The rain continued for the rest of the afternoon and into the night. Alek watched it from his hotel room window, hoping it would stop soon. Unfortunately it seemed to get stronger and he could hear the building creaking in the wind. But Alek didn't let it faze him. He was going to have to leave tonight, rain or not.

He waited a bit longer to make sure that Dylan was asleep. The middie hadn't spoken to him since their argument at the fortress and was treating Alek like he didn't know him. When it had been time for them to go to sleep, Dylan changed in the bathroom and didn't come out until Alek was in bed.

Even Bovril seemed mad with him. The loris had chosen to sleep in Dylan's bed, and wouldn't make eye contact with Alek or say anything besides dummkopf.

Alek slowly pulled the covers off himself and rose out of the strange floor mattress. The Japanese beds didn't squeak nearly as much as the one's he remembered from back home, but they were very close together. He had to be extremely careful not to move too much so Dylan didn't feel him leaving. Next to the bed was the tool box he had carried back from the Goliath. No one seemed to care or notice that he had brought it back with him. He opened it silently and pulled out a long axe while making sure the blade was safely tucked into its leather cover. Finally, he pulled on his boots and jacket and tiptoed toward the door. When he looked back, Dylan was still sleeping. He looked so peaceful that Alek almost believed that nothing had happened between them. His heart trembled with guilt when he remembered how angry Dylan had been. It wasn't fair. He wanted to wake up his friend and comfort him; give him a hug and tell him that everything was going to be all right. The boy looked so vulnerable that day out in the rain. His clothes had been wet and clung to his body, making him look skinnier than usual. During their fight his voice had changed to a higher pitch and had quivered as if he were going to cry. It made him look younger and weaker unlike the brave resilient airman that Alek was used to.

Alek shook his head and opened the sliding door without another look back. His actions tonight would probably sever his friendship with Dylan forever. The quicker he got away and stopped thinking about it, the easier it would be. So Alek ignored the pain in the pit of his stomach and left the hotel and rushed out into the storm.

Fifteen minutes later he was next to the rushing river again. He paused to go over his plan one more time to settle his nerves. The idea was simple: he needed to stop the Goliath before the end of the night so he wouldn't get caught. He had considered sabotaging the engines again, but that wouldn't do much and could easily be fixed again by the engineers in the morning. The Goliath itself was in fit shape and ready to fly at a moment's notice. If Alek wanted to stop the mission, he would have to aim at the Demon instead.

He hurried down the bank of the river, watching the city stretch out behind him in the rain. Within in a few minutes he was in the outskirts of Tokyo, only surrounded by forest and a few large mansions. In the distance he could see the outline of the stone fortress and the immense shape of the Demon beside it.

Finally, he approached the odd wooden pole of a bridge and looked up at the rope system that was supporting the gigantic insect. Everything was hooked to a rickety pulley nearly twenty meters above Alek's head and halfway across the river, directly above the head of the creature.

Alek shivered, and not just from the cold. He had two options. He could wheel in the pulley, and therefore lift the Demon completely out of the water where it would freeze to death by morning. This was risky, seeing as that it could take hours before the creature died. Someone could easily realize what was happening and save it before it froze. Or, he could cut the ropes, submerging the insect into the river and hope that it would drown. That would be quicker, and harder for the Darwinists to rescue. The only problem was that he would have to cut all the different ropes and not just focus on the pulley. This would require a lot more climbing plus the dangerous swinging of the heavy axe. He looked up at the pulley and groaned. Whatever he chose, he still had to climb.

There were iron pegs in the vertical pole which led up to the horizontal pole that was perpendicular to the first and stretched across the river. It was a simple construction and Alek was surprised that it could hold so much weight. But when he started to climb, he was glad to notice that the wood was similar to that on the Leviathan: fabricated and strong.

As Alek reached the top and started to shimmy across the upper pole on his stomach, his head spun. The rain was spitting against his face with icy fury and running down his neck beneath his jacket. It made it impossible to see and the pole beneath him was slippery with ice. Slowly, he pulled his body along the pole, keeping his legs and arms snuggly wrapped around it. It was about a meter thick, so his arms didn't fit all the way around. With each pull forward, Alek searched the bottom of the pole with his fingers, looking for the ropes that connected to the beastie. He had counted twelve all together when he was on the ground, and already he had found five. Lifting his axe out of his belt loop, Alek swung at the fifth rope blindly and snipped it with one easy swing. He continued forward, figuring he could cut the first four that he missed on the way back. Six swings later and Alek was directly over the opposite bank of the river. He took a moment to reach his head around the pole and examine the work he had accomplished.

