LUNA HELEN

  I was starting to feel desperate when Carla suggested we return to the control room and see if we could fix the security lock system.

  We moved as fast as we could.

  The problem was that we had no idea what we were even looking for. The system was a mess; much of it had already been deactivated.

  We managed to power up the panel, and the images from Mr. Lúcius’s drone were still being transmitted. The sight was horrifying: dozens—no, hundreds—of creatures piled atop what remained of the giant’s corpse.

  They devoured it in a frenzy; the smaller ones were crushed and torn apart by the larger ones in a grotesque, cannibalistic spectacle.

  My stomach churned at the sight.

  Still, at least it bought us some time, as long as their attention remained fixed on one another.

  We continued searching when I felt a hand on my shoulder, followed by a dry cough. I turned quickly. Mr. Lúcius had woken up.

  His eyes were turning red; the crimson veins had begun spreading again. He coughed with every word he tried to speak, as if his throat might close at any moment.

  “You need to get out of here… cough, cough,”

  he said, somehow still showing clear signs of consciousness.

  “Lúcius, help us. The system is locked. They initiated the lockdown too early,”

  Carla said.

  She was so desperate that she ignored the man’s condition, clinging to any hope that he could still help.

  “I can’t… there’s nothing I can do. The system would have to reboot, and that would leave us vulnerable. Besides, it wouldn’t come back in time… ahrr…”

  There was nothing we could do. Mr. Lúcius was growing stranger by the second. The tremors in his body intensified, and he groaned in pain.

  Even as he tried to hide it, it was impossible not to notice.

  “Maybe there’s a way… no, no… it’s madness. They’ll die… no, they’ll die anyway. We’re all going to die… die…”

  I had no idea what that man was talking about. His condition worried me more with every passing second.

  “What do you mean? What are you talking about? A way… what way?” Carla asked, gripping his shoulders and shaking him, desperate for any chance.

  “There.”

  He pointed toward a door and redirected the drone. The monitor displayed another image—a door on the exterior, leading to the outside area of Sector 1.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s an exit.

  It’s independent from the central system and it’s the only elevator still working right now.”

  “But it leads outside? The monsters are out there. What’s the difference between dying here or out there?”

  I couldn’t understand what he wanted us to do. Maybe madness had already claimed him.

  He changed the image again, and I saw the Acrox armored transport. It was a far more advanced version than the one that had brought me there, though smaller.

  “Don’t tell me you want us to—”

  “GO! I don’t know how much time I have left!”

  “But—”

  “Let’s go!”

  Carla said, firmly.

  Even so, it all felt insane. I saw Carlos and Erick exchange looks. Carlos took a step toward his sister.

  “Carla, are you sure about this?”

  “Would you rather wait for them to break in or at least try? All the power’s been diverted to Sector 3. We’ve been reinforcing it for a long time. We’re exposed here; the doors won’t hold—not against that many creatures. And even if they did, how long do you think we’d last without water and with the food spoiling? Four weeks is impossible, Carlos.”

  “I don’t see how this could work… Even if we escaped, where would we go?”

  “Here.”

  Mr. Lúcius handed me a device.

  “It contains the approximate location of a place that might be safe. From what we discovered, they possess an object that repels the creatures. I don’t know the details—it was just a brief transmission. Now go, please… I can’t hold on anymore.”

  As he spoke, he tore a clump of hair from his own head. His eyes were now almost entirely red, and the veins beneath his skin writhed violently.

  “Let’s go, Luna.”

  Erick pulled me by the arm toward the door while Carla did the same with her brother.

  Mr. Lúcius stayed behind. I could still see him smile as he spoke his final words before the elevator doors closed:

  “We’ll see each other on the other side, my friend. I’m sorry.”

  When the doors shut and the elevator began to rise, we had little time to think. No one spoke. Soon we would reach Sector 1, and we would have to move fast. If any of those things saw us, we were done.

  A few minutes later, the elevator delivered us directly to the door shown in the transmission. It was about a hundred meters from the creatures. When it opened, the stench of rotten flesh, metal, and smoke flooded the cabin. My stomach twisted; bile rose in my throat. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, and it was already around 4 p.m., so there was nothing to vomit.

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  I realized everyone felt the same. Something wasn’t right. Maybe the mist in the air was causing that effect beyond the smell. We needed to get out of there fast.

