The skeleton shambled through the maze of cars. Its bones scraped against each other in a teeth-chattering din. It shaved slivers of bone off itself with every agonising step.

  Kayleigh froze. “What do we do?”

  “You seemed very into the idea of fighting a few minutes ago!” Oliver stepped behind Dave, who quickened the pace to face the skeleton.

  “Look how bright and shiny its bones are,” Caleb said to no one in particular. “Like they’ve been freshly extracted and cleaned.”

  “And reanimated.” Oliver said. “Don’t forget that. It’s kind of the important bit.”

  “Shall I step on it?” Dave asked, as the skeleton wildly pawed at his knees. “It’s not doing any damage.”

  The skeleton walked repeatedly into Dave like it was stuck in a walking cycle with no awareness or control over its movements. It threw its arms into Dave’s armor, bouncing harmlessly off it to accidentally punch itself in the face.”

  “Maybe just point it in a different direction.” Caleb said, gesturing away.

  Dave picked the skeleton up, turned it 180 degrees and put it back down. It skittered off in that direction, running away from the crew. It hit the back of a car and kept running.

  “I think it's harmless.” Caleb said. “Let’s just walk quickly past it.”

  Soon the chattering pile of bones was firmly in the rearview mirror, and the journey across the abandoned highway continued.

  “There’s a bone. There’s another. Hey, I’ve got a new game for everyone. How many bones can you spot?”

  Caleb scanned the area. “When you’re right, you’re right.”

  A green laser beam scanned ahead. “There are the skeletal remains of around 783.3 humans present on this road.” Dave said. “Why has everyone stopped?”

  “What could have caused a mass extinction event like that?” Kayleigh was on the brink of tears just considering the death toll.

  “The Progenitor Spores couldn’t have caused that, could they? Can they just kill people?” Oliver stared a hole through Caleb.

  “I don’t know.” Caleb snapped. “Why do you think I’d know something like that?”

  “Sorry for assuming, Mr. ‘I’m friends with the Belkers now.’”

  Caleb tutted. “That isn’t what I said. You know that. Don’t try to start a fight.”

  Oliver glared at Caleb with a vital rage.

  Is the vampyr in him straining for freedom?

  The party continued, single-file, through the cars. More and more bones appeared on the highway ahead, each one bleached and free from meat.

  “Hey, Dave?” Caleb picked up a tibia. It was warm, and smelled of bleach. “Do you have access to any databases in that new computer brain of yours?”

  “My brain is still 100% organic, although I am connected to a solid state drive. Its information seems to be password protected, though. I am not privy to the code.”

  “Great.” Caleb moaned. “More mysteries.”

  The civilian cars gave way to a battalion of black armored SUVs. “It’s weird that the army, or the government, or spec ops, or whoever these guys are, didn’t escape first.”

  Kayleigh scratched her nose. “Unless they were escorting the rest of the city out. Maybe they’re heroes.”

  “Whatever they tried to do, they weren’t fast enough.”

  Oliver threw up in his mouth a little and spat the vomit out.

  “Are you okay there, boss?” Kayleigh’s eyes darted from Caleb to the floor, as if to say “check that out.”

  Caleb followed her sights. Pearlescent ichor hissed a hole through the asphalt.

  “Look, we’re getting close.” Oliver pointed eagerly ahead, urgently trying to take attention away from his bodily malfunction. Caleb took the bait, expecting a nothing burger.

  Woah.

  More skeletons leant out from the skyscraper windows. They shook like cheap halloween decorations. The whole city seemed like it was set up like a haunted house. Thick webs strung together the tall lamp posts that lit the road that ran through the city like a main artery.

  “Please tell me those are just for show.” Kayleigh ran her sweaty hands through her hair.

  Caleb leapt on top of the closest SUV.

  “You made that look easy.” Oliver remarked. “Guess that green poison is doing its job.”

  “Glass houses…” Caleb sang.

  Oliver clambered up to join Caleb. “What does that mean?” He said, curling his lips like a wolf putting on a show of aggression.

  A bolt of electricity rocked the car as if struck by lightning.

  Dave reeled back into the car, smoke billowing from his robotic carapace. The boys grabbed each other for support.

  “Dave!” Kayleigh screamed, quick-equipping a med pack and rushing to the bot’s aid.

  “Guys! He needs help. Cut it out and get down here.”

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  They nodded to each other, acknowledging their new and dangerous powers.

  He knows I know now.

  Caleb forced the conflict with Oliver to the back of his mind. He leapt down and inspected Dave.

  “Is he dying?”

  I don’t know.

  “Can we fix him?”

  I don’t know.

  “What’s going to happen?”

  Caleb closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.

  Inhale. Exhale. Stay calm. Don’t panic. You can’t lose him, so stay cool. For everyone’s sake.

  Caleb opened his eyes. “Okay. Let’s see what the damage is.”

  He waved away the blackened smoke to get a clear view.

  I hope I didn’t break him by adding that blue coolant.

  He hadn’t. The new fault was on Dave’s front. A thick cable snaked from the side of his head to just below his ribcage. The tiny grate where the cable originated had partially melted.

  Caleb peered inside, hoping that Dave wasn’t on fire. He wasn’t, but it didn’t look all that good either. A thick frayed wire dangled away from its housing. It sparked intermittently.

  “I don’t know what’s broken, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

  Caleb stared into Dave’s blank eyes.

  “Hey there, big man. Can you hear me?”

  Dave breathed in once.

  “Still here, Caleb.”

  “Do you know what’s happened to you?”

  “Not sure. I’ve tried a few bits from my inventory. A battery. Bandages. Med packs. None of them are compatible with this malfunction. I fear it’s a built-in redundancy.”

