28: Life isn't fair -Jay-

I was bleeding bad and god only knows what was going on outside, but I could hear the thumps of the Moth god's hits all the way in the lab that I'd been thrown into. How could we possibly stop something like that?

The Moth boy was nearly impervious to any physical damage we could deal him, and seemed to possess a strength I could only dream of. My body wanted to panic but my mind tried it's hardest to push those thoughts from my head.

This was all new to me. I'd never fought an actual god, I've always been on the side as support for Carl and John as they stood face to face with these leviathans. No human alive could kill something like that; I was sure of it. I pushed the idea of killing it from my head and centered on distraction.

My mind immediately leaped to John's selfless attempt to save my life, but I didn't have a moth and I would not be so foolhardy. I had to find a way to distract the boy without putting myself in that kind of peril.

I pulled myself to my feet and stole a look around the room. The room that I had previously thought to be a lab looked like it hadn't been used as one in ages. Instead the tables were stacked with boxes and several giant high-powered light stands. Moths. Light. It took me only a few seconds to realize that it was not only a significant distraction, but also a potential way to end this horror for good.

It didn't take long for me to finish what needed to be done. I heard Robby say something outside and knew it was nothing good. I slid under the exposed wires and made my way to the window. Looking outside I could see Robby dragging John away from the Moth-boy. John wasn't moving. It was now or never.

"HEY! Butterfly boy!" I stepped back from the window as the boy looked at me, "Surprise!"

I flicked the switch and the room flooded with light. I shielded my eyes and glanced outside before I turned to the second step of my plan. It was working. The Boy was breaking up and making his way to the room I was in. I slipped under the wires again and grabbed the plug that I'd left near the outlet.

The loud noise of fluttering filled the room and I yanked the lights. The boy immediately formed together in the middle of the room looking dazed as the lights went out.

"Wha-Where's the light's go? They were so prettyful." He tried to move toward me but got caught on the wires going through his abdomen.

Stretching across the room were exposed wires, all crossing in the center of the room where all the lights were pointed. He looked at me confused and I smiled.

"Bug. Zapper." I slid the plug into the wall and watched as thousands of volts of electricity coursed through the wires. Smoke began to rise and moths fell as the energy flowing through them turned them into ash.

"But I was righteous!" The boy cried as his body burned away, "My cause. I was wronged and I don't get vengeance? How is this fair?"

I stood and stared down at the last fluttering moth and sighed, "Life sucks. You either let it get to you, or keep going until it kills you," I pressed my foot down and listened to the satisfying sound of a crunching exo-skeleton, "Either way you end up dead."

27: Gods & Assholes -Jay-

The explosion was blinding and the heat was so strong that I could feel the hair on my arms singe. The shock wave threw me back and I bounced on the ground till I hit a wall.

"Sorry I was late guys." Tim's voice came over the radio, "You all okay?"

"Did you just blow me up?!" John's voice came from the right. He was laying against a wall with several serious looking burns, but alive, "I think you just tried to blow me up! You're an asshole!"

"Excuuuuse me. Next time I'll just let the CHILD pummel you to death."

"Oh, just you wait, when I get back I'm going to show you a pummeling." John coughed, and smiled. It was obvious that he was glad to be alive.

Pieces of the plane littered the ground. Tim had used the final measure to destroy the Moth-boy. I glanced at Robby who was busy pulling himself to his feet. I jogged over and knelt to check if he was alright. A few minor burns, but he seemed to be fine.

"Well, I did what I could do. The rest is up to you." Tim said quickly.

"What do you mean the re-" I turned and was cut off by the sight of the boy reforming slowly.

"Well, you see . . . "

John was furious, "YOU MISSED! HOW COULD YOU MISS?! Next time someone else takes the computers! You can come here and get your ass kicked for a paycheck. I can't believe you missed!"

The boy's hand smashed into the side of my face and the warmth of blood filled my mouth. The next hit was to the gut followed by a spin kick to the chest. As I fell backward the boy grasped my neck and lifted me into the air.

"Humans. So weak, so useless. I always wondered why he wanted you to be better, but now We understand. You people are weak." I felt his hand squeeze tighter around my neck, "We overestimated you. Don't worry though, you will not see your friends di-"

"Hey! Retard!" John interrupted. In his hand he held a small moth, fluttering fruitlessly against his fingers, "Aren't you missing something?"

With that, he twisted his fingers crushing the small bug to death. The boy's face contorted with rage as he dropped me to the ground. Within seconds John was again the target of the assault, starting with a teeth shattering kick to the ribs. The boy followed up with a punch that broke John's only good leg.

