Kane awoke the next morning to the sound of the SUV door closing. He sat up and caught the back of Harry disappearing into the grass.

“You all right, Harry?” he called out as he promptly built up his menacing aura and pushed it outwards.

“Shit, Dad! You made me pee on myself!” Harry yelled from the grass, and Kane began laughing loudly. “It’s not funny! You try peeing while half asleep when a killer aura runs up your back,” he grumbled loudly as he walked back towards the camp, shaking urine off his hands.

Harry opened the back of the SUV and began rummaging around for the soap, when all of a sudden he let out a gasp and fell to his knees, dry heaving, then vomiting on the grass. Kane was at his side in a flash, gripping his son’s trembling shoulders. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then Harry groaned. Kane helped him stand up, and Harry jumped a foot into the air as he came fully to his feet. He landed in a heap on the ground, and Kane rushed to help him back to his feet, more slowly this time.

“That damn rabbit nuzzled my hand when I got too close to the cage,” Harry groaned as he tried to steady himself. Then he looked at Kane, who blew out his cheeks in a raspberry as he tried not to laugh.

“What?” Harry said in alarm, and he rushed to the side mirror of the SUV. “Ahhh!” He toppled backwards, landing on his butt. Then he slowly got back to his feet and looked in the mirror again. “Aw, man, nooo,” he groaned, unable to tear his eyes away from the twitchy pink nose that had replaced his reptilian nasal slits.

“Cute,” Kane managed before the dam broke, and he roared with laughter.

Harry huffed and stomped his foot. With a yelp, he landed clumsily on top of the SUV. Kane stopped laughing instantly as Harry scrambled down off the roof of the vehicle.

“Whoa!” Harry glanced down at the visible bulges of the quad and calf muscles stretching the fabric of his once baggy jeans. “Guess I can jump now,” he said simply.

“Guess so,” Kane replied in kind. “Let’s get some grub, so we can get on the road.” He walked back to the small camp to stir the fire back to life. “But first, coffee.”

. . . . .

They found a small, abandoned convenience store with a large enough walk-in freezer, and he and Harry spent a bit of time cleaning it out, so Harry would not be stuck cramped in the SUV the whole time Kane was gone. Kane backed the SUV up to the freezer through the broken storefront window, then gave Harry the keys.

“Practice your zen while I’m gone. If I’m not back by this time tomorrow, get in the SUV and drive south. You’ll hit the wall eventually. Find the gate, tell them who you are, and ask for Mitchell if they won’t let you in,” he said, hugging his son tightly.

“You’ll come back, Dad,” Harry responded as Kane let go and took a few steps back.

“I’m so proud of you, son. See you soon.” He spun around and walked out of the store as Harry put on his headphones to listen to his favorite podcast recordings.

Kane spent the remainder of the daylight stalking through the shadows of the city surrounding the parking garage, watching closely for a few minutes from each spot until he had made a circuit around the entire structure. He sensed no movement, but that did not mean anything with that panther girl, Crystal, possibly stalking him in the shadows. Deciding to start at the top floor of the parking garage, he quietly slipped into the stairwell and began his ascent.

The top floor was not much different than the rest of the structure, other than the fact that it was not immaculately clean. They must have purposely left it dirty to disguise it from anyone flying overhead, but plenty of the bottles and garbage were recent enough to bear the Newmerica logo. He also found a few rickety old chairs in each corner of the roof; someone must be keeping watch. He began descending the ramp, staying in the shadows and moving slowly and silently.

He saw her then, crawling on top of some ten-inch pipes. She was not looking in his direction. Then he spotted a small cat-girl following behind Crystal just as stealthily. He did not know if Crystal was a jaguar or a leopard, but the smaller girl following was definitely a black tiger. Her dark grey stripes stood out starkly against the almost total darkness of her coat.

He watched them for a few more minutes. The smaller girl slipped a few times, and Crystal whispered instructions over her shoulder as the girl made adjustments. They were in the middle of another quiet lesson when Crystal stiffened suddenly, sniffing the air. Her head slowly turned to carefully survey the area, then she hissed almost inaudibly and headed his way. The tiger girl kept going and instantly disappeared from view.

