Chris opened the van’s back doors and was blasted with loud disco music as he hauled his scathed battle partner inside. The nearly naked, unconscious waiter was resting on the backseat to the left, and Ryder had just woken up from a disco-induced power nap.

“Did you guys win?” Ryder asked dryly.

Chris and the driver shared a look, both of their emotions simmering behind their eyes. Chris dawdled forward and dropped Takato into the passenger seat. “No,” he said, just as dryly. “We need to get back to the hotel. Domingos is on his way there to hurt Tayte.”

“Oh, I’m not going to let him lay a finger on Tatyana!” Ryder said and turned the ignition. Vanessa roared awake and began rolling.

Chris fell onto his back as they reached max speed and climbed his way onto the backseat on the right. He stared at the back of Ryder’s head as he felt his heart beat awkwardly. The passive-aggressive energy emanating from him rivaled those of popular high school girls who found out someone in their clique went to a party without them.

“So, what are you guys going to try differently when you find him at the hotel?” Ryder asked.

“We’re going to hit harder,” Takato mumbled.

“Oh, and let me guess after that fails, we’ll hit even harder, right?” Chris said.

“I’ll even go Memento Mori,” Takato hissed.

“Whoa! You don’t and shouldn’t have to do that.”

“What’s that?” Ryder asked.

“A Hail Mary, last resort, Kamikaze, the whole shabang. Whatever the fuck you wanna call it,” Chris explained.

“Sounds funky,” Ryder replied. “So, why do you hate this guy so much anyway?” he asked Takato.

“He’s a murderer and a rapist.”

“So, I’ve heard. But it’s personal, isn’t it?”

Takato fell to his side, resting his head on the window. His bleeding, busted lips curved into a wan smile. “That monster…” He touched the top part of the fresh boot mark that covered half his face. “Used to be a cop.”

Chris thought back to the service pistol Domingos always carried on him. He had assumed he just stole it from law enforcement personnel, but it turned out it was just a souvenir from an old life.

From vowing to protect the public to stealing dead people’s treasures and causing havoc while doing it, hell of a career change.

“Back in Angola, where he came from, a serial killer who was murdering across Sub-Saharan Africa had reached his city,” Takato explained. “He was called the Tokoloshe because witnesses claimed he was a short bald man with albino-like skin. His M.O. was using a hot iron rod to pierce through his victim’s eyes and push it out the back of their heads.”

“I know about that case,” Chris said. “He had killed 22 people… rumors said it could’ve been way more.

“The police only found 22 of his victims, so yeah, there could’ve been more.” Takato said, shifting his position against the window as Ryder made an abrupt swerve. “The man was elusive and successfully escaped from police capture many times.”

“But they did get the guy,” Ryder pitched in, eyes focused on the road. “I remember seeing the news coverage when I was doing a job in Lesotho.”

“Yeah, in South Africa, where I am from. A would-be murder victim got away, and the cops got involved. He was arrested but died in prison just a day later. He never made it to trial. The man was 80 at that point and had multiple diseases.” Takato stared out the windshield in silence; Yokosuka’s passing colorful street lights made his green eyes shine a different shade. “Domingos was not happy with this. He had been working on taking down that criminal for almost a decade and chased him to S.A. I was working as a firefighter then, and I heard about the news and how obsessive Domingos was about catching the Tokoloshe. The authorities were unable to identify the man. No relatives. No I.D. Nothing, and the psychopath refused to reveal anything up until the day of his death. People across Africa began to believe the man was actually an evil spirit… Domingos wouldn’t let it go and kept investigating.”

Chris stared at Takato, allowing Vanessa’s stressed engines and angry honks and screams from the streets to fill the silence as he carefully thought about what to ask next. “Investigating what?”

