“Van Cortlandt Park?”
Melody read the words from a battered green sign mounted at the street corner, then looked across Broadway toward what remained of the park.
She was lost.
Not the normal kind of lost where she could open Google Maps, orient herself, and complain about having to walk another fifteen minutes. She had only a vague idea of where in New York she was anymore, and the constant noise surrounding her made concentrating on anything almost impossible. Sirens wailed from several directions at once. Car alarms screamed until their batteries finally died. Somewhere far enough away that she couldn’t see it, people were shouting for help, and every few minutes another deep crash rolled through the city as something large gave way.
The air had taken on a reddish haze from the fires.
A lot of that was coming from the park.
Van Cortlandt should have been an enormous stretch of green separating neighborhoods from the harder edges of the city. Instead, the grass nearest Broadway was burning in wide patches while flames climbed through several trees farther inside. Black smoke rolled between the trunks and drifted over the street in thick waves, carrying the bitter smell of scorched leaves, melting plastic, gasoline, and something unpleasantly close to burned meat.
Melody covered her mouth with the sleeve of her Crownwell blazer and coughed hard enough to make her ribs complain.
“Fantastic.”
Her eyes watered as another gust pushed smoke across Broadway.
She kept moving.
Where exactly she was going remained an excellent question.
The fighter jets had flown north, or at least she thought they had, and right now following the only people in New York who possessed missiles seemed considerably smarter than wandering around on her own. Whatever happened when she touched the monster’s corpse had given her something resembling magic, not to mention the dagger tucked carefully against her side, but she still had no idea how any of it worked.
That was arguably the closest thing to actual magic Edward had ever experienced.
Well.
Besides waking up like this.
Melody glanced down at herself while jogging past an overturned sedan, her skirt fluttering around her thighs as she stepped over a chunk of broken concrete.
A stupid little laugh escaped her.
“Yeah. This body is pretty magical too.”
Her brain helpfully supplied several memories from earlier that morning.
Melody smiled despite herself.
Then she looked up.
The smile disappeared.
Bodies lay along the street.
One man was slumped beside an open taxi door, motionless beneath a coating of dust. Another body lay near the median several yards farther ahead. Melody deliberately avoided looking closely enough to determine what had happened to that one.
Several cars had been flipped completely onto their sides. Another sat crushed in the center of Broadway with its roof caved inward, while chunks of glass sparkled across the asphalt around it.
Something enormous had come through here.
Melody slowed.
A mark ran through the middle of the street.
At first she thought the pavement had cracked during one of the explosions, but the damage was too consistent. It stretched ahead of her through the dust like a trench, broad enough to cross most of a traffic lane. Cars along its path had either been shoved aside or crushed beneath whatever made it.
It looked almost like somebody had dragged an enormous steel pole straight down Broadway.
Melody stared at it.
Then her brain offered the other possibility.
“A snake.”
She looked along the trail.
“God, I hope it was the pole.”
The trail continued north along Broadway.
So naturally, Melody followed it.
She made it about thirty feet before becoming aware of what she was doing.
“Why?”
Her shoes crunched over broken glass.
“Why am I following the giant snake trail?”
She stepped around a damaged SUV.
“Oh, because I quit, right? New life lasted like four hours and now I’ve decided I want to die again?”
Nothing answered.
Melody frowned at herself.
“No. Obviously not.”
She looked at the trench again.
Her hand brushed the dagger beneath her blazer.
“Maybe it’s dead.”
That possibility sounded considerably better.
If the military had already killed whatever caused this...
Melody remembered the armored tiger.
The shimmering corpse.
The strange rush of energy entering her body.
The dagger appearing afterward.
Her expression slowly changed.
“Maybe I can loot it.”
She stopped walking.
“Oh my God.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth despite everything.
“I’m following a giant monster because I want to be a loot goblin.”
She resumed walking.
“I’m such an idiot.”
“HELP!”
Melody stopped.
The voice came from somewhere to her right.
Young.
Terrified.
“God, please! Somebody help!”
She turned.
A small storefront sat along the street with its front partially blocked by a sedan that had somehow been shoved sideways into the building. The back half of the car stuck out through what had once been the shop’s large front window. Glass covered the sidewalk beneath it, and the remaining window frame had collapsed around the trunk.
For a moment Melody couldn’t tell what kind of store it had been.
Then another cry came from inside.
“Please! No! Please!”
A child.
Melody looked down Broadway.
Her instincts gave her an immediate answer.
Keep moving.
She was injured.
She had no idea what was inside.
Something that could flip cars was apparently wandering around the area.
The military was somewhere ahead.
Getting involved was stupid.
Melody took one step toward Broadway.
