---Em---

Lanky, Portly, and Muscled nearly have their eyes pop out of their heads when they see us making our way towards the lot with our kravlar demon captive in tow. Muscled swallows a big lump in his throat. Lanky dabs at the sweat on his forehead. Portly just stands there gawking at our blood-soaked, battle-ravaged bodies like an idiot.

Topher locks eyes with Portly, the veins in his forehead pulsing. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. We're not going to have a problem-not now at least. He was surprisingly cool about the fact that we knocked him out and tossed him in a dumpster.

"Home sweet home," Ace mutters.

What a sick joke. We went through all that just to end up back here in crapsville. And we won't be leaving anytime soon, not with these self-destructing parasites doggy-paddling through our bloodstreams. The prospect of spending the rest of our destined-to-be-short lives here leaves a foul taste in my mouth. Gets me nostalgic for my zombie apocalypse days. I get a sharp pang in my chest when I remember how it felt. How it was almost worth it just to have Gail by my side. Funny how much a difference that makes.

I glance over at Rex, who's pissed off for no apparent reason. Like anyone needs a reason these days. It's all I can do to stop myself from asking him about Ganeden. Now's not the time. But soon. He's our ticket out of this place, assuming we ever make it out of here at all.

We push past the peanut gallery and march across the lot. We don't exactly get a warm reception. Maybe that's a bit of an understatement. We've barely taken our first few steps before Wates storms over to us, Liluye hurrying after him. Liluye ignores the rest of us and leaps into Ace's arms. He winces-still hasn't fully healed from his battle wounds. Comma's not in any shape to be giving blood, so we'll be recovering the natural way this time. The slow, painful, natural way.

"What do you think you're doing bringing a demon down here?" asks Wates. Not so cool, calm, and collected now, is he? I wonder what's eating him. He looks like hell-dark circles under his eyes, forehead drenched in sweat, skin sickly. You'd think he'd been bitten by a zombie or something.

"Hey!" Rex glares at Wates. "What makes you think I'm here against my own will?"

"You don't travel anywhere without your posse." Wates points at the crowd of survivors gathering outside of the subway cars. He looks at me. "Are you aware that this demon is responsible for killing the parents, siblings, friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends of just about every single member of my group?"

"We'll be gone before he can cause you any trouble," I say. I'm not sure where exactly we're going to go, but I'll be damned if I'm stuck here in this musty, stinking underground lot. "We're just here for Gail."

"Gail?" Wates rubs his eyes. "She's putting in extra hours at the lab."

"Lab?" This is the first I've heard of it. "What lab?"

"That's none of your business."

Comma and I exchange a look. We've been through hell and back-all of us-these past couple days. I'm not exactly eager to come to blows with Wates if we don't absolutely have to. Besides, the whole going up against supernatural entities routine made much more sense when I still had powers of my own. Now it's just me and my trusty severely-dented baseball bat.

Wates sucks in a mouthful of air. He shakes his head. "So what happened?"

"Dante flew the coop," Ace explains, still trapped in a Liluye bear hug. "Long story short, Dante's posse is dirt juice. Except for our pal Rex here."

"Pal?" Rex scoffs.

Wates' eyes widen. "And what happened to Dante?"

"Dante's dead," says a familiar voice. Behind me, I hear gravel crunching beneath weary footsteps.

I turn around. Mya gives me a fist bump, looking none the worse for wear. Crawford grins stupidly, looking like he managed to avoid even the slightest bit of confrontation. A shivering brunette in a regency dress costume huddles against Jun, while Gisela salutes Wates.

"Dead?" Wates' gaze darts back and forth between Mya, Comma, and me. "Who the hell are you guys?"

"Professional demon slayers," says Crawford.

"We also exterminate zombies," Mya adds.

I clear my throat. "And the occasional deity."

"Show-off," Crawford mutters.

