Negotiations, if they could be called such, were going smoothly for Katherine.

This gang understood that just because they had her outnumbered and surrounded did not mean much.

All it did was lump them together so she could kill them more easily. Or that was what Katherine was trying to project with her air of confidence.

The looks of fear in their eyes and the wide birth they left around her as she sat in the middle of the room suggested that it was working.

They were gathered within a tavern that was a stone's throw from where they fought the other gang.

Katherine and Lurka, the leader of the gang, were seated opposite each other with a pint of some cheap ale in front of each of them. Around them were the rest of Lurka's crew, who were eyeing Katherine with distrust as they ate, drank, or tended to wounds. They all appeared busy, but everyone knew it was for show.

Lurka was in his early twenties with tanned skin and a short brown stubble over his sharp jaw line. His brown hair was cut short, and his eyes were a yellow-orange that burned with an inner light as he looked at Katherine.

His faded green shirt and trousers hung loosely on him, and he was slumped in his seat across from her, looking relaxed, but she could feel the tension of readiness from him. Interesting, she thought.

"So, what does the Sewer Queen want with our common selves?" Lurka asked in a casual tone before taking a sip from his mug.

A brief smile twitched at Katherine's lips as she lifted her mug, taking a whiff of the liquid and waiting for a beat before taking a careful sip. It was shit, but she was thirsty, so she swallowed more. "That title is kinda much, don't you think? And why do you think I'm the… Sewer Queen?"

"We've all heard the stories of the pale ghost walking the streets with her silver knife. She hunts those who wronged her and retreats into the sewers when challenged or pursued. And she fights with the strength of a hundred men." He took a moment as he inspected and swirled his drink before he continued, "Exaggerated? Sure, but what tail isn't? Though throwing bodies around like they're nuthin, fits you pretty damn well, I would say. Was expecting you to be older, though…"

Katherine flashed the man a slow smile, "If those are the tails, they fit me well indeed. And makes this easier."

Leaning back in her squeaking chair, Katherine looked around, locking eyes with the bolder individuals. "Do you trust those here?" Before he could respond in anger, as Katherine could see she had ruffled his feathers at the comment, she continued, "I do not mean to insult or offend, but what we have to talk about is… sensitive. Loose lips could get us all killed for nothing."

Katherine smiled behind her mug as Lurka did not burst into anger at the suggestion that his people had loose lips. Instead, he weighed her and her words with his eyes.

He was exactly who she needed.

Giving a slight nod, he turned his head while still keeping his eyes locked on hers, saying, "Everyone out." He did not shout, but everyone heard him in the quiet tavern.

Some hesitated a moment, but most immediately stood and started walking out of the building. Even the tavern owner walked into her kitchen and shut the door behind her.

"So~," Lurka said, waving his hand at her silently.

Getting right to the point, Katherine leaned forward, setting her hands on the table, fingers laced together. "I have a way through the sewers to the inner city. The wave of water should have cleared out most of the path, and with you and your people's help, we should be able to keep it clear. With the path, we'll have a perfect smuggling route."

Lurka did not immediately speak, but Katherine could see his mind working through the problem.

There was a lot that she left unsaid, like how the route would eventually be closed unless they got someone a lot more powerful than they were. There was a reason why the sewers were mostly unexplored.

Some of the creatures in the sewers were beings that no one wanted to fuck with. If they decided they could no longer use the path, they would no longer use it.

He had no way of knowing the real dangers of the sewers—not without going down there—and she was not going to tell him. Lurka already had enough on his plate, judging if his people were powerful and capable enough to do what was needed.

Katherine didn't push. He needed time to think.

"Will you be helping us? And what's your cut?" Lurka asked.

"Help? Of course, I'll be helping you." Katherine said with the same cheery tone she used before making him flinch. "You'll be under my… protection… after all. Right?"

Lurka did nothing for a few seconds before giving a slight nod, making Katherine's smile grow slightly and become the tiniest bit sincere. "Good, good." Giving it a moment of thought, Katherine continued, "As for the cut, I think thirty-five percent of the profits for me is more than fair."

She held up a hand, cutting off Lurka as he was about to talk. "You might know there is a passage now, but if you think you could find it without losing hundreds of people, you're wrong. I will be leading you down the path. I will be clearing out most of it. I will be your heavy hitter when you need more muscle up here. Giving me a third of the profits is more than fair."

