Adam tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he thought of what Nolan had said to him about the Alphas. He kept wondering if it was true or if Nolan was just exaggerating.

  He decided that he would find out in the next few minutes.

  Kate told them that the place would be less than an hour away. They had been on the road for more than half an hour, so he assumed that they might be pretty near their destination. The entire time, neither of the three spoke aside from Kate regularly directing Adam, which wasn’t usual for Adam and Kate, but it might have been Nolan’s presence that made a conversation unlikely.

  That’s why it took Adam by surprise when it was Nolan who started the conversation.

  “Where would you even bring the panels?”

  “Is this when we say it’s none of your business?” Kate replied.

  Adam laughed but answered more seriously.

  “To a small island. The residents couldn’t leave, so me and Kate retrieve things outside the island.”

  “So they turned you two into their personal assistants because leaving the island changes them,” said Nolan, leaning in the back seat of the car.

  “It wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t leave,” Kate said sharply.

  “It also wasn’t your fault that you could leave.”

  “Have you figured out why we weren’t affected?” Adam interrupted, trying to change the topic.

  “No, and also, do I look unaffected?” Nolan said sarcastically, seeing the grey, crusted patch of his skin in the car window’s reflection.

  “You and Beth can come with us,” said Adam, taking a turn at an intersection after Kate pointed it out.

  “So we can be used to retrieve panels? I’ll pass.”

  That was the last time any of them spoke to each other during the journey.

  It only took them less than a quarter of an hour before they arrived—or almost arrived. Adam had to stop the car as the road was blocked by a series of white strings.

  Adam narrowed his eyes, not sure what he was staring at. He got down to check it and realized that it was webs, each tightly woven and attached to various places: lampposts, parked old cars, and ruined houses.

  Kate confirmed that they were near enough to continue on foot as Adam got out of the car, followed by Nolan.

  “What are these?” Kate asked, still beside the car.

  “Webs,” Adam said while touching some of it attached to a lamppost.

  It was way thicker than a normal web and much stickier as well.

  “I know, dumbass, but where did it come from?” Kate asked.

  “From your Alpha.”

  Nolan had already opened the trunk of the car to take his spear with him. As he did, he took another silver, long object and threw it at Adam, which Adam barely managed to catch without injuring himself.

  It was a steel short sword with a wooden handle and a silver hand guard.

  Before they left, Nolan had told them they couldn’t bring any weapons. Kate pointed out that they would still need some sort of weapon to fend for themselves.

  Nolan then explained that if they ever woke the Alpha up, there would be no fending for themselves.

  But Kate insisted, so Nolan took the “weapons” inside the house, and when Adam inquired where he had found these, he simply replied that it was none of their business.

  Nolan took another object from the trunk. This time it was circular, wooden, with its sides covered in steel.

  He then threw it toward Kate, who caught it with a sneer.

  “How am I even supposed to use this?” Adam asked, studying the blade.

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  “Easy. The sharp side goes to your opponent,” said Nolan, who was walking past Adam, using his spear to clear the webs away.

  “Not so funny now when it’s done to you, isn’t it?” said Kate, who had slung the shield on her shoulder as if to replace her rifle.

  “That was different,” Adam said, following the trail Nolan was making.

  The deeper they went through the webs, the thicker they became. It almost came to the point that Adam couldn’t even tell where they were. The only reason they were able to continue was because they knew they needed to go straight ahead.

  They walked for a few minutes when the webs apparently grew thinner. They were still massive and still surrounding almost everything, but it wasn’t as bad as the earlier ones.

  It was then that they came into a clear area. The road was around five meters wide by Adam’s estimate, yet a creature lay across that exact span, if not larger.

  No, he thought—lay wasn’t the right word.

  His mouth gaped as he stared at a creature resting through the webs it had woven, attached to the sides of the houses.

  With grey skin and eight legs, Adam could only be thankful that all of the creature’s eyes were closed.

  Adam and Kate always believed that the farther a creature’s appearance was from a human, the stronger it was.

  And staring at the monster right in front of them, the thought “human” wouldn’t even cross Adam’s mind.

  This was probably why none of the three spoke. They just looked at each other, and Nolan nodded for them to continue.

  Just below the giant spider, a massive rock was resting, covered in thin webs that made it difficult for Adam to recognize it.

  Green crystals were embedded in the black, rough surface of the stone. Adam knew it was familiar.

  It was one of the shooting stars that had fallen that night.

  The three continued, walking slowly as they passed the creature from below. Each of them moved carefully, afraid that a wrong move could disturb the monster’s peaceful rest.

  That was why Adam didn’t expect Nolan to stop right below the creature. Adam tried not to look up; if the web fell apart, there would be no doubt that they would be crushed to death.

  Adam noticed Nolan move closer to the stone, one of his eyes eerily matching the green crystal.

  He then used his grey hand to pluck out the crystal from the rock. As he did, Adam saw Nolan’s talon-like fingers remove the crystal and insert it into his pocket.

