Jenny shook violently as she stared into Susan's eyes, glancing once, only once, at her lips. Too many emotions fought for control. Desire. Love. Sadness. Anxiety. Hunger. But the worst of all was Eve's presence. It didn't seem phased at all by Jenny's outburst; instead, Eve seemed to be laughing.

Should you fall, then Miriam will feast on your beloved.

She will rip Susan Brown to pieces and gorge.

A vision appeared of Susan blasted into a wall. Her stomach and legs were burnt and peeling. Blood ran down her chin as she gasped for breath. And then Miriam, holding Susan’s face with two hands, moving in to chew off Susan's bottom lip while she was too weakened to even scream.

Jenny thought her head would explode. Eve was right. She was trapped; she had no choice. Giving up would ensure Susan's and everyone else's deaths. Tears escaped her right eye and rolled down her cheek, and she looked away from Susan. "I'm sorry," she said. She took a breath as Susan moved closer, and it was a mistake. Her tentacles shifted forward. She almost acted out of instinct and grabbed her best friend, but she bit the inside of her cheek until blood burst into her mouth, and she kept herself in check.

"Remember what you said?" whispered Susan. "How we have to keep fighting? We have to-"

Using her good arm, Jenny pushed Susan gently away, unable to bear the painful expression on Susan's face.

"I remember. And I have a plan." She took another shaky breath. "I gotta stop Miriam first. Then we can try it. I think if we use your healing power, we can.... maybe we can cut through the worlds and go home." She wasn't making sense. She knew she wasn't making sense, but how else could she explain it?

Susan's brows furrowed in confusion. Her arms fell to her sides. "You mean how the floor’s all weird? I don’t know if I can do that."

This time, it was Jenny's turn to touch Susan's shoulder. She squeezed gently, still holding her breath. "We're gonna do this. We're gonna get through this. Fuck this whole thing. Fuck Eve. Fuck Miriam. Fuck everyone."

When Susan didn't say anything, Jenny continued, trying to figure out the best way to move forward.

"Miriam's going to move soon. She might come after us or the others, but I'll distract her. You get to them and..." That was where her plans fell apart.

"I'll keep them safe," she said, a defiant look on her face. "Oliver's unconscious. Mackenzie got knocked out. But Mrs. Monique and Dule can still fight."

"Okay," said Jenny. Dule seemed strong. And Mrs. Monique... Jenny was glad the librarian was still alive.

She helped Susan up. Susan looked smaller than before, fragile. Jenny wanted to hug her. To pull her in and hold her tight and.... but Jenny knew if she did that, she would never let go, or worse.

Susan grabbed Jenny's arm. Her fingers slid between the broken exoskeleton to touch exposed bone and flesh. Rainbow light swirled, and before Jenny could protest, her ruined arm was woven back together.

New flesh formed like multicolored wiring and hardened. And she looked up to see Susan falter. There was a smirk on her dust-covered face, even as she looked like she was on the verge of passing out.

"You idiot," whispered Jenny, crying freely now. "Why would you do that?"

"You're going to win," she said. "We're going to win." Then she squared her shoulders, and even though her breathing was labored, she nodded and turned away, and judging by her straightened back and strained gate, she was trying very hard not to appear weakened. She exited through the far door of the kitchen.

Jenny rolled her healed arm. Her tentacles smashed through everything in the kitchen. Boxes burst open revealing stacks of oranges and peaches. Milk sprayed into the air. Metal trays crumpled. Focus, she told herself. Focus! I can't bite Susan. But Miriam... yes. Miriam. I can bite her. I can sink my teeth into her. And it'll feel so fucking good.

And then we can all get the fuck out of here.

And then I can try to make sense of how broken and hurt and fucked up everything is.

She stomped forward, her exoskeleton shifting again. It renewed the covering on her healed right arm, and she brought her hatchet back to her hand with a flash of light. It felt much better in her dominant hand.

For her left, she extended her covering to form newly sharpened claws over her fingers. Then she used what extra she'd generated from the angel's blood to expand a layer of covering over her tentacles, hardening them. Kill the Desecrated Angel. Kill Miriam. Kill the Survival Challenge.

Her eyes shifted focus from one thing to another as she stepped out of the ruined kitchen. A table. A pillar. A burnt cocoon. A body. Miriam.