Lurka smiled as he said, "I wasn't going to disagree. I was surprised you didn't want more?"

Katherine's cheeks heated slightly at his charming smile before she cleared her throat and took control of herself again. "Humph, well, yes, I thought of asking for more…" She shrugged, saying, "but if this partnership is going to last, it needs to be good for both sides. Besides, you and your people will be doing a lot of the work. It's only fair." And no one is willing to work as hard as those making a lot of money.

Lurka smiled wide, showing off his dimples, saying, "So, what do we need to do now?"

Katherine found she was smiling back at him for no reason. Shaking her head, she focused, "Umm, w-we ahh— You need to move."

"What?" Lurka asked, his smile slipping a bit.

"You don't have access to the sewers. If you have to travel to one, people will start asking questions about what you are doing. Besides, even with my help, you and your people won't last here long. Even if you increase your numbers—which you will need to do soon—this part of the city getting too crowded, too many eyes."

"You're not wrong," Lurka muttered to himself. "I was actually thinking the same thing but couldn't think of a good place to go. There isn't much business out there after the wave."

"Well, once we start making runs, we'll have plenty of work and coin," Katherine said, sticking out her hand to be shaken and seal the deal while she held a bright smile on her face.

Looking at her hand for a moment, Lurka nodded once slowly before nodding again right after faster, "Yeah, we will, won't we. But I'll need someone to see this path before anything serious happens."

"We can do that right now," Katherine said with a smile of excitement at her plan going as she wanted.

With their negotiations over, not that they were ever all that much of one, it was time for Katherine to prove herself. To prove her claim.

Apparently, her reputation was more than she thought. It would take a lot for someone to believe anyone had a potential route through the sewers. Let along some random girl who popped up out of nowhere.

I did juggle three people. Kept on dropping two, but I kept one up! Gotta count for something. So, might that be that much of a stretch… Not many fifteen-year-olds can do that. Katherine thought as she looked at Lurka.

He might be willing to tentatively agree to move his gang when there was a reasonable chance they could smuggle goods into the docks, but if she was all talk, he would likely stay on his block to the bloody end.

Lurka wanted a small group to go into the sewers, but Katherine explained that she would only take one other person with her unless he wanted to go into the sewers in force. She would not budge on that.

She wasn't even sure she could keep one alive if things got bad down there. With Lurka only trusting himself enough to go in and come out with the needed information, Lurka was that one.

As such, Lurka explained to his gang that he and Katherine would be gone for a few hours and that Katherine would need a sack of supplies before they could start slinking their way through the docks.

There were several entrances to the sewers around them Katherine knew of.

The closest entrance was over by the harbor, and the ships berthed at the piers. It was in the middle of a road leading to a side section of the docks that dealt with local fishermen. The street was not the major road, but it was also not that far off, and it saw too much traffic to make their entrance there more than once.

The other two were on the other side of the central road leading to the docks and gate. Katherine was not taking them to those entrances. It was far too dangerous.

While most wouldn't notice, she did. When she visited the main road earlier, she saw the new border the old gang that ruled the West Docks were keeping.

She saw a few refugees try and cross the road in search of a better place to stay, and to a one, they were followed.

While this side of West Central might be let to run wild and destroy itself, waiting for someone to step in and take control. The strategy was clever on the part of the Roneies.

The Roneies could not stop the flood of people even if they wanted to. And if they tried, the numbers of the starving and destitute would overwhelm them.

Pulling back far enough that most of the coming refugees can find shelter and picking off those that might cause problems was only reasonable.

And an easy way of dealing with too many rats was throwing a bunch of them into an area that was too small. They will start killing each other off sooner than later.

So Katherine would have to head in the opposite direction of the still-standing infrastructure to avoid the Roneies.

She used to know where a lot of the entrances in this region were, and they existed in a pattern that, if you paid enough attention, you could usually guess when one was nearby.

She did find earlier in the day to check on the conditions of the sewers. Still, the destruction made everything far more complicated than it needed to be, and she was having trouble.

Nothing looked the same, there were no straight paths, and as much as it seemed like you were alone, you always felt someone was watching you. Because someone was.

At least in an alley, you could be sure that a wall you put your back to was solid. Mostly solid. If you picked a collapsing wall, that was on you.

