Screams. Shouts. Running feet.

"Did you bring help?"

"Yeah, all of us are Pingies. And it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't freed Thin Mint Gazpacho. Hurry up and get your sight back so you can mess shit up with us, mi hermano."

"Thank you," I said.

"It's me who should be thanking you. I've been losing guys all month, and here they all are in one spot. The Teddy Bear's Picnic of Bitter Humans. Listen to me. Are you listening?"

I nodded.

"This is some real, genuine ugly Human shit going on right now. You'll never do anything more important in your life than getting her out of that body. You were reckless because it was just you. And it's how you and I roll, no denying it. But it wasn't just you."

"I know."

He patted me on the head. "Good man. I…I'm sorry but I can't bring myself to bite the Rune off her. It'll hurt her and…I'm still us."

I nodded. I don't know if I would have let him do it to her.

"Back in a bit," he said. "Need to supervise some mayhem."

Lux was still wrapped in my arms, squirming. "Why am I so important? What ugly…why me?"

I didn't say. History was on my side here. So was the Stanford Prison Experiment. So was the entire formation of the Human internet.

Gorgeous, the Pingster-Owen had said. And I'd felt the precision of her face, the delicacy of her neck.

They'd put her into a body that looked good, one that conformed to beauty standards they liked. So she'd look good suffering.

Humans.

"We're fixing it," came the voice of Todd. He sounded like an apologetic Customer Service representative. "Don't worry, things will be back on track in a sec, guys."

Him. Todd. Preston Covenant. Cosplaying trenchcoat-sucking con artist. Unable to live peaceably in a world of plenty.

Todd.

His voice was …where? Over there. To the right. Yes. It was almost like I could see him. Smell him. Hear his heart, the shifting of gravel beneath his snakeskin boots, the ones with the straps that said EFH, cut in an old-timey font

(what's happening?)

His anxious face, somehow conveying nervousness with very little in the way of expression. Brown, blank eyes. The hair, which bore a sheen of grease because he hadn't showered today.

Acne scars. Shaving divots. Split ends. Handsome but not always, not everywhere.

"What now," Lux said. She wasn't asking Todd.

"What's EFH stand for?" I was standing.

"Earth for–" Then his eyes went wide. He turned and ran into the dark, trenchcoat streaming like a bridal train.

"Get back here." Three steps, and on the way I scooped up the big padlock on its chain. "Ain't going noplace, Preston." I was able to vault the paddock. I was filled with new energy.

A soul. Yes.

He was running, that trenchcoat shiny as he passed a nearby lantern. He was fast.

But I was faster. Quicker. A soul. Yes.

The padlock whistled as I spun it on its chain: once, twice, three times, then I let it fly. The thing seemed to seek him out in the dark, singing its way through the air. It struck him on the back of his skull.

He didn't go down; I'd hoped for a cartoonish pratfall, or perhaps a explosion of blood and brain. No luck there. He staggered, though, shouted in surprised pain, slapping both hands to where he'd been hit. Todd veered, slowed. I caught up to him.

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He began yelling: "TURN OFF THE CAMERAS HELP TURN OFF–" his face scraped the dust, I shoved it around like when I was a boy playing with Hot Wheels. "Nnnnnggggh," said Todd.

"You little shit." I cast about. Cameras. Where? There.

I held his bleeding face up, its eyes swelling shut, mouth trying to spit out the dirt. "This your guy?" I asked the cameras. "This him? This your revolutionary?"

"Owen …. Owen slow down, slow down-" Lux was tugging at my arm.

I grabbed the padlock, swung it at the camera. A satisfying burst of sparks and shards of plastic.

"Hey, Owen let's just go," Lux said desperately. "We don't need this, don't do it!"

"Look at her," I said into Todd's ear. "Pretty?"

Because the body they'd forced Lux into was indeed that of a pretty girl. A model. Thin like a ballerina, but with muscle. Long, graceful neck and wrists like spun glass. Huge dewy green eyes, curly red hair, pale skin. A knockout. One long, pale leg emerging from the hospital gown.

Someone that guys like this wanted to see brought low. I shook Todd, holding him by the neck of his trenchcoat. He shouted, not trying to defend himself; he seemed to be trying to hold the back of his skull together. What a drama queen. I made him see her. Shook him again.

Humans. Humans.

New sounds. Strange ones, buzzes and squeals, clicks and shrieks. Pingsters and their echolocation, had to be. What else could those guys be doing with faces like that? Walking sonographs.

They were dismantling the camp around the hospital. Tearing the tents down, the black Runed fabric fluttering wildly.

Chunk. An arrow. It stuck into my shoulder, a little needle of a thing. Who shot me, man?

A terrified Human in one of the guard towers. He wasn't trying to reload his crossbow; he was grabbing another one. Probably had a bunch of them ready to go. It's what I would have done, if I were a garbage piece of shit loser Human who couldn't figure anything out on his own with his wretched PATHETIC–

Chunk. Another one, this time in my forearm. Oh, now we got a game.

"Owen! Owen look at me!"

Lux, so achingly lovely and vulnerable and they would have hurt her and enjoyed it and there was no denying it–

A single spin of that padlock on its chain, and off it went, sighing as it flew. I saw the wide eyes of the tower guard as it hit. Thud, dead in the face, and the chain jingled musically as it piled on after the lock.

The attack knocked him back, out, the tower creaking and falling. He tumbled down, striking the ground before any of his tower did, and its remains covered him.

Assholes. Assholes.

"Sss. Sss-stop…" It was Todd. "These are … good people, stop."

"Don't talk or I'll hurt you. I'll hurt you real bad, Todd, and you'll stay hurt."

He stopped talking.

"Don't kill," said someone. Not in English. Not in any Human language, but I still got the message. "No killing. Stop." It was a Pingster. Several. They'd freed all of their own, and scattered the Humans.

They were gathering around me, trying to calm me. "No killing," said one. I think it might have been the one that had cuddled up to me, one of the smaller ones, when I'd been blind.

But I could see. I could see the Humans fleeing into the forest. If you don't catch 'em in the act, they never learn.

I grabbed one of the few remaining tents. It had a Rune on its fabric: Stealth. It allowed one to live in peace, as I recalled Todd saying.

You'll never do anything more important in your life than getting her out of that body.

Lux. She'd been put into this situation because of me. I would get her out. The Humans could wait.

"I'm leaving," I said to Lux. "I want you to come with me. I'll keep you safe. I swear. I'll die before something can hurt you. You'll be free of that body. Stay if you like. But I'll keep you safe or die."

She looked up at me. At the beaten Todd Preston Covenant. He'd lost consciousness. Bloody face. Trenchcoat in shreds.

Lux looked around at the burning camp. Back at me. Nodded.

I tore a tent free, wrapped myself in it. Tore one for her as well. Stealth. Wrapped Todd in a Stealth binder.

"Owen, where are you going, Hermano?" It was my Pingster-brother-self. "You don't have to go. We can help. We can. I know you don't trust. I know you've been through something. Remember us, okay?"

We found the parking lot; stole an appropriate vehicle. It was a genuine Human-made Jeep, god only knew how old. Keys in the ignition. Full tank of gas.

The dirt road was lit by the flames behind us. After a while they faded with distance and I turned on the headlights. So long, Covenant of Man.

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