Chapter 7

The Spider and the Snake (Dove and Glitch – Part 2)

This cannot be real.

There was an actual monster before her. Something straight out of a horror movie. Or a nightmare!

Lucy struggled to breathe.

The spider—which is what it looked like with its long red legs coming out of a giant, round head, which also doubled as its body—had skin made of what she could only describe as insectoid fur.

What the hell was it? Was it just an overgrown insect?

Impossible. She had never seen a spider this big. No one had. Spiders don’t grow this big anywhere in the world!

It could easily be about fifteen feet in height, and it was much wider than it was tall. It had two large sets of eyes, with each set comprising ten smaller eyeballs scattered around in a circle—giving the appearance of one big eye. There was a strange yellowness to them, and a white, gooey liquid poured out of each “big eye.”

She may have puked if she wasn’t so frozen with fear.

The spider monster tilted its round head slightly to the side as all its twenty small eyes focused on Lucy, curiously examining her. After a couple seconds, its expression changed, and it seemed convinced that Lucy was indeed delicious prey.

So it prepared to pounce.

A flying rock about the size of a baseball came flying from the spider’s blind side and hit the spider on one of its smaller eyes.

Aiden!

“Look at me you fat, ugly bastard!” he yelled from the other end of the parking lot.

The spider turned its fat head around as blood sprayed from one of its big eyes. The rock seemed to have taken a small eye out.

The monster groaned in pain and shut both its big eyes. When its large, red eyelids opened again, a thick but fully transparent film covered both sets of eyes like a protective layer.

An armor?

Does this make it immune to future rock throws?

The smashed small eye began to bubble. A curved slit appeared right below its two big eyes, revealing a wide mouth and long, sharp fangs. The spider tightened its body, bringing its eight long legs closer to its head, gearing up to attack. All its nineteen-or-so remaining eyes now focused on Aiden.

Aiden was in danger!

But Lucy couldn’t move.

In a swift motion, way too fast for a thing this big, the giant spider smashed its head on the ground where Aiden stood just a few seconds ago. It slammed its body with such force that the concrete below it cracked and its giant head got stuck in the crevice.

Good, thought Lucy. He’s scary but he’s dumb.

But where was Aiden?

The spider struggled to pull its head back out. Now that its gaze was not upon her and it was stuck a fair distance away, Lucy felt some movement return to her limbs. She scanned the scene in panic, but Aiden was nowhere to be found.

She forced her mind away from assuming the worst.

Surely he had dodged in time.

Hadn’t he?

But Aiden was never particularly athletic, now, was he?

Her heart began to race.

She looked closer and found a pair of legs poking out from behind a partly-destroyed dumpster, wearing shoes that could be Aiden’s, but she wasn’t sure. The legs quickly retracted out of sight as whoever they belonged to sprang to their feet.

From the other side of the dumpster, Aiden emerged, sprinting toward her.

Lucy breathed a huge sigh of relief.

She was impressed! He had managed to jump away just in time!

He wasn’t running very fast. Lucy observed that he had a small limp, and a skinned, bleeding knee, revealed through a large rip in his pants. Even his face had a few scratches on and around his cheeks, and a cut on the forehead which didn’t seem as fresh as the others.

Lucy was about to run to him, but then—

One of the eight long, slender red legs smashed the ground between her and Aiden, missing Aiden’s body by a few inches, but successfully cutting off his escape. The spider’s head was still stuck in concrete, but a couple of its smaller eyeballs stared at Aiden from the side. Aiden tried to run to the right, but the path was blocked by the burning car.

The only way to go was left, inside the burger joint.

Aiden sprinted inside as the long leg blocking his way wound up for a second strike. The spider noticed that Aiden was inside the building now, so it gave up on the strike and focused on pulling himself out of the crevice instead.

After a brief but significant struggle, the spider was free. It took a moment to balance itself back on its eight legs and skittered over to the burger joint, towering in front of the building’s entrance.

Lucy could tell that the dumb spider planned to smash that building to rubble with another full-body slam even if that cracks its head open like an egg, with Aiden still inside.

She had to do something, now!

Lucy desperately looked around for something to throw at the spider monster. She had to distract it again somehow. Just like Aiden had done earlier, for her.

But it was too late.

The spider bashed its head into the Jonas Burgers building, reducing the entire front wall into rubble, showering the parking lot with shards of broken glass.

Its head seemed to be stuck again, this time on something inside the building. It wriggled hard to break free, but was unsuccessful.