“The Tokoloshe’s relatives. I have no idea how he reached the conclusions he did, but Domingos got himself a list of people who were related to the Tokoloshe… since the man didn’t suffer any consequences, he decided to allocate that justice over to them. The relatives. People who had nothing to do with what the Tokoloshe did. People who didn’t even know they were related to the Tokoloshe. The Dhumalo family was on the list.” Takato’s face twisted in a way that made it look like he had aged several years. His bruised lips were pulled back to show his teeth, his vein swelLed on his neck, and lines and folds appeared all over his face. “He killed 11 people in his murder spree and did to them what the Tokoloshe had done to others. One of those victims was a woman named Cassandra Dhumalo. She was my fiancée.”

Chris wanted to attempt to comfort Takato but feared he might burn himself if he got anywhere near him. The green-eyed, usually chill, young man was like a human volcano holding back a long overdue eruption.

“How did you know that’s why he killed them?” Ryder asked Takato and made a swerve that had the driver on the other side experience his life flash before his eyes.

“He left notes… a list at the crime scenes.” Takato sank back into his seat, cooling down. “Domingos became a wanted man after that and disappeared. I’ve been searching for him for years.”

“And that’s why you joined Post Mortem.”

“I knew he had to have gone underground, so I plunged into the criminal underworld myself and heard he made quite a name for himself. I joined Post Mortem and had been waiting for an opportunity like this. To kill him during the Tombstone Trials.”

###

Ryder banked Vanessa in front of Mercury Hotel. Its porcelain-white exterior blended with yellow-white lights radiating out the windows made the building shine in the dead of night like a collapsing star.

Chris looked out the window, and his body began its efforts to make him pull back. First up was his head conjuring a painful headache to keep him from thinking clearly, then his throat swelled, giving him an annoying lump, and finally, his stomach hexed him with a queasy feeling. He couldn’t tell if he was hungry, wanted to vomit or take a much-needed shit. “We need a plan,” he said his favorite set of words to comfort himself.

“We don’t have time for that. Domingos dies tonight!” Takato opened the car door and got out.

The Driver and the Sharpshooter established eye contact.

“Go. You better not let Tatyana die.”

“I’ll do my best.” That is all he could truthfully say. Chris left the van and led a fuming Takato to the hotel.

###

They managed to dash through the lobby looking like two plane crash survivors without being interrogated by security or hotel staff. The employees and other hotel guests were too focused on their phones.

Thank God for the digital revolution and its consequences.

Testing their luck at a now careless level, they took the elevator to the fourth floor, and Chris guided Takato to the hotel. The building wasn’t in ruins, and there was a lack of blobby abominations waddling around the place, but it wasn’t enough to calm Chris’ thumping heart.

After using his keycard, Chris slowly opened the door and let himself into the dark living room. It was empty and silent, but light was seeping from below a door.

It was the door to the bedroom where Tayte slept in.

Chris crossed the living room and approached the door. Takato was right by his side, moving as fast as he was. He burst inside.

Tayte was there. Alone. On her feet, buttoning up an oversized dress shirt.

“Wow. You just barged into my room without even knocking,” Tayte said in her usual flat voice. “That’s so rude and daring, which is unlike you. I’m a little proud.”

She removed most of the bandages on her face, leaving some on her cheek and forehead. Her right hand was still completely covered, but there weren’t any signs of nasty bruises or swelling overall.

Having her focus back on him with that infuriating unchanging blank look of hers he grew accustomed to had Chris’s heartbeat change rhythm. It was a fast-beating palpitation different from the one he felt when entering the hotel room. It was a feeling he liked.

“Tayte! You’re okay!” Chris shouted and took a step forward. He caught himself spreading his arms wide for a hug and stepped back. Chris glanced over at Takato and got rid of the smile on his face. “It’s…” he cleared his throat. “Good that you’re okay.”

By then Tayte’s focus had already swam over to Takato. “Hey, you’re the guy from the Tanda Pits.”

“And the guy who got you to that Tombstone Checkpoint,” Takato added and cocked a quick smile. “You’re welcome.”

Like a jumpscare, Tayte shifted her soulless gaze over at Chris again, and his heart fluttered.

