“What in the hell is that?” Ampelius whispered, his voice barely cutting through the ringing in his ears.

  Before either of them could move, the thing stirred. A shimmer ran across its surface, then blinding colors flared to life, flashing through the smoke like a beacon. A shock wave burst outward, shoving the dust aside and rattling through their chests.

  Ampelius flinched back, one arm thrown in front of Bella, though he wasn’t sure if it was to protect her or himself.

  The machine lifted from the rubble with an awful slowness, as if the laws of gravity meant nothing. Lights pulsed across its shell, bright enough to throw long, twisted shadows that crawled up the broken walls around them.

  Bella pressed herself against the wall for balance, her breath hitching. The glow washed over her pale face, her wide eyes reflecting the colors. For a moment, neither of them spoke. The sight was so alien, so wrong, it felt like something dragged straight out of a nightmare.

  As the machine rose above the wreckage, Ampelius knew it was something far beyond them, something no one could ever hope to fight. He glanced over at Bella, the fear in her eyes mirrored his own. In that unspoken moment, they both understood: escape had just become a thousand times harder.

  Then he saw them. From the machine’s underbelly dangled thick, rope-like strands, swaying gently in the smoky air. Ampelius’ breath caught as he realized people hung from them, little limp shapes twisting like broken marionettes. His stomach dropped when he spotted a familiar face among them.

  “That’s… that’s the girl, my neighbor,” he whispered. Somehow, the machine had taken her.

  “Is it… collecting bodies? Are any of them alive?” Bella whispered, clutching his arm while her voice trembled with horror.

  The machine drifted higher, its glow washing the dangling figures in a sickly green light. Ampelius stared, his mind refusing to make sense of what his eyes showed him. People, dozens of them, all swaying like discarded dolls. The thought struck him like ice: this thing wasn’t just a machine. It was harvesting people.

  “None of them are moving from what I can see… but I can’t be sure,” Ampelius said.

  The machine kept rising until it hovered overhead, then slipped from sight beyond the roofline. Bits of rubble rattled down in its wake. Ampelius swallowed hard. It cleared a way out, he realized.

  He looked at Bella, and for a moment neither of them spoke. What they’d seen pressed down on them like a weight, leaving only questions neither dared to voice.

  With no words left between them, they pushed on, urgency driving them down the last stretch of stairs. Each step felt heavier, and the silence between them were thick with fear, but full of questions they couldn’t ask.

  The ground floor came as a shock. After everything above, it was almost intact. Shattered glass glittered across the tiles, and the main doors collapsed, but otherwise it looked untouched.

  Ampelius and Bella stopped, pressing against the wall, their chests heaving. The sudden quiet rang in their ears, eerie and unreal after the collapse and screams above. For the first time since it began, they let themselves breathe.

  As they took a minute to recover, Ampelius caught sight of movement outside. A small crowd had gathered in the street, their faces all tilted skyward, their eyes fixed on something above the apartment building. He met Bella’s gaze, her exhaustion was gone, but replaced by the same unease tightening his stomach. Together, they edged toward the shattered entrance and peered out into the night.

  The crowd gathered outside broke into a sudden panic and ran in all directions. One by one, people began to burst into a thick, blue gel-like substance that sprayed across the pavement in heavy sheets. Each person popped like a water balloon, each whump landed wet and heavy, followed by the cut-short screams of those still alive.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Ampelius and Bella froze where they stood, fear locking their bodies in place. They witnessed the street outside becoming a scene from a nightmare, where people were being reduced to pools of whatever substance that was spreading across the pavement. Their minds refused to make sense of it, but the stench of copper and rot told them it was real.

  Bella’s hand flew to her mouth, trying to muffle a sob as she staggered back from the doorway, unable to look any longer. Ampelius’s chest heaved, the beating in his heart thundering so hard it hurt. They couldn’t stay here, not with the building ready to collapse on them, but they couldn't leave with what was happening right outside.

