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Lisa climbed back down, gracefully landing on an upright computer desk. She looked to the left and then the right, as she whispered, 

[color=764820]”[i]Lord,[/i]”[/color] She began. [color=764820]”I never thought I’d say this, but making a flying spider would be a bad idea.”[/color]

Lisa looked to the left and then to the right. 

[color=764820]”I don’t think we should leave the way we came”[/color]

Saskia had also climbed up, dropping back down beside Lisa and pulling the blood tendril back into the cut they’d made on their palm. [color=DC143C]"Agreed. We need to be stealthy… quiet and unnoticeable."[/color]

They turned their gaze to Ella. [color=DC143C]"No magic."[/color]

[color=e77fbf]"Hey, I’m not stupid!"[/color] Ella threw up her hands. [color=e77fbf]"I can be stealthy too."[/color] 

Saskia snorted. [color=DC143C]"Sure. Let’s get to the ground level and walk."[/color] 

[color=764820]”Sounds like a plan,”[/color] Lisa whispered as she slowly and surely made her way to the staircase. It was still intact enough for all three to climb down, and Lisa was the first down - however, slowly and carefully. The stairs shook with every step that those giants outside took, and Lisa stopped when the stairs got wobbly - however, she kept pressing on until they reached the ground level. With every step those monsters took, it felt like an earthquake was going on…. Lisa stumbled before she pushed herself back to her feet.

[color=764820]”... We came from that way,”[/color] Lisa pointed to the left before she pointed to the right, [color=764820]”.... And we need to go [i]this[/i] way.”[/color]

Ironically, the direction the first monster was going.

[color=DC143C]"Great,"[/color] Saskia frowned. [color=DC143C]”Let's try to stick close to the buildings…"[/color]

Ella gulped, didn't say anything, and nodded. Saskia started towards the right, eyes narrowed as they looked for a way out - before the building collapsed on them. Not guaranteed, but definitely a possibility. Lisa pushed the door open and opened the door into the main lobby. Lisa carefully raised a finger as she walked to the door and poked her head out. The monster was already down the street… but two more were approaching, so she quickly dipped inside. Lisa carefully walked back over to Ella and Saskia, as she said, 

[color=764820]”... I think,”[/color] Lisa thought out loud. [color=764820]”They’re looking for something. I mean, look at how they’re moving and how many of them there are!.”[/color]

[color=e77fbf]"Maybe we can just wait it out, then?"[/color] Ella suggested.

[color=DC143C]"Or better, we leave the city, if they're looking for something here. Hopefully they'll ignore us,"[/color] Saskia shrugged. 

[color=764820]”Let’s just leave,”[/color] Lisa whispered. [color=764820]”One, we don’t know if they’ll [i]ever[/i] stop searching. Two, we don’t know if they’re looking for [i]us[/i]. And three, we don’t know if they’re going to start trashing the city.”[/color] 

With that final word, Lisa nodded as she added, [color=764820]”There’s two coming down the street - should I make a spider we can all ride on? Even the giant ones aren’t that loud, just in case it can also have wings.”[/color]

Then she paused, [color=764820]”Or would it be easier if we went by foot?”[/color]

Saskia frowned. They’d be fasted on a spider, but it also gave them more limited mobility. It was much more difficult to hide when they were all on one. [color=DC143C]"Let’s go by foot. We’ll have an easier time hiding if we need to. Let’s wait for the two coming to pass, then go out."[/color]

They went to the door, carefully looking out. The two walked past, shaking the earth with every step, and Lisa walked up behind Saskia and nodded.

Saskia nodded back, holding a finger to her lips - namely in Ella’s direction, who took up the rear. Then they stepped out into the street. They went in the same direction as the two creatures, sticking close to the wall of the building they’d come out of. Lisa grabbed onto Ella’s hand and tailed behind Saskia as they tailed behind them. They approached an intersection - however, one of those monsters was coming from the right.

Lisa lunged forward and tried to yank Saskia into an allway they passed. Saskia wasn't that far ahead, silently pulled back into the alley. They pressed their back against the wall, frowning. This was going to be difficult when they had no idea where they were even going. 

She shoved her hand into one of her many pockets and pulled out a small notebook and pen. She scribbled on it and held it up to the other two.

'Let's try take small alleys they can't fit down.’

Lisa nodded as she continued down the alleyway; it wasn’t long before they made it to the other side… and she poked her head around the corner momentarily before quickly darting back. Lisa put her hands out, fingers open, and then summoned spider webs from underneath her clothes that quickly weaved webs in the shape of words:

[i][code]A few are coming down this way. Let's go through this building.[/code][/i]

Lisa nodded her head in the direction of the metal door that was slightly ajar.

Saskia nodded. They very carefully pushed the metal door a little bit more open, wide enough that Ella would be able to fit through, before slipping in. It was darker inside and took their eyes a moment to adjust… they gestured for the other two to come in too. 

