Boom!
The world above them exploded.
The tunnel felt the brunt of the first artillery shell.
Concrete cracked overhead. Rusted pipes snapped from their brackets.
Dust, black water, and chunks of old ceiling rained into the junction as the entire drainage line convulsed.
Adrian hit the floor before he understood what happened. Vex barely maintained its balance beside him.
For half a second, the hive stopped moving. The voices vanished. The tendrils froze inside the smoke.
And just as it slightly recovered, another explosion fell after the first.
A small wound cracked open from above. Light fell through it and struck the meteorite shard held inside the hive, exposing the ugly thing like a prize dragged out of a grave.
It shrieked loudly from the sudden sunlight exposure after burying itself so deeply. The flesh around the shard writhed violently, roots and black membranes tightening as if trying to cover the exposed core again.
Adrian did not bother looking at the results.
