CARLA ANDRADE

  After everyone left, I activated the vehicle’s self-destruct system. Why did everything in Acrox have one of those? Probably because of the General’s paranoia… Well, I guess in a few moments I could ask him myself. Damn it… I must be losing my mind…

  I had just over thirty-five seconds to get the hell out of there before I turned into charcoal. I engaged the automatic controls, set the vehicle to reverse at maximum speed, and jumped.

  I saw the grotesque spider dragging the vehicle into the hole, but its movements were disordered. It was as if, somehow, it knew something wasn’t right. It looked like multiple wills fighting for control of the same body. The delay in pulling it completely inside caused the explosion to detonate outside.

  The shockwave rippled through the entire forest. I was thrown against a tree a few meters away. The impact forced the air out of my lungs. I fought to stay conscious. My vision blurred, but I couldn’t black out there.

  When the ringing in my ears began to fade, I noticed sounds coming from every direction. Whatever had been sleeping… was awake now. And it was coming straight toward me.

  I tried to stand, but I had no strength. My body still ached from the impact. I collapsed back down. I looked up at the treetops and heard something moving nearby. I couldn’t tell what it was.

  I moved away from the tree. The sensation was strange. The trunk felt like flesh—hard on the outside, but with a spongy interior that leaked in places. The inside was blood-red; the exterior black, like obsidian.

  I managed to drag myself farther away when something brushed past my head. Like a branch that had missed me by millimeters. I looked back. Nothing.

  Then again.

  This time I saw it.

  The branch was moving. Several of them were coming toward me.

  I hid inside the hollow trunk of another tree. From there, I watched. It looked like a cluster of branches that had come to life and were walking through the forest. About two meters long. As it drew closer, I realized it wasn’t made of branches… it only imitated them. Whenever a sound echoed through the forest, it froze instantly, perfectly replicating the motion of the surrounding trees.

  I knew what it was.

  Phasmatodea.

  A massive one. It was hunting me. Yet at the same time, it seemed afraid of being discovered by something even worse.

  I felt my body beginning to shut down. The adrenaline was fading. And I knew what came next. Rebound.

  Shit. I have nowhere to go…

  I hope they’re all okay… Carlos… everyone… I’m sorry…

  Then I heard something bigger approaching. Heavier than the monstrous stick.

  I looked through the hollow.

  The Phasmatodea stood still. Its body tried to move when it realized the disguise no longer worked. It attempted to flee toward the canopy, but it was too slow.

  Something long and sticky wrapped around its body, dragging it into the darkness.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  For a second, all I heard were cracks—wet, splintering sounds from the spot where it had vanished.

  A chill ran down my spine.

  When the cracking stopped, the thing began moving again. Still camouflaged. Not even the moonlight filtering through the forest could reveal it.

  I gave up trying to see and turned around.

  I felt a presence behind me.

  I spun.

  One red eye opened.

  Then another.

  And another.

  Five eyes aligned. The largest in the center. All red, sliced by black lines.

  It was enormous. Nearly seven meters long. It looked like a swollen lizard. Its cheeks resembled fish gills, but they oozed reddish mucus with every movement.

  I pressed myself deeper between the tree’s roots. It tried to force its way in, but its size prevented it.

  Then it opened its mouth.

  A putrid stench filled the air.

  Rows of uneven teeth crowded together as if they had grown chaotically inside its jaw. Its tongue began to uncoil and crawl across the ground toward me.

  Just imagining that slimy, viscous thing touching me made my body freeze.

  I searched for something to use as a weapon. There was nothing.

  I curled tighter, pressing my knees to my chest. The wet sound of the tongue drew closer.

  It saw me.

  I saw it.

  It could end me at any second.

  But it was savoring it.

  The tongue stopped.

  Retreated a few inches.

  I breathed in relief for a second.

  Then it lunged again—fierce and precise.

  It wrapped around my leg.

  Slid up my thigh.

  The slickness was revolting. Its saliva burned my skin. The pain was unbearable. I tried to grab onto anything, but I was dragged forward. My nails cracked and split.

  I screamed. A scream of pure panic tore from my throat, along with the fading hope that I might survive…

  Pain. Fear. Agony.

  I couldn’t die like this.

  What did I do to deserve this? Why were we condemned to this?

  Within seconds I was pulled from the hollow tree and lifted into the air. The creature opened its mouth. In its eyes there was sadistic satisfaction.

  I closed mine.

  I just wanted it to end quickly.

