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Another two monsters launched themselves at him in a blur of mottled flesh, their eyes feverish with hunger.

Darien punched the sword through their guts, then bisected another, and it crumpled in twitching halves at his boots. Several fled from his wrath, making a beeline for the farthest tunnel with their tails between their legs.

He whipped around, scanning the area. His vision was still warped and muzzy, his ears whirring.

Roman. He had to get to Roman.

But where the hell was he?

“Fuck.”

On clumsy feet, he trudged through the cavern—through the thick of the flesh-hungry monsters. He could barely see through the mental haze, but he didn’t let this stop him. He chopped his way through, hacking apart anything that moved. Duck, stab, slash. He was soaked in gore, his hair dripping with water and sour-smelling blood. There were teeth everywhere—teeth and claws and leathery wings and eyes straight out of hell.

“Romaaaaaaan!”he called, every breath a labored pant. Blood trickled down his arm and dripped off his fingers, leaving a trail of red everywhere he went.“ROMAN!—”

“Darien!”

Relief hit him with the force of a truck. “Oh thank gods.” He spun in circles, searching for Roman with fierce blinks, his star-flecked vision pulsing to the rapid thumping of his heart.“Where are you?”

“Over here!”

Darien plowed on, moving clumsily through the carnage. Following the sound of Roman’s voice?—

There.There was Roman, crouching on the ground a few feet away. He was surrounded by barking beasts that paced restlessly from side to side, his only means of protection a flickering barrier of shadow as he fought to wrest his foot free from the vine.

“Darien, get this thing off me—I don’t have a knife!—”

The vine suddenly whipped upward, pulling Roman into the air. The movement was so swift it caused him to fall backward, the back of his head smacking against the ground.

Darien dove, grabbing onto Roman’s outstretched hand with his broken one. “Hold on!” he gritted out. “Hold on, I got you?—”

“Don’t you dare let go!”

“I’m not fucking letting go!”

But the vine wasn’t letting go either, and to Darien’s horror, his boots began to slide across the ground as it pulled andpulledon Roman. His hand burned, his arm still leaking blood.

The creatures pushed closer, barking and snapping.

“Stay back!” The air whistled as Darien cut it apart with his sword. To Roman, he shouted,“Shoot it!”He pulled as hard as he could, gaining two meters, the vine stretching taut as Roman wrestled a handgun from his weapons belt. “You have to shoot it—I can’t reach it from here!”

An inhuman scream shook the cavern. It was so loud, it vibrated Darien’s eardrums, making him holler in pain.

Roman screamed too, nearly letting go. All around them, monsters yawped and hissed, pawing at their ears and bowing their heads to the ground in agony.

Darien’s eyes watered, his attention snapping to the tunnel.

Writhing vines framed the entrance like thick worms, a few lashing out to grab more prey. Inside the tunnel, monsters cried as they were devoured—as whatever thatthingwas crushed their bones into powder. As itatethem.

His boots skidded with another yank, the immense force behind the action causing his upper body to snap forward.“Shoot it, Roman!”He pulled, gaining a meter back, then dug his heels in with a grunt as he was again tugged back the other way.“Shoot it!”

The air was cleaved by another deafening roar. Darien tucked his head against a shoulder, jaw clenching tight as the soundshot like a missile into his ears. Worse was the red-hot pain blistering through his hand, the bones threatening to splinter in all the places that were still healing.

He could barely breathe, barely think, but he managed to bellow,“Shoot the fucking thing!”

“I’M TRYING!”Roman roared as he took aim. His face was flushed from hanging upside down, his body constantly wobbling in midair like an elastic band.

He fired the first shot from his handgun, missing by millimeters.