---Em---

     "Out of the way!" Ace barks from behind me. I duck. Ace fires his arm cannon. The blast hits Kag square in the gut. Rivulets of electricity slither along the demon's scales. They disperse into nothing.

     Kag pounds his fist against his chest, making an almost-metallic clank. "You're gonna have to do better than that." He springs forward and lashes out with his tail. It produces a sonic boom, like the crack of a whip. The pointy end of the tail slices open Ace's shirt and leaves a gash in his chest. Luckily, the gash is high up enough to avoid reopening his already existing wound.

     I stare at Ace, not because he cuts quite the figure or anything, but because he's got a glowing power stone embedded in his chest just below the base of his neck, like this super hero Colby once dressed up as for Halloween.

     "Cybernetic modification," Ace explains between agonized grunts. He falls back. "Cover me, will you? I need to charge this baby up."

     Topher casts me a sidelong glance. "Gun me. Now."

     "What?"

     "You're packing. Don't think I didn't notice. So unless that baseball bat's for me..."

     Kag prepares for another attack. Whatever's up with Topher can sit on the backburner for a while. Get all nice and crispy. Right now we've got a demon to slay, and no Comma to do the slaying. I slide the gun out of my belt and toss it to Topher.

     He positions his body to best counteract the kickback and fires. The bullet pings off of Kag's scales and plops into the lake. You've got to be kidding me. He's bulletproof too? How the hell are we supposed to kill this thing?

     Topher apparently doesn't take no for an answer. He fires again, and again, and again. I think I get it. He's aiming for the eyes—the only spot the scales aren't protecting. Problem is, he aims like a drunken frat boy taking a piss in the middle of the night, as my father would've said.

     I raise my bat and swing when Kag lunges at me. The metal connects with the demon's right temple with enough force for a pop fly. Only, you know, his absurdly solid head's about as sturdy as a cement wall. My hands sting like hell from the recoil.

     I glance over at Ace. He's crouched down, with a pained look on his face. Blue lines resembling the patterns on a circuit board flow from his power stone to the arm cannon. He looks up just in time to see Kag bearing down on him.

     He kisses his teeth. "I told you to cover me!"

     Topher fires straight up into the sky. I don't get it. New tactic? I direct my gaze upwards.

     Oh. So he's out of his mind. That's nice to know.

     His warning shot managed to snag the attention of one of the pterodactyls circling the sky above us. Even Kag freezes up as the Jurassic menace nosedives towards us. The pterodactyl opens up its beak and snatches Topher right up in its mouth before sweeping back up. It vanishes amidst the rust-coloured clouds.

     But I haven't got time to mourn yet another loss. Need to buy Ace some more time. I leap onto Kag's back, reaching over his shoulders to try and gouge his eyes out. I claw at his scaly face, shredding up my nails something awful. Kag jerks back and forth, trying to shake me loose.

     He manages to fling me off of him. I crash into the railing of the bridge, and the resulting crack sounds like my spine splitting in two. Only, not, because I'd be dead were that the case. I grab the baseball bat, soldiering on, and swing harder this time, thinking if I can muster up a little bit more force I might be able to do some more damage.

     Well, technically, I was right—the recoil's even worse this time. I swear and bite my tongue and then swear some more. Kag, annoyed by my pathetic mockery of combat, pivots around to put me out of my misery.

     "Get back!" Ace shouts.

     I dive back instinctively, clearing the bridge and landing safely on the opposite side. Kag looks back at Ace over his shoulder. I chuckle. He may be a walking lump of titanium, but he's still an idiot. Ace fires the arm cannon, and the resulting blast is like something out of a cartoon. He doesn't aim the barrel at Kag directly though. The discharge punches a hole through the centre of the bridge and Kag falls through into the river.

     Good thing this bridge is more than three car-widths wide. Ace carefully sidesteps the destroyed section of the bridge and makes his way over to me. We regroup by the toll both.

     I shake my head, still struggling to catch my breath. "If just one demon gives us that much trouble, how are we supposed to—?" I'm interrupted by a loud splash. "Oh, for crying out loud."

     Kag shoots up out of the river, dripping slime and sludge. He lands on his webbed feet and elbows Ace in the head, knocking him unconscious. Then he tackles me. One of the scales on his forehead flaps back and a proboscis wriggles out of the hole beneath it. The proboscis dangles right in front of my eyes. "Think you're clever, don't you?" Kag rasps. "Let's see how your brain juice tastes. The smart ones always have a bitter tang."

     The proboscis punctures my forehead, I hear a loud pop, and then all I can see is blood.

     Kag's deadweight nearly crushes me. I roll out from under him and watch him start to dissolve in a pool of his own acid.

     I turn around, jamming my finger against the prick in my forehead. The proboscis didn't poke deep enough to puncture my skull. Topher, seated on the back of the pterodactyl like some big damn hero, waves at me, his gun still smoking. "Sniped like a pro."

     Ace groans and sits up. So he's not unconscious then. He blinks, as if in disbelief of what he's seeing. "How the hell did you—?"

     The pterodactyl throws its head back and lets out a loud screech. With a single arc of its back, it flings Topher off. Topher crashes right into me, incapacitating us both. The pterodactyl inches towards us, salivating.

     "I spoke to soon," Ace mutters.

     Topher nods. "Dumb luck. Quick-acting. Not long-lasting."

     "We're about to be dino food, aren't we?" I ask.

     "Of all the ways to die," Topher mutters, "this is the most recent."

     "Our life kind of sucks."

     "Oh well. I was going to kill you any way for hurting my sister. Getting eaten by a pterodactyl's a little more epic, don't you think?"

     "Only if you live to tell the tale."

     "Been there, done that." Topher grins. "And I made it my bitch. I am one badass mo—"

     "Are you guys always this chatty when you're about to die?" Ace asks.

     "It's a stalling tactic," says Topher. "As long as there's dialogue going on, nothing else can hap—"

     The pterodactyl leans in to take a bite out of Topher; I guess it knows how to hold a grudge. But it stops just short of sinking its teeth into his flesh. It hesitates for a moment and then takes off, flapping its wings furiously.

     Topher whoops. "Dumb luck strikes again!"

     "Emphasis on the dumb," says Ace. "Check it out."

     I squint in the direction he's pointing. There's a black cloud drifting towards us, descending from above. Dense enough that it obscures the run-down buildings behind it. The cloud's accompanied by more buzzing than barber shop. Because it's not actually a cloud, I realize, as it chews through a lamppost. It's a swarm.

     "Locusts?"

     Ace shakes his head. "Look a little harder."

     Not locusts.

     Cockroaches with wings.

     One of the pterodactyls swoops a little too low. The swarm of cockroaches engulf its massive wings. The insects swallow up the pterodactyl whole and then continue on their way, leaving not even a single bone behind.

     Topher whistles. "Talk about licking the plate clean."

     "What the hell is that?" I ask.

     "Remember how Gisela said the bad things come in waves?" Ace's forehead tenses. I do recall as much. The reason behind their strict curfew, I believe. "Well this is wave two."

Author's Note:

Topher finally gets his badass moment. So tell me: how would you survive a swarm of giant, winged cockroaches?

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