Flash and Sandalwood ran as fast as they could, trying to escape the horrible monster that was currently chasing them down.

Having just seen the Sheriff getting eaten alive, the pair were in no hurry to join him in the creature's digestive system. So they ran, but this creature was insanely fast. The pair had broken out running the minute it had dived under the ground, but the dirt being thrown into the air by it showed it was quickly catching up.

"What do we do?" Sandal cried, as the pair came up to a fallen log and were forced to climb over it. That gave them less time to escape, the creature catching up to them even more.

"Just keep running!" Flash cried, as they charged forward. As they did, the ground exploded and the creature's head shot out of the soil. If Flash had been just a moment slower, it would have had him in its mouth. But it didn't and since the strange tongue things it had were gone, it couldn't reach out to grab them.

Instead, it dived back down into the soil whilst Flash and Sandal ran. But it would catch up to them soon. Flash wasn't sure, but he had a feeling this thing could move at that speed longer than either of them could.

That theory was soon proven true, as the pair were starting to tire. Flash felt blood starting to fill his mouth, whilst his lungs felt like they were moments away from exploding. If they didn't stop and rest soon, he was gonna black out.

And as they felt the creature on their heels, they spotted a small rock sticking out of the ground in front of them. Barely the size of a basketball, but enough of a tripping hazard if they weren't careful. And as they reached it, they both jumped over the obstacle.

But as they landed, Sandal lost his balance and staggered forward before falling to the ground.

Flash gasped as he slid to a stop and as he turned to help his friend, the creature was right on him. "SANDAL!" The bulky eco kid braced himself, as a mighty roar filled the air. But it wasn't a roar of attack. It sounded more like a creature that had just been hit by a car.

The screech filled the air, as the ground stopped shaking.

Flash and Sandal looked back at the rock, as the raised lump of dirt remained where it was behind it. "What just happened?" Sandal asked, as Flash stepped over to him. He helped the larger teen up to his feet, as the pair stared down at the dirt and realised what had happened. The creature had smashed into the rock. The rock they were now realising must have been larger under the ground. "Did it knock itself out?"

Flash took a tentative step forward, taking his rifle off his back as he did. He pointed it at the creature, ready to fire if it moved. But it didn't.

Flash started kicking parts of the dirt away, whatever it was being only a few feet deep under the surface. And as he did, the creature made no signs of attacking. It wasn't even moving to breathe, with Flash uncovering parts of its head and seeing it slightly mashed up and covered in blood. "It didn't knock itself. It killed itself. This rock must be harder than we thought."

Sandal began to examine the rock and even started digging part of it out, revealing it got larger and larger as he went down. "Solid granite. You'd probably need a bulldozer to break through it. No wonder it killed itself."

Flash smiled, happy to see this monstrous beast getting what it deserved. "That's for the Sheriff!" He kicked more of the dirt off its body, uncovering more of it. When he finally reached the tail, he found the creature was over thirty feet long. "Geez. What the heck is this thing?"

"You think something from Equestria wound up here?" Sandal asked, but Flash had the feeling this wasn't from Sunset's world.

"No. Doesn't feel right. Believe it or not, I think we're dealing with an Earth-bound monster here." As he kicked more and more of the beast's body free, he got an idea and took out his phone. "Better snap some pics. Maybe Micro or someone else will know what it is." As he said that, he suddenly caught a whiff of something.

"I know what it is. Super stinky."

"Ahh," Flash covered his nose. "No kidding. That can't be because it's dead." As he said that, the ground suddenly started shaking again. "Oh no."

"Another one?" Sandal looked terrified. "We gotta move."

Flash was about to, but realised they wouldn't be able to outrun it. They had gotten lucky before. But this time, they wouldn't be able to escape if they ran. They needed some other way to escape.

Then, Flash realised something and an idea formed in his head. "Climb!"

"What?" Sandal asked, as Flash ran over to a tree and started climbing. "What are you doing?"

