Chapter 327
Fuck this, Lila thought, sprinting as fast as her legs could carry her.
Just a couple of minutes earlier, she’d decided she’d had enough of it. She couldn’t see anything in the pitch-black mist, not even the outlines of her teammates. Not too long ago, Ava had warned them to be quiet, and Lila had a pretty good idea why.
The morphus must have used an ability similar to Lila’s, causing the two clouds of supernatural darkness to overlap and leaving her and her teammates completely blind. Shortly after that, Ava’s terrified screams shattered the silence.
After that, Tessa began to scream. Lila could hear the gunshots from Ethan’s big pistol, but he was likely firing blindly, hoping that a random bullet would hit their enemy. When Tessa’s screams finally ceased, Lila realized she couldn’t take it anymore.
Julian, Ava, and Tessa were all dead, meaning the morphus would now focus on her and Ethan. That’s when Lila decided to flee. She couldn’t see farther than a couple of feet ahead in the supernatural darkness and had completely lost all sense of direction.
So she chose a direction at random and began to walk through the darkness, hoping she wouldn’t accidentally bump into the mutant she was trying to get away from. She was trying to move quietly but quickly.
Lila could hear Ethan’s voice in her earpiece, trying to get her to respond, but she ignored his calls. She also deactivated the feed transmitted from her visor to Ethan’s HUD so he couldn’t see what she was doing. She hoped the morphus would attack Ethan next, buying her enough time to escape.
At some point, she suddenly emerged from the darkness. She immediately realized she was lucky enough to have picked the right direction, as their large SUV was a short distance ahead of her. She quickly glanced back and saw that the darkness was beginning to dissipate.
There was no time to lose, so she burst into a run. She sprinted as fast as she could, swishing through the tall grass that pushed through the cracks in the asphalt. The farther she got from the diner, the more convinced she became that she might actually get out of this fix.
The hell with the morphus. To hell with Ethan and her now-dead teammates. She didn’t care about any of them in the least. And to hell with Los Demonios. She was done with that organization for good.
Skullface wouldn’t be happy when he learned of her betrayal, but she didn’t care. She would rather take her chances against the organization than the morphus. It was obvious that her power suit couldn’t properly protect her against the freak. But it would give her an edge against any group of killers Skullface sent after her. So yeah, as long as she had her power suit, she had no fear of his wrath.
Suddenly, she felt something slam into her legs from behind. She lost her balance and went sprawling on the ground. At first, she thought it was the morphus, who had decided to go after her instead of Ethan. Panic surged through her at that thought.
However, when Lila rolled onto her back, she realized she was mistaken in her initial assumption. At her feet stood a large arachnid, one of those revolting creatures the morphus had brought from its lair.
The blue eyes of the spider stared at her without any expression. Then its fangs spread, revealing a round mouth filled with teeth, and a glob of acid flew toward her. She jerked her head aside just in time to avoid being hit.
In one fluid motion, she drew one of her shortswords from its sheath on her back and swung it downward at the spider.
The blade went all the way through the disgusting creature, pinning it to the ground. With her other hand, she immediately unsheathed her second sword, swinging it in a horizontal arc. The blade sliced through the legs of the spider. The arachnid was still alive, but at least it was now harmless.
There was no time to relax, though. Several more spiders emerged from the deep grass, but Lila decided not to engage them. She jumped to her feet and spun around. Just as the spiders began to launch acid projectiles at her, she used her main ability, teleporting several yards ahead.
Without glancing back, she resumed running. She could already see the large black SUV up ahead. She just needed to cover a hundred more yards, and she would be scot-free. She even employed her teleportation ability two more times to widen the gap between her and the arachnids.
She continued to sprint toward her destination. Just as she reached it, she quickly glanced over her shoulder. She was shocked to see the spiders were almost on top of her. Those revolting creatures were so freaking fast!
She swung the driver’s door open and leaped into the car, slamming the door shut just as the spiders reached the large vehicle. Three of them jumped, landing on the hood, while the others surrounded the SUV, climbing up its sides. Heart racing, she locked the doors, even though the spiders probably weren’t smart enough to open them.
She started the engine. Instead of returning to the street before the diner, she needed to get away from that place, so she began to make a U-turn. As she did, the three spiders on the hood spat acid onto the metal, which ate through it with alarming speed.
Just as she completed the U-turn, the acid reached the engine, causing significant damage. The SUV slowly moved a few yards forward before coming to a complete halt, smoke billowing from the acid-created holes in the hood.
Lila suddenly felt an unsettling jolt as the front left tire burst with a loud pop, causing the SUV to sag slightly, releasing a hiss as the air rushed out. Before she could process what was happening, a second sharp explosion echoed as the rear left tire went flat, causing the vehicle to lurch to the side.
Even though the car was no longer moving, she gripped the steering wheel tighter, her knuckles whitening. Moments later, another loud bang shattered the stillness as the front right tire burst, causing the car to shudder as the weight shifted once more. The SUV sagged even more.
Without warning, yet another explosion occurred as the last tire gave way. The rear right tire burst with a bang, causing the SUV to sink lower, metal scraping against the asphalt.
Trapped within the confines of the car, Lila took a deep breath, aware that she was stranded in the middle of the street. She was terrified, believing the spiders’ next move would be to get inside the car.
However, it never happened. Some of the spiders stood on the hood, while others clung to the windows, all staring at her with their emotionless eyes. They could easily break into the car, but for some reason, they didn’t. It felt like they were intentionally keeping her trapped inside.
Lila was so scared she couldn’t think straight. She didn’t know what to do. Get out of the car and fight them? But she didn’t believe she could defeat them all. By that point, she had lost all her self-confidence.
In the end, she decided to call for help.
“Ethan!” she shouted into her comms. “I’m trapped! Those spiders have me pinned in the car! They’re everywhere! I can’t get out!”
There was no immediate response. Lila waited, then repeated, “Ethan! Do you copy?”
The team leader remained silent. Lila knew that if Ethan was already dead, she was royally screwed.