Night falls. The cold comes with it. So does death.
We stand at the mouth of the tunnel. It yawns open like the entrance to Hell itself, black and endless. The stench of rot pours out, thick enough to choke on.
Green water pools around the entrance, contaminated and foul. Corpses float in it. Things I can't identify. The whole place glows with sickly algae light, just bright enough to make the darkness worse.
"You sure this is it?" Mad Dog stares at the ruins, frowning.
Slyfox lights a cigarette. "The layout here is extremely complicated. Supposedly, those bastards are pretty sly. It'll be dangerous if we try to force our way in, and we'll also set off the alarms. It'll be hard for us to wipe'm all out."
Mad Dog's frown deepens. "Then what should we do?"
"Why do you think I brought so many pawns?" Slyfox tosses his cigarette. "Rookies, send in the bait!"
Bait. That's all we are.
The other mercenaries shove us forward. "Y'all deaf? Slyfox told you to move it!"
We have no choice. Run and get shot. Go in and maybe survive.
Maybe.
They hand us torches. We shuffle into the tunnel, raising the flames high. The darkness swallows us whole.
"Be careful in there, rookies." Slyfox's voice echoes behind us. "Take things slow. Let the pawns stay up ahead of you."
The tunnel is cold. Wet. The rot smell gets worse the deeper we go. Mosquitoes buzz everywhere. Signs of creatures living here. Dangerous creatures.
I'm terrified. But there's something else. A pull. Deep in the tunnel, something calls to me. Faint. Strange. I've never felt anything like it.
What's down here?
We walk for twenty minutes. Thirty. The layout is a maze. I lose track of direction.
Then the sound starts.
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.
Like nails on a blackboard. Shrill. Ear-splitting. It echoes from everywhere and nowhere.
We freeze. Sweat drips down my face. The darkness presses in, filled with rustling sounds.
"AHHH!!"
A scavenger screams. I turn and see it.
Bugs. Thousands of them. Beetles. Centipedes. Crawling on the walls, the ground, on us.
I frantically brush at my clothes. They're everywhere. Burrowing into my skin. I press my torch to my body, burning them off. Better burns than being eaten alive.
"NO!"
"AHHH!"
Scavengers collapse, swarmed. The bugs pour into their mouths, their noses, their eyes. Making new holes where there aren't any.
"RUN!"
We break. Scatter in every direction. Pure panic.
I make it past the bugs. Then the ones in front stumble into a trap.
Whoosh!
Green acid pours from above. It splashes across faces, bodies. Skin melts. Hair falls out in clumps. Bloody blisters erupt everywhere.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
One runs toward me, clawing at his dissolving face. His fingers scrape off chunks of flesh, revealing bone. He's screaming like a demon.
These are traps. Intelligent traps.
A spear shoots from the darkness. Punches through his chest. Pins him to the wall.
A steel hook rips half the stomach off another scavenger. He runs a few more meters, intestines trailing behind him. Then he falls.
Slaughter. Butchery.
"Don't be afraid. It's all a trap. If we just..."
A long knife cuts through the darkness. Slices him from shoulder to hip. He splits in half. His organs spill out, still pulsing.
He doesn't die immediately. Just screams. Inhuman. Filled with despair.
Then I see them.
The sweepers.
Naked bodies covered in cancerous growths. Lumps like tree knots, head to foot. Legs bent backward like a rat's. They move fast. Leap high. Wield stone hammers, spears, long knives.
Mutants. But not random. These look the same. Coordinated. Intelligent.
One scavenger tries to fight back. His knife can't cut through their skin. The sweeper's hammer crushes his chest. Pulverizes bone and flesh. He becomes a flattened sack of meat.
We can't fight them. We can only run.
And die running.
The hammers fall. Bodies explode. Bones crack. Blood sprays.
Screams mix with crunching sounds. A symphony from Hell.
I run. That's all I can do. Follow the others toward a passage with fewer sweepers.
Crunch!
The scavenger beside me falls. Sweepers swarm him. Hammers fall. He becomes something worse than refuse.
Get out. Get out. Get out.
"AHH!"
A scavenger ahead falls. Something clamps his feet. Crushes every bone. Shattered bits poke through skin.
"Help me! I'm begging you, save me!"
I run past him. He grabs my ankle. I fall.
His face is covered in tears and snot. "Help me!"
"I can't save you! Let me go!"
"Then give me a clean death!" Despair fills his eyes. "If those devils get their hands on me... I'd rather die now!"
I hesitate. I've never killed anyone.
A dark figure moves toward us.
"Give me a clean death! I'M BEGGING YOU!"
I roar. Raise my shortsword. Plunge it into his neck.
Blood spurts. Hot. The smell fills my nose.
I wipe my face. Leave the sword in him. Kick free. Run.
My first kill.
His face is burned into my mind. Into my soul.
I want to scream. But there's no time.
A javelin whistles through the air. I lean sideways on instinct. The tip scrapes my face. Cuts a few hairs.
I run harder. See a turn ahead. Three tunnels branching off.
I pick one at random. Hide at the back.
I can't run anymore. If the sweeper follows, I'm dead.
The dark figure stops at the junction. Hesitates. Listening.
I'm less than ten meters away. My heart pounds so hard it hurts.
He's waiting. Waiting for me to make a sound.
Then I feel it. Another danger. To my left.
I turn. My eyes widen.
A massive black spider. Two meters long. Eight legs covered in knife-sharp bristles. Twelve blood-red eyes.
It's on the ceiling. Crawling toward me.
The sweeper hears something. Pulls another javelin. Starts walking toward me.
I'm trapped. Spider above. Sweeper ahead.
Time to gamble.
I scream and jump out.
The spider leaps at the same time. Fast. Too fast.
The sweeper throws his javelin. Deadly accurate.
Time slows. The spider inches closer. The javelin flies toward me.
I twist in midair. The javelin slices my chest. Deep. Painful.
But it misses my heart.
Sssssssss!
The javelin hits the spider's head. It screeches.
The sweeper stares, stunned.
I hit the ground. Roll. Clutch my bleeding chest. Run into another tunnel.
Behind me, the spider leaps at the sweeper. They fight.
I disappear into the darkness.
Alive.
Barely.