As they meandered through the glowing slime, Bartholomew and Beatrix couldn’t help but conversate. 

“What do you think made all this goo?” Beatrix gagged and raised his paw out of the slime. A long string stuck between the ground and his paw. 

“This is probably the guts of some gross gigantic bug that got squished by a massive boulder!” he whispered with excitement. They had been whisper talking for a while, Blaine was sure there was something with them in the dark and he didn’t want it to hear where they were. 

“Really?” Beatrix exclaimed, “You think there’s giant bugs down here?”

“Yeah, and they’ll probably eat us!” 

“But…don’t bugs eat grass and leaves?”

“Not these ones, these ones drink blood and eat your organs like massive maggots!”

“Quit scaring him!” Blaine whispered harshly. 

“I! I’m not scared!” Beatrix defended himself. Blaine rolled his eyes.

They walked and talked for what felt like hours, they were in the dark and only could see right in front of themselves. 

“Guys!” Bartholomew cried, “Where are you?” 

“Shut up, Bartholomew!” Blaine snarled, but when he looked back, there was only Beatrix in sight. “Are you serious right now!” he growled, “Follow my voice!” he called. He started to just say random things like “are you kidding me Bartholomew?” and “I knew we couldn’t trust those people!” and other angry remarks. Bartholomew eventually made his way back to the group. 

“Beatrix, let me in your bag,” Blaine demanded. Beatrix used his mouth to open the flap and let Blaine dig through his stuff. Blaine pulled out a long rope made of thick, long grass.

“Come here, Bartholomew,” he said. He came over and Blaine tied the rope around his wrist and then onto Beatrix’s, and lastly onto his own wrist. “Now no one can get lost,” he glared at Bartholomew. 

As they continued down the cave, the goo started to pulse, it would go orange and then yellow for a second and then back to orange.

“What’s going on?” Beatrix gasped.

“There must be some kind of energy or living thing connected to this slime…” Blaine pondered aloud. 

“What in the name of the Eleven Tengoku would make this amount of slime? And put it all over the walls and floor, I bet it’s on the ceiling too!” Bartholomew guessed. 

“Maybe some kind of slug or snail?” Beatrix chimed in.

“I don’t think a mountain snail is a thing!” Bartholomew laughed. 

“Well, what else makes this kind of slime?” Beatrix defended his idea.

“Whatever it is, I don’t want it finding us first. Be quiet!” Blaine whispered. Bartholomew rolled his eyes.

The pulsing started to hurt Beatrix’s eyes as they walked deeper into the cave. As they got closer, or kept walking deeper, the pounding yellow went faster through the slime. It was a lot warmer in the cave than it was outside, it got warmer as they went down the long tunnel. It was an odd cave, one long, never ending, circular cave. It had no forks, no splits, no dead ends, it was just one long cave. It was more like a hole than a cave.

There were no more spiders in the slime or on the walls, in fact there was nothing, it was still and silent. Something felt off, every time when the yellow faded, it started to take longer to come back. Something was watching them.

“Blaine…?” Beatrix whimpered in fear.

“Don’t worry, you won't get lost, we’re tied together.” Blaine whispered. 

Beatrix’s heart didn’t believe Blaine, even when he told himself he was going to be fine, his heart would not calm down, he could not stop doubting their safety. 

They continued through the cave until the darkness lasted too long. The light went out and the cave was pitch black.

“The light will come back in a minute.” Blaine stated. But it didn’t. They waited a long time for the slime to glow, but their fears were met with startling truth. The lights were gone and something was with them.

“Blaine…!” Beatrix said in a panic. 

“Shhh…” was all he said in response. 

No one could see themselves or each other or what was in the darkness with them. At least they were tied together, so they would stay with each other. 

Suddenly, the ground was rumbling violently all around them, rocks fell from the roof and the walls crumbled. There was a terrifying screeching sound like claws scraping on stone. 

“Beatrix!” Bartholomew called out into the darkness.

“Yes?” he responded quickly. 

“Use your fire and see if this slime can be put on fire!” he suggested.

“Okay!” Beatrix shouted his response with confidence that he didn’t really have. But the rumbling intensified and there was no way they would be able to defend themselves without light. He began to take a deep breath, but a stone hit him on the back and he gasped for air, but in the violent fear of death, Beatrix heaved out a heavy breath of fire and in a split second the whole room was lit up. Fortunately Beatrix’s fire was aimed right at the wall so the floor did not become a fiery stone land. 

With the right side wall on fire they could see each other perfectly and they rushed to one another. Beatrix and Bartholomew stood shakily behind Blaine. 

RUMBLE!

CRACK!

BOOM!

SCREEEE!

They all looked up to see a big, tall, wet, fleshy, grey worm. It was flailing its head up in the air while making a deadly noise that burst their ear drums. The pressure in Beatrix’s ears made him feel like he was about to faint. He made clumsy steps, trying to keep his balance. The worm crashed its body into the walls of the cave, stone came crumbling down everywhere. Eighteen glowing red eyes burned like embers into Beatrix’s soul, emanating strength, power, and confidence. Its mouth was at the top of its head and had teeth surrounding its circular mouth. Its fangs were long and curved like the thick blade of a scythe. 