  When Nolan realized Adam was watching, Adam mouthed the word “why.”

  Reading Adam’s lips, Nolan shrugged and continued to push through the webs, leaving the massive stone behind.

  They continued for a short while until they arrived at another warehouse, this one in far better condition than the rest. Adam assumed it was because it had a massive spider acting as a bodyguard.

  No wonder greys didn’t even dare go near the red zones or even the yellow zones.

  After arriving at the tall structure with sad, grey walls, they started their search.

  Thankfully, this time their efforts didn’t come up empty as Kate called them over, having noticed a crate filled with panels that appeared to be in working condition.

  The crate was huge, around three feet in both height and width.

  Kate removed the cover of the crate and signaled Adam to help her carry it, each of them holding one side.

  Just like how they arrived, Nolan led the way when they left, with Kate and Adam carrying the crate and following him.

  Everything went smoothly. They had just passed the enormous spider when Adam suddenly stepped on a web and slipped. He let go of the crate in order to catch himself from falling on his back.

  The crate tilted. Without Adam’s support, it swayed to the side.

  Normally, something with that weight wouldn’t be a problem for either Kate or Adam to carry, but its size made it impractical for a single person.

  Adam realized the crate was going to fall.

  Thankfully, Nolan noticed just in time and caught the side of the crate, giving Adam an annoyed look as he stood.

  Nolan signaled to Adam with his head to lead the way instead.

  Adam did as he was told, and within a few minutes, they were out of the massive maze of webs.

  Kate and Nolan carefully placed the crate on top of the trunk.

  Nolan entered the back seat and took several ropes in order to tie the crate in place.

  After ensuring that the crate was secured and wouldn’t fall off, they all entered the car and made their way to the yard.

  The ride back was even quieter than before. Nolan sat in the back seat while Kate was in the passenger seat beside Adam.

  They traveled smoothly with almost no interruptions. It took them more than half an hour to finally arrive at their destination.

  Nolan was about to get out of the car when a silhouette quickly passed by just before he could open the door. Adam instantly recognized it as a grey. It retained a human-like shape aside from the usual grey, crusted skin, green spikes protruding all over its body, and green eyes.

  The creature jumped toward the steel gate. It was able to cling to it despite the sharp steel, pulled itself upward, and went over the gate.

  Nolan almost immediately got out of the car, followed by Adam and Kate.

  He looked at the two urgently and took his spear from the back seat. After retrieving his weapon, he quickly headed toward the gate. Adam took his sword from the back seat and headed toward the gate as well.

  Kate, who still had the shield on her shoulder, followed the two.

  When they reached the yard, they were surprised to see several grey figures all over the place, all heading in a single direction—the house.

  Just as they halted their steps, some of the greys noticed them. Three charged directly at Nolan. He used the spear’s blunt end to hit one in the back of the head and dashed toward the other two.

  The first one he encountered was met with his spear through the skull. The other didn’t seem to mind what happened to its friend and charged recklessly. Nolan brought his spear down, slashing the creature right through the middle. Blood gushed out and the creature fell. Nolan couldn’t care less; he ignored the moving remains of his victims and dashed toward the house.

  Adam was about to follow when he suddenly felt a hand gripping his leg. It was the one Nolan had knocked out with the end of his spear. Surprised, Adam awkwardly swung the sword, almost managing to cut the creature’s hand.

  The monster stood, one hand hanging barely attached. Despite this, it charged Adam.

  Adam raised his sword as the creature closed the distance. He thrust the sword into its chest; however, the monster continued to flail as if it hadn’t noticed the blade that had gone through its body.

  Kate then took her shield and smashed the creature’s head away from them. The grey fell, and Kate smashed it once more just to be sure.

  “Thanks.”

  “Thanks? That’s 392 if we include saving you with Nolan,” said Kate with a smirk.

  Adam didn’t reply. He simply sighed and pulled the sword out of the creature, then signaled Kate to follow Nolan.

  And so, they did. Their path quickly became filled with greys lying on the ground, each with its own fatal blow.

  They saw Kiel on top of the house, trying to use his bow to fend off the creatures, and Beth at the corner, sobbing.

  The creatures were climbing the house from all corners Kiel was unable to defend it with just a bow. Suddenly a grey hand appeared behind the modular house, Kiel didn’t notice it. He was busy trying to shoot off the other greys but Nolan did, Adam as well.

  Adam froze as he saw a monster climbed up and pulled Beth by her hair.

  Nolan was then at halt, his hand shaking.

  Beth cries had gotten louder. It was then that Kiel noticed it. His eyes widened and tried to load his bow with an arrow, but he fumbled, shaking in fear.

  Then the monster tilted its head and pulled Beth closer. It used its other hand to grab the girl’s head letting go of her hair. With its sharp claws the creature seemed to puncture Beth’s eyes

  as it squeezes her head.

  And the only thing Beth could do was scream.