The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in pinprick slayer-prints. What few lights still worked flickered like dying candles. The plumbing must have exploded at some point because the carpet was submerged in about an inch of water, which trickled down the walls from the ceiling. Doors hung off their hinges to reveal the leavings of a hasty evacuation and, in some cases, owners who refused to leave. They were not something to be observed for long.

The apartment building was in a near direct line with the clock tower. Sneaking along one of the outside walls would have been asking to be shot, so the only recourse was to cut straight through. Once he got to the other side, he didn't know what would happen.

A faint groan came from under the floor. The boy wasn't sure whether he would rather it was a malefactor responsible, or a simple weakening of the building's structural integrity. As unenthused as he was to meet yet another monster, he didn't much want to fall through the floor and break his legs either.

Something squealed, and a mainliner dragged itself up out of the standing water. It had just enough time to look around in mild confusion before it was blasted to the floor. Danny held his breath to step around the lethal toxin that rose from its body before resuming his uneasy journey.

Anemic shadows played on the walls as a faint yellow light emanated from one of the rooms. He was somewhat grateful for the warning that Killjoy was about to announce his presence. At that point, he was almost grateful for Killjoy. "We meet again, my boy!" the doctor declared jovially. "Tell me, lad. How are you holding up, hm?"

After a brief glance around the hall for more mainliners, Danny wandered into the room. The television screen had a baseball-sized hole in the middle of it, and its power cord had been broken. And yet, it miraculously managed to display Killjoy's office, this time complete with a window in the background. Carnate was apparently suffering a tropical storm or something.

The boy shrugged listlessly. "I'm tired."

"Perfectly understandable. It has been a rather trying day, has it not?"

Danny shrugged again. In truth, most of his exhaustion was caused by the constant feeling of terror, but he had a feeling that Killjoy knew that already. He seemed to know everything. To that end, he sighed and asked, "Are those people going to be okay?"

"I cannot predict the future, my boy," the doctor replied, almost kindly, it seemed. "But I can tell you that they are well enough for now. However, if something is not done…" He trailed off; there was no need to state the implications.

"How do I beat her?"

Killjoy shook his head. "No, lad. That is something you must find out for yourself, I'm afraid. I can, however, help you to reach your destination." The screen flickered out. He heard a quiet "chink", the noise of metal lightly striking metal. Danny whirled around to face the door as a slayer growled, but there was nothing there.

Suddenly, his quarry dropped right in front of him. He wasn't even given a chance to dodge as the sodden floor collapsed and dropped them both into the basement. The thing squealed in pain as it was impaled by a broken metal pipe. Fortunately, the boy landed in a laundry cart, more or less unharmed. He took a moment to glare at the hole in the ceiling as he got to his feet, then looked around and decided he would rather have been dodging bullets.

His ears were filled by a rumbling noise, and he could barely see his feet for the heavy fog. His light cut through it relatively well, but it also made it seem alive. Or maybe it was alive. He'd long since stopped trying to figure out why Killjoy did the things he did; instead, he concentrated on trying to find the stairs. He could just see a flickering light that he hoped was near them. At the very least, it might take him closer to a wall that he could follow around.

Why couldn't he chase Silver through a sunlit park? A field of daisies maybe? Knowing her, she'd find a way to make even that terrifying.

Thinking of Silver…she hadn't bothered him in some time. He wondered if she was waiting for something. Maybe his ghost half had finally gotten to her and convinced her to stop. Of course, that brought up the question of why this was still going on.

It was a generator. Of course, it wasn't the stairs. That would have been too easy. It growled and shook while electricity ran up and down its metal form. As the boy approached, it made a sound like a small explosion and jumped forward a few feet. He backed away, coughing from the thick smoke, and realized that the back of the thing had, in fact, exploded. It left a gaping hole in the wall that led to another cellar of some sort.

The timing was too perfect. Clearly he was supposed to go that way. The fog poured through the gap, almost like a tidal wave. It was as though there was a sentient force behind it, which wouldn't have surprised him in the slightest. He already had a sinking suspicious that was the case.

Something was whispering. He couldn't tell where it was coming from because noises had been dulled by the fog, but he thought it was the next room. After several minutes hesitation, he turned the light off, although he kept his finger on the switch. There was no sense letting the thing know he was there if it didn't already.

He could just see it, pacing back and forth. It seemed to be an adult male, unusually enough since most of the people Silver had killed were her childhood friends. It wasn't her father; he hadn't been capable of more than a wheeze. This one muttered to himself in Spanish, or so the boy surmised.

It had to be Diego.

Amante, please, come out of there!

The boy set his jaw and crept forward.

Danny, listen to me. I am begging you. I will let everyone go if you will just come out of there.

It was a very tempting offer, especially since she sounded as terrified as he felt. He continued; it would have been stupid to believe her. Although, most of his mind was engaged in trying to convince him that it was stupid not to. It sounded like his voice, but he couldn't be sure. Silver was good at planting suggestions.

So. She was close enough to see him, but too far away for his ghost half's presence to get rid of the fear. That seemed important, and he had to squash down the urge to just turn tail and run. Was it possible she was serious? He was given no further chance to contemplate as the image of himself from what must have been the stairs flashed across his mind. Closing in on him from behind was Diego.