Even though the air down here is stale and reeks of mould, and I'm all scratched up and bruised, and my bloodstream is infested with deadly parasites, I can't help but to crack a smile. We won. So what if it's only a temporary victory? So what if, in the grand scheme of things, we're still living in hell on earth? We went up against plague-carrying rats, starved pterodactyls, mutant cockroaches, bloodthirsty hellhounds, and a whole horde of demons, and we somehow all managed to pull through. That's cause for celebration.

"Is it true?" asks Ace, pulling away from Liluye. "Is Dante...?"

Gisela nods. "He's dust. Well, more like salt, actually. Long story."

Ace nods, moisture welling up in the corners of his eyes. I can't imagine how he's feeling right now; after all these years his sister has finally been avenged. Only he wasn't the one to exact vengeance. Not that he didn't get a decent opportunity to wail on some kravlars. But if he feels Dante was the one responsible...

"Bottom line, the demon overlords are out of the picture," says Gisela. "That about right? Except for earless over here?"

"Piss off," says Rex.

Gisela cracks a smile. "We ought to celebrate."

Wates shakes his head. "When word gets out that Dante's dead, it won't be long before another horde takes over his territory. And they might not be as reasonable."

"Reasonable?" Ace frowns. "That's a joke, right?"

"They let us live," Wates hisses through his teeth. "Most of us, anyway." He starts to turn away, but Ace grabs him by the shoulder and flips him around.

"Most of us isn't good enough. I'm done kissing demon ass. Just because you want to be a coward, doesn't mean the rest of us have to. If another horde moves in, we fight."

Wates shakes his head. "They really got to you, didn't they? You that eager to die?"

Before either of them can start anything, Comma steps in between them. She glowers at Wates. "How about you make yourself scarce, huh? The grown-ups have some talking to do."

Wates chuckles. "You again? Didn't learn your lesson the last time?" But before he can send her flying again, Comma knees Wates in the gut, and he crumples to the ground.

"I keep telling everybody," she says, pulling down her toque over her ears. "I'm a terrible learner."

***

When Gail gets back to the lot, the first thing she does is call for a meeting. Wates doesn't put up any sort of protest, and the whole community gathers around the crackling campfire.

Gail stands up in front of the fire pit, ready to address the crowd. There's another girl standing next to her, sucking on a lollipop. Her dark brown hair is bunched back in a ponytail. Gail, on the other hand, lets her orange-red hair hang loose. She's had a change of clothes since the last time I've seen her-a yellow blouse and blue skinny jeans.

Comma and I make our way towards the front of the crowd. It's still a little unnerving to see how young most of these kids are. There wasn't any shortage of adults in pseudo-Olivia's world. But here, there's not a single person over the age of 25, and I'd say the majority are teens and pre-teens. And something about that doesn't sit well with me.

I catch Gail's eye when the rest of us take our seats by the fire. She and I didn't really get a chance to speak since we got back. Not in private, anyway. Her face colors when she sees me, and there's a bit of a twinkle in her eye. We give each other the look, the look that means everything's a-okay. For now, at least.

"So, uh..." says the girl with the ponytail, staring at her feet. "I'm, uh, not good at this whole speech thing. Basically, we've, uh, found a... you know... Gail?"

"Martha and I found a cure," Gail blurts out.

"May have found a cure," the girl-Martha, I guess-stresses. "We haven't worked out all the kinks yet."

"What do you mean a cure?" one of the older kids asks.

"You know exactly what we mean," says Martha, waving around her lollipop as she speaks. "If our lead pans out, we'll be able to inoculate ourselves against a certain demon parasite. What that means is... we're free to leave. Of course, it's still a bit of a long-shot at this point. It might be another few months before we get past the testing stages, but... we're working on it."

The crowd breaks out into whispers and murmurs. I stare at Gail, and she winks at me. "Surprise," she says, her voice barely audible above the din of the crowd.

"Quiet!" Wates rises to his feet. "Tell me more about this alleged cure."

