Our ragtag band of inhuman beings, including one of Vanessa’s eyeball pets as our rearguard, set forth on a great journey to find an exit to the overworld. A party of adventurers straight out of a fantasy book exploring a dungeon filled with monsters.

Hey, we’re monsters too! I suppressed the urge to snicker at that mental picture. I was giddy from exhaustion, a tad lightheaded.

The tunnels were mostly long stretches of darkness broken up by the occasional light which had the good fortune to survive the tremors.

Rob, who was in the lead, didn’t need any light. He walked several feet ahead of us, his back sometimes disappearing into the shadows. Vanessa didn’t have problems either; she said her eyeball familiars as well as her own eyes could see just fine in the dark. But out of consideration for me, she used her phone’s light. As I understood from their conversation, Dominic, who couldn’t see shit in the dark, previously used his keychain flashlight, but since I was with Vanessa, she was the one lighting our way.

Three people.

Three people with superhuman strength which, at the moment, certainly exceeded my own, as well as super healing. Not to mention they each had their unique abilities. And I only knew about Vanessa’s power.

I tried putting all my weight on both legs then switched back to limping before Vanessa could notice. I could already walk normally. How about I go for Vanessa first then run away right after? I could shoot her. How fast would she be able to react? However, the eyeball following us would certainly see if I'd raise my gun.

Something more subtle?

My right arm was draped over her neck as she helped me walk. I could try crushing her spine from the back of her neck. Even if I couldn’t outright kill her, I might be able to destroy her spine enough that it'd stop her healing and she'd eventually die. At the same time, I'd crush her phone to turn the light off. Dominic, the one near us, couldn’t easily chase me in the dark, and Rob was too far away to immediately react.

You’re also going to be blind in the dark, you stupid bitch!

Oh, yeah.

Scratch that plan then.

I wasn’t thinking straight. I wasn’t even sure I could fatally injure Vanessa without transforming. And what would I do after I run away? Play hide and seek with Rob and Dominic in the dark? Ok, ok, chill for a moment, girl.

There was still time before we reached the surface. Time to recuperate and make sure I'd have enough strength to maintain a transformation. I should go with them for now since I didn’t know the way out.

No rush.

When we reached a forked path, Rob raised his arm with a closed fist to signal our group to stop, pretentiously roleplaying a tactical commander of a military operation. Counterchecking the labeled arrows hanging from the ceiling, fading and rusty from age, with what I presumed to be a map in his phone, he muttered, “I see, we’re at this point. This leads to the A-2 section, so then we go this way.”

“I send a familiar to the left?” Vanessa said.

“Please.”

Her left arm supporting me tensed behind my back followed by a disgusting plopping sound. An eyeball dropped on the floor just beside my foot.

Upon seeing it, I jumped right into Vanessa, letting out a tiny yelp. That wasn’t too dramatic, was it?

The eyeball rolled a couple of yards before extending its insect-like legs and rushed to the corridor Vanessa was pointing to with surprising speed. “Sorry,” she said. “Did I scare you?”

“No, I was just surprised. I can’t help but be jumpy from…uh, from all that’s going on tonight.”

“That’s why I’m sending out my familiars ahead of us.” She smiled to assure me. “So there'll be no surprises.”

“Do you see what they see? Is that how it works?” I was thinking it was similar to Oberon and one of his fairy summons, Sneak.

“I can if I want to. But it’s very disorienting to do it with all of them at that same time. It makes my head hurt so much. And that’s including what I see with my own eyes, by the way. So, what I do instead is cycle through my familiars every minute or so.”

“Kind of like switching through different tabs in an internet browser?”

“I’ve never thought of it that way.” She started giggling. “If you see my eyes glazing over, that means I’m checking my familiars. I have three of them out right now.”

Rob checked his watch. “We’ll wait a couple more minutes before following it.”

“How much farther away do we need to travel, Rob?” Dominic said, snorting when calling him ‘Rob”.

Inside joke? Thanks for including me in the joke, guys, I quipped sarcastically in my head.

“There’s an exit about ten minutes away. But now, it’s going to take us fifteen minutes or more, most likely more, since our pace has slowed down.”

You dick. I knew he meant me. I said with strained breathing, “You can go on ahead without me. I just need some time to rest then I’ll be fine on my own. If you can leave me with directions to the exit, I can follow later.” I glanced at Vanessa. Come on, girl, I thought. Do your thing, help me out here. I started to untangle myself from her, but she held on to me.

“No, you’re coming with us,” Vanessa said. “We’re all escaping here.”

