Character · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

Vadim Zbar

A level-28 Kuhli — a spotted gecko-like race — Gut Rearranger covered in daggers: a Ukrainian cosmetic surgeon famous for botched surgeries and, per Langley, fifty children; one of the Akula's three survivors and the only one who will go back. He leads the way, runs for the last escape pod when the sharktopus comes, fires it through the dead boss, and dies in it with a pain amplifier jelly.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 20 — Gwendolyn Duet
• Chapter 25 — The Akula
• Chapter 26 — Lusca
• Chapter 27 — Leatherface
• Chapter 28 — Emberus

Arc

'I'll go' (ch. 25). He swims fast, tells how Chris went past the gun alone and lied about the tubes, and is dropped to the red by a ghost's scream. When Lusca comes he runs up the stairs for the last pod while Kevin narrates it (ch. 27), seals himself in a room he cannot reopen, apologises, fires the pod through the dead shark and the jellyfish, and dies with a pain amplifier: 'Warning: This message is from a deceased crawler.' Britney had told him not to go.