The hissing is now behind us and under us. Jason nudges Bucky on the shoulder and we start to run. Minho pulling me along. Trouble is, we had planned to descend to a lower level, but that's out now, we won't go down a level into the waiting claws and teeth if whatever the monstrosity awaits us. When we come to the steps leading down, Thomas and Bucky and Sonya are scanning for a possible alternative on the Holo when I start shacking, my head starts thrashing.

"Jess? Are you okay?" Minho asks.

I'm trembling, I can hear the difference voices now. I can hear the screaming in my head.

"YOU DID THIS!"
"YOU KILLED ME!"
"I WAS ONLY FOUR!"
"WHO WOULD EVER LOVE SOMEONE LIKE YOU?"
"MURDER! MONSTER! KILLER?"

I ripped my hand from Minho and covered my ears, trying to block the screaming.

"Stop stop stop!" I scream, I hunch over, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

I get up and stagger away from the sound, or try to, but the screaming is in my head, and stumble right out onto the Transfer. Smooth, pastel-colored tiled streets, just like the ones above, but bordered by white brick walls instead of homes. I'm running blind at this point, desperately trying to get away from the screaming. The things are closer now, I can now hear the long legs slicing into the ground and walls and they storm closer.

Someone behind me throws an explosive, which kills the nest of flesh-eating rats inside. Then I sprint for the next intersection, where I know one false step will cause the ground beneath our feet to disintegrate, feeding us into something labeled Meat Grinder. Someone yells a warning and I'm grabbed, my backpack is grabbed, making me stumble backwards, arms are wrapped around me, and I'm head tight, despite my screaming and fighting.

The screams are so loud, my head feels like splitting open. My chest hurts from it all, from running from panicking from stress, from hyperventilating.

"Jess! Please!" The person pleads with me. "Please come back. Come back!"

"We need to get out!"

"Quickest way?"

"Give me a minute!"

"We don't have a minute!"

A spray of gunfire brings down a shower of plaster. I jerk my head up and away from Minho who has me squished to his chest, I swing my head from side to side, looking for the pod, before I turn and see the squad of WICKED Soilders pounding down the Transfer toward us. With the Meat Grinder pod blocking our way, there's nothing to do but fire back. They outnumber us two to one, but we've still got four members of the Wolf Pack, Gally, Sonya and Minho all sharp shooters who aren't trying to run and shoot at the same time. I yank myself away, pulling my gun as I do.

Fish in a barrel, I think, as blossoms of red stain their uniforms. Three-quarters of them are down and dead when something huge and monsters come pouring in from the side of the tunnel, the same one I flung myself through to get away from the screaming.

The Grievers found us. And they aren't just regular Grievers. These have the eyes of everyone I've been responsible for killing. And their screams and pleads of mercy rip into my skull. Leading the charge is the one that haunted my nightmares, Minho's Griever a teaming all the horrible things at me.

Apparently, having a WICKED pedigree is useless here. It seems to take only seconds before the soldiers are decapitated. The mutated Grievers fall to their bellies and skitter toward us on all fours.

"This way!" Bucky shouts, hugging the wall and making a sharp right turn to avoid the pod. Minho is pushing me along, but he doesn't need to, I'd do just about anything to get away from those things. When everyone's on the other side, Teresa fires into the intersection, and the Meat Grinder activates. Huge mechanical teeth burst through the street and chew the tile to dust. That should make it impossible for the Grievers to follow us, but I don't know.

"We need to get up!" Thomas yells over all the noise. Bucky is running as fast as the group can go. Thomas is giving Newt a shove and Aris is making sure Gally isn't left behind. My head is thrashing like I'm trying to rid it of a bug that's crawled inside. I know my mind is glitching again. It's trying to slip back into what Janson wanted me to be. I'm trying. But I can feel myself slipping.

I'm vaugely aware of tile changing to concrete, of crawling through a tight, stinking pipe onto a ledge about a foot wide. We're in the main sewer. A yard below, a poisonous brew of human waste, garbage, and chemical runoff bubbles by us. Parts of the surface are on fire, others emit evil-looking clouds of vapor. One look tells you that if you fall in, you're never coming out. Moving as quickly as we dare on the slippery ledge, we make our way to a narrow bridge and cross it. In an alcove at the far side, Bucky smacks a ladder with his hand.

"Up! Now!" He orders.

"Stand back!" Gally shouts. With a grenade, he pulls the pin and throws it, it rips the far side of the bridge from its foundation. The rest sinks into the bubbles, just as the Grievers reach it.

