Tremoring Danger from Below

by Banshee531

Rating: teen
Tags: Death, Thriller, Original Character, Mystery, Sandalwood, Micro Chips, Adventure, Equestria Girls, Derpy Hooves, Flash Sentry
Length: 23824

It's summer vacation of Flash, Micro, Sandalwood and Derpy are all heading off on a road trip to the time of their lives. But along the way, they find themselves in mortal danger. Can they survive, or will they be pulled under?

Summer vacation has arrived and Flash Sentry wants to spend it having a blast. So when his friends suggest a road trip to a beach hut belonging to Micro's uncle, Flash jumps at the chance.

However, along the way they stop off at a small town in the middle of nowhere. And there, they find themselves the targets of something they can't see or hear.

Trapped, they must find a way to survive before everyone becomes lunch. For those who are used to being on the sidelines, being pushed into the role of hero might be too much for them. Can they survive? Or will they be dragged below. Only time will tell.

Published 2024-09-05 06:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-10-03 06:45:25 UTC

Chapter 1

Author's Note

Welcome, my friends. This is a rather interesting story I'm writing. Might not be for everyone, but I hope you enjoy it. It'll certainly be an adventure Flash will never forget.

Chapter 1

Flash Sentry had never had to look far when it came to adventure.

Every other week, something exciting was happening around him. The only problem was, none of it really happened to him. No, it always happened to Sunset Shimmer or one of her friends. Ever since the Fall Formal, there wasn't a situation in Canterlot that didn't seem to have one of those girls at the centre of it.

The best Flash could hope for was to be on the sidelines, watching as the girls saved the day. If he wasn't doing that, he was either captured and brainwashed by whatever the girls were fighting, or nowhere near it.

It wasn't like Flash wanted to be in danger, but he had always admired those who protected others from danger. Just once, he would like to be the one to be the hero. To do something that the Rainbooms couldn't do.

And he got his chance, though he would come to wish he hadn't.

Springville was a small town in the middle of nowhere, located in the middle of a large forest several hundred miles wide.

There was only one road leading through it, going through the south all the way through to the north. It had originally been built as a place for people to rest on their long drives, back when cars could only go about twenty miles an hour and needed to stop and cool down after two hours of driving.

It had started out as a single hotel and garage, but more buildings eventually popped up over time. Until, eventually, the town was formed and a community was made.

Just north of the town was a valley, with a river running along it. There had once been a natural stone bridge running over the valley, which was why the town had been built where it was. But years of cars driving over it caused it to collapse, resulting in the building of a man-made bridge built from wood. But even that was beginning to show its age.

The people of Springville were a good people, who often looked after each other.

One of these people was currently out in the woods, his name being Chip. He was the local firewood seller, who cut down and processed his own wood to sell to the rest of the town.

Currently, he was busy restocking his supply.

The man was in his later years, looking around sixty. Despite that, he appeared rather buff. His hair and beard were white and he was wearing a simply lumberjack shirt and overalls, whilst a black eye-patch covered one eye.

The man's pickup truck pulled up to an area off the beaten trail, being a large clearing full of trees and tree stumps.

He got out of his truck and started looking around, trying to find the best tree to do the job. And eventually, he found one he liked the look of. So he returned to the truck and took out his chainsaw.

He placed it on the ground and pulled on the chord, the engine revving up but not starting. He did this three more times before the chainsaw burst into light, sending the sounds of its engines roaring into the air and the ground.

Chip picked the machine up and placed it at the base of the tree, ripping through the wood and causing the whole thing to shake. The blade easily cut through it and as it was a few inches in, he pulled it out before cutting into it again from a higher angle. He cut diagonally and eventually met the point he had originally cut to. This allowed him to pull a large triangular part out the side of the tree, which he threw away.

He then moved to the other side of the tree, the lumberjack cutting into it. And by the time he got almost half way in, the tree began to fall in the direction he had cut the first chunk out of.

"TIMBER!" He yelled, laughing as he watched the tree hit the ground. He smiled at it before moving over to cut it into smaller pieces, calculating he would be able to get at least a hundred logs out of this tree. But as he got to work, he was unaware that he wasn't alone.

Something was there with him. And it was close. In fact, it was so close that it was practically on top of him. Or, more accurately, it was below him.

As he cut into the tree, he suddenly found the ground beneath him felt weaker. And before he could realise what was happening, he fell down into the ground and felt something wrap around his legs. "AUGH!" He screamed, as something bit into his legs and sent pain rushing through his entire body.

His arms flailed around and his chainsaw caught on the tree he had been cutting into. He tried to use this to pull himself up, but whatever had him was stronger and bit into him harder. This sent another wave of pain into him and he felt his grip on the machine weaken, allowing whatever it was to pull him completely underground.

He let out one final scream of pain and terror before he was beneath the earth, never to be seen again.

Canterlot City.

The bell rang at Canterlot High School and all the students cheered, as that signalled the start of their summer vacation. Three months of doing anything and everything, without needing to worry about homework, assignments and tests.

Flash Sentry was one of the teens looking forward to the holiday, though he had no idea what he was gonna spend it doing.

He had finally convinced his parents to let him spend his summer doing what he wanted, instead of going to the same condo his folks always went to up north every year. It had been fun, the first time Flash went. But there wasn't really anything to do up there. Anything for a guy all on his own, given his parents usually did couples things.

As such, Flash was now free to do whatever he wanted to do for summer. There was just one problem.

"You don't have any idea what you want to do?" Derpy looked shocked by this. The two had been friends since they were kids and even though they didn't spend as much time together, they still made time to hang out whenever they could. "You've been bugging your parents to let you stay for ages and you didn't think of what you'd do once you convinced them."

"I was more focused on actually convincing them than actually coming up with an idea." They reached their lockers, where the Rainbooms were clearing out theirs for the year. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Probably just spend it here," Derpy sighed. "My parents don't really do the whole vacation thing."

"Oh, you poor dear." Rarity frowned at her. "You have to do something. This could be your last summer of freedom before we graduate next year."

"Isn't the summer after graduation supposed to be our last summer of freedom?" Flash asked.

"It depends on the college you're going to," Twilight replied. "Some places have summer programs to help get you ready for the year ahead. That's probably what I'll be doing next summer."

Rainbow smirked. "Which is exactly why you need to spend this summer having the time of your life." She turned to Derpy and Flash. "You should do what we're doing. Road trip!"

"You're going on a road trip?" Flash asked. "All seven of you, crammed into one car? That doesn't sound like much fun."

"We're going in the camper we used for the music festival," Sunset pointed out. "Plenty of space for us all there. It's a two week trip to a beach, where we'll be spending the summer working to pay for a beach house we'll be staying in."

"It's gonna be great!" Pinkie jumped up, as Fluttershy nodded. Flash actually thought that sounded good. The only problem was, he doubted he could do the same thing.

"Don't suppose you know if there are any more beach houses available to rent?"

"Sorry, Sugarcube." Applejack closed her locker. "We managed to snag the last one available. Maybe you and Derpy could come with us. Derpy can share with one of us and you could...sleep on the couch." Flash didn't like the sound of spending his summer on the couch.

"Thanks," he replied. "But I think I'll see if I can find my own place."

"Fair enough," Sunset shut her locker. "But don't wait too long. We'll be leaving in two days." The rest of the Rainbooms nodded, as they finished emptying out their locker before heading out.

Flash and Derpy started working on their lockers, Flash turning to Derpy. "You should go with them. Rarity's right about you enjoying this summer."

"Nah," Derpy pulled something that was stuck in the locker. "You just know those girls are gonna end up in some kind of strange magical situation. I'd rather not sit on the sidelines whilst that happens." She finally pulled whatever it was free and fell to the ground, as Micro and Sandalwood walked up to them.

"Well we're gonna need to come up with something," Flash offered her a hand. "Or we'll be spending the whole summer trying to think of something to do all summer."

"You guys looking for something to do this summer?" Micro asked, the two turning to him. "How about coming with us? My uncle's letting me borrow his beach house down south. He said I could bring as many friends as I want, so long as we don't trash the place."

"Seriously?" Derpy gasped. "That's great."

"Works for us, too." Sandalwood smirked. "My old truck would have struggled getting down there, but Flash's car will make it no snap." Flash thought about this, wondering if it was a good idea.

He liked Micro and Sandalwood, but did he want to spend a whole summer with them. "What beach is it?" Micro took out his phone and flipped through something, eventually showing Flash a picture of a large beach next to a beach town. There appeared to be a ton of things to do there. And when Flash zoomed in, he found the place had some really hot girls in revealing outfits. "I'm in!"

"Great," Micro smirked. "The house is free and we can spend the whole summer there. But we'll probably need to get summer jobs to pay for food and other stuff."

"Nice," Flash smiled. "This'll be our first time living on our own. Fending for ourselves. Like practise for when we eventually leave home."

"Yeah," Derpy smiled, "this is gonna be so exciting. When do we leave?" The four spent the rest of the day, discussing their travel plans. Flash wondered if they might be going to the same place as the Rainbooms, but learned the beach was only a few days' drive.

They began to plan their route, using the internet to find the most interesting way to get to their destination. After much deliberation, they decided on a route that was the second shortest. It would add another day's travel, but they would get to see a bunch of interesting things along the way.

As soon as their plans were set, the group headed home to get packed and make whatever preparations they would need. All the while, they were excited for their own little adventure. One they doubted wouldn't be as exciting as the Rainboom's adventure.