Through the wall of rain he could make out the slumped figure of the Demon. Half of its mutant face was dangling in the water, but it sill was above the surface. He was going to have to turn around and cut the last four ropes. Slowly he sat up, allowing his arms to push away from the security of the pole so he could flip one leg next to other. Accidentally he looked down and scanned the ground below him. Beneath him was a solitary figure looking up at him in wonder.

Alek recognized the face immediately. It was Dr. Higginz, the British Ambassador for the Emperor. The man stared at Alek in confusion before he remembered who he was. Alek tried to call out to him, vaguely recalling that he had been against the plan of the Golaith, but it was too late. Dr. Higginz had pulled a whistle out of his pocket, placed it to his lips and gave a long warning blast. Alek yelled at him again, but the man was gone, running up the river bank into the trees.

Behind him Alek heard a sudden rushing sound, almost like a low hum. He heard cries from the fortress and ducked quickly enough to miss several small objects flying over him. They were shooting at him.

Bravery sunk into him from nowhere and Alek realized that he had to finish what he had started or else he would die for nothing. For once he was glad for the rain because it made it harder for them to see him. He pulled himself along the pole again, but much faster and more recklessly. Within forty seconds he had cut down three more ropes and was about to cut the last one when a sharp, shocking pain exploded in his side. He almost fell, but was able to catch himself with just his legs while his arms hung out from beneath him as he swung upside-down from the pole.

The pain was excruciating, but Alek was able to ignore it long enough to realize that, miraculously, he was still hanging onto the axe. With one last miserable thrust he managed to sever the last rope. There was a gigantic splash and Alek saw the remainder of the Demon sink below the rushing river.

By then the pain in his side had overtaken him and Alek screamed while his legs gave up their grip on the pole. He didn't remember falling, but suddenly he was submerged in the frigid water, completely soaked and breathless. Frantically he tried to doggy paddle to the surface, or what he thought was the surface. The river had somersaulted him nearly ten times and he no longer knew which way was up or down. He was being pushed down stream away from the Demon, away from the fortress and away from Tokyo. His side was throbbing and he couldn't kick because it hurt too much. He gasped as if for air, but gulped in a huge lungful of river water instead. Coughing, gagging and swallowing the water, Alek slowly began to stop moving.

It was hopeless, he realized. He was going to drown. As he allowed his body to become part of the river, a sudden jolt hit him in the back. Something warm had crashed into him, and he felt strong arms reach beneath his own and pull him down to the depths of the river.

His head broke the surface and he realized he hadn't been pulled down, but up. He started coughing again, sputtering the water out of him and breathing in the fresh, cold air. Seconds later he was pulled onto the rocky shore, gasping and crying in pain and relief.

"BARKING SPIDERS! YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT ALEK, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" He looked up to see Dylan standing over him, also gasping for breath. The middie was glaring at him with the angriest look Alek had ever seen. His eyes looked like they were on fire.

"Dylan? Is that really you?" Alek said, then coughed up what felt like a gallon of water.

"Aye it's me. Now hurry and get up before they start shooting at you again." He grabbed Alek by the arm again and helped him to his feet. But when he put weight on his left foot he felt as if he'd been stabbed in the side again. Alek screamed and crumpled on the ground in tears. When he opened his eyes, Dylan's anger had faded into fear.

"You've been hit." He was looking at Alek's midriff with horror and Alek was able to summon enough strength to look for himself.

Above his hip, sticking out of his lower back was the body of a humming bird. It was dead now, probably drowned in the river, and its beak was buried deep into Alek's muscle.

"I'll have to carry you." Dylan mumbled, and before he could answer, Alek was lifted into the other boy's arms.

Alek squirmed and screamed but he clung onto Dylan with all the strength he had left. Dylan cradled him like a baby and quickly rushed him away from the river. He ran down a slippery path, through a garden and up a small flight of stairs. A moment later he had plopped Alek on the ground and sat down next to him. It was no longer raining and Alek rationalized that they were indoors. Dylan had carried him into one of the abandoned mansions near the fortress and placed him next to an empty fireplace in a large parlor room with fancy couches and rugs.

