My heart stopped.
"Chloe."
The bright flashlight illuminated Kevin's face, making it ghastly white. A strange, unsettling smile hung on his lips, like the ghost of someone who'd died with unfinished business.
My brain buzzed, my lips trembling uncontrollably. "Are you alive or dead?"
He gently pushed aside my flashlight hand with a look of mild exasperation. "Chloe, sorry for scaring you again."
I seriously suspected Kevin had some Japanese heritage — the way he was always apologizing.
My heart had taken such a beating today, I wasn't sure it was still beating properly.
I punched him square in the chest, but my hand was so weak the blow barely registered.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! How many times are you going to scare me?!"
But despite my anger, a wave of relief washed over me, and I couldn't help but laugh.
Kevin wasn't dead. That was the best news we'd had all day.
He'd somehow escaped from the monster and found us. Incredible.
Marcus popped his head out from behind me, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
He reached out and grabbed Kevin in a bear hug. "Kevin!! How did you get out?"
Kevin patted Marcus's hand with a faint smile and explained, "That monster ran so fast it fell into a hole. I grabbed the edge and didn't fall in, then I ran as fast as I could.
"I don't know where I ended up, but I'm glad I found you guys."
He said he was glad, but his face showed no real excitement.
Marcus and I were too caught up in the relief to notice the details.
"So you picked the right tunnel too? I thought this direction looked better."
Kevin lowered his head, his frost-tipped hair falling over his eyes, his expression unreadable.
"Yeah!" Marcus babbled. "We did rock-paper-scissors and Chloe won, so we went right!"
"Is that so?"
Kevin smiled.
His face was so pale — not just pale, but corpse-white, like those monsters we'd seen.
A shiver ran through me for no reason.
In the darkness, his voice was so soft I could barely hear it.
"Chloe, you really are lucky."
"Chloe, what's in your bag?" Kevin asked suddenly, frowning.
On instinct, I tugged at Marcus's sleeve. "Nothing. Just Professor Marshall's bag that we ended up carrying."
"Oh." Kevin nodded and didn't press further.
The three of us walked together through the tight ice passage, with Kevin in the lead.
"Kevin," I ventured carefully, "do you know what those monsters are?"
Kevin's stride faltered for just a moment.
"I don't know. Maybe they're the underground people Marcus was talking about.
"Or maybe this place connects directly to hell, and the monsters down there crawled up."
His tone was light, but there was an edge of cold to it.
I shivered despite myself.
Hell? For the people who'd been turned into experimental subjects, this place probably was hell.
Except the demons in this hell weren't monsters — they were humans far worse than any monster.
We passed several forks in the tunnel, and each time Kevin chose a direction without consulting us.
I asked carefully, "Kevin, how are you deciding which way to go?"
He thought for a moment. "Chloe, none of us know the way. Any direction is the same, right?
"My luck's always been decent. Maybe following me will get us out of here."
Something felt wrong.
Kevin showed no hesitation about which way to go. He moved through these tunnels too smoothly, too naturally, as if he'd walked them before.
As if he knew exactly where he was going.
At the next junction, I pointed in the opposite direction from Kevin's choice.
"Kevin, my luck's not bad either. Let's go this way."
Kevin had always been easygoing. He never argued with anyone about anything.
This time was no different. He turned to look at me, his eyes curving into crescents.
"Okay. Whatever you say."
I exhaled quietly. Good.
It seemed Kevin wasn't like Professor Marshall, trying to lead us somewhere specific.
Maybe I was just being paranoid. After what happened with the Professor, I was jumping at shadows.
We'd been together for two years. I shouldn't be suspicious of my own colleague.
A small smile appeared on my face. "Let's go."
We kept walking. In the cold and darkness, we lost track of time, and our feet gradually went numb.
I grew more and more tired, more and more drowsy. My eyelids felt like they had lead weights attached, and I was falling asleep on my feet.
"I can't!" I waved my hand. "I need to rest. I can't walk anymore."
Exhaustion was swallowing me whole. A wave of hopelessness crashed over me.
Was there even a point to walking like this?
Would we ever find an exit?
I felt like we were going deeper and deeper. If we were going to freeze to death either way, I'd rather rest than drop dead from exhaustion.
But this time, Kevin didn't go along with me.
He looked ahead and said softly, "Just keep going a little longer."