Ella held up her hand as she stepped in, head tilting questioningly. Saskia shook their head. Better to deal with the poor lightning than risk drawing attention with a bright pink flame. The door led to a convenience store… the building had been ransacked before, with only a few snacks and rotting food lying across the floor. There was glass shards scattered all throughout the floor…

Lisa immediately grew spider legs out of her back and climbed onto the ceiling. She looked at Ella and then at Saskia. Then back to Ella. She grabbed her chin, before making a gesture with her index and middle finger - a walking motion but [i]veeeeeeeeeery[/i] slowly. Then she put her hands together and gave Ella a closed-mouth smile with a pleading look.

Ella held up her hands with a pout, looking a bit upset. Saskia rolled their eyes. Lisa was right to be worried. They went first, bones lightening to make it even less likely they'd make any sound, carefully stepping their way through the broken glass. Hopefully Ella could follow the same path… they checked behind them as they walked to see Ella following them at a very slow pace. Painfully so, really, but it was better than stepping on a piece of glass. 

Saskia made it to the other side without incident. Ella was still going, carefully twisting her body and going on her tiptoes. She made it to the other side, letting out a sigh of relief, lowering to her heels.

And immediately put a heel on a shard of glass. Thankfully, it didn't shatter, instead it just shoved right through Ella's shoe and into her foot. Saskia immediately threw up her hands, shoving them over Ella's mouth before she could shout in pain. Lisa gently lowered herself to ground level, waving both hands downwards pointing at Ella’s foot. Ella silently lifted up the foot with glass embedded in it, hands gripping Saskia's shoulders for support. 

Lisa put a finger to her lips as she looked up at Ella and Saskia, then her healing spiders came out of her pores and onto Ella. She then grabbed the shard glass with both hands and yanked it out - and immediately, the healing spiders went to work and began healing Ella’s foot.

Saskia still had her hands over Ella's mouth, and pressed them harder to once again stop any screaming. Ella's whole face was scrunched up in pain, which quickly relaxed when the healing spiders did their work. She put her foot back down and Saskia finally moved her hands away.

They looked around, then at Lisa, gesturing back to the ceiling, and then forward. It would be safest for her to lead them through from up there. Lisa nodded her head, and climbed back onto the ceiling, though her footing was shaky due to… all the shaking from the titanic beasts outside. One of them approached, and Lisa gently lowered herself to the ground for a few moments to wait for it to pass by. When the coast was clear, Lisa poked her head out through the front and quickly gestured for the other two to come along.

Across the street was another alleyway; no monsters on the street could see them. Lisa raised her hand in the air and then used her opposite hand to count each finger. Then she pointed at the alleyway and smiled at the other two.

Saskia nodded, finger and thumb pressing together in an ok symbol. Ella looked between them both, looking confused… but that didn't matter. Saskia reached behind them and grabbed Ella's hand, before raising the other one. Five fingers up.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Saskia ran across the street, dragging Ella behind her - she quickly got the message and ran fast enough to get just ahead of Saskia, practically leaping into the alley opposite. Saskia immediately got close to the wall, looking down the alley to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises - Thankfully, none. All three of them got across, and Lisa sighed out of relief. 

However, there was a door to a reasonably large abandoned apartment complex, and Liea pointed at the door, sticking a thumbs up and rotating it up and down, waiting for approval.

Saskia looked at the apartment complex, thinking about it… yes, probably safer to go through that. They gave a thumbs up, as did Ella. 

Then they carefully went over to the door, pushing it slightly open to peer inside. This revealed a primarily intact hallway illuminated by a dim overhead light that flickered on and off. Saskia motioned for the other two to follow them in, beginning to make their way down the hallway. They glanced into any doors they passed… just in case. Most of the doors were closed, but the few that were open were just typical apartment rooms - some of them wholly trashed and others too dark to see into. 

However, as they proceeded down the hall, one of the doors they passed opened…

Saskia stopped, immediately spinning around and holding an arm out… primarily to stop Ella immediately blasting the door with fire. They wriggled their fingers before a long, thin blood whip formed from it. They carefully manipulated it so that they could wrap it around whatever came out of the door.

… It was nothing.

Saskia shuddered, hair on the back of their neck standing on end. They didn’t like that one bit. But they gestured forward with one finger to keep going, proceeding slowly and carefully, listening for [i]anything[/i]. And keeping the blood whip formed. 

Lisa silently grabbed onto Saskia’s wrist and pulled them down the hall. Lisa then stuck her hand out and summoned a hundred Darwin-bark spiders that quickly created a wall of webs that blocked the hallway. Then she kept proceeding with the group until they made it to a staircase. Lisa put her hands together, and this time used Snare to make a message out of webs.

Maybe get up to a high vantage point so we can decide where to go next?

The ground began shaking more intensely, signaling a monster was close.

Saskia nodded in agreement. They needed to figure out where to go so they weren’t just running around hoping they’d get out. They gestured up the stairs, moved two of their fingers and moved them quickly to signal walking fast, then put a finger on their lips again, looking at Ella. Ella threw her hands up silently, before folding them over her chest with a pout. 

Then they started to climb the stairs, as quickly and silently as possible. Followed by Lisa, who had her Spider-Legs already coming out of her back.

A door was slammed on the ground floor, and Lisa stopped dead in her tracks to look over her shoulder… 

… only to see nothing.