Please, just run!

He glanced back fearfully to see that she had been serious. He screamed and tried to run, but only succeeded in tripping over his feet. The thing that had once been Diego Santiago grabbed for his ankle, but he managed to scramble out of the way and regain his feet.

There was light ahead; it reminded him that he was holding a potential weapon. He clicked the flashlight on again and held it behind him, trying to aim for Diego without actually turning. He heard a screech, his foot hit something, and he was flying through air to slam hard into a concrete wall.

His vision slowly stopped swimming around while his brain tried to remember what sense was and the role it played in his life. Sadly, it figured it out, and informed him that he had split his forehead open and was in a great deal of pain. It also took the opportunity to remind him that the Malice was right behind him.

He hauled himself to his feet and plastered himself to the wall before he realized that he was standing in a surprisingly bright patch of light in what he assumed was another basement. Diego muttered to himself just beyond the light and had apparently forgotten all about the terrified boy that stood barely two feet away. He moved off again, and Danny relaxed slightly.

He seemed to have fallen through another broken wall into some L-shaped cubby hole. Although he was loath to move out of the light again, he wanted to get further away. There was considerably less fog in this basement; there was also no way out. The stairs had fallen down, and all the walls were perfectly intact. He slid down the nearest one to sit on the floor.

"I'm going to die down here!" he wailed. He certainly wasn't going to try going back through the last room.

"Oh, do pull yourself together, lad!" Killjoy admonished from nowhere in particular. "The answer is there; you have only to find it."

"I don't want to find it!" Danny protested. "I want someone to give it to me! I'm tired of this; I'm tired of her and you! I'm tired of being scared! I want my mom and dad!"

Part of him, deep in the back of his head, tried to ridicule him for the ten-year-old tantrum. It was drowned out by rest, which pointed out that he had reached the end of his rope. The two parts might have continued to bicker, but they were suddenly drawn together again by the appearance of two gorgers as they smashed through the opposite wall.

Danny lunged to his feet and fumbled with his ecto-rifle. He had slung it over his shoulder, mistakenly assuming he wouldn't need it anymore. It had been so long since he had seen the gorgers; he thought they were gone with…

Darwin…

"Thisss isss where I died," Darwin confided, an amused expression on his piggish face. He removed his floppy hat and held it over his heart, almost in memoriam, although his small black eyes were still fixed on Danny.

"Leave me alone," the boy commanded, holding the rifle on his enemy. His voice wasn't near as strong as he would have liked, and the malefactor seemed to find it even more amusing.

"She won't sssave you thisss time," he informed his prey. "She fearsss that one. It will come through the light to kill her.

Which completely explained her fearful reaction, although why she had tried to save him was still a mystery. Danny gulped and wondered if the odds that he made it out of here alive were very good. He decided he would rather not know. "I thought Silver got rid of you," he said in a vague attempt to stall for time.

Darwin apparently recognized the comment for what it was because he chuckled darkly and shook his head. "Fine. But only becaussse you'll be dead sssoon anyway. We fought. I won. I chossse to let her go becaussse she is ssstrong, though not as ssstrong asss me."

Maybe it was his superior attitude, which Danny had dealt with often enough to call as being false. Maybe it was Silver close enough to hear what was going on after all, who told him it was false. Either way, he had the distinct impression that Darwin was lying. Not that it really mattered.

He took a deep breath and started firing at one of the gorgers. Naturally, the other one lunged for him, and he started running along the wall to escape it. The rifle must have been more effective against the captain monsters than he realized since the first one was slowly writhing on the floor. He stopped to fire at the remaining one, then realized that Darwin had gone missing just as an arm wrapped tightly around his throat.

He swung the ecto-rifle around and heard a thwack as it connected with its target. As soon as the arm loosened, he slipped beneath it and ran for the collapsed section of wall. He heard a crash as Darwin knocked over some filing cabinets, and he was out of the police precinct's archives and into…

Well, he wasn't sure exactly. It looked like a cross between a cellar and a sewer. He didn't stop to figure it out until he realized that Darwin had abandoned the chase. It was as though there were certain places they couldn't go, except that he had just come from here. Maybe the greedy creature was toying with him, like a cat does a mouse. He sat down on a crate to rest and get his fear back under control.

He had wanted to be given the answer. Next time, he would be more careful with his wording.

A/N: It's come to my attention that I've taken my readers' knowledge of a subject somewhat for granted. I forgot that memories and remnants are my own theory of haunting, and you all might not have followed Danny's narrative. So here's a quick /scoffs/ explanation.

Think fragments of a Word document that you can still bring up if you set the folder to "show all hidden files".

A memory is a scene of extreme violence or emotion that has been imprinted on a certain place. Like how in some haunted hotels, people will claim to have seen ghosts reinacting their deaths.

A remnant is inherently the same thing, except that its just a person. What people usually term ghost. Sometimes, they just stand there looking at you. Sometimes they wander around if the emotion was strong enough.

If you subscribe to the theory that all things are connected, then you can surmise that the world is kind of psychic. A stray thought (program icon) can activate the memory or remnant (fragmented file) and replay it for whatever hapless soul happens to have dredged it up.