Getting through the thin vent is a lot harder for me than it is for Evan, though he has much broader shoulders than I do. My sutures ripped open during my fight with Parker, leaving a trail of blood behind me. Doesn't matter, though, because someone else's is already in here, coating the bottom. Evan doesn't seem worried-- Evan seems excited.

Evan stops about seven minutes later. I want to ask what he saw, or heard, but he looks up at me with a firm shake of his head. Don't move. Don't speak. Complete silence.

"No one helped me!" Someone is screaming. A girl. I don't know her, or at least not enough to recognize her voice, but Evan certainly. His fucking ears perk up at the sound of her voice. It's disgusting. "I did it all myself!"

"Really? Then how is it, at the precise moment you were killing Dr. Pam in Hangar One, two of our sentries were shot, another eviscerated, and a fourth hurled a hundred feet down from his post on the south watchtower?"

Glance at Evan. Was that you? He shrugs his shoulders sheepishly. Who the fuck is this guy?

"I don't know anything about that. I just came to find my brother."

Vosche. That son of a bitch. "There really is no hope, you know. All your daydreams and childish fantasies about defeating us—useless."

"Fuck you."

Something happens below us. The same girl, screaming, and something clattering to the floor. The scuffing of boots against the ceramic floor. And then the sound of something hitting the wall. Vosche speaking.

"He's hacked into the mainframe and overwritten the program," he snarls at someone. "He'll cut the power next. Hold them here. Secure that door! No one leaves until I get back."

The door slams. Evan drops something down the vent. He peers down through the slits in the grate, points his gun through the thin opening. I have no idea what's going on below and the thought has my mind reeling. He fires.

"What the fuck?" leaves my lips before I can stop it. Evan turns back with an amused smile. Fuck you.

There's another shot from inside of the room. More shuffling. The relieved whispers of someone I can barely hear. And then, "we're clear!"

Evan knocks against the side, leaving me confused. The girl beneath us seems to understand, because she starts to laugh. Hard. "Yes, Evan. You can come in."

"There's someone with me-- don't shoot her." And he drops down, lands on the balls of his feet. Then he grabs my feet, calves, thighs, hips, stomach. Helps lower me to the ground. When I turn, there's Nugget and Zombie, staring at me. Well, they're both really confused and trying hard to understand how I know Evan, how this girl knows Evan, and how Evan and I got here. And I'm wondering who the hell this girl even is.

"Cassie?" Nugget says.

"Who?" I ask. "Is this the Mayfly you were talking about?"

"Who is she?" 'Cassie' asks. "Friend of yours?"

Evan looks at me, raises a brow. I shake my head. He shrugs. "Apparently not." He turns to face Nugget. "This must be Sammy."

"This is Sammy," Cassie confirms. "Oh! And this is--"

"Ben Parish," Zombie says, and I'm like Since when did you start calling yourself that?

"Ben Parish?" Evan looks at Cassie with raised brows.

"Ben," she says, blushing. "This is Evan Walker."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Nugget asks.

Cassie looks flustered. Zombie looks completely lost, Evan amused (he always is, apparently), and Nugget looks curious. There are many emotions running through me right now, but I have a feeling that I'm showing one; boredom.

"He's a friend from high school," she mutters.

"Actually, Sam," Evan says, "Ben is Cassie's friend from high school."

"She's not my friend," Zombie says. "I mean, I guess I kind of remember her..." Then Evan's words sink in. "How do you know who I am?"

"He doesn't!" Cassie shouts.

"Cassie told me about you," Evan informs us. Cassie elbows him in the ribs, and he sends her another amused look.

"Okay, enough of this bullshit!" I glare at them all, looking pretty threatening with my bloody eye and bruised neck. Not to mention the blood coating my hands. "We need to get the fuck out of here."

Cassie looks like she wants to chastise me for the language in front of her brother. I silently beg her to try.

"Right." Evan nods. "Let's go." He looks at Zombie and I. "You're both injured."

Zombie shrugs. "A couple of torn stitches. I'm okay."

I shake my head, not wanting to get into an argument right now. Zombie pretends not to notice. Nugget tugs on my green scrubs with worried eyes. I can't muster up an answer on how I'm feeling, so just ruffle his hair as an answer. "Nothing I can't handle. We should go."

Cassie holsters her weapon, then climbs through the hole in the mirror to fetch the other soldiers weapon for Zombie. While she's gone, Zombie asks me what happened to my neck. I glance at Evan, then back at him. "Parker."

He's confused. He doesn't know who Parker is, or why I know who he is. Or maybe he does from his own stay in the Convalescent Wing. I don't know.

