Judith and her shadow hide in the darkness. Green eyes glow, surround the endless emptiness of a city which reeks of inauthenticity. Aware this place is also a catacomb dungeon of sorts with its open air claustrophobic loneliness and stone gray toilet swirl sky. Panoptic chill emanates from metal lung cement damage. Every breath's a lonely rusty nauseous inhale. And yet it doesn't smell like mint or have a drown defecation atmosphere like her sad shackle shadowless winter world. This place is incomplete in a different sort of unworldly way.

Judith knows of enough simulations to know something about them. Knows this dead city isn't whole. Feels like a tutorial. Feels like a place to practice barefoot loneliness over and over again. Every blind alley and sidewalk is a hopeless convergence built upon hopeless convergence. Too quiet. Incomplete. Soundless. Does it exist for a girl's ending? No. It's a desperate schedule for an act of jumping off a building time and again. It's an unending.

This foot fall place crawls echoes into her mind like whiffs of mineral spirit drench asbestos linoleum. Torn cellophane and lye fume eye stings. Ammonia burnt plastic nostrils. The whole infrastructure is cardboard made of concrete. Every street and building and alley is a ruse. Judith's aware that nothing in this place is real in the way she thinks of places being real. It seems like this city exists specifically to constrict Jane. To position Jane where the simulation needs her to be for someone's amusement. Dawns like a bright distant planet reflecting a nighttime sun upon Judith's forehead. The idea twinkles at a point in her dull dark sky mind. This is where the epilogue meets the prologue. The antimony. The paradox. The ouroboros. This place is a shadow swallowing a shadow swallowing a shadow. The emptiness is a construction and maintenance of a broken laugh. A generation's horrible feeling. A feeling of madness. A particular madness. The madness of civilization. Each grain of dust is a fingerprint that tastes like Nietzsche while he twirls the ends of his moustache and watches from the deck of a ship of fools. He's caught in the netting of Noah's Ark. Drenches in rainy expiration. Nods his head to and fro from the bulwark of Noah's stranger ship. His mother holds him while waving bon voyage to the death of God and what it means now to want to die. The eternal recurrence. This is definitely Terra's prison. This is the eternal forty days and forty nights. This place is the troubling adventure of naming two mountains Erebus and Terror and hearing the words "tekeli li." It was Jane who finally found the dry earth to ram this rotting husk open upon. She had the audacity to punch a floorboard hole in the sky. Jane escaped purgatory.

The only city sound comes from Jane. She breaths and runs and sweats and cries. She's gray motion blurring past a grey background. Her body almost seems two dimensional from Judith's vantage point.

Graveyard girl pulls her francy's off. Knows each of her steps tread noisily. She's used to the quiet of her feet, not the unnatural snap stomp squeak crunch sounds shoes make. Laces her footwear around her neck. Francy's dangle at her breasts. Likes their scent. Enjoys how her feet tend to smell, like dirt and a grassy sort of honey. The insides of her shoes smell better than the air in this place.

Judith's anxious about alerting Jane to her sisterly presence. Doesn't want to disturb the mire girl from leading her to the dark forest and the little house and Michael.

The graveyard girl's around a hundred meters behind. Flanks Jane. Watches the desperation and sadness of a broken heart. The mire girl stops for a moment. Leans against a slick concrete wall. Cries into her hands. Jane saw Rist as a corpse and Judith wishes she could tell her what she knows. Jane's Rist is alive. Alive and waiting to embrace her.

She wonders in horror if the body Jane saw in the morgue is what's left of the Rist from Judith's world. The Rist who was sullen in the picture with Terra and Garret. It could be. She hopes not. Wonders with worry if her world's Terra's alive somewhere. She has hope when it comes to the sister whom she protected and sacrificed her body for. Judith would have sensed her original world's Terra through the frenzy of the mindless biting Terras in the underwater world if her Terra had been there. Wouldn't she? Very much hopes so.

Judith clears her mind. Listens to Jane run and emotionally crumple. Devastation is what her face is made of in this moment. Judith knows Jane wants to die. Heads for the tallest building in the simulation city of Veridiction. Judith won't stop her. She'd like to but she won't. This event must happen. Jane must jump.