Two days later.

The sun was barely rising, as Flash drove through the town with Derpy and Micro in his car. The trunk was stuffed with their suitcases, with their backpacks carrying everything they would need during their road trip.

They all yawned, having agreed to get up early to beat the traffic out of town. Lots of families and students were likely heading out of the city, so they needed to leave before they got stuck in the backlog.

They reached Sandalwood's house and he was waiting outside, drinking something in a travel mug whilst his dufflebag and suitcase stood next to him. As soon as Flash pulled up, he shoved his case into the trunk and got in the back with Micro. "Alright," he cheered, "let's do this thing."

"You got the cash?" Flash asked, Sandal pulling a bunch of money out of his bag to hand to Flash. He added it to his wallet, which was also holding the money Derpy and Micro had given him. "Sweet. That should get us there and back again. Nothing's gonna stop us now."

"You guys ready for a summer to remember?" Micro asked, the others cheering as Flash pulled away and drove towards the highway. As they did, the best road trip song played on the radio.

They started singing, as they made their way up the road and enjoyed themselves. Due to their early start, the traffic on the freeway was light and they rolled along the road without dropping below forty. More songs played, as they played road games like I Spy, Punch Buggy, Would You Rather and so much more.

The city was soon a distant memory and as they drove along the road, they stopped several places to go to the bathroom or to check out the roadside attractions. Micro had brought a bunch of cameras with him, with one meant solely for roadside attractions.

They spent thirty minutes learning about the world's largest ball of twine, another thirty touring a house made entirely out of soda cans, then spent lunch at a pancake house shaped to look like a giant stack of pancakes.

They enjoyed a few more roadside attractions before arriving at a small town where they would be spending the night. Luckily, there was a motel with three empty rooms. Flash got his own and Derpy got one for herself, whilst Micro and Sandalwood agreed to share. But before they went to bed, they drove to a nearby drive-in movie theatre.

The movie playing was an old monster movie, where a bunch of people had to escape the monster before it could devour them.

"That's so fake," Micro stated as they watched the person on screen running from the weird creature. "Whoever made these creatures, they clearly had no idea how a creature like that would move."

"Dude," Sandalwood told him. "It's not meant to be realistic."

"I know that," Micro shoved some popcorn into his mouth. "I'm just saying. Totally takes you out of the illusion. I'm supposed to be worried the characters are in actual danger. But that monster's way too fake to look terrifying."

"He has a point," Flash nodded. "But you gotta give them some credit. They did what they could with the limited budget they had." The others nodded, as they kept watching the film and enjoying their popcorn.

The next day.

After a long night's sleep at the motel, the group headed out of the small town and off to the next leg of their road-trip. As they drove, Micro had a map out in the back seat and was reading the directions they needed to take. "Why can't I just use the GPS?" He asked, as he tried to figure out if he had the map the right side up.

"It's a road-trip," Sandalwood told him. "On road-trips, you use the map to try and figure out the way there. And if we get lost, it's just part of the adventure. Right, guys."

"I guess," Flash shrugged. "But I'd rather not get lost. The last thing I need is to drive my car down a mountain path that scratches the paintwork."

Derpy rolled her eyes. "Anyone ever tell you, you love your car way too much? I mean, I get it's a cool car. But that's all it is. A car." Flash gasped at this and leaned forward to rub the dashboard.

"Just ignore her. She doesn't know what she's talking about. You're not just a car." He gave it a pat, as Micro handed Sandal the map.

"If you don't wanna use the GPS, you can read the map. That way, it's your fault when we get lost." Sandalwood smirked, as he took the map and began to look it over.

"Okay," he read it and smiled. "Oh, I know where we need to go." Micro looked at him in shock, his eyes shifting back and forth from Sandal to the map. "We're about a mile from the exit we need to take. That'll take us through a forested area and eventually, we'll arrive at Springville. We can get some gas there and hang out for the rest of the day."

"Sweet," Derpy smiled as Flash kept an eye out for the exit he needed to take.

After getting off the highway, Flash rolled down an old road into the wooded area Sandalwood had spoken about. As soon as they entered it, they found the radio cutting out. Flash had to turn it off, since the static was annoying. The light of the sun soon became blocked out, though it occasionally shined through the leaves onto the route ground and road.

Flash kept his eyes on the road, whilst the others kept their attention into the trees. They hoped to see some interesting wildlife and occasionally, they spotted a deer or a bird in one of the trees. The place looked peaceful and serene.

"I bet Fluttershy would love it here," Derpy stated as Flash noticed the sign of Springville.

"Almost there." The others nodded, only for Sandal to hear something.

"Can you guys hear water?" The others kept their ears open and eventually, they all began to hear the sound of rushing water. And they soon learned where it was coming from, when they came across a large wooden bridge across a ravine.

Flash rolled to a stop and they all got out, the four teens making their way towards the ravine and looking down. The drop to the water was about sixty feet and if they fell in, they weren't coming back out. They then turned to the bridge and found it looked rather rickety, with the gap being about ten meters wide.

Several wooden planks were broken in half, the supports looked old and close to breaking and there were ropes tied to the sides that were wrapped around trees. It barely looked capable of carrying the four of them, let alone a two ton car.

"Nope," Flash turned to walk away. "Not gonna happen."

"Come on," Sandal told him. "We can make it."

"I'm not driving over this thing!" Flash cried, as Micro walked along it and caused the whole thing to creak.

"I'm with Flash, on this." Micro checked part of the barrier and felt it break off the minute he shook it. "This thing should have been condemned a long time ago."

"Well they didn't condemn it," Derpy announced. "That's gotta mean it's safe, right?" They all looked unsure about this. "Okay, then let's not cross. Let's go back and find another way to the beach."

Sandalwood frowned, as he pulled the map out of the car. "If we do that, the next route to the beach isn't for another two days. You guys really wanna add another two days to this trip? There won't be anything exciting along the way. We'll just be sitting in the car, watching the same scenery go by. Mile after mile after mile. For days."

The three all shared a look, clearly wondering if they wanted to endure that. Finally, they all caved and agreed.

"Alright," Flash nodded, "we'll go over the bridge. But we should leave our seat-belts off in case-" He stopped when he saw the other three taking their bags and suitcases out of the car. "What are you doing?"

Micro began to walk towards the bridge. "It makes sense, for most of us to be out of the car when it drives over." The other two headed for the bridge. "Less weight for the bridge to take."

"Are you serious?" Flash cried, pointing towards Sandalwood. "This was your idea. You should drive it."

"Can't," Sandal smirked. "I'm not insured to drive your car. If I drive it and it gets wrecked, we'd have to pay for it." Flash frowned, as he watched the three walk over the bridge. Once they were across, Flash got in his car and reversed back as far as he could go.

"Okay," Flash sighed, "I can do this. I can do this." He revved the car up and took a deep breath, patting the dashboard as he did so. "If the bridge collapses, I'm going down with you. We'll enter the murky oblivion together." With that, he put it into first gear and hit the gas.

The car raced forward, picking up as much speed as he could. He managed to get up to forty-five miles an hour before he hit the bridge, which he began to race across. As he did, the wooden structure creaked and several parts broke apart. But the bridge managed to stay up until Flash was all the way across.

"YES!" They all cheered, happy to see Flash had gotten over safely. They expected Flash to stop, so they could get back in. But he just kept going and eventually, disappeared around a bend.

"You think he forgot we weren't in the car?" Sandal asked, Micro and Derpy rolling their eyes.

"He didn't forget," Derpy told him. "He drove off without us, to get back at us for making him go over the bridge on his own."

"Oh, come on!" Sandal called out. "It's not like the bridge collapsed after you went over it." As he said that, part of the bridge broke off the side of the ravine. It didn't fall into the water, but it was hanging off the side and was barely held up by the rest of it. If anyone tried to get across that thing, there was no way they would make it across. "Let's agree not to tell Flash about that."

"Agreed," the other two nodded before they headed down the road. "How far is it to the town?" Derpy asked.

"Three miles," Sandal checked the map. "But Flash won't make us walk all the way to the town. He's not that vindictive."

Flash's car was parked just outside the entrance of the town.

Flash was sitting in the front seat, reading one of the comics he had brought with him. He was halfway through it, when another car drove up to him from out of the town. And when Flash saw it was a police car, he instantly got serious and put his comic down.

The car parked and a man in a sheriff's uniform, stepped out and walked over to him. Flash was almost terrified he would end up in jail, as the guy reached his car and Flash rolled down the windows. "Your friends made you drive over the bridge, didn't they?"

Flash was shocked by this. "How'd you know?"

"You ain't the first guy to do this. The bridge okay?"

"It was still standing when I drove away," Flash explained. "Am I okay to stay and wait for them here?"

"Just so long as they make it here before nightfall. Hard to find their way in the dark."

"They'll make it. It's not that far and-" He stopped and noticed something in the rear-view mirror. "Ah, here they are now." The sheriff looked around and saw he was right, spotting three people walking around a bend looking exhausted.

"Well, don't be too hard on them. Welcome to Springville." The sheriff returned to his car and drove away, as Flash put his comic away. The others finally reached the car and all returned their suitcases before getting back inside.

"So," Flash smirked, "what did we learn?"

Micro frowned at him. "To take out your suitcase so we can throw it into the ravine." Flash rolled his eyes and drove into the town, which didn't look all that impressive.

