Himiko's comm crackled.
Then died.
"…Makoto?"
Nothing.
She tapped the side of the device.
"Makoto, do you copy?"
Static.
Then silence.
Her jaw tightened.
Across the base, Harden slowly lowered his own comm unit.
"We're cut off," he muttered.
Himiko looked at him.
"Gone?"
"No signal. No fallback pings. Nothing."
Silence.
The base shifted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
What had been tension—
snapped.
Orders were shouted.
Soldiers scrambled.
Shields were dragged—slammed into new positions, overlapping awkwardly, covering angles they hadn't needed before.
Too many directions.
Too many threats.
Spread thin.
Gunfire erupted.
Not distant this time.
Close.
Violent.
A soldier dropped near the barricade—chest blown open. Another tried to drag him back—
and was cut down mid-step.
Kaoru moved before anyone told him to.
"Move—MOVE!"
He slid across the ground, grabbing the wounded man by his vest, pulling him behind cover. Blood smeared across the concrete.
"Stay with me—hey, stay with me—!"
The man let out a low gurgle—blood bubbled in the wound.
His chest lowered.
Nothing.
Kaoru's hands shook.
Another volley hit the shields.
The ringing—
louder now.
Closer.
Aiko leaned out from behind a barricade, rifle raised.
"Left side—LEFT SIDE!"
Aliens advanced.
Fast.
Precise.
An agent stepped forward—grenade in hand.
His arm curved in an arc.
BANG
The man dropped to the floor, head carved open.
One alien raised its arm—
The small grenade rolled across the ground.
A silver sphere.
The size of a tennis ball.
It tapped against a piece of debris—
and stopped.
The aliens paused.
Just for a second.
Himiko's eyes locked onto it.
"…Grenade?"
The shell cracked.
A thin seam split across its surface—
then peeled open.
Inside—
a crystal.
Bright.
Unstable.
Gold.
It hummed—
then screamed.
The air warped.
The ground bent.
The nearest alien—
jerked.
Its body stretched—
pulled forward violently—
limbs elongating, twisting, snapping as its form warped unnaturally.
Another followed.
Then another.
The ground itself—
ripped upward.
Chunks of concrete, metal, bodies—
all dragged toward the crystal.
Stretched into thin strands—pulled apart.
Stretched into impossible lengths as they spiralled inward—
caught in orbit.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster—
until they blurred.
A vortex of flesh, metal, debris—
glowing.
Heating.
Melting.
Plasma.
Then—
flash.
The crystal detonated.
A shockwave ripped outward.
Red-hot fragments sprayed across the street—
splattering against shields, tearing through anything unprotected.
An alien soldier screamed—
cut short.
Silence followed.
Brief.
Heavy.
Smoke curled into the air.
The aliens had pulled back.
So had MEI.
Both sides reset.
Repositioned.
Watching.
Waiting.
A stalemate.
For now.
But George wasn't waiting anymore.
I didn't think—didn't hesitate.
I wasn't going to wait for someone to tell me what to do.
I ran.
Straight to the barricade.
The woman was still there.
Standing in front of it—
like before…
Arms stretched wide.
Feet shoulder-width apart.
Her lip trembled.
Her eyes empty.
No… not empty.
Overloaded.
I slowed.
My chest tightened.
I couldn't force her.
Didn't want to—
Krista stepped forward.
Past me.
Her face—
serious.
No hesitation.
The woman looked at her—
and stepped aside.
Just like that.
I exhaled.
It turns out I'd been holding my breath this whole time.
"Now," Krista said.
We moved.
The guy in the hoodie stood silently.
He watched—
Closed his fists—clenched tight.
The spiders scaled the walls.
He peered through the corner of his eye.
They had reached the floor.
"Dammit," he mumbled.
He rushed forward—towards the door.
"You're right," he said, "we're dead if we stay here"
No retort, no reply; I just smiled and nodded.
Didn't even ask why.
My smile faded.
Together we acted.
Hands on desks—
chairs—
whatever we'd used to block the door.
We shoved.
Dragged.
Pulled.
Wood scraped against tile—
loud—excruciatingly loud.
"Help!" the man in the hoodie yelled.
The others rushed in.
More hands.