Robby ran over, his brand new arm drawn back. The boy just split into butterflies to let Robby's hits go through himself with out causing damage.

We couldn't beat this thing alone. We needed help, but our only help was already used in a badly aimed rescue attempt. I searched the ground, but all I could find was burning pieces of plane. I heard a snap and looked up to find Robby clutching his only real arm, it's bone jutting out through the skin.

The boy turned back to John, who wasn't moving, and began searching for bones he'd yet to have broken.

What were we supposed to do? He wasn't going to stop beating on John until John was dead. I reached for a sharp piece of flaming plane and ran toward the boy. Halfway there he rotated and turned his palm to me. A flood of moths pushed me back into the air and through one of the many windows in the building. The glass cut deep as I was slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the laboratory room.

The moths flowed out the window and I could hear the sickening smacks as Moth-boy restarted his assault on John.

I didn't have much time and I had no options.

26: Too Fast -Jay-

John was really beaten up. The moth had broken his elbow and probably a few other bones that he didn't know about yet. I wasn't that well off either. We didn't have a lot of energy or time.

"You guys need to find a scientist named Emma, and then get out of there," He spoke with urgency, "Patrick is going to bomb the place whether you're there or not."

"He's a real dick, and when we get back we're going to have a long talk about how much he should be telling us on these things." John sounded pissed.

Robby was the real miracle, but he wouldn't talk about it, or his new appendage. When ever asked he would open his mouth to talk, but no words would escape. Eventually he just gave up. He was moving toward the door when he was suddenly thrown back by a torrent of moths. They shot him in to the sky and then body slammed him on the pavement. He was out cold.

Up ahead the moths slowly came together till they formed a small boy. Ever since we'd gotten here it had been one surprise after another. Things we should have known were becoming evident and the extent of Patrick's was becoming very evident. I wasn't shocked that the moths had taken the form of a young boy, nor that he had just taken down a grown man. The thing that shocked me was the fact that the boy looked like me when I was younger.

"Jay, what's going on? He looks like you." John sounded just as shocked.

"Who are you?" I called out.

"We are angry that you would kill one of us. You deserve no answers, only death." With those words he broke into hundreds of moths and reformed a mere inches away.

The air was knocked out of me as his fist smashed into my gut, my face and my groin at the same time. Wait, three hands? I fell to my knees and looked up to see the third arm fade into his shoulder. He could form his body to what ever he wanted, or just not reform it at all. What the hell?

His foot came up and caught me on the chin, sending me hurtling backwards until I slammed into John. We both rolled backwards until friction slowed us to stopping. I was still trying to catch my breath, but John was up and ready.

The boy fluttered his way into close quarters and went in for the thing he did to me, but John was ready. He slipped under the face hit and used his arm to block the groin. The shot to the stomach went through, but John spun with the momentum. John's elbow found the boy's head with a loud smack. Several moths dropped to the ground dead.

The boy didn't seem fazed, instead another arm formed in his side walloping John in his broken elbow. John's knees hit the ground as he howled in pain. Quickly the boy kicked John backward. The kick wasn't strong enough to send him flying back but it hurt. John fell back as the kid swung his foot into John's shin. A loud crack was heard and I knew John's leg had been broken.

"You people are nothing. The fact that you defeated one of us means nothing to our power, only our hearts. I strive to kill you now, not because I'm an evil being, but because you have killed a part of my family. But you wouldn't understand that, would you? You kill for fun, while I kill for survival."

He put his foot on John's chest, and raised his arm. He was going to kill him. I forced myself to regain my breath, but even as I pulled myself to my feet I knew I was too late.

The boy swung down with ferocious force.

25: Hive Father -Emma-

I rubbed my head as I pulled myself off the floor. Immediately after I'd gotten off the phone with Patrick something hit me hard from behind.

I wasn't sure how long I was out, but I knew that I smelled rotted flesh nearby. The lights flashed on, illuminating the large, specimen containment room I was in. The smell of rotten flesh came from the bowl of meat across the room.

"Emma." The voice came over the speakers, it belonged to a young boy.

One of the walls was made with large reinforced glass to allow safe observation of what ever subject we were working on. On the other side of the glass looking at me was a small boy, his hand on the microphone button.

"Hello, Mother." He smiled at me, "Are you well?"

"Stop calling me mother and tell me, what's going on? Let me out."

"We can't do that, you are very violent toward us." He walked to the window and looked outside, "People are coming. They want to take you away."

He stepped away from the window and made a high-pitched whistle, then he sat down again, "We know that you don't understand, but we are your son. Father stole parts of you to make me, we know because his brain-voice said so."