It was a single paved road, running through the middle with an assortment of buildings on either side. The rest of the roads were simple dirt roads, Flash choosing to stay on the main street as they looked around. There was a large building that looked like a mixture of a bar and a hotel, the four realising it had to be some kind of inn.

There was a convenience store, gym, a school of some kind not too far away, and several other places. But honestly, the place didn't look all that impressive.

"Not exactly a tourist trap," Micro pointed out.

"Why did we decide to come this way again?" Derpy asked, as Flash pulled up in front of the inn building. They walked up to the place and headed inside, finding it really was a bar on the ground floor. A bunch of people were inside, many drinking with a few eating some food. They all looked up when they saw the kids, who began to make their way towards the bar.

Behind it was a woman in her early thirties, with long blond hair that had a green streak running through it. Her skin was blue and she was wearing a black shirt and white pants.

She wiped the bar down, as she spotted the four approaching. "Howdy. You kids are new in town. On your way to summer vacation?"

"How'd you know?" Derpy asked.

"That's the only reason anyone comes to this town nowadays. Name's Lila Twirl. I own this inn. I'm guessing you kids want to rent some rooms for tonight." They nodded. "Great. How many we hoping for?"

Flash thought for a moment. "Four, if possible. But if you've got less, we can share with one another."

"And is the lovely lady not with any of you?" Lila asked, gesturing to Derpy. This question caused the four to look at one another before bursting out laughing, the innkeeper rolling her eyes. As she did, a twelve year old girl came down the stairs leading up to the higher floors.

She had the same skin-tone as Lila, but her hair was red and white instead.

"Mom, I've finished cleaning. Can I go out and play now?"

"I guess," Lila nodded. "Just be careful, okay honey." She nodded and headed out, the four teens seeing her go before turning back to Lila.

"She yours?" Micro asked, Lila nodding as she checked a book for empty rooms.

"I pushed her out, cleaned, clothed and fed her for the last twelve years. So I think that'd make her mine. Now, give me a minute to go check on the quality of the rooms we have available." They nodded and went to go sit down, as Lila headed for the stairs.

The four looked around and took a closer look at the people around them. Most were rather old, looking somewhere between fifty and eighty. Several were huddled together, drinking and playing a game of dominoes or something. One guy was reading a newspaper, whilst others were playing darts off to the side.

In one corner, they spotted a middle-aged man sitting alone at a table. His skin was brownish cream colour and his hair was black. He was looking through a bunch of papers, a concerned look on his face.

Suddenly, the door flew open and someone walked inside. A man in his twenties, carrying a large box of something. His skin was mint green and his hair was black. He wore a leather jacket and jeans, along with black leather boots.

As he walked towards the bar, he looked around and spotted the brown skinned man. "Dad!" He rushed over to him, the man looking up. "You mind if I keep this stuff in your lab?"

The man took off his glasses with a moan. "Flint. How many times have I told you? My lab isn't a storage shed for the junk you bought. I've got sensitive equipment in there. I can't risk you damaging it."

"Fine," he noticed papers on the table. "What's all this stuff, anyway?"

"My seismographs have been picking up some strange signals the last few days. There's been a lot of underground activity. Almost like a bunch of small earthquakes are-"

"Any of you know where Lila went?" Flint walked towards the bar, clearly no longer interested in what his dad was doing.

"She's upstairs," one of the older women stated. "What's in the box?" The man smirked as he placed the box on the bar and opened it, pulling out a bunch of rockets and other fireworks. "Where the heck did ya'h get that stuff?"

"Guy sold them to me in the next town. Total steal. These are sure to make the fourth of July something everyone will enjoy. I just need Lila to hold onto them for me. Figured we could watch them go off on her roof."

"Why can't you keep them at your place?" Another patron asked.

"You know Sheriff Hard-ass has it out for me. If he finds these, he's gonna use them as an excuse to throw me in jail. I just need her to hold them for a while, until he's not suspicious of me." The others frowned at this, the four teens wondering if this guy had some kind of reputation.

Lila finally returned from upstairs and when she saw the man, she frowned. "Flint! What are you trying to hide in my inn this time?"

"Nothing dangerous." He showed her the box, "just a few fireworks to light off during the celebration."

"Absolutely not," Lila cried. "Fireworks next to alcohol. Are you trying to blow my play up?" Flint gave her a puppy dog look, Lila frowning at him before sighing. "Fine. But keep them as far away from the booze as possible. And if Liberty finds them, you'll be in serious trouble." Flint cheered and headed behind the counter, but one of the old folks stopped him before he could disappear.

"Hey, Flint!" The man looked back at him. "You see Chip in the next town?"

"No," Flint shook his head. "He doesn't usually go there at this time of year. Doesn't he do one big trip at the start of the year, getting everything he'll need to survive so he doesn't have to leave?"

"Yeah," another old person agreed. "But we haven't seen him in the last few days. The Sheriff said he can't do anything until Chip's been missing for over forty-eight hours. Talk about lazy."

"I'm sure he's fine," Flint replied. "If I know Chip, he probably went out to get his wood and decided to camp out under the stars for a few days. He'll probably come back once he's out of beer and food." The others nodded, as Flint walked into the back room.

As he disappeared, Lila turned to the teens. "Listen. Most of my rooms aren't in great shape at the moment. I've only got two rooms available."

"I see," Derpy nodded. "What kind of rooms?"

"There's one room with two beds. And one room with a single couple's bed. I'm sorry, but that's the best you're gonna get."

"Don't worry about it," Flash told her. "We'll figure it out." He turned to Micro and Sandalwood. "Right guys?" The three looked at him in confusion, wondering what he was planning.

"Move over," Micro told Sandal. "You're on my side of the bed."

"Why did we agree to split the bed fifty fifty?" Sandal asked, as they laid in the couple's bed. "I'm bigger than you. I should have two thirds of the bed." He pulled on the blanket, uncovering part of Micro's side of the bed.

"Hey! Stop hogging the blanket!"

"Both of you!" They looked over at the sofa, which Flash was currently sleeping on. "Be quiet." Flash pulled on the blanket he had gotten from the other room's bed and tried to sleep, wondering how Derpy was doing in the other room.

As the sun set and the town of Springville went to sleep, one resident was still awake and hard at work.

It was a slightly overweight man in his mid-forties, driving an SUV up to an area in the woods. That area was a fenced off section, full of machines. In each corner was a tower of some kind, with a metal sphere atop it. And in the very centre was a larger tower, with wires connecting it to the other towers.

The man got out of the SUV, being yellow skinned with spiky white hair. He was dressed in a white shirt and black pants with pockets covering every part of them, along with a hi-viz vest and a yellow hard hat.

He stepped up to the place and opened up the fence, allowing him to enter and begin his work on the place. He checked out several of the machines connected to the towers, walking around in a zigzag fashion in order to make sure everything was working. But as he did, he was unaware that something was there with him.

Once he was done with the machines, he started checking on the tower. But before he could get to work, the ground beneath his feet collapsed. "GYAH!" He fell into a hole and as he did, something wrapped around his legs. He screamed, as he was dragged under. Due to his slight ponch, he didn't quite fit inside the hole.

He tried to use this to grab the ground and drag himself up, but whatever it was was stronger and he was soon pulled under. He pushed his hands into the hole, trying to pull whatever had him free. But it was no use. Eventually, he was pulled beneath the earth and all that was left was his hard hat.

The ground began to shake, causing several of the machines to spark and break apart. One of the towers in the corner then fell over and smashed into the central tower, causing several small explosions that resulted in the place going completely dead.

Nobody in town would notice that the power was out until morning. And whatever was moving under the surface left the area, heading into the forest and causing small earthquakes. Several trees found themselves being shaken out of the ground, blocking parts of the forest. In the morning, those in the town would be in for the shock of their lives.

Chapter 2

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3

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?

Chapter 4

Back at Lila's inn, everyone had gotten as much food and water up to the second floor as possible.

Flash was up on the roof, looking out at the town. He, Hunter and Sandal were watching the ground, making sure to take in any movement they might see. They knew the Graboids could appear from anywhere. It was only a matter of time before they showed themselves.

"Anything?" Sandal asked, Flash and Hunter shaking their heads.

"Wish we had that seismic scanner stuff here," Flash stated before looking over in the direction Micro and the others had gone. He didn't like the idea of Micro being away from the main group. Even if Flint did have a rifle with him, Flash had seen first hand how dangerous these things were.

The trap door leading up to the roof opened and Lila pulled herself up, the woman reaching down into the hole and coming up again with some drinks. "Anything yet?"

"No," Flash shook his head, "nothing. If they're here, they're keeping incognito until the right time to strike."

"Maybe they don't know we're here," Lila pointed out. "Maybe they couldn't figure out where we are."

"I doubt that," Sandal frowned. "These things noticed a leaf hitting the ground. No way they can't find us. No, they're out there. Just watch. They'll show up eventually." Lila frowned, as Flash kept his attention in the direction of the lab.

He had expected Micro or the others to have come back by now. He frowned, fearing something might have happened. But he couldn't just go wandering off every time something seemed. He would give it a few more minutes and if he didn't hear anything, he would go check it out.

Hopefully, he was just being paranoid.

Micro always figured his death would happen in a lab.

