As the flames burned outside the holding area in which the seven lay, the thick layers of metal protected the creatures inside from all harm. The flames licked away at the two sets of doors as well as the concrete walls which began to show cracks, but the oil was eaten away by the flames, leaving behind small pools which were further divided until they were no more.

A plume of smoke rose from the shaft but it was unnoticeable in the dark night. Rather the most notable part of the fire was the hole it had made into the series of evenly spaced buildings that were at most two stories tall. There was plenty of open space on each plot of land, covered with grass turf that was simply rolled out over the barren dirt below. The houses consisted of wood frames, a rarity in the world where everything was cultivated since trees took so long to grow. The majority of space was allocated towards comfort, with there being a large room for the sole purpose of relaxing and entertainment aside from the bedroom. Even the bedrooms were oversized with there being plenty of space around the bed to fit a desk and several wardrobes of clothes. Every inch of the floor was carpeted to provide comfort, something which took hours of effort to clean and even tearing out the carpet and dumping it into the sewer system.

After all, everything was being dissolved by the sewer system save for the large industrial manufacturers which churned out endless amounts of plastic waste from cutting away material to leave behind the weapons they wanted. This waste proved to be too hard for the bacteria to eat away quickly and thus they resolved to simply dumping it in piles across barren lands.

These homes may have covered the most land, hosting the minds in which technological innovation came from, but the majority of the population didn’t live there. Instead, they lived in massive ground scrapers above ground which spread themselves across a large portion of the surface but were still tens of floors tall. This complex in the city stretched around the city, leaving the green stretch of houses and farms in the center. Although there weren’t specially constructed walls around the city, the housing in which the people lived in served as an impenetrable wall since too many people lived there and if anyone dared attack it, they would be faced with widespread criticism from their own citizens.

Underground however, was an entirely different story. There lay all the military might in which soldiers lived and research and development took place.

The area that collapsed wasn’t that large either. The area only spanned a few houses but the space had it happened under the complex would’ve been in the thousands instead of the tens.

--Senny’s Tunnel--

The rush of hot air mingled with the dirt on the sides, drying the sides to form a hard crust securing the tunnel permanently and sealing the air. The air began to continue rushing through the tunnel and down to the bunker where the men were. The mixture of heat and smoke blasted the men standing guard outside the hole, whose eyes were instantly blinded as they dropped down.

The air had only partially diverted itself into the branch that Senny had just recently dug, but due to the momentum of the air, the majority of the air blasted down the original tunnel. The air that did divert itself however, was only enough to warm the backs of Senny and Alejandros, while the hitchhiker on the back of Alejandros began to dry up.

--Elevator shaft--

The flames burst out after the smoke which formed a dancing figure in the sky. The amounts of impurities in the oil were lifted into the air and formed a figure that seemed to open its arms to the sky and have its head tilted up before being lifted higher and higher out of existence.

The men surrounding the bonfire however, weren’t so happy. They had begun to sweat in their suits since there simply were no cooling systems in their climate. However, they were still completely shielded off from intruding particles so they remained to stand still and sweat.

“Bullshit, was it a remote bomb?”

--Tunnels--

Deep down beneath where all the moles had run, everybody lay still. There was no food here to find, only water and debris. Feeling hungry, the colony of workers could only drink the water to satisfy their hunger. Before, they were still allocated a minimum amount of meat hunted by the scavengers to survive, but now there was only the meat on their own bones… and the meat on their companions around them.

The first worker began to explore the surrounding area. All of a sudden, claws flew up from the sewage. The first couple who had entered had grown hungry enough already to kill their own companions. Now they lay in the water, continuously drinking water and letting their intestines filter out the water before spewing it back out again. Only the sides contained the waste that began to pile up while the middle was deeper and contained the flowing water.

It was impossible to roam around to consume the bacteria there since there would always be the danger of an ambush lurking below, where their belly was the softest and most crucial part to staying alive.

Each mole lay down beside on the river bank, but as they progressed past the ones who had already lay down in ambush, they were snapped up and finally devoured unless there was a willing ally who would then team up on the ambusher and share in the loot.

There was an initial surge in the strength of the moles, mainly because the bacteria had accumulated themselves there for so long but it didn’t last long as the majority of bacteria were washed along and down.

The guards were the next ones to walk this deadly minefield of ambushes. As the guards began running through and exploring this new land that was theirs, the very last one in the convoy was ambushed and dragged into the water where it was unprepared and without holding its breath. As a stream of bubbles rose to the surface from the guard’s mouth following each repeated shake of the worker’s head, blood too began to drift out from the leg where the worker had grasped onto. Moles were never meant to swim so as one fought to kill and the other attempted to escape despite being latched onto due to panicking, they sank to the bottom where there was no hope of breaking free the slightest bit and regaining air. It quickly lost its strength which drew the attacking mole’s breath dangerously close to drowning itself, but dancing this close to death’s edge was what was needed.

The blood that spewed out of the wounds diffused instantly, quickly being eaten up by the bacteria that resided there. The water received a burst of black, not that it made any difference.

The mole popped up to the surface for a quick breath before diving down again to properly claim its kill which had begun to be stolen by the bacteria. Quickly dragging the body up into the river bank made of plastic, the body was quickly eaten and back into the ambush position the mole went with its body standing vertically such that its nose was just slightly above the water and its mouth was wide open to continuously filter out bacteria from the water, awaiting the next prey.