Darryl was an obvious choice for my mad brainstorm, as the only person to take down a badblanket from the inside on his own. We needed Carlos’s Leap ability to make it work. Dog Guy Scott wanted to be outside to be sure the animals got the message. We needed at least one more person on the inside, and somehow, that third person was me.

It had been my idea, I supposed. And it really should be safe. I put Gavin inside the Tagon, and gave Micah strict orders to hold on to the wagon and not watch. I was pretty sure he’d look anyway, but that way he’d feel guilty for looking, not for looking away.

I stood in a triangle with the two younger guys, locking arms. Darryl had removed all the spikes on the front of his body, although that meant he was now barefoot. Carlos hadn’t altered his armor, and the only spikes I had were on my back. We’d jump as close to dead center on the badblanket as we could and try to hold the space in between us open. The people on the outside would hold their attacks only as long as they heard us chanting the word “safe.” If we yelled “Help!” or stopped talking, they’d assume we were in trouble and bust us out of there.

I knew the group could kill one of these things in instants. I’d seen them do it. This was fairly safe.

I kept telling myself that.

“You know where you’re headed?” I asked Carlos.

“About three feet past that asphalt patch, directly in line with the edge of the sidewalk tile. Same as last time you asked, Meghan.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

He shrugged, a motion I could feel with my right hand. “Now, remember, just like we practiced. Go time in three… two… one…”

I bunched my muscles and jumped on his count, hands grabbing their arms so tightly their bloodflow was probably in danger even without the badblanket’s help. That was part of the plan, though. If the two of us pushed off in approximately the right direction, Carlos’s Leap ability could get us exactly where we needed to go… but getting pulled around in midair makes it hard to stick your landing. We held tight so we wouldn’t fall over - and out of formation - as we landed.

My toes touched ground that looked like normal blackish-gray road, but had the give of a gym mat. My heels hadn’t even landed before the walls were whipping up around us. I’d seen how thin the body of a badblanket was, but when it hit me I doubted my memory. This didn’t feel like some thin sheet. It was more like being hit by a giant wave on a stormy day. The impact knocked the air out of me and I gasped, stepping forward. Fortunately, the badblanket must have hit my spikes, because it drew back. I tried to reclaim my space in that instant, but I wasn’t wholly successful. It might not move across the ground quickly, but grabbing prey? It was very fast at that.

I could feel the hands of the men beside me pushing into my upper arm near my elbow. The monster had shoved us uncomfortably close together, but we weren't touching. We'd been able to maintain a pocket of space.

“Safe!” yelled Darryl. “Carlos, Meghan, you good?”

“Safe,” I said shakily, with Carlos’s confirmation echoing on the heels of mine.

“Y’all can open your eyes, you know.” Darryl’s voice was amused, and I took his advice. The gray walls around us still looked very roadlike, but the pattern was distorted and stretched, and occasionally separated by patches of dull brown. I was surprised I could see anything. I couldn’t look up, with the badblanket pressing on the back of my head, but wavering sunlight illuminated the interior.

The badblanket twitched and convulsed, trying to find a way to grab us without impaling itself on any spikes. The sunlight flickered and shifted, but never disappeared. It seemed the badblanket couldn’t quite close us in. I would have breathed a sigh of relief if I hadn’t been straining to hold the wall back. This had been my hope: the three of us in a triangle were bigger than any single person, even a gratuitously obese one. The badblanket didn’t stop pushing, but with three of us working against it, we could hold it back well enough.

We continued to call out “Safe!” every few seconds, and I felt my confidence growing. I could do this for hours! Maybe not literal hours, but I was no longer worried that we were seconds from being overwhelmed.

In fact, we heard a shout from the outside a few moments later. “Can y’all try to put a little drama into it? Glad you’re doing good, but you’re sounding almost cheerful and it’s confusing the dogs. They gotta know this is a bad thing.”

“Sorry, Scott!” I yelled. “Don’t wanna scare my kids. You’ll have to make do. Uh, safe, by the way!”

We held out for another few minutes before we heard from Scott again. “Alright, I think that’s good enough. I hope. We’re busting you out now!”

When I got free of the badblanket, I realized I hadn’t been doing quite as well as I’d thought. Much of the feeling in my legs was overwhelmed by a pins-and-needles numbness. As soon as we let go of each other, Carlos and I both stumbled and sat down hard. Darryl remained standing, but he’d made multiple spike belts for himself just like the one he’d made for me. Maybe it hadn’t been able to grab him as well.

I could hear my children scream as I sank to the ground, and I hastened to yell. “I’m fine! Just tired!”

Micah, the only one of my kids not confined to the Tagon, dashed forward. He threw his arms around me in a totally uncharacteristic show of PDA. I could feel he was trembling, just like Gavin had been earlier.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” I repeated to him gently.

Someone took the roof off the Tagon, and Gavin and Cassie came to join us. I laid back on the road to keep my spikes away from them as they piled on.

It wasn’t the most pleasant way to rest. Grit was getting into my hair and my spiked belt was an uncomfortable lump across my lower back.

I didn’t ask the kids to move, though.