When Alaric Thomas pulled a low-recoil Glock from his backpack, complete with an extended magazine, suppressor, and compact optic, Juno and the others stared at him in disbelief.
Beth, being his teacher, couldn’t stop herself from asking where he had gotten so much equipment.
“Chief Peter helped arrange it,” Alaric answered while checking the pistol before handing it to her.
Alaric didn’t expect Beth or the others to suddenly become capable of fighting the Crawlers on equal terms.
He only wanted them to have enough protection to keep themselves alive for a little longer if the group was attacked again.
If everyone died and the creatures focused entirely on him, his own situation would become far more troublesome.
Beth accepted the pistol after a moment of hesitation.
If Chief Peter was involved, the explanation wasn’t completely unbelievable because people around town had heard plenty of rumors about the police chief using his position to arrange questionable deals.
Beth didn’t like it, but this was hardly the time to argue about legal technicalities.
Rebecca looked down at her injured hands and gave a bitter laugh.
The rope burns had torn open both palms badly enough that gripping a firearm properly would be difficult.
“I don’t think I’m going to be much use with one of those.” “I’m not very good with guns either,” Sam admitted weakly.
Sarah immediately took the pistol Alaric prepared for her.
She had been the first person to see one of the Crawlers and was still visibly terrified, so simply having a weapon in her hands seemed to calm her slightly.
Sam only accepted another pistol after Alaric insisted she take it.
Alaric handed one to Holly as well.
Her broken leg meant she had almost no chance of outrunning anything in these tunnels, so at the very least he wanted her capable of defending herself.
Even if she couldn’t survive, injuring one of the Crawlers before dying would still help the rest of them.
Only Juno refused.
She still desperately wanted to believe the creature Sarah had seen was some kind of hallucination caused by fear and exhaustion.
In Juno’s mind, nothing remotely human could survive generation after generation in such a brutal underground environment.
Sarah looked ready to hit her for continuing to say it.
Alaric didn’t waste time arguing.
Since Juno didn’t want the pistol, he simply returned it to his pack.
The group reorganized themselves and continued looking for another route out of the cave.
Holly’s injury reduced their speed dramatically.
Juno and Sarah had to help support her while everyone else moved cautiously through the uneven passages.
For Alaric, however, moving slowly wasn’t necessarily a problem because his real goal was still finding and containing one of the Crawlers.
They had made enough noise to attract half the cave, yet the creatures hadn’t openly attacked again.
Alaric found that strange because he knew they were somewhere nearby.
The silence made the darkness even more unsettling.
After traveling for a while, everyone heard the steady sound of dripping water.
Juno immediately moved ahead and found water running down part of the rock wall from somewhere above.
The sight gave her hope because flowing water might indicate another chamber or a path toward the surface.
She quickly secured a climbing anchor and prepared to ascend.
Rebecca watched her with concern.
“Juno, slow down.
We should climb together.” She glanced toward the darkness around them before adding, “Sarah and Alaric may be right.
There could actually be something living down here.” Instead of listening, Juno climbed faster.
She needed to prove there were no monsters.
“Maybe there’s an exit above us,” she called down.
“If we’re careful, we’ll be fine.” A few moments later, Juno suddenly went silent.
Rebecca called her name several times.
There was no answer.
Everyone exchanged nervous looks before following the anchors Juno had already placed.
Alaric climbed behind the others while carrying Holly with one arm, his fused strength making the extra weight surprisingly manageable.
Despite holding an injured person, he moved no slower than most of the group.
When they finally reached the upper ledge, everyone understood why Juno had stopped talking.
There was no exit.
Instead, shallow pools covered parts of the uneven cavern floor, and piles of white bones were scattered everywhere.
Human skulls lay mixed with animal remains while larger heaps disappeared into the shadows.
Whatever lived here had been feeding in this cave for a very long time.
No one needed Alaric to explain what that meant.
They had entered the feeding ground of a predator.
Even Juno could no longer pretend there was nothing dangerous underground.
Alaric lowered Holly beside the others and quietly drew his pistol.
Their helmet lights revealed only part of the chamber, but his Enhanced Vision allowed him to see much farther into the darkness.
Something was clinging to the rock above them.
For the first time, Alaric got a clear look at one of the Crawlers.
The creature was pale and almost completely hairless, with a thin but muscular body shaped by a lifetime of crawling through narrow tunnels.
Its skin was grayish-white rather than blue, and its eyes were nearly useless, forcing it to depend heavily on hearing and smell.
Its mouth opened wider than expected, exposing sharp teeth meant for tearing flesh.
It looked disturbingly human.
That was probably the worst part.
Rebecca noticed Alaric staring upward and lowered her voice.
“Did you see something?” Alaric raised his pistol and aimed at the wall above them.
Juno and the others instinctively followed his line of sight.
