Hovering just above a small, two-story brick building was a monster ripped straight from a prehistoric nightmare.

  It was a gigantic dragonfly, its elongated, segmented body easily the size of a small commercial airplane. Its hard, chitinous outer shell was a sickly, glowing green that looked almost rotten, expanding and contracting with a strange, heavy breathing rhythm. For a long moment, it just floated there against the reddish-orange sky, the silver ash swirling softly in the downdraft of its beating wings.

  Its colossal eyes—made up of thousands of twitching, multifaceted hexagonal parts—locked directly onto the four boys in the alleyway.

  Then, its mandibles unhinged and opened wide.

  Rows of sharp, jagged, needle-like teeth gleamed in the dim light. Thick, burning green liquid dripped slowly from its jaws, hitting the pavement below with a harsh, violent sizzle that instantly melted the asphalt.

  Silas’s heart hammered a frantic rhythm against his ribs.

  "Run!" he yelled, his voice tearing raw from his throat.

  Nobody hesitated. All four of them spun around and sprinted desperately down the narrow colony lane, driven by sheer terror.

  Behind them, the monstrous dragonfly darted forward. It moved with an impossible, terrifying speed, the buzz of its wings sounding like heavy machinery.

  Silas felt a sudden, violent rush of wind push hard against his back. The heavy air pressure pressing down on his shoulders told him the monster was already right on top of them. He knew instantly they couldn't outrun it.

  Acting on pure instinct, Silas stopped and spun around to face the beast. He crossed his arms tightly over his face, squeezed his eyes shut, and braced his body for the crushing, lethal impact.

  Instead, a deafening shriek of pure agony ripped through the air.

  It was a sound of vibrating, physical pain. Ahead of him, Dante, Mason, and Ronan collapsed hard into the dirt, grabbing their helmet-covered ears as they writhed in agony.

  But for Silas, who had no helmet to protect him, the sound was utterly devastating. The sonic frequency pierced straight through his skull. Warm, thick blood instantly welled up and trickled out of his ears, tracking slowly down his neck.

  His eardrums had ruptured.

  Silas opened his eyes, fully expecting to be torn apart, but the massive dragonfly was gone from the sky.

  The horrific screeching abruptly faded away, leaving only a muffled, deep underwater hum in his damaged ears. His equilibrium was entirely shattered. He lowered his arms and looked to the side, stumbling backward dizzily until he fell hard onto the asphalt in pure shock.

  Sitting in the middle of the crossing lane was a gargantuan frog.

  It was easily the size of a cement truck. Its skin was a mottled, sickly grey-green, covered in huge, fluid-filled pustules that seemed to pulse and breathe independently. The frog was casually eating the massive dragonfly out of the air. The giant insect's iridescent wings crunched and snapped loudly as it screeched its final breaths inside the amphibian's crushing jaws.

  Dante scrambled frantically back to his feet. He ran over and hauled Silas up by the collar of his jacket. Dante’s mouth was moving fast, his eyes wide with panic as he shook Silas by the shoulders, clearly screaming at him to get a hold of himself.

  A few feet away, Ronan and Mason were shaking violently. They leaned heavily against the brick walls, their legs barely able to support their own weight.

  Silas just stared blankly at his cousin. He couldn't hear a single word Dante was saying. His world was completely silent, filled only with that high-pitched, painful ringing.

  He quickly pointed to his bleeding ears. He crossed his arms in an 'X' and shook his head emphatically.

  "I can't hear anything!" Silas shouted, his own voice sounding distant and hollow. "My hearing is gone!"

  They couldn't hear him over the horrific crunching noises of the dying dragonfly, but the dark blood pouring down Silas's neck made the terrifying reality perfectly clear.

  Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Silas saw a massive blur of motion.

  He didn't think. He just lunged, shoving Dante as hard as he could to the side. Both of them crashed painfully to the hard ground.

  A split second later, a colossal, fleshy whip slammed into the exact spot where Dante had just been standing.

  The frog's tongue—thick, heavy, and dripping with highly corrosive slime—smashed into the thick tree roots blocking the road. The impact was like a bomb detonating. The tough, overgrown roots were blown to pieces, sending razor-sharp wooden splinters flying everywhere like shrapnel.

  If Silas hadn't noticed the movement, Dante would have been obliterated instantly.

