All Roads Lead Home

Chapter Eight:
Dead Air

“It’s hard to imagine this place was actually packed with life once, but that’s what’s important. There was life.”

“You know, they say if you listen closely, you can hear the whispers of dead ponies.”

Just ahead, Sea Mist was in awe at Dusk’s stories about the ribs and veins of the tunnels. I was more interested in how Hoarfrost had looked like a bruised tomato not a few hours ago, but now was fresher than a mango from Midnight Station. Not a single hair was even out of place.

“You can just ask, I won’t bite.” He snickered.

“It’s nothing.”

He dropped his smile. “Then stop looking at me like that. Do you have a question or not?”

I grumbled and trotted a little closer so the other wouldn’t hear us. “What’s up with…” I circled my face in the air with a hoof.

“Oh? That’s my gift,” Hoarfrost winked. “I have a perfect immune system.”

“Did you find it falling off your silver throne?”

He pouted. “Not cool.”

“Wow!” Sea Mist gasped as we entered the station.

The station, if you wanted to call it that, was horrifying. A place that evokes a kind of twisting pain in your chest that makes you wonder if the world is really surviving… or if it was always like this before The Beginning. Where the homeless in Sunlight station at least had abandoned pallets or clean concrete to sleep on, these shivering folks had rotting paper and sheet metal. Everyone was huddled around dying fire barrels or just open flames that left the floor blackened. The shadows of rats raced across the walls. The wasteland with slavers, raiders, and cowboys at least had an excuse for a place like this, so primitive and forgotten. The metro had none.

Sea Mist stuck close to the center pillars of the platform trying her best not to look at the world around her. When somepony tried to break the faint spell of joy over her, me and Dusk would simply glare at them. They would cower and shift back to the warmth of the flames.

I sniffled the coming tears back. “Please tell me you’re gonna change places like this.”

“Huh,” Hoarfrost’s surprised expression actually disgusted me, but then again, he’s been on a roll with that. “I promis—“

“Don’t say promise. Friendship station has officials just like you. They promise this and that because they know what words we like to hear and how most of us will forget the promises a week after they are reelected. Give me more than a promise.”

He spat on the ground. “Serenity, you’re here to protect me from the Party. I hate that you think my promises are worth the same as every other bureaucrat’s.”

“I don’t weigh trust by what a politician does. I tally how much they lie and let me tell you… I’m not here because I like you.”

“B-But,” he gasped. “What about the journal and letting you stay in my own home?”

“What about the filly who's crying at her father’s bedside, wondering how she’ll pay for the bill?”

Hoarfrost finally bit his tongue for once.

“That’s what I fucking thought.” We returned to silence after my comment. I could feel the heat of rage building up in that suit or maybe it was just the flustered checks he wore so well.

“I actually want to help.”

“Could you say that a little louder please?” I tilted my head.

He was practically speaking to the ground in front of his hooves. “I actually want to help.”

“And how’s that been—“

Hoarfrost raised his head to scowl. “Can you stop being a dick for like five seconds? You want an explanation, but talk over me when I try to give one.”

He did get me there.

“I…” He sighed. “I don’t know what I’m doing. But we have roughly 40,000 souls in these tunnels and hardly anyone knows each other. I don’t collect scars from bullet wounds or knives because I stand with the politics of the Old Guard. It’s because I want to stand with the people. I want to know each one.”

I didn’t know how to feel about that. Can you really say you care for all if you have expectations? He almost sounded like… Silver.

“Why does that single bully’s life affect you more than the ones that die in stations like these? Do you think ponies here would care?”

“I—“

Hoarfrost sighed. “If I die, do you think they would care about me as much as I want to care about them?”

“I don’t think you get it yet. Are you really selfless if you ask a question like that?” I sped up to walk closer to Dusk and Sea Mist, leaving him behind. His answer didn’t matter because it wasn’t a real question. Hoarfrost needed to stare into the mirror I gave him for a while, alone.

“Woah, what did you do to him?” Dusk pointed back with a wing.

“Nothing yet. Just gave him food for thought.”

Sea Mist’s stomach grumbled. “I want food…”

“Well,” I patted her on the head. “Not much longer ‘til the next station, Blue.”

Dusk elbowed my side. “You seem chipper.”

“Don’t like it?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” She shook her head, giggling.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I’ve just been thinking about the last few days and…” My smile at Sea Mist caused her to squee. “I wanna try something new. Be less angry.”

“You’re going to finally be happy?”

I rocked one of my hooves back and forth. “Ehhhh… I don’t know if I am. Can’t really tell if it’s real or fleeting yet.”

“I can help!” I recoiled my neck at Sea Mist’s boop. It felt weird, but that magic in her eyes— that same magic Amani had— made it less weird.

“Shit, I thought you were going to drown in your— sorry, hold on.” The small radio on Dusk’s jacket lit up green and buzzed. She rolled her eyes before pressing down the gem button on the side. “This is Rook, go for.”

“Rook, this is Hashbrown. Sixteen wants an ETA until homeplate.”

“Seriously?!” she scoffed before pressing the gem again. “Tell Sixteen… umm… a week, maybe.”

There was a long pause from the radio operator. “Noted.”

“Good, Rook out.” Dusk rolled her eyes.

“Dad on your ass again?”

“You think he ever let up, Serenity?! Like holy shit, I have a life and a job!”

“Maybe he just cares about you?” Sea Mist whispered.

“I know he does, Misty, but he’s just gotten a little crazy ever since my mom’s been sick.”

“How is your mom doing?”

Dusk sighed and looked at me. “She hasn't changed at all. I guess I should be happy about that at least but… she keeps forgetting, and it’s just a little much.”

“What happened?” Sea Mist’s ears drooped. “Is she okay?”

Dusk didn’t answer, instead smiling and messing up Blue’s mane. Sea Mist pouted as we continued walking.

“Don’t take it personally,” I leaned down to Blue to whisper in her ear. “I don’t know either. I’m sure she’s happy you asked.”

Sea Mist answered with a paper thin smile. “Okay.”

Hoarfrost finally trotted up to us as we reached the other end of the station, where a line of ponies stood leading into the tunnel ahead. It was a little hard to make out where it ended, but still we waited for our turn.

