The torch I had on hand proved critical going forward because hardly any light could be found in these cold, damp hallways.

I spent a few good minutes exploring my new environment, shining my light on everything in my pursuit to locate a means that would bring me to the level above me. The roar of the waterfall gradually began to fade as I delved deeper, becoming nothing more than a soft ambience amidst the ambient drips of water from the pipes that were welded along the walls and the low, ominous hums of distant corridors. The floor was made out of wooden boards and suspended over a damp earthy ground, which creaked and groaned as my boots stepped across them from rot and age.

This section of the sewers was technically no colder than the tunnel Aaron and I had been traversing, but it certainly felt like it was creeping underneath my pelt much more effectively now. Perhaps I missed my massive friend by my side, or perhaps the sense of danger was more prominent here than anywhere I felt while underneath this vacated city. The two weren't exactly mutually exclusive.

I navigated the sharp corners that these halls were leading me down, keeping a greater eye open for landmarks in case I got lost—which was not ideal for me in the slightest. Although the rush from the jump had passed at this point, my heart was still beating against my chest. I had never been fond of dark, enclosed environments where the sky could not be seen, and the lack of telepathic feedback made me doubly wary of my surroundings.

As a result of my heightened tensity, I jumped when I heard a slight commotion happen in the corner of a rectangular room I just walked into, making me whirl with a gasp as I shined my light on the source. An oil drum was already tipping over on its side by the time I did, making a loud hollow sound that made my whiskers flare. Random clutter around the drum began to shift as something waded its way through it. Something small, but something with enough mass to yield space.

I followed this phenomenon with my light before it finally broke from the clutter, revealing a small creature with smooth fleshy, peach-coloured skin, two long hooked-shaped front legs and two stumpy rear legs. It was roughly the size of a pumpkin, and it was making wet clicking sounds as it scuttled along. The creature seemed to notice the odd light shining on it and turned to look at its source, where I was able to spot a couple of upsetting features.

I saw no eyes, but four black fangs could easily be seen poking out by its belly, nestled in between two much larger fanged appendages that seemed to help with its stability. If its appearance didn't communicate it well enough, I sensed hostility in this creature, but I was swiftly caught by surprise when it suddenly lunged into the air straight at my head from across the room with frightening speed and distance, revealing a cavernous interior that was about to consume my face.

My reflexes were as heightened as my nerves as I tucked out of the way seconds before the creature slammed into the wall. I rolled back up on my feet again, backing away quickly from the creature, keeping my light on it as it got up from its back and reoriented itself, still maintaining its fixation with me. My initial panic made me a little thoughtless as I continued moving deeper into the dark with my back turned and did not pay attention to an identical telepathic signature appearing behind me to the creature I had in my light.

There are not many moments I can recall in my life that can hope to light a candle to the amount of pure terror that overcame me when another one of these creatures coupled with my head. The dreadful tingle I felt around my neck as it tried to close its hollow body around my head was the ultimate definition of terror. I had never screamed so loud that it felt like my lungs would fly out of my throat since then.

I staggered around, trying to pry it off but its grip was relentless. It wasn't until I drove my claws into the beast did it finally let go of me. It squealed as I pulled it off and hurled it across the room, gasping for breath and stumbling up against a wall. My torch had rolled away, shining its light to the other end of the room, and the first creature that attacked me revealed itself as I scuttled across its rays towards me, casting a large shadow across the wall.

Already having enough of this, I whipped out my sidearm and fired several precise shots at the little beast, killing it instantly as the room flashed with spurts of light from my pistol's muzzle. I still sensed the other one's telepathic presence and was able to aim at it in the dark without the need for vision. I fired a few more rounds and killed it instantly.

My hands trembled from both the recoil of this mechanical weapon, and from the fear that was still freshly percolating throughout my body like boiling water on a stovetop. Even though I sensed no more signatures like those creatures in this room, I took no chances and made a run to pick up my torch before making an even faster run out of the room, wanting to get as far away from there as possible.

Fear does not normally overcome me like this, so I was still especially reckless about where I was going as I turned winding corners, eventually running straight into another monstrosity. Dashing into another smaller room that had many large pipes in it, my touch caught something long and stringy dangling in front of the mouth of the room before I collided with it. My momentum came to a screeching halt as I brushed against this object, assuming it was a loose wire or cable in my frantic state when it suddenly wrapped itself around my neck within less than a second, and I found myself being yanked upward.