The last part was so quiet I almost missed it. Something like:
"Almost there."
"Hmm? What did you say?"
"Nothing, Chloe. Just a little further. We might be close to the exit."
I pouted but had no choice but to follow Kevin.
After what felt like an eternity, a faint light appeared ahead.
My heartbeat quickened, and I sped up without thinking.
Marcus saw it too. "Is that — is that the way out?!"
I didn't say anything, but hope surged in my chest.
Light in the underground ice had to mean sunlight from outside. This had to be the exit!
Exhaustion, cold, and fear fell away. We half-ran toward that sliver of hope.
But when we reached the light, we discovered it was coming from a hole in the ground, about a meter wide, emitting an eerie white glow.
My hope evaporated. I stood there, frozen.
This white light was absolutely not natural sunlight.
And natural light wouldn't come from underground, would it?
The three of us stood at the edge of the hole, staring at each other.
"What do we do?" I asked first. "Do we go down?"
Marcus didn't speak. He looked at Kevin.
Kevin didn't hesitate. "Let's go down. There's light down there — maybe there's something that can help us find a way out."
I didn't really want to follow Kevin's suggestion.
Something about him seemed off.
He didn't show a trace of fear, even though we'd been through terrifying things all day.
He navigated these tunnels with the ease of someone walking through his own home, and he kept making cryptic comments.
And he'd been captured by a monster, only to escape unscathed and find us faster than we'd come.
Now he wanted to go down, and I had a terrible feeling that something was waiting for us below.
I thought for a moment, then stepped back. "I don't think we should go down.
"What if there are more monsters down there?"
Kevin nodded and stepped back too.
"You're right. In that case, let's—"
I saw the look of pure horror on Marcus's face. He reached out a hand, as if to grab me. "Chloe—"
A tremendous force shoved me from behind!
I was pitched headfirst into the hole!
In the split second before I fell, I heard Kevin's voice, thick with barely contained malice.
"Chloe, you should go down.
"'Mother' needs you."
---
Mother?
I thought in bewilderment: What mother? Whose mother?
Was Kevin's mother down here too?
I hadn't seen her.
My brain was a tangled mess, yet also completely blank.
But I didn't have much time to think about it.
The cave below opened into a vast underground space, more than ten times larger than the ice chamber we'd been in. I fell through the opening like a cannonball, plummeting toward the ground!
At this speed, I'd break at least ten ribs — or worse.
I clenched my jaw and braced for impact. But instead of smashing into hard ice, I landed on something soft and squishy.
It was white and lumpy, like damp cotton wool. I bounced once and didn't feel any pain at all.
Where did squishy cotton come from down here? I reached out curiously, trying to stand.
"Move it!!!"
A bellowing voice from above. I didn't have time to react before I rolled sideways.
Marcus crashed down beside me like a meteor, grunting on impact.
---
Kevin dropped down right after, landing as lightly as a cat, barely making a sound on the ice.
Marcus rolled over and threw a vicious punch at Kevin.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Kevin caught Marcus's fist with one hand. His smile didn't waver, but Marcus's expression twisted in pain.
His hand bones creaked and groaned. He tried to pull away but couldn't. Frost crystallized on his forehead.
At five-seven, Kevin looked like a quail standing next to six-five Marcus.
But now, with one hand, Kevin had Marcus completely immobilized.
"Marcus," Kevin said softly, "I didn't push you. Why are you in such a hurry to come down and die?"
Marcus didn't answer. Face red, he swung his other fist at Kevin.
Kevin chuckled.
His face rapidly drained of all color, as if every trace of pigment was being dissolved. His hair fell out in clumps, and the skin split open along a long gash.
His legs bent backward with a sickening crunch. His five fingers fused into three sharp claws that gleamed with cold light.
My brain couldn't process what I was seeing. I stood frozen, staring.
Kevin — in front of my eyes — had become a monster.
...
I was paralyzed with shock.
Suddenly Marcus roared and threw himself at Kevin, grabbing him around the torso. "Run, Chloe!!!"
Kevin easily broke free of Marcus's grip and lunged at me.
In my expanding pupils, his pale figure grew closer and closer.
Just then, the squishy white mass beneath us heaved violently, tilting upward into a steep slope.
None of us could keep our balance. We tumbled and rolled down the incline.
