Lars laughed as he beat Monica. The terrain of his mind consisted of jagged rocks and dry dirt that puffed up in a cloud as Monica's body skidded along the earth. When she stumbled to her feet cuts and bruises gave color to her pale skin. Holding the arm she'd landed on Monica staggered forward.

"Feel that?" Lars' voice came from everywhere and nowhere. "In here you're not special. You're just human. You're weak."

"Lars!" Monica turned, trying to find him. "Lars, listen to me. I don't want to hurt you, but bad things will happen if you don't let us go."

"Lars knows! Lars wants to see the world go boom. Lars wants...Lars wants the dark."

He charged out of the darkness. Monica dodged to one side and spun to face him, but he already had his bulging arms around her. They constricted tighter and tighter.

"Do you love me?"

Monica gasped. The voice in her ear was not Lars.

*

The young man held Monica. His long brown hair smelled of sawdust and metal. Monica rolled her head and looked into his eyes. Her heart thudded in her chest and she turned away. Dew from the grass made her shiver. She wanted to say, yes, yes, I love you. Instead she stared up into the sky. A thin cloud drifted over the moon.

"It's okay if you don't, you know. It doesn't matter to--"

Monica rolled over and wrapped her fingers around his neck. She straddled him and squeezed. She wanted to look away from those bright eyes, but she did not look away. Instead she stared down into them even as red blood vessels bulged up on the surface. Gasping sounds came from his mouth, but she had too tight a grip for him to speak. All he could do was look up into her eyes. From a distance their silhouette mirrored that of a couple making love on the grass under the stars with a wisp of cloud over the moon.

His arms clawed at her back in a desperate attempt to tear her free, but she did not feel the nails in her skin. She did not feel the spasms wracking his legs. She did not feel the night on her back. All she felt was cold. Goosebumps broke out along her skin. It was a mild summer night, but the cold infected her bones as she tore the boy's life from him. His eyes dimmed and his body went still. She pulled away and sat shivering on the hill. Why was the moon so cold? Her handler's voice buzzed in her ears, but words did not form from the sound.

"Yes." She whispered. "Yes...I love you."

*

"What good is love? You killed me anyway." Lars squeezed tighter, his voice whispering with the breath of a dead man.

He shoved her to the ground and reached his foot up to squash her head like a bug. Monica closed her eyes and waited...

*

"Yes....I love you." The words slipped through Monica's chapped lips and George squeezed her hand.

"I...I believe in you Monica. You can do this. Whatever the hell it is you're doing...I believe in you."

*

"I...I believe in you..." Monica's eyes flashed open and caught Lars' foot inches from her face. She pushed up and Lars flipped head over heels through the air.

His body landed with a thud. Before he could stand Monica closed the distance and kicked him in the side. He landed on his feet and wiped blood from his mouth. He snarled.

"You think you can beat me? This is mine! My head!"

He charged and threw punch after punch, but Monica blocked them all without even flinching. Her feet danced along the ground as she circled around the lumbering giant. She swung her fists. The first glanced harmlessly off Lars' arm, but it also created a small hole in Lars' defense. With a practiced ease Monica threaded her other punch through the opening and hit Lars in the stomach. He folded inward, a look of shock on his face. Before he could react she swept a leg low and knocked him to the ground. He lay there staring up into the darkness, breathing heavily.

"This isn't just your mind Lars. I'm here and that means that for the moment this place belongs to both of us."

Straps sprouted out of the ground and lashed Lars to the ground. He struggled and screamed till his voice was raw, but at last went silent save for a whisper.

"Please...please...it's all I have. Don't take it from me."

"I don't want to take anything from you Lars, just let me and George go. Help us and I'll leave you."

He closed his eyes and Monica realized that he looked in many ways like an overgrown child.

"The voices don't leave Lars a choice. They're always there. Always there. I can't help. I can't. They control every move. Lars has no choice. No freedom. This..." He stared out at the bleak surroundings. "...this is all I have."

Monica lowered herself down, straddling Lars, and reached her hands around his throat.

"Please...please...Lars...Lars doesn't want to die." Monica began to squeeze. "I'm afraid..." The whisper slipped through his gasping lips.

Monica crushed the life from Lars' body, and remembered the boy she'd killed. This time she felt the spasms. She felt the night on her back. And the last breath of life on her face. She felt Lars die and in that moment, for the first time, felt the death of the boy she'd killed on the grassy field. Her first assignment.

Tears ran down Monica's face and landed on Lars. They rolled down the creases of his skin, as though they were his tears as well.