“Mom, it’s so stinky,” Lizzie, the four-year-old daughter of my friend, Cesar Pintor, said to her mother.

Cesar’s wife, Dominique, or ‘Doms’ for short, as she said she preferred to be called, replied, “I already put plenty of perfume on your mask, sweetie. You can still smell it?” She made makeshift masks for herself and her daughter, folding squares of paper towels sprayed with liberal amounts of perfume, wrapping them in wide handkerchiefs, and then tying those to cover their noses and mouths.

I was going to offer them the masks I bought, but then I realized it would be hard to explain why I knew about those; not that those masks would be much of an improvement to what they were using.

“Yes, mommy. Super stinky!” The kid said, coughing in between her words.

“Cover your nose, okay?”

“Um, I’ll try.” She did, first with one hand, then clumsily with both. “Still smelly!” whined the piece of shit who was a spitting kid version of her mom. “Mommy, help me! You cover my nose.” It was like she was asking for monsters to come to us.

“I can’t do that,” Doms said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady as she stepped over the remains of the giant monster mouth ball, oblivious to the fact this was her husband’s handiwork which she should be proud of. The huge tongue of the mouth monster spread on the floor like a mini red carpet rolled out to welcome us. “Mom’s hands are busy, okay? I’m holding you up.”

“Other hand!”

"I’m helping, er, Aunt Pino.” Doms stole a glance at me, checking my reaction. “You’re a big girl already. You can cover your own nose, okay?"

I nodded at her. I introduced myself to them as ‘Pino’, short for ‘Pinocchio’. We both had marionette bodies so…I’m not good at thinking names, okay? I didn’t have much time to get creative. Doms introduced me to Lizzie as an aunt to help her get more comfortable with me.

“I want to help Aunt Pino too.”

“You can’t. We’re carrying really, really heavy baggage. She just moved in the building. Just stay still. That will already help, okay dear?”

The baggage she referred to was my human body; both of us were carrying it like a wasted friend after a wild frat party. I gave her no information other than a precursory explanation that the Adumbrae desired this human body, and it wasn’t dead but affected by some sort of power which I didn’t want to fall into wrong hands.

I could see in her expression she simultaneously wanted to know more and also didn’t want any part of it. She chose to hold back her questions and concerns. I supposed Doms prioritized getting her kid out of here and go with the person who seemed to know what was going on even if that person wasn’t human and was apparently kidnapping someone.

Priorities, people. This woman got hers right.

“Okay, Mommy. I’ll stay still.”

I said, trying to sound gentle and friendly, “If you behave, Lizzie, the sooner we’ll get through this smelly corridor.” My nose was sculpted metal, not an actual nose with holes. I didn’t have lungs either. It didn’t occur to me back then that these piles of carcasses would smell awful. I couldn’t even imagine the reek of decay these deceased inhuman fuckers were giving off. Not to mention these monsters might excrete noxious gases. I hoped these two didn’t drop dead from something poisonous we weren’t aware of.

“Aunt Pino?” the brat said in a muffled voice, both her hands covering her mouth and nose as she nuzzled into her mother’s chest as if to hiding from the smell would work. “Your voice is funny.”

“It’s because I smoked when I was a teenager and didn’t listen to my mom,” I said. “So, you listen to what your mom tells you, okay?” I added, mimicking Doms’ way of talking to her kid. “Don’t follow my bad example.”

“I wanna see you, Aunt Pino.”

“It’s better if you don’t, Lizzie dear,” Doms said.

“When I visit Aunt Pino, I always wear blindfold?”

“Uh…ye—"

“Yes, you have to. I’m very shy, you see,” I said, trying not to laugh. The kid looked funny with handkerchiefs covering her entire face. Seeing me wasn’t the main problem. Her mother understandably didn’t want her to see the dead monsters and humans.