He had always wanted to be a computer scientist, spending his days working on programs or even building robots of varying abilities. He knew that choice of career could very well lead to his end. One mistake putting a machine apart and boom, he was blown across the room and dying of burns or a broken neck. But he never expected to die in a lab, getting eaten by a giant killer worm.

The Graboid roared, as it unleashed its tendrils to try and grab them.

Flint kept firing at the creature, focusing on it instead of its tongues. But none of his bullets were even able to hurt this thing. As such, he quickly ran out of ammo whilst barely managing to avoid getting bitten by the tongues.

Micro moved over to the side of the room and decided to get off the ground. Since it felt the vibrations in the ground, he pulled himself up atop one of the many machines filling the room. His movements caught the Graboid's attention and it tried to grab him, but Micro managed to kick its tongue away as he pulled himself up onto the lab's processor.

Flint was using his rifle to bat away the tongues, but he wasn't having much luck.

"Get off the floor!" Micro cried, Flint nodding as he rushed over to the nearest machine whilst avoiding the tongues. He managed to jump up onto it, the tongues unable to stretch far enough to grab him there.

The Graboid roared as it pulled itself back underground, but they knew it would attack again soon enough. And as it disappeared, the water covering the ground began to flow into the hole.

Micro looked around and saw the water constantly pooling, though it was constantly draining into the holes that the Graboids were making. But Micro doubted a bit of water would be able to stop them. "Unless..."

"Micro!" Flint cried, "we've gotta get out of here."

"I know," he nodded. "But how? If we try and make it to the door, it'll hear us and attack. Is there another way out of here? Some way up onto the roof?" Flint nodded and pointed to an area Micro hadn't been to yet.

"Over there. There's a hatch and ladder. But dad never uses...used it. I don't know if it'll be locked or not."

"Only one way to find out," Micro stated. "I think I might have an idea on how to stop this thing. But if we do it wrong, we'll be dead meat."

Flint obviously didn't like that, but also wanted to get one of these things. "What do we do?" Micro told him to go open the hatch, but to be careful moving around.

Flint quickly started moving from one machine to the other, getting closer to the spot where the hatch was located. As he did, Micro moved over to the generator. Said generator was large enough to fit two washing machines inside of it, with a bunch of different cables sticking out the back.

Once Micro was on top of it, he leaned back and started fiddling with some of the wires. As he did, Flint was getting closer to the hatch. But along the way, he happened to shake part of the machine he was on. And unlike some of the others, this machine wasn't bolted to the floor.

As such, as Flint leapt off it, the shaking caused the machine to rock forwards and crash onto the ground.

Micro and Flint flinched, as the ground once again began to shake. And moments later, the Graboid exploded out of the ground right beside the machine. The tongues started feeling around it and when it did, it seemed to realise what had happened and moved over to the wall. Feeling around the machines on either side, it also grabbed Flint's foot until he moved to another processor.

He was finally near the hatch and grabbed a pole that was leaning against one of the machines, the pole having a hook on the end that he used to start poking at the hatch. Micro saw this and continued to work on the generator, whilst the Graboid kept feeling around the machines with its tongues.

As Micro neared completion, Flint managed to get the hatch unlocked. "Got it!" He cried, opening the hatch and seeing the ladder begin to descend. His outcry caught the creature's attention and its tongues turned to him. The whole beast was beginning to pull itself up out of the hole, clearly not wanting to bust through the floor again.

"Get on the roof!" Micro cried, as he finally finished the alterations he needed.

Flint frowned, but did as Micro told him and leapt onto the ladder. As the tongues got closer, he pulled himself up onto the roof. Meanwhile, Micro pulled himself off the top of the generator.

His feet splashed in the water, getting the Graboid's attention. But whilst it was fast under the ground, above ground it was pretty slow. It dragged itself along the ground, its tongues stretching out to try and grab Micro. But Micro flipped several switches before grabbing the leaver and pulling.

The generator burst into light and as it did, Micro ran for the door.

The machine was so loud, it deafened the creature and it didn't sense Micro as he leapt over its hole. As he did, the electricity generated flew through the machine. But due to Micro's alterations, the power began to surge out of the wiring and flowed into the metal of the generator.

Micro barely made it to the door and pushed his way outside, as the water covering the ground was electrified.

The next thing Micro knew, he was on the ground as a mighty squeal filled the air. The Graboid in the lab was being electrocuted, its entire body covered in water and getting the shock of a lifetime as it was getting cooked from the inside out.

Micro finally recovered and picked himself up, as Flint looked over the edge of the roof. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Micro nodded as he pushed his glasses back up. "How's our wormy little friend?" The squealing finally stopped and Flint moved away from the roof, Micro looking at the lab but being unable to see anything through the stone walls and door.

Flint came back to the edge and didn't look sure. "It's still wiggling around. But it's not really moving."

"The wiggling's just the muscles, being forced to move due to the current running through them. There's no way it's still alive after being subjected to that much electricity."

Flint nodded, as he looked back towards the hatch. He suddenly realised he wouldn't be able to get down through it. That generator would run for hours and so long as it was, that water was a deathtrap for anything that touched it. But being stuck on the roof was better than being on the ground.

"Micro, you need to get off the ground. That one that took...that took my dad. It's still out there, under the ground. And there's supposed to be another one along with it." Micro realised he was right. He had to get off the ground.

He looked around, but couldn't see anything he could climb up. Most of the buildings around them were residential houses, but Micro guessed they were all locked and he didn't want to hang around trying to break through a window.

He refused to move, not wanting to make any vibrations. But if the generator was still shaking, the whole area was practically screaming at the Graboids.

"Over there!" Flint pointed at a building across the street. "If you can get to the back of that house, there should be a ladder in the garden you can use to climb onto a roof." Micro nodded and seeing no other choice, he started getting up.

"We can't stay here," Micro told him. "We need to get back to the inn." He looked around and realised the house Flint had pointed to, was part of a group the inn was connected to. If he got to its roof, he could jump along them until he got back to the inn.

Finally on his feet, Micro looked around to see if there was any sign of a Graboid. But the cost appeared to be clear. So, stealing his nerve, he began to run towards the house as fast as he could.

He got to the back garden and sure enough, there was a ladder that was tall enough to reach the building's roof.

He grabbed it and carried it over to the house, placing it against the side and making sure it wasn't gonna fall over. But before he could make sure it was stable, the ground beneath him started shaking. "Oh no." He started climbing as fast as he could, trying to pull himself up to the roof before it was too late.

But as he was half way up, the ground next to the ladder exploded with a Graboid appearing.

It roared, as its tongues flicked around trying to find him. And when one coiled around the ladder, it started pulling it towards the Graboid. Micro felt this and panicked, climbing up to the roof as fast as he could. But just as the roof got within range, the ladder's end fell off the side and collapsed to the floor.

Micro jumped off the ladder and grabbed the edge of the roof.

The Graboid's tongues studied the ladder. But when it found nothing to eat on it, the tongues moved upwards towards him. As it did, Micro wished he had tried harder in gym class. He used all his strength to pull himself upwards, managing to get his elbows on the edges of the roof.

The tongue reached his shoe and almost bit it, but Micro managed to pull his legs up. He swung them back and forth before throwing them up, getting one on the roof and using it to pull himself up. "AUGH!" He groaned, as he laid on the roof and panted.

He removed his glasses to wipe the sweat off his face, as the Graboid continued to roar below him. "Micro!" Flint's voice called out, "you okay?" Micro pushed himself up to the top of the roof and locked eyes with Flint, the two nodding at each other as the Graboid finally returned underground.

"That was too close," the young teen stated. But as he said that, a crashing sound below him caused the entire building to rock. "WOW!"

"What's happening?" Flint tried to look, but he couldn't tell anything. "Where is it?" Then, one of the walls in the front broke apart and Flint saw the outline of a Graboid in the dust. It was ripping pieces of the wall apart before ducking back underground, causing the place to shake apart. "It's trying to rip the house down. Get out of there!"

Micro didn't need telling twice and turned towards the next building, taking a few steps back before running towards it.

Luckily, the houses weren't too far apart and Micro was able to leap over to it and just make it over the gap. He didn't stop and ran across to the next house, doing the same and also making it across.

Flint kept his eye on the first house and the Graboid reappeared, having not noticed Micro had fled. "Alright. I need to get out of here too." He turned towards the house next to the lab and suddenly found himself with a problem. Whilst the lab was only one story, the buildings next to it weren't.

Flint looked around and spotted a drain pipe. It didn't look too strong, but it would hopefully last until he reached the top.

Back at the inn, Flash had grown very worried about the others not coming back.

He was about to go there himself, when a loud crashing sound caught his attention. "What was that?" Sandalwood asked, as they all looked over at the spot where the lab was located. And as they did, Flash spotted something moving along the roofs. "Micro!" The others followed his finger and spotted the glasses wearing teen, who was running and leaping from one rooftop to the others.

"Where's Flint and Clay?" Hunter asked, Flash not wanting to think about it.

More crashing made them glance back at the building that was collapsing, leading Flash to realise what was happening. "They're here." He rushed over to the ladder hatch and called down. "The Graboids are in the town. Be ready for anything!"

Everyone nodded and prepared themselves, in case a Graboid happened to show up on the street.

Derpy was looking after Liberty, allowing her mother to help wherever she was. As they hid in Liberty's room, they kept their attention on the window. "What's gonna happen to us?" Liberty asked, hugging her cuddly toys close to her.

