Her thoughts spit. She have strength to face these oeiokes killer? Was there any point in trying? Doubts flickered through her mind, crystallized for an instant before a though came to her.

Could she afford not to? Hollow brown eyes and her desperate hope burned uncertainty like mist before the new morning. She glance at Mensha, and worry bounced about his earthy eyes.

She opened the portal and stepped through the ankle-deep the remains of a dozen lives piled around the door. It soaked her shoes, wet and cold she froze as the sensation burned its self into her memory.

She hoped a monster did this, some horrible beast pushed by malice or amusement to slaughter. Not some poor souls robbed of their sense and turned against themselves.

Mensha pulled her and they continued their hasty walk away from the serene hum and the fresh nightmare. They skulked through halls guided by her light, and trailed by the scent of iron.

“Can you dim your light?” Mensha broke Summer from her thoughtless worry.

She cursed under her breath as realized her stupidity yet thankful for the task. She slowed as she tried to calm her simmering heart and light’s unnoticed undulations smothed but stayed luminous. She tried to smother it like her partner had often done, but she seduced in nothing.

Increasingly conscious of her light, she attempted to grab the diffuse rays and pull them. An awareness lit, like she’d tried to wiggle her ears but succeded in shimying a sunbeam. There was potential there but nothing, for the present.

She shook her head, He nodded and they speed up stealth abandoned. The haunting hum, never distant yet slow in its creeping encroach.

Faint light seeped through the cracks and holes in the ceiling, illuminating a mangled form in light not her own. They ran on.

“Help.” A hoarse voice croaked nigh overshadowed by their steps. Her heart leaped but she calmed it before it could take her sprinting in rescue. She exchanged a glance with her partner, suspicion lurked in his eyes their feet stopped. “Help,” an unmistakable tire graon. He nodded and they went. Chasing the voice carried a desperation pushed deep into resigned persistance.

She turned a corner to a half-missing room and a clear view of the crater’s edge. She snapped her gaze to the pile of rubble at the side. “Don’t look down,” she told Mensha as he rounded.

“Hello,” an unfamiliar stilted voice said as if too little enough had been forced into a broken throat. “Is anyone there.” They sounded from under the debris she was staring at.

“Yes!” she excitement brightening the world, she took a breath lightened of woory, “Yes, can we help,” She found someone, but now she wasn’t sure what to do.

“It’s catching up.” Mensha stressed.

“We aren’t leaving him here.” She whirled on him. Her chest burned and her lights glare reflected in his eyes. They stared for a beat.

“That monster.” The man she realized, wheezed, “Oh God.” His tired voice broke into sobs, her heart fell an the sound. “Please don’t leave me with, not again.”

Mensha’s gaze flickered between her, the man under the stones and hallway being chocked by the encroaching hum then nodded.

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The peaceful tune clashed with the tension in the air, adding a layer of eerie dissonance to her dread. “Ok guy is there anything you can tell us.”

“It, it.” He ramble half sensible, half drowned by tears. He descended into a sobbing mess, “Please. Don’t leave me”

“Breath, Summer has decided to help so we will, but we can’t do that without you,” Mensha said voice sternl but not unkind.

“OK,” he said after swallowing his tears. Mensha nodded at her.

“Again, is there anything you can tell us.” She said trying not to think about the encroaching danger.

“Don’t look at it, don’t let it near your tour face. I, I don’t know anything else.” Defeat rang in his final words and the effort left him exhausted, bereft the energy for sadness.

“Shit,” she whispered, how was she going to hit something she couldn’t see. A soft clop echoed down the hall, the sound of hoofed feet stooling along hard floor. “Plan,” she said snapping her head to Mensha.

She saw his mind race behind his wide eyes. “Stand by the corner and kill it before it kills us?” he said, his even tone doing wonders to hide the trepidation in his eyes.

“Nothing better?” she winced, wishing for something less blunt for perhaps the first time in her life.

“No,” she envied his resolute calm or was he smilpy resigned?

Her heart firmed, “Stay behind me I don’t want to hit you by accident,” his mouth opened to speak, “I’ll win,” she said with a tight smile. The certainty in her voice surprised her, and despite her fear, she meant it.

He nodded, but offered no words in reply. Instead removing the makeshift sheath from his belt and tying it to hers. She looked at the duck tape contraption and returned his smile

“Good luck,” the survivor whispered near inaudibly.

“Thanks” she said as she walked to the cracked wall, the other side of which her adversary walked. She closed her eyes, her heart thundered in her chest with each closing clop.

The red’s looming thread slid along her skin, and a cool tingle built along her skin, slowly growing, the hoofed creatures’ presence. Further confirmation to her theory however unwelcome. She steeled herself against it, focusing instead on the man behind her and the heat flowing through her veins.

Pressure mounted as the seconds crawled past, as her anticipation mixed with the things unclear mental effect. The hum rose and fell, a gentle mindless tune that filled her ears punctuated by four cloven hooves. She tightened her gip on her bat, set her feet and lifted it above her head

It clopped around the corner and the tingling rose to an electric buzz. She drove the bat down with all her strength.

Impact ran into her hands, the soft squelch of flesh, the sharp crack of bone. She resisted the urge to admire her work as it thudded to floor in time with the surging tune.

She pounced and smashed her bat repeatedly, beaten flesh and cracking bones joining the melody. A hoof clipped her ankle and she fell onto the beasts soft hide. She pushed off, but her angle buckled and she collapsed onto her back, the sting of pebbles joined the lightning on her skin.

She stared at the cracked ceiling stunned. Hooves clacked reminding her to close her eyes. She propped herself seated with her bat and swung blindly at the closing beast. She found the wall and a pain full tremor in her hands. A curse slipped loos as she scrambled back

A hoof struck her, raking her side and tearing her flesh. Swallowing a scream she swung again and met bone. It thudded to the ground and she dropped the bat and lunged, grabbed for the knife with her stiling hand.

She grabbed a fist full of fur in her off hand and blandly stabbed with the other. She held tight as the beast thrashed and kept stabbing as it rolled on her. She plunged hilt deep, the blade skittering against bone, and more so when she wrenched it out with a twist.

The creature shuddered and went still. Heaving for air, she pushed it off as it warm blood stained coasting her many new aches. “God,” she said between gasps as he kicked free of it. “I never want to do that again.”

“Is it dead.” Mensha said over the hum, concern and caution warring under a thin veneer of calm.

How did it feel standing blind while your fiancée fought for your lives, she abandoned that though as quickly as it rose. “Ya,” she swallowed and tasted blood. She spat it out, but it didn’t stop the nausea. “I think it is.” She managed.

She tentatively opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Mensha popped into her vision and his hands pulled her away from the bleeding corpse. She smiled as he fussed over and let her sore body relax to the peaceful hum.

Hum, the word should bring worry but she couldn’t find the need. All she felt was victory and peace. Her gaze drifted across the ceiling ceiling and landed on a golden shape.

Her calm became absolute.