The Long Dark

XX.

Cataclysm

Saddler stood over him. The staff in his hand wiggled, eyeing the body with a curious glee. "Feeble human...accept our gift. Feel our power."

No.

His lips echoed his mind, "No."

"You already know there is no other option. You already know. Submit, or die screaming."

"No thanks...bro."

The pain lanced into his body. It went from ears to eyes to soul. He screamed.

And kept on screaming as the world exploded around him.

Out of the fire, blue eyes and desperate cries, "Daddy...Daddy! Daddy!"

And her head burst with infection while he screamed.

He kept on screaming while she devoured him.

And woke in the long dark, afraid.

It was still dark when Rebecca whispered in Jill's ear. "I'm still here."

Jill gasped in the dark, eyes flying wide.

Rebecca wasn't there. Leon was. Their faces were inches apart on the pillow. She felt the shiver of ghosts as she leaned in and brushed her fingers over the hair that lay on his brow. It obscured his eyes. She pushed it back and watched his lashes part. His hand snatched hers the second it touched him.

Habit. Ingrained response. Reflex.

When he saw it was her, he didn't let go. But his grip softened. Moonlight. His eyes, in the dark, glittered like moonlight.

His phone hummed on the nightstand, dancing as only an electronic tin-can-on-a-string could. He let go of Jill, rolled over, and grabbed it. He answered it in that rumbling tone she loved, and then? Then the tone switched.

He rose from the bed. He stepped into the bathroom with its yellow glow of soft lighting. She lay on her side and listened to him speak to someone in that gentle tone. He said something like, "...no, I get it. Yeah, put her on."

Jill waited, and he spoke soft and low. And then he just...started singing. Quietly. Smoothly. It was clearly something he often did. It was easy to understand what it was - a lullaby. He was singing to his daughter.

Jill glanced at the clock - four a.m. The girl was having trouble sleeping. Jill wondered if the girl knew, in this case, it was like father, like daughter. Maybe all he needed was a lullaby.

She listened to him murmur in that tone that wasn't his, wasn't Leon Kennedy, but was. It was what he might have been without the battle armor covering his skin. She was positive that it was what he tried to be when he wasn't ass deep in monsters.

The door opened from a crack. Jill rose to her knees on the bed to query, "...everything ok?"

He said nothing. She felt a flutter behind her sternum and encouraged tremulously, "Leon?"

How did he tell her what he knew? How did he tell her what he'd seen on that computer? How did he tell her what he'd known the moment he'd set foot in those caves? There was only one way out of this. Only one. He couldn't see another.

And he could see ten ways to kill her just standing here looking at her.

But he couldn't see another way out of this that didn't end in blood and death.

For the first time in a long time, he was afraid. Afraid he wouldn't be able to do what he knew, in his guts, was the only way here. Afraid he'd fail. Afraid he'd die and leave behind everything that mattered.

Afraid he'd lose and leave behind everyone who believed in him.

Afraid he'd fall, and she'd die trying to save him.

So, he finally grumbled, "Nightmares."

"Hers," Jill shifted on the bed, and the aurora borealis behind her cast that tiny white tank top in shivering shades of moonlight and ocean, "or yours?"

He devoured her with his eyes, dropping the pretense, leaving behind the armor. She watched it happen. She felt her throat tighten at the look on his face as he answered, "Mine are legion. Nothing stops them."

"You sure?" Her voice quivered and made her feel a little light-headed, "there's gotta be something that does...let me help. Let me try."

Leon studied her and confessed, "I don't want to use you."

Touched, Jill answered, "I want you to use me."

Jesus. Mouth dry, he shook his head, "I want to be someone you can count on, Jill. I can't be that if I take advantage of you when you're wounded."

It was so close to what she needed, those words, so simple - and so much more somehow. As if he knew what she needed to hear. As if he could see it on her. "I only want one thing from you, Leon, just one..."

"...what's that?" The lights behind her made her shimmer.

"Truth," she breathed and watched it echo on his face, "don't lie to me...don't ever lie to me. Not when it matters. Not when it counts. Give me a reason to keep trusting you."

Trying desperately not to, he confessed, "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to earn that. Whatever that means, whatever this is...you can trust me. If I touch you, I think I'm breaking that trust."

He was trying so hard to be a good guy. Touched, almost undone with it, Jill demanded, "...I don't need you to save me, Leon. Not now. Not here. Trust me. And believe that."

"...I don't want to hurt you."

