Adlai’s fingers dug into the gritty edge of the cliff, the sandy soil not lending itself to structure. He winced as the numbness began to climb its way through his body. His leg bled freely, the needle worm had gotten him in his calf. His fingers began to slip, leaving deep ruts in the loose soil. The blue wave of needle worms had crashed into the pit, and he could hear the scrabbling below, a reminder of what would happen to him soon.

He gritted his teeth as his nails filled up with the sandy loam, sliding him ever closer to numbness and death. Then a pair of warm calloused hands grabbed his own. It was Shawna. Her eyes were wide with fear as she held him above certain death. Adlai struggled to gain purchase on the side of the cliff, his feet only kicking loose clods of dirt away. At this point, the blue wave had completely inhabited the pit, blue light highlighting Shawna’s face.

Adlai heard crying and looked up to see a figure hanging from something indistinguishable from the dark. Averi. Adlai felt his chest tighten, and his resolve hardened again. With one final scrabble against the wall, Adlai heaved himself over the pit with the help of Shawna. His emotions whorled, cycling between anger, shock, and sadness.

The two of them lay on the ground for a moment, gasping for breath. His lungs ached, the numbness climbing his leg slowly. The stench of fresh fuel hit Adlai’s nose, and he turned to see Nire almost mesmerized by the pit. The woman was completely soaked, and her wet clothes accentuated how much of a skeleton she’d become.

Adlai felt a spurt of rage and stood up on shaky legs. The numbness had almost spread to his second leg, but he ignored the feeling. Each step he took was fueled by righteous anger. Nire ignored his advance completely, flicking her lighter lid open and closed. He ground his teeth together; his legs beginning to give out. He could only muster one more step before he fell to his knees, the numbness climbing to his waist.

“Why?” He asked, tears filling his eyes.

Why couldn’t he kill her? Why did she lie? Why did Averi like this woman? Why was everything so unfair? His emotions all mixed together, shock at seeing Averi being treated like a lump of meat, betrayal at being lied to, anger at not being able to exact revenge. It was all so much to feel, and so he screamed, reaching his arms out for her neck.

Nire looked towards him with unfocused eyes. “Sorry.”

A blue light shone in the distance, flashing once before going out. Maybe it was a straggler from the wave of needle worms? It flashed again, the light growing larger. No. Adlai watched in frozen fear as the Hunter pushed through the veil of darkness, its underbelly lit by the frenzied light of the pit. Its eyes stared into his, reveling in his fear. Shawna let out a strangled sob, and Averi screamed louder than Adlai thought was possible, her voice breaking again.

It rolled lazily in the air, completely in control of the situation, jaws open and salivating. There was one wild card that neither Adlai nor the hunter had considered. Nire flicked her lighter on, walking towards the edge of the pit filled with scrabbling needle worms and fear, fuel dripping from her clothes. Each step seemed to take a millennium, time slowing to watch Dr. Nire, head of Xenobiology of the Artemis research ship prepare to complete her final act.

Her eyes were lucid once again, filled with crystalline tears. Her once white lab coat was stained and soaked, a remnant of what she used to be. The tiny flame of the lighter danced hungrily in the darkness, each step causing it to flicker. Adlai couldn’t take his eyes off of the researcher; a certain regal air about her skeletal body.

Even the hunter didn’t move when it saw her, maintaining a steady distance away from the now glowing researcher. It grumbled quietly, Adlai feeling the noise in his slowly numbing chest. Nire was at the edge now, looking down into the frenzied blue hellscape. She turned slowly again, looking into Adlai’s eyes.

“Remember me.” Nire extended her arms to the side, like an actress accepting awards and applause. Her silent ovation received, she tilted over the edge, lighter in hand. For a moment, everything fell silent except for the sickening thuds of proboscis against skin. Then a roaring burst, and the pit erupted into real flame, casting light across the dark, dank cave.

The hunter screeched in surprise and pain, just close enough to be singed by the heat. Its cries melded with Averi’s screaming, an inflection only reached in moments of extreme pain. Adlai stared at where Averi was hanging, tears of absolute frustration flowing down his cheeks, mouth locked shut from the venom of the needle worms. His body was limp, the numbness having taken over. Now as his vision began to darken, he could only hear screams.