The rumbling of speeding engines was heard in the desert.
There, the trio rode.
Leo was on the bike behind Thomas,
while Autumn rode by herself.
Sand flew up behind them as they sped.
As they rode farther,
all they could see was more desert and a few cacti.
Leo squinted his eyes to better his vision.
...
[MEANWHILE]
NEW YORK CITY
MANHATTAN
There stood a man in a business suit.
His hair was short, freshly cut, and lined.
He was looking out the window while cars passed far down below.
He was in an office room.
A huge logo was on one side of the wall:
BLACKSPIRE.
The man silently looked out the window.
...
He couldn't help but reflect on the past few weeks.
2 Weeks Ago
A knock was heard.
"Come in," he said.
A woman stepped in, also in a business suit,
dark hair done in a bun.
"Mr. Ryan, we've got the results," she said, handing him a tablet.
Ryan took it and looked.
It was showing a leaderboard of CROSS' best players:
*Leon James
*Kaito Shung
*Dezmond Brown
*Lydia Faulkner
*Autumn Smith
*Scott Freace
*Thomas White-cell
*Damian Pecker
"They won the tournament," the woman said.
"I see..." Ryan said. "Have you contacted them?"
Ryan's memory then flickered a few days ahead.
TIMESKIP
"Welcome!" he shouted. "First off, I should congratulate you all for beating CROSS."
Ryan was on a small stage in front of the eight winners.
He remembered touring them around his business,
until he told them about their prizes and privileges.
"...CROSS: Blood Horizon," he finished.
"No way," one of the kids muttered.
Soon, they all started smiling and whispering amongst themselves.
TIMESKIP
His memory fluttered forward.
To where the kids were strapped on beds.
They were struggling to break free.
His employees moved efficiently in their lab coats.
"RYAN, YOU ASSHOLE! DO YOU KNOW WHO MY FATHER IS?!"
"I'LL SUE ALL OF YOU PIECES OF SHIT!"
A kid shouted.
An employee looked at him through an emotionless mask,
which only showed their cold eyes.
Ryan nodded.
All his workers started clamping down a metal cover over the kid's head.
Ryan then walked off into an empty room.
PRESENT DAY
As his thoughts got back to reality, a knock was heard.
"Come in," he said.
A lady came in.
Black hair fixed in a bun, and wearing a black business suit.
Ryan still looked out the window, hands in his pockets.
"Sir, the investigations have been blocked," the woman said.
"However, it won't be for long," she followed.
...
Silence lingered for a bit.
"I see..." Ryan said.
He pushed his glasses closer to his eyes.
"Eve?" he called.
"Yes?" the woman answered.
Ryan remained hesitant.
"Never mind..." he said. "You can go."
Eve bowed slightly before exiting.
Ryan let out a deep sigh before taking a mask out of his pocket.
A white one.
One that showed the eyes only… just like his workers.
He took off his glasses and put on the mask.
His cold, dark eyes were now seen.
He then walked out of the room.
LEO'S POV
They were in the middle of being chased.
Thomas just swerved the bike violently.
And suddenly, out of the ground came a giant worm creature.
It flipped mid-air, then landed perfectly on the ground.
The worm had spiky, sharp teeth which seemed endless inside it.
It was golden-brown, as big as a bus.
No eyes, nothing — just a mouth for a face.
The bike was pushing to its limits, but it seemed not enough.
Autumn screamed as she nearly crashed hers.
"Stop the bike," Leo said.
"Huh, what?" Thomas asked.
"Do it!"
On his command, Thomas skidded to a halt.
Autumn stopped too.
"Are you crazy?!"
"There's three of us; we can handle it," Leo answered.
"Plus, it clearly won't stop chasing."
Thomas got off and went beside Leo.
"I swear, Leo… I swear," Thomas said.
"If that thing eats you, I'm not saving your ass."
Leo snorted.
Suddenly, a deep rumbling could be felt below.
On instinct, they dashed:
Leo to the right,
Thomas to the left.
In the middle, below, came the giant worm.
It rose far into the air.
"Now! Blast that bitch!" Leo shouted.
Thomas charged his hand and fired a flame beam towards it.
It grazed the worm but missed.
The worm landed shrieking,
and wriggled towards Autumn.
Fear overtook her, and she flew off screaming.
The worm tried biting her.
She swerved to the right.
It bit again,
but she went to the left.
Before the worm could attack again,
Leo landed in front of it, catching its jaws.