"Climb. Get off the ground! NOW!" Sandal didn't argue and ran to his own tree, the pair pulling themselves up. Luckily, these trees had thick trunks and didn't sway much. They managed to reach some branches and pulled themselves up to sit on them, the thick wooden arms holding their weight.

As soon as they were up there, the ground exploded and the wormy beast's head sprouted out of the soil.

Seeing it like that, no longer being chased, the pair were able to take in more of the details. Sandal took a cue from Flash and used his phone to record it, as its mouth opened and the three tongues slithered out of it. They flew through the air, trying to grab whatever they could find. But it couldn't see them, even when its head was pointed right at them.

Flash focused on its face and sure enough, it didn't have any eyes. But since it could follow them whilst they were underground, it had to have some pretty strong ears.

He turned to Sandal and made a shushing motion, pointing at it and shaking his head when he pointed at his eyes. He then pointed to his ears and nodded, hoping Sandal understood what he was getting at. Luckily, Sandal did and they kept quiet whilst waiting for the creature to get bored of looking.

Unfortunately, this thing seemed to have the patience of a saint. It dived underground, but seemed to stick around as they could hear the ground shake along with the trees.

The pair remained where they were, unable to speak for fear of it hearing them. But after a few moments, Sandal seemed to have an idea and pointed to his phone. Flash wondered what he was doing, as Sandal typed at his phone. He also made a motion Flash recognised as turning something's volume down, the teen catching on and lowering his phone to silence.

Sandal sent a message and Flash's phone lit up, with no sound or vibration.

We can't make any noise around this thing, right?

Flash smiled. Thanking the man who invented texting.

I think so. If it can't see, it must hunt using sound. Probably heard our bikes and followed us on the way up here. So long as we're quiet, it won't find us. But that means we're stuck here until it leaves.

Too bad we can't call Derpy or someone for help.

Yeah. But without anything for our phones to connect to, they're stuck using their short range Wi-Fi to text. And even that won't last forever.

Flash stared at his phone's battery and realised it was only at thirty percent charge. He asked Sandal and he had even less. They wouldn't be able to communicate like this forever. They would just have to hope this thing would get bored and leave. How long could it stay there for?

Four hours later.

Derpy was in the inn, looking out the window towards the forest. She was keeping watch, hoping Flash and Sandal would soon be back. But there was no sign of them or any sound from their bikes.

Lila stepped up next to her and looked out the window. "They ain't back yet?" Derpy nodded, as Lila put a drink down for Derpy to enjoy. "They should have made it to Chip's cutting spot a while ago. If they found him, they would have been back by now."

The others were in the middle of the room, everyone except Clay and Micro busy making sure the guns were cleaned and ready for use. "So they haven't found Chip," Flint stated. "That just means they're heading to the next town over. Might have already made it there. They'll be back with reinforcements soon."

"I hope so," Lila sighed. "Or else we might have to leave."

"Leave?" Flint asked. "And go where? We can't drive away and if we walk, we'll be a sitting duck for whatever psycho's out there killing people. At least here, we have food and shelter and plenty of places to hide if the nut job shows up."

"The food won't last forever," Lila told him. "And most of it's gonna spoil with the power off. We can't stay here forever." Flint shrugged, as Micro and Clay ran into the room.

"We might have some problems," Clay announced. They saw he was carrying more of those seismic data sheets and a map with more red lines on it. "The area the Sheriff and those kids headed up to. It's experiencing some insane seismic activity."

"So?" Flint asked, as Clay stepped over to the table and placed the map down.

Everyone looked down and saw the multiple red lines, two of which were moving towards the area Flash and the others went up to. "Look." Clay pointed at the map. "This line shows some seismic disturbance in the area of Chip's cutting spot. It was giving off some serious seismic signals before, suddenly, they just stopped."

"Stopped?" Derpy asked. "Why would they stop?"

"We don't know," Micro told her. "But if Clay's right about this not being a natural phenomenon, it's possible Flash or the others did something to make it stop."

"But not long after the first one stopped, another one entered the area. And based on my instruments, it's still there. Whatever it is."

"That's fascinating and all," Flint pointed out. "But we've got more important things than what's happening underground. Like stopping whatever psycho is currently trying to kill us."