With Katherine and Lurka slipping out into the destroyed area within an hour, she thought the most challenging part was over.

None of the people following her gave a sense of danger, and she was sure they were in the right area for an entrance to the sewer.

The half-collapsed building to her side looked extremely familiar, and she was sure this was the same distance from it as the last time she came through here.

It took Katherine and Lurka another hour to search for and clear the debris lying on top of the sewer cover before they were ready to enter.

They could have done it faster, but Lurka wanted to ensure everything remained hidden and concealed. For some reason.

Sure, people were watching, but it was no more than any of the other scroungers scattered about. And those other three.

Katherine was sure the other scroungers would care less once they saw what she and Lurka were doing. It was only them trying to hide what they were doing that drew attention.

"Are we ready to go?" groaned Katherine, flopped on the small area of cleared ground.

They had shifted the blocks and pieces of wood, making a small wall around the cover. It wasn't much, but it stopped anyone from seeing them without standing on the rim and looking down.

She would notice if someone did that.

Another thing she would notice was if someone was watching her with the intent to harm her, but that didn't stop Caution-mic-paranoid, aka Lurka-pain-in-the-ass, from worrying.

Really, it was like he had never had people casually watching him with the inclination to try and rob him if he came across something good.

Two of Lurka's lieutenants climbed over the small wall, nodding and whispering the Lurka.

Katherine didn't even bother to open her eyes and look at the two. She knew they and the female still off in the shadows were following them from the start.

"You know, we are kind of in a hurry, so why did they and that girl watching from that pile over there watch us instead of helping?" She asked, waving her hand and gesturing towards the opposite side the two had appeared from.

No one said anything for a second, and tension began to build before Lurka laughed, "You saw them the whole time?"

"They aren't that good," Katherine replied, rolling over, getting more comfortable, and scratching her side as the three boys looked at one another.

The two new young men gave off the air as if they were vaguely insulted, sucking in air to fill their chests out and shifting their feet.

Katherine didn't care, they had watched her work, and now she was all sweaty. The bastards could glare all they wanted at her. Didn't mean shit.

She also had her hand resting on her knife after she scratched herself and could quickly kill one or two of them before escaping.

A fact that only Lurka seemed to notice as he continued to chuckle as he glanced at her hand, trying to calm the other two down.

"Lurk, she needs to learn her place," Lieutenant-One said.

"Ohh, I think she knows exactly where her place is, Vulok," Lurka said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You and Ritch should give her more respect and be warier. She is stronger than you seem to think."

Katherine's lips twitched in amusement at the compliment and that neither of the other men took heed of it. "She's just a mage that can use one telekinesis," Lieutenant-one muttered.

Followed up by Lieutenant-Two, "She probably can't do it again… Ouch! Damnit Paula!" Lieutenant-Two hissed, looking out into the surrounding wreckage.

Katherine chuckled as the muscle head rubbed his head. The small rock that hit him was thrown well. She might have to remember Lieutenant-Three's name, which was… I'll learn it later.

Shifting again as she moved the pebbles and rocks under her to the side, Katherine rested, letting their incessant prattling and planning wash over her.

This wasn't her job, and she wasn't going to pretend it was. Once they moved to the sewers, she would have to be at the top of her game, but until then, resting was ideal. She could let the sweat dry off her.

After a bit, Lurka stepped up to her, without getting too close, smart boy.

"I'm ready to go."

"Good," Katherine said, eyes popping open, looking at him, and grabbing the bundle under her head. "Got your stuff?"

Lurka grabbed the rope that ran over his chest, diagonal to his hip, pulling it forward slightly before letting it settle down on his chest again.

She flashed her teeth at him, rocking backward slightly before flipping to her feet.

Brushing past him, she hit her shoulder into his mid-arm. It was as far as she could reach, and then she leaned up to whisper in his ear, "Let's go, pretty boy."

Walking up to the now revealed entrance to the sewer, Katherine noticed that Lieutenant Two was the only one here.

She didn't really care where the other one had wandered off to, but she was curious. Not that it would be enough to stop her now that she was finally moving again.

Momentarily stopping at the edge of the hole into the ground, Katherine looked back at Lurka, who had just finished turning around and stepping towards her, locking eyes with him.

Flashing her teeth again, she hopped forward, falling into the warm, fetid air rushing up from the darkness below. As she felt it envelop her, it was like the embrace of an old friend.