Judith notices a sign on a building above where Jane's running. A billboard advertisement. An advertisement in this place? Strange. The billboard holds within it the image of a woman in an aggressive pose with a serious look of temper upon her mouth and cheeks and eyes. She has three dead birds tattooed above her left breast which are slightly covered by her lengthy blonde hair. Judith believes this woman is long gone if she ever was at all. Probably an actress or a model. There's a giant red X spray painted across her face. "Be brave" is the slogan fonting above her head. Judith thinks to herself, "Be dead," more likely.

When Jane smashes through the parking garage door to find the staircase to the top of the building, Judith takes four last steps and stops following. Why did she count her last four steps? Why four? What does it mean? She doesn't know why this is on her mind. Witnesses a pattern. Notices the number four in a lot of places. The number of every building has four in every mapping combination. Four burnt out street lights loom over every street on every side of every block. Four distinct cracks in every cement square of sidewalk. Four steps lead up to every apartment. Four giant windows extend upon the south of every building with four smaller windows within each big one. Four bricks lay broken at the entrance of an alley. Even the woman's face on the billboard has a two plus two. Judith does a double take and watches the effigy closely. Yes, the model has an eye behind an eye. Green eyes watch from behind blue eyes. The green eyes blink. The green eyes blink again and disappear.

"What witching wizard hides behind that curtain?"

Judith thinks maybe this place is a bit more than a purgatory. Someone has laced it with phenomenological apparitions. Green eyes and the number four. Double entendres? Triple entendres? A panoptic gaze. Two all seeing eyes.

"Motherfucker!"

The graveyard girl lets the thought die like that woman on the billboard. Waits in the shadows for Jane to break her body upon the hard unforgiving ground with a superfluous long drop. Leans against an alley wall made of cinder. Crossing her arms. Witnesses again at the four cracks in the square cement ground before her. Thinks about shadows as she watches her's.

"Well, when did you come back to me?"

The shadow shrugs which catches Judith off guard. Wasn't expecting an answer. Shouldn't really be surprised by receiving the umbra's gesture. Had copulation with her shadow in the past, so she finds it odd to be a little jump scared.

The shadow speaks.

"I have no idea what you mean. I've never met you before. Girl, I've been imprisoned here for as long as I can remember. For some reason though, apparently you're supposed to be my shadow and I'm supposed to be your shadow. I've never connected to someone before, at least I have no knowledge of such a grip. I do like how I look now because of how you look. Thank you for that. You feel really nice."

"Motherfucker! Get off me! I'm not doing this! You aren't who I've been missing and you aren't who I've been mourning! Unless you can help me find Michael Leonard, you can fuck off with your mystery and impotence!"

"I can't find myself let alone someone else. But I guess I've found you and now I'm stuck to you. Motherfucker? I can't just detach myself now that I'm connected. What kind of shadow would I be if I could do that? I'm not going anywhere. So you fuck off with your mystery and impotence, Judith Coal!"

"How in the horny fuck do you know my name?"

"I don't know. I can see language in faces and arms and hips and ankles. I see names and verbs and adjectives in the way movement and temperament and temperature cast a vibration of scent. Maybe I latched on to you because I think you're amazing. I don't know. I don't know you but I have a hunch that you are amazing since you're not her or the other two who will be here soon. You're not a ghost in this dark and lonely machine. You seem real. You seem alive. Yeah, you're Judith Coal. It seems that I somehow know more about you than I know about myself."

"Ok. Alright. I'm sorry for my temper. It never occurred to me that I could have a shadow with memory loss. And I think you have memory loss. Unless your memories were ghosts and your true recollections are of nothing, which would somehow make sense in this fucked up labyrinth."

"I'm a shadow, not a philosopher. Judith. Whatever you think is...oh wait. He's here."

Judith watches the empty street become the sound of steps. A long muscly thin young man comes into the graveyard girl's view. He's long black hair. Black patchwork combat pants like the Ghost's on the train. Dirty black tactical boots and a tight black t shirt. Judith can see his hard nipple piercings protrude from the thin garment on his chest. His face is slightly unshaven. Chiseled. This man is Garret. Judith immediately senses something off. He's also not Garret. This is another effigy. He has pale blank eyes. Judith catches a glimpse of two other eyes hidden behind those. Emerald green. He's a marionette on strings. He's not a real boy and this place is the belly of the dogfish. Who's behind the curtain?