They sat for a few minutes, shivering and shocked before Alek was able to push himself to a sitting position.

"We'll freeze to death if we stay like this." He said, then motioned for Dylan to stand up. "Go find us some dry clothes and I'll try to light a fire."

Thankfully Dylan didn't argue and with a nod he ran from the room. Alek painfully pulled himself to the fireplace and rearranged the logs. Whoever had been here last had left in a hurry. The wood was still dry and only partially scorched, as though it had been put out mid fire. Alek found a set of matches on the ground and quickly got a small blaze going. Next he began to strip out of his clothes so he could dry off. This proved to be incredibly difficult to do without inflicting a severe amount of pain upon himself. Eventually he had to cut his pants off with the fireplace tongs, because pulling them off would have hurt too much. When Dylan returned, Alek was naked and huddled in front of the fire.

The middie stared at him for a moment with a shocked expression before quickly dropping a blanket on top of him. Alek thanked him and saw that Dylan was holding a huge bundle of blankets and curtains under one arm and a tea kettle in the other. He had wrapped himself in what looked like an old frilly table cloth that hung all the way down to his feet.

"They have hot running water, like at Elsie's." He said, showing Alek that the tea kettle was steaming.

"Great, a warm drink will help us warm up a bit as well." Alek said. But Dylan was shaking his head.

"That's a good idea, but I need to use this to clean your wound."

Dylan suddenly was crouched down beside him and had started to rip one of the blankets into strips. He opened the kettle and sunk the strips into the water to soak them. A moment later he was reaching for Alek's side and wrapping the hot strips around the humming bird. Alek bit his lip and tried to hold back a scream but it was no use. He eventually was convulsing and crying like a wounded dog.

Dylan's face appeared above his own, looking pale and terrified.

"I'm going to have to remove the arrow." He said.

"WHAT! NIEN, NO, Absolutely not!"

"Alek, I have to."

"WHY? You aren't a doctor! Leave it be. It will be better to just leave it alone until morning. We'll have someone with medical experience look at it then."

Dylan looked at him sadly and shook his head.

"Who do you think will find us here in the morning? There aren't any doctors out here. Unless you want me to go get the British Army to look at it. Although I'm pretty sure they're the one's that just shot at you. No, we have to remove it now. If we leave it, it will just fester." He started to remove the strips to get a better look but Alek pushed him away.

"It hurts too much. Please…."

"It will hurt more if it get's infected, which it's designed to do. A bird has millions of bacteria that are harmful to a human body. If we leave it Alek, it will kill you. Now let me look."

Reluctantly Alek let Dylan's fingers examine the wound. He was about to close his eyes, waiting for Dylan to pull the bird out, but froze when he saw the boy take out his rigging knife.

"Now what!"

"Alek, I'm going to have to push it through."

"You're WHAT?"

"If I pull it out through you're back it will only inflict more damage. Since the arrowhead is barbed it will cut the muscle and arteries when it's pulled out, like a fish hook. Pushing it forward into your stomach will actually be less painful and will allow the wound to heal cleaner." He sounded strangely calm, but Alek could see the immense fear in the other boy's eyes. He was trying to hide it, but it wasn't working.

"You don't seem so sure about that." Alek said, watching Dylan clean the knife in the water.

Dylan didn't answer, but gently used the knife to cut the body of the bird from the beak. He then threw the bird into the fire and looked Alek directly in the eye. His expression was sad and determined.

"I'm so sorry Alek." He whispered, and then Alek felt a terrible punch in his side as Dylan began to push at the arrow. He screamed louder than he ever had before. Kicking and swearing he tried to pull away from Dylan, but the middie had climbed on top of him, straddling him and holding him down with his bodyweight. He continued to shove the arrow into his side without any pause and Alek was screaming so loud he was sure they could hear him in Tokyo.

Alek heard the arrowhead pierce through the skin of his stomach with a pop. A new wave of pain washed over him, stronger than the first and he felt his eyes roll back in his head. Tears and snot were running down his face and he tried to scream again but choked instead. He body slowed down, and he couldn't kick anymore. He suddenly didn't feel the throbbing of the wound, and couldn't remember where he was. He thought he heard Dylan shouting his name, but it didn't register. Instead, Alek let himself drift into unconsciousness as a veil of black swam over his eyes.