"We'd rather not delve into the specifics," says Martha.

"Rather not...?" Wates sets down his guitar and goes to join them in front of the fire. He places an arm around Martha's shoulder, and she cringes. "Look. Not that I doubt your scientific prowess, but if you're going to be injecting us with some untested serum, I think we at least deserve to know the specifics first."

Gail crosses her arms. "You want specifics? Okay. Well first of all, we discovered the cure based on a specimen we collected from Lab F." As soon as she says that, Wates' face goes pale. "As for what that substance is, well-"

"You know what? I think we don't need to know after all." Wates goes and grabs his guitar in a hurry. "This is cause for celebration, don't y'all think?"

I'm not sure exactly what all that is about, but I don't really care either. If what they're saying is true, then we can leave this place. Not right away, but eventually. And that's all that matters.

***

I sneak into the subway car where Rex is being held captive once everyone's asleep. I switch on the flashlight I swiped from the armoury and shine the light in his ugly face. There he is, chained to a subway pole.

Rex cocks his head to the side. "Got a light?"

"I don't smoke."

"As well you shouldn't." He spits. "Well, unless you're dinner, you can bugger off."

"We need to talk," I insist.

"I was afraid you'd say that."

Gripping the flashlight with one hand, I raise my bat with the other. "Do you know what a piñata is?"

The demon rolls his eyes. "What do you take me for, a sodding fool?"

"Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be one?"

He narrows his eyes. "Can't say that I have."

"Well here's the deal. You answer my questions, and you won't have to find out."

Rex thinks to himself for a moment and then bursts into laughter. He's not buying my tough-guy act. Not for a second. "I like your attitude. What's it you want to know?"

"Ganeden." I shine the beam in his eyes again. "Do you know how to get there?"

"Ganeden..." Rex repeats. He bobs his head around and swishes his mouth as if he's tasting wine. "Now where'd you hear a thing like that?"

"Answer the question."

"Yeah, I know how to find Ganeden."

"You'll show us the way?"

"I reckon I haven't got much of a choice."

I nod and switch off the flashlight. "That's all I wanted. For now."

"Hold up."

I pause.

"Come here."

"Why?"

I can see him grinning in the dark. "I want to read you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When I touch something, I get a sense of where it's been. Where it's headed. Wouldn't you like to know what the future holds?"

This has to be some sort of trick. He's a demon, I remind myself. Not on our side. But still, I feel my insides flutter at just the thought that he might be able to tell me something about Colby. About Olivia.

I approach Rex, each step seeming to take an eternity. I stop when I'm within arm's reach of the demon. "Now wh-"

A proboscis shoots out of his head and punctures my right temple. I feel my limbs lock in place and my knees go numb as the venom spreads through my body. My muscles tense and then seem to melt, so that I can barely hold up the bat.

I can feel myself slipping into a haze...

Bryan...

My senses start to cut out.

Bryan!

I swing the bat and it bashes Rex in the face. He recoils and I break free, falling back against the floor. I suck in as much air as I can. My limbs tingle like sacks full of tiny little pebbles. My tongue is numb and swollen, and I can barely get out a single word.

That voice... it was Olivia. I'm sure of it.

Rex cackles. "Oh, I really like you!"

As soon as I can move, I crawl as far away from him as I can. I make for the exit, abandoning my bat, which I don't have the strength to lift at the moment.

"Don't you want to know what I saw?" Rex calls out to me just as I reach the door.

I glance back, panting heavily. What I want is to bash his head in, but I remind myself that I'm going to need him if I want to make it to Ganeden.

"Death," says the demon. "More death than you could possibly imagine."

"That's not news to me," I manage to utter. "Didn't you get the memo? The world ended."

"Ended?" Rex licks his lips. "Oh, it hasn't even started yet."

Author's Note:

Thus concludes another story arc. The next arc's going to be the last in the volume.

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