I silently stared at the flames and pillar of smoke which marked the demon queen’s body, or at least what little was left of it. We’d used explosives to blow it into smaller pieces and then we’d set the whole mess on fire. There had been absolutely no twitches or any other signs that the demon queen might revive again, so it appeared that this time she truly was gone for good.

After a few minutes, I slowly looked around me, taking in the rest of the mess. The Pit had been a small base, created to quarantine those who were infected with the harkon virus and their destruction once they actually turned demon. Of course, they’d recently expanded their mission to storing demons and studying the harkon virus, but that was what had resulted in this entire mess.

Twenty-two demons had escaped from captivity, including the demon queen, and they’d gone on a rampage that killed quite a few people. Half the base was now so thoroughly contaminated by the demons that it would take the cleanup crews quite a lot of time and effort to sterilize it. As it was, Colonel Roberts had already mentioned the possibility of just firebombing the place since it would be a quicker and more efficient way of sterilizing everything.

The Pit had a large furnace that they used to incinerate the bodies of the demons they executed here, and it was bound to be running nonstop for who knows how long. Of course, the demon queen herself was far too large for that furnace so we were destroying her body separately. Once we were done doing that, we’d probably run the ashes through the furnace again just to be on the safe side.

“Damn,” I muttered, thinking about all the unnecessary death and destruction. None of this would have happened if those demons had been killed rather than kept here like it was some kind of zoo.

Once the demon queen was gone, we’d searched the base for any other demons that might still be on the loose, finding only one more of them. Fortunately, that one had been quick and easy to destroy since we were all too sore and tired for another prolonged fight.

I turned and looked to the large tent that had been set up, containing the bodies of all the people who’d been killed here. General Lawrence was in there, along with a lot of third DSU soldiers, a few first DSU soldiers, and even Mason.

I felt guilty as I thought of Mason, who’d been killed by the demon queen’s poison before we’d even finished killing her. If I’d had all my medical gear on me, then maybe…just maybe I could have kept him alive.

Of course, those who were in that tent might have gotten off light compared to those in the next tent. That tent contained the people who’d been infected with the demon strain, or at least those who were being quarantined for it. I felt a faint stirring of satisfaction at the knowledge that Senator Dolenz was among them, though I couldn’t help but feeling sorry for everyone else.

“Let me out of here,” Dolenz yelled from the tent. “I am a senator…”

“You’re infected with the demon strain,” Lisa responded smugly. “That means you’re to be quarantined just like anyone else…”

I made my way to the tent and saw that Lisa was patching up those who’d been injured. I was doing that as well, at least before I took my break to get some fresh air. There was only so much of that obnoxious senator I could take.

“I think we’re done for now,” Lisa said, looking over everyone in the tent. “I’ll be back to check on you before long…”

With that, Lisa left the tent and nodded to the Mike and Gene who were acting as guards. They were still wearing her biohazard armor so didn’t have to worry about being infected themselves while preventing those people from leaving.

“This is a total mess,” I told her with a sigh.

“Definitely,” she agreed with a sigh of her own.

The two of us walked together to the next tent, the medical tent for those who weren’t being quarantined for demon strain infection. Dr. Merrit was here, overseeing those who were injured and needed medical attention.

There were a few soldiers present, including one who’d caught ‘friendly’ fire from the third DSU. Hannah was in a cot with Rebecca sitting beside her. In the back of the tent was Nicole, who was kept well away from everyone else to avoid infecting them. I was still amazed that they hadn’t put her in the tent with those who were infected by demons strain, but I suspected that they were taking mercy on her and didn’t want to subject her to the senator.

“Lisa,” Dr. Merrit said when he saw her, giving her a concerned look. “You should be sitting down and resting too…”

“It was just a couple bullets,” Lisa joked. “I barely feel them.”

In spite of the heightened resistance to pain that angels had and the fact that Lisa was joking about it, I knew that she was hurting. She was limping when she walked but wasn’t about to let that slow her down or stop her from helping people. I couldn’t help but respecting her just a little more because of that.

Lisa slowly went around and checked on the patients, wearing gloves and being very careful not to touch anyone. Since she’d been injured, the harkon virus in her system was in overdrive and was making her a bit more infectious than normal. I didn’t know if the gouge across my cheek had been enough to set off my virus that way, but I was still taking the same precautions just to be safe.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Hannah.

“Feeling fine,” Hannah responded with a goofy grin that was largely due to the pain killers she’d been given.

