THE ROAD LEARNS OUR NAME They ran south until the barking faded behind them.
The service road bent between two rows of warehouses, then opened into a wider lane where broken delivery trucks sat at odd angles.
Some had doors open.
Some still had hazard lights blinking without rhythm, weak orange pulses against wet metal.
Ren slowed first.
Not because he wanted to.
Because his legs had started making choices without him.
Shizuka stayed beside him, one hand near the baton hidden under her sleeve, the other gripping the strap of the pale blue bag.
Amamiya stumbled in behind them, holding the fake courier box under one arm like he hated it personally.
Behind them, the Shirakawa alarm faded into the rain.
Ahead, the road did not look safer.
It only looked different.
Ren stopped behind an abandoned truck and leaned one hand against the cold side panel.
His head still throbbed from the clerk.
From the word.
Stay.
From the way the timer had frozen.
Shizuka watched his face.
“Sit.” “I’m fine.” “That was not what I said.” Amamiya bent over with both hands on his knees.
“I support sitting.
I also support lying down and pretending we died already.” Shizuka ignored him.
Ren slid down until his back touched the truck tire.
Ten seconds felt too good.
That made him hate it.
The system opened.
— FATIGUE: MODERATE — — SYSTEM LOAD: ELEVATED — — RECOVERY WINDOW: SHORT — — PURSUIT RISK: ACTIVE — Ren blinked until the words cleared.
Shizuka crouched in front of him.
“What?” “My head hurts.” “From earlier?” “Yes.” “Then don’t do that again unless there is no choice.” Ren looked at her.
She held his stare.
“No point running into trouble we can avoid,” she said.
“We already have enough chasing us.” Amamiya lifted one finger.
“If this is about what he did to the clerk, I vote no.
I was standing beside him and almost lost my soul being scared shitless.” Ren pushed himself up.
“Keep moving.” Shizuka rose with him.
“You sat for seven seconds.” “Close enough.” “Not close.” Ren adjusted the strap on his bag and kept walking.
The Shirakawa alarm had faded behind them, but that did not make the road feel clear.
The buildings ahead stood too quiet.
Shutters were down.
Delivery signs swung in the rain.
A row of broken trucks blocked half the lane, their hazard lights blinking weak orange through the grey morning.
Ren’s phone buzzed against his thigh.
Not an official alert.
A forum notification.
He stopped beside an abandoned truck and pulled the phone from his pocket.
The battery sat at sixty-two percent.
Better than before, but not enough to waste.
He took his powerbank from his own bag and checked the small display.
Forty-one percent.
The hotel charge had helped.
He plugged the cable in and kept the phone low.
Shizuka noticed.
“Battery?” “Sixty-two.” “Powerbank?” “Forty-one.” “Alright.
Keep charging while we walk.” Ren nodded.
“You have yours?” She tapped the side pocket of the pale blue bag.
“Thirty-eight.” “Keep yours for your phone and light.” “Alright.” The notification opened from the lock screen.
[Thread] Police firing near Tama River.
Dogs?
anon47291: Not dogs.
I was there.
One came out of the drain.
Front legs too long.
Jaw split wrong.
riverwatch88: You sure it wasn’t injured?
anon47291: Injured animals don’t take three bullets and keep running.
kawa_live12: Same thing near Kawasaki warehouse road.
Police told us to leave, then started shooting.
drainrat003: Stop standing near drains.
I’m serious.
Ren read the last reply twice.
Shizuka looked at the road ahead.
“What?” “Drains,” Ren said.
“People are warning each other.” Amamiya glanced at the gutter near his foot and stepped away.
“Scared people are very informative.” Shizuka kept walking.
“Then listen.” Ren locked the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, but the warning stayed in his head.
Drains.
Trucks.
Ground movement.
He looked at the road again.
Too many places for something to hide.
A scream cut across the lane.
Not behind them.
Ahead.
Ren turned.
Shizuka moved first, but not toward the scream.
She moved in front of Ren, then angled toward the corner of the road.
A man ran out from between two parked trucks.
White wristband.
Work jacket.
Blood on his calf.
He ran three steps before something black shot from under the truck and caught his ankle.
He went down hard, his face hitting the road first.
“Help me!” The thing under the truck pulled again.
The man screamed louder.
Ren saw legs.
Too many.
Black shell.
Mandibles clicking against wet concrete.
