When my head stopped hurting, I moved. The tunnels were mostly empty at this point. I doubt I killed every spider, but what I had done… it definitely scared off what was left. Webs were left abandoned. Even some webs with rats still struggling were left unattended.

  It didn’t take long until I came across another set of stairs. The only reason I knew that was thanks to the watch I had on my wrist. Still ticking away, telling me the seconds, minutes, and hours. The smaller face had moved a bit, but not much.

  The stairs were metal and rusted to hell. They were thick and groaned when I stepped on them. They led further into the depths of the earth. The aged stonework surrounding me faded away, revealing older brickwork, almost ancient. Every step rang out, echoing down into the depths. Beside me, water flowed downward.

  With every step, the air seemed to shift. Change. The smell began to change as well. A red haze hung in the air, preventing the light of my lantern from passing through. The air smelled… sweet? Oddly sweet. It had me sniffing in confusion. The air itself tasted of iron. Almost like the taste of blood, yet it smelled sweet. Almost deliciously so…

  Further down I went, undeterred by the oddity. The river of sewage besides me eventually hit an obstacle. A kind of growth that looked like red moss. It soaked up what sewage flowed down, growing and expanding out throughout the tunnel overhead. There were no railings, and as I went further in, the tunnel evened out.

  No longer was there a channel at the center of the tunnel. The ground was soft. Every step felt like I was stepping on a plush rug. Odd growths dotted the walls and ceiling. Shining my light on them gave no clues, only that they looked a bit too much like cocoons of some sort.

  Had the spiders come down here and been subsumed by the moss?

  A worrying thought. My shoes weren’t being absorbed, so perhaps I was okay. But the smell was really getting to me. As was the taste. I went further in, the haze grew ever thicker, until I could barely see beyond the reach of my own arm.

  A plop reached my ears. A low squelch. The sound echoed through the tunnel, masking its origins and yet… the hair on my neck raised in response. Goosebumps made themselves known along my arms. Slowly, I turned around, using my lantern to try and pierce the veil surrounding me.

  On the path I had walked. I thought I saw something. A hazy figure. A shadow only slightly brought into existence thanks to my lantern. It did not move. It merely stood frozen like a statue. It towered above, its head nearly touching the top of the tunnel.

  I considered my options. I considered going forward, but… curiosity demanded I approach. It didn’t move, nor react to my approach. As I got closer, its form became clearer.

  It was white. Its skin was chalky. Limbs were long and thin. Long fingers and toes. It lacked a face; only white skin greeted me. It towered above me, easily twice my height. It was one of those things…

  I lifted my lantern higher, cautiously I moved around, looking for its origin. One of the growths on the wall looked ruptured. Like something had pulled itself out. Odd, red liquid dripped out of the wound in the wall. It was sticky like syrup, the smell, just looking at it ignited a desire to taste it, put it in my mouth…

  I blinked… The ice buried those emotions with ease. A shudder went down my spine. Hastily, I wiped off the liquid off my hands.

  I looked back at the creature. My heart rising into my throat. It still hadn’t moved. It didn’t do anything. Somehow, that was more terrifying. I stayed silent. Slowly, I walked back to where I had been when I saw it first. I kept my eye on it and continued forward. It didn’t follow.

  Eventually, I left it behind. A sigh left my lips. I wanted to speak. Make some loud remark, but I held my tongue. It was quiet. Quiet as death here. My footsteps masked by the thick moss beneath my feet. Even my breathing and heartbeat were slightly muffled by the cold coursing through my veins. I wasn’t frozen over, but just a little cold blunted the edges of the rising terror threatening to consume me.

  I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to back out. Those thoughts slowly gained their own voice, overpowering my own desire to move forward, but… the cold made it easier to press on. It was comforting and also damning.

  As I walked, a deep thrum seemed to echo out from somewhere deeper within. It called out to me seemingly, reminding me of when I had been underwater, when I fell through the ice. How cold it was, and yet… what stuck out to me was when the cold gave way to a blistering warmth. Like a loving embrace…

  I shook my head. Dispelling those thoughts. I’d gone too deep against the spiders. I could still feel the chill in my body. I doubt I’d sleep well for some time. I could still hear the screams of dying spiders and smell that indescribable smell of ichor slush. Having frozen and thawed as I fought. A consequence of the embrace.