"I don't know," Derpy told her. "But I promise, we won't let those things hurt you. If they want to get to you, they'll have to go through us." Liberty smiled at this and hugged her, Derpy smiling and hoping she wasn't making a false promise.

Flash kept watching as Micro ran from rooftop to rooftop, the teen using his rifle scope to check the rest of the town.

He spotted Flint on another house, having pulled himself up onto its roof to follow Micro's example. But the absence of Clay had made Flash draw a single haunting conclusion. "I think he's dead."

"Who?" Sandal asked, only to spot Flint and realise who Flash was talking about. "Clay?" Flash nodded, Sandal and Hunter sighing as they kept an eye out for the beasts. And suddenly, a screeching sound could be heard from right below them.

They rushed to the side and looked down into Lila's backyard, where a Graboid had pocked its head out. Its tendrils shot out and Flash noticed this one was the one that he and Sandal had escaped from, its damaged tongue flickering around with the rest of them.

Hunter tried to get a shot in its mouth, hoping that would kill it, but the beast pulled itself underground before the bullet could land.

"I think they've found us," Sandal stated. "There's gotta be some way to beat these things. Or at least scare them away." Flash was wondering the same thing, as Micro finally reached the roof next to the inn. "Hey, little dude. You okay?"

"Yeah," Micro nodded. "But...Clay's dead." They frowned. They had assumed that, but actually hearing it made them feel angry. "We managed to kill one of them. Now there's only two left."

"That's still two too many," Hunter stated as the Graboid appeared in the backyard again. "Don't these things have any kind of weakness? Other than rock?"

Micro frowned, clearly trying to think of something. Then, he seemed to remember something. "One of the stories I read about these things, said that they hate loud noises. In the first attack, the survivors managed to make a bunch of pipe-bombs that they used against them. The sounds of the explosions hurt the Graboids, forcing them to run away. And later, they tricked the Graboids into eating some pipe-bombs to blow them up from the inside."

"Great," Flash told him, "you know how to make a pipe-bomb?" Micro frowned, clearly not having that knowledge. "Maybe we can use something similar. There's gotta be something that can make a loud noise."

Sandal's eyes widened. "What about fireworks?" Flash was about to remind him they didn't have any fireworks. But then, he remembered how they met Flint the previous day.

"Sandal, you genius!" He rushed over to the hatch and climbed down it, "Lila!" The woman turned to him, whilst the others appeared curious. "Where are those fireworks Flint left here? If Micro's right, we might be able to use them against the Graboids."

"They're downstairs. In the backroom."

Flash nodded and began to head down the stairs, as Derpy followed him from Liberty's room. "I'm going with you. You're not going down onto the ground alone." Flash nodded, the pair heading down and stopping just before they reached the bottom of the stairs.

Flash wasn't sure how much sound was needed to get the Graboid's attention. Hopefully, the inn's stone foundation would absorb most of the vibrations.

Flash gave Derpy a shushing sound and Derpy nodded, as Flash stepped on the ground and started carefully making his way towards the door that led to the back room. Derpy followed and the two were soon behind the bar and heading for the back.

They made it to the door and when Flash opened it, the door creaked and they both flinched.

Flash pushed the door open and with a loud screech, they realised the Graboid had likely heard that. But they couldn't stop now. They moved towards the spot Lila had mentioned and found the spot where the fireworks were located.

Flash grabbed the box and noticed a lighter on the table.

He grabbed it. But as they headed back towards the door, part of the wall suddenly broke apart and the Graboid's head stuck through it. The pair screamed, as the beast opened its mouth and its two undamaged tongues slithered out.

Flash looked at the box and saw something, handing it to Derpy and pulling something out of it. It was a fire cracker, Flash quickly using the lighter to ignite it before throwing it at the Graboid.

As the tongues got close, the cracker started exploding and unleashing loud popping sounds. The Graboid squealed in pain, the explosions probably sounding like nails on a chalkboard to it. It and its tongues pulled away, allowing Flash and Derpy to run out of the room.

"It worked!" Derpy cheered, as they reached the front room. But she was so excited, she tripped over a chair as they ran and fell to the ground. She let out a scream, as she hit the ground and sent the fireworks flying all over the place. Some even fell out of the open door.

"Derpy!" Flash got down, "you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Derpy nodded. "Get the fireworks." Flash nodded and they quickly started collecting all the fireworks, throwing them back into the box before the Graboid recovered and attacked again.

Derpy ran to the door and grabbed the ones that had fallen outside. As she did, she heard movement and looked around. And to her surprise, Flint was running down the main road. He had reached the road and was using it to get back to the inn.

"Hey!" He called out. "Is everyone okay?" Derpy could see the pain on his face, Flash having mentioned his father's demise.

She wanted to console him, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to help him feel better. How do you help someone get over losing their parent? All she could do was hope they would all survive, so that Flint would get the time to mourn.

But as Flint got closer to the inn, the ground around them began to shake.

Flint looked terrified and seemed to pick up the pace, only for the road to break apart all over. And as he got closer to the building, the road beneath his feet completely exploded and he was thrown to the ground.

A Graboid pushed its head out of the road and roared, its three tongues flying out of the creature's mouth and sliding over to Flint.

"Get out of there!" Derpy screamed, as Flint tried to crawl to his feet and escape. But the Graboid was faster and its tongue bit into his leg, Flint screaming in pain as Flash ran out of the inn.

Flint was dragged backwards, but Flash ran forward and grabbed onto him. "Fight!" He yelled, as Flint tried to kick the tongue with his other leg. But the rest of the tongues bit into him and he screamed, as he and Flash were slowly dragged back towards the Graboid.

Hunter and Sandal leaned over the roof and tried to shoot it, but their bullets might as well have been spit-wads.

Derpy stood there, her heart racing as she watched her friends about to be dragged underground. She had to do something, but what?

She noticed the fireworks and realised she could scare it off, about to grab a cracker and light up. But then, an idea came into her head. Instead of scaring it off, maybe she could stop it once and for all.

Flash groaned, as he pulled with all his might. But they were getting closer and closer to the hole.

Then, he heard movement and looked around to see Derpy running past him towards the Graboid. "Derpy! STOP!" But she didn't, even when one of the tongues released Flint and tried to grab her. She managed to duck under it and when she did, Flash noticed she was holding something. A firework rocket. "Light it. Scare it away!"

"It's not going anywhere!" Derpy took out the lighter and began to light the fuse. "Except Hell!" As soon as the fuse was lit, she ran forward and shoved the rocket into the Graboid's mouth before jumping back. The tongue swept her legs as she did and she fell over, but the Graboid was soon focusing on something else.

The fuse has reached the rocket and the whole thing ignited, propelling the explosive forwards down the creature's gullet. It unconsciously swallowed and Derpy staggered away, whilst the tongues let go of Flint and Flash pulled him away from the creature.

It seemed to be feeling strange, as it let out several weird noises. And then, it seemed to look right at them before its entire body exploded.

Bits of Graboid flew everywhere, scattering all over the place. Flash, Derpy and Flint had to take cover, as the guts and entrails rained down on them. Micro, Hunter and Sandal even had to brace themselves for it. Liberty had been looking out the window when this happened and when a bit of orange guts crashed onto her window, she screamed.

Flash sat himself up and looked over at the smoking remains of the Graboid. He then turned to Derpy and started laughing. "Derpy. You did it. You killed it!"

Derpy smiled, "I did. I got one." But then she heard a panting and looked down at Flint, who seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. "Flint, are you okay?" Flash got up and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Come on. Let's get you inside." He pulled the terrified man up and tried to help keep the weight of the man's injured leg. But as soon as Flint was up, he pushed Flash away. "Hey!" Flash fell to the ground, as Flint started running. How he was running with a badly bleeding leg, Flash had no idea. But the man didn't stop until he reached his truck.

"Flint!" Derpy cried, "what are you doing?"

Flint didn't answer and pulled himself up into his truck as it started up, Flash appearing to figure out what he was planning. "Flint, don't!" He drove off and Flash ran to his own car, getting in and starting it up.

"What's Flint doing?" Hunter asked, as Flash drove off after him. They watched where Flint was heading and saw him going up the main road, towards the river.

"Oh no," Micro realised what was about to happen. "He's gonna try and cross the bridge!"

"Is he nuts!?" Sandal cried, "there's no way that bridge'll take the weight of his truck." They then heard a screeching and looked around, seeing the final Graboid as it pulled itself back underground. It had recovered from the fireworks assault and seemed to be tunnelling off somewhere.

On the ground Derpy felt it shake for a moment before slowly dying down. And by the cracks that were appearing on the road, she realised what was happening. "It's following them!" She looked around and realised what she needed to do. "I need someone who can drive!"

Flash continued to chase Flint down the road, hoping to stop him from getting to the bridge.

He managed to catch up to the truck and get beside it, but he just couldn't get ahead. He glanced through the window and saw the man had an almost crazed expression. Flash couldn't blame him. He had been attacked, seen his father eaten alive and almost got eaten himself. That coupled with the pain he was probably feeling, probably had his fight or flight response pushed into overdrive on the flight area.

"FLINT!" He yelled, "STOP!" But Flint didn't listen and sped his own truck up, Flash crying out as he tried to do the same. But when the truck was in front of him, it started blocking his path. Every time he tried to move to the other side, the truck moved to stay in front of him.

Eventually, they reached the bridge and Flint pushed his car to its full throttle. Flash was actually hoping he would make it at this point. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could get over before the bridge collapsed.