Wretched Human (Level 24)

The notification sawed through her, and she paused. Miriam didn't move. She was lying on the floor, right over the darkness that seemed to bubble and froth around her, with her bloodied hands folded over her tummy, and a content smile on her face.

She was Wretched now. The same thing Jenny had been after Severed Spirit. Had Miriam done something similar?

Wouldn't that work in Jenny's favor? If Miriam had severed her soul, then she couldn’t access her abilities and skills. She was a sitting duck, so why was the girl so relaxed?

Eve wasn't responding. Jenny's head felt almost empty, like Eve had abandoned her. Was it mad? Fuck it, Jenny had her plan. She was going to see it through.

Right next to Miriam was the Desecrated Angel. There wasn't much left of the giant fearsome monster that had torn through the cafeteria. It lay gasping for air, only the right side of its face intact. Its teeth were exposed, opening and closing its mouth slowly. Its eyes were a dull blue as it stared aimlessly at the ceiling.

Its legs were mostly gone. Miriam had eaten through its thighs and into its navel where its ribs were splayed open. Its lungs sat inside like two dying birds taking their last breaths. And beside them, was a blue heart. Still beating. Still connected to its body by a bonelike casing and a system of veins and arteries.

Jenny stared at the gruesome sight, half aware that Susan was rushing down the windowed side of the cafeteria. She'd be at the exit soon enough, and then she'd be safe from this nightmarish scene.

One of the angel's arms was mostly whole. She could see bone, but it raised the arm as if reaching for Jenny, but the creature couldn't sit up. It didn’t have the strength to do anything. The arm slammed back to the floor.

Miriam burped and opened her eyes. Her head turned to face Jenny. "I guess it's almost over."

Alarm bells rang in Jenny's head. Something had shifted in Miriam's eyes. She didn't look frightened or anxious or wary like she'd looked before when Jenny stumbled upon the girl locked in the closet. She looked relaxed. More relaxed than Jenny had ever seen her before.

Her shoulders were low, arms open. Blood stained her chin, her throat, and her torn denim shirt. Her dark hair was loose. What was left of her hijab was a long, blood-soaked piece of cloth. Miriam had never come to school without her hijab; she even wore a sports scarf in gym class.

Miriam licked her fingers clean and sat up. She stroked the angel's burnt hair and pinched its nose. Her hand looked so tiny on the giant head; she was on her knees beside the creature, humming. "It was your voice, I kept hearing, wasn't it?"

"A voice?" said Jenny. Voice? Like Eve's?

"Yeah," she said, smiling. She stroked the angel’s forehead and then poked its exposed cheekbone. The angel shuddered. "Every time there was blue light, I felt her pull. She kept calling me. Come help me. Help me stop her. Help me grow strong..." She looked up at Jenny. "Your face kept appearing. She said you were ruining everything. Her plans. Her dreams. Her children."

She rubbed her tummy. "But you know what, Jenny? I figured out a better way to get stronger. And apparently, I’m really good at it..." Another burp, louder than the one before, escaped her lips. "Excuse me," she said, then she turned to the side and vomited.

With that, Miriam collapsed and began to seize. Her head snapped back. Her limbs bent and moved in random directions. Her mouth was wide open as her throat formed choking sounds. Her shirt flapped wildly, revealing her thin form, revealing an ugly gash running down her side, and what looked like Susan's cattle prod buried almost completely in the wound.

Green light expanded from her belly in radiating waves. Heat and force repelled Jenny as she struggled to move in. She could just kill the girl now. Bury the hatchet in her neck and end the madness, but then, with twin wet, crunchy sounds, something burst out of Miriam's back. Wind slammed into Jenny, and she was forced to step back, bracing herself with her tentacles.

Miriam had grown wings. Leathery and huge, as dark as Miriam's hair, they unfurled. Wings shaped like clawed hands with skin webbed between each hideous finger. The palms were attached to Miriam's back so that she looked like a monstrous butterfly. Her shirt fell, torn to bits, revealing her bony form.

Her ribs showed. Her navel was sunken, and she covered her chest with her thin arms, shaking. The wound in her side trailed blood down her pale skin. She looked up at Jenny, eyes wide and red, as though she were asking, what the fuck?

She opened her mouth to say something, but another seizure took over. Her body arced. Her hands dropped away, and something shot out of her belly button. Something gelatinous and liquid; a thick white substance that spread every which way. It slathered over her chest and up to her neck. It dribbled down her legs and took shape. Miriam fell on all fours, panting and crying. Her hand-shaped wings spread wide, lowering to the floor to reveal knuckle-like bones on their backs.