Feeling that in her bones, Jill returned, "I'm already hurting...make it stop."

"What do you need, Jill?"

And she breathed, "...peace," her breath shook as she finished, "and in the absence of that...forgetting," Breathless, she finished, "touch me...I trust you."

They stared at each other until he moved out of that doorway like a predator. Her mouth went dry as he reached across the bed, caught the back of her neck, and jerked her forward. It wasn't gentle, but it didn't need to be. He hesitated, like a man trying to stop the fall.

But it was too late.

They both knew that.

And he wanted to touch her, just touch her a little, because he knew how finite things were, how limited. He knew the time they had; any of them - was brief. If you second guessed yourself, if you stopped, if you said no too often - you stopped remembering why you were fighting. You stopped being human.

And he was still human. He was still a man. He never felt like more of one than when he was close to her. She looked at him with the same earnest belief that was the very core of who he was - a man who fought and died to protect you.

He was a man - not a monster. Not yet.

Not yet.

She skimmed her lips against his, soft. Sweet. A contradiction to the crackle between them. Eyes open, he tested that kiss. He answered each, almost butterfly stroke from her lips. His left thumb slid over her lower lip, and she opened her mouth to draw the pad of it between her teeth. She nipped gently.

He walked on his knees on the bed until they were in the center, facing each other. She leaned in enough to press a harder kiss to his mouth, inviting, tasting. The timing was wrong, it was always wrong with them, but she wanted to feel anything - anything- but the ghosts that swirled above their heads.

She'd have found he felt the same if they could have merged minds.

Leon's heavily muscled thigh slid between her legs, anchored at Jill's groin, and worked to slide her closer to his body until she was straddling him with his knees folded beneath him. He caught her hips, rough, and she slid onto his thighs like she was mounting a horse. She rubbed herself against him, panties on denim-clad groin, and shivered like she was cold. She wasn't cold. She was hot.

He scented her like an animal. She was ripe. She was ready.

He wanted her with that lightning he'd had in his blood the night he'd met her.

She was wet, willing, and grieving. If he took her, would he be taking advantage of her? Did he care? Was he going to have a crisis of conscience now? He didn't have a condom on him. And he wouldn't take her without one. He just wasn't built that way. You only bare-backed a woman you were planning to keep.

And he couldn't keep her. She wasn't his. She deserved better.

He started to lean up to attempt to be a good guy, and Jill slid her left hand between her thighs and rubbed him over his pants; she fisted the length of him with the denim to stop her. Her hand milked him as she rolled her hips on his lap and humped toward him. The constraint of his jeans stopped her from jerking his dick. She mostly rolled her palm as she held on. He should stop.

He didn't want to stop. He wanted to watch her go, and go, and go. And revel, just a little, in the beauty of her complete surrender. It was almost as good as taking her.

Almost, but not quite. But he was a man who'd made a lifetime out of almost.

He jerked a handful of her hair, tilting her face down to him, making her breath jerk and her chest heave. She rubbed her cotton-clad breasts shamelessly against his bare chest, and his free hand slid beneath the ribbed cloth to palm one. Her shuddering breath met his as she whimpered his name softly. Her nipples skimmed his chest as his hand molded the left one while it begged for attention.

Jill leaned over him, her mouth hovered over him, and she gushed in a shaky voice, "...I'm sorry."

Sorry?

What was she sorry for?

It didn't matter.

His mouth shifted to taste the column of her throat. Her fingers tried to find the pull on his zipper while she made a small mewling sound and arched her back toward his feasting lips. His hands caught on her upper back to brace her, holding her that way, body thrown back, breasts thrust toward him like an offering.

He wanted her naked. He didn't want this- this dry humping, boiling, burning thing that bled between them. She shivered again as she brushed her groin over his goddamn legs, and she wasn't cold. Hell, it wasn't anything but so hot in the room it felt like his skin was on fire.

And he just wasn't that good a of guy. He couldn't just rub on her like a teenager. He wanted to fuck her. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't. But he wanted to look at her. He wanted to watch her face and touch her.

Just because he wouldn't use her didn't mean he couldn't see her. He was going to get her naked and touch her, taste her, and pleasure her. He wouldn't take her. He wouldn't take her. He'd stop himself from taking her. He wouldn't use her.

It repeated in his head like a mantra, and it wasn't even one he fully believed he'd keep.

As if sensing his internal struggle, she angled his face up to kiss him again. Her nails raked gently down his back and made his breath catch. He cupped her groin over her panties and rubbed crudely at the cloth protecting her.

