“Why did you do that?” he shouted.

Kate’s cries devolved into a silent, racking sob.

Nikki lay on the floor, staring at the door, laughing. Andrew hurled every curse he could at her, but the smile grew wider and wider.

Kate stared in horror at her finger. It was bent all the way back, lying flat against the back of her hand.

When her eyes rose to meet those of the creature outside, she understood.

She saw pain in those eyes.

And the middle finger on its left hand was snapped back.

* * *

As Andrew yelled at Nikki, Buttons stood beside him, barking at her continuously, thick ropes of spittle splashing on the floor. The beagle’s lips curled back, teeth clacking.

Andrew had never been so mad at another human being before. Even though she was obviously out of her head, he still wanted to choke her to stop her laughter. Or at the very least, slap the lopsided grin off her face.

“It’s true,” Kate said.

He spun around and saw her gaping at the diseased abomination. Its finger was also broken. He’d hoped he had misinterpreted the situation all along (because to fully accept it would pull the rug out from under all of his beliefs), but there was no second-guessing now.

Perhaps Nikki had done exactly what needed to be done so there were no more doubts for any of them.

No! She hurt Kate and thinks it’s a fucking joke!

“Welcome to the real world, Katy,” Nikki said between her sputtering laughter. “Now, why don’t you tell it to take a nice little swim so we can get the hell out of here?”

Kate cowered on the bed. “I…I…I…”

She shivered uncontrollably. Andrew covered her with his body. Her fever was back. Sweat leaked from every pore.

“How?” she muttered over and over. He wished he had an answer. Maybe if he knew, he could figure out how to disentangle them.

He looked over to see Buttons standing guard over Nikki, still barking, still mad as hell at her for attacking Kate.

“I don’t know what that is. You have to believe me. I didn’t make it come here,” she said, blubbering.

“I know you didn’t, honey. There’s no way you could have.”

“I would never do anything to hurt my brother.”

Andrew recalled Ryker saying the same thing about his sister outside, when he had a chance to take the creature down.

When Kate attempted to shift her body, she leaned against her ruined shoulder. She howled, Buttons matching her cry. Andrew was so close to helpless panic, he feared he’d be just as lost as Nikki soon.