  Ronan rushed forward and pulled Dante up from the dirt, while Mason grabbed Silas by the arm.

  "Use the roots as a shield!" Mason yelled, pointing wildly. Though Silas couldn't hear the words, he easily read the panicked body language.

  They all started running again, desperate to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the giant amphibian. Silas kept checking over his shoulder as he ran. Through the falling silver ash, he saw that the frog had locked its massive, glowing yellow eyes directly onto Ronan, who was leading the pack.

  Slowly, the frog’s throat ballooned outward.

  "Dodge!" Silas screamed.

  Ronan looked back, his eyes widening in sheer horror, but it was too late.

  The heavy tongue lashed out like a cannon shot. It slammed into the ground right behind their heels. The explosive shockwave of the hit threw all four of them violently into the air. They crashed hard against the thick, woody roots bordering the narrow road, the breath knocked completely out of their lungs.

  Before they could even attempt to recover from the impact, the massive, severed end of the tongue landed directly on top of them with a sickening, wet slap.

  They lay there for a terrifying moment, groaning in pain under the crushing weight. They had only survived the heavy crash because of the thick, protective padding of their motorcycle jackets and helmets.

  Mason regained his senses first. He looked down in horror at the massive piece of twitching, severed muscle pinning them to the ground. The stench was unbearable—it smelled like rotting meat mixed with battery acid.

  "Push it off! Together!" Mason yelled, kicking wildly at the flesh. "One... two... three!"

  They shoved upward with every ounce of adrenaline-fueled strength they possessed, rolling the heavy, slimy appendage off their bodies so they could finally breathe again.

  Silas scrambled to his feet first. He looked back down the lane to see what could have possibly sliced through such a massive, dense muscle. Because they had been thrown onto a high pile of roots, he could finally see clearly over the blockade.

  Standing triumphantly over the dead, headless body of the giant frog was a towering mantis.

  It was a walking nightmare, standing at least fifteen feet tall against the bleeding red sky. Its spiked, chitinous armor was the color of rusted iron. Its massive front legs were elongated, deadly scythes, currently dripping thick with the frog's blood. Its complex mouthparts clicked and twitched rapidly as it tore viciously into the amphibian's flesh.

  "Should we be happy that it saved us, or sad?" Dante whispered, his voice trembling as he watched the carnage. "That thing has literal blades that can slice us in half."

  Silas grabbed the backs of their jackets and yanked them down forcefully, forcing them to hide low behind the wall of roots. He pressed a finger to his lips, his wide eyes silently demanding that they sneak away without making a single sound.

  Ronan tried to whisper something, his face pale with panic.

  Silas aggressively pointed to his bloody ears again, reminding them he was deaf. Frustrated, Ronan resorted to frantic, chaotic hand gestures, waving his arms around in a way that made absolutely zero sense.

  Mason slapped Ronan's shoulder hard. "Just speak, you idiot! I'll translate for him."

  "Do you know sign language?!" Ronan shot back, looking deeply annoyed despite the mortal danger.

  "No, none of us do! I'll just use simple signs he can actually read!"

  Mason turned to Silas. He used slow, deliberate hand motions to lay out the formation: Ronan would watch their backs, Dante would scan the perimeter, and Silas and Mason would take the lead moving forward.

  Silas nodded once, giving a sharp thumbs-up to show he understood.

  Ronan scoffed quietly. "Why did he understand you and not me?"

  "Don't worry, bro, I'm bad at this too," Dante muttered sympathetically.

  Dante carefully peeked his head over the wooden roots. He immediately turned back to Silas, pointing urgently toward a small, shadowed gap in the mutated plants ahead of them. Silas nodded instantly, understanding the silent cue.

  Ronan’s face turned bright red with frustration. Seeing this, Mason shot him a mocking, arrogant smile.

  Furious, and completely forgetting the deadly situation they were in, Ronan started swearing loudly at Mason.

  Even though his world was entirely silent, Silas felt the sudden vibration of the shouting resonate through his boots. He whipped around, his eyes blazing with fury, and smacked both Ronan and Mason hard on the backs of their helmets. He glared at them, pressing his finger forcefully against his lips.

  Dante was shaking with silent laughter at the exchange—until a massive, suffocating shadow fell over all of them, blocking out the red light of the sky.

  Silas and Dante looked up slowly.

