Carrie knew she was outgunned. One on one, her versus the snake was likely to be in her favor, but she'd never been good at getting her attacks to penetrate any sort of armor, and if that shadowy monstrosity got its hands on her, she was dead. Fortunately, Emily gave her an out.

Sliding onto Emily's ribbon of light, Carrie entered the car NASCAR-style. "Get us out of here!" she yelled. This serpent, the armored monster- she'd fought them before. Another piece of evidence that Dollmaster was back, and eager for revenge. The thought chilled her to the bone.

Lily was still hammered, and it wasn't pretty. The other girl was barely functional. Carrie looked at her friend, knowing that they'd need her help to survive this. "Lily, listen to me. We're being attacked. You need to heal yourself, whip up a cure for drunkenness or something like that." She made a mental note to make Lily promise to lay off the booze, at least until the current crisis was over.

Turning to Emily, Carrie asked, "Do we have any plans? Meet up with the other girls, try to get some numbers together? Anything's better than just running aimlessly."