Most of the old train station had collapsed, but some of the rubble had been cleared away, revealing a shattered concrete stairway leading down into darkness. Looking around, Kano couldn’t see any sign of the area beneath being occupied. Was this really the right place?

Yon’s directions had been precise, and this matched what she’d described. “I guess this is it.”

Kano and Nove descended while Urick lingered at the top of the stairs. “I can’t go in there.”

Nove stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “Why not?”

“It’s too dark for me to see. Maybe I should just wait out here. I won’t be any use anyway if I can’t see.”

Sighing, Kano stopped. “You’re not really any use, anyway. Now shut up and follow us. That’s an order.”

Despite the miserable expression on his face, Urick had no choice but to obey. He was shuffling downward toward the tunnel when Nove stopped him. “Are you sure about this, Kano? How’s he going to keep up? We might be better off just leaving him.”

Unbelievable. Did no one else possess the slightest initiative? “Do I have to think of everything? Just carry him, then.”

Scooping him up in her meaty mitts, Nove set him across her shoulders. “Are you okay up there?”

He didn’t look much happier, but he gave her a thumbs-up. Kano started descending again. “Then let’s go already.”

The interior had been gutted long ago, leaving an empty concrete cavern with a few pieces of ancient junk lying around, stuff not even worth salvaging. Even the train tracks were gone. They stepped off the platform onto the path the trains had once traveled. Kano peered down the tunnel into the darkness ahead. Making a loud clicking noise with her tongue, she got a better sense of her surroundings. The way ahead was just as barren.

“Yon said it wasn’t too far, right?”

Standing beside her, Nove adjusted her grip on her passenger. “That’s right. We should get there in an hour or two.”

Kano was already regretting this trip. “That’s what you people consider not very far?”

“The sooner we get there, the sooner we can go back home.”

Now that they’d be walking in more or less a straight line, Nove set Urick down. He stuck close by her as the two of them followed Kano. As they proceeded, Kano periodically let out a shriek, like the cry of a dying animal. Partially for navigation and partially just for her own amusement. It made Nove and Urick wince each time, much to her delight.

They walked for what felt like hours before they saw a bright yellow-white light ahead. Kano shielded her eyes, turning away from it. “Looks like we’re here.”

Hopping from one foot to the other, ponderous bulk swaying, Nove brought her clawed hands in close to her body. “What should we do?”

“What do you mean? Let’s just walk right in,” Kano said, already in the process of doing exactly that. Stepping out into the light, it took a few moments before her eyes adjusted enough to see anything more than a blur. Her surroundings resolved into several little shacks cobbled together from scrap metal. Held together by crude rivets, they were all sharp edges and unfinished iron. Despite their simplistic design, they were in good repair. The exteriors were covered in a series of electric lights, and the combined effect was like being under the midday sun.

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Not seeing anyone around, Kano called out. “Hello?”

A small head poked out of the nearest building’s window. It was like a run-of-the-mill ghoul, but in miniature. Other than its size, the only other oddity was its bald head. They wore gray shifts of rough fabric, many of them torn and patched. Kano had never seen anything quite like it. What was the point of such a small ghoul?

Looking around, she saw the same manner of creature looking back at her from each of the shacks. Wide eyed, they watched her, none of them saying anything or venturing out of their homes. Kano shrugged. She was used to ghouls avoiding her. They all looked much the same to her, with no distinction between male and female.

She walked over to the first little ghoul she’d noticed. “Hey there, I’m looking for a necromancer named Gre…sis…something or other. Do you know him?”

Still staring right at her, the ghoul thing remained motionless except for its mouth. “You seek the master?”

Kano bit her lip. “The master” did sound like something a necromancer would call themselves. “Sure. Where is he? I’m guessing he’s not in one of your little houses.”

“No, no. The master almost never comes here. He lives far, far beyond here. But you can’t go there. It is forbidden.”

Sticking out her tongue, Kano blew a short raspberry. “Forbidden? Seriously? What’s going to happen if I ignore your warning and keeping walking, huh?” If the creature she was speaking to had been within arm’s reach, she would have poked them. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Nove and Urick creeping toward her, and she shouted to them, “Never mind. We can’t go through here! It’s forbidden.”

“If you proceed,” the creature said from the other side of the window, “the guardians will punish you.”

Kano threw up her hands. “Oh no! Not the guardians! Whatever shall we do?” She turned back to Nove. “Can you believe this guy?”

Nove scratched her head with one of her claws. “Shouldn’t we at least try to get a little more information?” She approached the ghoul, crouching down so their eyes were level. Although Nove had to be at least ten times the creature’s weight, it seemed unfazed by her presence. “What do these guardians look like?”

“They’re big,” it replied, “like you. But they’re made out of metal instead.”

Nove nodded. “Do they have guns?”

“No.”

Tired of waiting, Kano slapped Nove on the back and said, “All right, sounds easy enough. Let’s keep going.”

She was walking away from the ramshackle building when an idea struck her, and she hurried back to the window. She’d spent enough time getting lost recently, and they could do with a guide who knew the area. “Show us the way.”

For the first time, the ghoul reacted, withdrawing as far away from her as it could go inside the single-room building. “It’s not outside time yet. We have to stay in.”

Kano scoffed and cut through the wall in front of her with a quick application of her force field. Other than cowering in the corner, the house’s resident offered no resistance. She picked them up by the waist and carried them outside. Setting it down in front of Nove, she gestured toward her companion and looked at the little ghoul. “You’re going to lead us, or she’s going to eat you. Understand?”

Sighing, Kano’s prisoner/guide nodded.

Kano smiled. “Good, then lead the way, uh… what’s your name?”

“Thirty-Six.”

“That’s a stupid name. Well, lead on, then, Thirty-Six.”

As they squeezed through the narrows gaps between the buildings, Kano kept an eye on the other ghouls. They were all still inside, watching. She thought they might try to rescue one of their own, or at least protest what was happening, but they continued with their indifferent observation. It made her want to destroy their little town, if only to see what they’d do, but she had other priorities. Maybe on the way back.

She gave the small figure walking ahead of her a shove. “Aren’t your friends going to help you?”

They turned and stared, their features freezing in an open-mouthed expression of incomprehension. Scratching her head, Kano tried again. “Why aren’t the others doing anything, even though I’m forcing you to leave your house?”

“It is not their place to do so,” the little creature said, speaking with conviction. “Our lives belong to the master. My fate is, as always, in his hands.”

Kano shrugged, affecting an air of indifference. In actuality, she thought it amazing. These guys were even stupider than the people on the surface. It only strengthened her desire to destroy the necromancer they called master. Only an awful person would create such worthless beings.