"Brain-voice?" I sat down closer to the glass, "Who's your father? I'm still very confused."

"People have two voices, one they use with this," He pointed to his mouth, "and the other they use with this." He pointed to his head, "It's hard to listen to both at once, it hurts our head."

"You're telepathic? That's really impressive." I was intrigued by this boy that claimed to be my son, "I'm still very confused about who you are."

He held out his hand to me and nodded at his hand. Sliding closer, I realized that his hand was moving slowly. The closer I got, the better I understood who this boy was. His hand, his entire body, was comprised of thousands of small moths.

"You're the Moths!" I pushed away from the glass and slid to the opposite wall.

"Father says that we're the God of Moths. We're the failed attempt at speeding up human evolution. He wanted to kill us. I don't want to die."

"So did all those people that you killed."

"Father says that sometimes it's necessary to do things that are immoral as long as you're saving more than you're destroying. There are thousands of us and only a few hundred people living here. It was a needed evil." He stared at me with cold eyes.

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Yes." He looked out the window as a loud explosion rocked the building. His face contorted with anger as he grabbed the chair and threw it at the glass of my cell. It bounced off and shattered on the opposite wall.

"They killed one of us! They're coming to kill us all! Just like you did! You, our Mother, ignored our screams of pain after you lit us on fire! Our Father just left us there to die! This isn't my fault, it's his!"

I was terrified of this creature. I was at its mercy, stuck inside a small cage just waiting for it to come inside and tear me to shreds.

"You . . . " The boy walked to the door, "You stay here and we will be back after we take care of the people killing your children."

"No, no wait. Don't just leave me in here!"

"We were in a jar most of our life. You learn to like it.", and he left.

23: Hero's Call -Robby-

"You know what I like about you guys?" The voice was old and wise.

I opened my eyes and slowly sat up. My arm was still gone, the only thing left was a tiny stump dripping blood. There was no pain, instead I felt calm and comfortable.

"Oh God."

"Don't panic."

"But my arm. My fucking arm is gone!"

I heard him laugh lightly and glanced over. He was an old man that had a look in his eyes that was very similar to Patrick, except older. He smiled and it made me feel like I'd been complimented by a parent.

"I like people like you and your friends, because you're willing to put yourself at great risk to save others. It's something I hold very highly. Most people I have contact with are so willing to do what I say that they sometimes forget the real reason they're alive. It's . . . disappointing."

My arm became second priority right at that moment. This guy was old, really old.

"Who are you?"

"Gilfred Odephius Doorstop. It's nice to meet you finally, Robby."

"That's not what I meant.", I stared at him.

"See that? Free Will! THAT'S the real reason. Choosing your path for your own instead of having another person choose for you. Being able to decide not to trust the person that's keeping you alive right now."

"Is that a threat? Don't screw with me, we already have another deviously manipulative prick. Having another would just really piss me off."

This time he laughed out loud, "Listen, you and your friends are the closest things to Heroes that I've seen in a long time, so I'm gonna give you some help."

He reached down and touched my shoulder. Tendrils of bright light flowed over me and formed an arm over my stump. The light slowly hardened into a clear-gold substance.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to owe you or something."

"I wouldn't ever ask you something like that." I believed him.

"Is that all? My friends are in a lot of trouble down there I'm sure."

"Yes, they are," He leaned close, "but you have a choice to make. Right now your friends are leading that moth to a gas station where they will attempt to blow the creature up and they will succeed. How ever, inside that gas station is a family of survivors who will not survive the blast. You could allow them to do it, allow those people to die, the moth would be dead, and you could find that delightful little girl that your boss is looking for. Or you could stop them from blowing the place, the moth would not die just yet, the family would live, and your friends would still be in danger."

I stared at the old man's face. It was serious, almost scary serious.

"How am I supposed to choose that?!"

"If it was easy, than you guys wouldn't be important."

He looked at the sky and then back at me, "I've . . . stayed here too long and given off too big a signal. I have to leave. You have only a few seconds to find a way to stop that moth from exploding."

"But I didn't even choose yet."

He laughed and for some reason it made me feel good inside, "Didn't you hear me? You guys are heroes. There's really only one option for you." He slowly faded, "Hurry up."

"FUCK!", I grabbed the edge of the roof and jumped off on to the fire escape.

He was right. There was only one choice.

I had to stop the moth from blowing up.