He hit the brake and his car skidded to a screeching stop, but the truck kept going and reached the bridge. And with how fast it was going, it managed to fly onto the wooden construct and race over it towards the edge. It seemed like Flint would make it, until the bridge finally gave way.

The end that was on Flash's side of the ravine broke away, the ropes holding it together snapping, and the bridge began to fall towards the wall of the ravine's other side. Flint's truck had just gotten its wheel onto the other-side when this happened and as it fell, a third of the truck reached the other side.

But a third wasn't enough and as Flash got out of his car, the back of the truck tipped over the edge.

Flash gasped, yelling at Flint to jump out of the truck. But it was too late. The truck rolled backwards and as Flint opened the door, it fell into the ravine.

Flash couldn't bear to look and turned away, as the horrible sound of the truck crashing into the side of the ravine filled the air. Moments later, the truck splashed into the water.

Flash finally looked back over the edge and sure enough, the truck and its driver were gone. Flash didn't know how deep the waters were, but he guessed the truck had sunk and been swept away by the current.

Flash's knees buckled and he fell to the ground, despairing at his failure to save him. His frustrations finally built up, as he let out a roar and punched the ground several times. All he had wanted to do was have a fun vacation. Why did this have to happen?

After a few moments, he remembered he wasn't safe on the road. He got up and headed for his car, getting in and quickly turning around. But as he did, the ground beneath him started shaking. He hit the gas, forgetting he was in reverse.

He backed up, seconds before the road exploded and the last Graboid appeared. Flash barely managed to stop before going over the edge, whilst the Graboid screeched and showed off its two good tendrils and one bad one.

Flash glared at the beast and put his car in drive, wanting to run the blasted thing over. He shot forward and picked up as much speed as he could, but the Graboid's undamaged tongues flew forward and somehow caught the front of his car. "What?" The next thing Flash knew, the front of his car was being lifted up. "How strong are you?"

The Graboid roared again, as its damaged tongue moved up towards Flash's window.

But before it could do anything, Chip's pickup rolled down the road behind the Graboid. It stopped several meters away and someone was standing on the back. That someone was Derpy, who held something up seconds before it shot out of her hands.

Flash realised it was a firework, which went whizzing towards them before zooming into the air.

The rocket exploded and the Graboid roared in pain, causing it to release Flash's car and pull itself back underground. Flash didn't let this chance get away and he quickly raced around the hole, as the pickup turned around and the pair flew back down the road. They knew the Graboid was likely right on their tail and if they weren't fast enough, it would catch them.

By the time they got back to the inn, Micro had somehow gotten down off the neighbouring roof.

Sandal had been driving the pickup and as soon as they got back, the three teens had grabbed the fireworks and ran back into the building. They got to the next floor, but knew the Graboid wouldn't be far behind.

However, the creature didn't show up again. They had been back at the inn for an hour and nothing had happened. The ground didn't shake. There was no screeching roar and there wasn't even a blast of dirt into the air.

"Maybe it's gone," one of the older men suggested.

Lila nodded. "Maybe when it realised it was alone, it decided to go look for easier prey somewhere else."

"No," Micro shook his head, "these things don't quit so easily. Even if it's on its own, one is still more than we can handle." He moved over to a window and stared out at the empty town. "It's out there. Just waiting for the time to strike."

"We can't just sit around and wait for it to attack us," Hunter stated. "You said it yourself. We're on a time limit. If this thing's allowed to survive, it'll turn into those shrieky things and we'll be in serious trouble. I say we go out there and do whatever we can to take it out."

"I'm with Hunter," Flash nodded. "I'm sick of being scared of where I step. Let's find it and kill it!" The others all nodded and whilst Derpy, Lila, Liberty and a few more stayed behind, Flash, Micro, Sandal, Hunter and four more middle-aged men armed themselves with the rifles and headed out into the town.

Flash stepped out first, his gun raised ready to shoot anything that moved.

They all split into two, Flash and Micro heading back in the direction of the lab. They kept their eyes on the ground, ready to move if the dirt and mud even looked like it was about to shoot out a Graboid tongue.

"Micro," Flash turned to him, "are there any indicators that a Graboid's about to turn into a Shrieker?"

"Well," Micro tried to think, "Shriekers can't burrow. So the Graboid has to be above ground to give birth to a Shrieker. So if the creature appears and stays above ground, it's safe to say it's about to give birth."

"Okay," Flash nodded, "anything else?"

"I'm thinking," Micro frowned. "It's not like I'm an expert in these matters. I just read some stuff." Before he could say anything else, a loud scream came from several streets over and was followed by gunshots.

They rushed over to that street, Sandal and Hunter appearing from between two buildings as well. They quickly arrived at the area and found one of the middle-aged men kneeling next to a rifle that was half sticking out the ground. "It just took him," he cried. "I tried to kill it, but it just pulled him under before I could do anything else."

"Ahhh!" Hunter roared. "That's it! No more. No more people are dying today!" The others agreed, but knew they likely weren't going to be seeing it for a while.

"It's already eaten one of its own," Flash stated. "Plus Clay and now..." He sighed. "If this thing eats anymore, it's gonna explode without any fireworks."

"We need to find it, fast. Every time it eats, it gets closer and closer to turning into Shriekers." They nodded, knowing they might have already run out of time. Once that poor soul was digested, it might very well be ready to pop.

They once again split up and started searching, trying to find any sign that the Graboid might be hanging around. But the whole town was completely empty. It didn't even come up to attack them again.

They even started checking inside the houses, looking through windows and unlocked doors to see if it had taken refuge there. But there was no sign of it anywhere. "Where are you, you slimy little creep?" Flash's question went unanswered, as they continued to search the town over and over again. But there was no trace of it.

They searched for an hour, then another hour. And as the sun started to set, they realised they weren't going to find it.

Heading back to the inn, they all came to the same conclusion. "it's gone," Micro announced. "Probably went off somewhere to let its meal sit and prepare to transform."

"So it's not gonna come after us?" Lila asked, as they stepped into the inn. "We're safe."

"Hardly," Hunter announced. "If it's gone somewhere else to turn into those Shriekers, then this'll go one of a few ways. Those things come back and attack us, one or two show up randomly, or they all head somewhere else to find food."

"If we let even one Shrieker loose, there's no telling how much carnage it'll cause. Remember, it only takes one Shrieker to eat something and turn into an army. Then we'll have the flyers to deal with. We're not safe until those things are completely exterminated."

"But there's nothing we can do," Derpy reminded them. "Unless it shows itself, we're never gonna be able to find it and take it down." But as soon as she said that, an extra loud roar filled the air from outside. They all jumped at the sudden outcry, Flash clutching his rifle as he moved to the door.

"What the heck is that?" Lila asked, as the others got ready to head out.

Micro gulped. "That sounds like a Graboid that's getting eaten from the inside out." They all realised what that had to mean. "It must have been hiding under the ground until the very last moment, letting its Shriekers form inside of it. And now that they're fully formed, it's surfaced and getting eaten out."

"Then this is our chance," Hunter stated. "We kill it before those things can get out." They nodded and all ran out the inn, following the screams of pain that were coming from the very edge of the town. They had to be fast.

They ran towards the noise as fast as they could, Hunter telling them not to load any ammo until the creature was in sight. The last thing they needed, was for someone to trip and blow their own heads off.

Flash panted, as he thought about everything these creatures had done. The innocent lives they had taken and the terror they had caused. All so they could turn into even more dangerous monsters. Well Flash refused to let it get what it wanted. If it was gonna die, it was gonna be by his own hand.

The scream came from behind a house on the edge of the town, the seven hunters all reaching the house with Hunter telling them to load.

They did so, all loading a bullet into the rifle and wishing they carried more than one shot.

"Let's do this!" Flash cried, as he leapt out from around the house and rushed into the backyard. And there it was.

The Graboid was laying on the ground, letting out several roars as its stomach appeared to be wobbling. Flash quickly fired at the worm's stomach, the others doing the same and unloading their bullets into the beast. As soon as they fired, they quickly reloaded and fired again. They did this a few more times, until they were all completely out of ammo.

The worm did nothing in retaliation. It didn't try and escape. It didn't try and fight back. It just laid there and took it, as the men unleashed all of their ammo into it.

And as Flash fired his last shot, it gave out one final roar before its head hit the ground still.

They stared at it, whilst its stomach stopped wobbling. They waited to see if anything happened, but nothing did. It was well and truly dead. "We got it," Sandal laughed. "We got it!" The others smiled, all cheering at their apparent victory. The one whose friend had been eaten rushed over to it, laughing as he started slamming his rifle into it.

"Not so tough now, huh!" He kept hitting it, eventually getting to the point where the action just seemed sad.

"That's enough," Hunter told him. "Get away from that thing."

"Why?" He asked, turning to him. "What's it gonna do?" He got his answer, when the stomach started wobbling again. They all went wide-eyed, whilst the man looked confused. "What?" Suddenly, he heard a squishing sound and spun around. Moments later, the stomach exploded and something came flying out of the Graboid.

The man screamed, as he was suddenly tackled to the ground by the creature.

The others were petrified for a moment, as they took in the appearance of the beast that had just emerged from the Graboid. And sure enough, it was just as Micro described. A two foot tall T-rex, with no arms and the head of a Graboid.