"This is important," Clay told his son. "Whatever this seismic activity is, it's happening in the areas you sent those three to. We still don't know what's going on and if it's dangerous, those three could be in serious peril. And if they don't get to the next town, we'll be stuck here for who knows how long."

"He's right," Micro nodded. "Flash and Sandal could be in serious trouble right now." He sighed. "And there's nothing we could do to help them. We can't drive up there and walking's out of the question. It'd be dark by the time we got there and it's dangerous enough out there in the daylight."

Hunter finished cleaning a gun and passed it to the convenience store owner. "Then we've got no choice but to sit and wait to see what happens. Either those three come back with help, or the guy that's doing this shows himself. If that happens, we need to be ready.

Derpy looked worried, Lila sharing her expression as Liberty moved over to hug her mother." She looked back out the window, wondering what Flash and Sandal were doing at that very moment. And if they had discovered what all those seismic disturbances were. More than anything, she wondered if they were both safe.

Flash and Sandal were seriously getting bored.

They had been stuck up the trees for hours and they were starting to get stiff. And whenever they thought the creature might be gone, it unleashed a blast of dirt that signalled it was still close by.

In the last few hours, they had seen just how horrible this beast was. When it found the remains of its fellow worm, it had pulled the creature underground. They didn't see it again for almost thirty minutes, making them think it had actually eaten its own kind. But by the fact it was still looking around, it was clearly still hungry for flesh.

I don't think he's gonna get bored.

Yeah. We need to think of a way to get out of here before we starve to death. Or it figures out where we are.

Wish we were still near the bikes. Or the truck. I bet those could outrun this thing.

Flash thought about it and realised Sandal was right. If they could get back to the vehicles, they might have a chance of getting out of there. And as he looked around, an idea formed in his head.

Nice idea. Follow my lead.

Flash put his phone away and slowly made his way along the branch, Sandal watching him as he made it to the end. Once there, he took a deep breath and jumped over to another tree's branch. The whole thing shifted at the sudden new weight, but it didn't seem to attract the creature's attention.

Sandal followed suit and made his way over to the tree Flash had been on, whilst Flash made his way along the branch until he reached the trunk. He then picked another tree and pulled his way along the branch closest to it, this one being not as thick as the first. But it was still able to hold his weight.

They moved slowly, so as to not make too much noise.

Occasionally, a leaf or two would fall off the tree. They didn't pay it any mind at first. But when the leaf hit the ground, the creature seemed to take notice of this and one of its tongues flew out of the ground. Flash and Sandal froze, shocked it had noticed something so small.

It was ten minutes before the creature's tongue retracted, allowing them to continue to make their way through the forest.

Luckily, Flash was able to remember which way they had run when they escaped from the first one. It took another two hours, most of that time spent waiting for the creature to forget about the leaves they dropped, but eventually they managed to get to the spot with the vehicles.

"Alright," Flash whispered, "we go for the truck."

"Won't the bikes be better on this terrain?"

"Maybe. But the truck should provide more protection. Besides, the bikes might take a while to kickstart. We need to get out of here as fast as possible." Sandal nodded, as they began to climb towards the large green pickup. They eventually reached a tree with a branch right above the truck.

"I'll go first," Sandal told him. "We're not gonna have much time. As soon as one of us hits the ground, that thing will be on us."

"Right," Flash nodded. "You jump down and get to the truck. I'll climb ahead and get into the back whilst you start it up." Sandal nodded and started climbing along the three. Luckily, this one didn't have any leaves. So there was nothing for it to drop on the ground.

Sandal kept moving faster and faster, the beast off in the distance having no idea where they were.

But before he could reach the truck, he heard a snapping sound. Flash looked up and saw that the branch was beginning to snap. The no leaves should have been an indicator that this tree wasn't in the best of shape, as the branches were old and brittle.

Sandal tried to pick up the pace, but this just caused the wood to bend and snap quicker. And eventually, the wood completely broke and the branch fell off.

