The spider descended with terrifying swiftness, its massive body casting an ominous shadow over us. I watched in horror as it came into the glare of my flashlight. The sight of it in full, grotesque detail—a chitinous exoskeleton, legs ending in sharp points, and a mouth full of venomous fangs—triggered a primal fear in me. I wanted to scream and flee. I fucking hate spiders!

Before I could react Beth and Trevor opened fire, their rifles booming in the confined space. Bullets struck the spider's body only to ping off the spider’s armoured body, ricocheting wildly in the confined space of the tunnel. One whizzed past my ear snapping me out of my terror. I dove to floor and crawled, desperate to escape the descending terror. A thud and then I turned my head and this time I did scream. The spider was on the ground and its sheer disgusting visage almost made me piss myself. It’s front legs rose high into the air and were about to stab into me. Strong hands grabbed me under my armpits and hauled me back to my feet and to safety. It was Trevor.

“Starting to understand why nobody uses the underground,” he remarked.

The spider reared up onto its back legs, it was vast. The bulbous body filled my vision and its quivering abdomen pulsed. I shouted a warning as thick spurts of webbing shot out of it. Ethan cried out as he was struck, the web tying him up with a thick sticky rope. Panic flashed in his eyes as he struggled against the bonds, the spider preparing to claim him.

Without a second thought, and with fear replaced by pure adrenaline I scrambled over to him and drew my trusty knife from its sheathe on my hip. I leapt to his side my knife flashing in the dim light as I desperately hacked at the webs. The strands were tough, designed to hold much larger prey, but desperation lent strength to my arms. Trevor and Beth opened fire once more this time aiming for the spider’s fleshy head. It’s screeched in pain as bullets shredded one of its eyes.

Finally, Ethan was freed, he gasped for breath as he stumbled into my arms. Then came more sounds, from all around us. It was the sounds of countless other mutant spiders, their skittering legs echoing through the tunnels.

“We gotta move!” I bellowed.

I pushed Ethan ahead of me and after a final burst of gunfire Beth and Trevor were hot on our heels. The tunnels, once a silent grave for the city above, were now alive with the movements of their monstrous arachnid inhabitants. More and more spiders emerged from the dark recesses of the tunnel. Each was the size of a small dog, their colour a sickly luminous white and their myriad of yellow eyes glowed in the gloom.

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As we ran, the thickness of the webs increased, a clear sign of the spiders' dominion over the underground. Every surface was covered, every shadow a potential hiding place for another of these creatures.

"We can't outrun them!" Trevor yelled, his voice edged with panic.

"We have to outrun them, just keep moving!" I shouted back, leading the charge toward what I hoped was an exit. The idea of being enveloped by this horde, to become just another drained corpse left in these tunnels, pushed me to run harder.

Suddenly, a spider lunged from the shadows, its mandibles snapping inches from my face. I dodged and countered with a powerful kick, feeling a satisfying crunch and a spray of black ichor as the creature was dispatched.

“There should be another tunnel just up ahead," I shouted over my shoulder, as Beth's rifle fire echoed in the confined space, dispatching several of the smaller spiders in explosive bursts. My mind worked frantically, recalling the layout of the tunnels. Not far from here, there was another station. My heart raced as I navigated the terrain, every surface cloaked in dense webs that made each step a battle. Aiming my flashlight forward, a wave of relief washed over me at the sight of the tunnel's end and the station platform beyond.

"We're almost there!"

Driven by urgency, I pressed forward, the sound of webbing tearing accompanying each step. The noise of skittering around us grew to an overwhelming cacophony, but I refused to glance back, knowing the horror that awaited in the darkness.

Behind me, Trevor and Ethan's gunfire rang out as they fought to keep the spiders at bay. At last, we broke free from the tunnel's clutches, and I scrambled onto the platform. Turning back, I extended my hand to Beth, who grasped it firmly, allowing me to pull her up beside me. Her hair clung to her sweat-slicked forehead, and her breaths came heavy and laboured—mirror images of my own exhaustion. Slipping my rifle from my shoulder, I urged Trevor and Ethan to quicken their pace. As they joined us on the platform, I raised my weapon and opened fire, eliminating a dozen more of the relentless eight legged fuckers. With Trevor and Ethan now safely on the platform we sprinted towards the nearby stairs. Like the other station there were two escalators with a wide staircase in the middle. We bounded up them desperate to see daylight. The spiders were still in pursuit but as soon as we reached the ruins of the ticket lobby they slowed. A ray of sunlight pierced the grime covered windows of the concourse keeping the creatures of darkness at bay.

"Ha!" Trevor exclaimed, relief and triumph in his voice. "Guess you lucked out, you little shits."