  “We have to wait this out and hope this apartment can hold up.” Ampelius hissed, pulling Bella back from the entrance.

  Yet when they reached the edge of the lobby, he stopped short. Outside was no escape, only death waiting to burst them apart like the others.

  “We can’t go out there,” he muttered, more to himself than to Bella. “We have no choice but to wait. Even if this place comes down on us, it’s better than whatever that is.”

  The building groaned above, dust sifting down with every tremor, but neither of them moved for the door. It was their only choice.

  Through the shattered entrance, Ampelius caught one last glimpse of the street. The final survivor barely had time to cry out before their body ruptured, spraying blue gel across the pavement. His eyes tracked upward, just in time to see a faint orb streaking down from above. Whatever that thing is, it’s hunting them.

  He eased Bella down against the wall, then crept toward the doorway, careful not to make much noise. Through the broken glass he caught a warped reflection on a massive TV screen across the street. Its dark glass catching the reflection overhead. There it was, the turtle-shell looking machine, hovering above their building, its lights throbbing in steady rhythm like a hunter staking its prey.

  The machine pulsed with neon blue and green, its lights crawling across the shell as it drifted over the building. Ampelius stared, caught between awe and dread, until the thing suddenly warped out of sight, gone as if it had never been there. His thoughts spun with a hundred questions, but Bella’s sharp gasp pulled him back.

  “Oh shit, you’re bleeding! Move your hand and let me see,” he urged.

  She hesitated, then slowly pulled her hand away, wincing as he lifted her shirt. A deep gash stretched from her stomach to her right side, dark blood oozing steadily from the wound.

  “Do you know how this happened? What cut you?” he asked, eyes scanning for more injuries.

  “I think it was when the floor collapsed. I must have landed on something sharp. I didn’t even notice until you sat me down,” she said, her voice strained and shaky.

  Ampelius cursed under his breath. “I should have noticed this sooner… damn it.” His eyes darted around until he spotted a torn jacket half-buried in the rubble. He yanked it free, ripped the sleeve loose, and pressed it against her side.

  “Keep pressure here.” He said. She hissed through her teeth but nodded. He tied it off tight, crude but enough to slow the bleeding.

  The building shuddered as another explosion rolled through the city, closer now. Dust rained from the ceiling. Ampelius’s anxiety spiked. They couldn’t stay here. “Hold on. I’ll check if it’s clear outside,” he said, forcing his voice steady.

  He slipped through the doorway and into the night air. The sound hit him first. A deafening cacophony of explosions. His heart sank at the sight. Those turtle-shell machines were swarming the city, some floating over rooftops, others weaving between skyscrapers. In the distance, one of them fired another orb,causing another tower to fold in on itself. None were close, but Ampelius knew that could change in seconds.

  He hurried back inside and helped Bella to her feet. “Alright, we move now. Quick and quiet. That shell we saw, it’s not the only one. They’re everywhere, and those fireballs… it’s them. Getting out won’t be easy.”

  “What about Emmett? We can’t leave him!” Bella cried, her voice breaking.

  “Shh! Keep your voice down,” Ampelius hissed, glancing at the door. “If he turns up, we’ll find him. But right now, staying alive is the only way we can help him. And I don’t know how to move through the city with those things overhead.”

  Bella drew a shaky breath, fear still in her eyes but steadied by her own resolve. “The metro. We can use it to escape. I worked at the Great Lepidus Library, and I know there’s a maintenance entrance in the basement that leads into the tunnels. It’s only a few blocks from here.”

  Ampelius nodded, latching onto the idea. “Good. I know a shortcut through the alleys. We’ll need light once we’re underground. There’s a place on the way we can hit for supplies. But we move fast and stay low. Those things are quicker than they look.”

  Despite the pain, Bella nodded. Together, they gathered what little they could, steeling themselves for what waited outside. With one last look at the wreck of their home, they stepped into the chaotic night, ready to face whatever horrors lay ahead.