Perfect, thought Lucy. If only she could find something long and sharp to poke it from behind, then Aiden could get out safe—

But, again, Lucy had no time.

A huge explosion erupted from inside the burger joint, engulfing the building in flames. The hot fumes entered the spider’s wide mouth as well, setting both its insides and out on fire.

The explosion crumbled the already-weakened front wall of the burger joint, which freed the giant spider’s head. It staggered back, wailing in pain as the fire spread across its fur-like skin. It then crashed on the ground with all its eight legs spread wide and flat on the ground.

The spider seemed more or less incapacitated now.

But that no longer mattered.

Lucy was in shock.

Aiden was inside when the burger joint exploded.

She saw the fire consume the building; its interior walls blackened and tarred. Minor explosions soon followed suit. Nothing could have survived inside.

It was like time had stopped for her. Was any of this real?

When it truly mattered, she couldn’t do anything. Useless. Frozen in fear… like a child…

She had failed to protect him.

And he had given his life to save hers…

He had… given his life…

Lucy’s vision began to blur. Her knees couldn’t hold her anymore.

A pair of hands grabbed her from the side as she was about to collapse. She couldn’t muster up the energy to turn her face to look.

“Come on!” said the blurred voice beside her. “There’s no time, Lucy. Come on!”

She knew these hands.

It was Aiden!

Lucy couldn’t believe her eyes.

“How are you…?” she stammered.

“I wasn’t inside!” said Aiden, quickly figuring out Lucy’s state of mind. Lucy still wasn’t sure whether he was real. “I rigged the gas to explode and ran out the back door. I barely made it out in time. Now come on!”

Aiden repeatedly pointed at the struggling spider as he tried to get Lucy back to her senses and pull her away.

Lucy saw that the giant spider lay on its back while all its eyes looked up at the sky. The protective layer around its eyes punctured, bathing his entire body in a different, less viscous kind of gooey liquid.

The fires on its body gradually subsided. The spider closed its eyelids again, then opened them to reveal a second protective layer covering each of its big eyes. It seemed to have recovered.

“Come on!” Aiden screamed and pulled hard at Lucy.

She snapped back to her senses, and they bolted.

She clutched her dove-shaped pendant as she ran. Grandma had told her it would always keep the bad spirits away.

It better fucking work now.

They headed left, sprinting through the narrowing lane, hoping that the closing gap would force the spider monster into giving up the chase.

They were soon out on the main street and into an intersection. The crowd ran right, scrambling to get to the east exit as fast as they could. Many had tried getting away using their cars at first, but then abandoned them and continued on foot, once they realized there was no way for cars to move in this thick a crowd. The abandoned cars were now stalled on the street, blocking way.

Lucy and Aiden jumped over a couple cars and dived head first into the stampeding crowd. They wanted to run straight north in order to put as much distance between them and the spider as possible, but the resistance from the crowd running perpendicular to them was too much.

They barely made it to the center of the intersection, when the walls of the buildings behind them crumbled as something big and heavy crashed through them. Lucy and Aiden turned around to look, and found that a giant wrecking ball and blasted through the narrow lane and crushed the cars that they’d jumped over just a few seconds ago.

The ball rolled over to the intersection as the cars behind it burst into flames. Then, it unwrapped itself and spread its eight giant legs on the street to stand fully erect. It’s fur-like skin had now transformed into what appeared to be metal scales.

The crowd screamed as they spotted the spider monster and scattered in random directions as fast as they could, terrified.

Lucy and Aiden ran north with as much speed as they could muster.

The spider monster didn’t care for the crowd. It was headed straight for them, as though holding a grudge!

But it was much slower than before.

Lucy spotted a pair of flashing lights headed directly at them from the north. Upon a closer look, she saw that they belonged to a huge fire truck that blasted its sirens as loud as it could. The truck had a massive V-shaped metal ram attached to its front that shoved the stalled cars out of its path.

A giant of a man clung to the side of the fire truck with a huge rifle in his hands.

“Out of the way!” he screamed as the fire truck approached Lucy and Aiden at full speed. They jumped out of the way in opposite directions as the fire truck passed between them, closely followed by a black open jeep packed with military-aged men carrying rifles.

Lucy and Aiden quickly scrambled to their feet to look. The fire truck and the jeep halted directly in front of the spider monster, and the men opened fire.

The spider was clearly affected by the storm of bullets, even if they couldn’t pierce its thick metal hide. It shut its eyelids to protect its eyes as the firepower pushed it back.

