Nat and Justin walked in silence, trudging their way through the hills ever closer to the mansion that held the boy.

The boy. Justin knew nothing about the boy. He was an idea. A voice in Kayla and Nat's head. And Justin was losing everything to him. Losing Kayla. Lost Kayla? He should have fought harder. Fought harder to make her stay in Point Chester. He'd followed her on this mission for the boy, because that was what Justin did. He followed her. Wherever she went he would go. But maybe that was the problem. Maybe this time - maybe this one time - he should have made her stay put. 

Nat cleared her throat, tired of the quiet. "I'm surprised you were willing to leave her, after the way you wanted to come."

Justin frowned, but didn't say anything. He was surprised too. 

"Sort of thought you were ride or die," Nat said.

"Seems she's chosen die, doesnt it?" snapped Justin. She'd practically begged to die. Back there with the worms. Leave me. Like dying and leaving Justin behind would mean nothing to her at all. Ride or die. What a joke.

Nat nodded. "I guess that's a good point."

The unicorn, Gaisgeil, wandered a couple yards away. It turned its head, looking directly at Justin and he shivered. Connected, Nat said. Her and the creature. The idea of that thing poking around her brain made him feel ill, and worse still, he got the sense Gaisgeil could read Justin's thoughts too. After all, if it was in Nat's head, why couldn't it get into his? Or, he couldn't help but wonder, Kayla's? He watched the unicorn watching him, its long black tail twitching. And Justin felt a twinge of jealousy.

"She can't really help it, though," said Nat, by way of conversation, "that the Whole keeps coming for her."

"I don't see you trying to help them kill us."

Nat shrugged. "I've got Gaisgeil." The unicorn went back to sniffing through the grass. When it brought it's head up again, something was in it's massive jaws - and it was screaming. Rabbit, Justin guessed, wincing that the blood. "We were in the dark together," Nat went on, not the least bit bothered by the rodent's cries. "And now we're linked. But Kayla's all alone."

Justin rolled his eyes. She was not alone. And she damn well knew it. He opened his mouth to say as much but Nat cut him off.

"And anyway," she said, "I don't think I'm doing what they want. But if I woke up to find out I was playing right into their hands, I wouldn't be surprised."

"That's comforting."

The silence settled again between them and they walked. The world was quiet, the rabbit's screaming silenced, the creature disappearing down Gaisgeil's bucking throat. Why did the unicorn stick around? Linked. When did Kayla stop feeling the link between her and Justin?

"For the record," said Nat, "I'm pretty sure I'm not."

Pretty sure was no great comfort to Justin. If Nat didn't even know if she could resist these worms, then what were they doing? What was the point of risking their lives? He had people in Point Chester. People in danger. People he cared about. They needed him too. And what was Justin doing? Walking uselessly into death?

"I'm just saying," Nat went on, "you and Kayla, you're going through a rough time but -"

"For the record," interrupted Justin, "me and Kayla aren't me an Kayla." It hurt him to say it out loud. But it hurt him more to hear Nat talk about them like they were still...anything.

Nat raised an eyebrow. "Does Kayla know that?"

"Kayla decided that." On the beach, before the sharks. The question he asked was so simple. So direct. Do you not love me anymore? And Kayla couldn't answer? Bullshit. The truth was loud and clear to Justin.

"And how do you feel about that?" asked Nat.

"What are you? A couples therapist now?"

"I could be," said Nat. "I've been in therapy A LOT."

Justin didn't doubt that. He'd never met anyone so bursting with rage as Nat Wick. She watched him, expectantly, and Justin could feel Gaisgeil's gaze somewhere behind him, like icy fingers in the dark on the back of his neck. The pair of them wanted answers.

Justin sighed. "I don't feel anything about it any more." Which was a lie. He felt too many things about it. Sadness. Fear. Heartbreak. Anger. All of it too overwhelming to parse. All of it so big and consuming that if he thought about it too long he'd be crushed by the weight of it all. "I just want to get this over with. Get back to my life before...." He stopped, not sure how to finish that sentence.

"Kayla?" provided Nat.

Was that what he meant? "Yeah," he said. Before Kayla. Before she took him up on his stupid dare to check out the dead sharks on the highway a thousand years ago. Before he swam with her as kids on the swim team. Before kindergarten even, where she came into his life. Before he fell in love with her.  

"Hmm," said Nat. "That might be off the table at this point."

"What do you mean?" 

"I just mean, even if we stop the Whole. Stop every last zombified monster on this earth. Sharks, unicorns, whatever else. If everything went back to normal. Reset like a video game. I'm just saying, I don't think your heart resets."

Justin hated to think that she was right. Hated that he knew she was. There was no reset on Kayla. 

Nat watched him, Gaisgeil too, and Justin frowned. "You wanna start charging me for your time or..."

Nat grinned, "You couldn't afford me."

No, he couldn't. Zombie shark hunting wasn't the kind of thing you did to pay the bills.

A scream sounded - Gaisgeil. The horse reared up and ran at them.

"What's he doing?" shouted Justin, stomach jumping into his throat.

"Oh no," was all Nat said.

The horse sped past them, horn lowered as it charged at something coming up over the hilltop in front of them - a massive, hulking, hairy cat.

"Is that - "

But Justin didn't have to ask. It was. It absolutely was. The fangs made it impossible to deny.

A saber tooth. 

"Gaisgeil!" Nat shrieked, as the unicorn drove at the massive beast, and the behemoths collided, like planets slamming together, and then blown apart - Gaisgeil knocked sideways, a claw shredding his flank, the saber thrown backwards, Gaisgeil's horn tearing a gash across it's chest. 

Nat moved to run, but Justin held her back. "Are you crazy?"

"I can't leave Gaisgeil!"

"You can," said a voice at their backs.

Standing behind them was a pair of teens just like them - one guy, one girl.  The guy was bloody, his clothing torn. A gash oozing at his leg. But he didn't seem bothered in the least. "Your horse is dead already," he said.

Justin's stomach roiled. They were wrong. Their blank faces. Their stiff postures. Everything about them was wrong.

"Don't run," said the girl. "Our associate will be faster."

By associate, Justin knew they meant the saber.

"What the hell are you?" demanded Nat.

"The inevitable," the girl said brightly.

"Follow us," said the guy, heading back towards the hilltop. "Franklin is waiting for you."

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