"I bet I know who's behind your eyes, Garret."

"Who?"

"Hush now shadow. I think my girl's about to drop."

"For like the thousandth time. Yeah. So?"

"Just shut your hole. I don't want to be noticed."

"Alright, sorry. It's been a long time since I've talked to anyone."

Judith glares down at her annoying shadow. The dark reflection shrugs again. Holds up two fingers as a symbol of peace. Judith nods. Sticks her tongue out. Points her attention toward the street.

Jane hits the ground and explodes in a spray of red morsel. Bounces in puddles of pulpy gore. Bones severe and shatter into tiny pieces. Judith witnesses her face. Looks like a barbwire baseball bat took a few dozen swings. Jane's a contortion of stringy pulpy flesh. It's like she is in the middle of becoming something else and what she was before was an imitation of the real Jane.

The mire girl's body melts. Fuses back together.

Movements are like a rib cage mouth opening and closing, sucking and swallowing intestines like noodles covered in thick chunky rosa. Hips snap like fingers and fenders. Femurs make a crack chop splitting wood sound. Flesh sloshes like frozen slush bubbles of waves. Tide of gore creeps upon collapsing red sand castles. Resurrection serum's certainly performing its trick. Its magic. Its insanity.

Jane doesn't scream. Doesn't make a sound. Can't or won't or too far into the back of her mind to feel the pain. Maybe her nerves haven't allowed for sensation just yet. Dress is no longer gray. Maroon sort of splotchy soak tatter.

Judith feels a bead of sweat drip down her face. Clings to the alley cinder wall. Has one stocking foot pressing down on the other. Holds her legs together tightly like she has to pee. What she's just witnessed is unsettling even for her. Jane doesn't deserve this. And to live through it? Oh my god. To watch her unrecognizable remains slowly become what was Jane terrifies Judith. Shocks her. But she's also in awe of the mire girl.

"My girl is tough beyond any comprehension I've experienced."

Garett stares at Jane's body like an automation. Says something that Judith doesn't catch. Jane says something from what's left of her mouth. Judith misses the words, as well. Garret moves closer to Jane as the mire girl begins looking more like the mire girl. More words are spoken. Jane stands. Turns around to face Garret. Has on cue tears running down his face. Like the function of a faucet that's been tightened to the point of dripping. They kiss. He tries to feel her up. Grabs her breast and ass under her wrecked dress.

"Really? After she just...huh..."

Jane pushes away from Garret. Cries. Scolds him. Screams at him. Calls him a piece of shit. He wronged her somehow and she remembers. Betrayal. Anger. A crushing feeling emanates from Jane's hardening posture. Garret's blank. The other eyes within him glow green until an emotion tracks his face. Judith knows that look. It's absolute hatred in the form of a countenance.

From her flank position, she witnesses another person. Another Terra. Red dress with white polka dots. Her hair is raven black against ghost white skin. She's eyes that glow a verdant shade of green. Shakes her head in Jane's direction. This Terra is stunning. Her lips word the phrase, "I'm sorry." Judith senses something within this red dress version of Terra. She's met this one before. Recollects.

This is the Terra from the first reality. The Terra who wanted to put a bullet in Michael's head. The Terra who, in the end, accepted Judith as she was along with Alice, her mother. This is the Terra of that nice moment before David Leonard destroyed everything. This is also the Terra from the interactive vision where Judith was annihilated by her and Michael. This Terra is the first of the Terra revenants. She watched Michael torture her on an autopsy table. She watched her lover cut off this girl's jaw. Butchery. Horror. This Terra is a powerful revenant.

Jane disappears. Everything turns blackout, like the entire city's in a room with no windows and the power is out. Pure tenebrosity.

Judith's shadow laughs in an entirely different monotone voice. Cold. No emotional inflection.

