The ruin that Stannis had lived in for over a decade was all shadows after nightfall. Without human light to scare them away, Kryll roosted on every possible surface and left deposits on the floor beneath, leaving a pattern that looked almost like the trail of some huge beast that had wandered about. They watched him as he slunk past them, cold black multifaceted compound jewels of eyes that gleamed just enough for him to make them out. Normally he did not rove anywhere near close enough to make out such detail—any Grub that did was devoured instantly as the Kryll obeyed whatever mindless hunger the All-Mother had instilled in them. But tonight, the Kryll did not disturb him, for Her voice was in their minds, ordering them to be tranquil, as much as it was in his.

Closer, closer. Now hide.

He obeyed the All-Mother instantly, and hunkered down in the dust and debris. His mottled hide blended in well enough that he could not have been seen in daylight. As he felt Her satisfaction, his eyesight began to alter, and sounds that were until seconds ago barely audible now came crystal clear. She was making Her presence felt.

Hours passed.

He heard them first—a throaty roar that shook his whole body and was loud enough in his newly-refined ears to be painful. Then a growing brightness on a wall ahead of him swivelled suddenly, turning directly into his sight. It was dazzling enough to be blinding. He did not move, just as he had been told, but even so his lip began to curl into a sneer. She stopped even that, coaxing him into complete stillness.

Silent, still. They must not see.

And so he gulped his boiling hatred back down and waited. Steady thunks began to reverberate through the ground—footsteps of surfacers. As the steps came steadily closer, he even began to discern their speech. With the All-Mother in the shadows of his mind, comprehension dawned.

"I don't see anything. You sure this is the place?"

"Not a lot of other places to start, man. She left by the main entrance, and—" as the surfacer gestured, a blinding light swung back and forth, scouring the ground—"that tunnel there is the main entrance. Only entrance, really. Wherever she went, she started here. See any tracks?"

"Dom, I can't see anything the way you're swinging that fucking flashlight around. Either go back and forth along the path or turn it off; right now you're just making my night vision shit and not getting anything done anyway."

The flashlight continued swinging for another couple seconds. For a moment it even settled on him. He shut his eyes and waited for the dreadful heat it made of his forehead to recede.

It went away, and he opened his eyes again. It had now settled on a narrow bead of flattened ground several metres away.

"Sorry. Thought I saw something." The light beam changed angles, and drew away into the darkness until it was nearly indistinguishable. "On the bright side, it looks like everything around here's been levelled. There's only one route with cover, so everyone leaving the Strandeds goes the same way. Down that city block, then cutting along an avenue and going through another block of cover, and on and on until you leave the city. Even then you'd need to sprint over the open areas, and you could only stay in some very specific buildings at night. Let's go along the route until we find something."

"Sure, Dom. It's your game."

"Yeah, about that. I've been thinking. Can you get into the Locusts' heads again?"

"Why?"

"If Marcia's in trouble, it's the only way we'd know for sure."

While the silence was descended on them all, he felt a strange dichotomy of feelings. There was fear and apprehension, cold as metal and death, radiating out from one of the surfacers and resonating in his own mind. For a moment he almost felt as if he was near another Grub. And yet at the exact same time, the All-Mother filled him with a thrill of anticipation.

It made him almost want to cut himself in two, and he was happy to find it receded rather quickly.

"Not yet. We've got hours to search and I don't want to do that if I don't have to."

"That's... fair enough, man. Listen, thanks for doing this with me."

"No problem, Dom. I probably owe you for something anyway."

The roar began again, and after a few moments it was gone again. He rose after the All-Mother was sure it was gone, and felt a savage grin tear itself across his face. Teeth glinted.

He had done well. The All-Mother was pleased.

The others will follow them for now. Be ready. And if you do engage them, be sure to leave the-one-that-sings alive.

The night went by in a slow, thorough search of the buildings, one by one. Empty of Locusts and Stranded alike, it didn`t take them long to finish the first block of buildings. Then the second. Then the third.

The fourth went by in what was becoming a progressively more dour atmosphere between the two Gears, mostly to mask Dom's growing despair. They were nearly getting back into the car after the fourth building search when Dom murmured, "Marcus. Don't turn around, but we've got Locust."

"Where? I don't...feel... them."

"They're right behind us. At least one. I saw movement for a second when I turned, I know they're there. People don't move like that." Dom gestured for them to move back to the car. "What do you mean, you can't feel them?"

"I mean I can't feel them, Dom. It's like they're not there. You sure."