  But Carlos… everyone…

  I hope they’re alive. And that they meet a better end than mine…

  Then I heard the sound of air being sliced apart.

  The grip of the tongue loosened.

  My body began to fall.

  I braced for impact.

  But something caught me.

  Warm. Rigid.

  Like basalt stone.

  I opened my eyes.

  An arm held me.

  Firm. Unmoving.

  Above me, golden eyes glowed.

  The specimen…

  He saved me?

  Before I could react, I felt the impact against a tree. He had driven one hand into the wood as if it were paper, holding me with the other.

  He released me. I fell and thought I would plummet to my death, but I hit a thicker branch about two meters below.

  It hurt.

  A lot.

  But I was alive.

  Through blurred vision, I saw only a blur launching toward the creature.

  The impact sent pressure through the forest. The air grew heavy.

  He slammed the creature’s head into the ground.

  And didn’t stop.

  Blow after blow.

  Blood and flesh sprayed.

  It was horrifying.

  But I couldn’t look away…

  Amid the carnage, I no longer knew who the monster was…

  When he finished, the creature’s head was nothing more than an unrecognizable mass of meat and brain tissue.

  He pulled something from inside it.

  A pulsing red stone.

  And swallowed it.

  My stomach twisted. How could he put something that came out of that thing into his mouth?

  Black smoke escaped his lips.

  As if he had burned whatever that was.

  What the hell had just happened?

  And what was he?

  He turned and began walking away, as if it had all been an ordinary Tuesday.

  I couldn’t let him go. Maybe he could help us—help the people at the facility, maybe…

  “HEY! YOU! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!”

  He ignored me.

  “HEY! SAKLAS, RIGHT? PLEASE, HELP ME GET DOWN FROM HERE!”

  Damn it.

  He disappeared into the darkness. Completely ignoring my presence, too cold to care about something I should already have known.

  There were about fifteen meters to the ground. There was nothing I could do to get down, and my body was in shambles. The pain and exhaustion had pushed me to the limit.

  I’ll wait until morning. Then I’ll figure something out.

  Before I could finish the thought, my eyes were already closing, my body sinking into sleep.

  LUNA HELEN

  There were creatures of all sizes and shapes. I was grateful I could see only their silhouettes in the darkness—and even so, their forms were grotesque and distorted. I couldn’t imagine what they had been before turning into those things.

  A noise came from behind.

  I turned stiffly, as if any movement might betray us.

  It was Erick.

  I gestured sharply for him to stop.

  My heart nearly stopped when, moments later, the number of creatures began increasing around us. A dozen scenarios raced through my mind. Had they found us?

  We remained still.

  Waiting for the worst.

  But nothing happened.

  Somehow… we weren’t the target.

  Then I heard a violent crash near the tree where we were hiding.

  I forced myself to look again.

  There was a creature—no… only the torso of something—suspended among the branches. Wood pierced its chest as if it had been hurled with absurd force.

  I followed the direction from which it had come.

  And then I saw him.

  A man.

  He was surrounded.

  Four creatures encircled him, each over ten meters tall. From their silhouettes, two were clearly bipedal. The other two… I couldn’t distinguish. Too many legs. Too many limbs. Too many impossible angles.

  One of the bipedal creatures had a long mouth, a beak that extended almost to its torso, with something like a tongue hanging out. That tongue was nearly half the length of its body.

  The other resembled a wolf—but far too thin, bones pressing sharply against its skin, claws reflecting the faint moonlight. Its jaw hung open, thick liquid dripping continuously.

  The remaining two were a tangle of twisted parts. I couldn’t tell whether they were separate beings or a single deformed mass moving around him.

  But I knew.

  I was certain.

  I knew that man.

  Saklas.

  His body was exposed, wearing only cloth wrapped around his waist—the remains of what he had worn at the facility. Now in tatters.

  What was he doing there?

  And how had he survived so long in that forest?

  They stood in a standoff, studying each other. The creatures seemed tense.

  Saklas looked relaxed.

  The wolf attacked first.

  The strike was so fast my eyes barely followed.

  Saklas redirected the creature’s arm with a minimal movement—dry, precise. Then he drove his own hand into the monster’s arm and pulled.

  The bone came out whole.

  Radius.

  Or ulna.

  Torn free in a single motion.

  The creature screamed—a sound mixing pain and disbelief. It staggered back, its arm hanging limp.

  Saklas did not hesitate.

  He hurled the bone like a spear toward the creature.

  The impact obliterated its eyeball.

  The beast collapsed like a fallen titan.

  The ground trembled.

  But he did not stop.