Molly leads us down another desolate corridor. We pass by a terrifying-looking man with gray skin and yellow eyes who peers at us and slams the door before we get too close.

“Ignore that stuff,” Molly says, grinning back at us, “just an NPC. Harmless.”

“NPC?” I ask.

“Non-player character. A character from the old video game. Come on,” she calls, “keep up.”

She comes to a door and knocks three times; a few seconds later it opens and a pixelated version of Shion opens the door.

“Look at you,” she says. Her voice is just as distant as Molly’s. “Still alive at the end of times.”

She steps forward and hugs me. I reciprocate the gesture but feel strange knowing that neither of us can feel it.

“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she says. “Molly’s been out there in the real world a few times looking for you and your dad. I told her it was a bad idea, but she wouldn’t listen.”

My dad? I’m about to ask what Shion means, but then Day appears, walking slowly past her mother and hugging me.

“Luka,” she says, “so great to see you.”

“You too, Day,” I reply, and it is good to see her, and her mother, Shion. They had saved my life in the days following my escape from the Loop. And yet there’s something strange about her too—she seems as though she’s in an almost-trancelike state, just like the rest of them.

“How did you all get here from the vault?” I ask, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling that is coming over me, even though I’m fighting to just feel happy that my friends are alive … well, sort of.

Molly, Day, and Shion share a look between them, and then Shion speaks.

“I can’t really remember it very clearly,” she says, her voice like a soft piano melody. “We didn’t all make it, I remember that. There were twelve of us who attempted the walk from the financial district, but only five of us made it to Purgatory.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, knowing what it’s like to lose friends.

“The worst part is, they would’ve felt every moment of it,” Day adds. Her words are awful and sad, and yet her face shows no emotion at all.

“What do you mean?” Malachai asks.

“We walked six miles on Crawl—it felt like it took a week to get across the city. In reality it took less than two hours.”