Slowly and silently, the line marched forward towards a sturdy checkpoint. A simple table next to a pile of sandbags, machine-gun and spotlight aimed directly at the line coming through. A large buck with an even larger rack sat behind the nest watching the crowd be checked in. He must have been the commanding officer of the guards there, judging by the little threadbare blue beret he kept trying to shift comfortably between his antlers. The griffons with their misty blue jackets, similar to the deer, sat by and watched as a yak silently nitpicked through the documents of the folks coming towards them.

People were kicked out or reluctantly admitted. One poor stallion we passed had been rejected and was sitting by the side of the tunnel, head in his hooves. From time to time he would try to plead with one of the griffons who pushed him back every time to call up the next in line. Eventually, the stallion stood his ground stating it was unfair that they searched him and denied him for clumsily forgetting to declare a weapon. The guards retorted by tying him up and leading him through the service door next to the table, never to be seen again.

Now, the griffons were gutting the jacket and saddlebags of some old mare, who was screaming the same chants the stallion earlier did. I’d almost have felt inclined to side with her, if the guards hadn’t whistled at the sight of several pipe grenades bouncing onto the table from her coat. She wouldn’t dare to give an explanation, instead hissing and hastily disappearing back into the homeless station’s omnipresent darkness. The deer gave a hearty chuckle when he heard the sound of tripping. “Voi vittu… hehehe. Next!”

That was us.

The yak merely stared at our gear for a moment before letting out a long sigh. She pointed at Hoarfrost first, then Sea Mist, Dusk, and finally me.

My heart fluttered with worry as soon as passports started being run through. The yak barely even looked through Hoarfrost’s documents before giving them back. She only looked at the cover of Dusk’s. Her eyes darted between Sea Mist and me. While Blue was extremely confused, I sighed. “She doesn’t have one and I… lost mine.”

“Of course pony did.” The yak said in the most monotone way possible followed by a stern groan. “Empty pony items on table, or Greta will do it for pony.”

A burly griffon, Greta, she had to be, with the smirk on her beak that begged me to say no, stepped up. Too bad I complied, dumping out my saddlebags and various pouches on my rig. They stopped Sea Mist from doing the same after the second stack of postcards she shakily placed on the table. Thank the spirits they did, because I don’t remember how the Community stands on children with guns.

At least emptying my bags meant the dust and crumbs could fall out too. My rifle, four full extra magazines, my PDA and journal, a pair of Embers, and a small pile of extra cartridges from my vest were all spread out, alongside my stale granola bars, canteen, bag of bolts, medical supplies, tape, and Moonlight from my saddlebags.

“Rabiga wants to know about this.” The yak picked up the Moonlight.

I could’ve bit the hoof Hoarfrost shoved in my face. “That won’t be necessary. They’re with me.”

“Rabiga don’t care.”

He scoffed. “I’m the head of–”

“Rabiga don’t care.” The yak repeated again. No stronger emphasis. No bite. Just the same monotone throughline.

“Listen,” Hoarfrost slammed his hooves onto the table. “He is a stalker. You see this symbol on his armor! I hired him for guidance and protection. I would greatly appreciate it if you'd let him and the filly pass.”

“A stalker, huh? No shit, and Order too? Well… isn’t that nice?” The deer trotted over the table with a smirk. “Are you aware of how many people claimed to be a stalker, Order, or both around here?”

“A lot. I assume.” I shrugged.

“Huh.” He pointed at me to the rest of the guards. “Helluva head on this one, eh? So stalker, I’m a gambling buck. How about this…”

The captain quickly scribbled down a few words on a piece of scrap paper with a pencil from his coat. He folded it before sliding it over to me. “Get us that and I’ll let you pass with official Independent passports. Sounds like a deal?”

“Come on Serenity, let’s get this over wit—“

“No, no.” The deer cut off Dusk. “Only those two can get it. You folks are already good to go.”

I leaned into Dusk’s ear. “I’ll be fine.”

I knew she hated the situation, I couldn’t help but feel the same way, but I should be fine.

Hopefully.

“Joo-hoo!” The captain whistled, offering his outstretched hoof. Sea Mist quietly tried to mimic the deer, but kept getting tongue-tied on the first part.

There was clearly no other way short of trying to make it across the surface to the next station with a connection open. Even then, I’d probably have this problem again and again. So I shook his hoof. “Fine.”

“Good. There’s a ladder in the service tunnel, so grab your gear.” He stopped as he sauntered back over to the machine gun. “Oh and don’t run, or Greta will put a round in your head before you can make it a meter.”

It wouldn’t be home without the straight up threats. Can’t blame the folks that have to deal with posts like these and ponies like me. I did my best to put everything back into their right bags and pouches.

“So…” Sea Mist creeped up to Greta, who raised a brow at the small pony in front of her. “What does your name mean?”

“I’m a griffon, honey,” she snickered. “Our names don’t mean shit.”

Sea Mist mouthed a tiny ‘oh’ before returning to my side. It was a nice try at small talk, but griffons don’t do that sort of thing. At least, from the tales I’ve heard. Not really in their culture.

“Hey,” Dusk leaned next to my ear. “I know Seventeen talked with you about this sort of stuff, but be careful. We can wait here for a while. No need to rush, Serenity.”

“Like I said: I’ll be fine.”

“The last handler to say that was believed to have died… until recently.” Her sigh buzzed my ear drum.

I didn’t want to comment. She won the argument, and knew it too with that smile. Dusk didn’t need any more ammunition from me.

I looked directly at Greta. “Lead the way.”

The griffon groaned as she pointed to the door next to the table. Sea Mist pranced in front of me towards it. “Ummm… Blue?”

“What? He said ‘only us’, so I’m coming along,” she retorted proudly.

I looked to the captain for support, but he just nodded in agreement, because of course he would.

It was time for me to let out a groan. “Do any of you have a spare detector?”

One of the griffons was about to say something, probably a joke about me not having one. Feigning shock and that whole dance, but I was quicker to punch. “It’s for her, dumbass.”

“We do have one… right…” The deer rolled his tongue while digging through a box hidden from sight. “Here!”

I took out three rifle magazines and placed them on the table. “I don’t care about the price, but ninety sounds fair.”

He looked at the other guards for confirmation and they nodded their heads. The captain tossed over the anomaly detector, which I quickly taped to Sea Mist’s pipbuck. She tapped on the device’s glass after I let go of her hoof.

“I’m fine if you wanna come, but you stay real close, okay?

Sea Mist smiled.

I turned back to the griffon again. “Greta.”