  The towering mantis was standing directly above the root pile, peering down at them. Its cold, multifaceted eyes were locked perfectly onto their hiding spot.

  It attacked without a second of hesitation.

  The mantis brought its scythe-like arm crashing down like a guillotine. Silas kicked Mason hard in the chest, launching him backward out of the impact zone, while Dante grabbed Ronan by the collar and violently yanked him back.

  The blade slammed into the earth, leaving a minor, bleeding scratch across Silas's calf. It was far too close. They had barely avoided being cleaved in half.

  Silas scrambled backward on the loose dirt. "Don't separate!" he screamed.

  They shouted something back, their faces twisted in panic, but Silas aggressively cut them off.

  "I'm deaf, damn it!" he roared angrily.

  The mantis didn't give them a moment to regroup. It swung its other colossal claw in a wide, sweeping arc, aiming straight for Silas's neck.

  Relying entirely on his athletic training and raw reflexes, Silas dropped flat into the dirt. The heavy, rusted blade whistled sharply over his head, slicing the very tips of his hair off.

  Spotting a heavy, jagged rock nearby, Silas snatched it up. He needed to draw the monster away from his friends. He sprinted a few yards to the side, waving his arms wildly to hold the creature's attention, and aggressively pointed for Dante, Mason, and Ronan to run the opposite way.

  "He's making a stupid mistake," Mason said, watching Silas from the temporary safety of the roots. "What he's doing is a classic sign of someone about to die."

  "It's working, though," Dante said, his voice tight with raw fear. "Let's circle around and help him."

  Silas planted his boots firmly in the dirt. He pulled his arm back and hurled the heavy rock with every ounce of strength his body could muster.

  By pure luck or desperate, adrenaline-fueled aim, the sharp edge of the rock flew true. It pierced directly into one of the mantis's massive, bulging eyes.

  The creature let out a horrific, clicking shriek. It stumbled backward, thrashing its bladed arms in blinding pain.

  Silas saw Dante and the others running toward him, drawing their own weapons from the rubble.

  "No! Stay back! I have a plan!" Silas yelled, waving them off.

  Enraged and blindingly fast, the mantis locked its one remaining good eye squarely on Silas. It charged. It swung its massive claws in a wild, furious rampage, reducing brick walls and roots to dust in its path.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Silas turned and sprinted at top speed. He dodged tightly through the thick roots, trying desperately to break the monster's line of sight. He pushed his body far past its limits, his lungs burning, begging his muscles to carry him just a fraction faster.

  He glanced back over his shoulder. A rusted blade was swinging down toward his back, moving too fast to completely evade.

  He threw himself hard to the right. He avoided the lethal, killing blow, but not entirely.

  The razor-sharp tip of the mantis’s claw caught his left shoulder as he fell. It sliced cleanly through his thick leather jacket, tearing off a massive chunk of skin, muscle, and tissue.

  Silas screamed in blinding, paralyzing agony. Hot, wet blood instantly sprayed through the air, painting the side of his neck crimson.

  But he didn't stop moving. He knew with terrifying certainty that if he paused for even a single second to acknowledge the pain, he was a dead man.

  Dante, Mason, and Ronan watched the blood fly in absolute horror. Ronan grabbed a heavy piece of concrete, preparing to throw it at the beast to save his friend.

  "Don't do it!" Silas roared, clutching his heavily bleeding arm as he stumbled backward.

  "If we don't do something, he'll die!" Ronan yelled.

  The three of them began shouting and waving their arms, desperate to distract the beast.

  But despite the horrific wound, and the dark blood soaking through his shirt, Silas was smiling slightly.

  "This isn't how I wanted it to work," Silas muttered through heavily grinding teeth, "but I guess when dealing with things like this, there have to be sacrifices."

  Because the mantis had missed Silas with the full weight of its swing, the pure, unstoppable momentum of the heavy hit had driven its scythe deep into the tangled roots and cracked asphalt below. It shrieked, pulling and yanking violently on its arm, but the blade was securely wedged in the earth.

  Unable to free its right arm, the mantis angrily swung its left.

  Silas was backed entirely against the solid brick wall of a nearby house. He had absolutely no room left to retreat. Dante, Mason, and Ronan froze in place, horrified, bracing themselves to watch their friend die.

  The colossal claw slashed at him in a rapid, downward angle.