He waited until Crystal was right above him before he looked up at her. She jumped as she saw the whites of his eyes, then relaxed as she made out his features and recognition sparked in her eyes.

“Hello again,” she said quietly as she dropped down to the floor beside him.

“Hello.” Kane stood up from his crouch.

“Been here long?” she asked casually.

“Yes. I have been watching you train the little one.”

She nodded. “I thought I sensed you a few times, but I wasn’t sure. You’re pretty sneaky for an old man. The little one you mentioned is one of the cubs from the crèche who is old enough to join my pride now, so I’m training her up.”

“I’m not old!” Kane interrupted incredulously. He changed the subject at Crystal’s amused expression. “What is a crèche?”

“It’s a nursery,” she clarified with a small smile. Then she cleared her throat and said more seriously, “Why did you come back? There is nothing for you here.”

That brought him up short, and he floundered for a moment over how to approach the next part of the conversation.

“Does your father know I’ve been here yet?” Kane asked carefully.

“Yes. He was extremely upset with us, and he beat Royce badly for not shooting you,” Crystal answered with a sad look in her eyes.

Kane took a few seconds to cool his temper before continuing. “Is he okay? Is there anything I can do?”

“No,” Crystal answered brusquely. “If we see you again, we are to kill you on sight.”

Kane nodded in understanding. “You’re taking a big risk in talking to me, but I need your help.” Since he was still alive, she must not want him dead. He continued, “Your dad sent a bunch of bad men to my home and killed many of my friends. I just want to know why.”

Her eyes widened; ears pinned back. “Are you here to get revenge?” She glanced from side to side as she quickly backed away from him.

“No!” Kane said instantly, raising his hands to placate her fears. “I don’t hurt children,” he said more quietly.

That seemed to calm her down, but she kept her distance. “You smell different now, but I don’t smell the stench of lies. You must leave now, nevertheless. If anyone else sees you, it will be bad for all of us. Please go,” she pleaded.

“I can’t. I need to get to the bottom of some things first. Can you tell me your father’s or mother’s name?”

“I can’t. We only know them as Mother and Father.”

“Crap. Can you tell me what they look like, at least?”

“Father looks different every time he visits, but Mother is a beautiful black spider who visits us once a week to read us stories, teach us, and sing to us before taking her samples. It’s always a good thing when Mother visits, because every three to four months, she brings us new brothers and sisters.”

Kane choked as Crystal finished speaking, but he tried to compose himself. “Three months? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. The part she has told us is that she lays three to five eggs each time, and after they hatch, she raises them for a few weeks before she brings them here to live with us,” Crystal explained.

“So, how many siblings do you have?”

“I am from one of Mother’s fifth clutch. There are twelve of us that are sixteen years old, but some of them have left to work with Father and Mother. Mother says we have four big brothers and one big sister, but we have only met two of our big brothers. They come and check on us every now and then, when Father and Mother are too busy. We don’t know our birthdays, just our birth months, so there are thirteen of us that are fifteen years old, fourteen that are fourteen, fifteen that are thirteen years old, and so on, for a total of a little over one hundred and fifty of us.”

Kane sputtered in disbelief. “One hundred and fifty? Where do you all sleep?”

“We spent years expanding the bottom levels. We have even dug a tunnel, with the Rodents’ help. It goes all the way to the city. But only Mother and Father are allowed to use it,” she said with pride.

“All the way to the city? Do they not live here with you?” Kane asked, trying to absorb it all.

“No. They’re really busy with their important jobs in the city.”

Kane’s head was spinning, but just as he was about to ask another question, a low growl rumbled beside them. Before Kane could react, a large black timber wolf pounced at him out of the darkness.

“No, Clay!” Crystal cried out, lunging between them. Crystal and Clay fought for a few seconds, but finally Crystal got the better of him and pinned him to the floor.

“My Pack will kill you for this, Crys!”

“Calm down, Clay. He’s not here to hurt us, and besides, your Pack couldn’t touch my Pride.”

Clay growled low in his throat but did not struggle.

“I think it’s time for you to go, Kane.”

“What will they do to you? Will you be okay?” Kane asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

“I will be fine. I am the leader of the Pride, one of the eight groups that make up our family. They can’t touch me without incurring the wrath of my Pride.”