“And one more thing.” The deer’s voice caused me to tilt my ear to him. “Good hunting, stalker.”

She guided us through the side door into a tightly packed hallway of pipes, guns, and black dust scattered on every surface it could touch, including the soles of my boots and hooves. Greta fully stopped at a ladder tucked into the wall itself, not dusty at all. Rusty sure, but it was well used. She rapidly tapped a talon on the floor while I studied the hole up. I guided Sea Mist to climb the ladder first, so as not to test the griffon’s clearly thinning patience.

Blue had a little bit of trouble pushing the ponyhole cover off. Straining and huffing until it slid to the side into the… mud? I raced up after Sea Mist to see— oh, shit.

Our detectors immediately began ringing.

This was something I’d only heard rumors about. Tales that sounded too far fetched to believe, even for the Zone. I didn’t believe it because Amani didn’t believe it. What would he think now, if he laid eyes on a section of the city entrapped in so much thick, vivid green? Apartment buildings that didn’t have a single crack in their walls or chips in their windows? Natural trees, vines, and grass everywhere, when the blue sky above was still hidden away behind a dark gray lock? This was truly a snapshot of the past that dug its hooves into the ground, and when Armageddon said ‘move’, they softly replied ‘no’. Yet impossibly… the long daggers of cold still surrounded us, waiting to strike.

Blue was frozen. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the most green she’s ever seen in her life, too. A silent ‘wow’ left her lips as she followed the buildings that surrounded the square upward. “It’s so beautiful.”

I moved the muscles that made me smile. My brain stalled as my own words betrayed me. It’s funny how language can do that to you. Eventually, I could only force out a single response. “Yeah.”

The place must have been a small park before, just judging by the overgrown pathways we walked down. I flipped open the paper the deer had given me, and felt my heart sink. It simply read:

Empty,

Center of Miller

“What’s a Miller?” Sea Mist read.

“Stalkers always try to avoid them… they’re epicen— cages of multiple anomalies bouncing off one another. Kind of like a grain mill.”

“That’s borderline suicidal… what’s a grain mill?”

I shook my head. “Ahhh… That would take a bit to explain, so don’t worry about it. Just know, we’re walking straight into it.”

“Well… I guess if we survive we’ll get legends about us!”

I just gave her a dead stare. No anger or disappointment. Hell, I was unsure if I meant to do it, due to shock.

Sea Mist cocked a brow. “What?”

“Blue, I’m gonna be forward here. What do you think the average lifespan of a stalker is?”

“I don’t know, but I like the way Dusk talked about the job more than you.”

“Really?” I scoffed. “And what did the bat say?”

“You called them idiots. She described them as heroes.”

“Did she now?”

Blue nodded her head. “Dusk said they fight off the dangers of the surface to give needed supplies to the stations. Sure they get paid, but I think someone has to either be selfless or insane to do that. I’d like to believe it mostly the former. Do you know what I mean?”

I picked a direction and started walking, waving for Sea Mist to follow. “Everyone’s different, Blue. And if we’re gonna keep chatting about this, can we at least start looking for the center of this place?”

“Okay.” She trotted after me. “Then why did you want to become a stalker?”

“That’s simple.” I let out a sigh so long it almost brought me to a few tears. “My brother was one and I wanted to be like him.”

We would have a better chance of spotting the core from the roofs or, if reaching them wasn’t possible, a high apartment would work too. I started checking door knobs; most were surprisingly locked, but eventually I did find one that wasn’t. The hinges of it whined as I pushed it open.

I pulled out my Moonlight to illuminate the darkness in the entrance. The walls of the lobby at the edge of the light were a beautiful shade of green, with ornate patterns of gold to accent it. The smell of flowers covered every surface, but yet… there was no vegetation anywhere. No eviction notices on doors, or graffiti like complexes outside of the Miller, unless you counted the children's drawings on the doors we passed climbing up the stairs as ‘graffiti’. Honestly, I wouldn't be startled if a family walked straight out of one of these rooms. Maybe a college student, tripping down the stairs more than running, late for a class. The staircase windows displaying life in the world below with smiles and conversation. The silence made everything here just feel hollow instead.

I saw Sea Mist pout out of the corner of my eye at my displeasure fueled scowl. She tried a warm grin to cheer me up but she should’ve expected it not to work by now, so instead she asked a question that would. “Well, tell me about your brother.”

“Amani?”

“You have another one?” Blue shot back cheekily.

I brushed off the comment. “How do you describe a sibling? Do you want me to tell you about everything or just the really dumb shit he did like eat dice as a colt?”

“Everything.” She giggled.

“Well, Amani was prideful— not in a self-centered way. He’s more… honest about his faults. He saw the world as it was and hated it. Amani wanted something better.” I paused when we reached the top floor and started checking for unlocked doors. “He wanted smiles. Tried his hoof at fixing a system that probably wanted him dead. All of that pain, those scars, for what? There was hardly anything to bury.”

Sea Mist was a tad petrified.

“Sorry, my mind wanders a bit.” I tried to scratch the embarrassment out of my head and hide the coming blush with a smile. “He was good. The best brother anyone would be lucky to have.”

“That’s why you have his name on your gun?”

I shook my head. “No. His gun.”

“How old is it?” Blue studied the rifle as it rocked against my back on its sling.

“Pre-war.”

Her mouth was left gaping as I found an unlocked apartment near the end of the hallway, and slowly walked inside, scanning the corner and air with my detector. When it was clear, I sauntered past the jackets that hung by the door and strangely pristine food still sizzling on the table, over to the balcony. Blue didn’t follow me. Instead she booked it over to the dinner table, drooling over the steam wafting up to her snout.

“Don’t.” She stopped inches away from taking a bite. “We don’t know if that’s even safe… or real. Just don’t touch it.”

Blue’s stomach loudly growled, and she smacked herself in the face with a hoof, then followed me outside to gaze at the streets below. It was more of the same from what we could see.

“What do you think ponies even did before all this?” Sea Mist piped up.

“Honestly, I’ve never put much thought into them.”

“Okay, but do you think they ever thought the end of the world would look like this? Or even the snow out there? Ever felt that emotion of knowing the end was coming, but just not when?” She leaned over the railing, a little too much for my liking, to try and take in more details of this lost world.

“You mean that feeling tugging around the edges of your heart, trying to pull it deeper into your chest?”

“Yeah, do you think they ever stopped to actually act on that instead of doing whatever they did to ignore it?”