Ella jumped, eyes wide, trembling slightly. Saskia grimaced. She once again gestured up the stairs, motioning for them to go quickly. They grabbed Ella’s hand and tugged them, taking two steps at a time, assuming Lisa would spider leg her way up faster. As expected, Lisa left the stairs and ascended to the top floor with lightning speed - but never left their sight.

Once the other two made it to the top floor, Lisa pointed at an open door.

Ella was the first up the stairs, going to run right through the open door… Saskia caught her, and went in more cautiously, still ready to attack at any moment. The room was completely untouched by the chaos of the Pit. It had all the furniture you expected to see in an apartment, and the windows, as Lisa expected, gave a great view of the surrounding area.

Out the window, there was a forest, a thick, lush, green, paradise… Just a few miles away.

Saskia frowned, approaching the window and looking out. It looked… nice. Too nice. The apartment and the forest. The pulled back out their notebook, scribbling down something before holding it up to Lisa and Ella.

‘Isn’t it strange this room is fine?’

Lisa quietly laughed as she stuck her hands out and used Snare to cast another message on the walll…

[i][code]Only if THIS is the only room that’s alright.[/code][/i]

The webs dissolved as she made another message.

[i][code]Maybe we can make a flying spider and jet… Me and Ella can use Crack Spiders. The monsters don’t seem to be that fast.[/code][/i]

Saskia flipped to another page and wrote, ‘Worth a try. If we fly high enough we can avoid them.’

Ella nodded her agreement, having no way to communicate beyond that.

A spider crawled onto the ground, enveloped in a glowing white cocoon, and grew larger. The webs dissolved, followed by another message.

[i][code]Ella will have to punch the wall down or something.[/code][/i]

There was a faint growling down the hall…

Shit. Saskia gestured to the wall, and made a punching motion to Ella, before flicking out their blood whip to shove the door to this room shut. Ella shook her head, pointing to the cocoon, even as her legs started to glow with prismatic light.

Still not wanting to draw attention to them, just in case whatever that was didn’t know they were there, Saskia crouched down, blood running along their back to form their blood tendril. They pointed it at the door. Meanwhile, spiders came crawling from all the hidden corners of the room, and pooled right above the door…

The growling grew louder, as they heard slow footsteps approach, sounding as if whatever was coming dragged its feet with every step and it was [i]heavy[/i]. Though, it stopped directly at the door… the growling continued.

Saskia looked up at the spiders, then down at the door. She raised a hand to shoot through it, before pausing, getting a much better idea. She quickly pointed to the Ice Scepter, then the door.

Ella grabbed the Ice Scepter and shot a beam of intense, cold energy to freeze the door. The creature could be heard pounding on the wall - loudly roaring - hard enough to knock over some items on top of the furniture. The spider was at half size, but the noise was attracting the sounds of the bigger monsters - [i]which were now heading their way[/i]. Lisa bore teeth as she looked to the left and the right.

[color=DC143C]"Shit,"[/color] Saskia swore under their breath - wasn’t exactly louder than the roaring. She jumped away from the door, and pointed to the wall, motioning again for Ella to kick through the wall. Then to Lisa, she pointed to the spider, then the wall, and finally to her own back.

As Saskia shifted their backpack to their front, wings started to push through their back. 

[color=764820]”... But-”[/color] Lisa tried to protest before she shook her head, and the spider burst out of the cocoon. It had dragonfly wings half the size it typically was for when to ride it - and all the spiders on the ceiling fell onto its back. Lisa hopped onto Saskia’s back.

Saskia let out a quiet oof, but their wings had finished growing and… it should be fine. Probably. Ella kicked the wall, making a sizable hole, before kicking it again so that it was big enough for them to get out. She turned back around… freezing in confusion for a moment.

Saskia just pointed to the spider. Ella threw her hands up and jumped onto the half sized spider.

[color=DC143C]"Sorry if we die,"[/color] Saskia said before stepping through the hole, sinewy wings stretching out fully… and just about stopping them from falling to their deaths after a few flaps. They wobbled a bit, grimaced, and just flapped harder. Fuck, this was harder than they’d expected, but they tried to get as much height as they could. 

The spider with Ella on top trailed behind, as Lisa nuzzled against Saskia,

[color=764820]”... At least we’ll die together,”[/color] Lisa said. 

As they flew through the skies, [i]all[/i] of the giant monsters in radius began following after them. Lisa looked down, and her eyes shot open.

[color=764820]”I’m not sure if they will follow us into the woods!”[/color] Lisa shouted. [color=764820]”But, I have an idea!”[/color]

The spider carrying Ella flew right in front of Saskia, one of its eight legs in arm’s reach.

[color=764820]”Grab on!”[/color]

Saskia frowned, reaching forward to grab onto the leg… it couldn’t exactly make things worse.

[color=764820]”Ella! [i]Crack Spiders![/i]”[/color] Lisa shouted.

[color=e77fbf]"Got it!"[/color] Ella shouted, pressing her hands against the spider, imbuing it with dazzling rainbow lights. Saskia had to close their eyes to not get blasted in the face with them.

The Spider cut through the air at lightning speeds, taking them both far into the air - and out of the city into the woods…