“You won’t be the leader of the Pride for long, after I tell them what you’ve done,” Clay growled menacingly.

“Tell anyone about this, and I will tell them you and Greta have been fooling around,” Crystal said with an evil smile.

The smell of fear was like a smack in the face to Kane as Clay went limp in Crystal’s grip. “How do you know that?” Clay asked in a shuddering whisper.

“My Pride is always watching.” She turned to Kane. “Now get out of here, and don’t come back!”

Kane complied, melting into the shadows. He watched the panther and the wolf for a few minutes, but they were too far away for him to make out their conversation. Crystal eventually released Clay and leapt up to the pipes again as he stalked loudly down the ramp.

Kane quickly lost track of Crystal, and he had to make a decision swiftly. Should he delve deeper into the garage and risk alienating Crystal (or worse), or should he just leave and be thankful for the information she had given him?

He was about to choose the former when a sudden commotion broke out below. Lights were coming up the ramp, and Crystal reappeared, landing squarely in front of the group to stop them.

“What’s going on, Janice?” she asked the black feathered, great horned owl girl that was leading the group.

“I’m taking my Flyers out for a flight around the city. We’re long overdue,” Janice replied.

“Your Flyers? Where’s that stinky vulture leader of yours?”

“Richard joined the Predators last night … which you would know if you stuck around more,” Janice said bitingly.

“You know I don’t get along with the other leaders—especially Richard’s new boss, Jackson,” Crystal responded with a frown.

“We all know that, but the Rodents and Hoofs need you down there. The carnivores are always so pushy when you’re not around to keep the peace,” said Janice.

“I will try to get down there more often, but I like the peace and quiet up here. It’s the furthest I can get away without wings… But I will try to do better,” she said, giving Janice a playful shove.

As the Flyers ascended the ramp, Kane knew that he was running out of time. If he did not make it back to the store before they took off, he would have to wait until morning. Luckily, as they continued going up, he was able to slip out onto the first level. He had a few minutes before they made it to the roof of the parking deck, so he slowed his pace a bit to keep things quiet.

A little while later, as Kane meandered through the city, he saw a large spider hunting on the sidewalk, stalking a large moth. As he watched, it jumped up to a lamppost and leapt at the moth, snagging it right out of the air. Kane had never understood why insects had never been affected by the virus. There must be a reason that they had never mutated, but it was confusing that consumers could still gain insect characteristics by eating them. He shuddered at the image of giant spiders with moth wings landing on him from above, and he said a silent prayer of thanks that insects had somehow missed out on the consumer lottery.

. . . . .

The next morning, after a good night’s sleep, he roused Harry from the back seat of the SUV, and they ate a quick meal before loading up and heading back towards the city. They had to get home so they could help Miranda get the house ready for the Independence Day feast. She had been planning this for months, and Kane’s circuitous journey through the city to invite everyone had made him miss cell phones terribly. Amy, her husband, Mitchell, Thomas, Bill, Gwen, Sorcha, and even Rebecca had agreed to come. Amy was the most excited for the meal because she had ‘big news’ to share with everyone. Kane was fairly sure it was a baby on the way, and he was more excited about that than he’d thought he would be.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Amy’s husband, Sven, was a weird one, though. They had met during Amy’s college days when she was working on dual bachelor’s degrees in biology and veterinary medicine, right before the Cure fell from the sky. She had met Sven, who was four years older than her, in vet school. Amy had graduated from high school at the young age of sixteen and jumped headfirst into college, so when she met Sven, she was only twenty … and they ran off and eloped one weekend, much to the horror of both their parents. They had chosen the aquatic route when the scramble for viable species to serve as a basis for mutations began. But Sven had not freaked out after the first transformation, like Amy had, so he’d later added seahorse and otter characteristics to his dolphin body. Kane felt bad for the aquatics who lived on land, because they had to rub a specially formulated saline lotion into their dry skin every hour or so.

“Whoa,” Harry said beside him, snapping Kane out of his reverie. “It’s huge!”

