I open my eyes through her body, shrugging remnants of eonic sleep off my shoulders. I
open her mouth in a yawn, enough to dislocate her jaw. Nothing will be permanent while I am
with her.

I jerk up. My conduit is all gangly limbs and flat surfaces. We lurch towards the Target.
My conduit protests at the awkward movement. I disregard her. Many people are leaving the
place. They think they know carnage. They think they can escape it. They don’t know how fast
we are together. We outrun destruction.

The Target is frozen. I wait right in front of him. I smile; he smells delectable. My
conduit laughs: He cries. He wet himself! I remind her that this is fear, and fear is freedom.
Freedom is permission. I grant her permission.

I guide her as she tears him limb from limb. He tried to run away, sometime between my
permission and her first attack. She eats greedily, tossing in his bones for extra flavor. We laugh.
It is so good, we purr. Then, we realize, we want more.

I follow her gaze to a screaming crowd stuffing themselves in the doorway, desperate for
escape. My conduit laughs: You are Escape, she says. Together, we are Escape. They will find

Escape once they are one with You.

I agree with her, pushing and lengthening our limbs until they are enough to grab at the
stragglers. She picks one out, a boy. She only wants boys. I do not complain. Girls are tougher to
consume.

I absorb the entrails of him through her skin. I grow stronger. I grow bigger. I push her
until her spine must snap and twist to fit in the gym. I open her mouth. I allow her to speak.

“Do not run.”

The answering screams are so clear and crisp. Conduit, I ask. She says: Yes? She pierces
a heart on her canine. I say, Did you enjoy last night? She says: Yes. It triggered something? I
ask. She shoves a thing in a pink dress aside, tearing a thing in a suit in half. I became, she
answers, twice. I eagerly take up the organ residue she consumes.

The gym is empty. I knock aside a block in my way. I see flashing lights miles away. I
hear high-pitched screaming. We sit down, careful to avoid people. Her dress is gone. She is not
upset at this.

She asks: You are familiar. Yes, I answer. We are familiar.

We understand.

We became twice.

The first time we gained something unconquerable.

We became.

The second time we lost something unfathomable.

We became.