Cassie crawls back through. ""What are we standing around for?" She places a chair under next to the dead soldiers body, then motions to the vent above. "Evan, you should take point."

I almost laugh. No way I'm going back in there.

Evan shakes his head. "We're not going that way." He takes a key card from the soldier's pouch and slides it through the door lock. The light flashes green.

"We're walking out?" Cassie asks. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Evan answers.

I pop my head out of the door, checking for any threat. When I see no one, I motion for for everyone else to follow me. As soon as we step out, the door shuts and the lock clicks. I glance at Evan with squinted eyes. "Hurry up and cut the power," I whisper, pulling the gun from my scrubs.

He holds up the silver object that looks like a flip phone. "I am. Right now."

He presses his finger down on a button. The corridor plunges into darkness. My hand snaps forward, reaching for the zombie in the dark. I find Nuggets instead, and figure that's good enough. Wherever the dog is, the owner is, after all.

It's not good enough for Zombie, who still searches blindly for me. I can tell when his large hand settles on my stomach, falls to my hip, then finds my free hand. He squeezes it tightly, pulls me up next to him. I lose Nugget somewhere in the dark. Cassie finds him, tells him to stay with her.

"Ghost, hold on to me," Evan says softly. "Cassie, hold on to Ben. It isn't far."

For some reason, it irritates me that he already knows Zombie and I aren't letting go of one another. Maybe it's because I still don't trust him and am afraid he'll use my one weakness against me. Maybe it's because he already did.

We move quick, stepping on each other's heels and knocking against each other's bodies. Zombie hits my wound and I hiss, but say nothing at all. It's not his fault. I don't know how Evan can see so clearly in the dark and I don't know why I didn't bother asking. Maybe because I basically already know and don't want to admit it.

We stop. Evan pushes against the wall-- at least, I thought it was a wall-- and it opens. A gush of cold air hits my bare arms and I shiver. Why the hell did I ditch the lab coat?

"Stairs?" Cassie asks, voice barely a whisper. We're all blind and hoping Evan is leading us in the right direction. The thought makes me shiver again. Then I feel Zombie's warm breath against my neck and shiver once more. I can almost see his smile.

"Halfway up you're going to hit some debris," Evan tells us. "But you should be able to squeeze through. Be careful; it might be a little unstable. When you get to the top, head due north. Do you know which way is north?"

I feel Zombie nod behind me-- at least I think he does. "I do. Or at least I know how to figure it out."

"Me too." A kiss at the back of my neck. Not the time, sap!

"What do you mean, when we get to the top?" Cassie demands. "Aren't you coming with us?"

Evan moves away from me and I'm back to searching for Zombie. I find his hand in seconds and this time, I'm not letting go.

"You're coming with us, Evan," Cassie says.

"There's something I have to do."

"That's right. You have to come with us."

"I'll find you, Cassie. Don't I always find you? I—"

"Don't, Evan. You don't know you'll be able to find me."

"Cassie. I was wrong when I said I was both and neither. I can't be; I know that now. I have to choose."

"Wait a minute," Zombie says. "This guy is one of them?"

My entire body is tense again. I don't know why I didn't realize it-- why I didn't want to realize it. Maybe because in turn for his life, he promised to help me find Zombie. Maybe he knew my weakness before I even had to tell him.

But he overwrote the program and cut the power to the very place that his people thrived. It didn't make sense. It made my head hurt trying to figure it out.

"It's complicated. We'll go over it later," Cassie says. Then, a short desperate plea to the alien, "Don't leave me again."

"You left me, remember?" He responds. Now I'm the one confused, but it's none of my business, really, so I say nothing.

Cassie gives up. "What's due north?" She asks.

"I don't know. But it's the shortest path to the farthest spot."

"The farthest spot from what?"

"From here. Wait for the plane. When the plane takes off, run. Ben, do you think you can run?"

He knows I can run. He doesn't have to ask.

"I think so."

"Run fast?" Squeezes my hand. He's not sure, but he'll be damned if he doesn't try.

"Yes."

"Wait for the plane," Evan whispers. "Don't forget."

And Evan leaves, after a kiss to Cassie's lips, of course. Can't forget that. Especially not when you're probably about to die.

"I don't understand what's happening here," Zombie says. His hot breath is fanning my ear, a clear contrast between that and the bite of the harsh cold outside. "Who is that guy? He's a...What is he? Where'd he come from? And where's he going now?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he's found the armory." A thoughtful pause. Cassie can't get herself to say it outloud. But then, "He's going to blow this whole place to hell."