“This is your shirt, by the way. I think you put your suitcase in my room instead of mine. I hope you don’t mind.”

Chris didn’t mind. And that’s what he minded. The hem of his white dress shirt reached until the top of her knees, and the cuffs covered half of her dainty hands. Seeing her with gray socks on and wearing his shirt and her black torn tights thermal pants; her dark gray hair, messy but still had mesmerizing undulations that showed a bit of her round ear, and her slightly slanted dark gray eyes with short, beautiful eyelashes made his mind go places. Go places he felt he had been fighting to stop himself from going for almost the entirety of this death-themed adventure.

Despite her body being mostly covered, it didn’t take much for his imagination to picture the figure underneath. He had seen it. A defined, toned feminine form that Chris couldn’t help to feel tumescence taking form as he continued picturing it.

He wondered how life could be under different circumstances. If only he didn’t blurt out the words: “Tombstone Trials” that day, if only he didn’t choose to rob that house, if only he had chosen to not participate in the Trials, quit Post Mortem, and stay in Sugarmaple, to take the time to get to know Tayte better.

They went to the same high school, and her family was in charge of his uncle’s funeral, so they could’ve started from there. Getting Tayte to open up would’ve been a challenge, but if he got a job as a librarian or something in that sleepy town, and with Tayte working in the family business, time for the relationship to blossom would be plentiful.

A few months into dating, maybe Tayte would’ve told him about her past and what happened to her. He could’ve gotten her the help she needed instead of feeding the beast. With his help, they could’ve let the beast inside her starve until it perished, and then from there—

“Chris!” Takato shouted.

The Sharpshooter looked back, wild-eyed. Wondering how long he was in dreamland.

“Jeez, man…”

“Sorry,” he said while lowering his head. After a short beat, he raised it again and looked at Tayte. “I’m really glad you are okay.”

“You keep saying that. Why?”

“Tayte… you were basically in a coma, and… what happened before that. At the checkpoint, remember?”

Tayte tilted her head to the side.

Chris sighed. “Tayte… you were crying.”

“I was joking,” she said and shrugged.

Chris stopped her as she took another step forward. “Tayte—”

“I was joking,” she reiterated and tilted her head back into place.

Chris looked back with a confused face.

“I was joking about joking,” Tayte said.

“You’re obviously not all there,” Chris said and then took a moment to wonder when there was a time Tayte was all there. The thought left him idle for a while, and it was enough time for Tayte to step around him and approach Takato.

“Who are we fighting?” She asked.

“Domingos…” Her blank look had him elaborate as he gesticulated the grave robber defining physical features. “Big guy. Big beard. Looks like a bastard, acts like an asshole, and dresses like a game show host… the guy who found you outside the museum that night and brought you in.”

Tayte’s eyes widened as her mouth went agape. “Sounds like fun.”

Chris turned back to Tayte, sighing heavily like a therapist whose patient rebuilt their emotional wall relinquishing all the commendable progress from the last session.

Tayte was back to the unfiltered, unfeeling lunatic.

“No, not ‘fun,’” he said, understanding there was no point in doing this tired dance again, but he had to try.

“I’m not just staying behind.”

“You still need to heal!”

“I feel fine. The Nether-Mums have done their job.”

“I’m not just talking about physical wounds.”

“What are you going to do? Give her a therapy session?” Takato said.

“Stay out of this!”

“No, he’s right,” Tayte said and looked up at Takato.

“Look, all I want to know is if she can fight,” Takato said. He looked down at Tayte. “Can you fight?”

Tayte answered by delivering a straight punch right on his kisser.

Takato crouched while groaning and covering his mouth. “That was uncalled for, but... okay!”

Again, she had that stolid expression of hers that gave Chris the chills. Her unblinking, soulless eyes and lips froze in a straight line while she focused on Takato in genuine pain. At that point, he still couldn’t decide if he’d be more comfortable with her maniacally laughing.

Maybe that crazy was what—

A ringing cell phone cut off his thoughts. Chris pulled his phone out of his pocket, and the caller I.D. made him hesitate.