For the first time, I get a good look at them. I can't believe Janson made them real, he took my nightmares and turned it into reality. A mix of human and lizard and spider, Scorpion, and machine. Grey greenish blubbery skin, long sharp teeth the le gfh of a caged, the legs sharp and deadly as swords their mouths smeared with gore, their huge eyes, the eyes of humans, eyes I recognize. They are hissing, shrieking my name now, as their bodies contort in rage. Lashing out with tails and claws, nashing their teeth, taking huge chunks of one another or their own bodies, driven mad by their need to destroy me. My screaming must be as evocative to them as theirs is to me. More so, because despite its toxicity, the Grievers begin to throw themselves into the foul sewer.

I can hear the screaming even more. My head feels like exploding. I drop my gun and graby head. Someone grabs my shoulders and spins me around. My hands are placed on the rings of the ladder but I can't move. I'm shacking and twitching now. Their screams making my heart run wild, my skin turn to ice, my lungs unable to suck air. It's as if Janson's breathing right in my face, as I'm strapped down again, and he's telling me it's time to die.

"He's going to kill you if you don't kill him."
"He never loved you!"
"You're a murderer. And he's going to kill you."
"He'll leave you for your replacement."
"Kill him first."

Our side of the platform start firing what weapons we have. I've sunk to the ground my head held so tight between my hands I'm surprised I haven't squished it like an egg. My head is pounding and splitting with the pressure and pain. It's like my mind is being ripped apart. I'm half aware that someone is carrying me up the ladder. My body jerks and trembles and I scream.

•×•

Minho

Bucky drops Jessie against the wall. She's breathing so I turn and help grab the others and yank them up.

Teresa. Sonya. Newt. Jason. Thomas. Gally. Aris. I breath a sigh of relief. They are all here.

Bucky slides the Holo from his belt and barks out "nightlock, nightlock, nightlock." He release it. He drives away, I hunch against the wall with the others as the explosion rocks the platform and bits of twisted human Griever shoot out of the pipe and shower us. There's a clank as Thomas slams a cover over the pipe and locks it in place.

We all breath heavy. Teresa is pulling a bandage out and thing it around Jason's neck. Buck is yelling into the coms.

"Get to the tallest building Jorge is coming to you."

"Affirmative!"

"Light a flash flare when you do. Now move!"

Bucky shoved the com into his pocket. He turned to the group, "Our ride's here! Let's go, guys! Move!"

We get Jason to his feet, he's a bit wobbly. So Aris takes his weight. Newt looks in pain, he's rubbing his leg and grimacing. But we also get him to his feet, with the help of Thomas. Sonya looks pale and shaky, Teresa has her draped over a shoulder. Only one figure stays huddled against the wall.

"Jess," I say cautiously. There's no response. Has she blacked out? I crouch in front of her, pulling her shacking hands from her face.

"Jess?"

Her eyes are like black pools, the pupils dilated so that her grey blue irises have all but vanished. The muscles in her wrists are hard as metal.

"Leave me," she whispers. "I can't hang on."

"Yes. You can!" I tell her.

Jessie shakes her head. "I'm losing it. I'll go mad. Like them. I'll hurt someone. I'll hurt...you and the baby. I can't. I'm a monster...a murderer...a monster" she whispered to herself, her body is shivering and trembling, every muscle is tense.

A monster...like the mutts. Like a rabid beast bent on ripping her throat out. And here, finally here in this place, in these circumstances, I will really have to leave her behind...And WICKED will win. Janson would win. Hot, bitter hatred courses through me. Janson has won too much already.

It's a long shot, it's suicide maybe, but I do the only thing I can think of. I lean in and kiss Jess full on the mouth, it was always the song that brought her back, but I don't have time to sing, so I try this, hoping, praying she doesn't lash out and kill me like I've seen her do. Her whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to hee until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up her neck and clasp her face between my hands.

"Don't let him take you from me."

Jessie was panting hard as she fights the nightmares raging in her head. "No. I don't want to..." She tries to jerk her head away.

I tighten my hands around her jaw, burying my fingers into her hair and brushing my thumbs along her cheeks, "Stay with me, Jess. Don't give up on me."

Her pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. "I'll... I'll show you my heart..
" she murmurs.

"Come on Jess, come back to me."

She took a shuddering breath, and tipped her head forward, so her chin was on her chest.

"You love me. Is that real?" She whispered.

"Very real."

"I'm a monster. Is that real?"

