Without the moon’s light, the night was dark, concealing rocks and dips along the hillside. Nick had no choice other than to proceed with his headlong flight. He supplemented what little he could see with his memory of the terrain ahead, his experiences with the blackmist having prepared him for this moment.

Nick leapt over protruding roots and darted around grasping brush, moving as fast as he could without tripping over debris and breaking his neck in the process. At least he didn’t have to worry about being ambushed by any of the bog’s prolific predators. Even the greatest among them were hiding in their dens, desperate to stay out of sight of the killing tide that would wash over the bog at any moment.

Each minute that passed felt like hours, as adrenaline and cortisol flooded his veins, driving him into an even greater burst of speed.

The building was growing closer by the heartbeat. He wasn’t sure he would make it in time, although it was going to be close. As he rounded a colossal boulder, Nick realized that he was having an easier time making out the ground below his feet. Not because of anything that was occurring on his end, but because the sky had begun to lighten once more, as if the sun had decided to rise from a different direction.

But it wasn’t the sun. The rising light cast a sanguine glow upon the bog, bathing the world in a ruddy radiance that was growing brighter by the footfall. By this point, he was halfway up the hillside, running along the final stretch of ground between himself and the structure ahead.

By now, the southern horizon was aglow with an ominous crimson light, as the final seconds before moonrise dwindled away like water through a clenched fist. Before the blood moon ascended the crater’s rim, Nick poured everything that he had into his dash, legs pumping like mad.

But it was already too late. Half a heartbeat later, the rim of a bloodred moon crested the horizon. The crimson orb was a gaping wound upon the face of the heavens, pouring its fell, sanguine radiance across the bog like a portent of the end of days.

Event update: The blood moon has risen. The swarm comes.

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The ominous ruby glow spread to engulf the southern edge of the bog, racing across the surface of the water like a rising tide of viscera, moving faster as the blood moon rose.

At this point, something primal within Nick was screaming in terror. Shrieking that he had to find cover before the moon’s light overtook his location sometime within the next few seconds. That this was his last and only chance of living to see the sunrise.

Every cell in his body alive with fear and feral anticipation, Nick pushed himself into a greater burst of speed, actively burning stamina for the first time since his battle in the arena. The world was reduced to a liquid blur of color and motion, as he sprinted up the hillside for everything he was worth.

The ruins were growing closer by the heartbeat, but the light of the blood moon raced faster still, its periphery now only a mile away at most. He still had a chance of making it before the moonlight broke over the hilltop, but even burning through his stamina like logs upon the bonfire it was going to be close.

That was the moment when Nick’s ears picked up a bizarre sound. A whispering, crackling clamor like a great pile of bones tumbling down a mountainside. The ominous chittering was growing louder by the footfall. Every instinct he had was certain that it heralded the impending arrival of the swarm.

That was when the screams began. Guttural, agonized cries issued from the maws of myriad beasts echoed across the bog. The blood-curdling screams of desperate battles fought and lost as the denizens of the marsh were devoured, starting while they were still alive.

Nick thought that some of the piercing wails might have been issued by human throats. But he couldn’t be certain, and they were too far away for him to help regardless. Heart hammering like a jackhammer on overdrive, he raced across the final stretch of soil, the stone building now only seconds away.

He spared a glance over one shoulder without slowing his stride, taking in a sight that chilled Nick all the way down to the bone.

Wherever the light of the blood moon touched, pale figures were rising from the earth, shedding soil and leaf as their alien bodies emerged to bask in the ruddy radiance. The swarmlings ranged in size from that of small dogs to bigger than the building in front of him.

Nick could make out dozens of the creatures from that single glance. Thousands must be rising across the bog at this very moment. He prayed for the safety of his people as well as his own, certain that not all of team Earth would survive the night.

Size up was screaming that the swarm posed a lethal threat. That fending off even the smallest swarmlings would be a desperate gamble, requiring every trick up his sleeve to walk away from, assuming he survived at all. He needed to get inside the building, and he needed to do it now.

But before Nick could take another step, the bloodlight engulfed him, painting the walls of the ruins an electric shade of crimson.