“My gods I can’t see anything!” Jeringy cried out while swiping at the fog around him.

Regal groaned as his partner mentioned the fog for the hundredth time within the last hour. Brit just ignored Jeringy, having learned to tune out incessant chatter from the two younger men.

“Can’t we just turn around and find another route? I don’t like this fog at all.” Jeringy continued to whine as he looked around at the opaque density around him.

“Enough Jer,” Brit finally spoke up. “This is the fastest way to get to the signal. We’ve already wasted a week on the water and it took us too long to get inland that we almost lost the beacons.”

“But we passed Onto a few miles back! Why are the trackers showing up here? Could they have found out about them and tried to throw us off our tail? I say we should just check out Onto and get out of this place.” Jeringy defended as he stopped walking.

“We’re not turning around now. The tracker is stationary and hasn’t moved in twelve hours. This is our best bet on finding that robot and getting our reward. Lucky for us there’s been no word of other hunters going after the same bounty so we may finally have an easy run this time.” Brit replied while he checked the screen displaying the two remaining red dots on the gridded layout. “Almost there, five more clicks and we should be within range of hypersight.”

Jeringy quieted down, though Regal should see him shifting uncomfortably and slowing down his pace so he lagged a good deal behind the group. After an hour of silence, Regal himself started feeling very uncomfortable. Had he grown accustomed to Jeringy’s ramblings so much so that he preferred that over awkward silence? Things had been tense between them since Jeringy had blown up at him with truths Regal didn’t want to hear, and although they had both apologized to one another the next day, things hadn’t gone back to the way they were. Regal had already lost a lot of people in his life and he didn’t want to lose his closest friend. For now, the best option was to give him some space.

The fog was getting denser and denser as they approached the tracker point, making it increasingly difficult to make out what was ahead of them. When Regal tripped over a discarded shell of a vehicle partially submerged in the dusty ground he realized that he couldn't see Jeringy behind them anymore.

“Jer! I swear to the gods, Jer, if you get lost here I’m going to shoot you myself!” Regal screamed into the fog. “Jer! Where the fuck are you!”

Brit stopped in his tracks when he heard Regal screaming, but something else in the distance caught his attention.

“Jer! You son of a bitch! Jer!”

“Shhhh!” Brit said as he shook Regal’s arm to shut up. “There’s something out there.”

“Yeah, it’s probably Jer being a pussy.” Regal took in a deep breath to scream out for Jeringy again but Brit clamped his hand over the young man’s mouth.

“Shut up and listen.”

Regal pushed Brit’s hand off his face but complied, hoping that he could hear Jer’s footsteps nearby so he could stop worrying about his friend. He was going to tear him a new one once he got his hands on him. After he punched him a few times.

“Did you hear that?” whispered Brit.

Regal strained his ears to hear what his superior had heard but it was to no avail. He shook his head just as a low rumbling rattled the fog around him.

“Alright, I heard that one,” Regal stated as a chill shot down his spine.

Brit brought out a set of large goggles and snapped them to the top of his respirator so they sat in line with his eyesight. Looking around he cursed and shoved the goggles back into his pack.

“Hypersights are no good. Fog is giving back too much feedback.”

A roar pierced through the air but they couldn’t tell which direction to run as the sound seemed to come from all around them. A force suddenly pulled them both from behind and Regal nearly shit his pants.

“Follow me!” Jeringy cried out as he tugged on the other men’s jackets.

Regal wanted to hug and punch Jer at the same time but he was already running with Brit in tow. His legs automatically began moving forward, slowly catching up with Jer, as another roar sent quakes through the ground.

“Is there a plan here?” Regal screamed in between breaths when he’d gotten within earshot of Jer. Had he always been this fast?

“Trust me!” Was Jer’s only response.

Brit nodded at Regal, indicating that this was the most viable plan at the moment and to just continue following Jer into the bowels of the fog.

The running soon became torture as Jer didn’t seem to be slowing down and the roars didn’t seem to be getting any quieter. On a positive note, they weren’t getting louder, so at least they were keeping pace with whatever was chasing them. Running without an end goal wore on Regal as his lungs burned and his legs became numb. He eventually lost sight of Jer and Brit but he could hear their footsteps, so either he couldn’t seem to catch up with them or the fog had gotten so thick that he could barely see a few feet ahead of him. Jer suddenly came into sight as he was kneeling down and fiddling with something on the ground, Regal not having enough time or energy to avoid crashing into him.

“Seriously, man?” Jeringy groaned as he pushed the sweaty Regal off him.

“Someone needs to take his endurance training more seriously,” an amused Brit stood at the edge of whatever Jeringy was working on. All Regal could do was wheeze a curse in response.

After catching his breath Regal pushed himself up to kneel beside Jeringy who was running his palms on the ground as if searching for something.

“Can I help?” Regal offered as he started feeling around on the ground.

