Panic is a wildfire in the blood. For a moment, it threatened to consume them. Chloe raised her geological hammer, a useless totem against a tide of clicking mandibles. Maya struggled to sit up on the travois, her face a mask of defiant terror. But Ethan's mind, sharpened by adrenaline, raced past the fear.
Why here? The question burned through the panic. The crystal, the map… it wasn't a mistake. It led us here for a reason.
He looked from the swarming insectoids to the slow, colossal snails they were hunting. A food chain. A controlled, brutal pasture. The Watchers weren't just observers of this world; they were its shepherds. And they had just led the sheep into the wolf enclosure.
It was a test. It had to be. A test of intelligence, not strength.
"The snail!" Ethan yelled over the rising chitter of the predators. "Get to the snail! Use it as cover!"
Chloe stared at him, her eyes wide with disbelief, but there was no time to argue. Together, they shoved Maya's travois across the slick ground, right up against the massive, fleshy flank of the nearest giant snail. The creature barely registered their presence, its entire being focused on its slow, inexorable journey across the cavern floor.
The gambit worked. The insectoid predators, their instincts laser-focused on their primary prey, hesitated. They swarmed and circled, their multifaceted eyes glowing in the dark, but they kept their distance from the sheer bulk of the snail. To them, the three humans were just insignificant parasites clinging to their meal.
Their journey became a terrifyingly slow crawl. They were hostages to the snail's pace, moving with it across the cavern, a tiny island of fragile life pressed against a mountain of flesh. The minutes stretched into an eternity. Every time the snail shifted its course, their hearts seized, afraid it would turn back into the heart of the swarm. Every time a predator lunged, testing their defenses, they flinched, expecting the tear of sharp mandibles.
Ethan's eyes were locked on the far wall, where the crystal's light still pointed toward a narrow tunnel entrance—their only hope of salvation. He could see it now, less than a hundred feet away.
But their living shield, the giant snail, began to change course. It was veering away from the tunnel, moving toward a denser patch of fungus. The gap between them and the exit widened with every foot the creature crawled.
"It's turning!" Chloe shouted, her voice tight with renewed panic.
Ethan saw their window of opportunity closing. The predators were growing bolder, their circling tightening. It was now or never.
"Fifty feet," he said, his voice grim. "We have to make a run for it. An open sprint. Are you ready?"
Chloe met his gaze, her jaw set. "Ready."
"On my mark," Ethan commanded, his muscles coiled like springs. "Three… two… one… GO!"