Kane saw the awe on Harry’s face and smiled. “The wall and gates do look daunting from the outside,” he agreed. “It might be best to climb in the back until we get home. It will raise a lot of questions if anyone sees you.”

Harry grumbled but complied with Kane’s wishes. They went through the entrance procedures, then Harry poked his head up from the back of the vehicle as Kane lost sight of the guard in the rearview mirror.

Before long, he was pulling into the driveway when he noticed that Miranda’s car was gone. There was a note taped to the front door, and as he approached, he saw that it was from Sorcha: Stopped by to see you and Harry. I will try to catch you some other time. 6/30. Love, Sorcha.

Kane glanced at his watch to see if it was wrong, but it was working normally, and the date was July 2.

“Weird,” Kane said as he went back in the garage and closed it. He wondered why Miranda had not pulled the note off the door yet. Opening the back so Harry could climb out, he followed his son into the house.

“Mom, we’re home!” Harry shouted as he kicked his shoes off at the door. “Mom…?” He walked into the kitchen.

The smell hit Kane then, and his heart accelerated. He caught up and passed Harry, laces trailing on the floor, his untied boots forgotten before he could even remove them. What looked like a breakfast scramble was rotting in a frying pan on the stove, and the coffee pot had boiled all the coffee off, leaving a deep brown sludge staining the inside of the pot. Kane switched it off as he passed and saw toast still sticking out of the toaster. The pressure system failure light was flashing; it looked as if the batteries were dying. The door to the basement was wide open.

They had been gone for a whole week, but Harry insisted that he had left a note in the basement for Miranda. Kane walked slowly down the steps as Harry’s increasingly panicked calls echoed through the empty house.

The note was lying on the floor of the basement, and Kane picked it up to read it: Mom, I went out with Dad. Don’t worry about me. I will be fine. Love you and see you soon, Harry.

He put the note on the table and went back upstairs. As Harry tried to pass him and go down, still calling for his mom, Kane grabbed his arm and squashed him into a hug.

“She’s gone, Harry,” Kane said.

Harry began to sob loudly in his arms.

Kane loaded an inconsolable Harry into the back of the SUV again, and they drove the forty-five minutes to his mother-in-law’s house. When they got there, Sorcha came out with a huge smile on her face, but it disappeared immediately when she glimpsed the look on Kane’s face. She sat down, hard, on the top step of her front porch. Kane came up the first few steps and looked at her.

“Harry snuck out by hiding himself in my SUV on my way out of the city, and Miranda has gone out looking for him. Can you watch Harry at the house while I go try to find her?” Kane asked, rubbing Sorcha’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Of course,” Sorcha said, pulling herself together. Then she asked desperately, “Do you think she could survive out there?”

“I don’t know … but regardless, I will find her,” Kane responded stoically.

Sorcha followed him back to his house, and he got Harry settled in the basement before he reset all the systems and left. He got in his SUV and headed towards the scavenger compound, deciding that he needed to restock and try to retrace his wife’s footsteps. He piloted the vehicle into the scav compound and went to the requisition counter to hand in his list, then went to look for Mitchell or Kyle.

“Hey, Kyle,” Kane called as he saw him walking past Mitchell’s office. “Have you seen Mitchell yet?”

“He should be back any minute. He heard some disturbing reports from the northeast, and he thinks it might be your Humanist pet making trouble. He sent the group he had stationed at the Bronx Gate up there after they radioed in your re-entry.”

“Thanks, Kyle.” Kane spun around, heading back to the requisition counter.

“Hey, Kane,” Kyle called after him. “Your wife was here looking for Mitchell a few days ago. She looked really upset after I told her he wasn’t here.”

“Thanks again, Kyle,” Kane said without turning around.

Kane hurriedly grabbed his supplies and rushed out of the compound. He used back roads to reach the Bronx Gate and got there in record time. Then he started driving west, staying as close to the wall as he could. After a bit, he whirled the SUV around and headed east, doing the same thing.

He passed the gate again and kept going, and a few minutes later, he hit pay dirt. Miranda’s car was parked in an alley, hidden from view. He jumped out of his SUV and checked the car. Miranda’s favorite flip-flops were lying on the floorboard. Clearly she had rushed out of the house, so it made sense that she had not been wearing proper shoes. Gaping at the wall, he shook his head in disbelief. Surely she had not tried to climb it!