“I’m simply saying we’re slowing down,” Rob said with a shrug. “I didn’t mention anything about leaving anyone.”

“Yes, no one gets left behind. We’ll all help each other, and if we find others, we’ll also help them too.”

Rob exhaled slowly. I couldn’t see him well with the low lighting and the mask covering his face, but he probably rolled his eyes at Vanessa’s statement. He said, “We can’t leave her behind, anyway, Essa dear. What’s your name again? Rachel?” I nodded. Rob said, “Rachel here knows your names and faces. Can’t risk her getting caught if we leave her behind.”

“I showed her my face because we saw her face,” Vanessa defiantly replied.

And that's the problem, you know my face.

Dominic cleared his throat. “How about we get going? Vanessa, is it all clear?”

“A moment.” She stood still and blinked a few times. “Yes, nothing in the way.”

“Let’s go then.” Dominic started walking, waving at us to follow him.

“I’m fine if we quickened our pace,” I said.

Rob and Vanessa glared at each other. She stuck out her chin and held me close. Rob shook his head before walking briskly to overtake Dominic and be at the head of our line once again.

“Fifteen minutes and we’re out of here,” Dominic said.

“Positive thoughts, everyone,” Vanessa added.

After a few minutes, Rob slowed down so we would catch up with him. Once he was in a row with us, he said, “I’ve been thinking…”

“About what?”

“It might be better to skip this exit and go for one further way.”

“Why?” Vanessa said. “Because it might be caved-in like that other one?

Dominic said, “Let’s go check first? Even with just Vanessa’s pet.”

“They’re not pets, they’re familiars,” she said, slightly miffed. She then whispered to me, “The collapsed tunnel near the place we found you, it was close to an exit.”

“There’s that,” Rob said. “We would be wasting our precious time if we end up at a dead-end. But even if the path to the exit is clear, I can think of a few more possible problems with the nearer exit.”

“Like what?”

“Before the BID commenced their raid, they would've cordoned off the area a certain radius from the club. Ringed it with police, set up checkpoints, arrest anyone suspicious. Cast a wide net, you know? Standard operating procedure. This is why I opted to go for an exit that wasn’t in the immediate area of the club.

“However, that huge explosion, the one I assumed to be due to the deliberate overloading of the Greaves Reactor of the two BID agents, would've caused considerable damage aboveground. If tunnels in these parts were affected, then it’s safe to say the buildings on top of us have suffered a similar fate. Most likely even worse. The explosion wasn't at a sufficient depth for it to be contained underground. This distance might not be enough.”

“You mean it’s not safe for us to go above since we’re still near the center of the explosion?” Vanessa said.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Rob ticked off a finger. “That’s one.”

Dominic said, “We’re not even sure if the exit above is still open.”

“That’s the bigger problem.” Rob held up another finger. “The possibility the exit is blocked on the other side by, let’s say, a collapsed building, cannot be discounted.” Holding up a third finger, he said “And the biggest problem is that because of the explosion, more police will come. You might think we’ll have an easier time escaping in the commotion. But you shouldn’t forget this is a disaster connected to a BID operation. They’ll be on high alert. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ll call the National Guard or even the military.”

“There’s a National Guard camp near our city, over at San Domingo,” Dominic said. “They’ll be sent here for sure.”

“And there’s an Air Force Base by the airport.”

Vanessa chewed her lips, concern flashed on her face. “This is bad.”

“The National Guard, the military, more BID agents,” Rob said. “Think about it, when was the last time something this big Adumbrae related happened? The government, the people, everyone will be in full-on panic mode. Send in the cavalry. Send everyone!”

“A further exit then?” I said.

“Yes,” he said, jogging to once again get ahead of us.

Wait a minute. How did they know what happened in the cavern? Did Vanessa leave an eyeball pet there? “Excuse me,” I said. “Uh, Rob?”

“What?” he responded, but he didn’t even turn to glance at me.

“Earlier you mentioned that the big quake was because of a Greaves Reactor overload?” I said. “My parents work at Greaves, you see,” I added. And that wasn’t a lie, kinda. I didn’t give any more details and let them draw their own conclusions. “I…I just don’t understand. You mean the BID agents who attacked us killed themselves?”

“That’s merely an assumption. I didn’t see what happened; we only had Essa narrating to us what she could see before her pet was—”

“Familiar!”

“Before her familiar was destroyed.”

“Why would they do that? There'd be so many casualties because of the explosion in the middle of the city. Were they losing the fight? They were killing people left and right when I escaped.”