“Wha— Hey! Katherine! Are you alright!"

Falling a few feet into the darkness, Katherine's hands shot out, latching onto the metal rungs embedded into the walls of the sewer.

Normally she wouldn't fall into a sewer without someone chasing her, never knew what she would land on, and it was always gross. But Lurka's cries of concern were amusing, and the slight pain in her arm was totally worth it.

"I'm fine. Let's get moving, pretty boy." Katherine whispered, continuing her climb down.

She might have whispered, but her voice echoed off the walls making it sound like she was talking normally, and with his head sticking over the side of the hole, looking down, he heard her.

He was squinting, and she saw him, his eyes flicking around, focusing on her movements.

She saw him disappear before his legs and backside came into view as he slowly started climbing down the ladder. A minor pulse of disappointment ran through her as she reached the section of the ladder where it stopped going down and started arching to the side. It was a nice backside.

Smoothly and with minimal effort, she traversed the transitional two rungs going down at a steep angle. It was the start of the climb where you could only use your arms on the descent.

Swinging herself forward, Katherine started going hand over hand, making her way along the bars embedded in the arched ceiling, quickly descending to the tunnel's edge and the bricked walkway.

Dropping the last few feet to the brick-lined floor, Katherine looked up to the cursing coming from the tunnel. It might have been quiet outside, but in here, it was loud.

A smile slipped onto her face as his cursing grew foot flailing in the open air. "The ladder ends there. Have to climb down two rungs at an angle using your arms, then make the rest of the way swinging bar to bar. The stepper it gets, the closer you are to the bottom. There, now reach out a few inches down from the ceiling. There you go. Now, keep doing that, and you'll make it down here eventually. Maybe in a year or two at your rate…"

Katherine stood in place, keeping an eye on everything around her. At the same time, she led Lurka down the ladder and across the ceiling of the tunnel.

She had never helped anyone down here, and it was rather amusing.

"Sorry!" Barked Lurka, some annoyance seeping into his voice, as Katherine kept on having to guide him with her words, "not all of us can see in the dark!"

"Then don't trespass into the dark," Katherine whispered, her tone taking on a predatory growl trying to scare him, "if you can't see, smell, hear, or feel your foe, you are just prey. And prey has no right to complain."

Leaping up, Katherine grabbed hold of a rung. Swinging her body, she planted her feet against a lower rung and propelled herself higher into the tunnel.

Grabbing hold of the metal bar Lurka was fumbling for, Katherine used it to stop herself. Twisting her body, she tucked her legs to her chest and kicked out past Lurka's left side.

As her heels passed his face and arm along with the wind of her blow, Lurka let out a stifled grunt of fear and shock. He can't see shit.

Some part of Katherine thought it was rather cute, but most of her attention was focused on the two-foot-long rat, not including the tail, slowly making its way up behind Lurka's back along the ceiling.

A squeak of pain sounded from the rat as her feet smashed into its face before it squealed in fear as it fell, splashing into the water.

The rat quickly resurfaced and started swimming to the side of the tunnel, but it was not the rat's day.

Suction-cup-lined tentacles shot out of the water around the rat before curling around it, wrapping the poor creature up, and pulling it under the water.

The water churned and rippled for long moments as the silence was broken by the struggle under the water.

Eventually, though, a heavy silence once again settled upon the tunnel.

Katherine shrugged off the encounter, but she chuckled as she looked at Lurka, covered in sweat and holding himself in place as still as he could as the sounds of the struggle continued to echo through the tunnel.

Swinging towards, she grabbed the section of the rung he was holding onto in the middle and placed her head close to his, whispering in his ear, "Better move fast before something else gets cha. Don't want that pretty face messed up. Hehaha!"

Laughing at his flinch as she swung away, she noticed that he was tracing her eyes as she moved.

What did it matter if he knew where she was, though? She could see like it was brought daylight in this pitch black tunnel. He would stand no chance in a fight.

Quickly making her way back down the rungs, Katherine continued to scan the area for anything she might have to deal with.

She intellectually understood people's fear of the darkness. At its core, it was a fear of the unknown and what that unknown would do to you. How can you fight what you can not sense in any capacity?

Katherine could understand how that could be frightening to people.

Understand, but she had never felt it. Not really.

Her senses had always been better than those around her. She heard, saw, and smelled more, not that the last one was any good here in the sewers.