He tracked her footprints through years of built-up grime and debris, following them into a nearby building. The tracks seemed to meander through randomly, until he found handprints accompanying the footprints. It looked like she had dropped to her hands and knees and scrabbled around for something on the floor. Examining the area more closely, he shuddered at what he found. There in an undisturbed part of the grime that Miranda had not smeared was the miniscule trail of a cockroach darting around in the chaos. The trail ended in what looked like claw marks, as if two hands hand scooped up the insect.

She must have caught it to take on its ability to climb walls, Kane speculated as he left the building. He did not think he could scale the wall as he was, and his inner praying mantis was being stubborn with its gifts. He still had not been able to get the arm blades or wings back, no matter how hard he tried.

He decided to drive back to the gate, intending to pick up her trail on the other side. But as he approached, he saw Mitchell descending the stairs leading to the watchtower on top of the wall. Mitchell waved him down, and Kane stepped out of his SUV.

“What’s going on, Kane? Kyle radioed and said you resupplied and left without saying much.”

“I don’t have time to explain, Mitchell. Please, just let me go,” Kane pleaded.

“They won’t let you through the gate without the right paperwork anyways. How did you plan on getting through?”

That brought Kane up short, and he inwardly chastised himself for such a gaping oversight.

“Kane, you aren’t thinking clearly,” Mitchell said with concern. “Take a breath and help me understand. You are my brother, and you know I will do anything for you.”

Kane took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. “Harry snuck out and followed me on my last mission, which made Miranda freak out, and apparently she tried to follow me too,” he summed up.

Mitchell’s eyes grew wide, and he tore out his radio. “Bronx tower, this is Colonel, do you read?”

“Copy Colonel, go for tower.”

“Seen anything strange lately, tower?”

“Negative, Colonel—oof, HEY!”

“Come again, tower?”

“Randy says he saw a giant cockroach a few nights ago, Colonel, but it was climbing out of the city, and we never hit anything with the spotlight.”

“Why was this not reported, tower? … Tower? Do you copy?”

“Loud and clear, Colonel. We just thought we were supposed to report things coming into the city?”

“Copy, tower. RTB for debrief and dress down at EOS.”

“Copy, end of shift, Colonel.”

Mitchel gave Kane a questioning look. “Giant cockroach…?”

Kane nodded but did not say anything.

“You can’t go out there alone, Kane, you’re still not thinking clearly,” Mitchell said carefully.

Kane’s face hardened, and Mitchell grimaced. “You can’t stop me, Mitchell,” he said with fire in his eyes.

Mitchell did not rise to the challenge, but simply placed his hand on Kane’s shoulder. “I just want to help. Let me get Rebecca on com, and she can go with you?”

“I don’t have that much time,” Kane retorted, his patience running out.

Mitchell nodded sadly. “North station, this is Colonel, copy?”

“North station, go ahead, Colonel.”

“Need a patch to base. Over”

“Patching. Over and out.”

“… This is base. Go ahead.”

“Base, this is Colonel. Get Kyle for me.”

“Copy, Colonel. Hold.”

A few minutes passed, but just as Kane began to get angry, Mitchell squeezed his shoulder and held up one finger.

“Colonel, this is Kyle. Over.”

“Kyle, I’m reconning with Kane for a bit. Send Rebecca if available and follow SOP while I’m gone. Copy?”

“Copy, Colonel. Happy hunting. Over and out.”

Mitchell let go of Kane and walked over to his Knight XV, which was a decent upgrade compared to Kane’s SUV. Retrieving his huge sniper rifle from the back seat, he strapped his broadsword on his back, then heaved out his shotgun, a twin to Kane’s old Benelli M2 with a matching XRail. “Let’s go,” he said, walking towards Kane.

Kane pivoted and popped the back hatch so Mitchell could place his gear inside. Getting into the SUV, he waited for Mitchell to move his seat all the way back and down before he put the car in drive, and they made their way towards the gate. The guard waved them through and closed the gate behind them. Kane went right as they exited, hoping to quickly find Miranda’s trail where she had gone over the wall.