"Yeah, man. They were Locust all right." Dom patted him on the back as they got into the car. "You'd better get your head straight. By the look of it we're going to be in the thick of it soon."

"I'll be fine."

As they drove away, Marcus concentrated, trying to regain his sensations of the Locust. But as hard as he pushed, he couldn't feel a thing. Maybe Dom had been wrong.

They found a trail sign in the next block.

It was blood.

Streaks of it decorated a lonely space of cover behind a ruined car, Locust bullets and shell casings littered across and through the old machine like confetti. Someone had been in a gunfight with more than a few Locust, and either lost or barely tied. Dom got out of the car the moment Marcus had stopped and ran over to it, getting down on his knees to study the pattern. Marcus got out a little slower. His head was beginning to hurt a little.

"What the hell, Dom. You mind watching out for the Locust before you break cover like that?"

Dom shrugged. "Dunno why they're trailing us, but they're trailing, not attacking. Probably wondering what the hell we're doing out here." He pointed at the blood. "Look. She wasn't killed, man. If she'd fallen, there'd be a lot more blood, and it'd be puddle-shaped. Not to mention if they'd dragged her away. She got glanced, and she got away. But she won't have gotten far." He pointed to the nearest building.

"She? Dom, this is just blood. Could be anyone's. You don't know it's Marcia."

Dom turned to look at him. "It's all we've got to go on."

Marcus held the other man's gaze for several long seconds, and then shrugged. "Fine. Fine, it's your game. We were going to check this building anyway." Dom carried on staring at him.

"What?" asked Marcus.

"Do you know you're bleeding?"

Marcus raised his hand to his nose, and felt warm, sticky wetness beneath his finger. "Oh. Nah, my whole head feels like someone's taking a hammer to it right now. Probably the alcohol."

"Shit, man, you barely had any and last I checked you weren't exactly a lightweight." Dom glanced around, concerned. "Listen, you know I hate to say this but it's looking like we're not going to find her out here. Let's check out this building and get back to the convoy."

Get them.

To Marcus, everything began to slow down.

He heard gutteral Locust shouts from down the street, and then more from the buildings around them. Bullets sang through the air between him and Dom, and he felt a dim pain as one struck his shoulder.

Shouting from Dom. Marcus saw grimaces of pain across Dom's face as he too was hit, but Marcus found it hard to care. The pain, the noise...everything seemed to belong to someone else, far away.

You're mine.

Something cold and dark from the depths of Marcus' mind rose up and pulled him under.

"Marcus, we gotta go! Marcus!"

Marcus did not respond. His eyes were glassy.

"Goddammit, Marcus, come on!"

Another bullet hit Dom, and he felt sheer razor-edged pain before his augmented nervous system shut it down.

He had to get out of here. Had to get to Marcia. Had to trust Marcus to follow him. Dom sprinted across the street and into the building he'd suspected Marcia was in, diving through the front window. The glass had long ago shattered, and he hit the ground on his left forearm and rolled. There was a Locust inside waiting for him, but he got the Lancer up and had it gutted before it had time to even snarl. He looked back for Marcus.

Marcus was still standing in the middle of the street, and Dom realized the Locusts weren't firing anymore.

Oh, shit. They were aiming for me.

He watched as a few clambered out from the building across the street, and more came up the street, guns holstered, faces curious instead of snarling.

Claiming one of their own.

Shit shit shit. Dom pulled out his pistol, pulled off the safety, and drew a bead on his friend's head. Marcus was fourteen feet away, an easy mark. All he had to do was take the shot.

Dom looked into his friend's eyes, pulled the trigger, and found that he couldn't.

"I need a favor. If this starts getting bad, if you think this is driving me nuts like it did for the other inmates, or if it starts seeming like the Locust are in my head instead of the other way around and they're influencing my decisions... Dom, I'll need you to shoot me."

Dom nodded, believing he understood. "Shoot to wound, chain you to a bulkhead and drag you to Jacinto?"

"No, Dom. Shoot to kill. Here." Marcus made his right hand into the shape of a gun and put it against his temple. "Don't fuck around. I'm a Sergeant, I know what the higher-ups look like, I command a Gear squad, I could lead them to this convoy. The stakes are too high. Fire until you see brains.''

"Shit, man...I..."

"That was an order, Dom. Can you carry it out?"

"God help you, man... Yeah. Yeah. I'll fucking do it."

He tried again, and again his finger refused to move. The Locust were all around Marcus now. One turned to look at him, the expression on its face strangely curious, and pointed. Several Grubs broke away from the group, and loped towards him.

''Shit,'' managed Dom, and ran for it.