  Silas pushed off his back foot and threw his body to the side. He hit the ground hard, his badly injured shoulder taking the full, brutal force of the fall. He screamed again, his vision flashing completely white with the intense pain.

  But as he lay in the dirt, struggling to pull air into his lungs, he opened one eye and smirked.

  The mantis shrieked in absolute, helpless rage. Both of its bladed arms were now entirely trapped. One was driven deep into the asphalt, and the other was buried up to the joint in the thick brick wall of the house. It thrashed its heavy body wildly, but it was anchored in place.

  Dante, Mason, and Ronan rushed forward immediately. They grabbed Silas by his good arm and his belt, hauling him upward and carrying his dead weight as they ran.

  "Watch the shoulder!" Silas groaned, his head spinning dizzily. He was dangerously close to passing out from blood loss.

  They reached an adjacent house, kicked down the wooden front door, and dragged him inside to safety.

  The interior of the house was also invaded by the alien flora, but not nearly as badly as the streets outside. Thin vines bearing massive, plate-sized leaves crept along the living room walls and draped over the dusty furniture.

  They laid Silas down gently on the floor and carefully peeled his torn jacket off, exposing the raw, freely bleeding wound.

  Dante and Ronan turned pale at the sight of it. A sick, heavy wave of nausea washed over them, twisting their stomachs into knots. It wasn't just the gruesome sight of the missing flesh that disturbed them. It was the crushing guilt. They knew they had been powerless to stop it, and they knew they were only alive right now because Silas had used his own body as bait.

  "What?" Silas breathed heavily, leaning his head back against the plaster wall. "Scared of a little wound?"

  He slowly looked down at his own shoulder and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

  "Yup. That’s disgusting." He was sweating profusely, his face turning a pale, sickly white as his body went into shock.

  "Find something to treat this!" Mason yelled at the others, real panic finally setting in.

  Silas looked at the deep laceration. "Good thing the bone isn't showing. But this hurts like hell."

  Through the haze of intense pain, Silas noticed the mutated plants growing out of an overturned indoor ceramic pot nearby.

  "Mason," he croaked, his voice incredibly weak. "Break off one of those leaves and bring it to me."

  Mason frowned, completely confused. Why? he mouthed slowly, exaggerating the word.

  Silas pointed to his ears again. "Still deaf, but I know what you're asking. If my eyes aren't failing me, this could actually work for us. That plant is definitely a mutated version of a common healing herb. People usually grow it at home to brew in tea or to clean wounds and accelerate healing."

  "It could be poisonous now!" Mason shouted, making sure his lips were wide and easy for Silas to read.

  "I don't know if the mutation made it toxic!" Silas yelled back, his face contorting in pain. "But if those two don't find a first aid kit, it's our last choice! Or I bleed to death anyway!"

  Dante and Ronan rushed back into the living room. They were holding a clean cotton hand towel and a few plastic water bottles.

  "This is all we could find in the bathroom," Dante said, looking utterly defeated.

  "Go to the kitchen," Silas ordered immediately. "Find a lighter. Matches. Fuel. Anything that burns."

  They ran out and returned seconds later with a long gas lighter and a bottle of high-proof cooking alcohol.

  Silas grabbed the clean cotton cloth with his uninjured hand. "Burn the wound."

  The three of them froze, staring at him in complete, horrified shock.

  Silas noticed their reaction.

  "It's either this or I die slowly from blood loss!" Silas snapped, his patience wearing dangerously thin. "Burning it will sear the vessels, stop the bleeding, and buy me time. Wash the leaf, and put it on right after. If it's poisonous, the burn will seal the bloodstream away from the sap so it doesn't spread. If the mutation made its healing properties stronger, it'll save my arm. Just do it!"

  Mason swallowed hard, fighting down his rising nausea. He carefully flushed the nasty wound with the bottled water, washing the dirt away, then thoroughly cleaned the massive leaf.

  Silas rolled the clean cotton cloth up tightly and shoved it between his teeth. He looked at Mason, his eyes burning with fierce determination, and gave a sharp, definitive nod. Go.

  Mason poured the strong alcohol directly over the open flesh and flicked the lighter.

  The flame caught instantly.

