Kai turned and ran, his injured leg sending a jolt of fire up his spine with every pounding step. The skittering behind him was a relentless, chittering wave, so close he could feel the stir of the air as their claws scrabbled at his heels. He didn't dare look back.
Ahead, Elara and Ben had reached the source of the light. An iron ladder was bolted to the curved wall, leading up twenty feet to the heavy storm drain grate that was their only exit. Daylight, gray and lifesaving, streamed through the bars.
"Get it open!" Kai roared, his voice raw.
He risked a glance over his shoulder. A pale, insectoid horror lunged, its serrated forelimbs reaching for him. He spun, his saber a blur of motion, and cleaved the Tunnel Crawler's head from its body. He didn't have time to see it die, already turning and continuing his desperate sprint.
[You have slain a Level 3 Tunnel Crawler.]
[XP Gained: 30]
[XP: 455/600]
Elara was already halfway up the ladder, her hands on the grate, pushing with all her might. "It's stuck! Or it's too heavy!" she cried out, her voice echoing with panic.
Ben was at the bottom, trying to find a place to climb. "There's a locking bolt on the side! I can see it from here!"
Kai finally reached the base of the ladder, stumbling against the cold, rusted rungs. He turned to face the darkness, planting his feet in the shallow water. The horde of Tunnel Crawlers skidded to a halt a dozen feet away, a writhing carpet of pale chitin and twitching antennae. They hesitated at the edge of the weak light filtering down from the grate, their eyeless forms unused to any form of illumination.
"Get up there and help her!" Kai yelled at Ben, his saber held ready. "I'll hold them off!"
Ben didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled up the ladder, his shoes scraping for purchase.
The Crawlers' hesitation broke. Driven by hunger, they surged forward.
Kai became a whirlwind of desperate defense at the base of the ladder. He was no longer trying to kill them all; that was impossible. He was just trying to buy time. He swung his saber in wide, sweeping arcs, keeping the creatures at bay. A clawed leg would dart out of the mass, and he would hack it off. A hissing head would appear, and he would meet it with a thrust. For every one he killed, two more seemed to take its place.
[You have slain a Level 3 Tunnel Crawler.]
[XP Gained: 30]
[XP: 485/600]
[You have slain a Level 3 Tunnel Crawler.]
[XP Gained: 30]
[XP: 515/600]
Above him, he could hear Ben and Elara grunting with effort. "The bolt is rusted solid!" Ben yelled. "We need more leverage!"
A Crawler, bolder than the rest, scrambled up the wall and leaped at him from the side. Kai caught the movement from the corner of his eye and spun, impaling the creature in mid-air. He kicked its twitching body away, but the maneuver left him open. Another Crawler shot forward and clamped its mandibles onto his already injured thigh.
Kai screamed, a sound of pure agony, and drove the pommel of his saber down onto the creature's head, crushing its skull. He tore his leg free, warm blood soaking through his jeans. The pain was blinding, and his vision swam. He was fading.
"It's moving!" Elara screamed from above.
With a final, heroic heave, Ben and Elara put their combined weight into it. There was a deafening shriek of tortured metal, and the grate lifted a few inches, then slid sideways.
Sunlight—real, unfiltered, glorious sunlight—flooded the tunnel.
The effect on the Tunnel Crawlers was instantaneous and absolute. The creatures directly in the beam of light recoiled as if burned, letting out piercing, pain-filled hisses. They broke formation, scattering in a blind panic, trampling each other in their haste to retreat back into the suffocating darkness they called home.
The attack was over.
"Kai! Come on!" Elara yelled, her hand outstretched.
Kai swayed on his feet, his saber feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds. His leg was on fire. Using the last of his strength, he sheathed his sword and began to climb the ladder, dragging his wounded leg behind him. Ben and Elara reached down, grabbing him under his arms and hauling him the last few feet.
They collapsed together in a heap on the ruined street, gasping for air under the open sky. They were out. They were alive. Kai rolled onto his back, ignoring the debris digging into his spine, and stared up at the hazy gray sky, his chest heaving. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, he was out of the dark.