22: Coming Close To An End -John / Jay-

-John-

A few thoughts came over me as I sat there in hiding. Thoughts concerning my friends, and how this giant thing had become too much of a nuisance. I'm not even sure if Robby made it and I had no knowledge as to where his body went. Not to mention, it seemed Jay would be in trouble if I didn't do something and fast. Just then, another thought occurred to me as I stared off in to the distance. I snapped from my trance and sprang to my feet. Bingo.

I looked back at the screeching thing and made a run for it. The loud thumping and roars told me it was coming after me. I didn't bother to keep looking back every now and again, I kept my line of sight straight ahead while jumping and dodging objects as I fled.

In the back of my mind I hoped that Jay would manage to get out, especially since I was putting my plan in to action. Soon enough, this thing would be going down once and for all. What's my plan? It's not fool-proof or anything, but I figured it would work out somehow as long as I didn't mess this up too bad.

I was leading it to the gas station.

-Jay-

Looking over my options again, I came to the realization that I really didn't stand a chance of surviving up here in the mouth. I pulled out my knife, sat up and remembered the stomach. John had to have escaped by now, which meant there was a hole left behind for me to be able to exit through.

It was then that the raging tongue shoved me toward its gullet's opening, making me drop back down to the acidic pit below. Reliving the experience was kind of annoying, but at least I was where I wanted to be. Surprisingly when I landed, I found the bottom to lack liquids. Now, it just felt oddly more unpleasant to be wandering in. I fumbled about, feeling at the slimy surface below. Where ever this hole was, I hoped to find it quick and get out.

With a bit more of feeling around, I found an opening. I pulled the fleshy, flabby skin back and let myself drop, covering my head on the way down.

-John-

I finally reached the gas station, the thing still chasing me down like a raving banshee. By the looks of things, the pumps still had plenty of gas in them. All that was needed to be done was to make this thing have more than its fill of gasoline.

As I turned to stop and look back, I noticed a familiar figure drop to the ground as the moth rampaged toward me. Jay was out of the moth, and it was about damn time he was. I positioned myself, facing the monstrosity that followed me. From what I could tell, Jay was gathering himself from the fall. I didn't care if he was hurt or not at that moment.

At least now I didn't have to worry about him joining the beastly-thing in death.

21: The Easy Part -Jay-

It didn't take too long to get up the moth's throat, and wasn't really difficult either. There were a few close calls of going back down, but I managed to keep steady. In a matter of minutes I found myself at the back of its tongue, feeling the heaves of breath flow in and out. The smell of the stomach below finally got to me now that I was out of it. I pinched my nose for a moment in hopes of drowning out the horrid stench. It didn't work.

The moth kept roaring in pain, its tongue flickering at the sides of the mouth. I guess John must have left a decent amount of damage for it to cry so much. I looked around in order to locate the beginning of its windpipe. The whipping of the tongue made it a bit harder to focus, since it meant trying to keep my balance. I risked a jump to the right side of the mouth, jabbing my knife in to the tongue by mistake. A wicked screech pierced my ears as the giant muscle flailed about with me holding on tight.

I began to feel dizzy, leaving me unable to do much until the thing stopped freaking out. I may have stabbed it on accident, but it turned out for the better on my behalf. One moment, the world of the inside of a giant moth was blurry and made no sense to me. The next thing I knew, I was flying down a tube; the windpipe. I clenched my hands to make fists. The blade was still in my hand.

This moth just made my job all the easier. As I fell, I slashed and hacked at what ever was around me. I felt no solid connection; only air. Turns out the tube was a lot wider than expected. Me being skinnier had nothing to do with this task. Either John just wanted the more convenient escape, or he felt that I was more capable of this. Maybe it was both.

Up ahead, I noticed a glow of light. I ended up plummeting to a pretty soft landing. The whole lung was lit up with a faint tint of yellow. Since when did the innards of a moth give off any light? Guess I should be glad that I have some light while stuck in here.

I remained seated after landing. It seemed pointless to try and stand in such an environment as this. Cutting this thing wide open seemed simple enough though, due to how fragile the lungs are for any creature. I gripped at my knife and started slicing away, leaving large holes behind. While doing this, I kept my free hand clinging to the floppy leftovers that were attached to the tube above.

It soon became obvious that the giant moth was struggling for breath, raspy sounds echoing through out it. I placed my blade safely back into my pocket and ripped a piece of the remnants for a source of light.

I may have only took out one lung, but it would get the job done. Any longer in this thing and I may not stand a chance of ever getting out. I kept on climbing with my arms, it feeling like eternity to reach the exit. Ten minutes later and I found myself at the top again.

Carefully, I made my way towards the front and clung to the bottom of its mouth; adding my knife in for insurance. The thing snapped its jaw every few seconds, making me wary of just jumping straight out.