“Are you ugly?” she tried to take off her blindfold, but Doms squeezed her and told her to stop it. “Why not?” Lizzie asked. “I’m rispek…respeck—ful. Respectful! I won’t say Aunt Pino is ugly even if she is.”

“No!” Doms said. “Aunt Pino isn’t ugly.” She looked at me with worried eyes and bowed her head a couple times to say ‘sorry’.

Why though? As if getting offended by a kid was a big deal in the face of being trapped in a building full of monsters. She might be assuming my looks were a touchy subject for me, that since I lost my human body after turning into an Adumbrae I had strong feelings on topics of appearance. I was aware some Adumbrae did resent eventually turning into a monster, but that was rare given the feeling of power and pseudo-immortality was generally the main driving factor of people giving in to the Adumbrae.

“Why so smelly?” Lizzie said, already forgetting about wanting to see my appearance.

Doms concocted some explanation about leaks flowing out the corridor, plumbers unable to come at this late an hour, and irresponsible management that should get fired, all while carefully navigating through the corridor of monster corpses and carrying more than half the weight of my human body on her left shoulder since she was taller than me.

Her daughter, ever so inquisitive, kept on asking questions upon questions, which Doms dutifully answered. She amazingly kept her cool even though we were practically walking through hell and she was helping an Adumbrae.

I guessed it depended on the person how they’d react to a situation such as this.

I could tell Doms was a survivalist, a practical and pragmatic woman, intent on saving herself and her child even if it meant teaming up with an Adumbrae—actually, similar in mindset to her husband. She might be aware of the viral video posted by Reginus on Snippet about me. Well, a different transformation of mine. Could it be the reason she was open to the idea of a ‘helpful’ Adumbrae?

But why was she so good with guns? Was she in the military before, or maybe an ex-cop? Or they were just a gun-loving couple; Cesar had a gun too.

Whatever her backstory was, she was reliable and dependable. Right after we agreed to team up following some delicate but brief negotiations, she went to get her kid and got back to me—having changed out of her nightwear into something more suited for running, ready with those improvised masks for herself and her kid, and armed with a gun and a huge hunting knife attached to a sling around her waist—all under five minutes.

I would’ve preferred if I could take full control of her body, but I scrapped that idea, recalling I didn’t notice Cesar, her husband, regaining consciousness. While both of them had the same motivations, they were in different situations and would react differently. If I did take control of this woman and she woke up in the middle of the fight, she’d certainly attack me the first chance she’d get and then run away to find her child.

And where would that leave me? Alone and unable to protect my human body.

Worst case…I can always return to my human body and then turn into Blanchette. Rush the transformation into the big bad wolf and bust out of here. To me, that sounded like an awesome plan.

But I still couldn’t see the reason why SpookyErind didn’t want me to use that option. There was usually some reason, even if convoluted, for her instructions, so I was going the Blanchette route only in the direst situation.

I supposed it was better to actually make a group of willing puppets, as ironic as that sounded. I’d need to be careful not to treat them as one-time-use tools, but I’d also have the benefit of teamwork and being able to test my powers. And Doms could help me to convince other survivors, if there were still any, to join us.

Wait!

Was this why SpookyErind wanted me to use this power? So I’d be forced to make a group?

Power of teamwork.

Hilarious, bitch, I thought with spite. Given her twisted sense of humor, I knew she’d get a kick out of putting me in this situation. Sure, I’ll entertain you…if it meant getting help from her.

I noticed Doms subtly trying to check the corpses we passed, especially the ones that looked like humans. She was also checking the rooms through the open doors and broken walls when she thought I wasn’t looking at her; she didn’t know my cyclops eye had a wide range of vision, almost like a fisheye lens but not as warped. I knew she didn’t quite believe me when I said that her husband survived.

Understandable.

Predictable.

This was, perhaps, the most important reason why she’d make a good teammate. She’d do anything to protect her kid, especially when she thought her husband was already dead. While I couldn’t relate to her love for her family, her main driving force, I perfectly understood that anything she’d do was—and she’d do anything—towards her goal. There was no need for trust if someone was this predictable.