A few seconds later, it opened its eyes to reveal an even thicker protective layer covering them, which was significantly less transparent than the previous one. Bullets aimed at its eyes now bounced off of the stronger protective layer, and the spider monster was finally able to see.

The monster growled in anguish and wound its body back, preparing to body-slam the jeep. The driver was quick to put the car in reverse and dodged straight back. The spider got its head stuck in concrete again; but this time, it was able to free itself pretty quickly.

It was learning.

The jeep halted close to Lucy and Aiden. All the men got off the jeep to face the monster on foot, each carrying military-grade automatic weapons and ammo.

The army is here! Lucy thought.

She was briefly confused as to why they were in casual clothing and not in their uniforms. Perhaps they didn’t have time to put them on?

Whatever may be the case, if anyone could take this monster out, it’d be these guys!

“Grenade launchers!” Aiden yelled at the soldier closest to them, who looked at Aiden all confused. “He’s weak to fire, especially when he opens his mouth. Use your grenade launchers!”

The bearded soldier nodded and cocked his gun as he said, “You got it kid. Now scram!”

Lucy grabbed Aiden’s arm and pulled him into a small alleyway, away from the chaos.

“What?!” Aiden yelped as she shoved him against the wall and closely observed his wounds.

Then, Lucy looked around. The crowd that was heading toward the east exit earlier was now scattered in all directions, running away from the giant spider monster that had appeared out of nowhere.

Everywhere she looked, it was chaos. The crowd was thick. People trampled over each other as they ran, caring only about their own safety.

And Aiden was injured.

She doubted whether he could have made it safely to the east exit on foot, even in his best form.

Dammit. She must find another way.

“Can you run?” she asked Aiden.

“Yes.” He tried to sound firm. But Lucy was suspicious; he might just be acting tough.

“Be honest,” she told him and he remained silent for a moment. “It kinda burns,” he finally said, pointing to his knee.

She removed a handkerchief from her fanny pack and wiped all the blood oozing out of the wound. She then firmly tied the piece of cloth around the wound, while Aiden winced.

“Better?” she asked him. Aiden nodded.

“Come on then!” She tugged on his arm and dragged him out on the street again. Aiden yelped but immediately silenced himself.

Lucy saw a thin crowd emerging from the Yellow Park subway exit.

Perfect. Most people must have already fled the underground.

“Let’s go!” She prompted Aiden to match her pace. He struggled a bit, but was ultimately successful.

Lucy and Aiden ran against the crowd exiting the subway. After some struggle, they managed to reach the subway station below.

Lucy leaned forward off the ramp and carefully observed whether there was any sign of a train coming toward the station from the left. There was none.

She observed the digital board that displayed the train schedule and current locations of the subway trains. It showed most of the trains stalled at other stations. An “OUT OF ORDER” message flashed in red.

So the subway was now defunct. The staff, including the motormen, must have abandoned their posts long ago.

Lucy jumped onto the train tracks, which prompted Aiden to squeal, “What are you doing?!”

“Hop on and follow me,” she told him. Aiden followed.

They walked to the right along the train tracks. There was a small crowd gathered here who had presumably taken shelter from the chaos above. All their terrified faces looked up, praying aloud for their own safety, hoping that whatever was causing all the mayhem above wouldn’t find its way below.

“Why are we here?” Aiden whispered to Lucy.

“Just trust me and walk,” said Lucy.

As they went deeper into the tunnel, the crowd progressively got thinner. A shady-looking man spotted them from a distance and called at Lucy, “Wrong way, sugar. It’s nothing but a dead end. Why don’t you let me show you the way?”

“Don’t worry I got this,” Lucy shouted back with confidence and tugged at Aiden to walk faster.

They soon reached a maintenance blockade that covered the whole tunnel. It was a circular wooden block, with metal frames and pipes surrounding it.

“So it is a dead end,” said Aiden. “That man wasn’t lying.”

Lucy walked up to the circular blockade and approached the corner on the right. She climbed a metal rod and pressed on a hatch out of Aiden’s sight. A red ladder dropped to the ground, leading up into a narrow tube.

“Come on,” Lucy told Aiden, who gulped.

They climbed up the ladder and emerged into the narrow wooden crawlspace on top. They slowly wriggled their way through it.

They soon found space atop the wooden plank to stand back up and walk. On the left, they could see the part of the subway tunnel that was currently unfinished. There was a large hole in the center of the patch, with all kinds of construction equipment surrounding it. The whole patch must be about three to four hundred meters in length.

