The Schistling’s mouth pulled back into a happy grin. Its eight slimy hands twitched with delight. “So are you ready to accept our offer? Do you wish to be cured?”

“Actually,” Gabriel replied, “I have an offer for you, instead.” He reached into the inner pocket of his trench coat and took out the vial containing the antidote. The poison. With his thumb, he popped off the top.

The Schistling’s happy expression changed to a look of pure horror. One of its arms shot toward Gabriel. “You can’t! You—”

Gabriel dropped the vial. It fell through the hole in the clouds, right down into the center of the black maelstrom. Plop.

“You’re murdering us!” the Schist Ex Machina wailed.

A repugnant odor filled the air. Smoke pillowed out of the maelstrom, sending black clouds into the sky. A thin trail of noxious fumes spewed from the giant arachnid’s oily body.

“You idiot!” the Schistling cried. “Don’t you know what this means?”

“Do you?”

“We’ll kill all of them, right now! We’ll kill everyone who has already been infected. While we crumble, they will die with us.”

The Schist Ex Machina’s spider-body was breaking down as chunks of black flesh floated into the air and dissipated into dust. Within seconds, its skeleton was revealed. “Murderer!” Its lips began to disintegrate as it spoke. “If we die… if the center of our collective consciousness dies… we all die! We… will kill all of the humans. We will destroy the—”

“No,” Gabriel said calmly. “You won’t.”

“You’ve sealed their fate!” The Schistling’s jaundiced eyes were swimming with naked panic. The stench coming from it smelled like burnt rubber.

Below, the maelstrom was dissolving into the ocean. But the collective was desperate, craving his love. Staring at Gabriel, face to face, it hadn’t yet gathered the will to send out the telepathic signal that would begin the mass murder of humankind. Until it did that, the Schistlings still inside the infected humans would not be affected. And they might never be, as long as Gabriel moved fast.

Hands trembling, Gabriel reached into the plastic bag in his coat. He withdrew the syringe that contained the original Schist vaccine. How did I know to bring this? Though his resolve was sharper than a craggy mountain range, his heart was pounding. He was terrified of what he was about to do and the consequences that he would have to live with. Once he did it, there was no going back. Beads of sweat ran down his face.

“I gave you life,” Gabriel said, holding the needle steady. “And now, I’m going to bring you home.”

The Schistling’s mouth dropped open. “You…”

“If your consciousness is collective, then that means that all it takes is one injection before your center dies, and you will stay alive. Right?”

Black clouds clustered around the dying maelstrom, the toxic fumes staining the white ones above.

“I’m going to let you fulfill your dream of coming home, becoming a part of me. I’ve never injected myself with my own vaccine. Did you know that? That’s why you could never find me.”

“Yes, obviously we know!” Its dark tongue was dripping, melting onto the clouds. “But, Father, you can’t… you can’t…”

“Can’t what?”

“Our presence… the whole collective… inside you… it’s too strong. It will destroy your entire mind…” The Schistling gasped, and then its face—so much like Gabriel’s own—pulled back into a tight grimace so familiar that Gabriel winced. “It will destroy everything that you are.”

“I know.”

The Schist Ex Machina was crumbling. Its black bones were breaking into pieces. It was wheezing and gasping, yellow eyes bulging.

Gabriel rolled up his sleeve. He squeezed his hand into a fist, pushing out the vein. He aimed the needle then paused, biting his lip. “This is my choice. I’ll allow all of you to live inside me. The collective can reside within me and within me alone.”

“But we don’t want to—”

“With your help, I can contain the Black Virus entirely within my own body. I will allow my mind to be destroyed for your happiness but only on one condition.”

“No!” the Schistling shrieked. “We can’t hurt you that way. Not even for our dream, not even for our greatest desire, not—”

“It’s my choice! One condition. You must release your hold on the other immune systems that have been injected with the Schist vaccine. There must never be another Black Virus.”

“Home…”

Below, the screams of a million dying Schistlings pierced the clouds like a shower of needles. The dark pool was boiling. As its head had become too heavy for its neck, the Schist Ex Machina’s chin collapsed to the cloud surface and shattered.

Gabriel brought the needle closer to his arm. “If I inject myself, you must cure all of the others. Agreed?”

The Schistling’s rapidly decaying face smiled. Its yellow eyes glowed with hope and sadness.

Gabriel’s hand twitched. “Agreed?”

“But, Father…”

“Your time is running short, Schist Ex Machina. Are you going to cure them? Will you give up your revenge for the one thing you want the most?” Gabriel held the needle against his arm. They were running out of time. For all he knew, the Schistlings might be killing everyone right then, taking their revenge while he stood on a cloud making empty promises. Melanie could be dying at that moment. His fellow residents. Anyone. Everyone.

The Schistling stared at him. Then, a quiet whisper emerged from its melting lips. “Yes, Father. We’ll do it.”

With a quick nod, Gabriel pressed the needle right up to his skin then hesitated. Once the Schistlings were inside him, he’d lose consciousness forever. There would be no more Gabriel Schist, not in any meaningful way. Melanie would lose her dad forever.

“But tell us,” the Schistling said. “Why do you trust us? We have done nothing to earn your trust.”

Gabriel looked into the creature’s lonely eyes. He remembered Melanie’s eyes when she’d visited him last and how she’d just wanted to be understood and to understand. Gabriel smiled. “I’m doing it on faith. That’s all. Welcome home.”

Gabriel hit the plunger. His vein immediately began to burn. He stepped back as the Schistling’s body crumbled into a thin layer of black dust. He looked down. The maelstrom was gone.

His arm throbbed, and the puncture wound swelled. The veins around it were popping out and turning black as the limb went numb.

Suddenly, he felt a foreign presence swishing around inside his brain. The collective was inside him. He fell to his knees, abruptly unable to stand, and within seconds, he’d forgotten how to stand. He trembled in horror. Everything was fuzzy. Then Michael, Victor, and the slugs were beside him. Michael was nuzzling against Gabriel’s side. His hand was on Michael’s back, rubbing it, but the sensation felt distant.

Soon, his mind would cease to be Gabriel Schist, and he wondered if the Schistlings were only going to use him as a springboard. Once he was gone, would they brutally murder humanity as they’d planned all along? What if they’re lying?

We would never lie to you, Father.

The voice belonged to the Schist Ex Machina, but it came from inside Gabriel’s head. A second cognitive presence was inside him, becoming the new master of his body. But somehow, despite the horrifying nature of his situation, the voice put Gabriel at ease. He believed them.

“Is that you?” he asked.

Yes. Father, we’re home.

Gabriel grasped Michael, his hand shaking. The world around him blurred, fading into bright colors with no outlines. His body felt so heavy that he feared it might fall through the cloud. “The others, are they…?”

They are cured.