Chapter 10

Anda and Jeryman recount how Roy Kinneston and Tara Lynne arrived in a war-wagon, paraded Dale bound through Riven, and, guided by demonic influence from the place-between, left him for the night-walking wympis. Jack bristles at the Manni’s paralysis but learns the venatrix spared Dale for turning.

After dark, Jack watches Riven’s streets fill with undead miners and townsfolk and finally sees Dale, vacant and feral. Anda urges rest and a grim task at dawn. Over breakfast, she insists Jack must bring Dale peace with an axe; sunlight alone won’t free one so newly turned.

Jack enters the coal plant, finds a dud Dragonfire missile, and locates Dale hiding among machinery. He uses the elevator to bring Dale to street level, drags him into the sun, and—despite grief and memories—beheads him cleanly. The body collapses, and Jack refuses comfort, shattered but resolved.

Departing west on foot, Jack leaves Golden Boy to rest and aims for “the hold.” On the road he finds a dust-caked Nebraska Kia and the ID of Rhonda McMeel, deducing Roy and Tara Lynne drove through a large door unchanged, then backtracked after a blowout.

At a gated side road marked FORBADE, Jack reaches North Central Positronics Hold #19. Inside, a humming, lit complex houses pristine vehicles from America-side and other worlds. Among military stock, one Binny Ding slot is empty, and deeper within, racks of yellow Dragonfire missiles show two missing—confirming the teens armed up before striking Riven and Ellis-Breaks.