Mason laughed. “Have you looked outside? There are thousands of those things out there. Where do you think we’re going to run to? You got a Batmobile I don’t know about? We wouldn’t last a second outside this house.”
“But we can’t just stay here.”
“Of course we can, and we are. We’re not doing shit—”
He stopped suddenly.
Josh stared at him, wondering why he had stopped.
Mason’s eyes left Josh’s, and he turned his head back toward the door.
Josh felt something seize his chest, punch its way through flesh and bone, and wrap around where he thought his soul was. Josh didn’t use to think souls actually existed, but as he stared at the door, he realized how wrong he was.
We all have souls, because it’s staring straight into mine.
The blue-eyed ghoul stood in the doorway, its long, lean body covered in black prune skin like the thousands of others outside. It was the same, but different. He knew, without a doubt, that this creature — this thing—was more.
So much more.
It stood tall, and he could see the womanly curves of its hips, see where its breasts used to be when it had still possessed — and cared about — gender. And when it smiled at him, Josh thought it looked pleased with his response to its presence.
Something inside Josh died.
“Josh,” it said, in a soft, almost feminine voice that traveled across the small bedroom and seized him by the soul and refused to let go. “Josh… We have a lot of work to do, you and I. We’re going to change the world. Are you ready?”