The perfect ally.

It was also predictable she’d eventually betray me when the opportunity came she could escape with her kid without my help. Naturally, I needed some precautions.

From behind my human body, using my right arm holding up my share of its weight, I pointed at Doms’ back with my middle finger. There was a slight hiss as the blue thread shot forth. She didn’t appear to notice the sound, neither did she give any sign that she felt us getting linked.

“Lizzie, I’m going to put you down, okay?” Doms said as we reached the cart by the stairs. She looked for a spot on the ground that was free from blood and gore. “Stand here, okay?” she said. “And continue covering your nose.”

“I can’t move?”

“No,” she sternly replied.

“Unless you want to step on leaking water from a toilet,” I chimed in.

“No! Ewwww.”

Doms and I set my human body in a standing position against the back of the cart. We wrapped it once again in blanket, binding it tightly to the cart with strong ropes I found in my kitchen. Thank you, Mom, for stocking my kitchen with useful stuff. Moms do know best. The end result of our efforts looked like we were delivering a mummy to a museum.

“Let’s start going down the stairs?” I said.

“Are you sure we can't use the elevators?” Doms said, looking down the stairs with apprehension. She adjusted her mask, the smell probably seeping in.

More dead monsters, their body parts strewn over the steps. I wasn’t sure if this was all of Cesar’s kills; most of them appeared to have been cut into pieces by blades—it was that stupid centaur.

I shook my head. “Some of…them…got inside,” I said, nodding to the monsters, careful not to mention them to the blindfolded Lizzie. “All four of them are not working.”

“I see, when the…leak…happened, dirty people might’ve rushed inside.”

“Most likely.” I pulled the cart to the top of the stairs. “Shall we start? It’s going to be a long way to go.”

“It is,” Doms said with pursed lips, thinking hard. “What do we do if more of them came? Is there no other way?”

“The elevators on the other side of the building?" I said, meaning the other wing, "I doubt those are still working. I suspect they…um…also suffered the same fate over there.”

“You’re right. All of these,” she said, pointing to the monsters, “seemed to have spread all over the building.”

“What are you talking about, Mommy?”

“Nothing, Lizzie. We’re just thinking where to go because the stairs are awfully dangerous, especially while carrying heavy bags.”

“If the elevator here is dirty too,” she piped, “then use that big elevator!”

“What big elevator?” I said.

“The big elevator where we put the big cabinet. Remember, Mommy? That big, big cabinet won’t fit in the normal elevator?”

“The freight elevator.” Doms snapped her fingers. “It’s in the center part,” she said in answer to the quizzical tilt of my head, pointing down the corridor past the busted elevators. She must mean the middle part of the u-shaped condominium building. “Lizzie’s right, we can use that. There are three elevators there; the two normal elevators, plus the freight elevator. All three of them go straight to the parking area. We could get to my car and then go out and call for the police or the BID. What do you think?”

Okay, I’m just going to ignore the going to the police part of her plan; I didn’t think I was going to be part of that. What surprised me was that there was no mention of her husband. Was she writing him off? “It’s a good idea,” I said. “Let’s go with that.”

Honestly, the elevators in the center part of the building weren’t even in my mind. In all my time living here, I had only been there twice: when I moved in, and when Mom visited me last Christmas and asked we tour the building. As far as I knew, there were offices, function rooms, those kind of stuff there. There were also suites managed as sort of a pseudo-hotel-residence-style thing by the property manager.

“Cesar would’ve also gone that way for sure.”

There we go. Although, from the tone of her voice, she didn’t believe what she said. “We might run into him,” I said, pushing the cart in that direction.

“Yes…I hope so." She picked up Lizzie and followed me. “And there are fewer people the in the center area. Which means fewer…” She nodded at the monster we passed before helping push the cart over its leg.