"Not real. You are a product of someone's twisted and sick imagination. You are not a monster Jess."

"You proposed. Real?"

"Yes." I whispered, "look at your finger."

I can't see her face but I see her trembling hand shift. And I can hear a stuffed sob.

"Jess Baby.. I love you so much. And I'm going to spend happily ever after with you and our baby. We're going to have a family."

She took a shuddering breath again and lifted her tear stained face. I wanted nothing more then to hold her and never let go, I wanted to kiss her for ever and never stop. But we had to go, we needed to move.

"I need you to dig deep and we need to get up and go meet Jorge."

"Papi...?"

"Yes. He's coming for us. So we need to get up and go."

I stand up and pull her with me. Her legs just about give out. I can see her face pale and her eyes dilate in panic again. She yanks her hand away, places it on her stomach, spinning away she ends up throwing up again. She crumpled to the ground, both arms now wrapped around her waist. She whimpered. I dropped back down, I knew something was wrong.

"Minho...it hurts!"

I didn't wait for anything else I scooped her up. And turned. Bucky was frowning.

"What's wron-"

"We need to go! Now!" I yelled over him. "Where are we going?"

He spins and leads our group down the road. We're running from back alley to back alley. Jason is loosing a lot of blood, and we haven't cleaned it, Newt's limp is getting worse. Gally is sucking air. Jessie is trying to curl into a ball her hands have formed tight fists, one shoved into her mouth either trying to stave off the madness or stifle a scream, the other one has grabbed a fist full of my shirt and hasn't let go.

Bucky kicks a door to an office building open. He waved us all through, amd we race as fast as we can up the stairs. Aris kicks the door open and we all pour into the roof. There's fires raging everywhere. Bucky Chuck's the flair gun to Teresa, and he pulls his com out. Teresa points it up and shoots. Bucky is screaming into the com.

I sunk to the ground and hold Jessie close. Rocking back and forth with her in my lap, I hold her close. Now that we are waiting, I quietly sing that little lulliby for her.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow. A bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes. And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you."

I could feel her body relaxing. She was still trembling and whimpering. Her arms were clamped around her waist.

"It hurts Minho...it hurts!"

"I know baby, Nana Ann can help. We're just waiting for them. Just hold on!"

There was another explosion that rocked the building we were on. The girls screamed. Jessie whimpered and tried to curl tighter into me.

Over the raging fires and once the shaking of the building settled, there was a deep and heavy thumping. I looked up coming closer was a Berg. I instinctively tightened my grip on Jessie, until I saw the Right Arm symble on the wings. Bucky jumped up, waving his arms. It turned and the hatch at the back of the Berg opened. Bucky helped everyone up.

I struggled to my feet. I was exhausted and sore. I had been on a mission, captured, tortured and then ran for my life. With a wild groan of stubborness, I refused to stay down. I had a family to protect now. Jessie was still cradled in my arms. And as I finally stumbled to the ramp I could see everyone. Vince, Nana, Jorge, and everyone else. Vince had a harness strapped around himself so he wouldn't fall out. He was reaching out and helping people up the ramp.

Jorge didn't bother with the harness, he ran down the ramp.

"What's wrong?" He shouted over the noise. Fear and concern written all over his face. "Is the baby okay?"

"I...I don't know she keeps saying it hurts?"

He ripped Jessie from my arms and raced back up the ramp, screaming for Ann. I just about coapsed then. But an arm wrapped around my back and my arm around their shoulder. And hauled my the rest of the way up, as the ramp closed. Everyone was now on bored.

"Come on shank."

"Winston..."

"Yep, that's my name, don't wear it out."

"Where's Jessie?"

"Come on man."

He helped me down the Berg hall to the medical room. Mary and Jeff were racing around. Mary was stitching up Jason's neck. Sonya was wrapped in a blanket holding Jason's hand. Jeff was helping Newt, wrapping ice around his leg and Gally already had an oxygen mask on. Thomas was laying sprawled on a bed. But I didn't see Jessie.

"Where's Jessie?"

"Other room." Jeff called.

Winston and I went across the hall.

"I'll come check in, in a bit." Winston patted my shoulder. Ann was just inserting an IV into her arm. She was laying on the bed, her eyes closed, she looked like she could be sleeping. Jorge was leaning on a table looking as anxious as ever.

"Nana?" I asked hesitantly.

"My hunter!" She straightened up and came over and gave me a hug, I wrapped my arms around her holding her tight. She squeezed me tight patting my back. She pulled away, a hand on my cheek.

"Jessie? The baby?"