The real Kayla groaned in frustration as her latest attempt to save her friends failed. How many times had she tried to change what happened? A thousand? A million? No matter what she did, the outcome was the same.

She took care not to swing her pool noodle at Cody. Jaz accidentally hit Cody instead, causing Emma to fall into the lake.

She never suggested they play chicken. Emma stumbled and fell into the lake.

She never even went to the lake that day. Emma went with Jaz and still fell into the lake.

She shot Emma before Jazmine could. Jazmine’s hand shook so violently that she dropped her gun. It went off and shot Jaz in the lung.

She didn’t give Jazmine a gun. While Kayla was driving them to the grocery store, they hit a bump and Kayla’s gun went off, shooting Jaz in the heart.

Slowly, Kayla realized that nothing she did or didn’t do would make a difference. She was trapped in this perpetual hell of trying and failing.

Perhaps that was the problem. Perhaps she shouldn’t try to change history. Instead, she should accept it. Emma and Jazmine were gone, and it wasn’t her fault. It was the alien’s fault.

She put the gun to her temple and fired.

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“Why did you do that?” the alien cried out.

Kayla realized she was back in her body, but not in full control of it. She willed herself to stay passive, hoping that the thing would not try to force her back into that hell. She wondered why she was standing in the employee parking lot at McClain’s. How long had she been there? Maybe time worked differently in her mind. It had certainly felt like forever in there.

“You never had enough courage to save your friends, much less commit suicide,” it continued in disbelief. “You’re a coward.”

“I suppose I was,” the girl admitted. “I always hid my cowardice behind a tough exterior. But I’m not afraid anymore.”

The entity replied, “Sam and Grace won’t be bothering you again. I took care of them for you—just like I took care of your father.”

“You killed them all?” Kayla asked.

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The alien gave a mental shrug. “I killed your dad and Sam, but I didn’t kill Grace. I just gave her a taste of my power.” It gave the equivalent of a giggle as if it had made a joke.

Kayla sighed, “It never ends with you, does it? You keep going on and on, hurting people for kicks.”

“True,” it replied, “but look at this as a gift. You don’t have to deal with Sam’s paternity issues or Grace’s attempts to get you fired.”

The girl bit back furiously, “Those were my problems to deal with—not yours!”

“You are an ungrateful bitch,” it spat. “I come here from another universe, and burn up a tremendous amount of energy to walk in your world. I choose your family as my bloodline. I offer you knowledge and power, yet you fight me at every turn. And for what? Because I killed a few worthless humans?”

Kayla frowned angrily. “They weren’t worthless. They were my friends.”

“Whatever,” the alien shrugged again. “You’re all worthless. You are just Sims to me. You can no more stop me than a Sim could turn off the computer.”

“You’re right,” Kayla admitted sadly.

A thought floated through her mind—a question put there for exactly this time and place.

“Tell me this,” she smiled knowingly. “What will you do now that you know the Insanti were right?”

The being froze and Kayla could feel its fear and dread, far greater than anything she had ever felt.

“How do you know about them?” it whispered fearfully.

The girl ignored the question and continued. “Tell me, what will you do when the Endless Night comes to devour you?”

The alien thrashed inside her. “How could we know the priests, the Insanti, were right? We thought the Night was just a myth.”

As the entity recoiled in horror, Kayla wrestled control of her body away from it and walked toward the street.

“What are you doing?” it wailed.

The girl smiled and said nothing.

“No, you can’t! What about the baby?” It tried to regain control of Kayla’s body but her will was iron.

“I’m not your vessel anymore and I won’t let you destroy any more lives,” she said resolutely.

The alien mind desperately flailed. “No! Please, you don’t understand—you can’t imagine what’s waiting out there beyond this universe. You can’t interfere with our mission!”

“Watch me.”

She stepped into oncoming traffic.

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Nobody knew for sure why Kayla Miller committed suicide by walking into a busy four-lane highway during the lunch rush. Some people assumed she felt guilty about murdering her boss. Most people never gave it a second thought. After all, Kayla was just one person among the 150,000 people who lived in Addison. Once her story left the newspapers, only one person remembered or cared: Dr. Patricia Reed.

The Crawling Chaos was defeated, its host DNA spread all over the road in smears here and chunks there. It was trapped in the girl’s deteriorating, dead cells, unable to reproduce or move. With the last of the Miller line gone, it had no recourse. It would have to start all over again among the strange dark matter it now called home.

Or would it?