I rubbed my chin hair. “No.”

“Cool, I was thinking the same thing.”

We stood in silence, unsure of how to continue the conversation, so we focused on looking for anything that looked… impossible. But what Sea Mist said really started to bother me. Was I feeling a bit of fear from her words?

“So,” I cleared my throat. “Mind telling me where those thoughts came from?”

“You.”

I choked on my own words. “What?”

She didn’t answer, just kept her shit eating grin on.

“Seriously! What do you mean?” I continued.

“I just have a little of your personality in me.”

Even with a deep breath, I completely failed to understand what she meant. “Do you know how little that answer helped?”

“Hmmm… Yeah. I just don’t really know how to put it into words. It’s like I can… feel what you're thinking ever since I felt your past and future. Maybe it has to do with the spell? We never really finished testing. Perhaps if time is relative, then maybe memories are…” Sea Mist blushed and started rubbing the top of her pipbuck after realizing she’d been rambling. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t worry about it. I actually found it kind of cute,” I quickly reassured her.

“You really are trying your best to be happy, but what would old you think?!” Sea Mist playfully teased with a shocked expression.

I let out a snicker. “Don’t care. I hate that guy.”

Blue rocked back and forward on the railing. I’m sure she wasn’t looking for the center of the Miller anymore. Her mind was focused on another task. “I never got to finish the last topic we talked about.”

“The one about existentialism?”

“No.” She shook her head. “The one about stalkers.”

“Okay, shoot.” I dragged my words cautiously.

Sea Mist blushed again. “So I was wondering… do you think I could be a stalker like you one day?”

“Why?” The question escaped my lips before my brain even processed what Blue said.

Why would she ask that? Blue never grew up with the legends about them killing Wendigos or saving whole stations from sickness. Stalkers tried to rob innocent people— yes it was us, but I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. She wants to be one?

“So?” I can’t believe she ignored me.

“No.” I shot through her with my tone, but instead of reluctant acceptance she asked one question I hate more than anything else.

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t deserve to die like that!” I snapped. “No one does.”

Sea Mist shrunk into the metal grates of the balcony due to the sudden outburst.

“I-I’m sorry.” I turned to try and hide the red hot shame on my cheeks.

“No, I shouldn’t have brought it up, knowing what happened.” She rose up from the ground. “I just think anyone brave or crazy enough to risk their lives for others is a… hero. Something a balefire wasteland could use a lot more of.”

“If that’s the case, then the wasteland has plenty of heroes. I'm surprised the world hasn’t been ‘saved’ yet.” I gave heavy air quotes with my hooves.

“‘Heroes are nothing more than damaged goods.’ That's what my father said all the time,” I continued. “I would trust him too, he’s a doctor who met a lot of heroes’ families. Drunkards, abusers, or, if they’re lucky, no one… just like mine.” I chuckled at an old, blurry memory that resurfaced. “Dad’s little hero. That’s what Amani called me.”

“Serenity, don’t quit. You can try to be a hero like your brother again. You don’t have to change right now. It’s just important that you try.” Sea Mist looked down at her hooves and began tracing the grate.

‘It’s just important that you try.’ For a moment, I saw him scolding me for…

“Don’t. Quote. Him.” I subdued my anger with a deep breath. “We both know how this story ends, just like abandoned letters on a kitchen table top. No hero nor villain, just me choking on air. No amount of praying or fleeting joy will change that.”

“You just hate that I know more about him than you’d like.”

No. I hated that she was more like him than I wanted to admit. Blue quoting his every word… it was off-putting to me. An uncomfortable chill ran up my spine. “Could you please stop trying to deconstruct me?!”

“I—“ Her ears shot up. Her head swung side to side. “Do you hear that?”

“What?”

She walked back inside the apartment. “That buzzing.”

I followed her as she checked everywhere, from the dining room to the bathroom, every book on the shelf, and even the jackets in the closet. Blue found nothing.

“I just don’t get it! That sound has to be coming from somewhere.” She stomped the ground.

“You could’ve just told me you didn’t want to—“

An unintelligible whisper cut me off. It echoed just behind me, except this time I heard them. “Floor.”

I turned around to find nothing but air. Why the floor? A nice wood sure, but…

I pulled out my knife and jammed it in between a small gap below my hooves. The floorboards actually popped out pretty easily. It was hard to tell what was underneath. Maybe it was rot, or some weird concrete mixture? But after a few more boards, I was sure what was under them was alive.

Fleshy, snake-like objects twisted just below our hooves, slithering and rubbing against one another. Sea Mist, her face turning green, backed up into the wall, trying to get away from the exposed area. It fascinated me. Was everything flesh underneath? I had to know.

I knocked down shelves and shoved furniture to slash the wallpaper and chip at doors. The same flesh was there. I even cut into the couch to find the same thing. I slid my hoof under one of them and pulled it out to watch it just move, blood slowly trickling down my coat. I saw it now; the room began to pulse. The intact wallpaper was breathing. Millers weren’t just anomaly dens. They were living anomalies. Anomalies that felt more alive than even me.

“Stop playing with it! That’s gross!” Blue squirmed. “Let's go!”

I ignored her and studied the flesh as it moved sporadically, but with purpose. Something pulled at me to head right. Sea Mist was already ahead of me, leaving the apartment to go all the way downstairs. I raced after her through the lobby down the street. She must have seen something. Maybe Blue felt what I did.

She finally stopped with a look of shock.

“What happened?” My question didn’t faze her. Instead she pointed.

Chunks of concrete, wires, and flesh all pierced out of the ground into a building that floated just above. What wasn’t connected, failed at its attempts to mimic the basics of what a building was. Triple stairs, pieces missing, twisted out into the sky in all different directions. The higher the building rose, the more abstract its form became. Flat walls molded into hard, sharp, geometric cubes that shifted and spun, creating more cracks in the complex. At the very top, along with pieces that were held on by nothing more than wires, everything was indescribable. Colors I’d never seen glimmered for a moment, before turning into something else. Periodically, pieces would vanish and reappear. Everything was in constant motion up there, and our detectors screamed at it.

“Serenity!”

