The First Moment
Copyright© 2026 by TMax
Chapter 18: Ooze
Only a quarter of the Dirtans remained. They flew in circles around their nest, like a hurricane, as they shouted, “Leave. Leave. Leave.”
The ooze chuckled and said, “Superior. Better. This part shows our prowess.”
The ooze rolled into a pillar of green, high, almost to the top of the dome, then crashed down on the nest. Dirtans died ramming into the ooze, while the ooze crushed and ripped the poor Dirtan spheres apart. The Dirtans that guarded us flew to their deaths.
Sasha pushed us back up the tunnel as the ooze’s laughter and the Dirtans’ screams filled our heads. I pulled Alice, who wanted to watch.
“Best for that thing not to see us,” Sasha said, and we moved back into the tunnels. We moved back to the last junction, where we paused. The tunnel curved, and we could no longer see into the dome, but we could hear the fight.
“How can there still be Dirtans remaining?” I mumbled.
Alice said, “Fuck, man, didn’t you see that the Dirtans could rebuild?”
Alice faced back down the tunnel, with a scowl and hands clenched.
“Yeah, dude, unbroken pieces just recombine,” Nate said as he stared down the other tunnel.
“Are they mechanical?” Lanka asked as she trembled beside Sasha, who had joined Nate at the entrance to the other tunnel.
“Alien,” Morgan and I said together, and we smiled at the same time.
Sasha hand-signaled us back into line. The yells of the Dirtans followed us as we crept backward towards our dome. Sasha led us, while Morgan stayed at the back, which caused me great discomfort. The idea that the Dirtans might abandon their dome and attack us, or that the ooze might follow, and Morgan would have to deal with them first, caused all my male instincts to roar. Not rational, in this day and age, especially since I had no fighting ability. But I cared for Morgan, and Alice, and the rest, but more Morgan than the rest. Just the thought that she might get hurt caused me the same discomfort as when my wife would do something dangerous. That irrational fear that something might happen. In this case, not so irrational.
“Why don’t we go the other direction?” Shivam asked in a soft voice, but given the noises from the fighting, he needn’t have worried. Sasha didn’t answer, because anyone with half a mind would know we had to head back to avoid getting lost.
We had no idea what we needed to do to survive this challenge, this nightmare. However, if we became lost, stuck in the tunnels, unable to find our way back, we might never leave.
I said, “The aliens who administered the test may want us back at our starting point, or near, when this ends. Survival may also mean getting back to our starting dome.”
We shuffled past some scars on the walls, which didn’t exist when we last passed this part of the maze, unless the walls had moved.
We passed a tunnel that had a black lump in the middle, like a pile of rocks. Sasha gestured that he would investigate while we stayed put. Lanka shook her head no. Sasha didn’t argue. He just moved silently toward the thing. Lanka followed, and so did the rest of us, still in our caterpillar formation.
The rocks became a body, or rather, half a body. The right arm and most of the right side of the lady’s body had gone missing, as if something had taken a bite out of her. The remaining pieces of her, her left arm and legs, lay in a circle of red sand. The eyes, wide, stared at the ceiling. She looked familiar, but I didn’t remember her until Alice screamed and ran to the body. Mary, from the cafeteria, Alice’s friend.
I rushed to comfort Alice. She hunched over the body, tears dripped into Mary’s scream-frozen mouth. Alice’s right hand lay half submerged in the red sand where Mary’s right shoulder used to exist. Alice’s left hand cradled Mary’s head.
Nate and Shivam added their arms on top of my arm on Alice’s back and shoulders.
“Fucking Mary, she’s such a bitch. Why did she do this?” Alice screamed and punched Shivam in the arm. Shivam, with a tear in his eye, rested his head against Alice’s.
Alice screamed, “Like fuck, why didn’t she stay in the dome, or fucking like, with a competent soldier? Fuck you, Mary!” Sasha stood deeper in the tunnel as if to guard Alice and the group from whatever might have done this.
Morgan tapped me on the shoulder and mouthed, “We have to go.”
Lanka gave Morgan a dirty look but didn’t disagree.
“Alice. Fuck Mary. We need to go, girl!” Nate said as he tried to lift her.
Alice could barely speak as she hyperventilated. “No, we have to bury her. The bitch deserves to spend eternity under the ground.”
“We’ll bury her later. Let her stare at the ceiling for a bit,” I said. My logic didn’t make sense, but people don’t make sense under stress.
Alice nodded and choked out a weak, “The bitch deserved it. I just wish she hadn’t done it.” Nate nodded as if that made sense while Shivam looked at him and mouthed, “What the fuck?”
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