The sound of an earthquake in progress pervaded the air as half a dozen burrowers dug their way through dirt, water, rock, and, on occasion, each other. Danny stared down into the quarry in trepidation. It was at least a fifty foot drop and the only ladder had fallen into the pit at some point. He thought he could climb the rock face, but that still left the burrowers.

He nodded absently in answer to the chattering Dr. Killjoy, not paying the slightest bit of attention until the man mentioned Meryll. "Wait!" he interrupted. "What about Meryll?"

Killjoy stared disapprovingly for a second. "Yes, I rather thought you were ignoring me," he muttered. "You should try to pay more attention, my dear boy. It could mean your life one day. As I was saying, Meryll used to play here."

"The burrowers didn't bother her?"

Killjoy stopped again; clearly, he didn't like to be interrupted. "They did not exist until five years ago. Really, my boy; do try not to interrupt so often. While I am pleased that you are finally showing an interest, it does make one quite lose one's train of thought.

"Now, where was I? Ah, yes! She came here because it was one of the few places on the island that she could reach where no one would bother her. She always did love her isolation. One could often find her hiding in the solitary confinement cells in the basement; I believe you saw them."

"You could definitely say that…" Danny muttered, turning most of his attention back to the quarry.

The doctor seemed not to hear, and continued jabbering on ad nauseam about things Danny didn't really care about. It had all started simply enough. Killjoy had appeared in his usual manner for one of their "sessions". In order to get the topic off his mental state, the boy had asked about the quarry. This had led to a prolonged lecture about the cave-in, which was followed by his views on suffocation as a means of death. He didn't approve.

Danny brought himself back to the present enough to realize that Killjoy was glaring quietly. "I really should go now," he said.

The doctor hummed disapprovingly. "Very well. But do not believe for a second that I will simply leave you alone, my dear boy. Your mind is an abyss of despair, and as your doctor, it is my job to remedy that." The projector wound down, and Danny rolled his eyes. At least he wasn't Spectra…

He looked down into the quarry where adult Meryll stood, looking back up. He thought he could probably go around the quarry, but she seemed to want him to follow her inside. Why? Who knew, but Horace had said he might learn something by following her. He spared a moment to wonder why Silver was letting her lead him around, then shrugged and started climbing down. He could figure it out later.

A few feet from the bottom, he stopped and twisted around slightly. There was a rock he thought he could reach if he ran; from there, a wide ledge would take him practically to the cave mouth. He turned a little bit more so as not to trip and fall when he landed, then jumped to hit the ground running.

Burrowers lunged out of the ground behind him, but he managed to outdistance their chains. He dodged to the left as one headed straight for him and ducked as it came up spinning like a weed whacker. Another burrowed by in front, and he jumped over the disturbed ground, then he was scrambling up onto the rock and praying they couldn't reach. One or two, he could have handled. Three would have been a problem. Six were way too many.

After a few minutes to catch his breath, he headed over to the cave. Meryll had vanished again, but he was well used to that. The inside of the cave was as dark as a tomb; the afternoon sun that barely shone through the clouds did not reach very far. There was a pale, flickering light ahead that reminded him of a candle. When he got closer, he saw young Meryll again for the first time since he left the prison.

She sat on the ground, alone, humming quietly to herself. She was facing away and didn't look around as he approached, but she did start to speak. Or rather, to chant. "I had a little birdie, and her name was Enza…" she sang quietly. "I opened up the window, and in flew Enza."

Danny kept walking, waiting for time to slow. He had gotten past her and turned around in confusion that it hadn't before it did. A man appeared standing behind her. Even though the moment was frozen, he seemed frantic. "Don't you get it, Mer? She's dead."

"Mother isn't dead. She's right here."

Danny blinked. For just a split second before the image vanished, he thought he saw a third person. He dismissed it as his imagination and turned to climb a metal stairway out of the pit.

…And in flew Enza… Silver whispered. The flu was a very deadly disease, you know.

The boy ground his teeth as three identical coffins flashed across his vision. "Is that how Meryll's mom died?" he asked, truly curious.

Silver seemed to find that amusing, but then, she took great delight in the thought of his family being dead, too. Why, yes, as a matter of fact. There was an outbreak here on the island. They ran out of the vaccination and about twenty people died before they could get more. She went silent for a while, then remarked in a more sly tone, I caught it, too. I bet you wish I'd been among their number.

"Yep." Really, what reason was there to lie? They both knew it. It was strange, actually. Once he had come to terms with the fact that what he was feeling was, in fact, hatred, he saw her a bit differently. He was no longer inclined to yell at her, for one. It was difficult to explain, and he didn't want to dwell on it long enough to try. But he almost missed her when she wasn't tormenting him. It was a very twisted emotion that kind of reminded him of how he felt about Paulina, which only served to further convince him that he was actually evil.

That, of course, brought up the question of why he cared about his family in the first place. If he was evil, why didn't he just turn around and leave, and save his own skin. He didn't feel evil, as such, but would he know what that felt like?

Maybe it was high time for a heart to heart with evil incarnate. As Danny stepped from woods back into cave, he called out, "Haight? You still around?"

