Chapter 119: Last Battle

I turn to see the rest of the Crawlers are dead, but that doesn't matter, nothing matters, not while my friends circle around the body of fallen Vander, his empty eyes looking upward toward nothing.

And the anger shatters into a million pieces, the calm still holding me close, gently, as though to protect me from myself and the fact he's dead and it's my fault.

I crouch next to him, touching his pale skin with my hands, calling him to me, to heal him as I did the buck. But he's gone, his spirit flying and I can only hope he's found Gault again in this world, and that I can save him in the next one.

None of us speaks when I rise and leave the wind behind, the coolness of the air for the still and quiet interior. The elevator waits for us, and this time when I press the button for 79 it dings, the steel doors sliding softly shut.