Author's note: Okay, so I should be updating... Well, really anything else, but I had an idea and it just wouldn't let up. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Yeah, like I own Gone. I also don't own the song "Seven Devils" by Florence + the Machine!

This is set around the middle of Hunger.

Part One

1. The First Devil

"Holy water cannot help you now

A thousand armies could not keep me out."

It knew.

It knew of their petty, tiny plans to destroy it.

But it had plans, too.

The gaiaphage was no longer hungry in the dark. It had no need of its insignificant human slaves any longer. It only needed Nemesis, and only Nemesis could give himself to the gaiaphage. No one could make Nemesis come, he had to do it of his own free will.

But that didn't mean that the gaiaphage couldn't give Nemesis a little incentive.

The first devil gushed from the cave, intent on ravaging the FAYZ.

XxXxX

One minute she was running towards Perdido Beach faster than the speed of light, not even on any mission from Sam or Edilio or anyone, just running because she was the Breeze and that's what she did. She was running and running and her stomach was growling but she was ignoring it because the wind felt so good on her face and her hair was whipping along behind her and she was the Breeze and everything was perfect-

The ground came rushing up to meet her face, but with superhuman speed she threw her arms up right before she hit the road. After skidding a few inches, she stopped, arms burning.

"Ow. Ow, ow," she muttered, picking herself up and scraping gravel out of the various cuts on her... Well, all over her. "Superhuman skidding speed. One of the perks of being the Breeze." She took one regular-speed step, stopping when her leg practically screamed out in pain. She looked down.

A medium-sized bite mark was on her leg, right below the knee. She glanced over her shoulder.

Some sort of animal was loping away, moving fast, but not the Breeze fast. From this distance it almost looked like it was made out of shadows.

"Sure, now I'm getting tripped up and bitten by shadow animals." She rolled her eyes, looking back down at the bite mark. It was quickly fading, as if the Healer had laid her hands on it. In a few seconds, it was gone. The Breeze shrugged and took off. She didn't think about the bite ever again.

XxXxX

Jack walked into the McClub, trying to avoid most of the people and stick to the shadows. This definitely wasn't his thing; the throbbing beat, the strobe lights, seemingly millions of kids. The only reason he had even thought about coming here was-

"Jack!" Brianna "The Breeze" came out of nowhere and hugged him, sweaty, flustered and beautiful in Jack's eyes. He blushed, but it wasn't visible in the low light. "I didn't know you were the dancing type!"

"I- I'm not, usually," he managed to say before she shot him a devious smile.

"Dance with me."

"I- I don't-" he stuttered, and she stepped closer to him, right under one of the strobe lights. It illuminated her whole face, namely, her eyes.

They weren't blue anymore, but a sickly salmon color. They were ringed with ashy flakes of grey and black, and underneath the cracked, dying top layer of skin, it was yellow. Jack took a startled step back.

"Brianna, what's wrong with your eyes?"

"My eyes?" she looked genuinely confused. "Nothing. Why?"

"I have to... I have to get out of here." Jack spun around and pushed his way to the door, not caring that he was shoving people aside with his super-strength. Behind him, the Breeze frowned.

"Okay, fine, forget you!" she yelled. "Jerk. Computer Jerk!"

He didn't even hear her in his mad dash for the door, fresh air, and safety.

XxXxX

He was walking away from the club like he was on a mission, but it wasn't hard to catch up with him.

"Jack."

He spun around and she smirked. He would have recognized her voice from a mile away.

"Diana?"

She came closer so he could see her poorly constructed boy-disguise. Running one hand over her shaved head, she placed the other arm around his thin shoulders. "Mmm. Yep. Like my new hairdo?"

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. He sounded angry, scared, and like he wasn't fully there, like his mind was elsewhere. She pulled him into a full-on hug.

"I can't come into town to say hi to an old friend?" she whispered in his ear. Jack pushed her away.

"What does Caine want?"

She breathed out heavily, stepping back from him and crossing her arms, the real Diana showing through. "We need you, Jack. It's a big job. Lots of computers, lots of things that only you know about. Caine can't do it without you."

XxXxX

Jack barely heard her. His mind was back in the McClub, back with the Breeze and her strange skin problem. What was wrong with her? He needed to tell someone; Sam, Astrid, Edilio, anyone.

"Diana, I have to go." She stepped in his path, and he gently but firmly pushed her out of the way.

"Jack, Caine needs you. I need you," she pleaded, but her words fell on deaf ears.

Jack started to run towards town hall, leaving Diana and whatever she wanted far behind. He wiped one hand over his eyes, but something felt wrong. After scratching once, something came off in his hand. He looked down, afraid to see what it was.

It was a huge chunk of flaky, ashen skin. It had come from his face.

Whatever the Breeze had, she had given it to him in only a few seconds of contact.

There was a disease in Perdido Beach.

Reviews make me want to put the next chapter up faster ;)

-HL