“Is this really it?”

“Yeah.”

Bunny unlocks the car door and rolls out into the rain falling sideways. We’re just in the middle of the road. The nearest intersection is half a mile ahead, there’s only a bunch of unmarked buildings around. I watch her jump onto the curb and head towards an alleyway flooded with ankle-deep water reflecting the two street lights still on.

“Hey! You’ve got your phone on, right?!”, I yell at her after rolling down the window. She answers, but the downpour is too strong to hear what she said. I’m a little worried. How could I not be? I don’t know what the hell she’s doing or where she’s going. I don’t understand any of this. Whatever. She’s probably the last person to need anyone’s help, especially mine.

I parked in a closed diner’s parking lot, turning back on the overhead lights. Holy shit, this thing is cool. I lift it up again, this time expecting the weight and handling it better. It’s pretty dirty from being in the rainy asphalt, but I can see my eyes reflect off the parts of the blade I’m wiping off. I’m starting to feel a little bad for just... taking it. This sort of equipment cannot be cheap. It could be a priceless family heirloom, I wouldn’t be that surprised. I’m not putting it back, though. A few months ago I would have thought I was insane for thinking this, but… I have no doubt that this was a gift. I can imagine it falling straight from the parted heavens, an offering to the hero destined to vanquish evil from the Gods themselves. Or something like that.

While admiring my new toy and dreaming about the hypothetical armory I could build in my garage, I noticed something through the rain. A light flickered inside of the diner for just a few seconds. It went out, and came back a few moments later. One more time, it left and returned; this time staying on. Is the power coming back on? No, if it was, more than one light would return. My phone buzzes and startles me with a text. Oh God, is it Bunny?

No.

It’s Rose.

“You should come inside.”

My hoodie was off and hanging on the back of a stool. Even though it was only a short walk inside, it’s raining hard enough to look like I fell in a lake. In front of me were Rose and also Biologist for some reason. She was fiddling with something skittering and purple on the table, about the size of a bug. In the booth beside her was Rose, looking pretty casual, despite everything imaginable. I’m honestly not sure what the occasion is. That’s probably a good question to start with.

“What are you two doing in here?”

“Not getting wet. And not getting zapped to death, either.” Rose responded in a snarky tone that, honestly, felt like she was forcing a bit.

“In a diner that’s closed?”

“We happened to be in the area.”

“Right, Magnolia Park.”

Her eyes widened, but not in shock. More like it was a funny surprise. She took her time responding.

“I guess Bunny told you. Actually, that’s not surprising, I hear you two have been all buddy-buddy recently. I just can’t believe you actually came out here with her.”

I went to sip my drink and then realized I didn't have one. Diner habits.

“I was worried, I don’t even know what she’s doing.” I answered a bit more honestly than I expected to.

“She’s out there saving your ass right now. We’re all trying to save your ass, actually.”

She glances up at Biologist now jumping on the booth, trying to get her skittering purple thing off the ceiling. She amends her statement:

“Uh, most of us are, anyways.”

“You keep saying stuff like that. And anyways, what were all those texts you sent me earlier? They didn’t come through right.”

“Yeah, anything electric is fucky right now. We think it’s probably one of the chromatic beasts. It’s wiped out the whole city.”

So that wasn’t my fault. I turn a little red at the disproven idea that I may have had special powers. At least I’m not responsible for the damages.

“This is all so confusing… I don’t know why nothing makes sense anymore.”

Biologist speaks for the first time since I’ve been here.

“It’s hard to understand a storm when you’re in the eye of it.”

She sits back down, having retrieved the purple bug thing and stuffs it into her pocket.

“That’s actually pretty deep, Biologist. Weren’t you sorta… Sniveling, before?”

“The angel abandoned me. I’m not their messenger anymore. I was sad at first. I must have really messed up big time. But it’s not all bad! I don’t have any more weighty expectations put on my shoulders. I can just hangout with you guys now!”

I smile at her, not sure how comfortable I am “hanging out” with someone who tried to make me kill myself, but whatever. I turn my focus over to Rose.

“I’m going to try to stick some of these puzzle pieces together, okay?”

“Go ahead.”

“There are nine beasts, each of a different color, trying to kill me.”

“Were. There’s only four left now, thanks to me and Bunny.”

“Sure. Thanks, I guess. Anyways, I assume one of those beasts are purple, or maybe violet.”

“That sounds logical to me.”

“I think so too. And just now, Biologist was fiddling with a purple thing. Bunny also picked up something similar when we were in that building on 17th street.”

“Right.”

“Is too bold for me to assume that those purple globs they have are the violet chromatic beast?”

“Makes sense to me. Biologist, do you have any input? You’re the green beast, anyways.”

She stares off into the pitch-black storm out the window, rubbing her chin for a bit before responding.

“That’s probably true, but I can’t give it up. Even though I’m detached from Biologist the angel, I still feel like I need to take care of the little guy. I’m responsible for it, in a way. I have no idea how it would kill you, though.”

Right on cue, the thing wriggles out of her pocket onto the damp diner floor, skittering around chaotically like a puppy that broke out of its cage.

“Maybe it could annoy you to death. And you said your friend also has one?”

“Yeah, her’s is a little bigger. I have no idea what she did with it. I think she was going to give it to you, Rose.”

Rose responds next.

“I wouldn’t really know what to do with it anyways. It’s hard to kill something so amorphous. I’ve tried—It’s like clay. Any shape you beat it into, the little thing bounces back like nothing happened. I’m sure even if you figured out how to cut it into pieces, each piece would skitter away separately as a new organism. And actually, that might explain why there’s two of them now.”

“What do you think would happen if we stuck the two together?”

“Either nothing happens, or someone gets very, very hurt. And that someone would probably be you. These things aren’t pets. Remember, they’re Mina-killing machines.”

I sat back in my seat, remembering the weird things Biologist said to me the other day. She’s one of those Mina-killing machines too, or at least she was. Maybe she’s been absolved of her duty now, but I’m still hesitant to trust her.

“What did I do to piss God off so much? I haven’t done anything that bad. This sucks, man.”

“I think you have it a little mixed up. God’s not pissed off. He just didn’t authorize you.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You’ve heard the saying ‘everything goes according to God’s plan’, right? That plan accounts for everything. It’s like a script of the world. Everything that ever has happened, or will happen, is in that plan.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“You’re not in it.”