This time we hit solid ice. I crashed hard, ears ringing, too dazed to stand for a moment.
The enormous underground cavern — stadium-sized — suddenly blazed with light. The white mass beneath us writhed and shifted, emitting a revolting squelching sound.
Like it was filled with viscous, pressing liquid.
Kevin's earlier words and the diary's contents crashed into my brain. I suddenly remembered — there was a giant unknown organism over a hundred meters long down here.
And right now, that creature was right beside me.
My teeth chattered. I turned my stiff neck to look.
...
What I saw was a sickening expanse of white, like a wall. Along its surface, dozens of pulsating bulges shifted and moved, like a string of toad eggs — utterly repulsive.
I realized this thing was so enormous that what I was seeing was only its belly.
Looking up, I saw its body was fused with the ice wall, stretching dozens of stories high in both directions. So massive that I couldn't see its full shape.
It had no head and no limbs. Its entire body was a white, writhing mound of flesh.
At the top of the mound was a massive brown patch, rising above the sea of white skin studded with lumps of all sizes.
The lumps pressed and shifted against each other, each emitting a pale white glow — like tiny lanterns.
That white glow was the light we'd seen from above.
It was like an anglerfish in the deepest ocean, using its own light to lure prey into the darkness.
Layers of white folds were pressed tightly together, interspersed with the fleshy lumps. Anyone with trypophobia would have fainted on the spot.
I lay on the ground, stunned into silence.
What was this thing?
A snow monster? An alien? Some kind of underground creature from below?
Just then, light footsteps sounded behind me. I turned to see Kevin — or rather, the monster that had been Kevin.
He crouched beside me, his eye sockets nothing but black holes, yet somehow radiating a fanatical devotion.
He stared at the massive creature with undisguised excitement.
"Chloe, 'Mother' is dying.
"After twenty years, her life force is nearly spent.
"But it doesn't matter. You've come. You can become the new 'Mother.'"
His words sent a deep chill through me.
Become the new Mother? Did he mean I was supposed to replace this thing and turn into a mound of fleshy lumps?
And why was it called Mother in the first place?
Was this actually Kevin's mother had come down here too?"
Kevin saw my confusion and reached out to stroke my hair — accidentally slicing off several strands with his claws.
He looked regretfully at his claws. "You must be confused. But once you're transformed into 'Mother,' you'll understand everything soon.
"Then you'll become the ruler of the world. A true queen!"
His voice took on a cultist's fervor. "Aren't you happy?"
"Happy my ass!"
I pulled out the ice axe I'd been hiding behind my back and smashed it into Kevin's skull, then ran.
The axe left a dent in his head, but he didn't even flinch. He smiled and dropped to all fours, crawling after me like a spider.
He moved across the ground at terrifying speed, exactly like something out of a nightmare.
I ran so fast my feet practically caught fire!
What the hell — he'd been a normal person just minutes ago, and now he was this disgusting creature!
Had I been classmates with a monster for two whole years?
Were monsters so competitive these days they needed PhDs too?
Or... had the real Kevin been eaten long ago, and this thing had just taken his shape?
"Chloe, you don't understand yet how magnificent we are. You're still too primitive, too backward.
"Come! Join us! You'll become a wonderful creature too!"
I gasped for breath. "Are you running some kind of cult? I'd rather smash my head against the wall than become an ugly freak like you!"
A whoosh of air — Kevin leaped and landed in front of me.
---
Kevin seemed to decide I was beyond persuasion. He wasn't going to waste any more words on me.
He reached out with his sharp claws and carefully lifted me by the collar.
I kicked and punched at him, but his skin, though soft-looking, was incredibly resilient.
My blows bounced off like rubber hitting leather — completely useless.
Kevin didn't even react, as if he couldn't feel a thing.
He carried me to the side of the massive flesh mound and set me gently on the ground.
"Are you going to drink it yourself, or do I have to force you?"
I looked down and saw a large trough in the floor.
A tube like an umbilical cord connected the trough to the flesh mound, a semi-transparent hose pulsing faintly, as if alive.
Inside the trough was a cloudy, greenish, viscous liquid.
It looked like a festering gutter, full of tiny egg-shaped things swimming in the fluid, giving off a stomach-turning stench.
The smell was like a rotting corpse that had been soaking in water for a week and baking in the sun for another — an overpowering, thickly cloying odor that seemed to coat the inside of my nose and throat.
