Every noise made Wrench jump. Distant creaking, growls, and groans, with the occasional scrape and clunk of metal from behind them. Their sense of hearing was actively betraying them.

Wrench just kept running. The passage curved subtly to the left, until it eventually led to a junction of two perpendicular passages. Left would bring them closer to the chaos, right would probably take them closer to one of the scrapyard's many exits.

Terror encouraged them to bolt down the right passage as soon as possible, but loyalty to their friends urged them left.

Wrench cautiously peered down the left passage. A massive silhouette, slouched over in a feral posture, stood roughly ten metres away, looking in each direction.

Wrench darted back behind the scrap wall, gripping their taser hard enough to turn their knuckles white.

“Friend, I'm so happy you came to rescue me!” a mockery of Skye's voice emanated from Zev. “Now that you're here, let's go home together and put this all behind us!”

Wrench clenched their teeth with quivering lips, praying Skye was still alive and that Zev hadn't somehow absorbed his traits via consumption.

They backed away from the intersection, walking back far enough into the corridor they'd just run down so as to not be visible from the intersection. They pulled out their phone again, opening the group chat, frequently glancing between the screen and the far end of the corridor they just backed up from.

Ray had replied “omw” about two minutes prior.

“ZEV IS HUNTING ME” Wrench typed. “IM GOING TO DIE”

“Human~!” Zev sang, still imitating Skye's voice. “I can SMELL you, human. Come back here. We're friends, right?”

Peering down the corridor towards the exit, Wrench saw a huge figure creeping closer.

No, no no no–

Praying Zev hadn't seen them, Wrench pocketed their devices and bolted back towards the dead end. The pile of metal that'd formed from their avalanche gambit wasn't as colossal as the other mountains of junk.

If I could just–!

They had no choice. Wrench ran up to the scrap pile, taking their first step onto some broken machine part. Frantically looking for handholds sticking out of the steel amalgam, they lifted themself up and began climbing the scrap.

Now hyperventilating, Wrench struggled to focus on their movements. Panic made their hands shake, and the drenched surfaces made grip difficult. But with death approaching from behind, they forced themself up as fast as they could.

“Kyeh-heh-hah!” rang out from behind them. “Escaping?!”

Wrench looked back to see Zev now in clear view, staring up at them.

“Fuck!” Wrench screamed, recklessly scrambling up the final chunks of scrap, causing small bits of metal to fall down the pile. They lifted themself up onto the husk of an abandoned car at the top of the pile and looked back.

A huge, white hand with horribly misshapen fingers gripped onto the chassis they stood on, mere seconds after Wrench got on top, inches away from their feet. Right behind the hand was Zev's snarling face.

Wrench bolted to the other end of the chassis and reached under their coat, turning back to Zev. They pulled out out their taser, aimed, and fired at Zev's hand before the beast could pull itself up.

The darts impaled Zev's hand, which clenched tight onto the chassis as electricity crackled along the wires. A horrid, gargling yowl filled the air, coming from the creature below.

It's working, it's working!

The car's framework began tilting towards Zev as they fell backward down the metal hill, pulling the chassis with it.

Wrench stumbled back off the car just as it began tumbling away, grunting in pain as they landed on the corner of some metal at the top of the pile. Still gripping the taser's trigger, Wrench lifted themself up as the weapon reached its limit and the electricity automatically stopped. They hastily ejected the cartridge and turned away from Zev, preparing themself to climb down the opposite side of the scrap.

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“Janice!” Wrench shouted. Before beginning their descent, they glanced around for any sign of either Janice or Ray. In the distance, they spotted a human-sized silhouette by the entrance where Wrench and Janice had entered.

“Ray?! Ray!!” In the off chance it was their saviour, Wrench haphazardly raced down the pile, getting as far away from Zev as they could before the monster recovered.

“RaaaAAAY–!” Zev screeched from afar, reverting to their ordinary, monstrous voice.

“Oh god, help!!” Wrench yelled as they reached the bottom of the pile and jumped onto the muddy ground, wincing from the pain in their back. They started sprinting through the puddles in the general direction of the distant silhouette.

It felt like the yard had changed layout since entering; granted, they had blocked off one of the passages, but the labyrinthine alleys were increasingly hard to navigate in such a frenzy. Turning a corner to the left, Wrench bolted down a straight corridor leading to a four-way intersection. They paused in the middle of the junction, looking down each passage.

A tall, hulking figure wearing a long grey coat was jogging down the rightmost corridor, and the two cat ears on the silhouette's head betrayed their identity.