Gruffly, Leon demanded, "You want me?"

Without a second of hesitation, Jill answered, "...I've always wanted you."

It was the right thing to say and the wrong thing to say. He wasn't going to keep his promise. He just wasn't. He wanted to be inside her. He wanted to feel inside her. To find out if it felt as good in her as it did when he was with her.

He rubbed her crudely over those white panties and stroked along the slick heat of her body. She moaned. She grabbed for his fly and for his zipper. Apparently, he was a teenager again. Not only was he going to break his own moral code here, but he was also going to push her panties to the side to do it. Crude. Quick. Lightning.

It would probably burn them both.

He started to work her panties to the side while she fought to unzip him, and there was a rustling at the sliding glass door into his room. In less than a second, he stopped being a man and became a machine again. Jill was still trying to get him undone when he rolled, taking her with him as he went, and they were crouched beside the bed with him armed before a voice called, "Easy, cheesy, it's me."

Kevin.

Leon sighted over the bed to find his first in command on the terrace, trying to see between the pulled drapes.

Crouched around him on the floor, Jill tried to clear her head. The sound he'd heard had been nothing more than a scratching of what might have been tree branches on glass. But he'd reacted like someone had lobbed a grenade into the room. Fast. Immediate. Instinct and training, and skill.

What kind of life had he known?

Jill studied his face in the semi-darkness. He had her pinned in the corner, on the floor, covering her with his body like he hadn't even realized he was doing it. She'd heard whispers, of course, of what he'd been put through. Games of survival and death. Torture resistance training was little more than torture until you no longer reacted to it. Forced combat between those who'd been sent into the wild to survive together and then made to turn on each other to escape.

He'd told her that once when the plagas had been on him so bad he was nearly losing, that he'd gone to a white place in his head to do what was necessary to survive. He'd killed. He'd tortured. He'd bled and nearly died of infection and wounds. And if what Rebecca had said was true, he'd fought that plagas until it nearly killed him.

And never really lost control.

From an asset standpoint, he was the perfect example of what American black ops training could produce, a weapon with a patriot's soul and a predator's instincts.

She thought absently that he was wrong about his value; he was priceless. And she knew, at that moment, that the government would never let him go. Not alive. The only way he got out of any of this was in a body bag.

Kevin knocked once, interrupting her thoughts, "We gotta go, boss man. Apparently, we were wrong about Redfield. The dude overwhelmed the small set of guards I left at the caves. He's headed in as we speak."

With a burst of horror, Jill cursed, "...fucking asshole."

Leon rolled to his feet, offered her a hand up, and she went for the gear sitting in the corner. They dressed swiftly and were headed out into the cold within a few minutes to try to stop a disaster. Kevin rode shotgun with Jill and Kat in the back as the heavy SUV tore up snow, and Leon proved he was a helluva driver when something wasn't trying to eat him.

When he came upon the gathered vehicles, Leon whipped the car into a half circle in front of the caves, causing men to scatter like rats from a fire, and he leaped clear while the engine was still running. There was a shout. People started to call for orders. Leon threw open his door like the wrath of god, and the firelight from their bonfire lit his face as he walked.

Kevin came out of the car with his gun up as a few men grabbed their balls out of their back pockets and started to aim at Leon. Kat called, in a pleasant voice, "Don't be stupid, boys. Where's the big guy?"

Jill joined the fray as one made the mistake of putting his hand on Leon's vest and stating, "No entry. We've got this covered."

Leon cocked his head and moved. Though moved was the wrong word. He just finished it. He grabbed that wrist, twisted it, and jerked the man's arm out to the side. He kicked him in the back of the knee when the guy struggled and sent him to the other one in the snow.

Someone else shouted and started to aim.

Kat turned her weapon on him and cooed, "Ease down, grunt, or I will turn you into paste."

Jill shouted, "Stand down...goddamnit!"

A B.S.A.A. soldier moved to grab Leon, and the former rookie, shifted, still holding the arm of the hunkered man at his feet, and put his gun an inch from that encroaching nose. As the helmeted man stared down the barrel, Leon warned, "First man to touch me learns how to breathe without a face."

Jill arrived, throwing a shoulder into the soldier and shoving him away from Leon. "Perez, you idiot, I said stand down!"

When the man backed off, Leon lowered the gun, jerked on the arm at the man kneeling before him, and stated, "This is my fucking operation, you useless bag of dicks." He kicked the man in the side, released his arm, and sent him to his face in the snow.