More force.
The barricade broke apart piece by piece—
until the door was clear.
Open…
Freedom…
Or something like it.
People started moving fast.
Pushing past each other desperately.
I turned around—
She was still there…
The woman.
Standing where she'd been.
Except now—
She wasn't standing.
She crouched down, tucked into a tight ball.
Her shoulders shook.
Her knees covered her face—
But she still couldn't escape the sound.
I stopped.
Everyone else kept moving.
Krista grabbed my arm.
"George—"
"I'm not leaving her."
She stared at me.
Then at the woman.
Then back.
"…Fine. But please hurry."
I walked over.
Slow.
Careful.
Like approaching something fragile.
Spiders closed in, surrounding the two of us.
Clickclickclickclickclick.
I crouched down beside her.
Placed a hand on her shoulder—
She recoiled.
Hard.
Like I'd burned her.
I pulled my hand back.
"…S-sorry."
She didn't make a sound.
"What's your name?"
Silence.
Then—
"…Chloe."
Quiet.
Barely there.
"Chloe," I said, "do you have family?"
She slowly raised her head—nod.
"…yeah."
Good.
Good.
"That's good. That's something. That means you've got a reason to get out of here."
Her breathing hitched.
Didn't stabilise.
Nor improve.
She just—
broke harder.
"I can't— I can't— I can't—"
Krista stepped in.
"George, we need to go."
"I know."
"You clearly don't."
"I'm not leaving her."
"We'll all die if you stay here!"
"I said I'm not—"
Chloe sobbed.
Louder now.
Shaking.
Uncontrollable.
I didn't know what to do.
Didn't know what to say.
Words—
useless.
Krista exhaled sharply.
Then—
slap.
It felt as though the slap had stopped time itself.
The sound cracked through the room.
Chloe froze—head still turned like her mind hadn't even comprehended it.
Mid-breath.
Krista grabbed her arm.
"Move."
Chloe stumbled—
but moved.
I didn't argue—
didn't question it.
We ran.
The corridor was chaos.
Bodies—
everywhere.
Students.
Some moving—
crawling laboriously along the ground as the spiders gnawed away at their flesh.
Most were already gone…
Or had already given up—
waiting for death to release them.
The spiders… they were everywhere.
Crawling over walls.
Ceilings.
Through vents.
Over bodies—
into them.
A scream echoed down the hall—
Then cut off.
I didn't look.
Couldn't.
"THIS WAY!" Krista shouted.
We turned.
Ran.
Feet slammed against tile—
echoing—
A group ahead—
blocked.
Spiders swarmed over them.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Climbing.
Biting.
Burrowing.
They couldn't even scream in time—
They dropped fast.
We took another turn.
Dead end.
"Shit—"
"Back—!"
No.
Too late.
They were already behind us.
Crawling.
Filling the corridor.
Walls.
Floor.
Ceiling.
Everywhere.
Closing in.
Chloe whimpered.
I stepped in front of her.
Pointless.
Completely and utterly.
But I did it anyway.
Then—
They stopped.
All of them.
At once.
Silence.
I didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
One of them shifted.
Then another.
Then—
They started crawling toward each other.
Not toward us.
Toward each other.
Their tiny bodies collided.
Merged.
Metal fused.
They carried pieces of flesh and fabric—wrapping themselves up in them.
Limbs twisted—
reformed—
collapsed inward.
More joined.
More and more—
until they formed a mass.
A ball.
Pulsing.
Shifting.
Growing.
Wrapped in the stolen remains of students.
A leg pushed out from the surface.
Then another.
And another.
The shape stretched—
expanded—
pulled itself upward—
dropped down to the floor—
Then lifted itself up again.
Limbs began to form.
A torso.
A head.
Not quite right—
Like it was trying to replicate things it didn't understand.
Too many joints.
Too many eyes.
Too smooth—
and too broken at the same time.
It finished forming.
Towering over us silently.
Watching.
Then it looked at me.
Like it had chosen.
Like I was the only thing in the room.
My chest tightened.
Cold.
Heavy.
Predator.
I felt it.
Deep in my bones.
That instinct.
Run.
Get out.
Hide.
Too late.
It tilted its head.
And smiled.