I glanced over to Sea Mist. She had wandered over to the left side of the building. It was stalkers. Griffon and deer corpses spread all over the ground. From their intestines grew budding flowers and tree bark. The only pony in the group was plastered against the wall like a damn art exhibit. Their blood and coat, or what I could assume was it, painted a mixed backdrop of colored moss behind bones. The moss formed words, not any that could be read in Ponish, but something closer to musical arcana. Arcana from a body whose eye sockets bore daisies, trying to hide the depression in the cheekbones. Whose tongue was still somehow wiggling, like a slug trying to speak, in the hole where their jaw used to be. How many souls took that checkpoint captain’s bet? Did they surround us, or were they poor stalkers who wandered inside the Miller, blinded by profit? Was I even asking the right questions?

Sea Mist shook her head and looked away from the graveyard. “What do we do?”

“I-I don’t know.”

It was getting hard to breathe. I unstrapped my vest and let it dangle around my neck so I could fill my lungs to their full capacity, but fell short every time. My heart slammed against my rib cage with every gasp, pumping blood to every inch of my body, to run. It didn’t matter where. Just away from here. My head battled with my heart. ‘No, the passports!’ It hollered at my body to stop. I’ve never even heard of rumors like this. Has anyone ever survived a Miller? ‘Yes!’ My brain responded. ‘How else would we even know they exist?”

I listened to my head, strapped my vest back on, and began taking deeper breaths. “We need that empty.”

“What?!”

“You wanna be a stalker? This is it.” That was more for me, than her. “Now relax and let’s find the artifact, okay?”

“Okay, okay.” Sea Mist was still visibly shaking as she nodded.

We went back to the first angle we saw the impossible building from. Not once did the anomaly detectors change from their droning scream. So, I reached into my saddlebags, grabbed a hoofful of bolts, and chucked them out. While two of the bolts landed peacefully on the ground, the fate of the other ones shook me to my core. Each one was eviscerated into a fine brown powder. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen to a living being.

Blue held onto my jacket as I repeated this process all the way to the base of the building. It was much bigger than I could imagine. Sure, it didn’t reach the heavens, but it made a massive crater, hundreds of meters deep, into the ground below it. Sharp pieces of rock shot off the crater, just to float for a few moments before being slammed back down. Was the Miller studying? Finding material to repair the broken floors above?

I guided Sea Mist up one of the shifting staircases to the first floor. The Empty had to be there, if the bodies were any indication, and I was right. Blue pointed to a griffon on the other side of a hole in the broken tile floor, cradling an item. One of two copper discs, flawlessly perfect, in their talons. Nothing held them together, but still the bottom disc was connected to the top that the stalker held. There was something else next to him, too. Something moving, that his back covered.

“So, what now?” Sea Mist asked.

I kicked a piece of flooring into the hole in front of us, watching as it fell only a few meters before being reduced to powder. “I guess we try the edge. At least the concrete there isn’t floating over the damn death pit.”

Sketchy couldn’t even describe the piece of floor that made a path to the other half of the building. It made my heart jump as Sea Mist took a deep breath and began crossing, the tile creaking and sighing with each hoofstep. I carefully tiphoofed behind her, watching exactly where and how I placed my hoofing. The thud of the Miller firing rocks back into the ground matched my heartbeat.

“Umm…” I almost bumped into Blue as she suddenly stopped. “I don’t think you can cross.”

I looked over at her. The floor drastically narrowed the rest of the way. No way I was jumping it, either. We were only halfway across. Sea Mist’s look of dismay up at me hurt my soul.

“Do you think you can make it?” I asked.

Her ears shot up. “What?! What about you?”

“You’re really worrying about me on a ledge instead of yourself? Sweet, but a little misplaced. I can just wait here.” I put on my best tone of reassurance.

“How about I try to levitate it over here?”

I shook my head. “You suggest that now, not back there? Blue, I didn’t think you could do it, but I’d love to be proven wrong right now.”

She nodded and pressed her eyes shut. Sea Mist’s horn began to glow as did the artifact. Each little tug was followed by a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. But no matter the growls of strain from her, the corpse would not let go of the artifact.

“Blue, it’s fine. Just go ahead of—“

“No!” she shouted.

Sea Mist leaned over the edge and whipped back her head. The tiles under her hooves shot out and just like the Empty, her body flew. I grabbed her collar, heaving Blue back onto the ledge. Her breaths were uneven and shaking, but the beam in her eyes was of rebellious pride. She did move the artifact… from the griffon's body to the middle of the floor over there.

“I told yo—“

“Don’t fucking start with me,” I scolded.

I may have saved her this time, but spirits, that pride will get her killed.

“I just did what you would’ve done,” Blue said as she finally started walking back over the narrow ledge.

“No…” I thought for a moment. “No, I wouldn’t have.”

“I can’t hear you!”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. Maybe she got a little too much personality from using that spell on me. Even copied my walk as she approached the Empty. Sea Mist picked up the artifact and gave me a smile, then my heart stopped as my disembodied friend from earlier whispered again in my ear. “Floor.”

B O O M

Time slowed as a rock from the Miller’s core shot up just a little too high versus the ones before. The top of it punched directly through the bottom of the floor Sea Mist was standing on, with thunderous applause from the building itself. Cracks raced away from the impact site turning the floor into a slide down. She panicked and threw the Empty back towards the corpse, who was still on level ground, as she tried to kick her hooves into the tiles for some, any hoofing. But she wasn’t slowing down. Sea Mist was speeding towards the hole.

I saw stripes. I couldn’t explain why, so I acted.

I kicked off the wall towards the floating bits of floor and stone. As downright fucking stupid hopping from platform to platform was, I didn’t care. Blue was almost to the edge and my heart was in my throat, its beating drowning out everything but her scream. I leaped off the final rock to kick Sea Mist up towards the corpse, hoping she could grab the more stable tiles. I had a different fate.

It was funny looking at the view from halfway down. I couldn’t even say I was scared at that moment, hurling down to the embrace of invisible death. The world almost seemed to move in slow motion; I could see bits of rubble exploding as they crossed the threshold of the anomaly beneath me. It was all just a weird joke. One I couldn’t help but feel like I deserved.

But I was cheated from my fate as something grabbed my back, causing me to whiplash in midair. My right hoof still scraped the outside of the anomaly. It ripped the sleeve to strings and skinned a good chunk off me.

Whatever it was could fly and throw. I was tossed backwards into the wall next to the griffon corpse, breath exploding out of my lungs. My vision tunneled so hard I only closed my eyes to halt some of the pain. When I opened them, Blue’s misty glare was the first thing I saw. Her punch to the chest was the second thing.