Bartholomew stood at Beatrix’s side keeping him up. When he got his focus back his eyes bulged out with fear and disbelief. The beast was long, slimy, thick, muscular, and terrifying. 

Before anyone was able to think of a plan, it attacked. The long grey muscle let out a roar and launched itself at Blaine who was closest to it. Blaine barely dodged the worm and the wind of the speed of the worm knocked him over. The ground began to crumble around them. The rope that connected them all together snapped. 

“Run!” Blaine cried. Bartholomew bit Beatrix’s shoulder and started dragging him forward. Soon they were running full speed. They had no clue where the monster was, or where it went. The cave had to have an ending to it, so if they ran far enough they could escape. Beatrix remembered that night with Yolanda and Bartholomew when he was running frantically in the rain. It was similar, the ground was wet and slippery so Beatrix had to be careful. It was dark the further they went down. Beatrix ran without a single thought in his mind. His body took over and he would not be stopped. 

The worm burst through the wall right beside Beatrix and tried to snatch him in his mouth. Beatrix jumped out of the way one of the fangs reached Beatrix’s underarm as he jumped. He landed roughly on the stone floor as blood spattered on the ground behind him and pooled beneath him. 

The worm drilled a hole into the other wall and the long tube of muscle blocked Blaine and Bartholomew from getting close to Beatrix. He laid down on the cold ground that somewhat soothed the burning wound in his right underarm. 

Finally, the end of the worm came and Bartholomew ran to Beatrix’s side and picked him up. He threw the limp kitsune onto his back. He turned his head to see Blaine running towards them. Bartholomew turned and started to run, then the ground crumbled and sank in around them. They landed in a pile of rocks and slimy broken eggs. 

“Bartholomew!” Blaine cried.

“I’m okay!” 

“Where’s Beatrix?” 

“He’s with me!” Bartholomew used his left dragon hand to grab Beatrix and uncover him from the rubble. He was breathing but he was knocked out, blood oozed out of his right temple. The eggs glowed red, and suddenly Blaine was in Bartholomew’s sight. “Over here!” He called. As soon as Blaine was close to them the ground shook hard, it was an earthquake right beneath them. Suddenly, the beast came up out of the ground right beneath Blaine and swallowed him. It was quick, sudden, fast. Beatrix was waking up, but he was woozy and didn’t know what just happened. 

“Blaine!” Bartholomew shrieked. He ran, leaving Beatrix behind. He stood right in front of the giant sluggy beast. It let out a grumbled roar, like a burp and started the scream again. The worm lunged at Bartholomew, but when it was about to make a second breakfast out of him, it stopped dead in its tracks. Bartholomew could see purple haze coming out of the mouth of the beast.

“Beatrix!” 

“Yea?” he responded drowsily. 

“Come here now!”

Beatrix got up and ran through the rubble, he stumbled and tripped but he continued on, his heart somewhat slow and lazy beating like it was ready to give up. 

“What do we do?” Beatrix panicked. He now realized his leader was nowhere with them. 

“You see that purple smoke?” Bartholomew asked. The worm was wiggling uncomfortable in the smoke and Beatrix could see it coming out of its mouth. He nodded. 

“Do not breathe it in!” he warned, “But set it on fire, now!” 

Beatrix had no time to think, the worm was getting irritated by the skin burning haze and was going to kill them. Beatrix let out only a small spark of fire, but it set the haze ablaze and trailed like gasoline into the worm's mouth and into its body. The worm cooked from the inside out. It went limp and fell to the ground with a large thump. The roof crumbled more and more and Beatrix ran for shelter, but Bartholomew stayed still, staring at the worm. It didn’t move. It didn’t make a noise. Bartholomew sat down and started to cry. His heart was working over time, each heartbeat hurt like needles being repeatedly stabbed directly into his heart and his veins. 

GURGLE!

SQUELCH!

Bartholomew cleared his eyes and looked at the monster, it was still dead, but now there was a rip right in what seemed to be the worm's neck or belly. Bartholomew ran to the gash and saw a sharp dragon talon clawing its way out. 

“Blaine!” Bartholomew cried, he began tearing up the belly of the beast like a serial murderer. He tore through the thick flesh of the beast and dug his hand into the tummy until his hand met Blaine’s. He pulled Blaine out of the carcass of the worm and he gasped for air. Blaine was covered in slime, blood, and steam came running off of him into the air. He panted and his muscles were rock hard. 

“Where’s Beatrix?” Blaine asked. 

“He ran…” Bartholomew said slowly. 

“Find him,” Blaine demanded. 

“I’m here!” Beatrix called as he ran towards them. 

Bartholomew towered over Beatrix. He was covered in the thick warm blood of the worm, he also had Beatrix’s blood on his back from carrying him. His eyes narrowed and glared down at Beatrix. Beatrix’s ears went down and he looked fearfully into his eyes. 

“We have to get out of here,” Blaine said after he caught his breath. 

“Yeah,” Bartholomew said flatly. He turned away from Beatrix and went to help his leader get up and walk. Beatrix followed behind them with his tail tucked between his legs.