Her other foot pivoted toward the store.
She stared down at it.
“The hell do you think you’re doing?”
Apparently her legs had strong opinions on the subject.
Melody sighed.
“Fine.”
She ran toward the shop.
The car had almost completely blocked the shattered storefront, leaving only a narrow opening between the mangled rear quarter panel and the remains of the window frame. Melody turned sideways and tried to squeeze through.
Her shoulder made it.
Her hips did not.
“Oh, come on.”
She pushed herself backward and tried again.
Still stuck.
The smell of gasoline immediately made the situation considerably more urgent.
Melody planted both hands against the sedan.
“Move.”
She pushed.
The car shifted.
Not much.
Maybe an inch.
Melody froze.
There was no chance Edward could have done that.
She repositioned her feet and pushed again, harder this time. Pain flared through her injured ribs, but the sedan scraped several inches across the floor with a shriek of metal.
Melody stared at her hands.
“Okay. Definitely stronger.”
Another sob came from inside.
Right.
Later.
She slipped through the enlarged gap.
The place had been a pizza shop.
The smell made that obvious before she even saw the ovens. Tomato sauce, old grease, cheese, and baked dough still clung beneath the much stronger odors of gasoline and blood. Red vinyl booths lined one wall, although several tables had been knocked sideways and chairs lay scattered across the floor. A glass drink refrigerator hummed stubbornly behind the counter as if it had somehow failed to notice the apocalypse.
Then Melody saw the boy.
He looked twelve or thirteen.
Maybe younger.
He sat on the floor near the back of the dining area with a little girl cradled across his lap.
Her arms hung loosely toward the tile.
Her shirt had been torn open across the chest, and blood covered almost everything beneath it. It had soaked through the boy’s jeans, coated his hands, and spread beneath them across the floor in a dark pool.
The girl wasn’t moving.
Melody stopped breathing for a second.
The boy rocked slightly while holding her.
“Please,” he whispered. “Please wake up.”
Melody’s vision blurred before she even understood that she was crying.
“God...”
The boy’s head snapped up.
His face was streaked with tears, dust, blood, and mucus. For one desperate second, hope appeared in his eyes.
“Please.”
Melody’s stomach twisted.
“Please, she’s my sister. Please help her!”
“I...”
There was nothing.
No spell.
No first aid trick.
No magical system window offering REVIVE CHILD: YES/NO.
Melody could see the wound.
She could see how much blood was on the floor.
She knew.
But the boy didn’t.
Or maybe he did and was begging her to lie.
Melody slowly approached.
“I’m sorry.”
The hope disappeared.
The boy looked down at his sister and made a sound that Melody never wanted to hear another human being make.
He curled forward around her, fists clenching against the bloody fabric as another wave of sobbing tore through him.
Melody stood there uselessly.
What were you supposed to do?
What did people say?
She’s in a better place?
Everything happens for a reason?
Those words sounded insulting when the dead girl was right there.
Finally Melody knelt behind him and rested one hand against his back.
It felt awkward.
Completely inadequate.
But she left it there.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
The only sounds inside the shop were the boy crying, the faint hum of the refrigerator, the ticking of cooling metal from the crashed car, and the distant destruction continuing outside.
Eventually Melody asked quietly, “What happened?”
The boy sniffed hard and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He only succeeded in smearing more blood across his cheek.
“A monster.”
His voice trembled.
“A giant snake. It had... swords.”
Melody frowned slightly.
“Swords?”
He nodded quickly.
“On it. On its sides. I don’t know.”
He struggled for breath.
“It hit our car. Lilly was on that side and then... and Mom... Dad...”
His voice collapsed.
Melody looked toward the trail of blood running across the floor.
She suddenly understood where it began.
The sedan.
She stood.
“Stay here.”
The boy didn't answer.
Melody carefully climbed onto the rear of the car. The metal bent slightly under her weight as she pulled herself up toward what was now effectively the top.
One of the side doors had been torn open.
She looked inside.
Two adults remained in the front seats.
Melody looked away almost immediately.
There wasn’t anything she could do for them either.
The roof above the passenger compartment had been split open by a long, narrow tear that went almost completely through the car. The edges of the metal were folded inward, far too clean to have been caused by the crash itself.
Something sharp had cut through it.
Something very large.
“Swords.”
The boy hadn't imagined it.
Melody climbed back down.
She looked through the broken storefront toward Broadway.
Then at the trench carved through the street.
“So it was a snake.”
Fantastic.
A gigantic snake with swords.
Why couldn't she get something normal?
Like zombies.
Zombies suddenly sounded wonderful.
Melody returned to the boy.
He was still holding Lilly.
She crouched in front of him.