I glanced to Rebecca, who gave me a knowing look and a faint nod. There was no doubt that Hannah had ‘accidentally’ come in contact with Nicole’s blood while she was here. Of course, Rebecca had talked to her about this before the pain killer to make sure that she really did want to become an angel like she’d said earlier.

“How about you?” I asked Nicole as I went to check on her.

Nicole gave me a weak smile and said, “It doesn’t hurt quite as much as that last time…”

“That last time you nearly gut sliced in half,” I pointed out. “This time you were just impaled a little.”

“Impaled a little,” she responded with a weak chuckle. “Isn’t that sort of like being a little bit pregnant?”

I grinned at her and said, “You know good and well you’ll be back up and shopping for new shoes in no time…”

“True,” Nicole admitted. Then she gave me a worried look and asked, “About Pete…”

I was silent for a moment before admitting, “He was definitely exposed to the angel strain.” I absently touched my cheek and winced, feeling guilty even though I certainly hadn’t gotten my blood on him intentionally. “It wasn’t much, but I don’t know if it stuck or not.”

“It did,” Dr. Merrit said, shaking his head. “I’ve confirmed he has the angel strain in his system.”

“Damn,” Nicole said, then joked, “I lose more boyfriends that way…” However, I could tell that it was definitely bothering her.

After a minute, Dr. Merrit gave me an odd look and said, “I was wondering how you found Halward’s Pathogens…”

I blinked in surprise, then asked, “How’d you know what book I was reading?”

Dr. Merrit smiled faintly and answered, “It came from my private library. Since you’ve displayed a growing interest in medicine and virology, I’d instructed my nurse to lend some of my books to you…”

I stared at Dr. Merrit, feeling even more surprised and confused. Lisa just laughed, then put a hand on my shoulder. “He did the same thing to me after I changed.”

“Really?” I asked.

“I was already interested in medicine,” Lisa admitted. “But after I changed and started absorbing information more quickly, he began slipping me books on virology… That’s how I eventually learned enough to work on a vaccine.”

Dr. Merrit just looked pleased with himself as he added, “It never hurts to encourage interest in the sciences. Who knows when a future researcher may be inspired?”

When I left the tent a minute later, I told Lisa, “I feel like I was set up…”

Lisa just laughed at that, then said, “Yeah, a little. Uncle Gavin told me about how you’d become an angel, about how you saved Nicole. And he told me about what you were doing for Angel Squad, giving them better medical attention than he could at the time. I know he acted like a total asshole at the time, but he was impressed. And when you started trying to teach yourself more about medicine, he couldn’t resist helping.”

I shrugged at that, then pointed out, “Yeah, but now that you’re back, I’m not really needed.”

Lisa just snorted at that. “You’re a lot more than just an EMT,” she pointed out. “How many times have you patched up our sisters or looked after the backup soldiers? Besides, you played a critical role in taking down the demon queen. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Just then, Julie called out, “Hey Monica…”

“Yeah?” I asked, noticing that she was holding her arm as she came towards us. She grimaced and said, “I think I broke my arm when the demon queen hit me… Can you take a look at it?”

“Sure,” I responded.

“I still don’t trust Doctor Merrit,” she admitted, giving Lisa a slightly suspicious look. “No offense.”

“None taken, sister,” Lisa said.

Julie shook her head and muttered, “It’s going to take a bit getting used to that…to having new sisters.”

“Especially ones you’ve never met before today,” Lisa added for her, though she was grinning as she said it.

I looked over Julie’s arm and told her, “It looks like it probably is broken, but I can’t be certain without X-rays. Let me get a splint on it so you don’t move it around too much. It should be fine in just a couple days.”

Julie grinned at that and told me, “The last time I broke my arm, it was in a cast for weeks…”

“Just one of the benefits of being an angel,” Lisa said with a chuckle.

Julie nodded at that, though her expression did turn sad. “I can certainly appreciate it, but I’m not sure Pete can…” She gestured to where Pete was sitting down, staring off into space with a haunted look on his face. Dani was actually sitting next to him though she didn’t seem to be talking.

“I know how he feels,” I said with a sigh.

With that, I left Lisa with our new sister and went over to join Pete and Dani. Dani gave me a knowing look but didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Dani and I knew exactly what Pete was going to be going through.

“Doc Merrit confirmed it,” Pete said quietly. “I’m infected…”

“I know,” I responded just as quietly. “He told me a few minutes ago.” I took a deep breath and added, “I’m really sorry…”

“Not your fault,” Pete told me with a forced smile. “I mean, you were just saving me from something far worse…” He shuddered and said, “I mean, if you hadn’t kept that bitch from skewering me, I’d either be dead or like the senator.”

