Left uneaten, pitka fruit would eventually unfold into a gauzy globe, just large enough that I could not quite encircle one in my arms. The wind would pull them free of the vines and for a month or so in early summer they would float through the fields and cities, carried along by the breeze, like giant dandelion seeds or flying jellyfish. When the pitka orbs burst they would rain tiny shimmering seeds down onto the soil. The bursting would happen naturally, or it could be triggered by impact.

We used to line up after school, myself and the neighborhood boys, Gan and Peter. Brigid didn’t have an eye for it and so she didn’t like to play. We would take rocks or sticks or whatever was around and see who could pop the furthest orb. The field would glitter with the raining seeds, and the next season whoever owned the field would have to pull out half a hundred baby pitka vines.

My memory of it glitters like the pitka seeds, the three of us lined up together, laughing, shouting, competing towards the same goal. I got very good at throwing rocks.

The chunk of old pipe hit the manikin facing Lantern-Eyes squarely in the temple, staggering it for the instant it took the lieutenant to pull herself up off the floor.

Crouching, I groped around behind me for another bit of pipe or thing to throw.

Indigo was all rippling blue light, moving quick, but the three manikins around him had him constrained. If they got inside his reach he wouldn’t be able to use his knife effectively, and then it would be their strength against his. He slammed his elbow into one manikin’s face, staggering it; the other two took this opportunity to surge in like tal vipers closing in on a grounded bird.

My fingers touched something else, oblong; I whipped it out and it slammed into the ribs of the manikin between me and Indigo. The manikin lost balance long enough for Indigo to turn, calm, and ram his knife through the throat of the one still coming at him, then on the outswing sever the spine of the manikin I’d struck. I’d say I was glad Indigo was on my side, if I thought Indigo was actually on my side.

There was a new sound from down the hallway, barely audible over the crack of bone and clash of metal. I shone my flashlight past Indigo and Lantern-Eyes to see what fresh hell was headed towards us. There was something down there, low to the ground, moving.

It looked like… I wasn’t sure. It had no arms, no legs, no head. But it moved, almost like a slug would move, spreading out and then hitching up. It had an oddly rough texture, like stone come to life.

When it shifted, something poked up through its surface, breaching like a whale. I saw the distinct ivory curve of a meatless bone.

“Hey, Lantern-Eyes?” I said, fascinated but very ready to vomit, too.