It was worse than anything I'd ever smelled.
My stomach heaved, and I leaned over and vomited until I was dry.
Kevin waited patiently for me to finish, then grabbed my hair and pressed my face toward the trough. His voice had a note of false comfort. "Bear with it, Chloe. It'll be over soon."
He was too strong. I couldn't break free.
Kevin pressed down slowly, forcing my head toward the green liquid.
As the foul brew came closer, despair surged through me.
Did he mean drinking this would turn me into that giant toad-like mound of flesh?
I was not becoming a pile of rotting meat!
I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my jaw.
"Screw you! If you want to transform, do it yourself!!!"
Marcus brought his ice axe crashing down on the back of Kevin's head. The skull that had just been dented caved in again!
Kevin grunted and released my hair.
"Run!!"
Marcus roared and threw himself at Kevin, turning his head toward me. "Go! What are you waiting for?!"
In that moment, he was like a guardian angel. My eyes stung, and I bolted for the exit.
"Why must you make this difficult?" Kevin smiled with weary patience.
Then he whistled, and another white monster scuttled out from the ice wall.
It dropped to all fours and squeezed through a tiny opening with horrifying speed.
Its pale flesh was pressed into dense folds, its head horribly distorted.
But it seemed to feel nothing as it scurried toward us, planting itself in my path.
My heart dropped. I tightened my grip on my ice axe.
How many of these things were down here?
---
Why could Kevin command these things?
To hell with it! Even if I died, I wasn't becoming one of those disgusting creatures!
Anyone else could be its mother. Not me!
A surge of fury rose in me, and I raised my ice axe and charged at the monster.
The creature seemed afraid of hurting me — probably afraid that if I was injured, I couldn't become its mother. It dodged and weaved around my axe, trying to capture me alive.
Marcus saw what was happening and broke away from Kevin to help me.
Kevin was right behind him.
Two ordinary humans couldn't possibly fight off two monsters. Kevin and the creature moved so fast they blurred together, and I could barely tell them apart.
Their claws whistled through the air, and when they struck the ice axe, sparks flew.
Suddenly, one of the monsters spun around and drove its claws into Marcus's jacket.
I panicked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." Marcus clutched his stomach, panting. "My jacket's thick. It didn't go through."
The monster pulled back, toying with us like cats with mice.
They were certain we couldn't escape. And honestly, against creatures that were impervious to blades and healed rapidly, we were completely helpless.
What's more, we had no idea how many of them there were.
One or two might be manageable. But what if there were more?
My stomach sank. Marcus and I pressed our backs together.
Marcus's movements were slowing, his breathing ragged.
At this rate, we were both going to die. I was frantic but didn't know what to do!
The monster seemed to sense our helplessness and lunged forward!
"Chloe, stop struggling! You know why Professor Marshall brought you here?!
"You're destined to become the new 'Mother'!"
My heart lurched. What did Kevin mean by that?
Was Professor Marshall also one of these monsters?
As if heaven itself intervened, just when all seemed lost, the ice beneath our feet — weakened by prolonged pounding — suddenly gave way!
Marcus and I had no time to react before we plummeted through.
The tunnel was long and dark, like a slide that went on forever.
It branched in several places, and we bounced off the walls until we had no idea where we'd ended up.
Down and down we went, for who knows how long, before we slammed into solid ice.
The slope was gentler here, and though I was bruised and battered, I managed to sit up after a moment.
"Marcus?"
"Yeah," came a weak, grating response.
Relief flooded through me. I scrambled over to him. "Can you stand?"
Marcus was silent for a long time. He opened his mouth to speak but broke into a violent cough, a wet gurgling sound mixing with his breathing.
A cold fear gripped my heart.
Had the monster's claws really not pierced Marcus's jacket?
Those claws could slice through steel.
I reached out with trembling hands, afraid to touch him. "Marcus! Marcus, what's wrong?"
He coughed for a long time, then wiped his mouth with his hand.
His voice was thin as broken bellows, barely audible in the darkness.
"Damn it. He got me."
Tears sprang from my eyes instantly.
All this time, Marcus had been throwing himself in front of me, guarding my back.
With his strength, he could have escaped if he hadn't been protecting me.