“You don’t know what you’re looking for,” Jeringy asserted. “You’ll only get in the way.”

A roar split the air and Regal could feel the ground shake, not by the roar, but with the heavy steps their pursuer took. Brit had whipped out his guns and was standing in front of the two younger men.

“What’s after us?” he called out to Jeringy.

“Guns won’t work, it’ll only get angrier.” He replied, still focused on the ground.

“So what’s the plan exactly then if we can’t fight back?” Regal said as he drew his gun and stood next to Brit. If bullets made the thing angry, then Regal was going to end up having an extremely angry creature on this hands.

“Just have to find...the thing…where is it!” Jeringy cried out as he continued feeling around for it.

“Oh, we’re so screwed,” Regal declared just as another low cry came from a lumbering opaque being off in the distance.

“Found it!”

The two men lurched as the ground behind them collapsed. Regal watched as a black claw reached out from the dense fog and narrowly missed his throat by mere millimeters. Regal was left gasping for air as the wind was knocked out of his lungs when he hit the solid ground below. To his surprise, the ground he’d fallen through didn’t come tumbling around him, to which he would have easily been crushed by, nor did the creature come after them from the sudden gap, but closed up the instant they fell through.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Wha--wha--did you see---what?” Regal stuttered as he pointed up to the ceiling.

Brit seemed to be at a loss for words as well but he wasn’t fumbling for words like Regal was.

“An explanation would be appreciated before we continue,” Brit demanded once he’d cleared his throat and gotten his words unclogged.

“Would you believe me if I told you I was raised by mutants in these tunnels?” Jeringy tried.

“No.”

“Damn, that’s the best I can come up. Take it or leave it. Oh, and you should follow me if you don’t want to get lost down here and die a horrible death.” Before anyone could respond, Jeringy straightened up and began walking down the mysteriously-lit tunnel.

“Hey, wait up. Just tell us the truth.” Regal voiced as he caught stride with Jeringy.

“I’ve got to keep some secrets you know. I don’t bring up your past unless I’m angry with you, so you should too.”

“You don’t think I’m pissed off right now?” yelled Regal. In all honesty, he was more confused than angry, but if anger would allow him to get some answers he’ll boil his blood all day. “We barely survived just now! What the fuck is that thing and where the fuck are we?!”

“Listen, learning what that thing is or where we are or how I know about this place doesn’t help us at all. What does help is if you shut your trap and follow me. And don’t touch anything or you might die.” Jeringy glared at Regal as he continued walking down the corridor.

“This is exactly why we need to know these things! Why will we die if we touch anything? I think that’s a pretty important fact you’re just glossing over!” Regal looked over to Brit to get some back-up but he just gave him a ‘what can you do’ shrug and brought out his screen to check on the trackers.

“Mind if I take a look at that?” Jeringy asked Brit.

“Sure, just don’t touch any other buttons.”

Jeringy grabbed the screen and rotated it around to orient himself, then showed it to Brit.

“We’re here now,” he pointed at the screen. “The tunnel will deposit us here, only two blocks away from the trackers. If I remember correctly, this entire area is a warehouse district, which means it’s more likely we’ve been tracking the bag than the robot or Eimose.”

“Alright, you’ve convinced me, I’m on board.” Regal chimed in. “Any fortifications we need to know about? Guards? Security clearance?”

“From memory, no. There’s probably a crew that remains at the warehouse at all times for inventory and such, but there’s no designated security. Everyone is trained for combat though, so don’t take anyone lightly. Best case scenario, we’re in and out without being spotted.”

“Worst case?”

“Hmm...probably death, and not a quick one.”

“When we get out of this, I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

“Just try it and see what happens.”

Grins appeared on their faces simultaneously; their version of making up.

“I’m glad both of you finally made up, now if we could get back to the mission at hand that would be much appreciated,” Brit spoke up. “Tell us all you can about what to expect.”

Jeringy continued retelling as much as he could about the warehouse area and the layout of the area, pointing out where the entrances were in case they got split up and what walls were weaker than the others in case an exit wasn’t a viable option. By the time they reached the exit point, Regal and Brit knew practically everything about the structure of the warehouse district.

“Alright, before you guys go up, I have to warn you that you’re going to see some strange things,” Jeringy stated before he opened whatever magical portal got them up there.

“Stranger than that monster thing we almost got decapitated by?” Brit asked in amusement but his smile dropped when he saw Jeringy’s expression.

“Uhh, just...prepare yourselves and don’t freak out.” Jeringy placed his hand against the wall and the three were suddenly pushed up through the ceiling as if it were made of liquid. The ground below them hardened the instant they made it through, making it completely solid again. But it wasn’t the ground Regal and Brit were so awestruck of--it was the sky.

“Oi, snap out of it guys, I told you to be prepared. Mission, remember?” Jeringy spoke up as he clapped his hands in their faces.