I leaped in, landed in a stomach, climbed a throat, flew down a breathing tube and made it back up to where the exit was just ahead, and freedom was right there. Regardless of these feats, the threat still remained before me. It would seem getting in and doing the job was easy.

Getting out would be the hard part.

19: Wait? What?! -Robby-

The moth’s head slammed into the wall where I'd just been standing. At the last moment, I had squeezed myself against the left wall. I put my arm in front of my face as the moth swung around to make another grab.

There was a horrible ripping sound and warmth spilled down my shoulder. The world blurred as I fell to the ground, my arm falling next to me; completely severed. I could hear myself screaming as I thought of a way out of this.

I felt its mouth wrap around my legs and I was tossed into the air. My blood sprayed out as I flew, making the entire scene look like something out of a movie. The breath was knocked out of me as I landed on the roof of the building next door.

"Nooooooooo!"

I couldn't see what was going on, but I recognized that as Jay. I bit down on my screams and looked around for some way to stop the bleeding before it was too late. I could feel myself getting dizzy.

I wasn't going to make it.

17: Robby's End -Jay-

We each dove in opposite directions as the moth smashed into the place we were standing. I took the left, fixing my gun to its side as I ran. The bullets ate through its burnt flesh, splashing its insides all over the ground. I met John behind it and in unison, we turned toward the back end of the moth and unloaded the rest of our ammo into it.

As I reloaded I glanced around for any sign of Robby. I saw him running toward an alleyway as the moth chased him down.

"Shit! John, the moth is after Robby!"

"DONE!" John finished reloading and ran toward the alleyway.

Robby had his back against the wall, his gun hanging at his side. He was trying to reload when the moth hit him. The gun strap tore away and the gun flew on to the roof of one of the buildings. He dropped the clip and raised his hand in front of him. The moth dived toward him as Robby swung.

The sound that emanated from the alleyway made my stomach drop, and my eyes lose focus. The sounds of bones crunching and Robby's screams soaked through my skin and cut unseen wounds. My friend was dieing.

The guns were useless. Fire was useless. I had even run a car into this thing and it still had enough strength to take one of us down. It took Robby down.

"Noooooooo!", I ran toward it, John following suit.

I could tell that John was thinking the same thing as me. You can beat us till we bleed, you can take away everything we have, but the one thing no one can do is hurt a friend; unless they want to end up dead.

The Moth turned toward us, its gaping maw dripping with blood. It roared loudly as me and John leapt into its mouth.

16: The Four Musketeers -John-

Broken elbow or not, I wasn't going to just let this thing kill us that easy. As it lumbered toward me, I glanced to my left and spotted a car. Grabbing Jay, I dragged him over to the car as fast as I could and pushed him beneath it.

No sooner had I gotten him under, when I was slammed to the side by the moth’s flaming arm. I hit the ground rolling, trying to ignore the pain in my arm while putting out any fire. Exhaustion and pain made it hard for me to move, but I rolled to my feet and tried to lead the moth away from Jay. The ground shook as it got closer and I couldn't run anymore. I quickly spun around and ducked under the moth’s belly.

Running beneath it I felt the heat from its charred, flaming skin. I shoved the knife up in to the charred and burning areas, cutting them wide open. As I cleared the back of it, I could hear the creature’s screams of pain as fluid and some innards spilled from the cuts. I didn't look. I just kept running.

That's when I heard the buzzing above. Glancing up, I saw one of the smaller moths flying toward me. Why do things have to keep getting worse? I dived behind a trash can as a dart hit where I'd been running. The larger moth had turned around and was making its way toward me. I heard several loud popping noises coming from somewhere.

To the left Robby came running from an alleyway, his gun in his hands, firing away at the massive thing. He saw me and ran over as fast as he could, avoiding darts from the smaller moth.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll live. Jay's underneath a car behind that thing."

"Is he?"

"He's knocked out. Robby, I've thrown everything that I could at this thing, it won't go down."

"John, cockroaches can live a week with out their head. Bugs are known to live through extreme things."

The large moth roared and began running toward us.

"Robby, Jay tried blowing it up. I shot out its eye and sliced it up a bit. It's just not stopping."

The smaller moth flew around so that it could hit us and took aim.

"We have to move."

"Yeah."

At that moment a small plane flew in from the side, blasting away with small guns on its side. The small moth turned toward it and shot three darts. The plane dipped and weaved to avoid the attack and then turned off to the side.

"Stupid moth! John, why'd you have to go and get yourself in over your head?", Tim's voice came from the small craft.

