Saying she relaxed wouldn’t be right, but her hands stopped shaking and the press of fear faded. Leaving her marginally less miserable. She still felt like someone had stabbed her in the lung, but she could think clearly. An old scar to a fresh wound.

She pushed herself up and this time her partner followed her up the stairs. She kept her gaze on the floor as she climbed the steps into the apartment. She left it there throughout most of the search.

She left examining the rooms with windows to her partner while she kept a close eye on him in case he needed help. Thankfully she didn’t need to.

They exited the room having found no one living.

The next door on what she realized was the side of the building facing the monster was cleared in a similar fashion. She tried to hurry that section, but caution allowed limited haste.

Bodies punctuated the exploration and Summer ignored them as best she could, while Mensha etched each scene into his memory.

Mensha entered a new room and Summer smelt the dead before the door fully opened, it was thick. Mensha froze, she dragged him to the side.

He met her concerned stare with a black stare.

“Did you see it, are you okay,” she swept her gaze across him, his breathing was even, he didn’t shake and if she ignored his expression, he seemed perfectly fine.

“No, and no, but I’m not hurt.” His words dripped a kind of removed sadness. Like they were trying and barely succeeding in holding their breaking heart together.

He tugged her and she followed him into the room. She steeled herself.

Two boys, one little and the other big were curled on the floor in front of a closed curtain. Deep blue pajamas a stuffed animal and the tv in the corner of the room made her see a muck kinder scene. Yet the older’s hand covered the younger’s face. Both their eyes stared wide and terrified.

It wasn’t the first time she’d seen dead kids, and the fact that didn’t bring her to tears almost did. But Mensha had been composed if silent throughout the others. Why would this be different? It struck her.

“You brother.” She turned her head to stare at him.

He nodded; eyes fixed on the boys.

She scrambled for something comforting to say, but every promise and assurance rang hollow. So she did what worked for her. She slipped her fingers into his and tried to pull his thoughts away. “Why are staring,” she winced at her poor choice of topic.

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He faced her “I think it would be a shame if no one remembered,” he smiled, eyes no longer distant, but the pain that took its place, it was almost worse.

They continued, over a hundred rooms and a dozen bodies later, Summer stood where they began, her light and mood were dim as she looked at the final building. She held tight to the possibility of something anu thing there.

“Summer,” Mensha said above the pervading tension. “I don’t think everyone here died.”

She turned to him with all the haste her tired mind allowed and blinked at him. “What?”

He smiled at the corpses, she wiped her eyes, either something was fucking with her, or she was very tired.

“What?” she tried again.

“This place, it’s a family housing of some kind, most of these apartments have three bedrooms most lived in.” her tired mind tried following his increasingly excited words. “Yet we’ve seen a hundred maybe a hundred and fifty at most.”

She pulled him into a hug and smiled, her glow rising with her mood. She lifted him and spun around, “Ok, good but where are they we haven’t seen anyone?”

“I don’t know but I’d guess they ran away.” He leaned into her equal part tired and happy.

She took a focusing breath and released him. “Let’s check the other building then see if we can find out where everyone went.”

“Sounds good.”

Buoyed by the recent insight Summer scoured her mind for anything they missed. She landed on one. “The red thing is the only monster?” She stumbles over the second word. “Are we sure it’s the only monster?”

He looked quizzically at her.

“Think about it everyone in this building died afraid and in pain, like we almost did,” she paused to recover from the recollection, abstinently rubbing her chest. “But out there, some of them were smiling, and the red doesn’t give smiles.”

His smile evaporated, and he looked at the dark shapes of the bodies outside, “Good catch, though I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do about it.”

“Beyond going slower,” she sighed. “This is going to take hours.”

“Yes.”

She shut her eyes and listened to the rhythm of her breathing, just one more thing. She opened her eyes. “Nothing for it then.” She walked towards the damaged building.

The loud crackle of glass was her first indicator its damage was much worse than she first assumed. Hundreds of shards sparkled like eyes under her light. She risked a glance close to the crater and the pile of rubble, which she assumed belonged to the crushed building was a sloughed-off section of the upper floors.

Half the building was barely standing the other wasn’t much better.

“I’m not much keen on being crushed to death Summer.” He said deadpan.

She flexed her fingers and tested her grip on the bat. She was stranger than she had been her entire life, but she didn’t think she was quite superhuman. “Neither am I but we don’t have much choice.”

“Yelling is an option.” Sarcasm was thick in his voice.

“Your serious,” she turned to him.

“I was serious earlier.”

“And what about the monsters we just agreed could –“ a faint sound interrupted her. “I hear something.”

It came from the building; she tentatively neared the building followed by Mensha. It was there on the edge of her hearing, indecipherable. She held her breath, closed her eyes, and focused.

A single note disturbed the silent world. It rose, it fell, and she lost it. Was the silence playing tricks on her?

She found it, rising, and falling then disappearing. She stood with closed eyes as the cycle continued. Humming

Her eyes snapped open, Mensha’s face washed with frustration and pleasant surprise. “Seems someone has decided for us.” He released a defeated sigh.

Summer hoped it wasn’t a trap.