“Why’d you do that?!” Sea Mist’s whine hurt my eyes.

“For you.”

She pressed her face into my chest and kept punching me. Each one slowly grew weaker until she just wrapped her hooves around me. “You would’v–”

“Yeah… sorry.”

My mind hyper-fixated on what happened. The only thing I was sure about was that Sea Mist probably didn’t see it, whatever it was. Maybe I was lucky and an anomaly launched me? It was hard to think of explanations that made sense. Because if that was a being, then I think we definitely had bigger problems than passports.

The white hot pain screamed for attention and destroyed my thoughts. My sleeve was practically gone, now more singular strings and chunks than unified fabric. So much for that patch job from Gage. He’s gonna be pissed when he sees this. I winced as a gust of wind blew against my newest wound. Blood poured more than leaked from my flesh. Flexing the tiniest muscle in it would lead to sharp, jabbing pain. I tried my best not to get any blood on Sea Mist as I reached around for my medical supplies. Eventually, I had to gently nudge her to move, which she did, to actually grab the kit.

Sea Mist unzipped the pouch and floated out a few supplies. “Don’t worry. My dad was a doctor too.”

“Hehehe… No shit?”

She simply nodded.

“I guess I’m in good hooves then.” I held out my wound for her to begin dressing.

“Did your dad teach you medicine?”

I couldn’t help but squeal, tears blurring my sight, as she poured on some isopropyl alcohol from my supplies. “E-enough to know you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Wait, really?!”

“Yeah, it burns healthy cells along with cleaning so ultimately it just slows down healing.” I groaned out, then paused to narrow my brows. “What was he a doctor in?”

“Pathology,” Blue responded. I had no idea if that was a real thing or some made up word to cover up her mistake, so I just nodded.

She started wrapping my hoof. I stopped her halfway and grabbed a syringe out of the orange box in the kit. After a deep breath and a quick jab, I let her continue.

“So…” Sea Mist finished bandaging. “Are you and Hoarfrost dating?”

I spittaked. “What?!”

“I-I just thought I’d ask since we seem to have time.”

“Blue, I don’t like anyone like that.”

“But…” She tapped her hooftips together repeatedly. “Dusk was giggling and making little kissy sounds the whole time you two were arguing.”

I raised a brow. “Did she now?”

If Dusk wasn’t better at me in hoof-to-hoof combat, I’d smack her when we got back. But even that didn’t stop that bat before.

“Then are you and Dusk —“

“I already told you. No one,” I cut her off. “I think I know how to love… well, in that way at least. Don’t understand why folks need to do it.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found the right pony yet?” She shrugged.

“I understand your naïveté, but no. Sorry, Sea Mist, but that’s not how I work.”

I could tell she was still confused. Maybe she would understand later, or just blindly accept it. Either one was fine with me. I’m sick of people treating me like I’m ‘broken’.

I picked up the Empty and placed it into my saddlebags, then turned my focus to the corpse. Their pockets were filled with nothing more than lint and a few spare rusty bolts. I leaned his body to the side and finally got to have a good look at what he was resting on. It was another artifact, an amorphous, wavy collection of black goo. Surprisingly, the artifact held its soft spherical form quite well even after I picked it up. I remembered the firework workers using these on holiday for Friendship Station. Black Licorice is what I believe they called it.

Sea Mist watched in horror as I bit off a piece of the artifact and began chewing before placing the rest in my bag.

It even tasted a bit like— ohhh… I get it now. Holy spirits, is that salt too? Eww.

“Blue, you don’t believe that stalker flew over the death pit, right?” I said between chews that dried my mouth every passing second.

She shook her head.

I couldn’t help but grin. “Good, you didn’t get hit in the head.”

“You’re gonna ask about that wall, right?”

The wall Sea Mist pointed at was clearly different from the rest. It was freshly painted yellow verses the various tones of red brick walls that were filed next to it.

“I’m not a filly.” She smirked.

“Clever girl…”

Blue almost punched me in my bandage but pulled her hoof away just before contact. “Shut up!”

I shrugged and spat the Black Licorice onto the yellow wall. The artifact stuck into the surface with no problems, and was no longer moving either. Sea Mist recoiled in disgust until I kicked up a nearby rock at it. The Black Licorice exploded upon physical contact, ripping the wall away, revealing a third staircase behind it. Blue’s jaw dropped.

I leaned down to her height. “Pretty cool, huh?”

She nodded.

As we made our way to the stairs, I stopped just at the top and looked back. I felt like something was watching us. Not out of view, but something like the anomalies themselves. No matter how long I stayed, I doubted I would find anything more than just dead air. That’s what scared me. With a shudder that raced up my whole spine, I followed Sea Mist down the stairs.

======= ☢ =======

I was impressed that Sea Mist didn’t biff the landing as she slid all the way down the ladder to the tunnel below. She was skipping towards the checkpoint door as I reached the bottom myself, humming away a tune. At least somepony enjoyed themselves.

The guards’ jaws dropped to the gravel floor as I walked out into the main tunnel. Hoarfrost and Dusk both sighed. I smirked while placing the Empty on the table, making sure to keep a mental image of each of their shithead faces of disbelief.

“Where’s my passports?” I locked eyes with the deer captain, who shook his head and dug into the same hidden box as before. He popped up with two small books, hastily stamping and filling them, before ‘gifting’ them to me. “Thanks. Can we go now?”

“Sure,” He grunted.

My muscles felt like they were on fire, my legs attempting to lock up, as I led the group forward. That short time long-jumping over shit left my body feeling like it had been crushed by a cave-in. And I just wanted to sit down. I also was glad no one asked about what happened. I wasn’t too much in the mood for talking either.

After a few minutes of walking, we were finally crossing the red banners of the next station’s entrance. For a station boasting itself as Amity Station, the place was a shithole of complacency: a low hanging ceiling with massive arches that lined the walls. At least they had some fluorescent lighting, a very rare commodity, to illuminate the small three story apartments made of mostly mud bricks built in between the gaps. Stalls and tents were arranged down the center of the hall with their backs facing the rail, which was dug and replaced with crops that a few farmers were watering. All the ponies here conducted business in low hushed voices, as if afraid to disturb somepony next to them. Even as I walked down the makeshift streets with my rifle lightly bouncing on my back, I couldn’t help but notice a strange sensation of tension that hung in the air… or maybe, that was just the tension in my joints. I couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe there wasn’t one.