The first time she was forced into the sewers, she was nearly incapacitated by the smell and almost caught by her pursuers. It took her a while to learn how to turn off her nose once she entered.

With her enhanced senses, even when her power didn't surge through her body, she could feel those around her and their general intentions towards her.

Her inconsistent bursts of power elevated her to the ranks of the mages. To what level specifically, she had no idea.

The power running through her did not deign to let itself be measured. Which was the root of the reason she was kicked out of the family…

She hat to watch her mother make attempt after attempt struggling to prove and measure her power. To show she was worthy of the family's support. And the whole time, her aun— Not important! Katherine internally yelled, forcing her mind back to the moment. But memories still lingered in the back of her mind.

Since she was a child, she felt it. Knew that she was better than them. All of those who were mean to her and her mother. If she could harness and grow her power, she would make them all look like the ants they were. Are.

It was just that she never could harness or grow her power. Not at the conscious level needed to be acknowledged by everyone.

Still, even as a child, she was aware of her surrounding in a way no one else was.

If her eyes were gouged out, she was confident she could identify any threat by sound and her gut. Or just her gut if it came down to it. It had never let her down before.

So while she could imagine what it would be like fumble her way through the darkness like Lurka, she doubted that she would even know how he was feeling.

A pang of sympathy ran through her for a moment. It was only for a moment.

Silently gliding forward, Katherine brushed past his right side, trailing a hand over his hip when he was the last few rungs from the bottom of the ladder.

Planting her foot, she leaped into the air angling her head to pass right over his shoulder where she could whisper in a soft voice, "Boo!"

The young man yelped and tried lashing at her with his left hand. Wildly missing with her as she was already landing gently, back on this right side.

As he started kicking out while he punched, his hand still holding the rung slipped.

He tried to reach for the rung again but missed in the darkness.

A scream of fear ripped itself from his throat as he began his fall. "Aghh~! Ohh… har har, you got me…"

His tone at the end was dry, but Katherine could see his lips twitch as she continued to chuckle. It wasn't much because his eyes were flicked around at the sounds coming out of the dark, but it was there.

"You ok, Lurk?" Lieutenant-two called down through the hole.

Katherine's smile grew as she saw Lurka uncomfortably shift as his friend called down into the sewer.

"Uhh, Yeah! Don't worry about it!" Shouted Lurka.

"You still got the light stone, right?"

"Yeah! We're all good, Ritch! See ya soon." Lurka said as he fumbled at a pouch at his waist.

"Kay, boss."

"Can't have light down here with two of us—or talk too loud," said Katherine, "never know what you'll attract."

Spinning around at her voice, worry flashed over his face as he crouched down in a fighting stance. "Nothings around now, but as we go deeper, never know what we might run into. You're going to have to be quiet and follow my commands."

"Thought you said it was safe," Lurka said, almost accusing her, "And I really can't get some light?"

"It is supper safe… relatively. And no light. Light will draw rats and crocs." Grabbing his free hand as the other put something into a pouch, causing Lurka to jerk back slightly, Katherine started pulling him down the passageway. They had already been here too long.

"There isn't much trash or debris lining the walkways. It gets washed clean every time there is a triple tide." Katherine whispered as they walked. "The real danger around here is if we come across a large craptapus. You'll hear the rat swarms, screechers, crocks, and worms coming, but those fuckers in the water can sneak up on you."

"Craptapus?" Lurka asked with a hint of humor in his voice.

"I don't see anyone else naming them. Besides, what do you think they swimming around in?"

Lurka chuckled. "Yeah, that's true… What about the spiders? I alwa—

"They're not spiders," Katherine said, cutting him off as a slight shiver ran through her. “…might have been once, but not anymore. Not even close."

"So what are they?"

"Don't know, but if we run into one, we aren't getting away. Don't worry," Katherine said as Lurka stiffened slightly, "been down here dozens of times, never seen one this far out."

She tried to keep it from her voice, but there was a slight waver.

A waver Lurka picked up on as he squeezed her hand in a reassurance she was not alone. Not that it would help if they met one.

In a silent mutual agreement, they both stopped talking.

It was not the time for a conversation. They weren't walking through a park on a date. Death could be lurking around every corner.