“And no one wants to be like that jackass,” Dani added with a faint smirk. Pete and I both chuckled at that.

I gestured to myself gave and Pete a wry smile. “I know you’re not exactly looking forward to looking like this. I was freaking out when I first started changing…”

“But it’s better than the alternative,” Pete stated. He stared at me for a moment and then at Dani. “I’ve worked with you angels long enough to see all the advantages of being like you, and I know you’re all good people. “ He looked back at me a gain and added, “I’ve seen you go through the whole thing and I know it’s not the end of the world. But it’s still gonna take a lot of adjusting. For now, I just want to wrap my head around this by myself.”

Dani and I nodded at that and then got up to leave. I put a hand on Pete’s shoulder to let him know that he wasn’t alone. There was no doubt in my mind that we’d be talking about this again, and that all my other sisters would be trying to help him as well. If nothing else, I wanted to ease him into being one of us a little more gently than what Dani had done with me. She meant well, but sometimes her methods needed work.

Though I felt sorry for Pete and what he was going to be going through very soon, I couldn’t help but also feeling a little bit pleased that he was the one who’d been infected. I knew from past experience that he had our backs and that we could trust him. As Rebecca would say, Pete was the kind of person that we’d be happy to have as a sister. I shuddered to think what would have happened if Dolenz had been infected by the angel strain instead of the demon. At least this way, we got a new sister out of it, not just another angel.

A few hours later, the CDC and cleanup crews arrived and took over the cleanup operations at the Pit. They would deal with the dead, destroy the demon’s bodies, and sterilize everything that had been contaminated…which was effectively half the base. I didn’t envy the job that they had ahead of them.

The CDC had also taken all those infected with the demon strain into custody, which included Senator Dolenz. With all the details of his behavior having been made public, he no longer had the political power to fight this and he was unceremoniously locked up in the containment facility just like everyone else who’d been infected. I felt sorry for the soldiers who’d been infected while performing their duty, but not him. As far as I was concerned, Dolenz was getting exactly what he deserved.

After this, the first DSU began gathering up to head home. Every single one of us who remained alive was eager to get away from the Pit and the nightmares it represented. I had a feeling that my sisters and I would be sharing quite a few nightmares about this day.

As Angel Squad was boarding the helicopter that had been assigned to us, I watched with some amusement as Julie called out, “Dibs on the pilot seat,” and then began to argue with the pilot over who was going to be flying us home.

“I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed again,” Rebecca said with an exaggerated sigh. “After a week of sleeping in that cell…”

“Amen,” Dani agreed.

“Tell me about it,” Lisa said quietly. “I haven’t slept in my own bed for two years…”

There was an awkward silence to that while Rebecca, Dani, and Nicole all stared at her. I could see all the questions in their eyes, though I knew that they were going to wait until we’d all rested for a bit before they demanded their answers. I had no doubt that it was going to be a very interesting and lively conversation.

“I was wondering,” I said to Lisa, choosing now to ask my question partly because it would distract everyone. “If you gave some of the omega strain to Pete and Dolenz, would that stop their infections?”

Lisa gave me a look of gratitude, then answered, “Theoretically it would…if you gave them a large enough dose quickly after their primary infections.”

“I sense a but in there,” Dani added.

“But it has already been too long,” Lisa agreed with a shake of her head. “I left the omega strain back at the base so Lawrence and Dolenz couldn’t confiscate it. I was afraid that if they got their hands on it, they’d claim it was the result of their experiments and use that as a rationale to continue experimenting on angels.”

“And we didn’t vaccinate any of the first before coming here,” I pointed out, thinking of Pete and how he might have avoided his infection if we’d done that.

“I didn’t think we’d be facing demons,” Lisa responded defensively. “If I did…” She shook her head again and muttered, “I wish I had…”

I put my hand on her shoulders and told her, “I don’t think anyone could have predicted a mass breakout while we were here.”

“She’s right,” Nicole said, giving a faint smile. “And you came for us… You both came back from the dead to come rescue us. Who can ask for more than that?”

“True,” Rebecca agreed, grinning at both me and Lisa. “Though it might be a good idea to get that vaccine out to the public as soon as possible.”

“I agree completely,” Lisa responded with a mischievious grin. “That’s why I’ve spent the last month seeding international airports across the country with the omega strain…”