The vibration in the walls deepened into a rumble.
Lena's eyes darted to the floor. "No…" she whispered. "It's not stopping."
The dust around our boots began to dance. Tiny cracks opened in the metal beneath us, spiderwebbing outward. Something—no, several somethings—were moving below.
I stepped back. "Lena, what's—"
The floor caved.
Metal screamed as it gave way, dropping us into a vertical shaft. The fall wasn't far, but I hit hard enough to knock the air out of me. My palms burned from trying to catch myself on the jagged edges.
Lena landed beside me, already on her feet. "Move. Now."
The shaft was narrow, lit only by a dim blue glow bleeding from somewhere ahead. The air was humid, thick, and tasted faintly of copper.
Behind us, the hole we'd fallen through began to seal—not with machinery, but with something organic. Black, glossy strands stretched across the opening like muscle knitting over a wound.
A deep, wet thud echoed in the dark. Then another.
The blue glow brightened, revealing shapes in the walls.
Not shapes. Faces.
They were human once, embedded into the slick surface, eyes open but clouded, mouths frozen mid-scream. Some twitched faintly, as if they were still alive inside.
I backed away, my stomach lurching. "What the hell is this place?"
Lena didn't answer. She was staring at the ground ahead.
The glow was coming from a pool of liquid that shimmered like mercury. The surface rippled, though nothing had touched it.
Then it breathed.
A single, slow inhale.
The faces in the walls shifted, all turning toward us in perfect unison. Their jaws opened wider, and a low, collective moan filled the shaft.
The mercury pool convulsed, rising—not spilling, but gathering itself. It formed a shape—tall, formless, skinless—made entirely of that liquid metal, threads of black muscle weaving through it like veins.
It stepped toward us.
Lena grabbed my arm and yanked me sideways into a narrow alcove. The creature's "foot" landed where I'd been standing, splashing up metallic droplets that hissed when they hit the walls.
One touched my sleeve. The fabric smoked instantly, eating through to my skin. Pain lanced up my arm.
The thing's head—or what passed for one—snapped toward me, the black veins pulsing faster.
Lena swung her spear, striking its side. The blade passed through, but instead of wounding it, the metal re-formed instantly, swallowing the spearhead halfway before she yanked it free.
"Run," she said again, and I didn't argue.
We sprinted deeper into the shaft. The faces in the walls followed with their eyes, their mouths opening and closing like fish out of water, as if whispering warnings we couldn't hear.
The rumble followed us, faster now. The creature didn't run—it slid, its body elongating to close the distance with unnatural ease.
We turned a corner—and froze.
The passage ahead ended in a sheer vertical climb, a narrow shaft lined with rusted pipes and cables. Far above, I could see faint light.
"Up!" Lena barked, already leaping for the nearest pipe.
I followed, my burned arm screaming in protest. My boots slipped twice, toes scraping against metal. The shaft was just wide enough for the thing to follow, but it didn't climb—it rose, its body stretching upward in one smooth motion.
The faces in the walls here were more frantic, their eyes darting between us and the creature. One suddenly spoke.
"Don't… look…"
The voice was dry, brittle, like wind scraping over stone. It shocked me enough to lose my grip. My foot slipped, and I dangled for a second before catching the next pipe.
The creature was almost on me now, the black veins in its form pulsing with heat.
Lena reached the top first. She grabbed something overhead, yanked, and a heavy grate swung open.
"Come on!" she shouted.
I climbed faster than I thought possible, fueled by pure panic. As I reached her outstretched hand, the creature lunged. Its arm shot upward, the tip splitting into hooked tendrils.
One caught my boot.
I kicked hard, the tendril slicing through leather but not skin. Lena hauled me up, and we tumbled out onto solid ground just as the grate slammed shut.
The rumble stopped.
For a moment, the only sound was my ragged breathing. Then, faintly, from below—
The same brittle whisper.
"Don't… look…"