“Well, aren’t you going to answer it?” Tayte asked.

Chris tapped on the green icon and held the cell phone to his ear.

“Is Tatyana okay?” Ryder asked from the other line in a cold, mechanical voice.

Chris looked over at her—physically sure, mentally? Her mind was back to its default stage, which wasn’t a good thing. He settled with answering, “Yeah, she’s fine.”

“Tune in to the news channel. There’s something you need to see.”

Ryder hung up.

A confused Chris shared the message with the others, and they walked to the living room. Takato took charge of the TV remote and selected the news channel.

It was a live broadcast from a helicopter view of a theme park. It was in shambles with a life-sized Godzilla model standing in the middle of a roller coaster loop, but that wasn’t the only monster in the place.

Dozens of the thumb-like flabby creatures were waddling around the amusement park; their muffled wails of agony could be heard even over the reporter’s distressed statements.

A breaking news border covered the bottom of the screen. It was all in kanji, and Chris still was a neophyte in the writing form, but he didn’t need to be an expert to know it meant something terrible.

Takato launched the remote at a wall. “He played us!”

Chris put his hands on his hips and started pacing around the room. The behemoth was a lot smarter than he expected. They took the bait to rush back to the hotel, allowing him to go to the theme park and wreak havoc.

He looked back at the TV, and the camera zoomed into the chaos. For just a few seconds, he swore he saw Domingos standing with his back straight between a trio of blobs staring up with a sinister smile. Almost like he knew he was going to see that exact moment.

Once he vanished, Chris was convinced this was a calling card. Were they to react to it?

Tayte perched on the edge of the couch. “He played you how?”

Takato quickly explained to Tayte, to which she then said, “This is happening because you’re assuming this guy is an idiot. If he’s anything like me, then he is using what you think of him based on his appearance against you. It’s how people like us get the upper hand.”

Takato leaned against the wall with his shoulder and brushed his hair back. “She’s right.”

“And he’s worked alongside you two for quite some time, right? He knows how you think….”

Chris thought back to Domingos, mentioning how predictable he was.

“He can predict your every move.” Tayte went on while playing with the bandages on her right hand. “And probably already has contingency plans for whatever you try to pull when you arrive at the theme park.”

“Okay, so what do you suggest we do, Miss Little Grim Reaper?” Takato asked. “He’s putting innocent people in danger and basically revealing the nature of Relics to the entire world. That dumbass.”

“No, he isn’t a ‘dumbass,’ stop thinking that,” Tayte said while raising a finger and getting up. “We need to act chaotic. In a completely unpredictable way.” She then stood on her toes with an excited, manic smile as she suggested, “We each come up with our plan, but don’t tell each other what it is.” Her heels fell to the floor again.

Chris stood with a glazed-over look on his face. After the neurons in his brain could connect again, he said, with extreme harshness and sincerity in his voice. “That is the most insanely idiotic thing I have ever heard in my life.”

“Oh, come on, now,” Takato said in a bid to calm him down.

“No, seriously. I think I’m depressed now after hearing that.”

Tayte looked at Chris. “I was just suggesting—“

“Listen, I have a plan!” Chris interrupted. “That’ll work! The reason why we failed back at that hostess club was because we had no plan!”

He could tell by the looks the two were giving him that they weren’t convinced.

“This one he won’t see coming. I promise. I have an idea on how to defeat his Relic.”

Takato approached him. “Chris—”

“You came to me, remember? We tried your way, and now it is my turn!” Chris whipped over to Tayte, hoping to keep her silent by shooting a glare. “You told me that you were going to be a better battle partner, remember that?”

Tayte held her hands together in front of her and posed with certain regality as she nodded her head.

It was futile, but Chris studied her look, trying to see if he could discover anything behind those enigmatic gray eyes. They told him nothing as expected. He had no other choice but to believe in just her words.

He shared the plan.

Tayte seemed to be paying attention and absorbing the information well.