It felt eternal. Exhaustion was draining her, and she felt like she had been crawling for hours. Yet she did not give up. She could not see a thing, not even her hands, but she kept moving through the narrow tunnel without pause.

Her will was what allowed her to reach the end. If she had not been set on helping her friends and brother, she would have frozen in fear long ago. At certain moments, the walls of the hole seemed to shift and rumble, soundlessly. She wondered how the stone could twist in such a manner, almost resembling the guts of a huge animal.

No, she could not afford to ponder those thoughts. She had to brush aside what could possibly be wrong with this tunnel, and not compare it to the beast that had dissolved some people back in those streets.

At last, she saw light ahead, confirming that she had not gone blind. Each move and crawling motion brought her closer, the rope around her waist dragging behind her slowly. After what felt a whole life, she could see her own hands and body again, her dread fading faintly.

Although the skies were black and cloudy, she was still blinded by the light once she emerged. The first thing she was aware of was a gasp, not her own. As soon as she recovered, she blinked, realizing how a small figure stepped towards her.

Her hand raised, ready to strike, afraid of another possible hellish threat. Luckily, she stopped herself, recognizing it was only a young kid. Probably a six-year-old, with fear evident in his perplexed eyes. Even if scared, he reached for her, quick to exclaim urgently.

“I’ve lost him!”

Bidane needed a second to regain herself and climb down the hole. Once upright, she reached for his small hands, pleading silently for him to stop shaking her.

“Hey, hey, calm down.” She took a moment to yank at the rope she had tied on her waist to send a warning to the others, knowing she could not waste time. Still, she asked as she did so, not wishing to upset the child. “Who have you-?“

“Dad!” Bidane had pulled twice at the rope by now, but she stopped herself from yanking a third time when the next words were cried. “We both were going through the hole, but I lost him in it! I stopped seeing him and I can’t find him!”

Her eyes narrowed, then widened. A horrible thought crossed her mind, but she was quick to discard it. Her hopes were far stronger than her fears, and she still did not want to believe what had befallen her small town. Rationality was her greatest comfort.

“He-“ She smiled warmly and stopped delaying, committing to the third yank that would announce safety to the ones at the other side. “He surely has gone ahead, not too far. We’ll find him, don’t you worry.”

The boy fell silent, her presence the only one on which he could rely on. She wished to debate why no one else was around in the surrounding streets, but she had other things to worry about. Her eyes fixated on the rope and hole, noticing how it twitched. People were coming into the tunnel, reassured by her signal.

She untied the rope from her waist and secured it around a nearby streetlamp, not without giving the kid a gentle pat. She attempted to make small talk with him, not only to comfort him but herself.

“What’s your name?”

He seemed to doubt to answer, quite apprehensive. She did not know if it was due to what he had seen or his innocent meekness; not that she would pry him on that.

“Mike…”

If she had been paying more mind to the screams of the woman she had seen, she would have realized that this was her son. Robert, the husband she had also been calling for, was nowhere to be seen.

“Name’s Bidane.”

He seemed to open up to her, his eyes hinting hope. He examined the hole with his gaze, warily, displaying how afraid he had been of it.

“Are people going to cross? Have you seen my mom?”

At last, she put two and two together. A small grin grew on her face and she nodded, impossible for her not to share the sudden tentative joy he showed.

“She is on her way.” She turned to face the hole once more, whispering to herself. “Come on, Iker… Guys.”

The rope was twitching, faintly, but undeniably. She did flinch a little when it seemed to twist and tense a few times, in a manner that did not seem natural. Still, after a couple of minutes, rustling sounds began to echo, close.

Unbeknownst to her, people were screaming in fear and pain at that very moment. Many were perishing, yet no sound of it reached these streets. It was like the other side of the wall was an ocean away, or perhaps in another plane of existence.

The first who followed her move did not take long to reach the end of the tunnel. Bidane sighed in relief when the silhouette of a woman emerged from the thick darkness of the hole. Her eyes fixed on her at first, her moves tired, yet as soon as she noticed the boy by her side, she almost lunged out.

“Mike!”

Bidane had to move aside to not be pushed off, the love of a mother sometimes very intense. She averted her gaze as the woman rushed and hugged her son fiercely, for it was something she had not experienced in life. Instead, she stared intensely at the tunnel, hoping to see the one she cared most for.

“Come on…”

Her heart skipped a few beats, because the next figures that emerged were strangers. She tensed, noting well the paleness of their faces, surely having experienced the strange exhaustion that she felt in there. Soon, however, she was overwhelmed by a new dread. A few of those who crossed exclaimed, many quick to move away from the tunnel, others standing by it in alarm.

“That thing is in the alley!”

When she understood those words, she stepped back close to the hole, slamming her hands on the wall to try to peek into it, past the ones that came out of it. Her thoughts twisted again, haunted by the sight of melting flesh, that unending maw opening in a hellish wail. Again, there was no evidence of screams in the distance, and it only made the situation all the more unreal.

