"I'm fine." I straighten my torn, battered shirt. "What about you two?"
	Hanako raises her shoulder, and her arm wiggles like a sack of bones. She winces, but pain means little to any of us at this point. We've all got our scars to bear, and she's looking even worse than usual, her skin sealing itself shut over the last of her eye. The purple ring that formed the inside of her eye was slowly blackening, turning just as dark as Lilly's, and I know that she will suffer the same fate soon if we don't find a way to stop the spread of the disease.
	Lilly?
	Rin's looking as distant and vacant as ever, and I frown at her, wishing that for once she would show any form of emotion, just so I can know she's not a corpse stood upright to walk the Earth forever.
	For a reason I can't quite place, I gulp before my next question. "Did we kill it?"
	Rin looks at the ground. I turn to Hanako, and she frowns at me.
	I scrutinize her look. "We did kill it, right?" They both avoid my eyes. It's like they've had the time to think things over, and they've figured out something that hasn't occurred to me yet. At first, their silence is confusing, and then it dawns on me.
	The horrible monstrosity I'd caught sight of wasn't the first one I'd ever seen.
	"THERE IS... ANOTHER."
	THUMP THUMP
	My throat dries up and I can barely speak the word that comes out of my mouth like molasses is dripping down my gullet.
	"Lilly."
	I feel stupid for not realizing it earlier. The tendrils. The growths. It all makes sense now. The voice was in obvious pain before I'd even touched its heart, which meant it was dying. It was trying to transfer its legacy to one of us, and it chose Lilly of all people. If she hadn't already, she was going to grow into one of the gigantic creatures as well and take over... Take over...
	THUMP THUMP