Sandal also fell hitting the ground hard as he let out a cry of pain. The impact had drawn the beast and it was shooting towards them, Flash gasping. "Sandal. Move!" Sandal fought through the pain and pushed himself up, staggering over to the truck. As he did, Flash began to climb along another branch. Either this one was stronger or Flash wasn't as heavy, because it didn't snap.

Sandal managed to get into the pickup and tried to start it up. But the engine refused to turn over. "No, no, no, no!" He kept trying, but the truck clearly had something wrong with it.

Flash finally reached the end of the branch and as he let go, the beast reached them and one of its tongues shot out towards the truck. The teen landed in the back and as he did, he spotted a hand axe and grabbed it.

The tongues bit into the back of the truck and started pulling it backwards, clearly attempting to pull it and whatever was inside it underground. But before it could, Flash leaned over and swung the axe down towards the middle tendril. The blade sliced into the tongue and they all let out a scream of pain, as they were pulled away from the truck. But the damage done to the middle one, causes it to rip off and hang from the back of the truck.

"We need to go, NOW!"

Sandal tried the engine again, but it still refused to turn over. "OH! COME ON!" He slammed his fist into the dashboard and to his surprise, the truck actually came to life. "YES!" He put it into gear and hit the gas, the truck rushing forward as Flash was almost thrown overboard.

He managed to hold on, as they raced through the forest down a trail Sandal spotted. As they did, Flash looked behind them and spotted the dirt stream being spit up behind them. Whatever this thing was, it was keeping pace with the truck.

"Faster!" Flash cried, as Sandal pushed the truck as fast as he was willing to push it without the bumpy ground flipping the car. Eventually, they managed to outspeed the beast and get ahead of it. The soil trail disappeared, Flash hoping that meant it had either given up or lost their trail. But Flash wouldn't feel safe until they were safely back on soil ground.

As they drove, his attention was on the tongue mouth that was latched to the metal of the truck. If these things could pull a pickup backwards, there was no telling what else they might be able to do.

Derpy had chosen to take her mind off her friends, by letting Hunter show her how to use a rifle.

"Now," Hunter helped her position the gun on her shoulder. "Look through the sight. So long as it's lined up properly, you should be able to hit the target no problem." Derpy looked through the sight, but that was proving difficult.

Derpy had never hated her eye condition, which caused them both to wonder every now and then. She had learned to work around it growing up and even though she could be clumsy on occasion, she was able to live a normal life like any normal eyed girl.

But the one issue she had always had a problem with was aim.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never hit anything she was aiming for. She had always been a liability when it came to sporting events. Tennis, soccer, basketball, ping-pong and even dodgeball. Every time she got a ball, she had more chance of hitting her teammates then she did whatever she was aiming at. And the same was apparently true with shooting.

As she aimed through the eyepiece, she tried to get the cans on a table into her crosshires. And when she did, she pulled the trigger. But the shot completely missed. Luckily, a stone wall was behind the cans so she didn't have to worry about hurting anyone else. But it was clear, she was not a good shot.

"Okay," Hunter told her. "Let's try and get a little closer." She reloaded and moved closer before taking aim again and trying to get the cans in her sights, firing only to miss once again. "Even closer." She repeated the process and the can was practically being poked by the end of her gun. And when she fired, the can shook but still didn't get hit.

Derpy cried out in annoyance and used her rifle to knock the cans down, Hunter seeing she was clearly not met for using a rifle.

"Don't worry. You just stick next to the others and they'll protect you." Derpy sighed and nodded, as she handed the gun back to Hunter. But as she walked back towards the inn, she heard an engine in the distance.

Gasping, she rushed out towards the main road. And she wasn't the only one. Micro, Clay, Lila and everyone else stepped out and looked towards the forest. "You guys hear that?" Flint asked, everyone else nodding. "That doesn't sound like bike engines."

"Maybe someone came from the next town?" Lila guessed. "Maybe they've cleared the road."

"No," Micro shook his head. "That doesn't sound like anything that could clear those trees. Too small." After a few moments, the sound got louder and a truck rolled in from between the trees.