Lucy and Aiden jogged through the length of the patch and eventually jumped off to the other side of the blockade.

And they could finally breathe easy.

There were no train tracks on this side of the blockade. But the tunnel still extended forward a fair distance into the darkness, with no visible end.

Lucy gazed ahead into the dark tunnel dreamily for a moment.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Where the hell are we?” Aiden asked after he finished dusting his clothes.

Lucy suddenly turned to him and hugged him tight. Aiden was taken aback. “I thought I’d lost you again,” she said in a shaky voice.

Aiden gently placed a hand on her shoulders awkwardly. She could feel him relax and smile.

Then, she broke apart in a snap. “What were you thinking?” she said to Aiden. “I told you to wait at the gaming arena!”

“I did!” said Aiden. “No matter how crazy it got, I stood my ground at the exact spot that you left me! I didn’t move, I swear!”

“How were you at the parking lot then?”

“Well, I eventually had to move. Everyone said it was an earthquake.”

“We need to get your phone fixed,” said Lucy. “Stop slacking and get it done!”

“It wouldn’t have helped,” said Aiden. “There was no service anywhere anyway.”

“How do you know?! Your brick of a phone can’t tell you that!”

“I heard others complain.” Aiden now looked guilty. “I’m sorry, I’ll get it fixed.”

“Thank you,” said Lucy. “Does it hurt now?” she said pointing to his knee.

Aiden hesitated, but then said, “Yes. But I can walk; run, even.”

“Okay then,” said Lucy. “Let’s move. You stick close to me.”

They walked a fair distance in silence.

After about five minutes of walking silently, Lucy said, “Good work with the gas explosion. I didn’t know you had it in you to pull something like that off.”

“Thanks,” said Aiden awkwardly. “What is this place anyway?” he asked curiously looking around.

“It’s the subway,” said Lucy sarcastically and Aiden cringed. “They haven’t finished with this part yet. If we run straight, we should be able to get to the Eastern Lily station, and exit from there.”

“The one that’s been under construction for the past two months?” said Aiden, recalling that he’d seen the entrance to the new station on their way in.

Lucy nodded. “It’s very close to the east exit. We should be able to cover a lot of ground before we run into a thick crowd again. By then, we’re almost out.”

“Cool!” said Aiden, impressed. “How do you know this again?”

“I came here last week with the… uhm…” Lucy wasn’t sure she should be admitting this.

“Your dorky occult group?” Aiden laughed as he figured it out.

“They’re not dorks,” said Lucy. “They’re a spirit research group, and they’re legit. We came here with an Ouija board and everything.”

“You did? Really?” Aiden laughed again. Their voices echoed as they spoke. “Aren’t you—I don’t know—shit scared of ghosts and monsters… and demons?”

“They say one must face their fears,” said Lucy, “if one is to overcome them.”

Aiden scoffed. “It’s gonna take several more demonic encounters before you even begin to overcome yours—”

“Shut up!” Lucy immediately turned serious with legitimate terror on her face. “And don’t say such things in spooky places!”

“Okay, okay!” said Aiden.

They walked through the dark tunnel in silence again. The maintenance lights were still on and evenly spaced, but they were strangely ineffective at illuminating all of the tunnel.

Lucy was confused. This wasn’t the case the last time she was here.

It suddenly dawned on her that the darkness here felt strangely thicker than before. Much more resilient against the light…

Lucy shook her head. There’s no such thing as the dark. Darkness is just the absence of light. Isn’t it?

Yes, Lucy reaffirmed to herself. Yes, it is.

Suddenly, she flinched. The screams from above ground pierced into the tunnel and echoed through.

Aiden looked up and said, “I can’t even imagine what’s happening up there. I hope those military guys were able to take that spider out.”

“I’m sure they did,” said Lucy, although she knew it was a bit of a lie.

“So many people…” Aiden breathed. “Such chaos…”

“Don’t think about that,” Lucy told him. “Don’t think about any of that. The only thing we need to think about right now is our own safety. And getting the heck out of this city.”

“Yes…” said Aiden dreamily as he lowered his gaze. “But still.”

Lucy would be lying if she said wasn’t worried about everyone above.

I hope that little girl and her mother made it out.

I wish there was something I could do to make sure they did.

“Wait.” Aiden suddenly stopped walking. “Something’s up.”

“What?” asked Lucy. “Do you smell something?” She knew she could rely on his nose. He always had a strong sense of smell.