"Hehehe. Well, that was different. Usually she just makes out with him until the red dressed bimbo shows up and the memory is lost. Then she wakes up in the mire to do it all over again, forever. How did her memory return? Maybe things have changed because you're here this time. Ah, well. I hope you've enjoy the show, you stupid glitchy bitch."

Judith rages. Cringes. Knows the voice. David fucking Leonard. Judith will never forget that tone dead voice.

"Motherfucker!"

Hears a girl crying in the distance. Leaves the alley. Scowls and worries and runs in the darkness. Feels the concrete on her stocking feet. Knows the street is still here. The buildings haven't vanished. Only the light is burnt out. Feels like a vast cavern. An underworld dogfish belly.

Judith eventually finds Terra. Grabs her shoulders. Terra screams. Judith forces her into a hug. They both collapse to their knees.

"No! Oh god, no....no more...please...let me out...please let me out..."

"Terra! It's Judith. Do you remember me?"

"Judith? Yes. I do. Judith, the sister I never knew...oh, please...help me...please."

"Yes, that's my girl. I think I know how to get you out. I'm gonna give it a try but it'll take a bit of time. I have to follow Jane. Do you know how I follow Jane?"

"That girl, that girl who acted differently than all the others? Oh, they're mad...but yes. There's a portal where she stood. A trap. A way out that I can never go through. Oh, Judith...please don't leave me. I don't care what evil you've done. I've been alone in here for a long, long time. I'm dying..."

"I have to, my girl. My little sister. To free you, I have to. I promise though. By my final croaking breath I will save you. I swear it! I'll set you free, Terra Coal. Daughter of Alice Coal. I'll set you free if it's the very last goddamn thing my ass ever does!"

Judith's shadow laughs at her. Sounds like cold water and frozen attics and megalodonics and Tuurngaits. Unbinds itself from Judith and attaches its hatred to Terra. Screams like she's out of breath. Eyes fade in and out like eternal daylight and darkness in the trap of a clockwork minute. Terra collapses to the ground like a seizure. Judith feels her curl into the fetal position.

"Oh, god. No. Not again. Don't make me kill them all again...please stop...please stop...oh, I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..."

Judith turns away. Leaves Terra crying in the dark. Anger swishes into the flavour of her sadness. Knows full well that David or something like David is torturing her sister. But she's going to see this through. Decides her words matter. Going to free her sister above saving Michael and above the vengeance she desires so much. If she has to choose, she'll choose Terra. If it comes to that, it comes to that. Her sister must live. If she has to die for Terra to live, so be it.

Judith pinpoints Jane's last location. More like she stumbles upon the trap door and falls down the rabbit hole into the neologism, the unbirthday party and all of its invitation written in madness.

The other side of the portal isn't the bottom of the mire for Judith. She falls out of the dark forest vertically. Shifts perspective into the horizontal clearing of the little house where the art piece skeletons decorate the death infested lawn. Recognizes the house. Bob and Alice Coal's home. Well, what's left of their conurbation. Judith recognizes she's obviously in the remains of the Poor district. Also knows she was here when everything was destroyed. Flashes of her killing people enter her mind. Distant like a Buddhist memory. Like she was doing the murdering but she wasn't. She was a passenger. A hostage within herself.

A flash of lightning cracks a fissure across the sky. Art piece skeletons in front of the house slowly rise from their death poses. Stretch out their paperback book page thin limbs. Witness Judith in unison. Creak and crunch toward her in garments of daisy yellow and burnt red and hollow intricacy and raven feather rib cage. Their arms outstretch like zombies coming to feed upon one particular zombie. To Judith, they're nothing but dust in the form of bones. She's ready for whatever epic battle they want to bring. But the four skeletons walk past the graveyard girl without any other acknowledgement of her existence. Judith turns to watch their backsides. They begin walking as if they're truly alive. By the time they begin disappearing into the roots and branches of the dark forest, Judith witnesses them as they were. As the flesh and beauty and authenticity of the bad ass woman they once lived as. Goddesses of stories long ended in sadness and grief.

Judith whispers a grin.

"Motherfucker."

The warrior women disappear. Judith turns back toward the house. Yells loud enough to hurt her throat as she prepares to put her francy's back on her feet.

"Motherfucker!"

She knows who's waiting inside. She can smell him.