I gasped and gagged as I dropped my torch again, desperately trying to break this thing around my neck, which was warm, sticky, and incredibly strong as it pulled me off the ground toward the ceiling. I choked profusely from the strangulation, kicking my legs hopelessly in mid-air, but I had enough oxygen in my head to sense that I was being apprehended by another creature, and some of the light that was now reflecting off the walls dimly showed a convulsing mound of dark flesh on the ceiling that I was being pulled towards, which only tripled my desperation to break free.

Having no other choice, I grabbed the portion of string above my head, pulled myself up toward it, and clamped my sharp jaws down as hard as I possibly could, tugging and pulling at it with all the strength I could muster, which thankfully seemed to work. My neck was suddenly released as I fell back down, crashing hard onto my back. I groaned and coughed violently for a moment longer than I should have tolerated, but I managed to roll away and grab my torch.

I continued to cough as I rose to a crawling position, still finding it hard to breathe despite my airways being released. Once I could, that's all I did for a moment, hardly registering anything around me until I heard a dreadfully familiar squeaking sound emanating from elsewhere in the room. I whirled my light in that direction and saw another one of those vicious creatures running towards me from across the room, prompting me to reach for my gun, but the creature managed to get snagged onto the living rope that was still dangling before me instead, and I watched as it pulled the struggling creature up towards the ceiling just like it had with me moments ago.

I was able to shine my light on the owner of this tongue, and what graced my eyes was a large, grotesque mouth attached to a round limbless body that was fixed to the ceiling. It reeled its tongue and prey up to its four large sharp teeth, where another mouth was extending out from and closed around the parasitic leaper, consuming it whole. My light remained on this monster as it ingested its prey, its body contorted as terrible crunching and snapping sounds could be heard as it ate the former creature alive.

I was thankful that I had eaten very little before I hopped on the train that morning because I would have likely vomited most of it up at the sight of this disturbing visual (though the violent strangulation might have further coaxed this urge). Since this ceiling-dwelling creature appeared immobile, I decided I would have nothing more to do with it. I picked myself back up and miserably trudged off out of the room, more ready than ever to find access to the floor above.

My luck, thankfully, seemed to turn more favourably a few minutes afterwards once I came across a large room full of abandoned utilities and other loose rubbish. section of these tunnels that not only had working power but had a service ladder that ascended to the higher levels of the maintenance track just on the other end of the room, illuminated by a light fixture that produced a faintly flickering yellow glow. I sighed in immense relief once I spotted this beacon of hope after wandering in the dark. However, the encounters I had minutes ago made me wiser than to rush forward without caution and made a telepathic sweep of the room, and sure enough I sensed something amongst the clutter in this room.

I sensed two creatures; one bearing a signature just like those small monsters I disposed of, and another very different one. It seemed similar to Aaron's, but dormant like it was sleeping. That puzzled me, but not in any way that reassured me.

My desire to escape this dark and damp dungeon was too high for me to remain in it for much longer, so I marched towards the ladder in sight, hoping that I would pass with no problem, but my presence did not go unnoticed. I would have kept moving regardless, but the complicated telepathic signature flared up in such a way that it made my spine tingle in a way I had never quite felt before. It was an eerie sensation; the cerebral equivalent of a clammy hand caressing your back.

My breath grew cold once I heard a haunting round of moaning that filled the room, a pained and distraught sound that made me think that someone was trapped in this room and needed help, which made me hesitate to climb the ladder just yet. Turning around, I shined my light at the source of the noise and saw a bipedal body wearing dirty clothes, which were drenched in blood. That should have been the most graphic thing about this, but that was eclipsed when I saw one of those small lunging creatures sitting on top of the upper body in between its shoulders, completely covering its head.

I was so mortified by what I saw I became petrified on the spot, right up until the conjoined creatures had come to a full but wobbly stand. What was wrong with this poor individual was morbidly apparent, but what was I to do to remedy this? "Are… Are you all—?"

The sound of my quiet, shaky voice seemed to agitate this victim tremendously as it swung its arms in a wide motion, bashing a couple of old crates in my direction with startling speed that caught me by surprise. The crates bashed into me and I collapsed to the ground, dropping my torch again. It was not the creature's agonising screams that got to me, it was its telepathic signal, which was so deranged, desperate, and profusely confused and dire that it was too much for me to bear.

I clutched my head as I endured this torturous frequency, almost like I was channelling this creature's indescribable torment and making it my own. I writhed on the ground as it staggered towards me. What I heard with my ears was profoundly muted compared to what my head was hearing, which put me at a disadvantage when the creature fell on top of me and began to wrestle with me.

This was enough to kick my reflexes back into gear to begin counteracting, but its strength overpowered my arms easily. Things kind of became blurry after that moment. Many would call it 'seeing red', where your emotions or instincts completely take over for a moment, temporarily disconnecting your memory before reengaging it once the moment of trauma has passed. I believe I experienced one of these moments just then; one moment I was pinned down, and the very next I had my machine gun in my hands, pointing my smoking barrel at the lifeless body of the beast that was lying on the ground.