“We need to get out of the way, now!” Aiden said with urgency in his voice and terror on his face.

Lucy looked around the tunnel and found a crack on the wall to the right, hidden behind a stacked pile of cement barrels. She quickly pulled Aiden toward it and they jumped over the pile and into the crevice. Lucy bent low to hide behind the cement barrels and pulled Aiden down to make him do the same.

And then, they waited for a blood-curdling minute in complete silence. It was almost too quiet.

But Lucy could tell, and she knew so could Aiden—

Something approached them.

Something big.

Lucy then caught the same smell that Aiden must have a couple minutes ago—an overbearing stench of rotten fish and seaweed. She knew she was going to find out who or what it belonged to soon enough.

A giant serpent slithered past them. Its shiny black skin was so close, they could have touched it if they wanted to.

Lucy covered her mouth with both her hands to stop her from gasping. The slithering giant seemed to have halted for a brief second, but then carried on.

The snake’s black skin was more transparent than she previously thought. It was similar to the protective layer that covered the spider’s eyes.

Its insides were nothing but black smoke. Blue streaks of electricity jolted through its black skin and the smoky insides like lightning through clouds.

This made the snake seem more like a gigantic electric eel. It oozed the same black, smoky substance around it as it moved; which was more liquid than gas, and probably the cause of the stench. It seemed like the snake was swimming through a black, airborne pool of its own making.

So this is why the tunnel seemed darker than before!

A demonic snake had taken residence within it.

The snake’s tail end soon passed them, but neither of them dared move a muscle. Lucy still had one hand clasped to her mouth, and the other held Aiden’s hand tight.

She wasn’t going to lose him again. No matter what.

They waited. And waited. The disgusting stench was gone now, and the lights suddenly seemed brighter.

Lucy looked at Aiden. He responded with a small nod.

Lucy slowly popped her head out to check. The snake was gone.

They silently emerged out from behind the barrels and stood up straight, still not comfortable making a sound.

Lucy pointed at Aiden’s shoes and gestured that he remove them. She did the same with her sneakers.

Then, they slowly began to make their way forward, hugging the tunnel wall to the right.

They tried to be as silent as possible. They kept their pace at a minimum and only took careful steps on the dirt.

“Lucy…” Aiden whispered with grave concern. “He’s headed toward the people in the tunnel.”

“I doubt it,” said Lucy. “I think he’s going to turn around at the blockade. The people are on the other side of it.” Lucy realized she was making assumptions based on… nothing.

“Look,” she told Aiden. “Our only priority is to get out of here at the next station before he turns around and makes his way back—”

CLANG!

The sound of a dozen metal pipes crashing onto the ground echoed through the tunnel. The source was the blockade.

Aiden looked at Lucy in horror as they understood what was going on.

The serpent was trying to break through the blockade!

“We have to lure him to us!” Aiden said. “We’re far enough to outrun him.”

“You should be the last person to suggest outrunning anything, let alone gigantic, scary as fuck demon snakes!”

“I’ve been doing pretty well so far!”

“Aiden,” said Lucy with a heavy voice. “What happens to them… is not on us.”

But Aiden was unconvinced. “Not if we can do something about it.”

Lucy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her thoughts took her to the young girl and her mother from before.

“Assuming he’s super fast,” said Lucy. “We’re still very close to the next station, Darby Terminal. There’s no way we can make it all the way to the Eastern Lily subway exit now. Who knows what else we’ll find in this haunted tunnel? So we gotta get out from there anyway.”

Lucy paused before continuing. “If we make enough noise and immediately bolt, we’ll make it in time. Assuming we don’t run into that thing’s mate or something.”

“Well…” Aiden sounded unsure. “We can’t go back, can we?”

Lucy buried her head in her palms, deep in thought. “Okay, Aiden.” She finally raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “Get ready to run faster than you ever have in your entire life. Okay?”

Aiden nodded. “Let’s go.”

They put their shoes back on and picked up a couple empty cement barrels lying beside them, one in each hand. They flung the empty barrels in the direction that the snake had disappeared to, making sure to hit concrete and metal surfaces for maximum effect.

Then, it was time to make funny noises.

“Follow the music, you ugly reptilian rascal!” Aiden shouted.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at him, amused at seeing his little brother curse in front of her for the first time. “Jesus, Aiden, careful. You wouldn’t wanna hurt his feelings,” she said sarcastically.

They heard something big scuffling and shifting in the distance.

The snake seemed to have taken notice.

