"Few days is usually all we need," Alex admits, trying not to sound sullen. Because it only takes a few days of being an emotionless zombie to get shanked by someone who would've ordinarily been considered something of a distant if friendly acquaintance.

"That's the standing theory," he says as idly as he can. "Either it's the queen or the place itself is...sentient or something, I dunno. Whichever it is, they gotta sick sense of humor."

Right on cue, the beam of his flashlight sweeps over the skeletal remains of something that certainly looks like it would've been human, throwing it into ghastly, gory relief. Its jawbone is dangling off its skull, hung by a thread. Alex makes a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.

"Case in goddamn point."