I nodded. “And even if we can’t use the elevator, the stairs there would be way safer too.” This was such a stroke of genius to bring her along and not turn her into a puppet. Unlocked the power of teamwork. I should get a medal, I thought sardonically.

“Hang on,” she said, grabbing the handle of the cart and holding it back.

“What?”

“Let’s pass through here.” She steered the cart through an open doorway.

Uh-oh. This room.

I followed her so she wouldn’t suspect anything.

“These big rooms have two doors, some even three. We can bypass all of that…outside…by going through here and exiting out the other door.”

“We’re in the very big room?” Lizzie excitedly said. “Like the one Daddy said we’ll get if I have a baby brother? I wanna see!”

“Lizzie, no. Don’t take off your blindfold.” Doms halted before the pile of rocks that was the remains of the golem monster. “If you do, I’ll get really angry.” She peered at the face of the man squished under the golem then sighed in relief when she didn’t recognize him as her husband.

I continued pushing the cart to the other end of the huge room so she’d follow me and not wander around. I didn’t want her to see her husband—that was, if she could even recognize him—and turn into an emotional wreck. I wasn’t paid to deal with that. “Where are you going?”

“I’m just checking if the other people living here are still…okay.” She was probably going to say ‘alive’, but that would be hard to explain to Lizzie. “They’re a big family, although I don’t know them personally.” She went to the kitchen. “I’ll be quick.”

I rolled my eye but didn’t do anything to dissuade her. Half of me was interested in seeing what would happen.

“Here!" she called. "Pino, we can pass through here.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there’s a hole here,” I said, arriving at the kitchen. The overgrown corpse of her husband and the dead buffalo monster that finally ended him were both untouched. I was fifty-fifty on whether I should admit I’ve been here, deciding in the end I should play dumb. “Good thinking. We can pass through then exit out of the next room.”

“Yes…we can…” Doms slowly said as if she had a hard time talking. She paused in front of her husband’s dead body.

“Way better than passing through all of that outside,” I continued.

“What’s going on, Mommy?”

Doms didn’t answer. Her eyes glazed over.

“Mommy?” Lizzie said. “Are you okay?”

“Is there a problem?” I said. No way she could identify Cesar’s monster body. It was mutated beyond recognition; even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him. Also, there wasn’t any shred of identifiable clothes left on his body. He was wearing only underwear before and there wasn’t any of that left now, his monster dong just hanging out—a sight I’d rather not focus on.

“Uh…nothing,” she said. She blinked rapidly and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“We should move on.”

“Yes…right.” She nodded as if to convince herself about something. “Right…let’s go. I’ll pass through the hole first so I can help you with getting the baggage through.”

“Okay then,” I said. Seriously? Did she sense something? Was this something that had to do with love? I recalled Mom getting depressed for several months when Dad ‘died’. I wondered what that felt like. I pushed the cart closer to the hole after Doms went to the other side.

She set Lizzie down, once again instructing her not to move. “Pass the handle here,” she said.

“Careful with it,” I said, tipping the cart to her side. Doms gripped the handle of the cart and started pulling it through. I pushed up the wheels of the cart over the lower lip of the hole. “How about you—” Movement in the corner of my eye. Something was crawling on the ceiling of the next room, a zombie creature with way too many arms and hands, a human-spider mutant. “Look out!” I said, pointing behind her.

Before even knowing what it was, Doms pushed her daughter away. The monster dropped from the ceiling and pounced on her.

Not that easy. I pumped power to Doms using the middle finger of my right hand through the thread connecting us, thinking hard to make her body use the power, hoping that she would be too surprised to counteract my thoughts.

The monster grabbed her and bit her neck. “Aaahh!” she screamed. Confusion replaced her expression of shock and fear. “Wha—huh?” she exclaimed, realizing that the fangs of the monster didn’t penetrate her skin, meeting the armor plates that was starting to cover her body. “What’s going on?”

“Fight!” I ordered, at the same time transmitting it to her mind. “Fight for your kid! Kill it!”