“Just like I promised. Canoe. Good to know you were listening.”

“Your voice…always breaks through. Always.”

He finally saw the patches and knew what she had done.

“Why?” he said, touching the patch on her chest.

Her smile shattered him into a million pieces.

“To protect you. To…avenge you. I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t…couldn’t lose either way. You want to hear the good…the good news?”

“Yes, honey. I could use some good news about now.”

“I don’t feel any pain. I actually feel…good.”

His tears splashed against her face.

“That’s good, honey. I’m so happy for you.”

“I love you. Will you always remember that?”

“Always.”

“Good. I promise I will…too.”

Kate’s mouth went slack. A long, thready sigh hissed from her parted lips, and she left Andrew, unafraid, free from pain, and filled with love.

* * *

Andrew cried for hours, refusing to put Kate down. Buttons cried in his own way as well, eventually resting his snout on her stomach. The three of them sat on the floor until dusk began to settle.

The monster beside them was forgotten.

It, too, had taken its last breath.

When Andrew felt sure he could walk without falling down, he lifted himself with Kate in his arms and walked atop the dead creature. Glass and detritus crunched under his feet as he stumbled to the living room.

The last thing he saw before he left the cottage forever was the upturned bag of his remaining used paperbacks that had scattered all over the floor, most of their pages stained with blood and dust.

Buttons followed him to the canoe.

He had to stop after settling Kate onto the floor of the boat, his body racked with painful sobs. It was full dark by the time he eased the canoe into the water.

There was no need to push himself. He could take his time. The town would be there, waiting for him.

He no longer needed to focus on Kate.

What the hell was he supposed to do with the rest of his life?

At the moment, he didn’t know or care.

He stopped at the dock where he’d gotten the canoe. Buttons came with him as he made his way to the house. The back door had been demolished. Inside he found a man on the floor of the kitchen, his bowels ripped free and ripe with flies. There were also twin boys who could have been no older than twelve, stacked in a corner, their necks broken so their heads hung at nauseating angles.

He returned to the canoe, kissed Kate once again, and paddled on.

All through the night, he stopped at dock after dock, wandering to the pretty houses. What he found was just what Henry and Ida had told him – mostly old people, but all of them dead, their bodies savaged.