“They weren’t losing,” Rob said. “At first.”

“Those were BID heavyweights,” said Dominic. “Why the hell were they deployed here? Someone must’ve tipped them off about what’s going on. A fucking rat. I’ve heard a rumor of infighting in Mark’s organization.”

“The woman with the red hood and creepy mask? She must be connected to all this.”

I stored Dominic’s comment about a possible traitor in their organization in my mental filing cabinet. I directed the conversation back to the question that interested me. “Even if they were losing," I said, "they wouldn’t resort to blowing up part of the city.”

“A Cocoon formed,” Rob said.

I gasped. “A Cocoon? Who?” I wanted to ask ‘what’, but I sensed it wasn’t the correct question from someone supposedly one of them.

I only had a vague idea of what a Cocoon was. As far as I knew, it was usually formed by Adumbrae cults. A person with Adumbrae powers could easily gather followers, especially in countries where a large percentage of the population was religiously inclined.

Even here in the US, Adumbrae cults occasionally did crop up in extremely rural areas, although a bold Adumbrae might try its luck in the city. Like there was one group that called itself a “self-empowerment fellowship” discovered operating in New York City last year. An Adumbrae cult leader would use their followers to increase their power. How they actually go about doing that? I don’t know. But at some point, the cult leader would form a Cocoon using his followers. That didn’t seem to be the case here.

“Leandro,” Dominic said.

Rob clicked his tongue in disapproval. “I’m honestly surprised it was Leandro out of all of us.”

“Leandro?” I said, bringing my hand to my mouth. Who the fuck is Leandro? “How? Why him?”

“I don't know, to be honest. Our supply of pills, the monthly psychological conditioning and evaluation—pure desire shouldn’t be able to break that. But in the end, Leandro still succumbed to the Adumbrae temptation. His desire to fulfill his duty of protecting us might've overcome all the precautions.”

“Could he have skipped out?” Dominic said.

“Leandro? Unlikely,” Rob said. “He of all people knew how important the rules we follow are.”

“I still don’t understand. Even if there was a Cocoon, doesn’t it take time to form? Why immediately go for blowing up the entire place?”

“That…I’m not sure,” Rob trailed off. We could hear him scratching his beard. “Something else might've happened. You’re right, Cocoons shouldn’t have formed that fast. They’re usually cultivated for a long time. But according to Essa, a huge Cocoon rapidly formed and eventually filled the entire cavern.”

“What?" I exclaimed. "That’s huge!”

“And it was absorbing the brains of the people the agents killed,” Vanessa added. “Shouldn’t there be a willing connection if links are to be established to support a Cocoon? I didn’t know a Cocoon could just form spontaneously like that.”

“Plus, the participants should be alive. Yes, it was weird it could grow by absorbing brains. There are so many unexplained things tonight.”

Dominic snapped his fingers. “It must be that giant werewolf Vanessa saw. Everything that happened tonight must be connected to that person. Vanessa, you got a good look at her, right? Before she transformed?”

“Yes, I was just watching the screens since I didn’t have anyone to talk to since this is my first night attending.”

Rob’s footsteps became heavier, his shoulders dropped. “I should have dissuaded your father more forcefully from sending you here,” Rob said. “Foremost, I didn’t want you to see what’s happening in the arena. And now we have this unforeseen situation.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Vanessa said. “Dad wanted me to mingle with others, and I could see his point so I decided to go here. My own decision. You’re not at fault.”

“We’re all past that now,” Dominic said. “Escaping is our first goal. Then we’ll wait until Mark contacts us. We have to report the things Vanessa’s familiar saw in the cavern. Other groups might be targeting us.”

“Undermining Mark’s influence in the Adumbrae trade?” said Rob. “It’s possible that red-hooded woman was sent by the boys at Las Vegas.”

“I heard they have a new boss after Mad Hatter killed himself before the BID could catch him.”

“Not only the authorities, huh? We’re now fighting other groups too for the supply. Godammit.”

Vanessa, ever the optimist, said, “Let’s deal with our problems one by one. We focus on escaping here first."

I didn’t say anything else but I was screaming inside my head for the world to just chill out. What is all this shit they're talking about? Could everyone relax first while I sort out my life?

We continued our journey in silence, all the new information I’ve learned tumbling around in my mind. I thought the bullshit in the cavern was the shitshow to top all shitshows and that I’d already escaped the worst fiasco I’d experienced for a long time. Clearly, I was wrong. This was big. And it’s going to be an even bigger problem. Freakin’ humungous gigantosaures rex big! Buuut…I didn’t have the energy to give two shits right now about what was going to happen in the future.