Two more pushed through the hole in the creature and the tops of their heads opened up, revealing a red layer of skin and muscle. They stared at them and both let out a mighty scream, living up to their names as the sound was almost deafening. But they seemed more focused on the man their brother was eating, both turning to him and digging in.

The poor sap was acting as the perfect distraction for them, allowing Flash and the others to run.

"What do we do?" Sandal yelled, Micro looking too panicked to come up with a plan. It was up to Flash to think of something, as he remembered everyone Micro had told them about Shriekers.

"Hide!" Flash cried. "If they can only see heat, we need to hide behind something that'll keep our body-heat concealed." They nodded and all began to look around, Hunter and the remaining older people running over to a nearby house.

This just left the three teens, who kept running towards the Inn. If those things found their way over to that building, they would cause havoc over there.

Screaming filled the air and they guessed the three had finished eating the poor man. As they did, Flash noticed something. "Is it just me, or does it sound like there's more of them?"

Micro gulped. "They must have reproduced."

"Already?" Sandal asked, looking shocked as the screaming got louder.

"I told you these things multiply fast." They got closer and closer to the inn, which was looking pitch black since there was no power. "Good thing the lights are off. The heat from that light would be like sending smoke signals to them." The screams were right behind them and as they reached the main street, the Shriekers appeared behind them and were able to see them.

Derpy was standing at the door, looking worried when she saw them. "Get inside!" Flash cried, as they rushed to the building. "Get upstairs!" The others didn't argue and all started heading up, Derpy being the only one to stay downstairs as the boys reached the inn.

"What's going on?" She asked, as they pushed her inside and closed the door.

They all leaned against the front walls and kept clear of the windows, as they heard the creatures come to a stop outside the inn. Flash then risked a glance outside and saw six of the creepy little beasts walking around. One turned towards the inn and they all moved away from the windows, as the creatures moved around searching for anything that might be edible.

"What do we do?" Derpy asked.

"We've got to get rid of them," Micro told her. "But we're all out of ammo." The Shriekers started moving away, "we need to find another way to kill them."

"I say we make a break for the cars," Sandal stated. "They're not that big. Maybe we can run them down."

"Not a bad idea," Micro nodded. "But the moment the engines get warm, they'll start munching on them and kill the cars." Flash nodded, thinking the same thing. "Besides, those things are fast. We'll never get to the cars without some kind of distraction."

Flash tried to think of something and slowly, an idea formed in his head. "The fireworks are hot." The others turned to him. "We light a few rockets and send them flying off in one direction. When they blow, we can make a break for the cars."

"Not a bad idea," Micro smiled. "Derpy and I will set the fireworks off. You and Sandal get to the trucks." They nodded and the two headed off towards the upstairs, as Flash and Sandal waited for the large bang.

"You think we can get to the cars before they get to us?"

"I don't know," Flash shrugged. "But it'll be easier if it's just one of us. I'll go. You stay here."

"What?" Sandal glared at him. "I'm not leaving you to face those things alone. We fight them together or not at all." Flash rolled his eyes, clearly not big on the idea of arguing.

He was about to say something, but a whizzing sound caught their attention and they saw a rocket shoot off towards the edge of the town. "Sorry bud." Flash looked at Sandal, as the firework exploded and caused the Shriekers to follow it. "But I'm not losing anyone else to these things." Before Sandal could reply, Flash threw a punch with all his strength.

Sandal yelped, as Flash's fist hit him and he suddenly found himself falling to the ground and blacking out.

Flash flinched at the pain in his hand, but quickly dragged Sandal to the wall so he wouldn't be easily seen if Flash failed. He then ran out the building, as his friends sent off another firework to keep the beast's attention.

The Shriekers were at the other end of the road, clearly confused by the bright burst of light and heat appearing and disappearing in the sky.

Flash got into his car and started the engine, revving it up as he tried to get the engine as hot as possible.

He then turned on the lights and this heat source caught the Shrieker's attention, as Flash slowly rolled the car forward. They all turned to him and Flash felt his nerves about to give out. But he refused to stop now.

The first Shrieker rushed towards him and he hit the gas, his car bursting forward and picking up as much speed as he could. As he hit thirty, the Shrieker leapt at it. But the car slammed into it before it could do anything and it roared in pain, as it rolled along the bonnet and up the windscreen.

As Flash continued to drive forward, it flew off the top and spun through the air before crashing into the ground. Its body then just laid there, dead, as Flash reached the next Shrieker.

This one didn't try and leap at him and simply charged head on, slamming into the corner of the car and being thrown backwards whilst smashing the headlight. It flew through the air and crashed through the window of a house, several pieces of glass stabbing into it as it hit the front room of the building. The impact sent one piece of glass right into its body, most likely hitting some kind of vital organ and killing it dead.

Flash wasn't sure if the Shrieker was dead, but had to focus on the other four. But these ones had figured out the car was dangerous. So as it approached, they all leapt to the side and avoided the car completely.

Flash growled as he stared at them in his mirrors, the four glaring at him as he skidded to a stop.

They roared and charged towards him, Flash hitting the gas and rolling away. He soon reached the edge of the town and drove out of it, the four Shriekers chasing after him.

"Where's he going?" Derpy asked, as she and Micro watched from the roof.

"More importantly, where's Sandal?" They shared a worried look before climbing down into the inn. They prayed Sandal was alright and Flash wasn't going to get himself killed. He had to have a plan. And hopefully, it would take out these creatures once and for all. If not, they were going to be in serious trouble.

Author's Note

The Graboids are dealt with, but now they have Shriekers to survive. Will our heroes be able to stop them? Find out next time.

Chapter 5

As Flash raced along the road, he kept his attention on this pursuers.

The Shriekers roared as they chased after the car, proving faster than the Graboids as Flash was hitting almost forty miles an hour. They were right behind him and were starting to bite at his bumper, but Flash managed to stay right ahead of them. But he didn't try to outrun them. For his plan to work, he needed to keep them close enough to get on when the time came.

Flash panted, knowing he would need to make a big sacrifice to finally stop these creatures. But seeing how much damage they had done, he was willing to make that sacrifice if it meant stopping them.

Despite it being pitch black, Flash's working headlight told him he was nearing his destination. As such, he slowed down just a little. But that was enough for the Shriekers to catch up.

One leapt onto his car and started bashing its head against the glass, slowly breaking it apart. The other three managed to get on as well. Two pulled themselves up onto the roof, with one moving over to the bonnet. It started biting into the metal of his hood, ripping it apart. The one on the roof followed suit, its beak-like teeth biting into the roof and tearing it back.

The last one finally got onto the back and also tried to break through the glass, the two smashing through it and unleashing their tongues to try and grab him. The Shrieker on the roof also ripped part of it back and wormed its tongue down to try and grab him.

But Flash grabbed it at the end and pulled down hard, the Shrieker getting its head slammed into the roof and roaring in pain. At the same time, Flash unknowingly drove over a large bump in the road and the car shook. This caused one of the Shriekers to lose its balance and fall backwards.

Flash pulled on the tongue again and the roof Shrieker hit its head again, whilst the car turned a corner and Flash saw his target right in front of him. The river ravine.

Flash pushed the gas down as hard as he could and the car accelerated as fast as it could, whilst Flash reached for the door. The Shrieker on the hood and on the trunk were getting closer to their goal, with the trunk one's tongue about to grab him around the neck. But at the last minute, Flash let go of the tongue and opened the door.

It flew open and Flash leapt out of the car, hitting the ground and rolling along it.

The car kept flying at high speed towards the ravine and as the Shriekers seemed to realise the danger they were in, it flew over the edge. They all screamed, as they went flying towards the other side's wall.

Flash kept rolling along the ground and slowed down, but reached the edge before he could stop.

He dug his fingers into the ground and that slowed him down more, his legs going over the edge as he tried to grip something. And at the last moments, he found a rock that he clutched with all his strength. This finally stopped him and he glanced back, just in time to see his car smash into the other side of the ravine.

The explosion that followed, was like a knife going right through his heart. His precious car went up in flames, the Shriekers roaring in pain as they were burned before falling into the water with the wreck of his car.

He stared at it, as it sunk into the fast moving river. He couldn't look away for several moments, then sighed before pulling himself up over the edge. The dirt was loose and he feared it would soon give way, but he managed to pull himself up before it did and he was soon laying on the ground.

He panted, feeling like he was about to have a heart attack. But he had done it. He had killed them. And all it cost him was his most precious possession.

However, a sound soon pulled him out of his mourning. Footsteps, moving quickly towards him.

He pushed himself up and stood on the edge of the ravine, as a familiar sound filled the air. A low growl, belonging to the final Shrieker still alive. The beast slowly stepped forward, its heat sensor raised to look Flash over.

Flash wondered if it was one of the ones he had hit with his car, but then remembered when he had driven over that bump. A Shrieker had fallen back and must have lost its grip, falling off the car but chasing after it once it got back up.

The beast opened its jaw and let out a great shriek, as its tongue flew out to reveal the end of it was missing.

Flash saw this and realised this must have been one of the original Shriekers, Micro having mentioned a theory that Graboid tongues became part of the Shriekers through the transformation. Flash didn't know why, but he felt this was perfect. The last one to die would be the one that he had cut off previously.

"Come on," Flash told him. "You want me. Come and get me!" The Shrieker, lacking ears, didn't actually hear that. But it still charged forward, moving at high speed straight towards him. It ran and ran, picking up more and more speed as it did.

