Caruso peered at the remains of Mang, numb with shock. When a second figure emerged from the tree line, he jolted back behind his room, suddenly aware of the danger he was in. His spine went cold. He tried to focus, tried to think, but his mind was a panicked blur. He buried his head between his knees and suppressed the temptation to wall himself in. He saw how that worked out for Mang. They’d killed her like she was nothing. He heard the two Urchins get closer. He was hyperventilating. Why am I just sitting here?

‘Oi! There’s another one!’ a third voice called out, this one came from beyond the clearing in Zone 3. A third Urchin had spotted him.

That was all it took to get him on his feet. He ran, just as Ferris had instructed, into the forest, away from this third Urchin. To his left, the woman appeared around the back of the building. She was dripping in Mang’s blood and held her blinking pole in one hand. She joined the chase. Caruso veered away from her, into Zone 3, running for his life.

Now that he had decided to flee, it was easier to focus. Only two of them gave chase. Caruso had a small lead on both pursuers, maybe thirty paces, but they were fast. What had Ferris said about dealing with Urchins? He had to keep running. And he had to use his walling. That was his only chance. He put a long wall across the woman’s path, forcing her around it. He did the same behind him. Each wall kept the Urchins at bay, buying him time.

The walling and the running became his manic rhythm. Maintaining it was the only thing keeping him alive. And it was working. For now.

The problem was Caruso was not a strong runner. He focused on his legs, willing them onwards, faster, faster, faster, faster. He had never run like this before. It was almost unbelievable to see his legs pumping this quickly, and to see the trees whizz by around him. But how long could this last?

He kept sprinting, plotting his path between the trees, throwing up his walls behind him as he went. All the while trying to avoid the tree roots that snaked through the carpeting shrooms.

He risked a quick glance behind him—maybe he’d lost them. It was a desperate, foolish hope. If anything, they’d gained on him. The woman was now within twenty paces, inside his walling range. He aimed one directly at her, but she was ready for it and blinked away before it could launch her. The other Urchin was somewhere behind him, but he didn’t dare glance over his shoulder again. A single stumble would be his death.

It felt like he’d only just started running when his legs began to slow and feel heavy. He screamed internally at them, threw everything he had left at them; but they didn’t care, they were at their limit. His entire body was. His mouth tasted like blood. His breaths were wheezing gasps. The Urchins would catch him soon.

He considered turning around and fighting them. It was a ludicrous thought—him taking on experienced Urchins. But what other options did he have? Fighting could be his only hope—and that terrified him. But as long as he kept running, kept walling, he wouldn’t have to face that option just yet.

Each stride was now a painful effort. Each breath a desperate burning gasp. Even navigating around the trees was proving difficult. A couple of times he almost tripped on an errant tree root, and one time, nearly caught himself on a low hanging branch. He wanted this to end. And soon it would. He wondered briefly if it was possible to run himself to death. Surely he was getting close.

A bright glade lay up ahead. On its far side stood a tall shroomtree with a wide flat cap high amongst the canopy. There wouldn’t be a better opportunity. He made a snap decision and decided to go for it. Getting up on that shroomcap probably wouldn't save him, but it seemed better than turning and fighting. In the middle of the glade, without stopping first, he walled himself high into the air. His running momentum launched him up above the canopy towards the cap on the far side.

He’d never attempted anything like this before. It was insane. And he quickly realised he was too high, flying too fast. From this angle, even if he were to land on the shroomcap, there was no way to stop himself careening off the far edge. Luckily, the cap turned out to be much bigger and softer than he’d expected. He punched through the surface, burying himself up to the neck in mushroom.

He tried digging himself out and wriggling free but his arms wouldn’t budge. He was completely stuck. He was done. It was over.

Suddenly everything slowed.

His heart still felt like it was about to explode, his mouth still tasted like acidic blood, his legs still throbbed and ached: but it was over. Entombed in this soft shroom, he relaxed into his final rest. It felt good, like being tucked into a warm luxurious bed.

The woman’s shrill voice below him argued with the men. It sounded like one had begun to climb the tree next to his shroomtree. They were coming to kill him. Like they killed Mang. But it didn’t matter. There was no hope of surrendering, no hope of fighting—up here he couldn’t even wall. And he was buried to the neck in a giant shroomcap. He almost laughed at the hopelessness of it all.