"It's Chip!" Lila sighed. As the truck got closer, they noticed Flash and Sandal in the cap. "Is he in the back?"

"Chip never lets anyone drive his truck," Hunter announced. "Not even if he's hurt." The truck pulled up next to the inn and when Derpy saw Flash and Sandal's faces, she could tell something was wrong.

"Are you okay?" She asked, as the townsfolk looked in the back.

"Where's Chip?" Flint asked, only to then notice something. "And what the heck is that?" Derpy looked in the back and saw what appeared to be some kind of snake, which had been cut in half by something.

Flash and Sandal got out of the truck. As soon as they did, Flash spoke up. "Chip and the Sheriff are dead." That statement caused shock and horror to cover every face in the group, Lila gasping whilst Clay turned his attention back to the snake.

"Were they killed by this?"

"No," Flash replied. "But its now dead friend. We'll explain inside." They all nodded and began to move into the building. But as they did, Micro took a closer look at the snake creature.

"I...I think I've seen this before."

As soon as they were inside, Lila rushed off to get them some food and water. They had spent so long up in the tree, they were starving. And running from a dangerous worm creature could really build up an appetite.

As they ate, they told them everything that had happened. And to say the townsfolk were shocked was an understatement. Some of them didn't believe them, but then Flash and Sandal took out their phones and showed them the video evidence.

"Ugly mother-ducker," Flint stated as he watched the video. Liberty was also there, trying to see what the creature was. "But what the heck are they?"

Flash was about to say he didn't know, only for Micro to speak up. "Graboids." Everyone looked over at him, as he stared at the image of the dead worm on Flash's phone. "They're called graboids."

"You've seen these things before?" Sandal asked, as Micro handed Flash's phone back to him.

"I've read about them. Seen pictures online. I wasn't really sure if they were real or not. But it looks like they are. And that means we're in serious trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Flash asked. "What do you know about these things?"

Micro took a deep breath and began to explain. "Graboids are some of the most unusual creatures on the planet. They started showing up about thirty years ago, the first time being in a place called Perfection. They've shown up in random locations, all around the country. Mostly in places that are made up of loose dirt and soil, which is what they can move through easily."

"We noticed," Flash stated. "We barely managed to keep ahead of the first one and Sandal had to get the truck up to forty before we got away from the second one." Sandal nodded.

"But what is it?" Lila asked. "Where did they come from?"

"They've always been here," Micro explained. "Graboids are one of the oldest organisms in existence. They were around before the dinosaurs. The only reason we didn't know about them is because graboids can go centuries without needing to surface. Their eggs can gestate for that long. So every few centuries, they hatch and cause problems. Nobody knew about them because before thirty years ago, nobody who ran into them survived to tell the tale."

"That makes sense," Clay nodded. "But staying an egg for centuries. It's almost unheard of."

"Graboids are one of the weirdest creatures in the world."

"How do you know so much about them?" Flint asked. "You said you read about them, but where?"

"Lots of places," Micro replied. "In fact, there's a guy on the internet who was an expert at killing graboids. His name was Gummer and he was a survivalist, who was present at the first graboid incident. Since then, he made it his mission to stop any graboid that ever showed up. He even made videos about them."

"Wish he was here now," Sandal frowned.

"The last I heard, he died during a situation with some graboids on an island." Micro shook his head. "I'm getting off topic. Anyway, graboids are powerful creatures. They can't see anything, but they're super sensitive to vibrations. That's how they hunt. They sense the vibrations in the earth above them and attack, grabbing their prey using their tongues and dragging them down."

"Yeah," Flash nodded. "That tracks with what happened to the Sheriff."

"So how do we kill them?" Flint asked. "They've gotta have a weakness."

"None that we can really exploit," Micro stated. "Their skin is tough. Tough enough to take a lot of damage before the beast goes down."

"We shot at it," Sandal agreed. "When it attacked, we shot at it to try and save the Sheriff. But it was like shooting at a brick wall. It wasn't even bleeding."

