It wasn't stars that Jack was seeing up above, as he originally thought, they were bodies. He stepped out of the red glow of the blood onto solid stone, following the boy who was still walking on ahead of them. Rachel was in his arms and growing heavier as her missing limbs grew back. The thin, wilted legs she now had were not enough to support her, and so Jack continued to hold her.

The blood had come to a stop at the edge of this stone, both the blood and the ceiling of bodies chained together. It was the same black obsidian that had covered most of their journey, but the significant difference was that this time it was completely flat, all the way across the landscape, shimmering at points from some unknown light source.

And it stretched out infinitely before them, just as the ceiling of suffering bodies, and the floor of blood stretched to infinity behind them. They were at the edge now, but of what exactly, Jack lacked the words to say.

The sky above was just as vast, and far darker than the stone. But there were breaks in that black; tiny specks of light moved through the sky, like shooting stars Jack thought. But all were falling downwards.

He tightened his grip on Rachel's fragile form and kept following the young boy leading their way. The boy kept his distance, and kept his steady pace.

"Jack, what is this place?" Rachel asked through blurry eyes. He wished he could say with certainty. He didn't know if his answer was in anyway honest or just desperation.

"I think it's our way home." He glanced around periodically as they walked further and further. To his surprise he saw other people running along the obsidian field, running away from the blood. They ran faster than Jack was moving, and as he watched them, they ran farther and farther, disappearing into the vast darkness.

"I'll try walking now," Rachel said eventually, sounding closer to herself. Jack had been so focused on the surroundings; he hadn't realized that Rachel's body was fully formed again. A look down at her naked figure, the feel of her in his arms, it brought back a flash of that voice running through his head, the desire to hurt her.

He hastily set her down and turned away, his attention solely on the boy.

I will not do that to her. It is this place. I will not fall to it.

"Who is this child?" Rachel asked, breaking his dark thoughts.

"I'm not certain, but there's a chance it might be..." He shook his head. It seemed like a crazy possibility. Or maybe more wishful thinking. Rachel didn't ask anymore. And they continued walking in silence. The time passed in that unknowable way only possible in this dimension. But as they moved along the tiny stars in the sky grew larger. Larger to the point that they no longer resembled stars.

And then Jack saw it, what the stars were and where they were heading. The stars were people, falling through an eternal abyss, falling forever. And the obsidian floor they were crossing didn't go on forever. There was a ledge up ahead, and a chasm that these bodies were falling into. And the people running along that he'd been watching, they were running to the edge too and tumbling off.

The boy had finally stopped, standing at the ledge, now turning back to face them. Jack and Rachel approached cautiously. The chasm seemed to have its own energy, a sound outside of what they could understand. And it was eternally black. There was nothing over this ledge, only inescapable darkness. Jack backed away quickly, taking Rachel's hand and pulling her back, suddenly convinced that the boy had brought them here to push them over the ledge. The boy was still standing by the ledge though, looking at them calmly, a peaceful smile on his face.

"Do you see it?" he asked. Jack and Rachel both looked out into the darkness confused. There was nothing to be seen, only the occasional body tumbling down in the distance. "It's right in front of you," the boy insisted, now pointing.

"We don't see anything," Jack said frustrated. "Just show us what you mean."

"I can't, you have to see it for yourself." The boy shook his head, now his turn to be frustrated. Jack took a closer look at the boy. The resemblance was undeniable. He wore green and blue-stripped pyjamas, stained with blood. His skin was a light brown, his eyes a brown to match, and black curly hair. He looked so incredibly like her it caught Jack's breath.

"You're Nolan," he said softly. The boy glanced at him with an elfish grin. "How are you here?"

"Cara found me here," he said. "And she wanted me to find you, to help you find the way out."

"And this, what you're trying to show us, it's the way out?" Jack could barely contain the excitement in his voice. Nolan nodded. Jack refocused and starred out into the blackness. What was it he was supposed to see?

But it was no use, he didn't see anything. He looked around at the other people, the ones running off the edge.

"Why are they doing that?" he asked Nolan, who glanced over as a woman tumbled over the edge, screaming.

"They're trying to find the way, but most don't have enough left to see it."

"What if we don't either?" 

Nolan faced him with a darkly stern look. "You must."

Rachel's hand gripped his shoulder, and she was pointing down into the chasm.

"There, I see it. It's a staircase, Jack." As she said the words he saw it too. There was a staircase of solid black stone descending down to a point they couldn't see. The staircase was narrow and one slip would send them into the darkness, but even still Jack looked at it with feral desire. They could escape.

Rachel turned him away from the stairs suddenly, holding both his shoulders.

"Jack, I don't want to go down there. Please, we can't go down there," she said pleadingly.

"What are you talking about? This is what we've been fighting to get too. This is our escape!" Jack had trouble keeping the anger out of his voice.

"It just doesn't feel right, there's something wrong about this. I don't want to go down there."

"I'm not leaving you," Jack said forcefully.

"It wouldn't work," Nolan added. "You need to go together." There was panic in Rachel's face now, tears threatening to pour out. She leaned in close to Jack.

"I'm not going down there! This isn't right!" Jack gripped her one arm tight and started to pull her towards the stairs. He couldn't believe she wanted to give up now with the end in sight.

"We are going! Something is messing with your head," Jack said definitively. "They want to keep you here, but we are going!" He was pulling her closer to the ledge now, ready to pull her down the whole staircase if he had to.

"Jack stop!" Her scream caused him to turn back. His fingers were digging into her arm, drawing blood. There was so much terror on her face. He let go and slunk back.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel," he said. "I'm so sorry. This place... It's getting to me. I'm losing control. I don't mean to." He looked at her pleadingly. "Please. Come with me. I know how terrifying this all is." He looked down into the darkness. "I wish I could guarantee that this staircase leads us out, but I can't. I only know that we can't stay here. I can't stay here. I'll lose myself completely." He held out his hand to her. "Please, I need you to help me."

Rachel wiped the blood on her arm, uneasy. But she gave a soft smile to Jack and took his hand.

"Let's get the fuck out of here."

Jack took the first step onto the staircase. He felt his stomach churn as he looked out over the abyss, but his feet stayed steady. Rachel took her steps just behind him.

Jack glanced at Nolan as he grinned down at them.

"Good luck," he whispered.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Jack asked.

"Not right now." He said it with a mischievous inclination.

"But it's not safe here," Jack pleaded. "Please come with us."

"I'll be okay. They watch me." And then Nolan's face disappeared behind the obsidian cliff, only a shadow of his grin remaining.