Terrence was on the fifth floor when he ran into trouble. Thus far, he’d run into two troops of guards, both as gruff as the first group, but they hadn’t given him too many problems. Apparently, things on the surface were pretty bad. Getting through the last few floors and finding his family wouldn’t be easy with so many creatures eager to give him a quick ticket to the next life.

The commotion on the next landing made him stop his upward trek. He’d been doing his best to avoid trouble, but upon seeing Caliax surrounded by a pack of snarling, wolf-like monstrosities, he had to pause. The light above them was flickering madly, and Caliax had climbed on top of a pile of rubble. He was doing all he could to keep the monsters away, and as three of the wolf-things searched for a break in his defenses, the fourth one made a wide circle around it. With Caliax’s focus on staying balanced, he didn’t notice the monster sneaking up behind him.

Terrence figured that if he ran, the wolf monsters would probably be too distracted to pursue him. But he’d seen enough people die that day. “Behind you!” Terrence shouted. He picked up a piece of rubble and threw it at the fourth monster. It didn’t do much to hurt it; all it really accomplished was making it look up to figure out who it needed to maim next. Upon finding its assaulter, the creature’s ears flattened and it snarled, and Terrence wondered just what sort of idiotic idea had caused him to decide to get involved in this. The monster charged, leapt, and fell down dead. The corpse landed a few feet from Terrence. Caliax directed a few more bullets at the remaining monsters, and upon seeing what had happened to their companion, the creatures scattered.

Caliax took a deep breath and climbed down from the pile. Terrence noticed that the area around his eyes was rimmed and dark, just like it had been with his previous host. He breathed heavily and managed a grin. “We ought to stop meeting in such dangerous situations. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They both heard a squishy sound from around the corner. Caliax readied his weapon, but even as Terrence stepped back reflexively, the unseen creature revealed itself to be the ball of hands. It rolled into view, slapping wetly against the pavement, and paused for a moment. It clapped its way over to Terrence, presented him with an almost pristine piece of string, and then applauded itself way.

Caliax didn’t look entirely sure what to make of the encounter. “Well, ah, I suppose we should be on our way. The sooner we get to the surface, the sooner we can be done with this monster business. Are you ready?” Terrence nodded. “Lovely. Then let’s—” Suddenly he whipped around, aiming behind them. “Well, hello there,” he grinned savagely.

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There, standing at the other side of the room, was Felicia. Her pistol was aimed at them, and it looked like the only reason she hadn’t pulled the trigger yet was because destruction was mutually assured. “Don’t move, either of you, or I’ll shoot,” she threatened.

Carefully, Terrence raised his hands above his head. “Wait, everyone, we don’t need to do this.”

“Your behavior is inexcusable,” Felicia snapped. She shrugged her ponytail off of her shoulder. “Step away from the monster or I will be forced to shoot you as well.”

Terrence didn’t move. “Felicia, Caliax, please, can we put the weapons down? We’re not here to hurt you.”

“Well, you should speak for yourself. Although, I’m open to negotiations if you drop the pistol, Ma’am,” Caliax replied.

“First you side with monsters, and now you make demands at me?” Felicia glared. “If I refuse, I suppose you’ll start threatening to have me shot? Your monster lackey would be all too happy to do that anyway, and sacrifice you while he’s at it.”

“So, I’m a lackey? I’ve heard larvae give better insults,” Caliax scoffed.

Felicia’s gaze fell once more on Terrence. “I will give you one final chance to convince me of your sanity and step away from this creature. Don’t make me destroy you along with him.”

“So no matter what, you’ll kill him? You’re acting more like a monster than he is!”

For a moment, Felicia hesitated. She lowered the pistol just a fraction of an inch and opened her mouth to speak. That was when Caliax shot her.

The range had been close, and the damage was brutal. Blood splattered against the wall and Felicia dropped, unquestionably dead. “You killed her! You just killed her!” Terrence screamed, lunging for Caliax.

Caliax, thanks to his host’s considerable strength, managed to pin Terrence against the ground. “Oh, be reasonable, won’t you? She was ready to shoot your sorry hide, and me along with it. If you wanted to die, I can arrange that as well as she could’ve.”

“She was letting us go! You shot her when she was letting us go!”

Caliax moved his fingers before Terrence could bite them. “No, she hesitated momentarily, and I took advantage of the opportunity. Presumably, she would have started firing as soon as she’d regained her conviction. Now will you please shut up before you attract the attention of every monster and guard in this facility?” Clearly, Terrence was refusing to comply. Caliax sighed. “Terrence, I’d prefer your cooperation, but I don’t require it. I still hope you’ll come around eventually.”

He slammed the back of his gun against Terrence’s head, and everything went black.