Kat sauntered through the fight like she wasn't aware there was on. She had a purpose, after all, and a common brawl wasn't going to stop her.

Jill spun around to face the men watching them with unsure eyes. "Chris!" She demanded with a shout, "Where is he!?"

Perez, looking pissed, answered, "Inside. With the other agent."

There was shouting inside the cave, and Jill realized that Kevin had already gone inside. She ran to join the fray and found Shenmei and Leon holding each other at gunpoint while Chris and Kevin apparently attempted to kill each other. Things had imploded so quickly that it was almost hard to understand.

Jill shouted, "Stop! What the hell are you doing!?"

Kevin and Chris battled like raging bulls as Shenmei answered, "It's done. We've already planted the explosives. It's on a remote timer. There's nothing you can do now."

Outside, the sound of shouting joined the tension in the cave.

Their backup was now arguing with Chris' men. It would be a blood bath if she didn't stop it. Kevin hit Chris in the face with a right hook so hard the other man staggered, slung blood from his mouth as he rose, and looked at the other man with some grudging respect.

Of course, then he tackled Kevin and had them both snorting with rage. One of them would kill the other one if she let them. Calmly, Jill fired a shot into the ice between the two men throwing punches.

Kevin backed off, Chris charged forward, and Jill's foot swept him. He went down, taking a table with him, and set up a squeal from Rebecca's machines. When Chris rolled to his back in the mess, she leveled the gun at his face and warned, "Stay down."

The look he gave her was meant to kill. It just made her steady.

Keeping the gun on Shenmei, Leon demanded, "How long?"

Calmly, Shenmei answered, "Dawn. Long enough to evacuate and set up a perimeter. The blast won't touch the village, Leon. Just collapse the lower levels of the caves. The only risk will be what's on this main level."

Leon shook his head with a derisive lift of lips, "Leaving plenty of samples for you, right?"

Shenmei held his look, "You knew the job, Leon. You always did."

"And you knew I'd stop you."

She shrugged a shoulder, "We gotta do what we gotta do."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." He turned his head to the men entering the cave, "Disarm the B.S.A.A., hold Agent Mei and Captain Redfield for questioning. Secure the perimeter and prepare the locals for fall out."

Shenmei shook her head, "Damnit, Leon. You'll get yourself killed. One way or another, the government gets what it wants here. The majority of the threat is neutralized, and the easily contained risk is negated."

"Lower your weapon, Agent, and vacate the premises...I won't ask again."

Guns cocked on her until she lowered her weapon and let the soldiers take it. Chris rose with Jill lowering her weapon. He held her look and remarked, "This is a mistake, Jill."

She shook her head. "The mistake was bringing you in. I should have known you'd take the easy way out."

He jerked like she'd slapped him and returned, "Not the easy way, Jill, the most direct. We never did see eye to eye on that."

Jill darted her gaze around his face and replied, "You've buried too many people, Chris. You've lost your compass. We don't risk the few to save the many. I thought you knew that."

And he answered, "Sometimes you gotta risk everything to stop the bad guy, Jill. I thought you knew that."

As he passed by Kevin, Redfield stated around what might be a few loose teeth, "You hit like a bitch."

Kevin simply quipped, "I hear you fuck like one."

In guy speak, that was almost like a nod of appreciation for the other.

Leon was already through the room into the next one. Kat waited at the ladder, twirling her knife in her hands. "Any day now, kittens, we're on the clock here."

Kevin and Jill followed, and he told them, "Just before dawn, seal the cave. With or without me."

Kat laughed, "Oh, darling, you don't really think I came all this way to let you have all the fun, did you?"

Leon rolled his eyes, "You'll get plenty to fight waiting up here, Kat. And plenty of samples."

Kat shrugged lightly. "I like a challenge, handsome. And I'm in need of an ass to kick. Don't waste your precious breath trying to waylay me."

"Damnit, Kat. Wait here. Make this easy."

Jill scoffed, "You're not going alone."

Leon gave her a steady look. "I need someone on the ground to cover the risk of exposure. If we all go, we might set off something worse inadvertently by fucking around in there before I can locate the explosives. We could be trapped, overwhelmed, and responsible for a large-scale outbreak."

Jill studied him and mused, "And what about you?"

When he looked confused, she explained, "You heard that thing...chosen. What does that mean?"

She watched him struggle between truth and comfort. She didn't need the softened truth here. She wanted the whole one.

