The woman was beautiful, her face angular and symmetrical, her blond hair perfectly parted and falling down to her shoulders. She did not smile nor move a muscle on her face, she just sat down before me and said, "Hello, Elizabeth. I think we should talk."

I was sitting at a rest stop, fiddling with my phone, wondering if I should check my messages to see if anyone had called, if anyone cared where I was. And then she sat down and all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I knew she was one of Them. The monsters.

I pulled the gun up, but she placed her hand over mine and pushed it down on the table. "No need for that," she said. "I won't harm you. I only want to talk."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My current appellation is EAT," she said. "You've caused quite a stir. The others are talking about joining forces in order to bring you down. I thought I might try a different approach."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because," she said, "do you even know what you are doing? What's happening each time you fire that gun, each time you kill one of us?"

"I make the world safer," I said.

"You unmake yourself," she said. "You've already lost your dreams, your guilt, your loneliness, and more."

"I don't need them," I said.

"No, you don't," she said. "But they are a part of what makes you you. You haven't crossed the point of no return yet. You can still go back. You can throw away the gun and leave this all behind."

"Why would I do that?" My skin felt hot and I saw beads of sweat crawl on my flesh until they ran together, until they formed a bullet. It was a bullet made of sweat and tears and when I looked closely, I could see an ocean inside.

"Do you even know what that is made of?" EAT asked. "It is made of your change, your ability to adapt and grow. Once you fire that bullet, you won't be able to change anymore. You will be stuck as you are now. You will become more and more like him."

"Him?" I plucked the bullet from my skin and I placed it in the gun.

"The man in the gray suit," she said. "You want to know more about him, don't you? I can tell you. I can tell you everything I know, which is quite a lot. But I will only tell you if you stop, stop before you are only a shell. So now the question is: how far do you really want to go?"

I pulled the trigger and shot her in the chest. "As far as I can," I said. "As far as I am able."

Water gushed from her wound and it poured from her mouth and nose. She wiped it away with one hand and said, "So the lesson today is how to die? Interesting. I can feel my Camper fading, one by one. I tried, Elizabeth. At least I tried. And now class, are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin."

She fell and her face hit the table and I left as the life leaked from her and spilled onto the ground.