick up the alien carcass and drag it back toward the fire, but she was famished. At times in her life, she ate far worse. Living in a forest, living away from civilization, she struggled. Meat was a luxury. And this meat they earned.

It bubbled and roasted on a spit across the fire and tasted more like lobster than anything else. Dry lobster and chewy, but still.

They wept as they ate. Enhanced fingertips gripped steaming meat. The first real meal, the first real luxury, since everything happened. A few minutes of devouring, and then jokes, banter, a normal conversation as though they were merely camping, and the world they all longed for waited over the hill for them to return.

Bella sliced the leftovers into carriable sections with her sword, and the metal blade struck something hard.

“I think I found the bastard’s skull,” she said.

She dug inside and pulled out a peculiar object. A shard of curved metal, dull and copperish. She held it up to the firelight and the party’s eyes.

“What do you think this is?” she asked.

An ethereal voice brought an answer.

[Bell fragments collected: 1/4]