“You know we’ve been doing this for over fifteen years now?” Mitchell said conversationally. Kane’s only grunted in acknowledgement, so Mitchell continued, “Fifteen years going out every day, scavenging the surrounding area for anything of value we could find. Fifteen years of fighting back the unending hordes and mutants. Fifteen years of burying our friends and loved ones. When will it get easier? Sure, we’ve gotten better at surviving, and at killing … but when does it get better? When does the world go back to normal?”

Mitchell trailed off and stared out the window for a few minutes. Kane brought the vehicle to a stop and was about to say something when Mitchell opened the door and got out.

Kane followed Mitchell to the wall in silence, and they began searching for any signs of Miranda. They did not have to search long; they found the trail in the crushed grass and followed it for a few hundred feet before they came to an old house. Once inside, they found a spot where Miranda had clearly lain for some time, until the transformation had reversed, marked by the signs of a thrashing human body. Then they followed the footprints to a nearby closet, where they found some moth-eaten clothes and shoes. It looked like she had found some clothes and a pair of boots, a few sizes too big, and they followed the boot tracks back out into the yard. From there, the tracks became hard to follow, but with Kane’s enhanced sense of smell, he found that her scent was still barely present on the grass.

“Can you go get the SUV and follow on the roads that have our scav markings as best as you can?” Kane asked Mitchell as he began to follow the trail. Mitchell nodded and walked back the way they had come. Kane heard the engine roar to life, then he lost himself in the art of tracking.

The sun set a few hours later, making further tracking impractical, so Mitchell found a spot and made camp for the night. Kane’s sleeping bag was not big enough for Mitchell, so Mitchell opened it up and laid on top of it, his feet dangling comically over the edge, while Kane slept fitfully in the SUV. They awoke early, and after a quick breakfast, Kane was off again. He did not stop until lunchtime, and then only at Mitchell’s behest.

“I’ve known you since boot camp, and I was best man at your wedding,” Mitchell said as they ate their MREs. “We have walked through hell together, and you know I would gladly walk through it with you again. But how long do you plan on following the trail? You might not like what you find, Kane. She has no training and no supplies. I’m actually surprised she lasted this long. I know she’s a strong woman and you love her very deeply. I’m just trying to help in the best way I know how.”

Kane did not say anything for a long moment. He took a large bite, chewed and swallowed, before finally answering, “I have to find her, no matter what. Harry already blames himself. At the very least, I need to give him some closure.”

Mitchell nodded gravely, and they finished eating lunch and got back to tracking. They spent the rest of the day following her trail, but they lost it for a few hours where she had transformed into something else and started bounding from place to place. Kane knew that two transformations so close together was an unbelievably bad thing, and he tried to pick up the pace as the sun set on their second day.

But the next day went much the same, and her trail became a wide slither where what could only be a huge snake left deep furrows in the ground. At first he feared she had been eaten, but after examining the disturbed area in a panic, he determined to his relief that it seemed to be just another transformation. How she had even found a snake to eat, Kane did not know, and he vowed to ask her if he found her … when he found her. She made great progress as a snake, and Kane found it bizarre that she was able to function at such a high level, given the euphoric bliss she often slipped into during her transformations. Either she was learning to take better control, or she had lost herself completely in the transformations and was just acting on instincts.

Eventually, he came to a spot where it seemed the snake had climbed up into a tree for the night, and he had to scour the ground to find her new trail. It seemed to suggest she had still been a snake when she came back down, but that couldn’t be right; she should be naked and barefoot again. But the confusion dissipated as Kane felt like he was getting close, and his heart swelled with hope when he spotted smoke from a fire over the nearby hills.

Kane raced off in that direction, and he heard Mitchell gun the engine behind him to keep up. But as he crested the hill, he stumbled to a stop and dropped to his belly. Three behemoths were huddled around the fire, conversing in broken English. Kane stiffened in recognition of Mickey, the Doberman-snake-tiger that had been roaming around the Holland Tunnel Gate with Tusks and Beck. Mickey was the largest of these three—over eight feet tall, if he remembered correctly—and the other two looked a head shorter. Luckily, they were too deep in discussion to notice his sudden appearance atop the hill. Kane decided not to move any closer as he heard the SUV door close quietly at the bottom of the hill behind him. Straining his sensitive ears, he began catching bits of the conversation.