  “Are you in pain?”

  A throaty, mechanical, timbrous laugh escaped Dave’s throat.

  I guess that’s what he sounds like breathing out now.

  “No, Caleb. I’m not in pain.”

  “Sit tight. We’ll be back soon.”

  Oliver and Kayleigh gazed at Caleb like wayward children.

  “Kayleigh, come with me. Oliver, stand by and protect Dave.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise?” Oliver said. “Shouldn’t we go together?”

  “No,” Caleb grabbed Oliver’s shoulder firmly and squeezed just a little too hard to be comfortable. Oliver winced. Caleb lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’re strong. I need you to keep him safe. If we both go, we’ll be more formidable, sure, but those two will be defenceless. Does that make sense?”

  Caleb could see the wheels turn in Oliver’s head. Eventually, logic persevered. “Yeah, okay. Don’t be gone long, though. And you better keep her safe.”

  “I will.” Caleb pointed over to Dave. “You better keep him safe too.”

  Caleb turned back to Dave. “Okay, bud. You stay right there. I’ll be back soon with everything I need to fix you. Oliver here is going to keep you safe.”

  “Pat,” Dave said. “What could he possibly do? Dock the skeletons’ pay?”

  Caleb winked. “Oh, I think you’ll find he’s had a bit of an upgrade.” He put his finger to his lips. “Don’t let him know you know, though. It’s better if he thinks it’s a secret.”

  Dave nodded, his eyelids growing heavy. “Alright, squirt. I think I’m going to conserve some energy now. Is that alright?”

  “Sure thing, Dave. Get some rest.”

  And please wake up.

  Dave ventured back into his inventory for another can of blue liquid. He placed it on the floor in front of him. “Give me more of this if I seem like I’m not running properly.”

  Caleb directed Oliver. “Make sure the fan at the back is always running.”

  Oliver saluted. “Sure thing, boss.”

  Was he being sarcastic? I haven’t got time for this shit.

  “Are you sure you want me to come?”

  Caleb could tell that she didn’t want to go.

  “Hey,” he rubbed her arm. “I know what you did in the labyrinth.” He tapped his temple. “I need those kinds of brains.”

  “Wait, how did you see tha-“

  Caleb started to pull her away. “C’mon, let’s go. I don’t want to waste any more minutes. Go careful. It’s dark out here.”

  They held each other by the arms tightly as they crept forward.

  Don’t want to accidentally step into a skull’s mouth.

  “How long do you think he has then?”

  “Honestly, Kayleigh, I don’t know any more than you do.”

  “What’s the plan, then?”

  “Find a transhuman like him. Hope they know what the hell I’m talking about.”

  Kayleigh scoffed. “Oh.”

  “Look, everybody just wants to know there’s a plan. Fake it till you make it, right?”

  Kayleigh nodded. “Sure. Of course.” She cracked a meek smile. “We’ll make it through. We dealt with worse than this every Friday night at Squish Burger, right?”

  “Oh, yeah. I haven’t had to deal with any daemon Karen complaints on this hellhole yet.”

  Two skyscrapers stood at either side of the highway that continued deep into the city. They were impossibly tall, like silver and glass watchers that held court at the gates of the city. Each floor was lined with chattering skeletons lunging from the windows. Piles of shattered bone piled up beneath the broken glass that they’d forced their way through.

  “I guess this whole place just turned into a bag of bones.” Caleb muttered as they passed the skyscrapers.

  “Don’t go near the splash zone.” he said, just as a skull plummeted to the floor and shattered into a million pieces like a crystal vase.

  “Noted.” Kayleigh watched the fractured jaw of teeth tremble with life amid the pile of fragmented bone.

  Caleb scanned the empty city streets. Much like the highway, everything was in pristine condition. Shop fronts still glowed with an array of mannequins in designer wear, while restaurant tables were thoughtfully set. Caleb didn’t recognise any of the brands, but the vibe was eerily similar to the world they had come from.

  “Hey,” Kayleigh said, echoing his thoughts. “Do you recognise any of these stores?”

  Caleb shook his head. “There aren’t any real ones.”

  Kayleigh pointed dead ahead. “What do you call that, then?”

  They both recognised the smiling, blank-eyed cartoon boy on the illuminated sign. As if teleported directly from Earth, in all its gaudy yellow glory, was a Squish Burger restaurant.

  The neon sign on the door glowed: OPEN

  Meanwhile, a figure, dressed in combat fatigues and strapped with the arsenal of a small army, crested the hill overlooking the highway that led into the city. He applied the last of the med packs, cracked his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

  Johnson snapped open his lighter, lit the cigar in his mouth and took a deep drag. The rich, leafy musk invigorated his sore lungs. He cracked his neck; it hadn’t been sitting right since it got reattached. Still, the doc at the church had recommended a whole week in the soil. “You’re not ready,” he whined. “You’ll be back here the moment you take your first punch!”

  Pah. Johnson thought. Dead or alive, I’m made of sterner stuff than most. Actually, make that dead AND alive.

  He pocketed the lighter, then retrieved a set of night-vision binoculars from his inventory and peered into the night.

  There, two orange blobs leaned against an armoured vehicle. Oliver and Dave. As Johnsons surveyed them, over the hours, Oliver’s warmth ebbed away to nothing as the vampyric curse took hold.

  “So you’re both dying,” he muttered. “And it’s an upgrade for one of ya.”

  Oliver was a problem, but one Johnson was eager to get through to extract his revenge from Dave.

  “Don’t think you’ll be getting far without maintenance, you clunky little robo-bitch. And if you do, it won’t be long before you have to contend with me again.”