Around their cell was a huge hallway with a tall ceiling. There were plenty of other cells, all huge and identical. Behind their bars it was impossible to tell what lay inside, but an eerie feeling made Alba and Lumi think that a thousand eyes were watching them.

Lumi squinted and asked, “What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

Lumi pointed forward and said, “Is that a gun?”

Alba soon saw what she meant and a strange feeling of dread grew in his gut.

“Why is it on the floor?”

Lumi walked out of the cell and Alba nearly yelled out in shock, but he whispered instead, “What are you doing?”

“Getting the gun, of course.”

Her voice echoed through the hall and Alba winced.

“Shut up and come back here,” he whispered loudly as he waved her over.

Lumi picked up the gun and stuck out her tongue.

“You’re such a baby.”

Lumi watched as Alba’s face dropped and she asked, “What?”

A clear and bubbly liquid dropped on the floor next to her feet, and then she looked up to see something that barely resembled a human looking down at her from the mezzanine balcony. It looked like a worm with a human face, and it had around thirty legs.

Alba screamed, “Lumi!”

Lumi snapped out of her daze and lifted her gun to shoot, but once she did she found it wasn’t loaded. Alba ran out of the cell, grabbed Lumi’s arm, and began running back to the cell.

Alba asked through terror, “What is that thing?”

“It’s a mutant!”

The mutant leaped from its perch and landed in front of the two, completely blocking their cell. The mutant howled a gut wrenching scream, spraying spit toward the two. They both could feel tears welling in their eyes, and then Lumi took the first action and dragged Alba away. They began running up the metal stairs and at the top stair Alba slammed his shin into it. He yelped with agony and Lumi turned to see what he was whining about, but then she saw the mutant sprinting toward them.

“Run, run, run!”

The metal clanged with each of their steps, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as the mutant’s stomping. It shook the whole bridge. Lumi turned to her side to see magazines sitting on a container on the floor below them. The container was on top of another, meaning that she would have to climb up both of them. Normally she could do so easily, but she didn’t nearly have enough time to attempt that, let alone get down there. The only way down was the stairs behind them, but that was a death sentence to try and get back to. Alba pushed Lumi’s back and cried, “Why are you slowing down?”

“Look down there. I need to get down there!”

“How?”

Suddenly the mutant pounced forward, and Alba pushed Lumi down, and he laid on top of her as the mutant nearly ran them over. The leg’s of the mutant were pointy, long, and were nearly transparent. They almost looked like they were made out of honey flavored jello. The underside of the mutant was a disgusting milky colour, that once again, was almost transparent. The mutant passed over them and Alba got off Lumi and pulled her up. She was out of breath, as Alba was holding her so tightly that it was suffocating her. She passed him and ran down the stairs. She jumped down the last five stairs and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t tumble. Alba followed her with much haste, but he wouldn’t dare jump down. The mutant dropped off of the mezzanine balcony and it met Alba face to face.

“Alba!”

“Shut up and keep going. I’ll distract it!”

Lumi ran to the container and began climbing it, but with her sweat covered hands it was near impossible to get a grip. The mutant choked on its drool and Alba couldn’t stand still any longer. He began sprinting away from Lumi, and hoped the mutant would follow him, but it didn’t. It was dead set on killing Lumi. But, for what reason? Alba was right there. That’s when Alba saw it, the red dot on Lumi’s back. Alba looked toward where the dot was coming from and he saw, sitting on the highest level, a sniper.

Alba cried, “Lumi, watch out!”

Lumi turned to see the mutant racing toward her and she lost her footing and fell down, hitting her back hard on the cement floor. Alba climbed up two sets of stairs until he saw the sniper pointing their gun toward him. They were sitting up, and it looked like they were ready to run. But Alba wouldn’t let that happen. He sprinted toward the sniper and they shot once, nearly knocking themself out with the recoil. Their shot hit the ground before Alba and ricochet into his shoulder. Alba winced, but he didn’t dare stop running.

“Wait, we aren’t trying to kill you,” the sniper yelled.

Because the red dot was no longer on Lumi’s back, it was as though the mutant could no longer see her. She took her chance and hurriedly climbed up the container and grabbed the magazine. She then jumped back down to her gun, stinging the bottom of her feet with the fall. She swiftly slotted a magazine in and pointed it toward the mutant. Alba kicked the sniper across the face, grabbed the gun, and pointed it at the back of its head. Both of them took their shots and bluish-green blood squirted out of its head. Even after it had dropped dead Lumi didn’t stop shooting until it was turned to mush, and a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned around to see a woman staring back at her with a strange smile.

“It seems you two do matter.”

Lumi breathed heavily, but then she asked with much concern, “Huh?!”