Saliva glistened, stretching from her lips to the darkness below. She’d transformed just as Jenny had, but her eyes hadn’t changed. They still had pupils, and though the notification still said Wretched Human, Jenny got the sense that she’d transformed through a different means. It wasn’t a skill like Severed Spirit.

“Miriam,” said Jenny. “What the fuck did you do?” She adjusted her hatchet, trying to find an opening to attack. The girl’s white exoskeleton was thick. It completely disguised Miriam’s frail body and gave her a muscular, powerful appearance that reminded Jenny of the brutal black-covered Wretched Angel she’d fought on the second floor.

Miriam slowly got to her feet, hunched forward, her white-covered arms swinging like they were too heavy. She raised her head, and spittle dribbled down her covered chin. Her eyes gleamed with green light. She flapped her wings, and her hair bounced every which way. The cloth of her hijab danced all around her, and she yanked it out, snapping the clip that had held it in place.

"Do you wanna know who was up there in the room?" she asked.

Jenny didn’t respond. Her mouth had gone dry; the look on Miriam’s face was pure rage. This was nothing at all like facing down an angel, even the Desecrated Angel. She was staring at the monstrous form of another human being.

Is this what I look like to everyone else?

"You know who was in there?" spat Miriam. She took a shaky step forward, but when her heavily covered feet hit the floor, the darkness shifted, and the cafeteria trembled. "Martin."

"Martin?" repeated Jenny, backing away. Who the fuck is that?

Miriam took another heavy step forward, stomping on the darkness and causing it to ripple. "Fucking, Martin and his stupid, whiney whore of a girlfriend, Janice."

“I thought you’d be safe there.” Jenny held her ground, trying to find an opportunity to attack. Miriam's wings looked cruel and evil. Like they might grab Jenny.

"Do you know what they used to call me?" said Miriam, holding up her hijab. The cloth trailed down to her legs and wrapped around a thigh, leaving bloody stains on her white exoskeleton.

This part, Jenny did know. She'd heard all the jokes. The teasing. The toxic bullshit.

"A terrorist." Miriam stepped over the Desecrated Angel and moved even closer. She crushed the angel's hand, and it screamed, but she stamped down on it again. "They would always... "

For a second, her anger broke. Her face looked shocked. Afraid. Alone.

"Miriam," whispered Jenny, praying she could get through to the girl. She looked so desperately sad and heartbroken. Maybe there was a way to stop this. Maybe there was still some hope for her.

But Miriam's brow furrowed. She snarled and shook her head then inhaled loudly before holding up the cloth. "Well now, I can do exactly that!" She threw it into the air, spread her arms, and screamed. A terrible, gut-wrenching scream. A green beam of light burst out of her mouth.

It incinerated the cloth of her hijab. The beam carried on, burning into the ceiling, and judging by the force and heat, the beam must’ve gone through the entire school.

Miriam turned her head, still screaming, and the beam followed her movements, cutting countless paths of devastation through the cafeteria as it zipped in every direction.

The remaining pillars burst. Tables erupted. Jenny flattened herself on the floor to dodge the beam. Then she rolled out of the way as the beam sliced through the floor. It left the darkness unharmed, but the floor exploded as soon as it hit the tiles behind where Jenny had been standing. Jenny cried out as the beams cut through two of her tentacles.

"All my life!" screamed Miriam, stopping her attack with a snap of her jaw. She held up her hands and seemed to choke the air, strangling an invisible enemy that she couldn’t stop arguing with.

"All my fucking life. Get higher grades. Be prettier. Be smarter. I have to be a doctor. I have to marry a good man. I have to have children! I have to do this. I have to do that! I have to be good.

“And yet...” She dropped her hands and turned to face Jenny. Her wings beat several times, blowing away the falling debris from her attack. “Nobody ever just wanted me." She stumbled on the word.

Jenny was on the floor, holding her two burnt tentacles and only half aware of the sliced-off bits wriggling nearby. She cleared her throat, trying to think of what to say to Miriam. That it was okay. That she could help. That there was still hope, but nothing made sense. There was no getting through the ferocity of Miriam’s rage.

With a flap of her wings, Miriam leaped forward and screamed again. Another beam of destructive light shot out, and Jenny launched herself at Miriam, diving for her legs.