I’d just deal with it when it comes.

That was future Erind’s problem. Sorry, future me.

I stared straight ahead while walking. Gazing into the darkness, just zoning out, focusing on the sounds. The hard heels of Rob's leather shoes struck the floor. The softer but still heavy footsteps of Dominic’s sneakers. A sneakers with a suit kind of guy? He sort of pulled it off but I didn’t like that style. There was the faint but annoying scratching of the eyeball pet walking behind us. And then there were my flats shuffling on the tiles, pretending I was still having difficulty walking.

Oh, I forgot…there was also Vanessa. Her bare feet scarcely made any sound. I casually looked down, trying not to make it obvious I was checking her feet. They were dirty. Duh. Good thing I didn’t wear high heels tonight. No Adumbrae could force me to run in high heels, I hadn’t unlocked that in my skill tree yet. And apparently, Vanessa didn’t have that one either.

She didn’t show any hint she was grossed out by walking barefoot, or that she was in pain or inconvenienced. Kudos to her. Being the judgmental bitch that I was, I mistakenly wrote her off as a rich girl that could barely function without the comforts and luxury she was used to.

I was human—technically, not so much now—but I should really stop being judgmental. It prevented me from making a face accurate to the person.

The reason I judged people was for making a face, which was why it was bad for me if I jumped to unfounded conclusions because it would ruin the face I was trying to craft. However, as I understood how normal people think, being judgmental was only bad if it had negative intent. I didn’t have any negative intent. So, in a sense, did it mean I couldn’t be a bad judgmental person?

What the fuck was I thinking about? I haven’t done drugs in my entire life, I swear.

During all my nonsense musings, one of Vanessa’s pets that came from another tunnel caught up to us. Rob didn’t miss the opportunity to comment.

He said, “The tiny six-legged creature was able to catch up. Let’s hasten our pace people.”

I thought Vanessa was going to argue with him but instead, she apologized to me and said, “I’m going to walk faster, Rachel. Is that okay?”

“No problem at all,” I said. “You’re practically carrying me already. I hope I’m not too heavy.” Setup for mandatory weight jokes among girls to lighten the mood.

“I have super strength, don’t worry.”

“Which means if you didn’t have super strength, you’d find me heavy?”

Fake laughter ensues. I mean, it was fake from my end but Vanessa’s laugh was probably genuine. Who cared if I faked my laughter?

As our laughter died down, I tried to observe the tunnels we passed through. I knew abandoned tunnels under cities weren’t uncommon. Like old train tunnels, maybe flood systems, sewers. But I wasn’t sure what these were supposed to be. I doubted if the 2Ms constructed them. Some tunnels were wide, almost like an underground train tunnel, others were really small, only enough for three persons abreast to pass through.

“What are these tunnels?” I asked Vanessa. “They couldn’t have been made along with the arena below the club. They’re like super old.”

“Nope, these were here way before the club. Cle—uh, Rob, yes, Rob explained to me about these tunnels before we found you. These were supposed to be bunkers constructed decades ago in case of Adumbrae attacks.”

“Adumbrae attacks? Why bunkers?”

“I think it has something do to with that Purple Bloom in the Philippines? When was it again?”

“In the seventies,” Dominic said.

“That one, yes. These bunkers were constructed during that time.”

“I’ve read about that. It was one of the biggest Purple Blooms ever, not counting the massive ones during the start of the Adumbrae invasion. The Corebrings were forced to sink some islands of the Philippines to the sea. But isn’t the Philippines far from California? There’s the entire Pacific Ocean between us.”

“I’m not sure…uh…Rob? Can you help explain?”

“It’s because a couple of Titan Adumbrae showed up in Hawaii a month after the Purple Bloom was destroyed. They apparently walked on the seafloor until they found Hawaii. I can't recall what exactly happened back then, I was only four or five years old at that time. But there were mass panics because of the very real concern that Titans could be wandering at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and they’ll eventually reach US soil.

“The panic fueled the hasty construction of these underground bunkers for major cities all along the West Coast. Nothing happened anyway, and these bunkers are just...here. Abandoned. Mark took over these with the help—”

“Someone’s coming!” Vanessa said. She pointed forward and the eyeball behind us rushed in that direction. “I wasn’t able to see clearly, but the person had a mask like ours.”

“Rob, what do we do?” Dominic said.

“Only one person?”

“Yes.”

"He's one of us!" Obviously that it was Vanessa who said that.

“Ready your trap, Dominic. We’ll see who it is.”