“So, pretty boy,” Dusk trotted in sync with Hoarfrost. “Where are we staying?”

“The Castle. I won’t stay anywhere else here,” He retorted.

Fights for the every-stallion yet won’t mix with–

A tug on my tattered jacket sleeve and a grumble broke my train of thought. Sea Mist looked up at me with the largest, roundest eyes I’d ever seen as Hoarfrost took the lead, guiding us– on what I could only hope was the direct path– to The Castle. I was gonna ask her to wait till tomorrow but her stomach grumbled once again in protest.

“Hey guys, me and Blue are gonna find a bite. That’s not a problem, right?”

They both shook their heads at my question.

“Just look for the crown sign when you're done!” Hoarfrost hollered back as they disappeared down the street.

“Whelp,” I sighed. “Let's find out what special type of mystery stew they serve here. Come on, Blue.”

We didn’t have to wander for long. Halfway down the right side of the tracks was a community dining area. Dining time, judging by the lack of ponies, had already finished. Few remained at the long picnic-style tables and even fewer were in line for firsts or maybe seconds. I gestured to Sea Mist to find us a spot which she happily skipped away to do. I filed in line, psyching myself up for this dreaded, but required, bit of verbal interaction. Luckily, the cook wasn’t really in the talking mood. She pointed to a little sign listing yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s only meal choice and its price, before returning with two bowls and a pair of dry muffins for… holy shit! Twenty-five cartridges?! Why don’t they just ask me to sign away my first born, huh? It took a heavy heart to count out each one of those rounds, but seeing Sea Mist possibly cry again scared me more than poverty.

My heart skipped a beat when I walked over to the location she picked with our food. A unicorn mare much taller than me was chatting with Blue. That blue and gold winter jacket wrapped around her torso unsettled me. The heavily modified and suppressed pistol on her hip didn’t help.

“So Stable 11, huh? What was it like there?” The dweller asked.

“Well, it…” Sea Mist’s eyes were darting around trying to find anything to dodge the question. She lit up when her sight landed on me. “Serenity, finally!”

She put her face directly into the stew right as I gave the bowl. Finally getting to sit down myself, I pressed a little closer to Blue and chomped away at the muffin.

The dweller raised a brow. “You like… her sibling or something?”

“Nah, just a close friend.”

“You can never have too many of those.” Her chuckle turned to thick awkward silence. The stable dweller rolled her hoof back and forth on the table. She didn’t even have any shitty food to distract her from annoying me.

“Can I help you?”

The dweller smiled and waved off my question. “No, no. I was just relating to your friend.”

“Okay. Then which walls did you come out of?”

“Stable 27.”

“That door actually opened?”

“Yup.” She nodded.

I leaned a bit to the side. “Is that where your piece is from?”

“Oh this?” The dweller drew her pistol with her magic and placed it on the table for me to look at. “Yeah, we had a massive forge and gunsmithing section in our stable. I was told that the first dwellers were some of the best engineers that they crammed into a concrete tube.”

The pistol had fucking engravings in and around the cuts of its slide. A laser sight for increased accuracy and an extended magazine. It would probably go for four thousand bullets, easy, on any market. A statement like this couldn’t be bought by some middle class pony in Amity… I doubt even most stalkers could buy it… Only blood—

The points of a star patch poking out from underneath the stable dweller’s scarf confirmed my suspicion.

“It was… interesting meeting you, but I just remembered that we’re late for her doctor’s appointment. You know how it is,” I lied through my teeth.

“But—“ Sea Mist protested.

I put the muffin in her mouth to stop her from objecting. Still Sea Mist gave muffled comments behind the bread. The stable dweller didn’t react much to my actions, instead just shrugging and taking my unfinished bowl while we walked away.

Sea Mist swallowed the bread gag in one big gulp followed by rapid coughing. “What’s up with you? It’s just somepony like me.”

“No, that’s not somepony like you. That’s a cowboy. Stay away from them.”

“Why? She seemed nice.” She raised a brow.

“Stalkers may all be assholes, but they get paid to retrieve things. Cowboys are just what we call mercs. And mercs kill for money. A lot of money.”

“But you kill?”

“Yeah, but they don’t care if the target is filly or a loved member of a community. They just kill because it keeps the bullets flow’n. Do you know what I mean, Blue?”

Sea Mist nodded her head.

“Okay. Let's find this hotel.” I tried to smile a little to hide my building anxiety.

It wasn’t hard to find. The Castle was the only building with a sign, and a big one at that. A welded together scrap metal crown sat above one building that was only different from the rest of the other buildings in size. It proudly took up three arches, just to add to the radiating ‘we are better than you’ energy. The nicely dressed lobby and ornate key they gave me to the room matched that tone as well. I didn’t even get to use the key before Hoarfrost swung open the room’s door.

“Perfect!” He was grinning ear to ear. “Welcome to one of my many, many homes away from home!”

So this is what power got you, huh? An open kitchen, wooden dining table, personal bathroom, and even sectioned bedrooms. “A lot of space for one guy.”

“Well, all of the Party members stay here.”

“Oh.” I slowly nodded my head. Couldn’t wait to find used condoms and empty liquor bottles everywhere.

Sea Mist let out a big yawn and blinked each eye individually. It looked like her brain was beginning to lag. I patted her on the head and Hoarfrost pointed to Dusk who was coming out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe– bathrobes, really?! The ranger smiled and led her to bed.

“I didn’t know you were so empathetic.” Hoarfrost snickered.

“She’s still a kid, Hoarfrost. I’m not some soulless monster.”

“I was beginning to think you were…”

“Really?” The hairs at the bottom of my mane stood up. “You wanna start that conversation now?”

“No, I just want to apologize.”

“Yo— wait… really?” It felt like I was gonna fall over.

“Yeah.”

I looked for any hint of a facade, but there was no lip quiver. No sweat or wavering in his voice. Not even a mask covering a smug aura. He said he was telling the truth and, as far as I could tell, he was. Yet one thing still bothered me.

“Why?”

Hoarfrost looked puzzled. “Why what?”

“Oh sorry,” I coughed to clear my throat while scratching my neck. “Why apologize? If anything I should say sorry for basically yelling at you.”

There was a really awkward pause in the air between us, until I broke it.

“Sorry.”

“No, I’m fucked up. There’s no need to downplay.” Hoarfrost bowed his head. “You’re right.”