When they killed Mang, he had been terrified. But now that there was nothing he could do, it gave him some peace of mind. He didn’t need to worry about fighting, or figuring out an escape plan, or trying to survive. It took the pressure off him, took his fate out of his hands. There was a comforting release that came when he relinquished control. Caruso closed his eyes, savouring his final wheezing breaths.

‘Caruso?’

Caruso craned his neck to see Webber in the neighbouring tree. ‘Webber?’ He said dumbly, barely believing what he was seeing. Then suddenly it clicked. The woman who killed Mang was the same Urchin he saw that night in Zone 2. Zeela told him about the two Urchins that took Webber under their wing. That third Urchin’s voice…Of course. It was Webber.

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There was a brief moment when Caruso didn’t know who exactly he was looking at. He knew it was Webber. But was this his friend? Or was this the Urchin who had come to kill him?

But the answer was written so clearly on his friend’s face that Caruso felt a fool for questioning it, even for a second.

‘Holy shit! Caruso!’ Webber said. He hurriedly jumped across from the tree and promptly sank into the soft shroomcap up to his knees. ‘Fuck me, that’s soft.’

‘Tell me about it.’

Webber regarded Caruso’s exposed head, a grin tugged at his mouth, and he quickly fell into a contagious laughter.

‘You have any idea,’ Webber laughed, ‘how ridiculous you look in there?’

Caruso grinned back, ‘It’s not my proudest moment.’

Webber began excavating Caruso. It was strange to go from certain death to laughing with his old friend. He felt lightheaded. The aching of his legs and lungs were lifted by the sweet relief that floated through him. He wasn’t going to die. And he was back with Webber. It felt like a dream.

‘Man,’ Webber said. ‘I came up here expecting a fight. But this is even better! I still can’t believe it’s actually you! When they took you into Zone 3… Well, I wanted to come bust you out, ya know? Didn’t want to leave you behind. But Pango—he’s that big fella that just arrived down there—he told me I wouldn’t stand a chance.’

The thought of Webber strolling into the compound and trying to fist-fight Ferris made Caruso smirk. ‘I think Pango might’ve been right.’

‘Hey, gimme a break, I didn’t know nothing about Zone 4 shrooms back then. I saw you wall yourself up here, that was pretty sweet! Check this out!’ Webber moved to the edge of the shroomcap before blinking into the middle of it and looking back at Caruso with a huge grin.

‘Nice,’ Caruso said, smiling at his friend. ‘I can’t believe you’re actually here.’

Webber returned to his digging, ‘I know. Everything's been so crazy, man. So you’re one of them Foresters now?’

‘Yeah,’ Caruso said carefully. ‘And you’re an Urchin?’

‘You gotta say “Urqaani,” otherwise they get pissy about it. But yeah, I’m pretty much one of them now. Isn’t that weird? I joined a bit late to get one of them slimekeys, though. Heard that’s what you got that night. You got lucky!’

Caruso expected there to be something between them—an edge, an awkward tension, some acknowledgment that they were on opposite sides of a feud, that Webber had come up here to kill him. None of that seemed to matter. Webber didn’t look at him any differently. It was like they were back in Zone 2, gathering shrooms for Bozi.

‘Webber!’ The woman’s voice called up. ‘What the fuck are you doing up there?’

Webber peered over the edge, ‘It’s Caruso!’

‘And?’

‘Obviously, I’m not going to fight my friend, Eve.’

‘Why not?’

Webber rolled his eyes at Caruso, ‘Don’t mind her. She acts all angry and pissed off but…well she is, but she’s alright, ya know?’ Webber peered over the edge again. ‘We’re coming down!’

‘Webber,’ Caruso said. ‘I think if I go down there, they will kill me.’

‘Na, you’ll be right. Pango would never hurt you. And Eve…she’ll listen to me. I’ve told them all about you.’

‘She didn’t give much thought to killing Mang.’

‘That Forester back there? Yeah but she was one of those anima experimenters.’

