The rest went without saying. Julie didn’t have time to get emotional. This was business. “Hang on. This stuff is pissing me off. I’m switching rifles…Milo and Nelson got most of the innocents away from the breech. Earl’s got nearly everyone boarded up on the main floor. They’re holding the demons in the lobby. There were a few other teams out, but there’s nobody close to you.”

“Tell Skippy to warm up the chopper. I’m on my way to meet you. I’ve got a plan.”

I’d sliced my forehead open, but my armor had kept me from getting cut in too many places. However, I’d whacked myself really hard in several spots during the ride down. I’d pulled muscles and wouldn’t have been surprised if there were a few bones cracked. There wasn’t any part of me that wasn’t hurting, but there weren’t any bones sticking out and nothing was squirting blood, so I could do this. It was weird, though, I felt stronger than I probably should have. Either I was in shock and working through the pain or there had been something else to Sam’s help than just the memories from my brother.

Hang in there, Mosh. I’m coming.

“Hold still,” Julie ordered. I froze in place. All I could see around me was the wretched churning fog. There was a solid THWACK ten feet in front of me. Something hit the ground. “Got it. You can keep going now.”

I found the body of one of the warrior demons just ahead. Julie had shot it through the vulnerable juncture of neck to body. Steaming goo had sprayed everywhere. It was still twitching as I went around it. “You on thermal?”

“Sure am. Told you I was switching rifles. When the fog rolls around it’s the only way I can see.” Anything that emitted body heat would positively glow in this cold mess, and these demons always seemed feverishly hot. “The wind keeps changing, so this might get tricky. There’s an external stairwell to your left.” I couldn’t see a damn thing. “Keep turning. Turning…Okay. Head that way. I’ll cover you. The garden’s crawling with monsters.”

I set out with a sort of hopping, hobbling jog. The demons were shrieking and clicking at each other. There was a trumpetlike bellow from one of the big acid throwers. “They know you’re there. There’s more coming.” It took a moment for her bullet to arrive. THWACK. There was a gurgling noise as another creature choked to death on its own blood. THWACK. “Two down, but they’re surrounding you. Hurry.”

Hurry was a relative term when all you could feel from one foot was lightning bolts whenever it touched ground, but I ran like everyone’s lives depended on it.

“Monsters on your right. Two. Don’t have a shot.”