“A-Are you sure we should go?” Aisha questioned as they walked towards the street running adjacent to the tram tracks, “M-Maybe we should just wait with the others instead?”

Sam remained silent while Derrick shook his head.

“No, even if the worms can't sense the people on the platform for some reason, and that's a big if by the way, I’m sure that it’s still a death trap.”

Sam nodded to himself; it seemed like Derrick had come to the same conclusion he did.

Still, Sam was irked by how much their departure grated on him. It wasn’t his responsibility to help these people. And if he allowed them to come with them, it would surely increase the risk of something bad happening. If his theory was correct, the worms hunted by sensing minute seismic vibrations. The more people walking together, the more vibrations they would produce. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t take them with him.

Still, just leaving them behind like this sucked.

“Maybe I should’ve told them about the magic?” In truth, Sam was glad that Derrick hadn’t revealed that part as it definitely would’ve resulted in an even longer of a hold-up. It felt selfish of him to withhold such vital information, but in the end, the people on the platform were strangers to him.

Ultimately, despite how much it vexed him to do so, Sam had to prioritize his family and himself. And sure, maybe that was an excuse, but that was how he felt. Every minute he stayed here was another minute in which something untowardly could happen to his family. He didn’t have time to talk about magic with a bunch of strangers.

“Bringing Aisha is dangerous enough.” Sam decided, he still felt bad, but he wouldn’t dwell on his decision.

Maybe he should’ve told them anyway? But what was done was done.

“Moreover,” Derrick glanced over at Sam, “We have a way of traversing across the ground safely.”

“R-Really?” Aisha’s eyes lit up before she suddenly frowned, “Then why aren’t we bringing more people? I’m sure some of them would join us?”

“No,” This time, it was Sam who answered, “The more people we are, the more vibrations we’ll cause, I hate to say it but it’s safer this way…” Why couldn’t he shake the feeling that he was condemning the commuters to die? He didn’t know the future, maybe they’ll find another way to their homes?

Sam doubted it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true.

“T-Then,” Aisha faltered, “How are we supposed to avoid the worms? What’s your great secret?”

Sam exchanged a look with Derrick before answering honestly.

““Magic.””

…

Even after sharing their discoveries, Aisha remained looking doubtful. And to be completely honest, Sam couldn’t fault her for it.

“Would I have believed myself?” Sam honestly didn’t know if he would. Sure, the appearance of the monsters was crazy, but the existence of magic was on a whole other level of craziness in Sam's mind.

What he did know was that, for reasons outside his understanding, the world was changing quickly and — if he wanted to survive — he had to change along with it.

But, when all was said and done, it was clearly not Sam’s alleged magic but rather Derrick’s comforting presence which made Aisha agree to follow them.

Naturally, before they stepped off the platform, Sam and Derrick made sure she knew how to behave.

“-and remember, and this is important Aisha, if Sam lifts up his hand, you freeze and stay quiet, okay?” Derrick repeated for the third time. If her presence still agitated him, he no longer showed any signs of it.

Sam did however notice how close the two of them were standing.

As they snuck past the burrow where Aisha had seen the worm, Sam felt the commuters’ attention burn in the back of his neck.

Fortunately, there weren’t any tremors to inhibit their progress this time around.

…

Twenty minutes later, Sam frowned as he stared at the ground around him. He didn't know why but he hadn’t felt any tremors since before they stepped onto the platform. As such, they had continued walking without any major hiccups.

“Maybe they’re sleeping?” It was darker, after all. Yet, it felt like a sorry excuse. In the end, Sam could only speculate what happened to the worms.

More importantly, however, was that the lack of danger had, to Sam’s growing irritation, unfortunately lulled his two companions into a false sense of security. Even Derrick talked noticeably louder than before.

As Derrick and Aisha talked about magic, their families, and whatnot, Sam invested the entirety of his focus on their surroundings.

The were noticeably more people out and about now. Most moved in groups like they did, and many were notably on guard. Sam did notice a couple of people who were wounded. At first, he’d considered asking them what happened. But as soon as he neared them, their eyes squinted in suspicion.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sam found it hard to believe that only been six, almost seven, hours had passed since the world break occurred. People were already acting differently and were jumpy at the slightest of sounds. Cars stood empty by the side of the road and every now and then, a burrow would remind them of the presence of monsters.

Heck, even the cold evening air felt more hostile and unfriendly than before.

Sam couldn’t recognize his own city.

“-should’ve seen it; Sam controlled the pebble with his mind, I tell you. It was the most awesome thing I’ve seen in my life.” Derrick praised as he talked with Aisha.

And then, just as they passed a corner, Sam stopped to gawk at scenery in front of him.

Even Derrick and Aisha turned silent.

On the other side of the river running through Hawkthorne, where the Newport district was supposed to begin, an unfamiliar mountainous region with towering trees filled the horizon. Far off in the distance, Sam could even make out a couple of snow-capped mountain tops concealed by the wandering clouds.

It resembled the Rocky Mountains.

“What the fuck.” Derrick muttered in disbelief as the trio joined the baffled crowd of people.

*****

Aisha fiddled restlessly with her phone in the crammed cubicle. Even without internet, she could still distract herself by playing offline games. However, her mind wasn’t really in it.

No, inwardly, she thought about Xavier and how he’d just vanished into thin air.