  Silas bit down so hard on the cloth he thought his jaw would fracture. He threw his head back against the wall, his entire body shaking violently as the fire seared his raw nerve endings. He forced every ounce of his agonizing pain into the cloth, biting down relentlessly to stop himself from screaming out loud.

  The terrible, sickly sweet smell of burning flesh filled the small, enclosed room.

  A long, agonizing minute later, it was finally done. The bleeding had stopped.

  Mason quickly pressed the cool, massive leaf over the blackened, blistered wound, binding it tightly to Silas's shoulder with torn strips of cloth.

  Silas spat the towel out, breathing in shallow, ragged gasps. His entire body was slick with cold sweat, but he was alive.

  "Are you alright?" Ronan asked softly, looking genuinely horrified by what they had just done.

  "Do I look alright?" Silas choked out, leaning his head back. "At least I won't bleed to death now."

  Dante handed him a water bottle while Mason finished tying off the makeshift bandage. They sat in heavy silence for a few tense minutes, letting their racing heart rates finally slow down.

  Dante carefully peeked through the broken window blinds, looking out into the mist for more monsters.

  "Let's go up to the roof," Mason suggested quietly. "We need to check the area from up high and see exactly what we're dealing with."

  They all agreed. Dante stayed downstairs to watch over Silas while Mason and Ronan crept carefully up the wooden stairs.

  Less than two minutes later, heavy footsteps pounded frantically back down the steps. Mason and Ronan burst into the living room, their faces completely drained of color.

  "We aren't getting out," Mason breathed, looking utterly terrified.

  "What happened?" Dante asked, quickly grabbing his metal pipe weapon. "What did you see out there?"

  "A giant centipede," Ronan said, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "It was massive. It had thick armored plates that looked like rusted metal. It was coiled entirely around the mantis outside in the street. Hundreds of sharp legs piercing right through its hard shell... it was eating it alive."

  Dante looked over at Silas for guidance. But exhaustion and severe shock had finally won the battle. Silas had passed out cold against the wall.

  "We can't just stay here," Dante said seriously, looking down at the sleeping boy. "We don't have time. We either fight and try to break out—which we don't even know how to do—or we risk losing Silas."

  "You let him sleep?!" Mason panicked, rushing over to Silas and shaking him forcefully by his good shoulder. "He's not supposed to sleep!"

  "He needs rest!" Dante argued loudly.

  "With the sheer damage his body just took, sleeping could mean he goes into a coma and never wakes up!" Mason yelled back.

  Silas suddenly groaned, his eyes fluttering open slowly from the loud argument.

  "What are you talking about?" Silas muttered weakly, rubbing his temple. "I'm not weak enough to go into a coma."

  Mason stopped shaking him, his eyes going wide with shock. Dante threw his hands up in the air triumphantly. "See? He's fine."

  Then, the room went completely, dead silent. All four of them froze, suddenly realizing exactly what had just happened.

  "Wait," Dante said slowly, his eyes wide. "You can hear us?"

  Silas blinked, tapping the side of his head in profound confusion. "I was just wondering the same thing—"

  His sentence was cut violently short.

  The entire living room wall buckled and broke inward in a massive explosion of shattered bricks and choking dust.

  The colossal centipede tore completely through the side of the house. Its hundreds of thick, hooked legs shredded the drywall, pulling its horrifying, armored body into the confined space of the room.

  They stared at it, completely frozen in place by the terrifying, overwhelming size of the beast.

  Silas forced himself up, ignoring the intense, burning pain shooting through his bandaged shoulder.

  "What the fuck are you all doing?!" he roared. "RUN!"

  They bolted out the back door, running desperately back into the overgrown alleyway.

  The centipede smashed through the rest of the house, destroying the furniture and slithering out into the alley behind them with terrifying, undulating speed. It moved over the thick roots effortlessly, its hundreds of legs carrying it forward faster than a speeding car.

  "Silas!" Dante screamed as they ran, not daring to look back. "Any new brilliant plans?!"

  "Yes!" Silas screamed back, pushing his legs as hard as they could possibly go. "RUN!"

  The centipede lunged forward, its massive mandibles snapping violently right at their heels.

  "Jump!" Ronan yelled, glancing back over his shoulder.

  All four of them dove hard to the sides, rolling aggressively into the dirt just as the giant, heavily armored centipede violently rushed past them, tearing deeply through the very space where they had just been running a fraction of a second before.