An ant.
The size of a cat.
The system opened.
— MUTATED INSECT DETECTED — — SPECIES BASE: ANT — — SIZE VARIANCE: EXTREME — — MIASMA TRACE: MODERATE — — THREAT LEVEL: HIGH — More movement came from under the truck.
A second ant came out.
Then a third.
Then more.
The man clawed at the road with both hands while Ren measured the distance.
Six ants were already out from under the truck, the man was trapped, and there was no way to help.
Shizuka held his arm.
“No.” Ren’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not going.” The man’s scream broke.
The ants swarmed over him.
Amamiya backed up.
“That is not an ant.
That is a nightmare with legs.” The man’s hand slapped the road once.
Then again.
Then stopped.
A white wristband slid free from his arm and spun across the wet asphalt.
An ant climbed over it like it meant nothing.
Ren stepped back.
The ants dragged the man under the truck.
Wet sounds followed.
Amamiya covered his mouth.
Shizuka’s face stayed still.
Ren looked away first.
The system pulsed.
— HARVEST EVENT DETECTED — — COUNT: +1 — — LOCAL STABILITY: DECREASING — Ren swallowed.
The man had not died cleanly.
The harvest still took him.
No waste.
No escape.
Not from teeth.
Not from insects.
Shizuka saw enough in his face.
“Move.” Ren nodded.
They crossed to the other side of the road and slipped behind a row of storage units.
The ants stayed with the body, clicking under the truck.
For now.
The next road was worse.
A crowd had formed near a food checkpoint where SDF soldiers had placed metal barricades around a cold storage entrance.
People pressed against the barrier with empty bags, empty bottles, and faces that had already stopped expecting polite answers.
A soldier shouted through a loudspeaker.
“Step back.
Distribution is controlled.
Step back.” A bottle flew.
It hit a shield.
Another soldier raised his rifle.
A woman screamed, “We have children!” Someone else shouted, “Then sign for work!” A man in a white wristband stood behind the soldiers, handing boxes from a refrigerated truck to another line of workers.
No food went to the crowd.
Ren saw a child near the barricade fall.
Not collapse.
Fall because the crowd pushed.
The child disappeared below knees and bags.
Shizuka’s hand found Ren’s sleeve.
Not holding him back this time.
Holding him steady.
The system opened.
— CROWD CRUSH RISK: HIGH — — FOOD ACCESS LINKED TO LABOR STATUS — — VIOLENCE PROBABILITY: HIGH — A shot cracked from somewhere to the left.
Everyone froze.
Then the screaming doubled.
Ren saw police near the far end of the checkpoint.
They were not firing at civilians.
They were firing at something near a drainage ditch.
A dog burst from behind a barricade.
Its front legs were too long.
Its jaw hung wrong.
One officer fired twice.
The dog kept moving.
A third shot took it down.
Then another animal climbed from the ditch behind it.
A boar, maybe.
At least, it had been one once.
Its back had split into hard ridges, and black fluid ran from its mouth.
The officers fired again.
The crowd broke.
People slammed into the barricades, into soldiers, into each other.
Ren saw a man fall under the crowd.
Then a woman.
Then someone stopped screaming because the crowd stepped over them too many times.
The system opened.
— HARVEST EVENT DETECTED — — COUNT: +4 — — CAUSE MIXED — — PANIC — — CRUSH TRAUMA — — ANIMAL ATTACK — Ren’s vision tightened.
Shizuka pulled his sleeve.
“Don’t look too long.” Ren looked at her.
Her face was close.
Rain dotted her hair.
Her hand stayed around his sleeve like it belonged there.
“You don’t go in there,” she said.
“I’m not.” “Good.” Amamiya nodded too fast.
“Good is correct.
I love good.
Good keeps us away from bullets and screaming pigs.” Ren looked back at the checkpoint.
The child was gone under the crowd.
Maybe someone had pulled them out.
Maybe not.
Ren did not know.
He hated not knowing.
He hated knowing it would not change what he had to do.
“Side road,” he said.
Shizuka let go only after he turned away.
They took a narrow lane between a tire shop and a shuttered café.
The café window had been smashed.
Someone had written NO FOOD INSIDE across the counter in black marker.
Amamiya glanced in.
“There might still be sugar packets.” Shizuka looked at him.
He raised both hands.
“Not going in.” “Good.” Ren’s phone buzzed again.