When Kevin pushed me into the hole, Marcus hadn't hesitated — he'd jumped right in after me.
And now, to save me, he'd taken the monster's blow.
The smell of blood filled the air. I reached for him with shaking hands and found he'd been stabbed deep. Hot blood was pouring from the wound, impossible to stop.
I tore off my windbreaker and pressed it against him with all my strength.
But the jacket was soaked through almost immediately, then froze stiff.
My tears fell without stopping, freezing into tiny ice pellets before they hit the ground.
---
I kept at it mechanically, frantically pressing down on his wound, trying to stanch the flow.
Somewhere deep down, I knew that someone who'd lost this much blood couldn't possibly survive.
Let alone down here, in this ice cavern buried who knows how deep, where we didn't even have bandages.
But I couldn't accept it. I just kept crying and begging.
"Please. I'm begging you. Don't you dare die on me!"
"Stop." Marcus lifted a hand with great effort and patted me gently.
His hand was as cold as ice. Not a trace of warmth.
"Don't cry. Just bow to me, and my spirit will bless you. How about that?"
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, my hands trembling uncontrollably.
Despair had completely engulfed me.
When we got separated from the expedition team, I didn't cry.
When we encountered the monster, I didn't cry.
When Kevin tried to turn me into the Mother, I didn't cry.
But now my tears came like a floodgate breaking, as if all my will to live, all my hope of escape, was draining away along with Marcus's life.
I sobbed hysterically, wanting to pour every last ounce of blood out of my body along with my tears!
I even wanted to die here with him, just like he'd said — let someone dig us up in ten thousand years and make a movie about us!
In those few seconds, I felt like I'd prayed to every god in existence.
I was an atheist, but right now I desperately needed some higher power to save him.
"Please don't die... I'm begging you..." My lips trembled as I whispered.
Marcus forced a smile. "I tell you to bow to me and you cry like this.
"Fine, fine. You don't have to bow. I'll bless you anyway. Just go. Get out of here."
I didn't speak. I clutched his jacket and refused to let go, sobbing.
As if letting go would somehow make him not dead.
Then, something touched me from behind.
I'd passed beyond fear. I turned around with a blank expression.
Kevin's pale face appeared behind me.
A look of affected sorrow spread across his grotesque features. His split mouth opened and closed as he spoke:
"It didn't have to be this way. Wouldn't it be better if everyone lived?
"I don't want to kill you. After two years as classmates, we have a bond.
"Really, if you just become 'Mother,' we can all live happily together."
I didn't answer. I turned to face him directly.
My fear and grief had burned away, replaced by a cold, white-hot rage.
I will kill him, I told myself.
Kevin stepped closer, seeing my lack of reaction.
"Accept it, Chloe. There's preservative fluid down below. If you can't bear to part with Marcus, we can make him into a specimen to keep you company.
"Come on. You're the perfect host. You'll become the most powerful 'Mother.' You don't understand yet, but you'll thank me."
My fists were clenched so tight my nails dug into my palms.
His face was so loathsome. I wanted to tear the skin off it.
"Will I?" I said quietly.
"Yes. Stop fighting. You—"
Before he could finish, my hand shot out. Green liquid splashed across Kevin's face.
Kevin froze for a second, stunned.
Three seconds later, the white rapidly drained from his body. The gash on his face sealed shut. His legs straightened. Slowly, his human features returned.
The black holes that had been his eyes became deep brown again. The massive split in his face closed into pale lips.
It was as if the green liquid burned away his monstrous form, consuming his life force in the process.
Kevin stared at me blankly, then went limp and collapsed. He didn't move again.
I looked at him coldly.
It had been a last, desperate gamble.
When the monster had chased us into the cave, it had hung back, keeping its distance from the box with the vials.
And later, Kevin had shown obvious disgust at what was in my bag.
They were afraid of the green liquid in the test tubes.
The antidote worked on the monsters.
I just wished I'd figured it out sooner. Then Marcus might not have—
At the thought of Marcus, a sharp pain lanced through my chest. I rushed over to him. "Marcus, Marcus, I'll get you out. Just hold on—"
Silence.
Marcus didn't respond.
I fumbled for the backup flashlight, my hands shaking so badly I dropped it twice before finally getting it on.
In the white beam, Marcus lay with his eyes peacefully closed.
His long, dark lashes were frosted with white crystals.