“Should we go up yet?”

“I’m sure we’ve run far enough, let’s go up!”

“Yeah!”

The worm was met with a thick black layer. This layer consisted of a rubbery layer which began to bounce off and resist the crushing and grinding of the worm’s teeth.

“Hey Senny what’s the holdup?”

“There’s something blocking me Alex, should we go around?”

“What do you mean some blocking you! How could anything block you!”

“I dunno, when I apply force to it, the thing just moves away the slightest bit and bounces back at me!”

“What? Can you go around it?”

Yeah, but can you dig around me? I can’t exactly move around here.”

The cockroach began to stab at the dirt and fling it around back into the tunnel that had been dug out. It dug out an entire room as the dirt tumbled and rolled down the hole that was at a steep angle.

As more and more was dug out from underneath it, the worm started sinking from the dirt underneath giving way and crumbling down, meaning that neither one had to move, only dig.

After what was essentially a small room was dug out, The worm coiled around like a snake, looking up at the rubber above and lightly scraping it as it lighted itself to carve a path right next to it.

“Gogogo!”

Thunk.

“Why’d you stop again!”

“We hit a concrete wall!”

“Wait do you mean we’re back where we started?”

“Not possible! I dug in a straight line!”

“Hah as if! Nothing’s straight! Life by definition is an imbalance!”

“Look behind you! I’m perfectly in balance!”

“Eh, that’s just because you’re one big magnet and basically a compass!”

“Whatever, just go through!”

“We should dig a small room in case I need to turn back though.”

“Eh, whatever, you do you.”

“You gotta help me!”

“No way am I helping you!”

“Is the flappy thing hanging back there awake yet?”

“Nah, still dead as a rock, how would he be helpful?”

“Well he could eat the dirt right? It’s basically just rock and organic matter, so he could eat the organic matter and let the rocks tumble away!”

“I think he’s stirring again, must be getting better at handling speeds I guess.”

The rubbery soft object that had shifted so that it wasn’t scraping against the top of the tunnel lay between the rear legs of the cockroach. It began to wriggle around and stir as it recovered. Its threads were wrapped around the body such that it became like a ball of yarn, sticking onto the end of the shell by forming a suction at the very end through the softer inner body which was exposed, but only against the hard shell which even the mole had trouble breaking through.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“What’s going on? Why are we underground again? Alejandros?”

“Oh nothing, you wanna dig us a room though?”

“What for?”

“So we can turn back and run!”

“Why don’t we dig a maze too huh?”

“Well we don’t need that much, just enough for Senny over there to be able to turn around.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Remember how you said you could eat dirt?”

“Sure?”

“Well there’s plenty of food around!”

“It’s a net negative energy source! I’m losing energy by eating it!”

“Hey, don’t forget that portion of sludge I allocated to you…”

“Fine.”

The ball of yarn unraveled until all that was left was a single limp stalk with a bulbous end not unlike a mushroom. The bulb was littered with large spots that drifted around while letting off a dark blue light, occasionally bumping into one another. Once they all combined into one large blue spot that centered on the very top of the bulb though, which immediately burst into thousands of little dots that immediately began to combine with one another.

That display of color sat in contrast to the pale white background which was the rest of the bulb and body of the phallic creature. The stalk erected itself as all the threads around it began to sink into the dirt around them. Directly above was the thick black layer which seemed to bulge in every so slightly as the dirt around them was eaten. The three slowly sank down as the ceiling got further away from them and more of the concrete wall was exposed as powder got stuck between the cracks.

“Good enough right Senny? You should be able to turn around in here.”

“I think so, let’s go!”

--Loading Dock--

More trucks began to roll in.

“Hey captain, we still have to fill up the entire room remember?”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“Why don’t we just light it right now?”

“Well I already bought the oil…”

“Uh, why don’t we dump this batch and then light it?”

“Well I mean… What if we sold it back?”

“What’s the height of the oil?”

“Somewhere around the third layer apparently according to the drone. Something definitely busted straight through the hallway.”

“Did you try looking at the second level?”

“Nah, too risky, what if an animal suddenly attacks us?”

“Well all that’s there is the slime, I’m sure that that wouldn’t be able to suddenly grow and catch us right?”

“Heh, let's give it a try I guess. Lemme charge up the drone first, load it up with some capsules of oil and some incendiary bullets.”

“We brought incendiary bullets with us? I thought we only carried rubber bullets! The oil capsules too! Where’d we get those?”

“Oh I was just gonna take out the bags of tear gas and fill them up with oil. This was a high threat emergency remember? I brought my special kit for this heh.”

“I’ll have a proper look at your kit when we get back…”

--Sewage System--

A group of workers huddled around at the junction where the large semicircle was directly raised such that they could not get up. The flow of water from the hole in the middle of the semicircle gushed out and hosed down every worker that entered with water dotted with red and black. They ran up the sides with their feet with thin pads that were now soaked in water, but only slipped down.

They began to pile under one another in order to support each other to the top, not unlike how they had all done so to enter the protrusion.Then, when some moles had gotten over, they lay flat on the short platform, keeping their noses just above the water which washed over them.

They formed a rope themselves just like they had on the protrusion, but this time they had a wall to lean against, as well as a whole array of moles linked up to one another which relieved most of the stress while one person climbed on top, as the weight was spread amongst them equally. Although there were more moles to hold up, with the side of the wall being covered in a formation resembling a triangle pointed down, the weight that burdened each mole was reduced.

Right behind them ran the guards. The guards didn’t waste time piling on or anything but rather leaped onto the side of the wall and using the friction gained from the force they leaped onto the side of the wall on, they leaped onto the platform and got on. It wasn’t all that simple though, as the amount of force made them rip off their thin paw pads. Luckily though, they regenerated, but this time they were slightly thicker.

--The Protrusion.--

A mole hung onto the top bar with its front claws, staring at the crowd of scavengers below. It licked its lips at the moles down below all bunched together.

“Hey! What are you looking at! You gotta get in the tunnel! Look at it! Water flowing out! We can’t stay here though, let's find the source and then we’ll be rich! Hehehe!”

“Yeah!”

The mole bent its body up and fit its legs into the hole formed by the bars. It wriggled the rest of its body through, letting the bags of fat pass through the hole before the rest of the body could.

Then it let go of the bar it was hanging on and simply splashed down into the water which slowly floated the mole towards the bars. It kept on running through the tunnel which was entirely smooth save for the patches of junk that had managed to stick onto the bottom of the pipe.

It splashed through the bottom letting the water run over its head and only popping out occasionally to catch a breath of air. The creatures on its back, however, weren’t so fortunate. After being bathed in water for so long, the air in their lungs couldn’t hold on for any longer. Their lungs filled with water and emptied as the mole dove beneath the water and rose above it.

After so long, the creatures gave up and let go.