  It wasn’t a smell I ever wanted to smell again. I didn’t think I’d get that luxury. Nor did I think I deserved it. Yet, the sweet air was beginning to overwrite those thoughts. Expunging those memories, little by little.

  Onward I continued my expedition. The lantern in hand, my faithful companion. Lighting my way, granting me vision in the red haze. The sewer tunnels above had some structure to them, and as I got lower, they became more labyrinthine. Here, there was no sense to their construction. The walls were coated in thick moss, growths dotting them. Some ruptured, others not.

  It was not a good omen to be sure. But, I heard, or more felt the deeper thrum from deeper within the labyrinth, guiding me, pulling me in. And like a moth to the flame, I followed.

  It made me curious though. How these tunnels came to be. There were often stories, stories of older cities and their sewage lines. How they’d been built and rebuilt so many times, that few could fully understand their full depth and scope.

  Was Purgatory any different, I wondered. Or perhaps, was it even worse. This event seemed to mirror the city and yet… it felt like a poorly made replica. It seemed alive, but… lacked substance. Like something was inherently wrong with this city. It had an almost ephemeral quality to it. Like a dream.

  Perhaps it was the haze. Perhaps it was everything, or… it could be a consequence of whatever Sheep did to make this place, if they had anything to do with this. Either way, the sweet smell was sticking to my sinuses and seemingly fogging up my mind. Only the ice kept me clear headed, if only just.

  I slowed to a stop. More figures appeared before me. unmoving. Standing where they were, menacingly. I stayed quiet. Making my way forward. They stood like statues, unmoving. Their positions appeared erratic. Like they were waiting for something.

  I glanced down at my watch. A few more hours until midnight at least. Something told me, I didn’t want to be here when midnight hits. Hopefully, salvation lay further in, along with that thumping beat.

  I made my way through them. They were randomly placed, which made the walk slightly meandering, but this much was easy to navigate. Unfortunately, their numbers grew. They became cluttered together, clinging together, entwined together for some unknown purpose or reason.

  I dared not touch them. The very sight of these creatures had every alarm that existed in my mind ringing. They were not to be disturbed. Perhaps if it were one… but there wasn’t. There were hundreds. Perhaps thousands as I continued.

  Moving forward became difficult. Finding a safe path became harder. Often, I would need to walk over splayed limbs, or under outstretched hands. Something I never realized, never found myself thankful for until now, was my new body. I was nimbler, my body was leagues above my old one in terms of flexibility. Not just that, but I was much smaller. Allowing me to slip through small gaps.

  I had to drop my bag, and most of my supplies for fear of accidentally bumping into one of those creatures. I stuffed what I could into my pockets and did the best I could to squeeze through whatever gap presented itself.

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  The gaps grew tighter and the paths I followed grew ever more winding. The haze had grown so thick that I could barely see the lantern before me through the haze. The light barely lit up the surroundings, making the tunnel seem so much vaster than it should have been.

  I dared not make a sound. When I had left my supplies behind, perhaps the most nerve-wracking moment of this new life was undoing the zipper. Never had I considered a zipper to be loud, but in this oppressive silence, it might as well have been a gunshot. Just with that sound, the nearby creatures had shaken. Their bodies cracked and popped; limbs shifted slightly as tremors ran through them.

  I went slow, and took what I needed but even then, I knew just about any sound could set them off. I wouldn’t dare consider what a touch would do. Incidentally, that little shifting had made my path further easier, but had barred my retreat. I had nowhere to go but forward now.

  I spent… maybe an hour shuffling through a mass of bodies. No matter how I lifted the lantern, all I saw was a tunnel filled with these creatures as they barred the path forward. The only salvation was a single path forward.

  There was a single, small path. A single gap that had me crawling through these entities’ legs. I had to crawl. The moss, was sticky to the touch. The smell intensified with it so close. The moss was sticky, soaking my clothing with that sweet syrup. I feared my stomach would rumble in hunger, but the ice kept it all at bay. Then there was the thumping beat from further within, still calling to me.