She was sure she was about to faint due to anxiety, but then two persons she knew emerged. Lyssa, then Anna. The three stood there silently for a few seconds, taking in the moment. It was Bidane who dashed to hug them, only Lyssa managing to keep her cool to return it. Anna barely seemed to react while words were exchanged.

“Thought that thing got you!”

Lyssa snarled, patting her hands against her black clothes in an attempt to clean them of dust and a murky liquid.

“Tunnel was not much better!” She raised a hand to examine the slime she had touched in it, cringing as she noted its stickiness. “Fuck, what is this thing?!”

Bidane looked at the tunnel again, just as she was about to ask where Adam and Iker were. She did not need to inquire about their friend, because he did not take long to come to view. The way in which he did, however, was bound to worry them.

The three flinched, seconds after an old man crawled out of the hole. Right on cue, Adam emerged behind him, only taking a millisecond to dash onto the man with a raging yell. Both fell onto the ground, the youngest proceeding to throw punches.

“Come here you son of a bitch!”

The three girls exclaimed, Lyssa and Bidane fast to bolt to stop him.

“Adam?!”

The old man huffed and panted, cowering backwards when a punch was halted. The two girls pulled Adam off, something that did not please him much.

“Let go! This bastard deserves what’s coming to him!”

His hateful remark was argued, for neither knew yet of the real reason for his fiery reaction. Adam had always been a forceful guy when push came to shove.

“This guy’s was an asshole, but-“

“Leave him! We should just-!”

Both shut up when Adam exclaimed, much to the old man’s dislike.

“This guy hit Iker to go on first!”

The bastard had stood up after being tackled down, thanks to their intervention. Nonetheless, he still had reasons to cower, because Adam’s words made Bidane react.

“He what?!” She would have lunged like he had done in any other moment, but instead, she looked into the hole, dreading to no end. “Did he go in?! Where is he?!”

Lyssa did shout angrily and dashed with a fist raised towards the man, who proceeded to flee with gasped yelps. Meanwhile, Adam, Anna and Bidane stood by the hole, having other things to worry about.

“I helped him stand. He got into the tunnel behind me as I chased.”

Those words were a relief. No one had emerged yet from the hole since Adam came out, so that could only mean one thing. The three watched eagerly the thick shadows of the passage, knowing that the next person to appear would be Iker.

Bidane smiled brightly, soon seeing a figure crawl through the darkness. She extended a hand into the narrow hole, reaching out with a call.

“Take my hand!”

The figure gasped, but then did extend an arm to grasp her. Their fingers intertwined, his tainted by the humid dust of the hole. As she pulled with a heave, light brushed him at last. She raised her gaze to his with pure relieved bliss… and that emotion died out quickly.

The three of them were as perplexed, for she had not helped her brother crawl out, but another man, who they did not know. Her hand retreated instantly, and while she muttered a few confused murmurs, the guy simply panted and limped away from the hole, far too paranoid of it to pay much mind to their presence. She stood there, unable to understand. It did not help that Adam commented, the one who most doubted what just happened.

“What the… He was right behind me! It should have been him!”

A shiver ran down her back. All ever slowly, her eyes fixated on the slime on her fingers. It was sticky, gross smelling… and she could not help but note the red tonality in it.

God, no.

She found herself looking back into the streets, away from the hole. She stared at the boy, who was right now being questioned by his mother. Again and again, she questioned where his father had gone, yet the kid could not really offer any clear answers.

The kid had been alone. Yet not only his father had gone through the tunnel before they arrived at the alley. Those people were nowhere to be seen. And she was not the only one coming to that horrible realization. A few people stepped back towards the hole, whispering in alarm, trying to peek into it. Some of them questioned where their companions had gone… for they too crawled together through.

There were definitely fewer people on this side, even if many had gone into the claustrophobic passage. Where they were, no one truly wanted to admit or ponder much. It did not take long for her to pale, only a few more seconds needed for panic to settle.

“Iker!”

She almost jumped into the tunnel again, even though it was risky, not only because she could come face to face with another person traversing it. Adam and Lyssa had to grab her strongly, knowing it was a terrible idea to go back. Getting stuck was the least horrible outcome.

“Bidane, stop! Don’t!”

“H-he is just delaying!”

He definitely was not, and if he was, that also was a deadly fact. That monster had reached the alley, eager to devour anything it came across. The other side was a literal dead-end.

“Let me go!”

Her hands slammed deep into the hole, scratching to get a grip, to help her crawl inside. The two pulled at her with all their strength, yet they were only managing to reach a stalemate. If she stopped trying, it was not due to them.

The three gasped as another figure crawled out of the hole, pushing them aside rather urgently. Again, it was not him, and the ones that followed weren’t either. As a few more people crawled out screaming in fear, she cried silently. She stared in horror at her hands, her impulsive attempt only staining her more in red. It was clear it was not humidity, nor old moss. It was blood and rotten flesh. That tunnel was truly a gamble… something that stirred in hunger, awakened by their movement.

Her scream was the first that echoed in the streets in which they hoped to find safety. It did not take long for others to cry as time passed, realization sinking in the most horrible of manners.