“You’re not gonna kiss my ass.” I snickered, but he didn’t take it well. “Sorry, bad joke. Y-you can continue.”

Hoarfrost shook his head. “Serenity…”

“Yeah?”

He removed his Party pin and tucked it away as if to say: ‘I’m just a pony.‘ It felt like the hints of that small colt was looking at me again. He took a deep breath and said softly, “No more lies.”

“Does that mean— you know what? I don’t wanna know. But… umm… thanks.” It was nice he was willing to take off his mask, but something still bugged me. I guessed the feeling would never stop until I was certain that this was the true Hoarfrost underneath all the politics and power. Maybe the true him was the Devil in the ring? Or the scared colt in the alley? I needed more time to know for sure.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’m exhausted. If you need anything, and I mean anything, my room is just on the left, across from yours.”

“Well, night.” My questions could wait till tomorrow.

I felt tired, not just physically but mentally. Still, it’d probably be smart to try and sleep for once. Maybe I wouldn’t be just staring at the ceiling for countless hours like usual.

But I was fucking stupid to believe that when I walked in my room and took off my gear. Sure, I tried to sleep— even rolled around into different positions, but every time I closed my eyes, there was nothing. No skip in memory to Sea Mist or Dusk waking me up. No dreams or… well, I would call the black void in my mind a nightmare. There were stripes in that inky black. Words, phrases spoken just quiet enough to be mistaken for random whispers in the mind. Not even my friend from the Miller was alone with me. I was lucky enough for a theatre just for me, from the Infinite. There was something on stage. I couldn’t see it yet, but I could feel it.

Every time I checked my bracer, only a few minutes had passed. Again and again, after repeated groans in response to failure to complete such a basic task, I got up to head to the kitchen for something to drink. There were better ways to spend an hour of my time, and I had some events to process in my journal.

The center hotel room looked different due to the station’s choice for nighttime lighting. More fluorescent lights had been turned off and replaced with the dim red emergency lights I was used to from poorer stations. That crimson glow trespassed through the window, painting the floor and walls with long silhouettes. The pots and pans that hung from the ceiling battled against the dining area chairs that invaded their space. Fighting so pointlessly for their little corner of limbo. It was shadowplay on the wall that mocked the world around it.

I creeped carefully, so the floor wouldn’t creak and wake the others, over to the kitchen. There was a Blood Stone artifact inside the improvised fridge case. Its sand-like sides, in harmony with the fan in the back, kept the gallon of water inside cold to the touch. I poured myself a glass and returned the container back, so I could just write on the countertop. I didn’t feel like sitting down.

The words conjured themselves onto the page without much thought. Describing the Miller was the hardest part. A building of flesh randomly rearranging its atoms on a whim to some unknown cosmic entity’s writer’s block would send anyone’s head into a spin. And that voice… disembodied, sure, but it whispered to me. Why me? Sea Mist said she only heard buzzing… It couldn’t have been an anomaly since it went out of its way to help us. Maybe I just couldn’t see it. A stalker? No. That was unlikely, there wasn't any sound, and I’d like to believe that I would’ve heard them. So… was it a mutan—

C L I C K

The door to the hotel was unlocked. I reached instinctively for my rifle on my back for nothing but a chilling reminder that it was resting in the other room. As the door began to slowly creak open, I got low behind the empty shadow of the fridge. First came an earth pony mare in all black with a pistol drawn, followed by a mare I recognized. The cowboy, in blue and gold, had her weapon drawn as well, taking the lead when the other pony gave them a nod. My heart beat slammed against my eardrums as the cowboy slunked closer and closer to the bedrooms. The mare in black just stood behind watching them.

My mind was a roaring drum of fears and anxieties. What could I do without a weapon? Are they here for Hoarfrost? The thoughts were relentless. I couldn’t breathe as I creeped over to the lone mare, keeping to the shadows the best I could. Eventually, I was close enough to smell her: a mixture of flowers and chemicals that made my eyes water. The mare in black had to be well off because holy spirits did she drown herself in that perfume.

“Hey,” she called out of the side of her mouth to the cowboy in a hushed tone. The cowboy turned and looked at my items on the counter that the earth pony was pointing at.

There was no better time than the present. I wrapped the mare in front of me in a chokehold and pulled back hard. The earth pony spat out the pistol, gasping for air.

“Easy cowboy,” I growled. “I don’t want violence, so I’m gonna ask you to leave… please.”

The cowboy shook her head. I raised a brow and mimicked her actions with a smirk. “It was worth a shot.”

I threw the mare at her and charged, throwing a kick into the couple as they made contact. The cowboy fired blindly at my general direction, hitting everything but me. When her gun ran dry, I was already back in the shadows. The cowboy pushed the mare off and slid the magazine out for a new one. Too bad I managed to slip behind her.

With a flurry of blows from my hooves, she finally dropped her pistol. I may have missed quite a few jabs as the cowboy tried to stop my advances, but I was rusty, so could you really blame me? But I got too cocky after I slammed her windpipe. The mare’s eyes squeezed down to pinpricks as she ripped her knife out, slashing wildly. I just wasn’t fast enough to dodge.

The cowboy cut and tore through my coat and muscle as I tried to back away. I wasn’t gonna get anything but more scars with that tactic, so I sucked it up and pushed at her. Swiping Talon was always a useful fighting style to fall back on.

I tackled her to the ground as she kept thrusting her blade at me, eventually slamming my hooves into the cowboy’s chest until they stopped resisting. Kept stomping as their blood splattered across my hooves. She was stubborn even without the knife. My blood mixed with her tears while I pressed my hooves into her throat. The cowboy kicked violently, begging to be free. Spit foamed at the corner of her mouth. Finally her movements slowed and her eyes rolled back into her head. She was one hell of a fighter, but prideful like most stable dwellers.

I looked over to the mare in black, who was crawling over to her gun. Her eyes widened when I walked over, my shadow enwrapping her frame. It seemed she was accepting of any consequences like a soldier. I picked up her head and bashed it into the floor twice before falling back onto my flank in exhaustion.

That was two for two on the knockouts. Hoarfrost would be proud.

“Serenity?!” Dusk ran out, followed closely by Hoarfrost and Sea Mist. She had her batons extended, studying the scene in front of her.

“I… I hope you're not expecting a one liner, Dusk,” I said in between shallow breaths. “I’m really not in the mood.”