"But they're not indestructible," Flash stated. "One killed itself by slamming into a large underground rock. Like Micro said. They're fast in dirt and soil. But in a place where they can't move around too great, they're sitting ducks."

"So what?" Hunter asked. "This place is nothing but dirt and soil. Those things will pick us off if we stay here."

"He's right," Flint agreed. "We need to get out of here, now."

"How?" Lila asked. "We can't drive to the next town."

"Then we'll walk," Flint stated. "You said these things can't get through rock, so we'll stay on the road. We'll take the cars as far as they can go, then walk the rest of the way to the next town."

"That's a two day walk," one of the older residents announced. "Three days for some of us. You want us to spend three days, walking along the road whilst those creatures try and gobble us up?"

"We'll be safe on the road," Flint stated. "We'll pack as much food and water that we can carry. Even if we run out before we get there, we can survive a day or two without food. Better than getting eaten."

"Maybe he's right," Clay nodded. "Maybe we should try and walk."

"No," Flash shook his head, "I don't think that'll work." They looked over at him. "The road is solid pavement, but it's only a foot or so thick. That underground rock was reinforced by the soil behind it. But if the graboids get fast enough, they might just smash through the road and get us. And even if they don't, those tongues are long and fast. All you'd need is one to grab you and pull you off the road."

Some of the others realised he was right, whilst Micro frowned. "And honestly, staying on the road won't keep us safe forever."

"What do you mean?" Derpy asked, seeing a look on Micro's face that told her something was wrong. "Micro. What aren't you telling us? Is there more to these things than you've mentioned?" The others looked at him, as Micro sighed.

"There is. Graboids are a metamorphic species."

"Metamorphic?" Flint asked.

"Like a butterfly," Clay explained. "It transforms as it ages." Micro stood up, "you're saying graboids can transform?"

"Well...not really." Micro looked like he was having trouble coming up with an explanation. "Graboids don't transform, but they do give birth to a creature that can."

"Kid," Hunter told him, "you're not making any sense."

Micro turned to them. "If a Graboid eats enough, it'll give birth to three creatures called Shriekers."

"Shriekers?" Flash asked. "What the heck is a Shrieker?"

"Imagine a T-rex," Micro explained. "But with no arms, the head of a Graboid and about yay high." He held up his arm, showing whatever this was, was about two and a half feet tall. "Shriekers are fast and really dangerous. Apparently, they see in inferred."

"You mean they see heat?" Clay asked, with Micro nodding. "That would make hunting easy for them."

"So a worm turns into a tiny T-rex?" Sandal asked.

"Three tiny T-rex," Micro corrected.

"But they don't dig, right?" Flint asked, with Micro nodding. "Perfect." Everyone looked confused. "If they're small, their skin can't be as thick. We just wait for these things to transform and then, we can blow them away with our rifles."

"No," Micro cried, "we can't let these Graboids turn into Shriekers. If they transform into those monsters, we'll be overrun and we won't stand a chance."

"What are you talking about?" Flash asked.

"Shriekers are hermaphrodites," Micro cried. Those that knew what that word was, were rather shocked to hear it. "Whenever a Shrieker eats enough food, it gives birth to another Shrieker. In five minutes, that Shrieker is fully grown and able to give birth itself. One becomes two. Two become four. Four become eight and so on."

"Okay," Flash gulped, "that sounds terrifying. You're right. We can't let something like that happen."

"I'm still a little confused about this whole process," Lila raised a hand. "You said the worms give birth to these shriek things. And the Shriekers give birth to more of themselves. But where do the worms originally come from?"

"An egg," Micro explained. "Like I said, Shriekers are a metamorphic species. According to what I've read, they transform if they live for more than twelve hours and have multiplied at least once. It sheds its skin and transforms into something called an Ass-Blaster." Lila's eyes widened as she covered her daughter's ears. "What? I didn't name it."

"What kind of name is that?" Flint asked.

"Kind of perfect," Micro replied. "A...Blasters, are winged creatures. They have a special chemical that they shoot out of their rear-ends, which ignites when it comes in contact with the air. It's basically like having a rocket thruster sticking out of their butts."