Another forum notification.
He kept walking while opening it.
[Thread] Ants at the truck stop.
Cat-sized.
I have video.
anon19044: Post the video.
truckstop_ken: Upload keeps failing.
It’s not normal ants.
Black shells.
Big enough to drag a bag.
skeptic771: Bait.
truckstop_ken: Not bait.
My brother got bit near the service road.
medstudent_02: Did he go to a hospital?
truckstop_ken: He stopped answering.
drainrat003: If you hear clicking under a truck, leave.
Don’t check.
Don’t help.
Leave.
Ren lowered the phone.
They had already heard the clicking.
They had already seen the rest.
Shizuka looked at him.
“More?” “Same thing.
Ants.
Drains.
Trucks.” “Then no trucks.” “No drains either.” Amamiya looked at the road ahead.
“So we are choosing walls and prayer.” “Walls first,” Shizuka said.
Ren slipped the phone back into his pocket, the cable still connected to the powerbank in his bag.
They moved through the back of a delivery yard where workers had abandoned pallets and plastic bins.
A body lay near the fence, face down in rainwater.
No blood.
No bite.
No bullet.
Ren slowed.
The system opened.
— HARVEST EVENT RESIDUE — — TIME SINCE DEATH: RECENT — — ANCHOR RESPONSE: FAILED — The dead man’s hand was clenched around a silver ring.
His knuckles had gone white.
Shizuka stopped beside Ren.
“What?” Ren looked at the ring.
“He was holding something.” “A ring?” “Maybe it was supposed to help.” Amamiya stayed a few steps back.
“Help with what?” Ren did not answer directly.
“Did workers carry personal items when moving Shirakawa goods?” Amamiya looked at the body.
“Yes.
Workers started doing it after rumors spread.
Rings, toys, charms, photos.
Anything tied to someone.
They thought it gave them more time.” Shizuka looked at the dead man’s hand.
“Did it?” Amamiya swallowed.
“For some.
Maybe.” Ren looked at the ring.
The system pulsed.
— ANCHOR FAILURE CONFIRMED — — HARVEST DELAY FAILED — He said only, “Not enough anymore.” Shizuka heard the hidden part.
Amamiya heard the part Ren allowed.
They moved on.
More bodies appeared as they neared the outer service roads.
A woman slumped against a shutter, fingers still wrapped around a child’s keychain.
Two workers lying beside stacked crates, both wearing white wristbands.
A police officer sitting with his back to a patrol car, eyes open, one hand still on the radio.
No pattern the old world would understand.
The system counted.
— HARVEST EVENT RESIDUE — — COUNT: +2 — Then later.
— HARVEST EVENT RESIDUE — — COUNT: +3 — Then.
— HARVEST EVENT RESIDUE — — COUNT: +1 — Ren stopped reading each one.
Not because they stopped mattering.
Because reading them did not help him carry Shizuka, Hayato, the route card, the bag, the road, and all the dead at the same time.
A low thump rolled across the city.
Not close.
Big enough to move through the ground.
Ren looked toward the sound.
A column of black smoke rose beyond the warehouse roofs.
Then another alert hit every phone still alive.
^^ BREAKING NEWS ^^ A helicopter believed to be carrying a senior Shirakawa Holdings executive has crashed near the southern coastal corridor.
Emergency crews are responding.
Cause unknown.
A video began playing on a public screen above the café.
Grainy footage.
A helicopter crossing a grey sky.
Clean black body.
White Shirakawa mark on the side.
It shuddered once.
Then tilted hard.
For one second, something dark moved across the cabin window.
The feed froze.
Then cut to an anchor at a desk trying to look calm.
<< Officials have not confirmed the passenger list.
Shirakawa Holdings has released a short statement saying they are cooperating with authorities.
>> Ren’s phone buzzed again.
This time the forum thread title was already enough.
[Thread] Shirakawa VP helicopter went down.
Engine failure my ass.
frame_check09: Look at the window before it drops.
Something moves inside.
mirror_slow: Could be reflection.
frame_check09: Reflections don’t hit the pilot.
routeworker77: My cousin works near the route.
They closed the road before the news even posted.
anon55201: They are saying no passenger list.
That means someone important was inside.
archive_boy: Someone saved the video.
Mirrors keep getting deleted.
burner303: Stop saying Shirakawa.
Accounts are getting banned.
