Dasha screamed as she tumbled away, barely getting clear of the monster. She hauled herself to her feet, striking out in the dark at the furry beast. A muffled thwap as her pipe connected told her she had hit her target, and she felt the monster scuttle sideways. 

There it was again. Felt. What was this? It was like she had gained a whole new sense, which naturally made no sense, and was of course, complete nonsense. Kind of like the rest of this day, in fact.

Dasha sidestepped the creature again, as its mandibles unfolded from its jaws and lunged forward to bite her. 

...That couldn't be what it was actually doing, right? That sounded nightmarish. Maybe it was for the best that she couldn’t see it in this supernatural dark. 

Dasha's wing caught on more of the sticky threads, and she struggled to shake it loose as the monster came at her. She struck out with her pipe, but felt it crunch as the monster's mandibles jerked it out of her hands. Dasha scrambled to check her coverall pocket- (And yes, their employers had been too cheap to give them actual utility belts or more than one measly pocket)- Dried snack bar, scanning tool, adjusting tool, useless radio...

Dasha yanked out her radio, ripping it open. How had Noonin burned himself again?

Wires, wires...

Dasha ducked as the monster plunged its mandibles right where she had been seconds before. Something heavy and pointed stepped through her torn wing, and she screamed as the muscle was pierced through. Her nimble fingers scrambled through the sharp radio parts, scraping at her skin. Come on... Come on...

Ah-ha!

Dasha jammed together the two wires and chucked the radio at the monster. 

By the light of the electric blue sparks, she could see the sputtering device land on its silky violet fur, before the monster shrugged, shifting it away like an annoying mosquito. At least it had moved its leg out of her wing to do so.

Dasha's heart plummeted as the radio fell down, down, down, into the squishy sludge that coated the floor of the bunker. 

And then the sludge went up in flames.

This time, it was the monster who screamed. Dasha had never seen its like before, a many legged creature shaped somewhat like a crab, and covered head to toe- If it even had a head or toe- in sleek, glossy fur, illuminated by the blue flames. The fire spread through the sludge like it was oil, igniting the creature. It screamed and flailed violently as it was consumed, its body shriveling up and breaking apart into black ash. 

Its screams sounded too much like a child in pain.

It was horrible to behold, and Dasha would have clamped her hands over her eyes and ears, except for the fact that she was still trapped. She busied herself with getting loose from the sticky webbing. Already, the fire had spread to it, burning through the strands at a much slower rate, and the inferno was rapidly approaching, spreading throughout the bunker.

Dasha retreated backwards, tucking her wings closely and squeezing past the every increasing tangle of webs. At least here, where everything was completely covered by them, the fire would spread more slowly. But the front of the bunker, along with her only exit, was completely blocked off by the fire.

Adrenaline pounding in her veins, Dasha kept going, picking her way through the threads. The world grew brighter to her eyes, even the dim corners, as the strange mist of darkness was burned away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something writhing in the webs. It twitched back and forth, like a large, person-sized cocoon.

A cocoon? Oh no, please no, not more monster babies.

Dasha glanced back at the fire. It burned closer every second, and she had no options for escape, not unless she could find whatever entrance the monster used. It was too large to fit down the hatch. She could only hope that it had tunneled in through the back instead of somewhere at the front. She spared another glance at the cocoon. Good, the fire was almost there. As much as she had hated watching the monster die in such pain, she would much rather not become its dinner.

Dasha squinted against the glare of the firelight. Was that... red hair, sticking out from the cocoon?

Oh no. Krell!

Dasha fought her way back through the webs, desperate to reach him before the blaze did. She tripped, the strands clinging to her arms and wings, dragging her further down as she struggled. Dasha pounded the floor in frustration. He was right there! Let her go!

Calm. She needed to be calm. The more she struggled, the more entangled she would be. Forcing herself to take her time, she picked loose the webbing strand by strand, heat from the blue fire beating down on her neck as she worked. It was so close now. There wasn't going to be enough time.

She had to try anyways.

Finally loose, she pulled herself up and forwards, stumbling the last few steps to the cocoon.

"Krell! Be still! I'm going to get ya out!" She yelled as loudly as she could, hoping that he would hear her.

She had nothing to cut through the webbing with. 

Desperate, Dasha tried pulling at it with her hands, but there were so many layers and the fire was close enough for her to reach out and touch it now. Her forehead was soaked with sweat, and embers were burning her skin when they landed on her. 

Dasha looked at the cocoon. It was only held to the wall by a few clusters of threads, if she could cut those...

Dasha went through her pocket again, pulling out her two spire maintence tools. Small, delicate things, not useful for much. But they had parts made of glass. Dasha smashed one against the other, sending bits and pieces flying every which way. Her hands were bleeding now. Okay then. Kneeling at the nearest cluster, she began to frantically saw through the webs. One down... Then the next... The third and fourth were on the other side, closest to the inferno. Already, the fire was burning through one end. 

Krell had stopped moving a while ago. 

With two clusters cut and one burnt, Dasha tossed aside her makeshift blade. She dug her bloodied fingers into the cocoon as deeply as she could force them, and pulled backwards with all her might. Please let it be enough. 

Please?

The last cluster stretched like a rubberband as Dasha threw all her weight into pulling. One snapped from the fire. Then another. A third was weakened by the tension. 

Then, all at once, the rest snapped, and Dasha was flung backwards with the cocoon. She scrambled up again, but her unraveled braid had caught in more of the webbing. She should have kept the shattered glass! Dragging the cocoon closer to her, Dasha rapidly looked around for another sharp object. 

She spotted a dark hollow further back. The monster tunnel. If only she could reach it, she and Krell would be shielded from the fire by the dirt and stones. With all the webs in her way, the task seemed insurmountable. Already, the fire had burned through the place where the coccon had originally been bound.

A flash of light caught her eye. One of the shards of glass! Setting the coccon aside, Dasha stretched forwards, trying to reach it. It was barely beyond her grasp. She strained further, eyes watering as her hair pulled at her scalp, and her fingers singed from the sparking flames.

She had it.

Prize clutched tightly, she drew back, slashing at the webs. Holding the glass between her teeth, she began dragging the cocoon again, stopping only when she needed to cut away more webs. The tunnel mouth grew closer, even as the flames ate up the world behind them.

They were going to make it.

With a final heave, Dasha dragged the cocoon over the lip and into the cool dark tunnel of dirt. She went a few feet further, for safety's sake, then collapsed on the ground beside it, gasping for breath.

Her limbs trembled. Her fingers and mouth were red with blood as it dripped out of her. She had several burns. There was a hole in one wing. And this was along with whatever was left from the last attack, all the tears and bruises and... 

Her wing. Oh her wing. 

And she didn't even know if Krell was alive.

Dasha spat out blood. After a moment, she noticed a shard of the broken machinery bits had embedded in her finger, half melted in place. That was going to be especially painful once the adrenaline wore off. But in her current condition, she didn't think she could manage to remove it. She had neither the knowledge, nor the skill, nor the tools.

Hopefully she didn't end up infected from something after all of this was over.

Praying that Noonin and Fia were safe up top, she took up the glass shard with trembling hands, and began to cut away at the cocoon.