Flash's entire body told him to move, but he couldn't. Not yet. Not until the right moment.

And as the beast was seconds away from him, Flash used all his strength to leap to the side. The Shrieker saw this, but it couldn't turn in time due to its high speed. All it could do was stagger forward as it tried to turn, eventually going right over the edge of the ravine.

The beast's shriek filled the air, as it fell into the river with a mighty splash.

Flash was once again laying on the ground, wondering if he had any more surprises waiting for him. The day's activities suddenly overwhelmed him. The constant close calls with death, the sight of so many people dying, the constant overflow of adrenaline. With all of that finally behind him, Flash suddenly found himself exhausted.

He stared up at the sky, the stars in the sky acting like a cool blanket for him. He gently let himself relax and drift off to sleep, as another car rolled up towards them.

It was Chip's pickup, Micro and Derpy on the back holding multiple fireworks at the ready. But when they spotted Flash in the light of the car's headlamps, the pickup came to a stop and the two leapt out. "FLASH!" Derpy rushed to his side, Micro following and checking for a pulse.

As Sandal, now sporting a black-eye, ran up, Micro sighed in relief. "He's alive. Looks like he just passed out."

"He fainted?" Sandal asked, surprised Flash did such a thing.

"I think he's just asleep," Micro replied. "Can you blame him, after everything that's happened? He probably exhausted himself doing whatever he did." They looked around, trying to find any sign of Flash's car and the Shriekers. And as they spotted the fresh tire tracks, leading to the destroyed bridge, they quickly realised what must have happened.

"He killed them all," Derpy smiled down at him. "You did it!" Flash didn't respond, continuing to sleep whilst the others sighed in relief. They all felt themselves begin to relax as well, but not to the level where they would collapse. As such, Sandal began to pick Flash up bridal style and carry him back to the truck.

"Don't worry, buddy." Sandal smiled. "I gotcha. And we're totally cool, despite you socking me in the face." But when Derpy and Micro weren't looking, he tripped and accidentally knocked Flash's head against the side of a tree. "Oops."

They placed Flash down on the pickup, Derpy getting in besides him, whilst Micro and Sandal got back in the truck.

They turned around and headed back to the town, all glad this nightmare was finally over. But they all wondered if it was over. What if there were move Graboids out there? What if the next town over hadn't been so lucky and a whole bunch of Shriekers were waiting for them there? If there were, they would be ready.

The next day.

The horrors of the previous day had certainly done a number on the town of Springville. There were several damaged houses and other buildings. The ground was unstable thanks to all the tunnelling and everyone was still on edge after almost getting eaten the previous day.

But there was some good news.

All the fireworks the previous night had attracted the attention of the next town over. When the sheriff there tried to call and ask what was going on, he couldn't get through. As such, he drove over and discovered the collapsed trees blocking his path. This had led to him contacting some workers to clear the road, which they did as soon as the sun was up the next morning.

When the sheriff arrived, he was in for quite a shock when he found the town in such a mess.

He met up with Lila and the other adults, who told them everything that had happened. He was quite sceptical when the story was complete, but the three Graboid carcasses, Shrieker bodies and large holes in the ground were all the proof he needed.

With the sheriff of the town dead, he was now the one in charge and he suggested everyone in town leave as soon as possible. He would need to contact someone to come and figure out if the area was safe or not. So now, everyone was getting ready to head out.

With their ride now sitting at the bottom of a ravine, Flash and his friends had been given permission to use Chip's pickup to drive to the next town. There, they could decide what to do once they had given a statement about everything that had happened.

"This thing is super ugly," Sandal stated. He and Micro, were currently staring at one of the two remaining Shrieker corps, which had been moved away from the main road after Flash had run it over.

Micro turned to him. "I don't think looks are one of the things evolution takes into consideration, when trying to decide how to create something like this. Considering they're hermaphroditic, they don't really need to worry about looking good to attract a mate." He glanced back at the creature. "I know these things killed a lot of people, but it is amazing to get to see something like this up close."

"Well don't get too close," Sandal told him. "Who knows what kind of germs hundred year old worm babies carry?" Micro nodded, thinking he was right. They headed back to the pickup, as Flash finished getting their suitcases stored in the back with some rope.

"Glad we're finally getting out of here," Flash stated. "The place looks nice, but almost getting killed somewhere can seriously ruin a town's appeal." The others agreed, as they made sure their stuff was all secure in the back.

Lila and Liberty were also stuffing everything they had into their own car, Lila moving over to them. "You kids ready to go?"

"Almost," Derpy told her. "What are you two gonna do until this place is safe to come back to?"

"Actually, I don't think we'll be returning." That statement surprised the pair, as Lila looked around. "This town might have been a nice place to call home, but I think it's time has passed. With the bridge out, there's not gonna be anyone coming around for a while. And Liberty needs to be around kids her own age. There's someplace out there we can call home and live happily. We just need to find it."

The teens shared a look, smiling as they all had the exact same thought.

"Well," Flash told her, "why not try Canterlot? We live there and the place is awesome. Trust us, you'll love it." Lila looked interested in this, as Flash spoke up again. "But if you do move there, make sure to send Liberty to CHS. Trust me, you don't want her going to Crystal Prep."

"I don't know," Micro shrugged. "Isn't Crystal Prep less snobby thanks to its new principal?" They all shrugged, unsure how to answer. "But maybe play it safe and send her to CHS. Principal Celestia will be happy to take her." Lila smiled at this and nodded, as they got back to packing everything into the cars.

Once that was done, Flash and Derpy got in the back whilst Sandal and Micro got in the front.

Hunter then walked up to them. "So, you kids gonna try and get to wherever you were heading before this all started?"

"Hopefully," Flash nodded. "We're still a few days away by car. A car we no longer have. Hopefully, we have enough cash to get a lift there. I'd hate to have to call my folks and ask for the cash home."

Hunter smirked as he looked at the truck they were in. "You know, Chip didn't have any family. He always said that if he dies, we could sell his stuff for whatever we wanted." The four looked surprised by this. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind us selling it so soon after his death."

"Really?" Derpy asked, Hunter nodding as Flash reached into his jacket. He pulled out most of the cash they had left for gas and Hunter took five bucks from it, the teens looking at him in shock.

"Call it a gift and a thanks, for all you kids did for us. If you hadn't shown up when you did, who knows how many of us would still be standing here right now." They all smiled at this, as Hunter headed off back to his own truck. The teens then shared a look of surprise before smiling, Sandal starting the engine before rolling out of the town.

"Can you imagine what everyone back home will think?" Micro asked, as they made their way towards the forest. "First day of school, we've gotta tell everyone what happened."

"You think they'll believe us?" Derpy asked, Flash shrugging.

"Maybe," he replied. "Or maybe the Rainbooms will have an even crazier story to tell." Flash smirked at that, trying to think of some magical mishap that could be even crazier than almost getting eaten by a fifty foot worm.

His mind suddenly came up with the idea of some diver at the beach, awakening some kind of Equestrian sea monster that had been banished a thousand years ago. Or some normal person, getting something enchanted with Equestrian Magic and being turned into a giant mermaid or woman with tentacles for legs.

Flash shuddered, trying to get that horrible image out of his head. "Well, whatever those girls get up to, they'll have it handled. They've got their magic to save them." The others nodded, as they finally reached the edge of the town.

As they headed out, they all looked up at the trees. Despite only being there for a few days, the town had certainly left an impression on them.

Flash watched it move further and further away, as he thought about everything that had happened to him there. He had always wanted to step out from under the shadow of the Rainbooms and prove himself as a hero, worth being seen as more than just a background character that needed to be saved.

He wasn't sure if anything he and his friends had done over the last few days, would count as heroic and being worthy of respect. There was a good chance that if he told anyone about it back home, nobody would believe him. But he didn't care. He had done something truly extraordinary.

He had survived multiple attacks from terrible underground creatures. He had saved multiple people from becoming lunch for these monstrous creatures, though he still wished he could have done something to save more of them.

He had stared death right in the face and hadn't blinked. The Rainbooms might have done a better job against them, but Flash didn't care. In the end, he and his friends had done something truly worth remembering. He knew the rest of the summer wasn't going to be as exciting as this, but he didn't care. He was just glad he had made it out of the whole thing alive.

And hopefully, this would be the last time he would ever have to worry about becoming a snack for a hungry Graboid.

Many many miles away, deep underground, a large burrow could be found.

Within this burrow were a bunch of eggs, spiral coloured ones that were a mix of cream and brown. The eggs were laying in the dirt, waiting for the right time to hatch. And it appeared that time was now.

One of the eggs began to move, shifting from left to right. Eventually, part of it split open and a tiny worm creature pulled itself free. The creature let out a roar, as the rest of its brood began to shake. Eventually, they all broke apart and more little Graboids appeared. Each of them let out tiny squeals, as they started digging in the ground. Within moments, they disappeared into the earth. Off to find small insects to snack on.

A new wave of Graboids had been born and one day, they would rise to the surface in order to search for bigger food. Whether or not that food was human or not would simply rely on fate. But either way, the surface world was once again in danger. And there was no telling what horrors might await them.

Someone would need to find a way to stop them, if such a thing was possible.

Author's Note

And that's the end of this story. I know it was a little out there, but I hope you all enjoyed it. And if enough of you liked it, I might decide to do a sequel. Let me know what you think.