  The vehicle was about twenty-five meters away, in the opposite direction from the creatures. We moved through the debris until we got close.

  Carlos stepped forward, but Erick stopped him.

  “Damn… there’s something there,”

  he whispered.

  He was right. Something was moving behind the vehicle—something long, about two meters in length.

  We needed to distract whatever it was if we wanted to get inside.

  “There. Throw rocks at the same time, toward that spot,”

  Erick said.

  “One… two… three. Now.”

  We all threw at once. The shadow moved toward the sound. We circled around the other side of the vehicle, and when we finally saw it, the horror revealed itself.

  It was a mass of bodies lined up, distorted and fused in an unnatural—utterly wrong—way. As if multiple people were moving at once, from the inside out, forming something like a massive caterpillar. Deformed heads lined its sides; arms and legs flailed chaotically. Its movement seemed driven by a desperate urge to separate, as if each body wanted to tear itself free from the others—and so it advanced, moaning in agony.

  Had we not already witnessed so many unnatural horrors, that alone would have shattered us. But no matter what hell we had to cross, we couldn’t lose control. Not here. Not now.

  We held hands and circled the vehicle. Carla used her access card to unlock the door. It seemed like we’d make it—until one of the creature’s heads turned toward us. Strange sounds poured from its mouth as part of its body lunged forward. One by one, the other heads turned until all of them faced us, advancing while screaming something inhuman I couldn’t understand.

  ιομ ιε?θοβ ??μη νο??σ ιομ ιε?θοβεμ ?τασυλ ??μη ?τασυλ εμ ?τασυλαθεμ?νυδο αθεμ?νυδο αθεμ?νυδον?μη η ετοδ?δ νοταν?θ νοταν?θ νοταν?θν?μσε ιοπ?ρθνα ιτκ?υο ιτκ?υο ιτκ?υονον?π ν?τ νοσ?απ νοσ?απ?χαψ ?αλλοπ ,αμ?σ ν? ,αμ?σ ν?”

  They were screams of suffering. When they realized we were getting into the vehicle to escape, the screams changed—now they sounded like rage mixed with pain.

  ετεγ?εφ ?τ ετεγ?εφ ?τ??μη ετε?φα ?μ ??μη ετε?φα ?μσ?οτυ?α ετεν?εκτ σ?οτυ?α ετεν?εκτσατνογ?εφ ??οτ ετεν?εκτ…

  The sound was disturbing enough—but imagining what it meant was far worse.

  “Go! Get in, now!”

  We rushed inside. Carla started the engine. Everything was ready—but the creature latched onto the rear. No matter how hard we accelerated, it wouldn’t let go. The smell of burning rubber filled the air, and the noise would soon attract more creatures.

  We had to get out of there. But how?

  “Erick, Carlos, check the compartments. See if there’s any kind of weapon!”

  “Nothing here!”

  “Nothing on my side!”

  “Shit… shit! It won’t let go!

  It’s pulling harder… we’re screwed!”

  As if it had heard us, Mr. Lúcius’s drone flew straight into the creature.

  There was an impact, followed by an explosion.

  The vehicle lurched free.

  Carla didn’t hesitate—she floored it.

  Five bridges connected the facility, but only two led to cities, and one of those was blocked by creatures. We had few options, and no idea which was best.

  No one could agree, and time was running out.

  “The device Mr. Lúcius gave us… He said there’s a chance there’s a safe place.”

  “Which way?”

  I activated the device and placed it on the panel. The location was about twenty-five to thirty kilometers away.

  “That way.”

  Carla drove straight into the forest.

  We didn’t know what awaited us—or if it would be any safer.

  Movement was difficult; we couldn’t go faster because of the trees.

  And speaking of them… much of the ecosystem was unrecognizable. Many trees bore a reddish hue; the wood had been replaced by a spongy, flesh-like texture. Cracks in the trunks resembled open wounds, oozing a thick, viscous red sap.

  I could see roots slowly moving across the ground, merging with one another, as if forming a single organism. It was unsettling to think about it… as though the land itself was slowly transforming into something else. Something profane and terrifying.

  And the silence… it was absolute. No birdsong. No frogs. No insects. Not even the rustle of wind through leaves. It was as if everything feared existing there.

  Inside those facilities, shielded by ignorance, I never could have imagined that something like this was happening.