“What’s the best part?” one of them asked Mickey.

“I have alwaysss loved the haunchesss, but Terry and Beck alwaysss preferred the breassst and ribsss. They liked to sssuck the meat off the bonesss while it wasss still warm,” Mickey replied with a smack of his lips.

“What should we try next?” the other asked Mickey.

“We can’t do the breassst or haunchesss yet. Ssshe will bleed out too quick. And ssshe isss already in ssshock from our firssst feassst.”

Kane jerked at the mention of a “she,” and he frantically scanned the area for signs of anyone else. He found it then—and the small figure lying crumpled under the blood-soaked blanket almost made him cry out in agony. He started as Mitchell crawled up to him on his belly, and Kane turned to him. Mitchell grew grim as he recognized the look on Kane’s face.

“On me” was all Kane said as he tore off down the hill.

Mitchell watched him through the scope of his Anzio and as Kane approached the group. Their heads jerked up in unison, then the one to the left of Mickey lost his head in an explosion of red mist, as Mitchell squeezed the trigger, and the one on the right received a bowie knife to the eye socket. Kane had already drawn his katana as Mitchel pulled back from his scope, and with a mighty swing, he sliced Mickey clean in half at his navel, where the tiger fur became snake scales. Mickey’s snake half began to thrash around wildly, his upper half screaming as his guts poured out of him. Kane dropped the point of the katana between Mickey’s eyes, and the scream abruptly cut off. Flinging the blood and gore from his blade, he sheathed it and rushed over to the blood-soaked blanket.

Gently he peeled the blanket from the ruined body beneath, and he found Miranda looking up at him with dazed, unfocused eyes. Both of her legs ended with poorly cauterized stumps at the knee, and her left arm was gone to the elbow. They were trying to keep her alive as they devoured her bit by bit, Kane surmised, going pale.

Mitchell approached slowly and crouched beside him as he looked down at the tiny form of Miranda and shook his head. “There is nothing we can do, Kane. She won’t make it back to the city in this condition.”

Kane gritted his teeth. “We have to try. Will you go get the SUV and park it right here?” he pleaded.

“Of course.” Mitchell got to his feet and hurried over the hill.

“It’s going to be okay, Mira. I’m here now,” Kane sobbed.

Miranda stirred then, and she struggled mightily to focus on his face. “Kane?” she rasped out in a torn whisper. “Is that you?”

“Yes, Miranda.” Kane leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. “It’s me, honey.”

“It hurts, Kane,” Miranda croaked as silent tears began to run down her face.

“I know, baby doll; I’m going to fix it soon. Just hang on a little longer.”

The SUV glided up beside them, and Mitchell jumped out with the first aid kit, but there was nothing in it that could really help her. Kane tried the coagulant anyway, and the scream she let out as he applied it to her leg nearly tore his soul from his body. After two more applications, she was shivering uncontrollably. When Kane and Mitchell picked her up and put her in the back of the SUV, the scream she released then sounded as if she were damaging her vocal cords. Kane jumped in the back beside her and gave her the only morphine he had, and Mitchell took off as fast as he dared, doing his best not to jostle her.

They drove all through the night. Kane began to grow hopeful as the massive wall became visible on the horizon. Miranda started to wheeze gently not long after, and she tried to speak a few times before Kane was able to get her to relax and save her energy. He could just make out the gate when a horrible, wrenching death rattle began echoing from deep within her chest.

Mitchell floored it, barking on the radio for them to open the gate, but Kane heard none of it. Miranda was clenching his hand so tightly that her knuckles were white, and he began whispering in her ear. “Almost there, my love. Just a little longer. Hold on, baby… Please, just hold on.”

Suddenly her back arched with a sickening crack, then she fell still, her hand going limp in his.

He thought he heard someone screaming, but he did not know who. A shrill whistle rang in his ears, and all he could see was Miranda’s lips drawn back in a horrible grimace, exposing her teeth and gums. Her cheeks were sunken in. And it was him who was screaming … and screaming … and screaming…