The oppressive weight of the silence was broken by the occasional clack of rocks bouncing across the ground or hitting flesh. More often, it was the drip of water or claws scraping against the stone or a slap of a fleshy appendage followed by a splash of water grating on them.

More for Lurka than Katherine, but she was also feeling the strain.

For Lurka, it was not knowing how close or what was making the noise. She could feel him tense and ready himself every time he heard something. It was worse initially, but he was still slightly twitching even after an hour of steady walking.

Katherine knew all too well what was making the noise. She could see them all fine.

The strain was that her head was on a constant swivel, and she was throwing rocks at the rats and craptapus tentacles that got too close. She had plenty of rocks, as Katherine made sure to fill a couple of pouches before she came down here. And she picked up any pieces of walnut-sized pieces of stone she came across.

You do not want to run out of rocks down here. Katherine shivered at the memories of running through the sewer without any rocks or idea where she was going.

That was back within the first week she was kicked out of her home. Katherine was still living within the walls.

The thing about living within the inner rings is once you get past the section around the wall, the edge towns, and gate cities, people, pay a whole lot less attention to you.

There are preserved forests with wildlife and massive farms and pastures scattered around the inner region. All of which were looked after by one family or another, and the buildings grew along the major road to the point that the entire island was basically one city was large parks in the center. But that was not here nor there,

The point was that if you could slip past the gate cities without being noticed and identified as undesirable, it was possible to survive at the edges of almost wilderness in the center of the island. For a time, at least.

Eventually, someone will discover you and hunt you down as a drain on society and either throw you into the docks or sell you to slavery if they had contacts in those illegal operations.

Katherine only made it a week before people found her and chased her from her shelter. She was surprised they had found her so fast, but in the end, how or why didn't matter. She had to run.

As she ran, she came across an open entrance to the sewer.

In the inner rings, the entrances become common, and people occasionally enter them to check up and repair them.

She had only intended to enter the tunnels and wait for the people chasing her to give up and leave.

They didn't.

They started chasing her through the tunnels and even got more people to cut her off further down.

Katherine had no idea how long they chased her, but she survived by eating rats raw and drinking their blood.

During those desperate times in the tunnel, she learned to trust her gut above all else.

Eventually, they either made too much noise for too long, or she led them into its layer.

Her pursuers cornered her in a large room with many metal pipes and a high ceiling. In the center of the room was a pool of dark liquid with grooves in the ground running down to it from the pipes lining the wall. If there was too much liquid in the well, it would flow out the entrance.

She could hear them coming closer. The stop of their feet and the curses and threats they muttered to one another about what they would do to her once they caught her.

Their echoing voices had been a constant reminder of their presence for what felt like weeks or months. Katherine didn't know how much time had really passed.

As Katherine's pursuers exited the entrance and saw her on the far wall trying to climb up to a pipe big enough for her to fit inside, they chuckled and jeered at her darkly before splitting up and walking around the pool.

They spun nets and bounced rocks in their palms, then a blood-chilling scream sounded before it rose into the air.

One moment the scream was making goose bumps prickle across her skin. The next, it was gone, and the silence was worse. So much worse.

She could feel the menace of the monster watching them. It's hunger and… anticipation.

Katherine froze.

Fingertips and toes straining to hold onto and push into one-inch cracks in the mortar.

She was halfway up the wall, and she did not move. Could not move.

It was watching, and her instincts told her to move was death.

Within one heartbeat and the next, sweat was coating her body. It was to the strain, though, that was building up. It was the pressure of the beast's attention.

Everyone could feel it, but either they didn't listen to their instincts, or they could not bear the weight pressing down on them.

In the silence, that even the constant drip of water agreed to momentarily stop, a single step echoed through the room.

A rush of air sounded at the noise, punctuated by a rapid series of clicks, and the screaming started.

It was the scream of dying men and women and the shouts of those who knew they were about to die.

Katherine didn't look back. Instead, she climbed, hand hold after hand hold with her feet pushing her higher.

It was the longest ten seconds of her life to reach the mouth of the pipe. Hands grasping the edges, ready to pull herself in, Katherine looked back, moving against the instincts screaming at her to keep moving.

She saw a field of bodies.

Of the dozen people that were chasing her and entering the room, only three were still standing. And one of those collapsed to the ground as a long ten-foot-long spike raised out of the middle of the woman's chest.