“GO!” said Lucy.

They dropped the fresh set of barrels they were holding and shot themselves toward Darby Terminal. Lucy knew she could go much faster, but there was no way in hell she was letting go of Aiden.

Aiden managed to keep up, despite his wounded knee starting to bleed again.

They could hear the scuffling sound grow louder. The disgusting stench from earlier started getting stronger.

And the lights were dimming.

“Faster!” Lucy shouted. “Come on Aiden!”

Aiden was struggling. His limp was worse than ever before.

But Lucy could now see the white light coming from Darby Terminal. They were almost there!

She did not dare look back.

Just a little more… Come on, Aiden!

The tunnel’s ceiling suddenly cracked open, about a hundred meters farther ahead from Darby Terminal.

A giant, metallic wrecking ball broke through and landed into the tunnel.

It then unwrapped itself, and spread its eight long legs wide, a couple of which touched the tunnel’s walls almost horizontally.

The giant spider shook its head violently to shake off the bits of concrete stuck on its skin, like a dog shaking off water.

Lucy and Aiden stopped dead in their tracks.

How the hell was this thing here?

Was he following us?

Did it manage to defeat the military all on its own?

The spider’s body seemed to have taken some serious damage; massive bullet holes were spread all over its fat head-body. The thick layer protecting its eyes was now completely gone. And about half of its eyes from each set were damaged or destroyed.

The spider slowly gathered itself and focused the remainder of its eyes upon Aiden and Lucy. It then revealed its fangs.

Lucy’s heart began to pound.

They were sandwiched between the spider and the snake… Darby Terminal barely out of reach.

It was over.

She had led them here. Here! Despite knowing that this place was trouble.

It was her fault. This was all her fault!

“Lucy, come on!” It was Aiden’s turn to pull Lucy forward.

With a bleeding leg, he put as much strength as he had left in dragging Lucy out of here.

Lucy shifted her gaze away from the spider monster’s large and terrifying eyes and focused solely on Aiden.

He hadn’t given up.

He would never give up.

He’d carry her out of here if it came to that.

Lucy took a deep breath and gathered herself.

It was not over yet.

The slithering gurgle from behind was the loudest they’d ever heard, followed by the sound of metal barrels being crushed under something heavy.

The spider opened its fangs wide and contracted its legs, preparing for a quick skitter, to be followed by the body slam of its life.

Lucy grabbed Aiden’s arm and charged forward, heading straight at the spider.

But she kept her gaze fixed on her brother and the white light from the Darby Terminal just ahead, to their right. Everything else was a blur.

Everything else… simply did not exist.

At the edge of the white light from Darby Terminal, Lucy swung Aiden onto the subway platform, before barely managing to jump onto it just in time.

Something fast and slimy brushed her leg as it sped past her with a giant mouth opened wide. It managed to knock her shoe off.

The spider dove forward into a final body slam. But instead of hitting its intending targets, it rammed into the serpent coming at full speed from the other side.

The serpent’s open mouth collided with the spider’s metal body; its fangs dug deep into the spider’s eyes, spraying white gooey liquid everywhere onto the tunnel walls. The massive serpent dragged the spider’s body through the length of the tunnel, until they were right under the hole through which the spider had dropped in.

Lucy and Aiden did not wait around to check whether either of the two monsters were still alive. They spotted the stairs leading up to the surface dead ahead and climbed with a surprising burst of speed.

They were finally above ground and emerged into the open. The dim red hue from the vertical red lightning in the distance felt as bright as the sun.

Lucy dropped to her knees. “Whoever said to face one’s fears,” she said panting, “was a complete fucking moron who never faced his own.”

Aiden collapsed on the ground beside her, unable to move any more. Lucy checked his body for injuries. His knee looked so much worse now.

Suddenly, they were both grabbed by the waist by a stranger and hoisted into the air. Thick, muscular arms carried each of them on either side.

“You can’t be here!” said the military-aged male carrying both Lucy and Aiden.

Lucy turned her head toward the subway exit to see what was going on.

A large man—the same one who hung out the side of the firetruck earlier—sprinted toward the hole dug by the spider with a heavy green bag, which he carried in both his massive arms. He flung the bag into the hole; a horrified expression etched his face when he peeked inside.

He immediately spun around and ran back toward his men, shouting, “Fire in the hole!”

A massive explosion erupted both from the wide hole and the Darby Terminal’s subway exit that Lucy and Aiden had just emerged from.