“But...the sky…” Regal trailed off.

“I think you should have been more specific about what to mentally prepare us for,” Brit said as he stared wide-eyed at the sky.

“Yeah, it’s blue, get over it. Now, mission. Wow, I never thought I’d be the one saying that.” Jeringy shook his head in disbelief.

“Uhh, Jer?” Regal inquired.

“Yeah? What now?”

“Is that supposed to be up in the sky?” Regal pointed up into the blue expanse, to something he saw amongst the clouds.

Jeringy’s eyes widened at the sight and his limbs froze.

“No, that is not supposed to be there. Not at all.”

Up in the sky, a large mass was forming. Black streaks flew through the sky and joined the growing mass that seemed to be suspended somehow against the forces of gravity. It writhed and wiggled, its form constantly changing so it didn’t resemble anything in particular.

A woman screamed from around the corner and Jeringy watched in horror as the tattoos painted on her body seemed to rip off her body and fly towards the giant mass, leaving her a crying bloody mess on the ground nearby.

“Is that normal here?” Brit asked as he cautiously approached the woman.

“We need to leave now!” Jeringy cried as he fumbled on the ground to find whatever switch he needed to activate to get back to the underground area.

Brit launched at Jeringy and grabbed his arms, pinning them behind him.

“We’re not leaving until we get the bag. Lead the way and we’ll get out of here faster,” demanded Brit.

Jeringy seemed to contemplate the thought of fighting back against the larger man, but he looked back up at the dark mass in the sky and figured the latter would be a quicker method.

“Fine, but we need to move if we want to get out of here alive!”

Jeringy was freed and he immediately sprinted down the street, leaving Regal and Brit scrambling to catch up against the surprisingly quick young man. They made it to the warehouse in record time but instead of taking the precautions Jeringy had warned them about, he’d burst in through the front doors. Throwing caution to the wind, Regal and Brit drew their weapons and quickly followed behind, glad when they weren’t met with any resistance. In fact, the entire place was abandoned, which proved convenient for them. With the tracking screen open, it only took them a couple minutes to find the bag and snatch it from the pile of other loot that rested in the depths of the storage containers. Regal helped himself to a bag with weapons and ammo as he was sure no one would miss it.

“Alright, now we need to get out of here!” Jeringy cried out in panic and he sprinted back into the streets.

They ran through the streets again until they reached the area they’d arrived at. Jeringy fumbled around on the ground trying to find the switch, eventually finding it and activating it. The ground gave way and the three dropped through, at least that’s what initially happened.

As the three fell, Jeringy felt a sharp pain shoot across his back. Regal watched as dark matter shot from Jeringy’s back and floated up to the sky. Jeringy’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped like a stone onto the hard, unforgiving tunnel ground.

“Jer!” cried Regal as he rushed to Jeringy’s crumpled body. “Wake up you jerkwad!”

“Still alive, but his pulse is weak. We need to patch him up before loses any more blood.” Brit summarized as he checked on Jeringy.

Regal hadn’t even noticed the blood that leaked from Jeringy’s back. What had happened? What was that dark stuff? Had it come from Jeringy? Pulling himself together, he grabbed his pack and unloaded the scarce amount of medical equipment they had. Pushing Jeringy onto his stomach, Brit cut open Jeringy’s shirt and used a spare shirt to keep pressure on the wound. Jeringy’s back was a rash of open gashes, but laid out in an intricate pattern, as if it had been purposely drawn that way.

“Hold his torso up so I can bandage his entire back,” Brit ordered Regal, who quickly complied.

Which was when Regal noticed something odd. First of all, Jeringy was at least a foot shorter than he normally was, and secondly, were those breasts?

What? What? What? Jeringy was a guy, he didn’t have breasts. Regal had even seen Jeringy naked on occasion when he didn’t knock on the cabin door before entering. Jer was definitely a guy. So what the fuck was going on?!

Brit didn’t even blink when he wrapped Jeringy’s torso, but Regal turned bright red and had to turn away.

“That’ll have to do for now. Grab the bags and I’ll grab Jer. I don’t know how to get out of these tunnels, but it won’t hurt to get a head start until Jer wakes up.” Brit announced.

Regal nodded, mind still reeling and stricken dumbstruck, and grabbed the bags and followed Brit. Well, Jeringy wasn’t lying when he--she said they would see some strange things when they’d crossed into that other place.

After about half an hour of walking, Jeringy shifted and mumbled something into Brit’s ear.

“Heard. Regal, up ahead is our exit.” Brit quieted as Jeringy mumbled something else. “We should be clear of the territory of the creature, but be prepared to run just in case.”

“So...there’s a plan?”

“Yes. We need to give Jeringy better medical attention, and there’s only one place that’s close enough. We’re going to Onto.”