"I get it," Flash nodded. "So they use that rocket to get airborne and then use their wings to fly around."

"Exactly," Micro nodded. "Though it's more like gliding. They use this as a means of attack, but also to fly to a new area. A place that hasn't been picked clean by the Graboids or Shriekers. Once there, they lay a Graboid egg and the whole cycle starts again."

Clay nodded. "Egg, Graboid, Shrieker, Blaster, then back to the egg. Quite an interesting life cycle this species has."

"Which is why we can't let these Graboids stay alive," Micro stated. "The Shrieker is the most important part of the life cycle. If we leave them alone, they'll multiply and turn into a hundred Blasters. And each one will have an egg to lay. One Graboid is all it takes to cause a mass cataclysm."

"I'm with Micro," Flash agreed. "We need to stop these things. But...we've got no idea how many there are."

Sandalwood nodded. "Hopefully, that one that chased us is all that's left."

"But we can't take the risk that there are more," Derpy pointed out. As she said that, she realised something and her eyes went wide. "Clay, your map." Clay looked at her confused. "How many of those red lines were there?" Clay's eyes slowly widened.

"Of course. You're right. The seismic disturbances must have been caused by the Graboids, moving underground hunting for prey." Derpy nodded, as Clay took out his map. Everyone else looked at it and noticed the red lines. "If these red lines are indicating the movements of the Graboids, that must mean there are four of them. Or were four, until Flash and Sandal killed one."

"So there's just three left?" Micro asked, with Clay nodding.

"Yes. But there could be more close by. My sensors can only cover a finite area. If there are more Graboids outside the scanner radius, more could show up. Maybe these things have some kind of turf formation ability, like how dogs mark their territory. If there are more Graboids, they might show up since one is now dead."

"God, I hope not." Flash looked around. "So there are still three of them for us to deal with. I kinda wish we hadn't left the bikes in the woods. One of us could have ridden to the next town and called the army. If Micro's right and these things can easily turn into an army, we might need our own army to stop them."

"We need to figure out where they are," Clay got up and rolled up his map. "I'll head to my lab and try to figure out where they are. Once we know how far away they are, we'll be able to come up with a battle plan."

"What's to stop them from attacking right now?" Derpy asked. "They've been keeping to the woods and attacking there, but this place isn't much different from the forest. The ground should be just as easy to move through and with all the cars here, they must have been able to feel us. So why haven't they come an attacked?"

"That's a good question," Micro stated. "Some of Gummer's videos say that the Graboids are smarter than they appear. They have the knowledge to set traps and when something causes a setback for them, they adapt and try to use it to their advantage. It's possible they chose to deliberately leave the town be."

"Why?" Sandal asked. "Why deny themselves food when it's just sitting around?"

"Maybe they're saving us for the main course," Flint stated. "Maybe they want to leave us to be food for their Shrieker friends. Micro said it was the most important stage of their life cycle."

"He might be onto something." Clay began to head for the door. "Which is why we can't wait around anymore. We need to find out where they are and figure out how to stop them."

"I'll lend you a hand," Micro got up to follow and Flint went with them. As they did, Hunter turned to the others.

"If they can only hunt by feeling movements on the ground, I say we get off the ground. Go up to the next floor or the roofs. Must be safer than sitting around here, waiting for one of those things to crash through the floor." The others nodded in agreement, the lot beginning to make plans to get everything they need upstairs.

Clay, Micro and Flint all rushed through the town towards his lab, the dirt road feeling like a minefield as they ran across it.

They soon arrived at the geology building and as they did, Clay powered up the building to get the computers online. All the while, Micro looked around and was amazed by the many pieces of machinery around him. "Awesome." Clay smiled at this, whilst Flint sat in a chair and watched as Clay got to work.

"Beginning seismic scan." He typed away at his computer, whilst giving Micro instructions on what to do across the room. Luckily, Micro was able to easily follow these instructions and began working. As they did, the lab's generator bounced and crashed.

Flint, still armed with one of the hunting rifles, watched the pair work whilst staring at the ground.