His comment gave Caruso pause. Aren’t I one too? ‘But you know I was working at that anima station…’

‘Yeah but surely you weren’t…you weren’t actually doing experiments on people. Right?’

Was I? Or was that just Mang? ‘...The Foresters just sent me there to study the notes.’

‘See? Don’t worry, man. It’s all good.’

Is it?

Webber finally managed to hoist Caruso out of the shroomcap. They sat on the now churned up surface, careful not to sink back in. ‘How the fuck do we get down?’ Webber asked.

Caruso frowned at the tree Webber had climbed up on. The only part thick enough to support weight required a small jump to get to, but even a small jump would be problematic from the soft cap.

‘Well,' Caruso said. 'I could catch us with a wall.’

‘Oh right! Forgot about that.’

‘But I’m not that good at it yet...'

'What are you on about? When you walled up here I figured you for a pro.'

‘I've never had to catch someone else before.'

‘You want to go alone first?’ Webber offered.

Caruso carefully leaned over to peer down into the glade; the woman stood next to the large anima man, scowling back up at him. ‘That’s okay, we’ll go together.’

They crawled towards the edge of the cap which was about fifty paces off the ground. Caruso was nervous but Webber put him at ease with a casual smile. For whatever reason, Webber seemed to have no doubts in his walling ability. They locked arms and without further ado, stepped off together. Webber let out a loud whoop as they dropped from the cap, wind whistling past their ears. As they approached the ground, Caruso’s wall rushed up to meet them, before dropping back down to catch them. The catch was jarring, but Caruso managed to smooth it out by the end.

‘Wall, and you’re dead,’ the woman said, standing five paces from Caruso. He wasn't sure what direction the Godshroom lay, but felt very confident she was standing in his blinkshadow. She looked him square in the eye, as if daring him to make a move. ‘What the fuck are you thinking, Webber?’ She kept her eyes locked onto Caruso as she spoke.

‘Chill out, Eve,’ Webber said. Eve did not chill out. She kept her sharp gaze on Caruso, stabbing him in the face with it. ‘Seriously, Eve.’ Webber said, coming between Caruso and Eve. ‘It’s okay!’

‘How is this okay?' She said. 'This was not part of the plan.’

‘Well, the plan changed. Relax.’

‘And what did the plan change to, Webber? Did you care to think that far ahead? You realise we can’t just let one of Ferris's minions go running free.’

‘We’ll bring him with us then.’

‘Why would we do that?’

‘Because he’s my fucking friend, that’s why!’

Eve made an anguished groan. ‘You don’t think Ferris is going to come looking for him? Are you going to fight Ferris if he shows up?’

‘Yeah, I will.’

Pango chuckled. ‘Eve, we should probably bring the kid with us.’

‘If you tell me you have another one of your good feelings I’ll blink my fist into your face.’

'Look at him, Eve,' Pango said. 'He’s just a kid. And he’s Webber’s friend. I know you don’t want to kill him.’

‘Why wouldn’t I? He’s a Forester. He deserves the same fate as that last one I killed.’

‘If you truly believed that, you would’ve killed him already.’

There was an agonizing stand off. Eve quickened her breath, conflict warred behind her eyes—eyes that she never took off Caruso. Webber remained between them. But Caruso knew that barrier was just a facade against a blinker.

Pango spoke in a deep calm voice. ‘You know I’m right Eve. You don’t want to do this. You don’t have to be that person. Don’t contradict me just to make a point. Like you said, we don't want to give him back to Ferris. So we’ll take him with us, maybe we can help him.’

‘Some people don’t deserve to be helped.’

‘But I’m pretty sure this one does. We should at least try talking to him.’

‘If he was already working at that fucking torture lab, then its too late for talking.’

Caruso thought it was best not to say anything. All Eve needed to do was blink and he was dead, it would take no effort. Despite what Pango said, it looked like she wanted to do it.

Webber took a step closer to Eve and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to him and softened a little. She let out a sharp exhale, tension melting from her posture, and said: ‘Let’s just get back to that fucking anima building before any Foresters show up.’ She prodded Caruso with her bloody pole, leaving a red smear on his shirt. ‘A single wall, and you’re dead.’