  The moss was soft, indenting in when I crawled forward. Little by little. Between legs I crawled, like a worm. Moving back and forth. Slowly inching forward. All I could taste was iron. The smell was drilling its way into my brain. The haze was so thick it felt like I was trying to move with a gauze sheet over me.

  How long I spent crawling, I wasn’t sure, but salvation was at hand. Though thick, a single layer barred my way forward. Only, the path was far smaller than any other. I laid on my back. Passing the lantern over first. Slowly, I inched myself forward, sucking in my stomach, trying to make my profile as small as possible.

  I turned my head as I passed under. I could almost feel it, mere centimeters from my ear. Inch by inch, I continued. Holding my breath. Embracing the ice to slow my beating heart and allow me to hold my breath for longer.

  My chest passed without issue. Stomach next, legs came through all too easily. Feet came next… then I felt it on my back… the lantern. A nigh deafening click reached my ears and the light flickered off. Plunging me in darkness. The light click, was followed by ominous cracking and clicking. I kept holding my breath. My frozen heartbeat against the ice encasing it. Slowly, I tried to work my way back, the lantern clicked again, light flickering on…

  It was right above me. I jerked back, tip of my shoes brushed its skin.

  It lunged with a snap. Its motionless body instantly surged into action. Its head ripped open to reveal teeth covered tongues and a mouth filled with glistening teeth. I hurried back. Pumping backwards, the lantern clicking on and off with each motion I made. Infuriatingly, it rolled with me as I pulled back, clicking on and off, like a camera shutter, giving me brief glimpses of the entities as they moved and closed.

  Without the ice, I would have screamed. The entity dug into the ground and whipped to and fro, following the sounds of clicks and clacks of the lantern. I threw myself aside at the last minute. It dove down, knocking aside the lantern. The light flickered ominously as it danced away

  I didn’t move. My lungs screamed for air. My entire body rebelled against the tyranny of ice. Yet, I plunged ever deeper. Doing all I could not to make a noise. The thin light that could pierce the red haze revealed a shadow, many shadows moving and swaying. I dared not move or speak.

  Large figures moved with startling grace and without a noise. They stalked the area for a time. A foot landed near my head, then… after a few more minutes. Everything went silent once more. Slowly, I eased my way out. In the near total darkness, I made my way towards the lone beacon of safety.

  The lantern was cracked, but still functional. A small miracle that. The moment I was up and ready, I fled. I ran further into the tunnels away from the creatures. Far as I could get. Inadvertently, or by design, I ran towards the thumping beat.

  The haze began to fade. The ever-present moss seemed to thin. Perhaps I was imagining it. Perhaps not. My head was spinning. I released the ice and fell to the ground and panted. Doing my best to stay quiet as I let air flow into my lungs. Once I caught my breath, I froze.

  My head turned. A pair of eyes peered at me from the dark. Slowly, steadily, I raised the lantern and stared back. There, on the wall, watching me. Was a girl, a young woman… She was looking at me with wide eyes. Dark circles around them. She looked gaunt. Terrified.

  A part of, the rational part mused… ‘We should leave her. She’s just dead weight.’

  It wasn’t wrong and yet…

  ‘It could also be a trap?’ It continued.

  I couldn’t disagree there and yet… what if it wasn’t? Rationality didn’t reply back, but I could hear the returning sigh.

  Underneath the rational, underneath the fear, was something else, a wish not to be alone in this forsaken place. No matter the cost.

  Perhaps I was losing it? Slowly, I stood. I walked closer. I didn’t dare speak, but the girl quaked on my approach, as if unsure if I was real or not.

  Slowly, so as not to startle her. I extended my hand. Almost hesitantly, she too reached out and touched mine. Her hands were hot and sweaty, whereas mine were frozen over. The mere touch of our hands had her eyes flare to life though. She opened her mouth but froze. Quickly, she took back her hand and began motioning.

  I immediately understood. Sign language. I watched intently. I had learned it, once. Enough to decipher the motions she made. Not enough to return the conversation in a meaningful way. Enough to mime a simple conversation, or at least, how she got here. She answered enthusiastically, with shaking hands.

