Chapter 38 The Fall of the Ruins

The room was small, cramped, and slowly crumbling around them. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the building groaned under the weight of the collapse. Jacob and Makiko were trapped, the rubble around them forming a precarious barrier that kept the crystalline creatures at bay—for now. The monsters gone after Conor but they soon to be back.

The room groaned and shuddered, cracks slithering up the walls like veins, tiny bits of debris crumbling from above. Jacob sighed, leaning back against the cold concrete.

“Welp, this sucks.”

Makiko shot him a glare, hugging her knees.

“You think?!”

Jacob just grinned, stretching out like they weren’t currently buried alive under tons of rubble.

“I mean, if I gotta die, at least I’m trapped with a pretty girl. Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been stuck under here with some sweaty dude named Bob.”

Makiko huffed.

“Oh, well, thanks for the compliment but how about looking for a way out!”

She tried to act tough, but Jacob saw through it. The way her fingers tapped restlessly against her leg, her eyes darted to the ceiling, watching the cracks spiderweb across the surface.

She was scared and that wouldn’t do.

“You know, we still got time to make this fun.”

Makiko snapped her head to him, eyes narrowing.

“What?”

He leaned in, resting his chin on his hand like he was appraising her.

“I mean, look at you—tight little body, gorgeous face. If we’re going out, might as well go out with a bang, y’know?”

Makiko’s face flared red.

“EXCUSE ME?!”

Jacob chuckled, clearly enjoying himself.

“C’mon, it’d be a hell of a fun.”

Makiko smacked his arm, scowling.

“You absolute DOG.”

He grinned.

“Alright, fine. You’re not into the whole ‘last-minute passion’ idea, I get it. But how about this—I take you on a date. To space. If we get out of this mess, I mean.”

Jacob nodded, pulling a crumpled ticket from his vest pocket and holding it up like it was a winning lottery ticket.

“Boom! My lucky charm! VIP ticket to Saturn, courtesy of Eel Schmuck himself.”

Makiko blinked.

“Wait. WHAT?”

Jacob smirked.

“Oh yeah. The bastard's built himself a whole goddamn paradise up there. Picture this: pressurized biodomes with crystal-clear views of Saturn's rings, artificial gravity set to 'Earth Standard Comfort', and—get this—actual gourmet food. Not protein paste. Not irradiated MREs. I'm talking real steaks, champagne that costs more than your life insurance, the whole nine yards. When this whole world goes to hell, that’s where the rich folks are running. And guess what? Yours truly scored a golden VIP ticket. So, here's the plan—when this shithole finally collapses under its own weight, you and me? We're taking the last shuttle up. Dinner at that fancy orbital restaurant where the table rotates so you get a 360-degree view of the apocalypse below. Very romantic.”

Makiko stared at him, then at the ticket.

Jacob winked.

“So? What do you say, babe? You, me, dinner under the stars. We’ll sit in a glass dome, eat overpriced food, and see for ourselves if Saturn’s rings are just a bunch of rocks or giant ice cubes.”

He waggled his eyebrows at Makiko.

"You'd look damn good in low gravity, by the way. Hair all floating like some kinda pissed-off anime princess. I'll even spring for the 'premium oxygen' package so you don't have to share air with the peasant tourists."

For a solid three seconds, she didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe. Just stared—like he’d spontaneously grown a second head, and that head was also saying something stupid.

“Wow. You’re really committing to this bit, huh? Saturn's rings would be... not terrible to look at. And I guess... it would be much better to be stranded on some rich asshole's space station than in this horror movie...”

“Hey, that's the spirit! We live to have fun, sweetheart. Might as well shoot for the stars. Literally.”

Makiko shook her head, but she was smiling now. For a moment, just a moment, the panic faded. Jacob leaned back with a satisfied smirk. Mission accomplished.

But reality crashed down on them like the rubble above their heads.

The small flicker of humor Jacob had ignited vanished the moment a slim crystal vine slithered through a crack in the wall, glistening like wet glass in the dim light. The moment it touched the ground, the crystal twisted and pulsed. Something grew from it, twisting, forming, unfolding like a grotesque flower. And then it split open.

Something crawled out.

It looked like a man if a man had been sculpted by broken mirrors, its skin blood-red and glistening, its features frozen in an eerie, permanent smirk—the kind that wasn’t meant for a face but had forced itself into one anyway. The creature’s body shimmered, jagged like a thing half-formed, its limbs brittle-looking but strong.

Makiko gasped sharply, curling into herself, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, trembling. Her lips moved silently at first, then barely above a whisper.

“No, no, no, no. We’re going to die. It's one of them. We’re going to die. We’re going to die.”

Jacob’s eye twitched.

"Oh, hell no, boy! Yo, Crystal Meth Head—you see me mid-rizz, right? You rude-ass, no-boundary-having, zero-rizz crystal bitch—did you seriously just cockblock me mid-sentence?"

 He rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck as he turned toward the incoming threat—but not before shooting Makiko a wink over his shoulder. 

 "Baby girl, I promised you Saturn’s rings and premium oxygen. You really think I’m gonna let some glow-in-the-dark jackoff crash our date?"

This wasn’t how he was going out.

And more than that—

This wasn’t how she was going out.

His jaw tightened as he pushed to his feet, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. He slammed his fists together, his armored gloves sparking with a sound like a hammer hitting steel, sending sparks flying.

“HEY, UGLY! CAN’T YOU SEE WE’RE BUSY?! COME BACK LATER! OR STEP FORWARD FOR SOME LONG OVERDUE ASS-WHOPPING!”

The creature twitched in response, as if amused. Then it lunged.

Jacob dropped low, just barely ducking the razor-sharp claw that sliced through the air above him. He twisted his body, muscles coiling like springs, and launched an explosive uppercut. His armored fist slammed into the creature’s jaw with a loud crunch. The crystal cracked, splintering like ice under pressure.

The creature staggered, its head snapping back from the impact but then it grinned wider.

Jacob’s heart slammed against his ribs, but he didn't hesitate. There was no thinking. There was only momentum. He pressed forward, striking again.

A vicious left hook to the temple. A bone-crushing elbow to the side of the face. A knee strike that could have caved in a man’s ribs.

Each impact sent out bursts of glowing sparks, lighting up the dark room like someone had thrown fireworks into a cave.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

A normal man would have been reduced to dust by now. But this wasn’t a man. The thing just stood there, its unnatural smirk frozen in place, watching him like it was letting him play.

And then—

It moved. Fast. Faster than it should have been able to.

Jacob barely saw the claws coming before he had to throw himself back, barely dodging the first sweeping strike that tore straight through the concrete floor like it was paper.

The second swipe came even faster, a bladed limb swinging in a deadly arc, forcing Jacob to stumble back further—

And suddenly, his back hit something cold. A wall.

The creature lunged, its crystal talons slicing through the air with a high-pitched whistle, faster than anything that big had a right to be. Jacob’s body moved on instinct, years of combat training kicking in. He rolled—hard and fast—just as death came screaming for him.

SHHRRRRRKKK!

The razor-sharp claw tore through the concrete wall like it was made of wet paper, slicing straight through the reinforced steel beams inside. Sparks exploded from the severed metal, flickering wildly before getting swallowed by the dark. Jacob hit the ground and skidded, dust and debris billowing up around him in choking clouds. And then—

A deep, groaning sound. The wall buckled. The weight of the entire damaged structure shifted. The deep cracks spider-webbed, spreading across the ceiling like lightning bolts and the whole thing gave way. The first slabs of concrete dropped from above, thick enough to crush a car and the monster took it head-on.

BOOM!