His answer came in the form of a suddenly very noxious atmosphere. "Shame there aren't more monsters around…" Haight mentioned idly. "Watching you kill them is…invigorating…"

Danny glared for a second, then resumed spelunking. "I've been thinking," he began.

"A dangerous pastime, I'm sure…"

The boy rolled his eyes before he continued. "What's the difference between good and evil?"

The silence was almost shocked; at the very least, Haight was actually at a loss for words. Unfortunately, it didn't last. "…You asking me?" he breathed.

"Well, I figure if anyone knows real evil on this island, it's you."

There was another prolonged pause before the executioner good-naturedly said, "I resent that."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You are more than happy to kill without any kind of regard for human life, and you don't like to be called evil?"

"…I prefer the term…'anti-social'…"

"According to Jazz, anti-social behavior is…uh…often a sign of sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies."

"Are you calling me a psycho?"

"Yes."

He was beginning to wonder if he had gone a bit too far with that, but Haight started to laugh. "…well…said…" he whispered, almost inaudible from lack of air. He took a shuddering breath to resume speaking. "All right. I don't believe in evil. All men are the same, deep down…We all want to kill, but society discourages us."

"I don't want to kill anyone," Danny refuted.

"And yet you do…do you not?" He drifted around in front of the boy, who simply walked through him. "…Not being solid is rather irritating from time to time…" he grumbled. Louder, he went on. "Remember that mainliner last night? I saw the rage on your face…you wanted to kill Silver, but you couldn't, so you slaughtered the mainliner instead…"

Maybe calling Haight had not been the best idea. A darkened wall appeared ahead, and Danny followed it to the right. He heard his unwelcome guest snicker quietly, but didn't ask why. Suddenly, the area was flooded with lamp light that revealed a ceiling in the process of collapsing on a handful of inmates. There was a lot of screaming that the boy couldn't make out, but he did mange to hear one guard say, "…they're not worth the trouble. Let them rot."

The darkness returned. Danny gulped and tried to calm his breathing. "So…you saw it…?" Haight asked innocently.

The boy gave him a withering glance and followed the wall the other way. "The quarry cave-in, I take it?"

"It was when Abbott was still being built…Don't worry; I'm not Killjoy. I'll give you the Reader's Digest version…" He chuckled slightly and shook his head. "Basically, the inmates were crushed when the ceiling collapsed, and the C.O.s just let them rot…They got lynched and skinned alive for it, too…wish I'd been there…"

"Whose side would have been on?" Danny couldn't help but ask.

"…Why choose a side? I just want to watch…"

The boy should have seen that coming. Luckily, Haight took that moment to leave him in peace for a while. Sadly, the answer he was looking for remained elusive. Or maybe he just didn't want to admit the truth.

He found his way onto a steel catwalk that shook and rattled as he walked until he was practically crawling. He froze as something brushed across his back and twisted around to look up at the nooseman that was trying to reach him. It didn't seem able to get any lower, for which the boy was grateful. He made it across without any other instances, and, one winding tunnel later, finally found his way back under dismally grey skies.

Aw…there were supposed to be marksmen in that tunnel.

"I guess they've learned to be afraid of me," Danny said egotistically. Audible laughter greeted that statement, and he quickly turned toward the source. If she was here, then she wasn't where she could hurt his family. He already knew they were in the asylum, so if he could catch her now, he wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.

He took a few steps toward the brush he thought she was hiding in; something moved, then something silver burst out at him and knocked him to the ground. He recovered to find himself facing a slayer made out of silver metal. It ran the edge of one arm across its tongue, then wagged it slowly back and forth.

Ah, ah, ah, niño, Silver chastised. I told you, not until the game is over.

This was Silver? He shook off his astonishment and threw an energy blast at her. Hadn't she claimed to be human?

She back flipped over the shot and hissed. Fine, then. I was getting bored anyway. A metal arm made a "come hither" gesture. I'll humor you, this once.

"Humor this!" Danny shot back, with an accompanying blast.

Silver lunged to the side, then dropped to all fours and charged forward. The boy jumped to the side, but this wasn't a normal slayer. Instead of simply sliding to a stop, she reached out and sliced a long gash in his leg. He wasn't entirely certain what she had done, but it suddenly wouldn't support his weight anymore. In fact, it didn't want to move much at all and was quickly going numb. He edged backwards as she advanced, trailing one arm across the ground, until he hit the edge of a steep incline and couldn't go any farther.

The slayer dropped to all fours and walked right over the top of him to place the point of a single blade against his throat. He closed his eyes and wondered if things would look any different when he was dead. He was treated to an image of himself hanging from that blade, then the point withdrew. When he dared to open his eyes again, she was gone.

He dropped his head back against the dirt and was supremely grateful that he hadn't been human at that moment. He would really have embarrassed himself.

A/N: /grins/ So you wish it, so shall it be! I've got another story I'm writing now, so the sequel may or may not be next. Probably not, in which case, it will be the one after. The Suffering is on PS2 and X-Box...ah, PC I think...but not the GameCube.