The Crawler shifted.
Its pale face briefly appeared between the rocks.
Rebecca screamed.
Bang!
Bang!
Alaric fired twice.
Both rounds struck the Crawler across the upper body, knocking it from the wall.
The creature hit the ground with a shriek before immediately scrambling into another dark passage.
It moved so quickly that Alaric couldn’t get a clean follow-up shot.
“Stop screaming!” Alaric snapped.
“Do you want every one of them in this cave to know exactly where we are?” Rebecca looked offended despite her fear.
“I don’t even have a gun!” Sam was already crying again.
She had the weakest nerves in the group and had barely managed to keep herself together after Sarah’s earlier warning.
If Alaric hadn’t been standing beside her, she might already have panicked and run blindly through the cave.
Beth wasn’t much calmer.
Holly looked worse than everyone.
Her broken leg made the situation painfully obvious.
If the creature returned, she would be the easiest target in the entire group.
Everyone else could at least attempt to run.
Alaric quickly reached into his backpack and pulled out the pistol Juno had refused earlier.
This time, she took it without arguing.
“We need to leave,” Juno said immediately.
“These bones mean this could be their feeding area.” Alaric shook his head.
His Enhanced Vision caught several shapes moving through the darkness ahead.
Too many.
“It’s already too late,” he said quietly.
“There are several of them coming from the front.” Everyone froze.
Alaric looked upward.
“And more above us.” The first Crawler dropped.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Gunfire exploded through the cavern.
Screams and the shrill cries of the Crawlers mixed together as the group fired wildly into the darkness.
The creatures moved across the walls and ceiling with terrifying speed, appearing in the light for only a second before vanishing again.
Their easiest target was obvious.
Holly.
Sarah’s nerves finally broke.
Her eyes widened in terror as she fired several uncontrolled shots toward the nearest movement before suddenly turning and running.
Within seconds, she disappeared into one of the passages.
Alaric kept firing.
Juno remained beside Holly while Beth stayed closer to Alaric and fired whenever she saw movement.
Sam, however, froze completely when several Crawlers rushed into the chamber at once.
The pistol shook violently in her hands, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger.
Then she ran.
“Sam!” Rebecca shouted.
Sam disappeared into the dark tunnel behind them.
Rebecca had no firearm and couldn’t fight effectively with her injured hands, so she immediately chased after her sister.
Within moments, the original group had already begun splitting apart in different directions.
Four pistols continued firing.
It wasn’t enough.
The Crawlers seemed to be everywhere.
One broke through their line and lunged directly at Holly.
She screamed as the creature crashed into her.
Holly desperately tried to raise her pistol, but the Crawler bit into her throat before she could aim.
Her scream turned into a choking sound and quickly stopped.
Blood poured across the stone beneath her.
More Crawlers immediately swarmed the body.
They tore into Holly as the others watched in horror.
Juno froze.
Beth nearly collapsed.
The sight of their friend being eaten alive shattered whatever control they had left.
Another Crawler rushed Juno.
She was knocked onto her back before she could react and immediately began kicking and struggling beneath it.
The creature clawed at her while she desperately tried to keep its jaws away from her face.
“Beth!” Juno screamed.
“Help me!” Beth turned toward Alaric with tears in her eyes.
“What do we do?” Alaric had expected something like this from the beginning.
These people weren’t soldiers.
They were explorers trapped in an underground feeding ground.
“Beth, run,” he said.
She stared at him.
“Go!” Beth finally turned and fled after the others.
Alaric reached into his equipment and pulled out two M67 fragmentation grenades.
He held them for a moment, waited until enough Crawlers crowded around Holly’s body, then armed them and rolled them across the cavern floor.
The metallic movement barely drew the creatures’ attention.
They were too busy feeding.
Juno was still struggling nearby.
She clearly wasn’t ready to die.
Alaric moved behind a heavy section of rock and crouched low.
Boom!
Boom!
The explosions shook the entire chamber.
Dust and shattered stone blasted through the air while several Crawlers were thrown away from Holly’s body.
The cave trembled violently, and loose rocks fell from the ceiling hard enough to make Alaric wonder whether he had just buried himself underground.
For several seconds, the cavern continued shaking.
Then it stopped.
The ceiling held.
Alaric exhaled slowly.
He summoned the Two of Spades.
Saw-Tooth emerged beside him.
The hulking cannibal stood in the darkness with his weapon ready while Alaric produced the empty Ghost Cards he intended to use for containment.
If bullets weren’t enough to disable the Crawlers, grenades should at least have weakened something enough for the cards to recognize.
Alaric waited until the dust began settling.
Everything had become strangely quiet.
He carefully leaned around the rock.
His Enhanced Vision swept across the chamber.
Then Alaric immediately pulled his head back.
His expression changed completely.
It was as if he had just seen a ghost.