Something about that guy just gets me angry, "Couldn't have gotten here sooner you little prick?!"

Robby pulled up his gun and began to fire at the gargantuan moth, "Now's not the time to argue."

I pulled myself to my feet and raised my fist at the small plane, "When I get back . . .!"

"I'm expecting it!" The small plane flew off to resume its battle with the little moth.

Robby's bullets weren't stopping the moth; only slowing it down. I lifted my gun with my good arm and just as I was about to fire, I felt a pain on the back of my head.

"Nice way to save my life!", Jay stepped next to Robby and began firing as well, "You could have just said duck."

"My way was funner." I lifted my gun the best I could and began firing.

15: Enter The Fray -Tim-

My fingers flew over the keyboard as fast I could get them. The satellite images showed the situation going from bad to worse. I needed to find some way to help and fast. I tried my best to ignore Patrick leaning over my shoulder.

He'd gotten his composure back, but you could see that he was still very angry. This girl, Saba's death, had been an unexpected development and anything Patrick didn't expect was a pleasant thought.

"So, after your done helping them, then you'll get me as much as you can on that damned Ben?"

"Shut up." I could find nothing I could do. These computers weren't sophisticated enough to get me what I needed.

"DAMN!", I slammed my hand on the keyboard, "I can't do anything to help them from here."

"If I could get you access to a remote controlled military plane, would that help?"

"You can do that?"

"Get up." I moved as Patrick sat down and began accessing the deeper files, the ones I didn't even know existed. Moving through the system with ease, he opened a program labeled, 'Emergency Exposure Procedure' and suddenly the screen was flooded with a first person view of a runway.

Patrick stood up, "It's just like a video game. The plane is not very large, almost the size of a hawk, but it has two weapons. Side mounted automatic rifles and as a last resort, the entire thing explodes on impact. Also, you can speak through it using a sophisticated radio system."

I sat down and clicked, 'Start Engine'.

Even as I worked my fastest, I knew I wasn't going to make it in time. Even if I didn't get there to save John and Jay, I'd make that thing wish it'd never hurt them.

13:Keeping Ground -John-

The giant moth leaned its massive bulk to look me in the face with its huge multi-faceted eyes. There was nowhere to hide and I wouldn't get very far running. I stared at the creature. Was I scared?

Terrified.

My brother always told me that when you have your back against the wall, and your enemy is bigger than you; the best thing to do is show no fear, don't lose any ground, and make a big show.

Moth-beast opened its great maw, and roared like I've never heard a moth roar before. Bits of vomit flew out splattering on the ground and my chest, powered by the force of its rotten breath. By the time it closed its mouth I'd brought my fist back.

I swung my fist as hard as I could, slamming it into the moth’s beak. Caught by surprise, it pulled back its face with a small roar. I'm sure I didn't hurt it, but it was enough to give me time. I lifted up my gun and aimed for its eye.

Pulling the trigger, I fought the recoil as I tried to keep the gun trained on its eye. My ears began to ring as I watched the creature’s eye shatter. I was so busy keeping my self on target that I didn't see its limb come flying from the side.

The air was forced from my chest as it collided with me, sending me flying into a wall. Razor sharp jolts of pain flooded my mind as I landed on the ground. The cries of pain from the moth-thing were getting closer as I lifted myself to my feet. I looked up to see another limb swing forward.

Fighting the pain, I dived to the ground as the limb smashed the wall behind me. Dust flew through the air as the wall collapsed, leaving someone’s bedroom exposed. The moth turned to look at me with its good eye and roared again.

I pulled myself to my feet and started running. I didn't get far when I was hit in the back and sent sprawling. I rolled on my back, lifting the gun and pulling the trigger. Lead hit its paw as it came down to stop my movement. The recoil slammed my elbow into the ground with a loud crack. The moth-thing pulled back its arm in pain and roared loudly again.

I spun up in a run, looking for any place to hide from the certain doom that followed me. I'd already emptied enough ammunition in the thing to take down ten men and it was still coming.

I'd need something bigger than bullets.

12: Ah, Vomit. -John-

No one ever likes the feeling of being crushed, especially when it's because of a large moth creature who has a fondness for human flesh. The last thing I remember is Robby yelling for me to look out, and then I wake up halfway down the gullet of our friendly neighborhood moth man.

Maybe I was too big, or maybe it had other plans. For what ever reason, I wasn't about to just sit here. I still had my gun and a small knife so I could probably get it to let me go, but I also could get it to swallow me the rest of the way.