“I’m Melody.”
The boy slowly looked up.
“What’s your name?”
He sniffed twice before answering.
“Leo.”
“Leo.”
Melody nodded.
“I like that. It’s a good, strong name.”
Leo didn’t react.
His attention returned to his sister.
The frantic part of his grief seemed to have burned itself out temporarily, leaving behind something quieter and almost worse. He stared at Lilly like if he stayed completely still long enough, reality might reconsider what it had done.
Melody took a breath.
“Listen, Leo. You seem like a smart kid, so I’m not going to lie to you.”
His eyes moved toward her again.
“We can’t stay here.”
He tightened his hold around his sister.
“But Lilly...”
“I know.”
Melody hated herself for what came next.
“But there’s blood everywhere. Whatever attacked your family might still be nearby, and there are other things out there too. If something smells this...”
She couldn't finish.
She didn't need to.
Leo understood.
His eyes widened.
“They’ll eat her.”
Melody's throat tightened.
“I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
Leo looked down at his sister.
“I don't want them to.”
“I know.”
“We can’t leave her here.”
“I know.”
His eyes moved toward the kitchen.
Melody followed his gaze.
The commercial pizza ovens sat behind the counter.
For several seconds she didn't understand.
Then she did.
“Oh.”
She looked back at Leo.
There was something in his expression now that made her chest hurt.
Determination.
Not because he had stopped grieving.
Because he had decided there was one final thing he could still do for his sister.
Melody suddenly had enormous respect for the kid.
“You sure?”
Leo nodded.
His chin trembled anyway.
“I don't want some monster eating her.”
Melody swallowed.
“Okay.”
She helped him.
Lilly was lighter than Melody expected.
That somehow made it worse.
Together they carried her into the kitchen. Melody tried not to look at the wound as she supported the girl’s shoulders while Leo held her legs.
The ovens were still powered.
Electricity apparently hadn't failed here yet.
They opened the large commercial oven and carefully placed Lilly inside.
Melody knew enough to understand that this was not going to properly cremate a human body. A pizza oven wasn't a crematorium. But fire was better than leaving her exposed on the floor, and maybe the heat and smoke would keep scavenging creatures away long enough for someone to eventually recover what remained.
Leo stared at his sister for a long time.
Then he reached forward and closed the oven door.
Melody turned the temperature as high as the controls allowed.
The heating elements clicked.
Fans began humming.
Warm air started building inside.
Leo put one bloody hand against the stainless steel door.
“Bye, Lilly.”
Melody looked away.
They left before the heat could do anything either of them would remember.
Leo fit through the gap beside the car much easier than Melody had. She squeezed out behind him, and the two of them stepped back onto Broadway.
Smoke moved across the street.
The park continued burning.
Sirens wailed somewhere to the south.
Leo stopped beside his family's ruined car.
He stared through the shattered windows at the dark stains across the interior.
His eyes filled again.
He closed them.
For several seconds he simply stood there.
Then he wiped his face with the cleanest part of his sleeve and turned toward Melody.
“Okay, miss.”
His voice was still shaky.
“What do we need to do?”
Melody stared at him.
Damn.
This kid was hardcore.
Maybe shock.
Definitely shock.
But still.
Melody reached beneath her blazer and pulled out the strange dagger she'd gained from the armored beast.
Leo’s eyes immediately locked onto it.
Even covered in dust and blood, the weapon was beautiful in a disturbing way. The black metallic handle caught the orange firelight while the curved fang blade reflected it along its razor-thin edge.
Melody held it toward him.
“Take this.”
Leo hesitated.
“You're giving me a knife?”
“Dagger.”
“What’s the difference?”
Melody thought about it.
“Honestly, I have no idea.”
Leo took it carefully.
His fingers wrapped around the black handle.
For a moment he simply stared at the weapon.
Then he looked back toward the enormous trail carved into Broadway.
Melody followed his gaze.
The snake.
The thing that killed his family.
She probably should have said something responsible.
Something like we're going to find somewhere safe.
Or we need to stay away from whatever made that trail.
Instead Melody looked down the ruined length of Broadway and felt something dark settle inside her chest.
“We’re getting revenge for your family.”
Leo slowly turned his head.
“Huh?”
His expression changed.
The grief was still there.
So was the fear.
But now there was something else.
Concern.
Not for himself.
For Melody.
He looked at the burning park, then at the enormous trench left by a giant sword-covered snake, then back at the red-haired college girl who had just handed a middle-schooler a monster dagger and announced they were going hunting.
For the first time since Melody found him, Leo looked genuinely confused.
Melody blinked.
“What?”
Leo stared at her like he had just realized the woman who rescued him might be completely insane.