Leo skidded a few feet back but put the worm to a halt.
Thomas then landed onto the worm's back,
and started barraging the worm with flame punches.
The worm twisted its lower side and wrapped around Thomas.
It freed itself from Leo's grip, then
dug into the ground.
...
There were no signs of rumbling.
...
"That wasn't so bad," Leo said calmly.
Goosebumps ran over Thomas.
He stood there hugging himself.
"That thing touched me," he said.
"Why was its belly so soft and slimy?" he asked.
Leo sighed.
"Why don't we get out of here before we starve?" he asked.
Thomas slowly picked up his bike.
Leo got on the back.
"Where's Autumn?" he wondered.
In the air, Autumn floated, also petrified.
She slowly floated down.
"This is the worst ever," she said.
"It's just a worm," Leo answered.
Autumn got to her bike.
"I hate worms."
Before Leo could answer,
a deep rumbling could be heard.
"What is it now?" Thomas wondered.
Suddenly, a worm jumped out of the sand and landed.
Another did.
And another.
And another.
"Oh… my… God," Thomas said, eyes wide.
There were about eleven worms heading towards them.
As far as they knew, there could be more.
They sped off.
The worms were catching up, but they were still pretty far.
"Go faster!" Thomas yelled at the bike.
Among Thomas's shouting, Leo looked and saw the creatures gaining closer.
Soon, Autumn slowly started passing.
"Aaaaghh!!" Thomas shouted.
DESTROYED CITY
A smoking armored jeep just stopped a few metres away from the city.
It was burning, and structures were collapsing.
The doors flew open.
Out came four teens.
A bulky one — very muscular and tall. He wore some type of armor,
similar to the soldiers, but his was damaged.
A huge claw ran across its chest.
He exited the driver's seat, getting closer to the city.
Then a guy from the front seat.
His hair was long enough to cover his ears, but not enough to cover his eyes.
A goggle rested on his forehead
Another guy came out.
Dark-skinned, with dreads — a mix of brown and black.
Then a girl, kinda skinny, dark hair that reached her back.
"Damn," the boy with goggles said.
"What the hell did this?" he asked.
"Couldn't be them, that's for sure," the muscular one snorted.
They got closer.
The city was slowly crumbling.
A broken sign that said TURNBUCK was there
A clicking sound was heard.
"Wait, what's that noise?" the boy with dreads asked.
They listened.
A form of gas was slowly flowing out of the city,
but it disappeared when it reached a good distance.
"I don't think that's safe," the skinny girl said.
"No shit," the boy with dreads answered.
The clicking sound was heard again.
"Ok, for real," he said. "What is that noise?"
"Dezmond, shut the fuck up!" the muscular one shouted.
He then knelt and touched the sand with his palm… eyes closed.
He then stood up, alert.
"What is it?" the boy with goggles asked.
Moans and groans could be heard.
Then shadows started walking out of the flames.
They were some inhabitants of the city.
Soldiers, villagers, and all.
But they looked cursed.
Their eyes were yellow, dark veins, cracked faces, and some even had huge yellow lumps on their back.
"Ewww, what the fuck," the skinny girl shivered.
One of the mutated soldiers was literally a walking skull.
"Alright," the muscular one said. "Let's fuck them up."
With that, they got in a stance and charged.
LEO'S POV
They were now riding at a nice speed in a more grassy biome.
There were patches of sand every now and then… but at least they had trees here.
Suddenly, a blinking light appeared on Thomas's bike.
Soon it shut off.
Autumn slowed ahead, then turned around.
"What happened?" Leo asked.
"I don't know… this bike is crazy," Thomas answered.
Leo looked at the bike.
"It's out of fuel."
"So what do we do?" Autumn asked.
"We are safe now, so we can walk," Leo answered.
"It's a good thing they stopped chasing us," Autumn sighed.
"Yeah," Thomas shivered.
They started walking up a hill.
They were far enough to see the city in the desert.
"Yo, look," Thomas pointed.
They looked and saw the city.
Luminex was flowing in the air, almost like it stained its atmosphere.
But it didn't flow far.
...
The trio looked at it silently.
But suddenly, a huge explosion happened.
The city collapsed in the sand.
The flames and gas disappeared and got buried.
They could feel a small tremble even on the far hill they were on.
...
"Holy shit," Thomas muttered.
Autumn stepped back closer to Thomas.
"Let's keep moving," Leo said.
They then started climbing the hill higher.
End