Thinking fast, I pulled my gun so it was facing down its throat and unleashed a horde of bullets. The sound was deafening but I didn't need to hear anyway. I felt the muscles loosen and I started to fall the way I didn't want to go, so I quickly yanked out my knife and slammed it into the side of the creature’s esophagus.

Down below me I heard a faint sound of hissing, then a sudden silence. The smell below reminded me of bad eggs and raw bacon, and it was getting worse. A blast of air lifted me from my perch and I was shot from the mouth.

Pain enveloped me as I smashed into the ground. I moaned and rolled to look up at the creature, and watched as the contents of its stomach fell through the air toward me.

The damn thing was puking on me.

10: A Fighter -Emma-

The photo of my Father was all I had to look at in that room. The beast outside, moaning my name over and over again like it knew me.

It was at times like this when I wished I wasn't such a genius.

I stared at his picture again. It gave me strength to see him, because I knew how important he was. I knew that he'd died saving the world, saving me and Mommy. Well, just me actually.

Shortly after, we got the news that Mom was found in the bathtub with her wrists slit and jumbled letters sprawled across the wall; "JMCMBACFNBPBSZTDJBRO" followed by the words, "Find them and be saved." I'd been quickly put in to a home where my intelligence blossomed. I still can't figure out those letters or those words, but I won't stop trying. My Father wouldn't have given up, so why should I?

The door shuddered again as the specimen slammed into it again.

"Emma Kayser . . . find them . . . "

My breath caught as I heard it say that.

"Be saved."

How did it know? How could it know? Telepathic? That's impossible, but so is that beast outside the door.

"They are so close, but I am soooo hungry. I can't stop myself. So hungry." Another slam emphasized how hungry it was.

"GO AWAY!", tears flowed down my cheeks, "Leave me alone!"

"Emma . . . we need you to come to us. Come feed us. We are so alone."

I looked back at his picture. He wouldn't just give up.

Alex Kayser had been a fighter.

9: Escape In Style -Jay-

One thing I hate about being connected to weird things are the creatures. They always get tougher, always get faster, always get smarter, and no matter how many walls you put in front of them; they always seem to break through. So, when I was running from the massive moth beast, I wasn't surprised when the wall next to me exploded and threw the flying pieces of wall; its limbs trying to grab me for what ever reason.

Jump over the first, duck the next, and a swift turn to the right. Jump the table and there's the window. My freedom or my doom. I hate gambling.

Glass shattered around me as I flew from the second story of the Rott am Inn to the street below. Pain shot through my shoulder as I rolled into a red convertible with its top down. I swung my gun up toward the side of the house as the beast turned the corner, and then I let him have a taste of lead.

The creature pulled back quickly as pieces of hot metal slugs smashed into its face. I used what time I'd gained to glance into the convertible. KEYS!

One leap and I was in the car. I didn't take long before I was driving away from that Un-Godly creature. It was way too slow to catch up to me and I wasn't about to stop to let it. I was going to leave its buzzing in the dust. I could still hear it, as if it was close, and moving as fast as me.

A green dart oozing with purple fluid appeared in the seat next to me, and glancing back, I spotted a smaller version of the larger beast. Two more darts flew past my face. I swerved down a side street as another dart embedded itself into the asphalt behind me.

So there I was, sitting in a convertible with no idea how to get the hood up, wondering why this would happen to me.

And they start shooting darts. Life's just not fair.

8: A Week Ago -Emma-

The glass doors closed behind me as I rushed toward the chemical lab. The situation had gotten way out of hand. It was just a test; it was only supposed to be an experiment.

Behind me I heard the low hum of hundreds of thousands of wings as the spawn of test subject FE1314I985 pressed against the glass.

“ Emma . . .”, a wispy voice echoed behind me, “Come to us, Emma . . .”

A week ago, my life was completely normal . I was just a kid graduating high school. It was eight years before I was supposed to, but what would you expect for a child prodigy?

Now I’m here, running from something that I told them was too unsafe to keep alive.

“Emma . . .“, as I shut the door to the chemical lab, the glass door shattered, “Why do you hate us?”

I backed away as it slammed into the reinforced door.

“Don’t leave us! EMMA!”

I sat down against a counter and wrapped my arms around my legs.

The voice turned into a wail, “Emma Kayser!”

A week ago everything was . . . normal.

6: No Bones -Robby-

"Wake up!"

The world was blurry as I opened my eyes, and only shapes could be seen.

"Finally, are you okay?" The voice was John’s.

"I don't know, my head feels kinda weird.", I tried to sit up but fell back down as a wave of nausea hit me.