If the soldier hadn’t whisked them away in time, they may have been caught in the fallout.

Wild flames crackled out the hole and the subway exit. The heat from it felt unnatural. A hint of the smell of rotten fish was contained within the rising smoke.

This must be the snake’s smoky black ooze burning up.

Does this mean that they’re both finally toast?

The large man who’d thrown the bag of grenades into the hole came running toward the soldier who had carried Lucy and Aiden away from danger.

“Sergeant!” said the soldier beside Lucy and Aiden. “Did that do it?”

The large man took a second to catch his breath after the sprint, wiping sweat off his dark brown skin. “It should. Let’s check after the flames die out just to be sure.”

“We need the superhero. He’d roast ‘em without breaking a sweat.”

“Yeah, well,” said the sergeant. “He hasn’t emerged from the smoke cloud yet. We should be getting intel on him soon though. But for now, let’s just breathe easy. Everywhere is clear now, except those lowly throwaways.”

The large man pointed at a swarm of dwarf-sized creatures hiding behind the numerous concrete slabs littered along the sidewalk and the alleyways. They were being shot at by the same soldiers from earlier in casual clothing which kept them off the streets, clearing the way for the crowd to pass through.

“The boys are already celebrating,” said the soldier glaring at his cheering squad mates in the distance.

Lucy recognized him as well. He was the same bearded soldier who had taken Aiden’s advice to use grenade launchers.

“You both hurt?” said the sergeant looking at Lucy and Aiden.

“I’m fine,” said Lucy, although her entire body now radiated with piercing pain. She definitely had a few cuts here and there that she wasn’t yet aware of. “He’s not,” she said pointing at Aiden, who was completely out of breath.

“Get EMT on them,” the sergeant commanded the soldier. “You two,” he said addressing Lucy and Aiden, “get patched up and leave the city from the east exit, understand?”

They both nodded.

“Take care you two,” said the bearded man. “And thanks for the tip earlier, soldier.” He gave Aiden a soft salute.

Aiden smiled.

Lucy helped Aiden up on the stretcher as a medic tended to his wound. Aiden was still recovering his breath.

The soldier jogged back to the rest of his team, who had formed a sort of perimeter on either side of the street. Lucy could finally take a good look at the creatures being gunned down.

They looked like… demons.

Lucy gulped. So this is what had attacked the city. Giant monsters and demonic creatures from the nether realm!

She heard another explosion, this time far in the distance, coming from the city center. Lucy saw the red lightning in the sky flicker a couple times, then die out.

The demons screeched. It was their turn to be terrified now. They gave up on trying to attack the crowd and began to flee, but the ceaseless gunfire from the military guys mowed them down as they left cover.

Lucy sighed. It looked like we were winning.

“What hit you here?” Lucy asked Aiden pointing at his forehead. “Did a demon attack you before we met?”

“I tripped,” Aiden admitted with a hint of shame. “On my tangled shoe laces.”

Lucy chuckled and shook her head.

“I was scared,” said Aiden. “I thought you won’t come back for me. Because I’d slow you down. You’ve always made fun of how I couldn’t run very fast.”

Lucy held his arm tight and said, “I’ll always come back for you.”

Aiden’s eyes teared up. He tried to hide it from Lucy.

“Besides,” said Lucy. “If I lose you, I got no one else to make fun of.”

“Fuck you.” Aiden tried to laugh, but stopped immediately because it was apparently too painful for him.

“Language!” Lucy chuckled.

They may be a couple of miles from the east exit. Lucy would have preferred getting out at the Eastern Lily subway exit, but the spider had ruined that plan.

It was fine though. They weren’t too far off. And they had gotten out alive, mostly unharmed.

Lucy looked at the east exit in the distance and could see that a sizeable crowd had gathered there. A small commotion had broken out, which could turn into something big.

“We should leave,” Lucy told Aiden. “Can he walk?” she asked the medic.

“I’ve given him a shot of painkillers,” said the medic. “And stitched the wound. He can walk, but I recommend that he doesn’t for a while. I’m heading to the exit as well. Let me drop you two off.”

“Okay,” said Lucy and hopped into the van with Aiden.

They were at the east exit in a little under five minutes.

A thick crowd had gathered here. Lucy was confused. Wasn’t this area secure already? What was causing the hold up?

The jeep packed with the military men in casual clothing from earlier zoomed up to the crowd gathered at the east exit.

The sergeant got off the jeep and walked through the large crowd with ease. His aura was enough to split the crowd apart and let him pass. It obviously helped that he was at least six foot five and towered above everyone else.