Amamiya read over Ren’s shoulder and went quiet.
Shizuka noticed.
“What?” Amamiya pointed at the screen.
“That is worse than a crash.” “Why?” “Because they are cleaning it too fast.” Ren locked the phone.
“Shirakawa?” “Or someone with the same broom.” The road ahead narrowed into a long service lane lined by storage buildings.
At the far end, a convoy moved across the intersection.
Three black SUVs.
Two white Shirakawa vans.
One armored truck with no company markings.
Men with rifles walked beside it.
Not police.
Not SDF.
Their clothes were plain, but their movement was not.
Shizuka slowed.
“They are not guards.” Ren nodded.
Amamiya lowered his voice.
“Company guards don’t move like that.” The system opened.
— PARAMILITARY ESCORT DETECTED — — AFFILIATION: SHIRAKAWA-LINKED — — THREAT LEVEL: HIGH — — AVOID CONTACT — Ren did not say the word.
Not with Amamiya there.
He only said, “We wait.” They crouched behind a row of vending machines.
The convoy rolled past the intersection.
The last van had one side window cracked.
A hand pressed against the glass from inside.
Then vanished.
A worker?
A prisoner?
Someone alive.
Ren watched the convoy pass.
Shizuka watched him.
“You are thinking.” “I am watching.” “You watch first.
Then think.
Then get pulled into things.” “I’m not chasing a convoy.” “Say it again.” Ren looked at her.
“I’m not chasing the convoy.” “Good.” Amamiya whispered, “I love decisions that do not involve rifles.” The convoy turned toward the coastal route.
Then gunfire started somewhere beyond it.
Short bursts.
Not the same as police firing at animals.
This was people firing at people.
A public screen switched again.
<< REPORTS OF ARMED ATTACKS ON CORPORATE CONVOYS >> Several convoys linked to private logistics groups have reportedly come under attack by armed civilian groups.
Authorities urge citizens to avoid transport roads.
Ren’s phone buzzed almost immediately.
[Thread] Shirakawa convoy hit near Odawara.
Black cases again.
roadcam81: Militia hit them.
Not police.
I saw one van burning.
ricebag_man: Were they carrying food?
roadcam81: No.
Cases.
Small black ones.
Too many guards for food.
ghostmirror22: Someone leaked files from a warehouse outpost.
Kuroshima was in the file names.
skeptic771: Post proof.
ghostmirror22: They wiped the server before the upload finished.
Only the file names got out.
lurker558: What file names?
ghostmirror22: Rift control.
Anchor failure.
Count shortfall.
Server purge.
skeptic771: That sounds fake.
burner303: Then why do the videos keep disappearing?
Amamiya read over Ren’s shoulder.
“That one is real enough to get people killed.” Ren locked the phone.
“Then we move before it gets us killed too.” They waited until the intersection cleared, then crossed behind a parked delivery truck and took another side lane.
Shizuka stayed close.
Amamiya kept checking behind them.
Ren kept his phone low but did not open it again until Hayato’s group chat buzzed.
~~ Hayato: Ren.
The leak is everywhere now.
People are saying Shirakawa is trying to take the Rift before the government locks it down.
~~ A second message came.
~~ Hayato: Someone posted file names.
Kuroshima.
Rift control.
Anchor engineer failure.
Minimum count shortfall.
Server purge.
I don’t know what half of it means.
~~ Then another.
~~ Hayato: Sato told me to stop reading but that made me read faster.
Don’t tell her.
~~ Shizuka read over Ren’s shoulder.
“She will know.” “She will,” Ren said.
He typed.
~~ Ren: Stop opening unknown files.
Screenshot only.
Keep Mrs.
Takane and Airi inside.
Curtains closed.
~~ Hayato replied.
~~ Hayato: Already closed.
Mrs.
Takane said the air feels wrong today.
I hate when old people say things like that.
~~ Another message.
~~ Hayato: Also Airi keeps bowing to me every time I bring water.
Please come back before I become someone’s emotional support furniture.
~~ Ren smiled despite the road.
Small.
Tired.
Shizuka saw it.
“Hayato?” “Still Hayato.” “Good.” Amamiya glanced at the phone.
“Your friend sounds like he is surviving through complaints.” “He is.” “That is a valid method.” They reached a small underpass where the road dipped below an old rail line.
A Shirakawa van had crashed nose-first into the concrete wall.