“Ray!” Wrench shouted in relief. “Ray!”

“YOU DID NOT TELL ME RAY IS HERE,” Zev roared in the distance, cleaving through the storm's white noise.

Ray turned around and spotted Wrench. They both ran towards each other, mud splashing everywhere from their heavy footsteps.

Wrench grabbed onto Ray's shoulders and leaned against the machine, desperately catching their breath.

“Fuck's going on?” Ray asked, looking down at Wrench.

“Skye is here, Zev and Janice are here too, an avalanche of junk crashed down on us, I don't know where the others are–”

“Breathe,” Ray commanded, lifting Wrench's arms off his body.

Wrench took a couple more drawn-out breaths. “Zev took Skye here and he's in this yard somewhere! Janice and I got separated; I-I don't know where Janice is, I think I might've hurt her with the avalanche! And Zev tried to get me but I caused the avalanche to stop him, I shot him with the taser but he's still coming, and–”

“Listen to me. Chill.” Letting go of Wrench's arms, Ray pulled out a machine gun from beneath his coat, holding it with both hands, ready to take aim. “Got you covered. That shit-face is dead.”

“Thank god, Ray, oh my god, thank you!” Wrench panted. “I have no idea where the others are; this place is fucked!”

“Stick by me. Eyes and ears peeled,” Ray instructed. “Show me where you came from.”

“I WANT TO TALK TO YOU, RAY,” Zev shrieked.

“F-follow the screaming monster!” Wrench whimpered.

“Watch our six,” Ray ordered. Aiming his machine gun from the hip, he slowly began marching down the route Wrench came from moments ago.

“Janice, where are you?!” Wrench cried out, keeping a keen eye peeled behind Ray. But at that moment, a terrible realization crossed their mind. “Ray, Ray! If you see Janice, don't shoot her!”

Ray scanned the area before replying. “No shit,” he grumbled.

“Just... just don't, okay?”

“Explain later. Focus now.”

Creeping past the intersection the two met at, Wrench piped up one more time. “Should we stay here? Maybe lure Zev?” they rambled. “Or should we keep–”

“Shut up,” Ray barked.

“Wrench!” Janice yelled from somewhere in the scrap maze, close enough that she was just audible through the storm. “Get out of here! Zev is too dangerous!”

Not if Ray has anything to say about it. Wrench didn't respond – they merely listened for any sign of the approaching beast. The duo had slowed to a crawl in the middle of a fairly wide lane, curving to the right in front of them, opening up to a circular clearing behind them. Ray faced the corner, Wrench watched the opening.

Seconds later – plain as day – Zev skulked into view from the left side of the clearing and turned their head towards Wrench. The monster instantly broke into a charge with their hands outstretched, tongue hanging from the beast's mouth.

“BEHIND US! ZEV!” Wrench screamed, bumping into Ray's back.

Ray swung around, accidentally knocking Wrench into the mud, and took aim.

Wrench covered their ears and looked away. “RAY, SHOOT!” they yelled.

No gunfire. Just a distant battle cry and then squelch. Wrench looked up at Zev – something had impaled the giant volon from the side, and they quickly realized it was Janice.

More specifically, it was her arm, shifted into a long, spear-like form.

“Janice,” Zev hissed, utterly stunned, struggling to move with her arm through their abdomen. “What have you–”

“Janice! Get back! Now!” Wrench screamed, standing back up.

She yanked her arm out from Zev's body, splattering herself with white blood. She staggered backward, looking equally as shocked as Zev.

With his firearm aimed at Zev, Ray pulled the trigger, spooling up the machine gun until a deafening flurry of gunfire filled the air.

Wrench covered their ears again and watched through the corner of their eyes as bullets tore through Zev's body.

The monster staggered back and convulsed with each round fired into their body, sending splatters of alien blood across the ground behind them. Zev's flesh tried to regenerate, but Ray kept firing, destroying their body faster than they could repair themself.

Zev let loose a gurgly, fell howl as they reeled back from the onslaught of bullets. Chunks of their body began losing cohesion – one arm dismembered, a leg now too – until their body fell to the ground and continued breaking down.

Ray kept firing.

The mass of alien flesh, riddled with holes and utterly broken, separated and split into smaller pieces. What was once Zev took on a more fluid form – their black and purple clothes melted into the white blood of a volon, until the beast was no more than chunks and puddles of pale viscera.

Click. The machine gun stopped firing, smoke rising from the barrel.

“Fuckin' bitch,” Ray jabbed.