Lucy could see what was actually going on.

The military—the actual army in proper uniforms—were here, all with their large tanks and armored vehicles. And they had created a second perimeter.

No, a blockade.

There were riot shields on the front line, supported by armored water canon trucks.

What the hell was going on? Why were they here in riot gear?

And why weren’t they inside the city already to help with the rescue efforts?

The sergeant walked up to the riot shields and demanded to speak with someone in charge.

“This is unacceptable!” the sergeant bellowed after the soldier in riot gear denied his request and whispered something to him. “It’s pure madness!”

“Please sir,” said the soldier. “We’re just following orders.”

“You are supposed to help these folks get out!” the sergeant screamed. “Not trap them in!”

“Stand down, sergeant!” boomed an authoritative voice from behind the riot shields. Someone that looked like an army general emerged through the ranks, clutching a small microphone that he hadn’t yet used. The general spoke in little more than a whisper, but was clearly audible. “Unless you want to be court-martialed for disobeying direct orders.”

“What orders?!” the sergeant scoffed. “Your orders? Are you ordering us to leave the people to fend for themselves? Damn them to their grim fates?”

The general stared at him, silent but menacing.

“Where were you?!” demanded the sergeant. “What took you so long? We somehow managed to hold the line without you, and this is how you repay us?! Undoing everything we accomplished here? Sacrificing every life we saved? For what?!”

The sergeant caught his breath. “It was a damn fucking miracle that the supe showed up when he did, or the city would’ve been lost!”

The army general completely ignored the sergeant and put the microphone to his mouth. His voice boomed over the massive crowd. “The federal government has declared a state of emergency in Sol City. For the safety of the nation and its people, we’ve been ordered to seal off the whole city from the rest of the world until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

“Until then…” The army general looked around the crowd, as though delivering a warning. “No one gets in. No one gets out!”

The crowd was in uproar.

“Are you fucking insane?!”

“People are dying here!”

“Cowards!” screamed the sergeant. “You are all nothing but cowards!”

“Clear out, sergeant. That’s an order!” barked the army general on his megaphone; his booming voice overwhelmed the crowd’s protests. Silence fell once again.

The sergeant grabbed the metal chain around his neck and snapped it off. Lucy knew from Aiden’s relentless ramblings about military video games that that thing was called a dog tag. It was supposed to contain a soldier’s identity and service number.

The sergeant threw the rectangular pendent on the ground and declared, “I no longer take orders from you.”

“Come on, boys!” said the sergeant turning his back on the military. “We’ll clean this city on our own.”

The sergeant’s men also dropped their dog tags in the dirt and followed him without hesitation. They hopped onto their jeep and drove away.

A worried murmur crept through the crowd as the gravity of the situation slowly settled in. Everyone here was now trapped inside Sol City.

Along with the demons.

And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The military, who was supposed to help them, had abandoned them.

Had abandoned us.

Lucy thought hard about what to do next. She could feel the panic rising among the crowd, which could lead to a violent uproar. They might soon try to barge through the military blockade by force.

Which might prompt the army to open fire on the very citizens it had sworn to protect.

She needs to get Aiden out of here.

But go where, exactly?

As the tension among the crowd rose exponentially and hit a tipping point, a golden light shot to the sky from behind them, exactly where the red lightning had been just a few minutes ago.

The golden light quickly rose to a summit and scattered in multiple directions like fireworks.

The panicked murmur silenced for a brief moment. Everyone, including the entire military, looked on to the golden light in the sky with a faint awe.

Then came an overwhelming burst of energy that knocked most people off balance. It wasn’t a shockwave, like one after a massive bomb exploded. It was more like a dense wave of electricity that could be seen and felt. It instantly permeated every inch of the city and beyond; its epicenter being the same as the origin of the golden light.

The dense electromagnetic wave fried all the electrical lamps and phones and flashlights in its path. In a moment, everything went pitch dark.

And then the crowd began to scream.

Lucy grabbed Aiden’s arm. “We need to leave!”

Lucy’s eyes adjusted to the darkness quicker than they ever had before. There was a spark from the pocket where she’d kept her phone. She pulled her phone out to check. It was fried.

As chaos ensued once again, Aiden tripped on something in the dark and fell flat on his face. Lucy helped him up and found that he had tripped on a palm-sized rock; mostly circular, but rough around the edges.

A deep blue glow emanated from somewhere deep inside it. Pulsating, like a beating heart.