Its rear doors hung open.
Papers spilled across the wet ground.
One black case lay broken beside the van, empty.
Two men in Shirakawa jackets were dead.
One had been shot.
The other had no wound Ren could see.
Spray paint marked the wall.
MILITIA ROAD CLAIM Below it, someone had written: WHERE IS KUROSHIMA?
Amamiya crouched near the papers but did not touch them.
“They hit this convoy too.” Shizuka checked the road behind them.
“Still here?” “Not the militia.
Too quiet.” Ren picked up one sheet with the edge of his sleeve.
Most of it was soaked.
A few words remained.
RIFT SITE CONTROL GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT DELAY ENGINEER ANCHOR FAILURE KUROSHIMA PRIORITY TRANSFER SERVER PURGE COMPLETE Ren showed it to Shizuka.
She read fast.
“Server purge.” “They wiped the data,” Ren said.
Amamiya looked over.
“After militia got in.
Or while they were still inside.
Shirakawa would rather burn the house down than let people see inside.” A sound came from the van.
A faint scrape.
Shizuka lifted the baton.
Ren moved to the rear door.
A man lay half-hidden under the collapsed seat frame.
Alive.
Barely.
Not Shirakawa jacket.
Militia maybe.
His face was covered in blood.
One hand clutched a small storage drive against his chest.
Ren crouched.
The man’s eyes opened.
“Don’t take it,” he whispered.
Ren said, “I’m not.” The man laughed once.
It came out wet.
“Everyone takes.” Shizuka looked at the road.
“We need to go.” The man’s hand shook.
“Upload failed.” Ren looked at the drive.
“How much got out?” “Enough to make them kill everyone.” Amamiya crouched beside Ren, but not too close.
“Who hit the convoy?” The man’s eyes moved to him.
“People who got tired.” “Militia?” “Name changes.
Anger doesn’t.” His fingers loosened around the drive.
Ren did not reach for it.
The man noticed.
“You’re strange.” “No.” “You didn’t take.” “Not yet.” The man smiled like that was the only honest answer he had heard all day.
Then his face tightened.
He looked past Ren.
“Do not go to the road.” Ren went still.
“What road?” “South service road.
Shirakawa engineers.
They are losing it.” “What are they losing?” The man’s eyes rolled for a second, then came back.
“The anchors.” The system opened.
— TERM MATCH — — ANCHOR FAILURE — — ENGINEER FAILURE — — PROXIMITY: NEAR — The man coughed.
Blood ran over his lip.
“They thought they had time.” Ren looked at Shizuka.
She gave one short nod.
Move.
Ren stood.
The man’s hand lifted weakly.
The drive slipped from his fingers and dropped into a puddle.
Amamiya looked at it.
Shizuka looked at Ren.
Ren picked it up.
Not because he wanted more trouble.
Because trouble had already found them and left proof on the ground.
The system opened.
— DATA DEVICE ACQUIRED — — INTEGRITY: UNKNOWN — — INFORMATION VALUE: HIGH — Ren put it into his inner pocket.
The man closed his eyes.
His breathing stopped before they left the underpass.
The system pulsed.
— HARVEST EVENT DETECTED — — COUNT: +1 — Ren did not look back.
They moved south through a narrow path between the underpass wall and a drainage canal.
The barking had not returned yet.
That made the road feel wrong.
No barking.
No sirens close enough.
No people shouting.
Only the rain, their shoes, and the low hum from power lines that should have been dead.
The service road beyond the canal looked open.
Too open.
A row of Shirakawa vehicles blocked the far lane.
One white van.
One black SUV.
One small technical truck with panels open on the side.
Three bodies lay near the truck.
Two guards.
One engineer.
No.
The engineer was still moving.
He sat on the road with his back against the truck tire.
His white helmet had cracked down the side.
One lens of his glasses was missing.
A tool bag sat beside him, open.
Cables spilled from it like dead snakes.
Something was strapped to his left wrist.
Several charms.
A child’s toy car.
A wedding ring tied with red thread.
A strip of cloth.
A small photo folded in plastic.
All taped together against his skin.
The man pressed his right hand over them like he was holding his own pulse in place.
Ren stopped.
Shizuka stopped with him.
Amamiya whispered, “Shirakawa engineer.” The system opened.