"Stay there for a bit. You took quite a hit to your head.", I heard him move away, "It's still out there looking for us. There's three of them, one on the ground and two in the sky. The two are smaller but boy, are they fast."

I blinked a few times and my vision slowly returned to normal. John and I were in a small kitchen near a gaping hole in the wall which, I assume, was made by one of us as we were assaulted. Fighting the nausea, I pulled myself to my feet and walked over to where John sat, looking through the hole from around the wall.

I glanced outside and spotted the largest moth-thing I'd ever seen. It was the size of a small plane and its eyes were the size of car tires. It stood on four legs and had two more of what looked to be hands, which it was using to lift cars while it searched. The two flying above were definitely much smaller but their eyes were about two times the size of the larger ones. They were flying back and forth across the area in a weaving pattern.

"Those two are the scouts. They're the ones we have to worry about. The big one looks like he needs to be close in order to see."

"Then all we need to do is distract the two in the sky and then we make our run for it."

"Where to?" Another wave of nausea hit me so I sat down.

"Well, this place doesn't even have a first aid kit, so I'm thinking a hospital."

"Did you try to get a hold of Tim?" I was hopeful for another plane, but figured that Patrick wouldn't bother sending one.

"Yeah, I hate to say it, but both of our radios are busted."

"Phone?"

"Power’s gone. Which reminds me, I figured out something interesting about our caterpillar friends." He got up and made his way to the other room. Following, I entered the dining room and was greeted with a sight that made me cringe. Each of the chairs were completely covered with the sticky webbing we had found outside. That wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't in the shape of humans; two males and one female.

"They're carnivores? How do they catch the humans in these positions? Didn't any of them fight back?"

"I don't know but I poked around and-" He swung his rifle, smacking into the male’s head, knocking it clean off with a squishing sound. Inside the nests were thousands of caterpillars and no human remains.

Not even bone.

5: More Than He Told Us -Jay-

The weapons he gave us seemed like over kill for what we were after. We needed high powered rifles for a few caterpillars? There was more to this than we were told.

We were dropped in by plane, landing in the parking lot of the only Inn within the small town of Arbing; Rott am Inn. We all shuffled quickly out of the plane and it slowly lifted into the sky. Our only escape just left.

Luckily we had radios.

"Hey, Tim?!", John nearly screamed into the radio.

"OW! Not so loud, I can hear you fine." His voice was fuzzy but it was there. Our only way out of this place was talking to him, not that I didn't trust him. I just didn't trust the information we'd gotten from Patrick, and I suspected that the second we became a liability, these radios would suddenly stop.

What can I say, my trust is very limited.

My turn to talk, “Tim.”

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could do me a favor and check what kind of information Patrick has on this place?"

"Don't trust him either? I've already started worming my way in to his more . . . sensitive files. When I learn anything, I’ll let you know."

"Thanks."

The town looked normal besides the lack of people, and the occasional large mass of webbing the size of an ice cream truck. As we made our way outside the inn’s parking lot we came across one and, like the scientist he is, Robby was the first person to go over and began examining the fibers.

"Wow, would you look at this thing?", he could barely contain his excitement, "What if they're man eating caterpillars? Then we'd have to watch where we sit because one of them might nibble their way up your a-"

"Hey guys?", I'm pretty sure that everyone was grateful for the interruption. Robby is like that; always turning everything he can in to a very disturbing image. It was one of his quirks. Nobody enjoyed it, but they didn't stop it either because then Robby wouldn't be Robby.

"Yeah?", John responded while we all helped Robby collect some samples of the webbing.

"Okay, I think I've figured out why he sent us in with the kind of firepower he did. Apparently his "friend" was actually a squadron of armed men. He'd sent them in to retrieve a sample and document the situation. Seems they had perfect radio contact until they started to take pictures of the caterpillar nests, which I presume is the large cocoon that you people are poking at."

Patrick was keeping information from us, which was to be expected, but just pissed me off. Right now we could be working toward our real goal when instead we're miles away from home looking at the nests of killer caterpillars. Still, Patrick knew more about this stuff than we did.

"With the amount of nests we've found, these are going to create hundreds of butterflies." John had opened a hole in the nest and was staring at the writhing caterpillars that filled its interior.

Looking in, Robby laughed, "These are aren't gonna be butterflies. They're gonna be moths. I recognize the type. I've never heard of them making nests this size though."

By the time we noticed that it had gotten unusually dark it was too late. What ever had blocked out the sun landed on the ground with a thump. A blast of wind sent us all flying in different directions all at once.

I felt the radio slip out of my hand as I smashed into the upstairs of the inn.

I tried to lift my head but decided to black out instead.