The world had become a bad dream.
Nadia huddled in the dark, arms wrapped around her knees, listening to the wet, sickening dragging sound just beyond the flimsy wooden door. The walls of the small apartment trembled with each movement from the thing outside—the monster Liam had barely managed to keep from reaching them.
Her breath came in sharp, shallow gasps. Her heart thumped so loud she thought the monster might hear it.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to call for her mother, but her mother was gone. Torn apart in the chaos, just like her father. She had seen the red water take them, swallow them whole. And now, she was alone in the dark with Liam, a stranger who had grabbed her hand when she had no one else.
A noise outside made her flinch.
It was a sound she couldn't quite understand—a low chittering, wet and sharp simultaneously, like something moving too fast, too many legs clicking against the floor.
Liam knelt beside her, one hand on her shoulder. His grip was firm, not painful, but grounding. He smelled like sweat, like dirt, and something burnt. But he was solid. Real.
"It's okay," he whispered. "We're safe."
Nadia wanted to believe him, but she didn't think anywhere was safe anymore.
Something new was outside.
The scraping claws of the first monster—the Crimsonborn—had retreated. But now, something smaller, faster, had taken its place. The sound came in skittering bursts, like the pattering of rain, but heavier, more deliberate. The noise moved across the ceiling, the walls, as though whatever was out there didn't care for the laws of gravity.
Nadia clenched her eyes, pressing her small hands against her ears. But the sound was still loud.
She dared to lift her head opening her eyes slowly.
Through a crack in the broken door, she saw it.
At first, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. It was too big. Too wrong. A spider, but made of raw, pulsing red flesh. Not a normal spider—this thing was the size of a dog, its elongated legs slick with something dark and wet. It moved with impossible speed, darting from one side of the hallway to the other. Its body wasn't smooth but patchy, like it had been stitched together from different living pieces.
And worst of all, its eyes—if they were eyes—were nothing but empty pits of bleeding darkness.
It wasn't alone.
The clicking grew louder. Nadia sucked in a breath as more of them crawled into view, their unnatural bodies shifting, pulsing. They didn't move like normal spiders. They twitch-jumped, their limbs cracking unnaturally as they disappeared and reappeared in quick, jerking movements. The largest one pressed its front legs against the apartment door, its clawed appendages digging into the wood.
Liam tensed beside her, his breath slow, measured.
"Don't. Move," he mouthed.
Nadia didn't dare.
The Blood Spider dragged its front limb across the door, slowly, deliberately, like it was testing the barrier. The chittering outside grew louder, and Nadia felt a sob rising in her throat.
The door wouldn't hold.
Not against them.
Nadia squeezed her eyes shut, praying the creatures would leave. But the wood cracked.
The first strike nearly made her scream.
The Blood Spider smashed into the door again, sending splinters flying inward. The second blow was harder—the wood buckled, and the small apartment filled with the sharp scent of rotting iron.
Liam grabbed her wrist.
"Come on," he whispered harshly, dragging her toward the opposite side of the room.
There was only one way out.
The window.
Liam didn't hesitate. He pushed open the frame, but the alley below was a long, twenty-foot drop onto the pavement. Too high. Too dangerous.
But the Blood Spiders were coming through the door.
Nadia turned, eyes wide in terror, as the first of the creatures pushed its oozing, writhing body through the broken wood. Its front limbs stretched unnaturally, pulling the rest of its bulbous, shifting form into the apartment.
There was no time.
Liam made a decision.
"Hold onto me," he ordered, and before she could argue, he jumped.
Nadia screamed.
They hit the pavement hard. Liam twisted his body, taking the brunt of the impact as they crashed onto the street below. The pain was immediate—a sharp burst of agony in his shoulder as he landed badly, rolling them both onto the cracked asphalt.
Nadia was dazed, her vision swimming with red and black. Her ears rang from the force of the impact. For a moment, she thought she couldn't breathe—but then she gasped, and air flooded her lungs.
Above them, the Blood Spiders swarmed the window, their twitching forms crawling out onto the walls, their bleeding mandibles snapping in agitation.
Liam pulled her to her feet, ignoring the pain in his leg. They had to run.
Without looking back, he grabbed her hand and bolted into the night.
Moscow was gone.
The streets, once filled with life, had become a graveyard of blood and ruin. Buildings stood like hollowed-out skeletons, their windows shattered, their walls soaked in a dark crimson stain. Abandoned cars were left in the middle of the roads, some still running, their headlights flickering in the fog.
And in the distance, beyond the wreckage, the air was alive with inhuman wailing.
Then—gunfire.
A group of survivors appeared from behind the wreckage, unloading rounds into the looming beast above them. Crimsonborn screeched in pain, momentarily distracted.
"Over here!" someone shouted.
Liam didn't hesitate. He yanked Nadia toward the strangers, dodging debris as bullets and fire erupted around them. The survivors led them through a crumbling metro entrance, sealing a reinforced door behind them.
Panting, Liam turned to face the ragtag group.
"Who are you?"
A woman with a stern face scowled at Liam. "Your best damn chance at surviving."
For the first time, Nadia felt something like relief.
Maybe, just maybe, they had found safety.
But safety was always an illusion.
The metro tunnels smelled of damp earth and something rotting beneath the surface. The flickering yellow emergency lights barely lit the path, casting long, jagged shadows against the cracked concrete walls.
