The acrid smoke from the hospital explosion burned Ralphie’s lungs as he crouched behind a fallen support beam. The abandoned building was creepier than anything he could have imagined. As Nigel and Raven checked their weapons, he examined the room for any clues as to the building’s function. Books and various texts were strewn throughout the large room.
Is this an old library?
His hands trembled as he checked the medical supplies in his pack, mentally cataloging everything they’d salvaged. The memory of the twisted Jack-in-the-box creature kept invading his mind, making his stomach churn.
“We need to move,” Raven whispered, peering through a broken window. “That explosion’s going to bring every Evolutionist patrol in the sector down on us. And who knows what other experiments they’ve got prowling these streets.”
Ralphie’s thoughts turned to Blanka, lying weak and feverish in their hidden sanctuary across the city. Would these supplies be enough? Would they even make it back in time? The weight of responsibility pressed down on him like a physical force.
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“I hear something,” Nigel hissed, pressing himself against the wall.
Through the broken windows, Ralphie could make out shapes moving in the smoke-filled street. The silhouettes were wrong somehow - too tall, too angular. A sound reached his ears, like metal scraping against concrete, accompanied by an inhuman chittering.
“More hybrids,” Raven confirmed, her voice barely audible. “Different from what we saw in the hospital. These look like the spider-class experiments.”
Ralphie’s blood ran cold. He’d heard stories about the spider hybrids - how they would wrap their victims in synthetic webbing before dragging them back to their nests for “processing.” He clutched his rifle tighter, trying to control his breathing.
“We can’t engage them,” Nigel said, checking his ammunition. “We’re too exposed here, and we need to conserve what we have left.”
“There’s a maintenance tunnel entrance two blocks from here,” Raven replied, already making a plan. “If we can reach it, we might bypass their patrol entirely.”
Ralphie nodded, though his heart was hammering in his chest. The tunnels were dangerous - everyone knew that - but they were running out of options. As he adjusted his pack, a small vial of antibiotics clinked against another container. The sound, though quiet, seemed to echo in the tense silence.
The chittering outside stopped abruptly.
“They heard us,” Raven breathed. “Get ready to run.”