As often is the case, the wealthiest people in town all lived in the same neighborhood. On the one hand, that would make it quicker to explore several houses in a row. On the other, if one was compromised, it made it more likely all the others would be as well.

Kaine decided not to worry about it until they were there. For now, he needed to focus if they were to survive.

None of the gliders he found were functional—which he thought was odd. At first glance, they did not seem damaged. They just refused to turn on.

They had no time to waste, so he took them to the street. There were no other options. The walkways were destroyed, large chunks of them hanging in the air, burning. Splinters of glass and metal littered the ground, amid piles of fuming and mangled corpses.

He worried about Ondine, but there was no way to prevent her from seeing the horrid remains. They were everywhere. Blood and guts covered the road, drawing swarms of bugs.

Screams rang all around them. Thankfully, they were distant. Still, it meant nothing. Hostiles could be nearby. So he remained vigilant as they hurried through the deserted street.

He saw a phaser lying on the ground, fingers still gripping it—though the hand was no longer attached to a body. Despite his growing nausea, he reached down to grab it, pushing the fingers off with a rock. He wasn’t sure how effective the weapon would be against these creatures, but he was pretty sure it would fare better than his bare fists.

As often as possible, they kept to the shadows, pressing against the walls of buildings—half-running, half-walking. At one point, they paused when they heard hissing and the sound of scrambling feet. Large, spiked shapes appeared—a dozen of them. Like oversized lumps of meat with a bulbous mound for a head. Blood-smeared fangs covered their sickly reddish brown skin, bits of human flesh hanging from them. Long and thick legs allowed big strides that quickly took them out of sight.

Overcoming his state of shock, Kaine glanced at the girl and saw the horror in her eyes. He pulled gently on her hand.

“Come on, Ondine. We can’t stay here.”

It took them twenty minutes to reach their target. The first houses were burning, and the fire was quickly spreading across the neighborhood.

Kaine cursed.

They needed to find one still intact—which meant outracing the flames. He knew they could never pull that off. Unless...

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He tapped on his wristpad, and a layout of the neighborhood floated in the air before him. With a swipe, he focused the display on the spot where they were, then zoomed in.

There was a river nearby. With some luck, it would stop the fire. He only hoped the bridges hadn’t burned down, or they’d have some trouble getting across.

Grabbing the girl’s hand again, he pulled her toward the water. Just a few blocks further...

Most people would have flown over the river, but the bridges were still useful because not everyone could afford a glider. The poorer citizens walked. And while this was a wealthy neighborhood, the wealthy had maids and servants.

When they reached the bridge, Kaine noticed there was a fire on the other side as well, but further away. Hopefully, they’d find a gateway before the flames reached them.

The bridge was damaged, but still held. There were fewer bodies in this neighborhood, Kaine noticed. Likely because the rich had cowered in their houses or had fled through their gateways. The victims here were all servants who had tried to run home.

They made it through the other side and rushed to the first house, stopping short in front of the door. Kaine motioned the girl to wait as he leaned down and studied the lock. It was the standard type, with a thilium-powered mechanism that required a keycard to open it. Normally, he would have looked for another way in—a window, or a trapdoor on the roof—but there was no time for that. Brute force would have to do. The house was likely vacated by now, so it mattered little.

He tapped on his wristpad, and a small compartment opened on the side. Out of it, he pulled a small metallic pick. When he pressed it between his fingers, it expanded into a fat rectangular slab. He slapped it against the locking panel and waited for the telling clank. It took mere seconds for the device to attach. When the sound rang out, he punched it hard. The metal sizzled. Kaine jumped away from the door, pulling Ondine with him. A loud screech followed as the edges of the door started to twist and shrink.

“The device,” he explained, “pulls the hinges toward itself. It applies so much pressure it distorts the surface. It can handle any material—even alundil—though wood is easier, of course.”

With a resounding clap, the now loosened door fell inward.

Kaine grimaced as he looked back at the street. “I hate using that thing,” he muttered. “Too noisy. Come on, let’s hurry in.”

The girl followed him as he stepped inside, retrieving the device on the way. Finding the gateway—assuming there was one to find—could take time. He would have asked the house’s AI for assistance, but his break-in tool would have disabled it to cut off any alarms. Besides, it was unlikely it would have responded to a stranger.

Going from room to room, it took them ten minutes to find it. Not even hidden, it waited, unperturbed by the chaos outside. A black man-sized form on the wall that reflected no light, with a wooden frame around it. Consoles on either side. A slight bluish glow around the edges told Kaine the gateway had recently been operated and remained active.

A piercing shriek made him jump out of his skin. He flipped around, lifting the phaser just in time to see one of those fang-covered nightmares rushing at him. He pulled the trigger as he pushed the girl through the gateway with his free hand. The shot hit the creature square in the face. It jerked back, shrieked again as a greenish and slimy substance oozed from its wound.

Kaine did not wait to see what it would do next.

He jumped through the gateway.