Nadia clung to Liam's arm as her other hand held the bunny plushie. They walked deeper into the underground refuge, the air heavy with the scent of unwashed bodies and old blood.
The group of survivors—ten in total—had led them to what remained of a once-bustling subway station. Makeshift barricades of metal scraps, overturned benches, and hastily stacked sandbags blocked the tunnel entrances. Fires burned low in metal drums, their orange glow barely cutting through the gloom.
Nadia had never seen anything like it.
A small girl her age sat cross-legged on a blanket near one of the barrels, staring at her with wide, tired eyes. A man with a thick beard and bloodstained bandages wrapped around his arm limped past, muttering something under his breath. Others sat in clusters, their voices hushed, their eyes constantly shifting toward the shadows.
They were afraid.
Nadia tightened her grip on Liam's sleeve. "Are we… really safe here?"
Liam hesitated, glancing at the barricades, at the way everyone flinched at distant noises.
"For now," he said. But he didn't sound convinced.
A woman with a military vest, and had 3 soldiers approached them. She was tall, wiry, with dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Her clothes were patched, a rifle slung across her back.
"I'm Vera," she introduced herself. "Welcome to what's left of us."
_____________________________________________________________
The first few days underground were the hardest.
Food was rationed strictly—cans of beans, stale crackers, and whatever bottled water they had managed to scavenge. Every meal was eaten in silence, the weight of unspoken fears pressing down on them all.
Nadia had never felt hunger like this before. Her stomach twisted painfully, and yet she didn't complain. No one did. Complaining wouldn't change anything.
Liam spent his time helping with repairs, reinforcing the barricades, and going on occasional scavenging runs. Nadia, too small to fight, was given the job of cleaning—sweeping the dusty floors, washing old bandages, and organizing what little supplies they had left.
She hated it.
She hated the way everything felt temporary—as if at any moment, the Crimsonborn would come crashing through the tunnels and rip them apart.
She hated the dark corners, the shadows that played tricks on her mind.
She hated the feeling of false hope that the others clung to so desperately.
Nights were the worst.
The metro tunnels were never truly silent.
Sometimes, the distant skittering of Blood Spiders echoed through the underground, their limbs scraping against unseen walls. Other times, something heavier moved above them—something with the wet, lumbering weight of flesh dragging itself through the ruins of Moscow.
No one slept well.
Nadia would lie awake, curled in a blanket beside Liam, staring at the low ceiling. Every creak, every distant growl sent chills down her spine. Her mother used to sing her lullabies when she was scared, but now there was only silence.
And then, one night, she heard whispering.
At first, she thought she was dreaming. The sound was faint, almost melodic, like someone calling from far away.
She sat up, her heart pounding. The others were still asleep, their breathing slow, steady. But the whispering continued, drifting up from the deepest part of the tunnels.
Nadia's hands clenched into fists. She didn't want to move, didn't want to look. But something inside her compelled her to listen.
Then—
A sudden, piercing scream.
It came from the barricades.
Liam was up in an instant, grabbing his knife. The entire station woke at once, people scrambling for weapons, for cover. The air filled with shouts, the sound of boots hitting the ground.
And then, the barricade collapsed.
Blood Spiders poured in, their twitching, bleeding forms ripping through metal and wood like paper. Their mandibles clicked hungrily, their jagged limbs moving in bursts of horrifying speed.
The survivors opened fire. Gunshots echoed through the tunnels, flashes of muzzle fire lighting up the chaos. The creatures screeched, but they didn't stop.
Nadia barely had time to react before Liam grabbed her, yanking her backward.
"Run!" he shouted.
She did.
She ran as the survivors fought, as the Blood Spiders climbed the walls and descended from the ceiling, their bodies pulsing with raw, living blood. She ran past the dying, past the ones who weren't lucky enough to escape the creatures' grasp.
But there was nowhere to go.
The metro station was no longer safe.
And deep down, Nadia knew—it never had been.
__________________________________________________
"Gluuurrghhh... kkkhhh... shlk-shlk-shlk... glllrp..."
The Spiders now feasted on the unlucky survivors. The victims' bodies, their blood drained and absorbed, caused the Blood Spiders to swell grotesquely, their limbs stretching longer, their forms distorting. More eyes erupted across their glistening, crimson exoskeletons, each one twitching and rolling as they hunted for more.
Liam pulled Nadia through the narrow corridor of the tunnels, his breath coming fast and uneven. Behind them, the shrieks and death cries of those left behind filled the air, mixing with the grotesque gurgles of the feeding Spiders.
Nadia's legs burned. Her chest ached. She wasn't fast enough. She wasn't strong enough.
She tripped.
Liam caught her before she hit the ground, his grip firm but not unkind. He didn't say anything—just lifted her into his arms and kept running.
Nadia could barely process what was happening. The horrors they had just escaped flashed through her mind in nightmarish images. She thought of Vera, of the other survivors, of the way their screams.
Few of them survived. The tunnels stretched endlessly before them, deeper into the unknown. The small group relaxed and got their breath back.
"Liam…" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Why is this happening… why us?"
Liam didn't answer immediately. His arms tightened around her as he ran, breath ragged. When he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse.
"I don't know, Nadia… but I promise I...I wont leave you alone..."
She squeezed her eyes shut. The fear wouldn't go away. But for now, she had Liam. And that had to be enough.
"Promise...?"
....
...
"I promise..."