— HUMAN MALE — — ROLE: SHIRAKAWA ENGINEER — — ANCHOR RESPONSE: FAILING — — HARVEST STATUS: UNSTABLE — — THREAT LEVEL: INDIRECT — The engineer looked up.
His eyes found Ren, then Shizuka, then Amamiya.
“Don’t come closer,” he said.
Ren did not move.
The engineer laughed once, too dry.
“Good.
Someone still listens.” His hand shook over the charms.
A black case lay open beside him.
Inside were foam slots, broken meters, coils of wire, and a small device with a cracked display still blinking numbers.
The screen showed: COUNT SHORTFALL FIELD RESPONSE UNSTABLE ANCHOR DELAY LOSS Ren read it fast.
Shizuka leaned close.
“What does that mean?” “Bad things.” “Ren.” “I don’t know enough.” The engineer heard them and smiled without humor.
“We didn’t either.” Amamiya stepped half a pace behind Ren.
“They worked for Shirakawa.” The engineer’s eyes moved to him.
“Broker.” Amamiya froze.
“You know me?” “No.
I know the type.” “Fair.” The engineer coughed and looked down at his wrist.
“It was stable.” His fingers tightened.
“It was stable ten minutes ago.” Ren felt the air change.
The same wrong pull from the dispatch counter.
The system opened brighter.
— HARVEST STATUS: INITIATING — — ANCHOR RESPONSE: FAILING — — REMAINING TIME: 00:00:12 — Shizuka saw Ren’s face.
“Ren.” The engineer’s eyes widened.
He felt it too.
“No.
No, no.
We fixed this.” He slapped the device beside him.
The cracked screen flickered.
ANCHOR DELAY LOSS ANCHOR DELAY LOSS ANCHOR DELAY LOSS He grabbed the charms strapped to his wrist.
“Come on.
Come on.
You held yesterday.” The system opened.
— EMOTIONAL LINK: DEGRADED — — ANCHOR FAILURE RISK: CRITICAL — — REMAINING TIME: 00:00:08 — Ren took one step.
Shizuka held his arm.
“Don’t.” “He knows something.” “He is dying.” “I know.” “Then don’t die with him.” The engineer laughed again, shaking.
“She’s smart.” Ren looked at him.
“What is Shirakawa doing at the Rift?” The engineer stared.
Then smiled like the question hurt.
“Losing.” Amamiya whispered, “That is not an answer.” The engineer turned his head toward him.
“It is the only honest one.” — REMAINING TIME: 00:00:06 — Ren’s head began to ache.
The word rose inside him.
Stay.
His mother’s voice, or his memory of it, or the thing that had learned to use both.
Shizuka’s grip tightened.
“No.” Ren did not look at her.
The engineer shook his head.
“Don’t waste it.” Ren froze.
The engineer saw him.
Saw too much.
“You delayed one already.” Ren’s blood went cold.
Amamiya looked between them.
“What does that mean?” The engineer’s lips trembled.
“It means Shirakawa was wrong about the boy.” Ren’s hand curled.
“What boy?” The engineer looked at him.
“You.” — REMAINING TIME: 00:00:04 — Shizuka stepped closer to Ren.
The baton slid into her hand.
The engineer’s wrist charm cracked.
A small sound.
Plastic first.
Then glass.
Then the ring snapped free from the red thread and rolled across the road.
The system flashed.
— ANCHOR FAILURE CONFIRMED — — HARVEST DELAY FAILED — The engineer gasped.
Not from pain.
From losing the last thing holding him here.
He looked straight at Ren.
“Run from the road.” — REMAINING TIME: 00:00:02 — Ren said, “What is under it?” The engineer smiled.
One tear cut through the dirt on his cheek.
“Too many mouths.” — REMAINING TIME: 00:00:01 — The pull came.
The air folded around him.
The engineer’s eyes emptied before his body fell.
The system pulsed.
— HARVEST EVENT COMPLETE — — COUNT: +1 — — ADAPTATION RECORDED — For one second, no one moved.
Then the road under the Shirakawa truck shifted.
Not cracked.
Moved.
Amamiya took one step back.
“Please tell me that is water.” The asphalt bulged.
A black leg pushed through a split near the tire.
Then another.
Mandibles clicked under the road.
Shizuka pulled Ren back.
“Move.” The first ant climbed over the broken tire.
Then the second.
Then the road opened.
Chapter 14 ~ End