Brand, myself, Ani, Heggy, and several other interlopers, both man and wyrm alike, had walked a little ways down Merchant Boulevard, past the Suture—the junction at the back of the Central Wing where the old was welded to the new—next to two good-sized buses that had been abandoned in the middle of the street.

All of the humans wore F-99s. A couple nurses still wore their PPE, but everybody else had simply stopped bothering with that, Ani and Heggy included. Their usual white medical coats were good enough. There was no way to stop the infection anymore. The translucent face-masks worked to stop the wearers' mouths from getting dusted in spores, and kept them from spewing black ooze and more of the same.

Debris littered the street, spilled from the gashed wounds on the buildings on either side. All but two of the streetlights were non-functional, and the two that still worked were struggling.

Coughing, Heggy trained her gaze onto Ani. "Dr. Lokanok," she said, as cross as her own arms were, "I know the Green Death takes folks' memories, but I wasn't aware it takes people's common sense, too."

Gently, Ani shook her hand, balling it into a fist. "I don't care," she replied. "My mind's made up."

Heggy looked up at the early morning sky, where the dark was giving way to brightening gray. She scoffed, but the sound came out like a tired wheeze.

"Ani, honey, this isn't just nuts. It's stupid. You're better than that."

Ani turned to Brand. "Dr. Nowston: you agree with me, don't you?"

Brand twisted his neck, cocking his head to the side.

Ani pushed her big, round glasses up the bridge of her nose and glared at him.

Sensing his error, Brand blinked all six of his eyes in unison, and then nodded in vigorous agreement.

"Ani," I said, raising my hand, "it's my official neuropsychiatric opinion that you're suffering acute mental distress, as part of the grief that you feel over Jonan's death."

Dr. Rathpalla sat beside me. He nodded his head. Wyrmsong spilled from his snout in a quiet, doctorly warble.

"Yeah," Ani said, "but that doesn't change my mind. Verune's cult has people in its clutches. Somebody needs to save them."

Yes, you heard that right.

Even as she held her wounded arm against her chest and coughed as the fungus ate her away from within, Ani refused to give up. Turning to face one of the two buses, she pushed open its doors, stepped over the chrome-edged landing and walked inside.

You know what the worst part of this situation was? Ani wasn't alone. She'd poked around the Hall of Echoes, looking for volunteers, and quite a few people had answered her call.

Even now, more of them were coming around the corner, filtering out from the Garden Court. It wasn't a lot, but it was more than enough.

After getting a good look-see, Ani walked back down the bus's aisle and stuck her head out the open door. "It's empty." She glanced at the small but growing crowd, and smiled. "It's… perfect."

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Heggy walked up to the door and leaned against the side of the bus. Stains like metal buttercups blossomed on the vehicle's sides where spores had eaten away through the bus' blue-gray paint. "Ani," she said, panting slightly, "please, explain it to me: how're you visualizin' this? What the hell are you thinking?"

"It's simple," Ani said. "We'll drive these buses to the city center. The wyrms will escort us."

Trumpeting, Brand pointed at himself with a claw while tilting his head in surprise.

"You're welcome to come, Dr. Nowston," she said.

Dr. Rathpalla crossed his arms at her, clearly unamused.

I slithered forward a tad. "And then what?"

"And then…" Ani looked me in the eyes. "…we go out, convince the people to come with us, and drive them away from the Melted Palace before it's too late."

Heggy patted the side of the bus with her arm and chortled. "Honey, you're gonna need a hell of a lot more buses than this."

Ani nodded shakily. "I know. That's what the volunteers are for. We can take any buses we find along the way."

I noticed her arm was trembling.

It wouldn't be long before the infection had so compromised her neurophysiology that she'd be all but incapable of moving.

Looking straight ahead, Heggy focused and glared at one of the approaching volunteers.

"Dr. Holden," she said, as calm as stone, "get your ass back inside the hospital right this second."

"I'm going, Dr. Marteneiss," Dr. Holden replied. "I'm doing this." He glanced back at the other volunteers. "We all are."

The news had spread like wildfire, as had Ani's plea.

Her words were still fresh in my mind:

"As you've probably heard, the Lost Lassedite's cultists are telling people to congregate at the Melted Palace. They're saying they have a cure, and they're lying. They're leading people there like lambs to the slaughter. They already attacked us once. Everyone suffered for it. But that wasn't enough. Now they want to do it all over again. They're not like the wyrms that have protected us, the people we still call colleagues and family and friends. To Verune, we're just offerings waiting to be burnt. Every soul he and his followers devour will be trapped inside them 'till the end of time. That shouldn't happen to anyone. The man I loved is trapped like that, inside Letty Kathaldri of all people; I, for one, don't want that to happen to anyone else. Not so long ago, people killed one another because they thought it would save their souls from eternal hellfrost. People were willing to die for that, simply because they believed it. But now… here, we know. This time, it's real. Are you going to stand by while it happens? I won't. I refuse. I know I'm not the only one here who's tired of being destiny's punching bag! C'mon let's get those people out of there. We can do it. If we're all living on borrowed time, then we've only got all the more reason to spend that time on something that matters. I'd be lying if I said I knew it would amount to anything, but it's better than just sitting here, waiting for death."

To my surprise, Ani turned out to be one heck of a good rabble-rouser.

Who would've thunk it?

Heggy turned to face me. "Please, Genneth, talk some sense into her."

"Don't patronize me, Heggy," Ani replied.

Heggy slapped her hand on the bus again. "I don't understand, what's come over you? Why this? Why now? Y'all got a screw loose or somethin'?"

There were tears in Ani's eyes. "I'm dying, Heggy." She coughed. "We all are." She looked out the window, at the others, man and wyrm alike. Her lips curled into a gentle smile, wistful and heartbroken. "I want to burn bright, like Jonan did. So, it's either this, or euthanasia."

Heggy and I responded in unison. "What!?"

"It's funny," Ani said, "I never thought I'd say this, but… I'm not afraid of death." She made the Bond-sign. "I have faith the Angel will make things right."

"Ani," I said, "it's not normal to have a death wish."

"Acknowledging the facts on the ground isn't wishing, Genneth. And, just so you know," she wept, "I am scared. I might not be afraid of death, but… I'm terrified of dying." She ran a hand through her hair. "I can feel myself starting to slip away."

"Then have Genneth eat you," Heggy said, flinging her arm toward me. "You'll be safe and sound inside his noggin."

I gave Dr. Marteneiss an extremely awkward stare.

Ani winked. "Maybe later," she said.

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