“I was just talking to him…” Aisha frowned as she recalled what happened. Xavier studied computer engineering at Hawkthorne Community College, one of the colleges located on the Southsea Campus. As such, she had to travel all the way from Ashwell just to hang out with him.

Furthermore, she was in the midst of mustering up the courage to break up with him when the world suddenly went crazy.

“And now he’s gone…” She hated that a part of her felt relieved at his disappearance. Now she didn’t have to break up with him after all.

“Stop it, you can’t think like that…” She admonished herself. Who knows what happened to him? Despite his flaws, Xavier didn’t deserve to just vanish.

After all, Xavier was really nice… most of the time.

Aisha shook her head and banished the memory from her thoughts.

After the world went crazy, people quickly began screaming. Unable to find Xavier, who’d been sitting in the same booth as her mere seconds ago, Aisha decided to follow the fleeing crowd despite not knowing what caused the ruckus.

Once outside the mall, she followed the crowd to the tram station where she continued to spend the rest of the day.

She quickly found that the monitors were beyond useless. For over an hour, she had held out hope that a trolley would arrive and take her away from this cursed place. Yet, instead, more and more people showed up and the monitors just kept updating without any trolleys.

She tried to call an Uber, but quickly found out that she didn’t have any bars. A discovery which she wasn’t alone to make. The people in her cubicle argued about what was happening a lot. Some wanted to try their luck and leave, and others wanted to stay in the cubicle and wait for the police to show up.

Aisha just couldn’t understand why they had to raise their voices at each other.

And just as she thought things couldn’t get any worse, she saw it.

The monstrous worm barely resembled a regular earthworm. Though, instead of squishy skin, it was covered in a beige, leather-like armour.

Then she saw its terrible maw. Hundreds, nay, thousands of teeth grew in endless circular rows of death. The creature did not have any eyes as far as Aisha could tell, but it didn’t seem to need any as it zeroed in on the leaving pedestrian.

No one left the platform after that.

…

Aisha had just finished eating her final flapjack when a familiar-looking face climbed up on the platform.

Derrick looked the same as he always did: tall, strong, and dashingly handsome. If it wasn’t for her mother’s prejudices, she would’ve locked the man down the first day she met him.

Instead, she’d let him go. A decision which still grated at her.

Next to Derrick walked an unfamiliar young man around the same age and height as Derrick. Although slightly taller than Derrick, the man’s skinny frame made him look smaller in comparison. Still, with ash-blonde hair, he didn’t look like the sort of person Derrick would usually hang out with.

When Derrick’s dark brown eyes finally locked with hers, she immediately felt a wave of shivers travel down her spine.

“Yes!”

*****

“No…” Sam muttered as he stared at the mountain range, “No, this can’t be happening.”

Unwilling to accept the bullshit he was seeing, Sam forced himself through the crowd of bystanders.

During their trek along the tram tracks, Sam, Derrick, and Aisha had noticed more and more people. And as Sam pushed himself through the crowd, it occurred to him that they all seemed to congregate here.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noticed Derrick and Aisha call his name as they struggled to keep up with him. But at the moment, he didn’t care.

Only when he reached the Newport bridge did he finally decide to stop.

Across the river, he could clearly see where the bridge just… crumbled apart.

Sam struggled to understand what he was seeing. The appearance of the subterranean worm had been mind-blowing, but somehow, he’d been able to accept the fact that there were monsters roaming around.

It was somewhere between Uri’s death and when he discovered he could control earth with his mind when everything just took a massive leap away from logic.

And this… this sudden foreign land was the final straw.

“S-Shit,” Sam couldn’t stop the tears from forming. He’d tried to keep it together, he really had. He had people who needed him. His younger brother was different, he wasn’t like other people, he wouldn’t understand why Sam wasn’t coming home. He wouldn’t understand any of this.

“Are you,” Sam heard Derrick stop before sighing, “No, fuck, of course you aren’t. I don’t think any of us are okay…”

Sam continued to stare at the foreign land separating him from his family. Where were they? What happened to them? Did they vanish too?

Sam didn’t know.

Then, just as Sam thought things couldn’t get any worse, he heard a shout, and then another one, and another. Before Sam could find out what was happening, the massive crowd had begun moving.

From the direction from which they came from, blood-curdling screams erupted in a symphony of pain and fear. When Sam failed to sense any tremors, the visage of a biped monster briefly flashed before his eyes.

“Is it the worms?” Derrick asked with a pale face. If a worm had truly found this group of people… it would be a massacre so devastating it made the cafeteria look like a kindergarten fight.

“No,” Sam took a deep breath before he shook his head, “I don’t feel any tremors.”

As the screams escalated, Aisha broke first, “W-We r-run, r-right?”

Derrick looked like he was about to agree when Sam suddenly interjected, “No.”

Sam immediately noticed the bewildered and disbelieving looks Derrick and Aisha shot at him, but he wasn’t folding.

“No, these things have to die.” Sam decided as he balled his fists. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but to think about Uri, the cafeteria, and the mysterious mountain range blocking him from his family.

Suddenly, Sam felt like a switch flipped inside him as his fear transformed into rage. Unbeknownst to Sam, in his mindscape, his dark green halo began to pulsate along with his racing heartbeat.

Tiny pebbles rocked on the ground around him as he turned to look at where the screams were coming from.

“We fight.”

…