"Alright," Clay smiled, "the seismic sensors are online. They'll be sending the latest results to my computer. Micro, tell me where the seismic activity is currently at its strongest." Micro nodded and moved over to the computer, which showed a map of the location.

Instead of a red line in the area, a trio of red dots appeared. And to Micro's shock, the dots were right next to the town's small image. "They're close." Clay and Flint were on guard, as Micro spotted a zoom in function and did so. The town's size increased, whilst the red dots became more spread out. As they did, he saw one of them was currently right next to a particular building.

It was then that Micro realised the mistake they had made, as the sound of the generator shaking made him gasp. "TURN EVERYTHING OFF!" He ran over to the generator, Clay and Flint realising what he had also realised.

The two ran over and together, they managed to shut the generator down. But as they did, the ground began to shake.

"Please tell me your floor's reinforced," Micro asked Clay. But as he did, the floor began to crack and break apart. Parts of a water pipe flew up and started spraying all over the place, the three crying out as they staggered back. Then, the ground behind them completely exploded.

They all spun around, as something pulled itself up from beneath the ground. A Graboid.

The three screamed and tried to run. But before they could get too far, two tongues shot out of its mouth and flew towards them. They reached Clay and bit into his legs, making him scream as he was pulled off his feet. Micro and Flint spun around and saw him being dragged towards the Graboid, Micro getting a second to see one of its tongues was missing the end, which pulled itself back below the ground and dragged Clay towards it.

"DAD!" Flint leapt at his father and Grabbed him, as the water continued to spray all over the place.

He clutched his father's arm and tried to stop him, but he was dragged along the ground until Clay was half pulled into the hole. It was only then that Flint managed to hook one of the tables bolted to the ground, curling his leg around it as he did his best to save his father.

Micro ran over and grabbed Clay's other hand, the two using all the strength they had to try and pull him out of the Graboid's grasp. All the while, Clay continues to scream as his legs were bitten into. If the boys didn't pull him free so, his legs would rip off.

However, something worse happened. With the water constantly raining down on them, the three felt their bodies becoming slippery. And before they realised it, Clay's arms slipped out of their grasp.

"NOOOOO!" Flint screamed as Clay was pulled down into the hole and disappeared.

Flint crawled over to the hole and looked down it, calling out to his father. But it was too late. Clay was gone and nothing would bring him back. And when Flint realised this, he screamed into the hole whilst Micro just stood sat there.

He couldn't believe it. He had read about Graboids and seen videos of them, but seeing them in real life was completely different. And seeing it eating someone was just insane.

Micro looked over at Flint, wishing he could think of something to say to comfort him. But there was no comfort for someone who had just lost his father. All Micro could do was be there for him.

Alas, the universe had decided today was not a day of mourning.

The ground shook again and before either of them could think to get away, the ground under the bolted down tables was ripped apart. Another Graboid appeared from below, the three tongues flying out of its mouth and slithering towards them.

Micro grabbed Flint and pulled him away, as one of the tongues tried to grab him. "Wasn't my dad enough for you!?" Flint screamed, as the two slid along the ground.

"Different Graboid!" Micro yelled, noticing the three undamaged tongues. Had the last one been the one that Flash and Sandal had escaped? "We've gotta get out of here." But Flint wasn't listening, crawling over to where his rifle was sitting.

"I'm not leaving until I kill one of these things!" He fired at the Graboid, but the beast didn't even feel it as it reached over with one of its tongues.

Micro picked himself up, but the splashing of his feet in the water caught the beast's attention. One of the tongues flew over to him and he barely ducked out of the way, whilst Flint fired another shot at the creature. But it still had no effect and the creature just pulled itself back underground.

Micro tried to make a break for the door, grabbing Flint as he did, but then the ground shook again.

The floor ripped apart and revealed the terrible worm once again. Only this time, it was blocking the door. There was no way out. They were trapped, with a hungry man eating earthworm.

Author's Note

The Graboid attack is in full swing and now, everyone knows why they can't just sit around. It's either kill the Graboids or be overrun with Shriekers. Which would you choose to face?