Craig
Morning didn't announce itself. It leaked in. Craig noticed the light first—not brighter, just different. A dull gray pressed against the balcony doors; it thinned the darkness without chasing it away. The web outside was still there, its strands catching what little light existed and turning it into something oily and wrong.
Craig hadn't slept. He'd been the last to keep watch, sitting on the floor with his back to the counter. He counted breaths he didn't trust and sounds he couldn't place. Somewhere around dawn, the building's complaints softened from sharp creaks to long, tired groans. It was like an old animal deciding whether to lie down or get up and run.
No alarms. No screams. That alone felt suspicious.
He stood slowly, joints stiff, careful not to wake anyone. Selma was asleep, sitting up against the wall near the kitchen, arms folded tight around herself. Abdi stood near the balcony doors—awake. Craig realized he hadn't moved all night.
"You sleep?" Craig asked quietly.
Abdi shook his head. "Didn't feel right." Craig understood that too well.
Hassan was sprawled on the couch, mouth slightly open; exhaustion finally won. Chris slept on the floor near the door, one arm tucked under his head, the knife resting within reach. Zak lay against the far wall, eyes closed, breathing steady. Too steady, Craig thought. It was like someone pretending.
Craig cleared his throat softly. "We move this morning."
Selma stirred. "Move where?"
"Next door. Same floor. See what's left."
Her eyes opened fully then. "Together?"
"Not all of us." Craig glanced at Abdi. "You and Selma stay. Watch the place."
Abdi frowned but didn't argue. Selma nodded immediately, relief flickering across her face before she masked it.
Craig woke Hassan and Chris with a gentle nudge. Zak sat up on his own, eyes already open.
They ate what little remained—cold rice, rationed carefully. Craig assigned tasks without ceremony.
"Look for bottled water, canned food, batteries, meds," he paused. "And phones, even dead ones."
No one asked why.
They stepped into the hallway together. The air outside the apartment was stale, heavier than inside. Dust coated the floor in uneven drifts, footprints frozen mid-step. A door down the hall hung open, its hinges bent inward as if forced from the inside.
"Careful," Craig murmured.
They moved slowly, methodically. Each apartment told a fragment of the same story—abandoned meals, phones left charging, televisions frozen on the same frame. In one unit, a bathtub overflowed; water had long since drained, leaving mineral stains like veins along the porcelain.
Zak lingered in one bedroom longer than necessary.
"You find something?" Craig asked.
Zak shook his head too quickly. "Just… nothing."
They collected what they could. It wasn't much, but it was something.
By the time they returned to the apartment, the light had sharpened into a pale, joyless morning. Selma and Abdi were where Craig had left them.
"All good?" Craig asked.
Selma nodded. "Building creaked. Nothing else."
Abdi didn't say anything.
Craig noticed he was standing closer to the east side now, nearer the balcony corner where the web disappeared around the building's edge. Craig filed that away without comment.
They sorted supplies when the sound hit.
A high-pitched whine. Not mechanical. Not wind. Alive.
Craig felt it in his teeth first. A vibration sharp enough to make his jaw ache.
"What is that?" Hassan whispered.
The sound grew louder, cutting through the air like a blade.
Zak stepped toward the balcony. "Something's—"
The shadow passed over the light.
Craig looked up just in time to see it.
The wasp.
It dwarfed the spider in shape if not in bulk—long, segmented, its body a glossy black-and-gold that caught the light like metal. Its wings beat so fast they blurred; the sound rose to a scream that rattled glass and bone alike.
It slammed into the web.
The impact shook the building violently.
The spider reacted instantly. Legs snapped upward, web strands tightening as the massive body pivoted with impossible speed. The wasp struck again, mandibles tearing through silk thicker than cables.
The web screamed.
Buildings shifted.
"Get back!" Craig shouted.
Too late.
The spider lunged, legs wrapping around the wasp's thorax. The wasp drove its stinger down, piercing armor with a crack like splitting stone.
The east side of the building lurched.
Hard.
The floor dropped out from under them.
Abdi was closest.
Craig saw it happen in fragments—Abdi thrown sideways, his hand reaching for the doorframe, fingers brushing air instead. The wall split with a sound like thunder.
"ABDI!" Selma screamed.
The east side of the apartment tore away.
Concrete, glass, and steel vanished as the spider and wasp slammed again into the web, the force ripping the building's corner free.
Abdi fell.
Not straight down.
Outward.
Craig ran, skidding on dust, grabbing Selma before she could follow. He reached the broken edge just in time to see Abdi dropping past the shattered floors below, his body spinning once—then disappearing into the web-shadowed void beneath them.
"No—" Selma's voice broke completely.
The wasp shrieked.
The spider answered.
Their struggle dragged the web tighter, snapping remaining supports like twigs. The building groaned, a deep, mortal sound.
Craig dragged Selma back as another section of floor collapsed inward.
"MOVE!" he yelled.
They retreated blindly, coughing through dust as the fight outside escalated—wings tearing silk, legs crushing concrete, the city screaming under the strain.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the wasp tore free.
It ripped itself from the spider's grip, chunks of web and armor trailing behind it, and vanished into the gray sky with a sound like tearing metal.
The spider recoiled, legs scrambling, web sagging dangerously.
Silence followed.
Not peace.
Just aftermath.
Craig collapsed against the remaining wall, chest heaving. Selma sank to the floor, hands over her mouth, eyes empty.
Zak stood frozen near the doorway, staring at the ruined east side where the apartment used to be.
Chris broke the silence. "Did… did he—"
Craig didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Outside, the web trembled, holding—for now.
And somewhere below, far beneath the torn edge of the building, Craig had no idea if Abdi was still falling—or if the web had already claimed him.