"Just tell me."

He flapped his lips and shrugged, "They could clearly sense what's left of the plagas in me. It's inert, so I'm unsure what they think they're feeling or seeing. But that doesn't mean I can't use it to my advantage."

Leon clarified when she tilted her head, "After I had my breakdown about it, I made my peace with it. Because I can use it. They became friendly, right? If I can subvert their expectations and gain admittance to their...hub...or whatever...I think I can find the source. I'll disable the bombs, and if they stop me, I can play the patsy easily enough."

Jill pursed her lips, "That's risky, Leon. You know that."

"I do. I'm also sure it's a calculated one. Because if they think I'm on their side, I'm perfectly positioned to overthrow them."

Kevin abjured, "That's fucking nuts. Say you're wrong, then they've got you, and we're all screwed."

Leon shook his head. "It won't come to that."

Jill knew there was no time to sugarcoat things, so she snapped, "They almost did in Spain. Remember? They almost had you. What the hell happens if they finish the job? You come out of the caves, their puppet. And you kill us all. No-fucking-thank you."

"It's not a request, Jill. It's an order."

Without missing a beat, she answered, "I don't work for you. And I don't need your permission."

"I can have you restrained."

Kevin lifted a hand, "Stop it, both of you; we're wasting time. No one goes in alone. No one gets made into a bitch for the baddies, and no one dies. We do this. We do it now. We do it fast. And we do it together. Clear?"

Leon stated, "I need you up here, Kevin. I need you to contain things on the ground."

Kevin, frustrated, declared, "You kidding? What if you fucking turn into one of those things? Who's gonna stop you? Orders or not, boss man, I'm coming. So, shut the fuck up and get moving."

When Leon opened his mouth, Jill said, "We're done fighting. We're out of time for diplomacy here. Let's go."

Kat rolled her eyes, "Americans, always talking when you should be moving. I can't believe you won the Cold War."

She descended the ladder first. Kevin snickered, "I don't know if I like her or want to throttle her."

"That's Kat." Leon commiserated as Jill started on the ladder.

He set aside his feelings on the issue and followed her. Chris had made things easier by leaving a ladder behind this time. Jill was partway down before he started following her. Kevin went last, muttering something about going down being much more fun with a woman atop you.

At the bottom, they set off together at a quick clip. Jill used her Genesis to scan for the explosives as they moved. At the point of submersion, they stripped quickly and changed.

Before heading into the water, Leon told them, "I need you to trust me here, all of you. Jill, I mean it. Let me do what I do. And back my play."

Jill tapped her nails on the desk at her hip. "Ok...say I agree. How do we do that?"

"We go in, I call them out, I lay out terms - you leave, I stay."

Kevin snorted.

A few moments ticked off before Jill finally answered, "No."

His brows flew up as she shook her head, "No. If you're wrong, you've just become their prisoner. Best case scenario, you find the source, and you're trapped down there. What then?"

He held her eyes and said, "I take it out."

After a heartbeat, Jill just laughed, "Right. You take it out. One guy saving the day as usual. And what happens to you?"

Leon jerked a shoulder, "I won't die."

He sounded so damn sure that she almost believed him.

When she was silent, he met her eyes equally. Jill waited until he flinched around the eyes a little before she confirmed, "Yeah, you know what you're risking too. So, you want to go kamikaze and offer yourself up like a sacrifice...that it?"

He simply returned, "Why not? You did."

Jill shook her head, eyes flashing. "No, I didn't. I made a calculated decision and took a risk. There's a difference."

"Is there? The risk is the same. I might come out just fine. I have a tendency to survive."

Without missing a beat, she told him, "You do...and sometimes you need someone to drag you there."

Quietly, he answered, "You're right. Which is why I need you to back me up with this. I need you on my side when shit goes sideways. I need you to know when it's time to get out and leave me behind. This time? I need you to promise me that."

Jill said nothing.

Kevin answered, "I'll leave you, you ugly bastard. Just to save the world from staring at your pathetic attempt at a beard."

Kat said boredly, "We don't have time for egos or googoo eyes. Enough of this."

She went into the water without a backward glance.

Leon twitched his mouth, "Jill?"

Leon waited. Jill waited. They held eyes. After a handful of moments, he muttered, "...women."

Her mouth twitched again.

And then, Jill simply said, "No."

Leon shook his head with a short burst of a laugh. "Can't even lie to me and make this easier?"

She shrugged a shoulder.