It was not like a spear shaft pulling itself back through a punctured body. One moment the black, slightly shimmering shaft looked like chitin. The next, it was liquid, and the woman collapsed to the ground as the now liquid appendage flowed over itself back to the main body.

The main body had a bulbous torso attached to a head that had an extendable neck that could reach five in length. The thing's head had two eight-inch fangs and a mouth of saw-like teeth hiding behind them.

Four legs were attached to the main body. After the joint four feet out from the body on the legs, they widened and thickened, looking like kite shields, just for a creature ten feet round.

A mass of semi-liquid tentacles were sprouting from the top and bottom of the creature's body. They were combining and splitting as they waved in a nonexistent wind.

In a single spear that she was watching stab out right now at one of the men from the bottom section, the thing could reach thirty feet out from itself.

Katherine saw the man jump to the side before he smashed his club down on the spear.

Screaming out in rage, the creature shuffled, moving closer to the man who dared to not die.

The two people still fighting slashed and smashed at the creature's legs with a sword and club as they moved towards the exit, but it did not matter.

More spikes made of the black strands were forming, readying to shoot out, and the two battered at the legs meant to take a beating. They could not win that fight.

Move! Screamed Katherine in her head.

Long precious seconds had passed as she looked back, watching the monstrous ruler of this place.

Pulling herself into the tub, she folded her arms into her chest. She started squirming forward, pushing some of the waist amassed on the bottom of the pipe forward along with her.

Shifting one way then the other, she made forward progress.

When the final two screams sounded, Katherine did not slow.

She pushed herself even harder.

The weight of danger and near death was still weighing her down.

Then she heard a scrap and tapping behind her. She tried to crawl faster, but it did not help. There was only so much that she could do. So fast that she could go.

The echos sharp click and scrape were drawing closer from behind. It filled the pipe, pronouncing Katherine's impending death with every scrape.

If she could turn around, she knew what she would see.

A spiked hook at the end of a black glistening appendage reaching forward before slamming down and pulling back.

Closer and closer, it came with its rhythmic pattern.

It would get her soon.

Pierce her leg or back before steadily pulling her backward to her death.

She would shout, yank her leg and brake off her fingernails on the metal surface around her as she clawed for purchase, but in the end, it would pull her back to its waiting mouth.

She would die.

Soon.

Soon, it will get—

There!

A surge of hope ran threw Katherine as she wormed forward, coming around a slight bend.

It was the end of the pipe three body lengths away.

Two body lengths.

One body length.

Just out of her arms reach!

Get her fingers over the ledge. Katherine felt hope.

With a grunt of effort, Katherine pulled herself forward, "No~!" Screamed Katherine as she only moved an inch before jerking to a halt.

Her right calf exploded in pain, and she felt a slight pull backward that she could not stop with the whole of her body fighting it.

The pull was slight. It barely could even be called moving.

It was a test.

To check if it had finally caught something.

The second stretched longer and longer as the creature's pull stopped for the briefest moment.

She knew what was coming. The jerk that will pull her backward and rip into her flesh.

For the first time in her life, her power answered her call. Strength surged through her muscles like adrenalin but far more powerful.

As the creature tried to yank her back to its waiting mouth, she pushed her arms over the lip of the pipe and pulled forward.

Katherine was as strong as five men, and the creature was not any weaker.

Her body, though?

It was little better than an average persons.

Screaming, Katherine pulled herself forward as she felt the flesh of her calf be ripped in a line as the hook tore through her calf as the hook went in the opposite direction.

Popping from the tube, Katherine shot forward and splashed into the water.

She lay there for a moment, her body throbbing in pain. Her vision began to darken at the edges, but she pushed it back with her will.

She knew one thing. Her instincts made it clear. She was not safe. It would find her if she did not do more.

Staggering up, Katherine started limping down the passageway, hand brushing against the wall.

Katherine blinked, hand pressed against the wall.

Lurka's warm hand was clenched in her own. And stood still, barely breathing.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she had stopped and started reacting in fear to the memories, and Lurka felt it.

Only he thought it was happening now.

About to make him jump again, she stopped, ears perking up.

A faint scrabble and scrape could be heard. Occasionally, Katherine could hear a splash and thump as something heavy or with speed was impacting a wall.

A shiver ran down her spine. Katherine turned and started jogging as fast as Lurka could go.

"Hurry, a rat swarm is coming!" She hissed at the slow—too handsome—man.