  After exiting the train, she had grouped up with a few people she’d met early on. When she had first arrived at the city. They’d all came together, and when the zombies attacked, they had fled further into the tunnels to the next station.

  There, they had fought their way out, when their leader had a plan. A plan to get ahead. That the sewers would be a good way to get around, and if they were lucky, they’d find some easy pickings.

  They bit off more than they could chew. The sewers had been filled with the undead. None of them had died, but some of them were injured.

  The girl herself sported an old bandage soaked in blood.

  They fought and ran, inadvertently getting lost and found themselves going deeper. They had their first casualties against the spiders. Though, she hesitated to describe how. I assured her with a hand on the shoulder and a nod. Trying to convey that she didn’t have to.

  So, she didn’t.

  They pressed on. Beat back the spiders but were just as lost. Eventually they came down here. That was when it all went wrong.

  At first, nothing came out. They took the chance to rest. But without food or water, they were in trouble. When the first creature appeared, they worked together to kill it, but… she motioned to something, drinking something. The crimson syrup that wept from the walls. At first, nothing came of it, but as they ventured deeper, killing the entities as they went, they stopped more, and were drawn further by the omnipresent beat.

  At some point, her group began to splinter at every crossroads. The ever-present darkness seemingly swallowing them, until only she remained. Alone, without any light, she had managed to reach this far. A miracle on its own. Though, from what she mimed, the beat was her guide, her hearing, no, something about her…

  The word, or rather, what she was signing didn’t quite make sense. I tried to motion it back, but in the end, it didn’t matter. In the end, only the girl survived. She did eventually point to her throat and mime, something about her being mute, or having been mute.

  I had an inkling of what she meant. Or, perhaps what she was trying to convey. Before the city, she couldn’t speak. She was mute. However, since arriving in the city she gradually found her voice, but…

  Was her power voice based? Sound based? Perhaps that was how she reached so far, perhaps some form of echolocation? If so, she would be useful.

  Only, I couldn’t imagine the overbearing solitude, the oppressive darkness that hung over these tunnels. Impenetrable, and seemingly hiding countless horrors. Perhaps she was used to it? If so, I worried after her past life.

  Either way, that was not a question for now.

  They had scavenged supplies before coming down but lost all of it over the trek. Between the fights and the group splintering, it only made sense.

  She didn’t know how long she had been here, but it was probably for some time, she was likely thirsty and hungry. She was soaked through with sweat, suffering from the oppressive heat, a heat I did not feel with my ice.

  Other questions were raised, some were answered… The zombies had been down here. Only, they weren’t now. Was it because I was in the industrial district, or…

  Was it possible they came to ground when midnight hit? Or were they pushed out by those horrors?

  I checked my watch. Time had flown by. We had maybe another hour before midnight and the start of the third and final day… and something told me, that something would happen when that happened.

  If those things were to go free… it would be a massacre…

  Though, ironically, being in the belly of the beast, metaphorically, and perhaps literally had us in the safest position for when they were released.

  We could wait out the last day and leave without issue… not that I thought we’d be so lucky. For now, I had this girl to deal with.

  She looked awful. Near a total breakdown. Food and some water would help. Luckily, I had some.

  The water was half frozen, but when I handed it over. She guzzled down what was inside with gusto. I handed over a ration bar I had left, and that too she ate with equal fervor. Already, she had some color on her face after the water and food. A small spark of hope puttered in her otherwise dead eyes.

  I extended my hand once more, taking hers in mine. I motioned, that we had to leave. Pushing my limited charades experience to the limit. Her hands were still hot, but she followed, sticking close. Likely enjoying the cool air emanating from my body.

  With her in tow, I began to walk.

  ‘Perhaps she would make a good shield, or bait if we were to get into trouble…’ Rationality finally spoke. I stuttered to a stop, and she bumped into me. She asked if something was wrong in sign language.

  My heart thumped. My mouth dry. I gave her a smile, shook my head, and squeezed her hand. All the while, swearing, no matter what, I wouldn’t do that…

  However, that promise felt fleeting. After all, if I had to… I probably would.