I was breathing heavily as my arms trembled, primed and ready for anything else that tried to attack me, but my head was finally silent, which allowed my body to relent and relax—albeit with great reluctance. I stared at the now-dead creature for a quiet moment; its agonising thoughts were silenced. Rather than being at peace, my fear was anything but subdued. I did not even humour the idea of seeing its face now that the dead parasitic creature was off its head, so I turned and ran for the ladder and climbed up it frantically, ascending the shaft.

It was insultingly easy to make my way back to the open area above the sewage canal pit now that I climbed to the third level.

I would have made it back much sooner, but I allowed myself a small breather after climbing the ladder by resting my head against the wall while I sat on the floor. My head ached after having unwillingly absorbed those awful thoughts that communicated only suffering and unending anguish because that's all that the creature felt. It wasn't hard to piece together what would have happened to me if I had not pried one of those creatures off of my head, and knowing that was so close to happening sort of got to me just for a low moment.

Like most things, I managed to shake off my shock and resumed my goal quickly, hoping that Aaron had not grown worried by my long absence. The sound of falling water grew louder and louder the longer I followed this maintenance tunnel, and sensing Aaron's telepathic signature also served as a helpful beacon. At long last, I returned to the pit, and to my left was a control panel of sorts that operated the service lift which must have been used to lower workers down into the pit at one point in the past.

Me and Aaron called each other in coordination before I came up to the operating console. The controls looked straightforward enough; two levers for height and extension, or at least that's what I observed. Before I could ponder and dread whether or not that power was still running through this thing or not, I engaged the controls, and surely enough the lift groaned to life. It was stiff and a little slow to respond, but I managed to lower it all the way down to Aaron's platform before he cautiously stepped on.

He shot me a thumbs up before I began the process that lifted him to my level, though I had to keep my hand on the lever to do that. I watched him rise at a pace relative to a snail's speed, but he inevitably made it up without any issue. Observing this new platform he was brought to, he stuck out one foot grandly and stepped forward onto the metal ramp that led up to the lift.

"Thanks for the lift there, lassie. I reckon you're as good of a lift operator as you are a pilot, eh?"

"It would seem," I chuffed, which came out dryer than I intended. It became apparent that I was presenting in a way that was much more unappealing than I had intended by the way Aaron began to look at me as we both met up.

"Woah, lassie, are you okay? You look less blue than I last saw you."

I blinked a couple of times before I replied. "What do you mean, Aaron?"

"Krystal, you look drenched but you ain't even that wet," Aaron said. His voice was now a sort of soft sternness. "What did you see while looking for a way up here?"

His strategy of cornering me with kindness was effective in breaking my already feeble facade. I guess I still was more shaken than I needed or wanted to be. Knowing that it was useless to lie to him, I briefly told him of the creatures I encountered while venturing up here, and how I nearly succumbed to their vicious methods. I left out the very last encounter I had for I lacked the heart to tell him. My telepathic mind was still haunted by what it received from that conjoined abomination.

I could see a lack of surprise in Aaron's eyes, but that could easily be overshadowed by the second-hand shock he too felt. "Oh, good gracious, lassie, I had a bad feeling that some of those no-good leftovers were lurking around down here somewhere. Looks to me like you just had your first headcrab encounter."

"Wait...those were headcrabs?" I winced, surprised that I didn't put it together in hindsight.

"Yeah. Horrid little critters, aren't they?" he confirmed. "Thank the Lord you got rid of 'em before they made a zombie outta you. And yeesh, you got snagged by a barnacle too? That's an experience you'll never forget."

If there was one thing I was certain of after all of this, was that I saw headcrabs as infinitely less appetising now than I did two Earth nights ago. I hardly had an appetite for anything at that point. I guess strangulation would do that to one.

I didn't quite understand it at the time, but there was a kind of comradery Aaron was exchanging with me like he understood exactly what I just experienced. If anybody knew, it would surely be a native like him. With a firm yet empathetic expression, Aaron leaned forward and rubbed my shoulder reassuringly.

"All righty, lassie, we shouldn't be splitting up like that anyway. We need to be watching each other's backs—especially where we're heading."

A duo once more, Aaron and I resumed our subterranean journey together through the proceeding maintenance tunnel. I was accustomed to being alone, as well as dealing with the terrors of surviving alone, and that was what made Aaron's mere presence rejuvenating in a way I couldn't quite express. It was just nice to have a friend in this world.