She stepped into the water and hated the cold as much as the first time. He demanded, "Just no? You want to explain that?"

"No." She dove under, and he had little choice but to follow.

Kevin shook his head, "...I'd bang her if she wasn't all over your nuts, just for the record."

Leon snorted, "Noted."

"If you die...dibs."

It was good to go into that water laughing. It was. It meant there was still hope. As long as they had something to fight for, there was hope. He wasn't alone. It was good to know it, even odder to appreciate it, and it felt alien to him.

The trip went smoothly this time, with no unexpected battles, no bad guys popping out of corners to kill them or drop off ceilings to stop them. They disabled the first explosive in the erected village and headed into the temple. It was going so smoothly that Leon felt like jumping at shadows with surging adrenaline.

They were in the throne room, disabling another explosive when the sound found them. The singing. Kat murmured, "What in the hell-"

And the thermal imaging they were wearing lit up like Christmas. Jill readied herself a moment before the thing that had defended them flashed into focus in front of her. She thought - not this again- and it caught her throat.

Kat shot it in the back, and it threw a hand at her. Something struck the gun in her hands and sent it flying. It lifted Jill to eye level while she choked and chittered in that guttural mechanical sound.

Leon surged forward, and it lifted that hand at him, "Ch...osen..."

And just like that, he knew he'd been right. He'd felt it. He'd always felt it. He knew what it wanted. Maybe he'd always known that too. Without Rebecca, there was no other way here but bombs or death. He had no time to do anything but a last hail mary pass.

There was no other choice that he could live with.

Leon froze and nodded, "Yeah. Yes. I'm here. Let her go."

Kevin kept his gun loose but ready. He wasn't Kat; he knew better than to try to fight it. Besides, it was on their side - sort of.

The thing didn't let go. It brought her to the hole. It was going to dump her into it. This was her lot in life, to be tossed into holes by monsters. She was always falling. Her greatest fear was falling to her death. And bad guys just loved tossing her around.

Jill struggled, kicking her feet, and it said, "...trials. Survival. Accept."

Leon pleaded, "I'll do whatever you want. Let her go."

It was the wrong thing to say. Because that's exactly what it did.

Kevin shouted. Kat surged forward as if she'd follow, and it pointed at her. "Not you. Not worthy." It looked at Leon and told him, "Go. Or die."

The skittering surrounded them. The spiders were coming. They were out of time.

Kat remarked blandly, "You heard him, handsome; go save the girl."

With a niggle of regret to leave them behind, Leon didn't wait. He went. He dove into that hole like a hero.

Kevin lamented, "...I could have stayed behind...I could have stayed behind..."

Kat mused, "And miss all the fun? I'll hold it here...follow the leader, fat puppy," she eyed the thing guarding the hole and taunted, "I'm worthy of lots of thing, you ugly mug, but we'll just pretend you flattered me instead."

She raced at it, it caught her throat like it had Jill, and it chittered, "Fool. Feel the power. Become...worthy."

Kevin had two choices. He knew neither would end well. But as those spider things came surging toward them, he watched the Predator's ugly brother lift its mask and expose a face that hadn't ever been human. It had a sloping forehead and a mouth graced with four piercing fangs. It looked like a bat or a bastard spawn of a demon and one. And the mouth open to show rows and rows of needle-sharp teeth.

And he got, he understood, all the literary villains had somehow been born of plagas. From Lovecraft to Carpenter, they'd seen the truth in these caves somewhere out there in the world. They knew. They understood. They told their stories to be harbingers of truth. From the Bible to the Necronomicon, there were no "demons; there was only the truth.

There was only bioterror. And it was bred in the dark. Somewhere inside, humanity knew it. It was why they feared the dark so much. It was why they fled or hid from it. They knew - what they feared was real. It was primordial. It was alien. And it was all around them.

Kat squeaked and kicked. Kevin decided he couldn't just let her die, and he raised the gun to try to stop it. The spiders swarmed him, and there was no chance of being a hero. He had to pick them off and try like hell not to get covered in them like a blanket made of nightmares.

With no option, he ran for the hole. It would either kill him or be too busy infecting Kat to stop him. It let him go. He knew that. He felt it as he raced passed, and Kat screamed while it filled her mouth with its horrid kiss. He let it have her.

Because he was terrified, he was next.

And he didn't want to die a puppet.

As he tumbled into the dark, he cursed himself but did it as a man, not a monster. The comfort was almost as cold as the water that waited to catch him.