Damian pushed his way through the chaotic crowd and finally spotted Peter Parker and the others at the far end of the restaurant. Just as he raised his hand to wave—
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!!"
The entire Argonaut shuddered violently, as if struck by something massive beneath the waves.
Crackling…
Metal groaned under immense stress. All the lights flickered and died in an instant, leaving only the emergency alarm casting a blood-red glow across the room.
Damian's outstretched hand froze midair—then his body slammed hard against the cabin wall as the ship lurched sharply to one side.
"Oh my God—!"
He cried out as the Argonaut tilted at a terrifying angle. Tables, chairs, and loose objects slid down the sloping floor like an avalanche.
A waiter stumbled backward, narrowly avoiding a flying knife that embedded itself in the wall beside him. A woman in an evening gown screamed as a toppling wine cabinet pinned her against the bulkhead. The crash of glass and wood drowned out most other sounds, but the panicked cries of passengers filled the air.
People tumbled and collided like ragdolls, scrambling desperately for safety amid the chaos.
Amid the pandemonium, Peter Parker moved with uncanny grace.
He wrapped one arm around Gwen Stacy's waist and grabbed Harry Osborn's collar with the other, leaping and pivoting with practiced ease. Even as debris rained down around them, he kept both friends steady and out of harm's way.
"Peter, you—" Harry stammered, eyes wide with disbelief.
"I used to do gymnastics!" Peter called over his shoulder, rolling sideways just as a chandelier crashed down where he'd stood a second before.
On the other side of the room, Damian crouched low, fingers digging into the wall paneling so hard his nails bled. His breath came in sharp gasps.
Then his eyes locked onto something horrifying.
A grand piano—freed from its restraints—was barreling straight toward him down the steep incline.
"Careful—!"
"BOOM!"
Peter's voice cut through the din. In one fluid motion, he tucked Gwen and Harry under his arms, his legs coiling like springs before launching forward with a force that echoed like thunder.
Just half a meter from impact, Peter swung his leg in a powerful arc.
"BANG—!"
The two-thousand-pound Steinway piano rocketed sideways as if weightless, smashing through three marble-topped dining tables before skidding to a halt in a cloud of splintered wood.
Gwen's eyes widened in shock, her lips parted but voiceless. Harry stared at Peter's slightly smoking pant leg, utterly dumbfounded.
"Peter, you just—"
"We'll talk later!" Damian cut in sharply, already pulling the dazed trio toward the exit. "This ship's going down! We need to get to the lifeboats on the twelfth deck—now!"
As he turned, Damian shot Peter a quick, silent signal behind his back: Don't say another word.
Peter gave a barely perceptible nod, then pretended to trip as he hurried along, calling out with feigned panic:
"Right, right—let's just get out of here!"
When the shaking finally stopped, the grand restaurant lay in ruins.
Emergency lights bathed the scene in an eerie crimson hue. Overturned carts, shattered glass, and scattered belongings littered the floor—but the worst was left to the imagination. The true horror wasn't in the gore, but in the silence that followed the screams.
The few survivors crawled toward the exit, crying. One man dragged his broken leg, leaving a horrific, winding trail across the blood-soaked floor.
Those injured and crushed beneath heavy debris groaned like a broken bellows—and died soon after.
"Oh my God…"
Gwen Stacy covered her mouth, while Harry Osborn doubled over and retched.
Damian was about to urge everyone to leave, but he caught a glimpse of a familiar golden hue out of the corner of his eye.
The girl who had helped him before lay on her back beside the wreckage of the dessert table, her left leg bent at an unnatural angle. Blood oozed from a wound on her forehead, staining half her cheek crimson.
"Give me a moment."
Damian stepped over a corpse with a sunken chest, squatted beside the girl, and gently pressed two fingers to her carotid artery.
Fortunately, her pulse was strong—and only the fibula in her left leg appeared to be broken.
When Damian lightly slapped her cheek, the blonde girl suddenly opened her eyes and instinctively swung her fist—
"Calm down—it's me. Can you stand?"
Damian easily caught her wrist and asked with concern.
The girl's pupils focused rapidly. She gasped in pain but swallowed her scream and whispered:
"The ship hit… hit a reef?"
"It's highly likely! We need to hurry and find a lifeboat—if we're too late, we'll sink with the ship!"
Damian tore off a tablecloth and wrapped it tightly around her bleeding calf, then hoisted her onto his back.
The girl bit her lower lip and nodded. Her body still trembled, but her eyes were surprisingly calm. She whispered:
"Thank you… My name is Kate. And you?"
"I'm Damian Zagan!"
Damian carried Kate on his back and hurried down the chaotic corridor with Peter Parker and the others.
Kate's arms were tightly wrapped around his neck, and her injured left leg swayed slightly as he ran—but she gritted her teeth and said nothing.
"The elevator's just ahead!"
Harry Osborn pointed to a nearby indicator light, his voice filled with hope.
Suddenly, Kate's body tensed. Her fingers dug into Damian's shoulder, and her other hand trembled as she pointed toward the porthole on the right, screaming:
"Look! What is that?!"
Everyone turned in the direction she indicated—but kept moving.
Outside the porthole, there was only quiet darkness and a few sparse, dim stars.
Gwen Stacy glanced back at Kate, confused. "What are you looking at? There's nothing out there!"
Kate rubbed her eyes, staring at the calm, dark sea beyond the glass. A puzzled expression crossed her face as she whispered:
"I… I just saw… a dark shadow—huge… like an octopus's tentacles, but not quite… Maybe I was too nervous, and my vision blurred… I'm sorry!"
Harry Osborn let out a relieved breath and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry—it's perfectly normal to hallucinate at a time like this—"
"Aaah—!"
Before Harry could finish, a heart-wrenching scream echoed from deep within the corridor.
"Gurgle… gurgle…"
Then came a second scream—and a third: a wail of agony, a desperate plea for help… and something else—a wet, sticky, gnawing sound.
These noises weren't human. They sounded like a massive creature chewing and swallowing, accompanied by the sharp crack of breaking bones and the slick splash of viscous fluid.
Everyone froze in terror.
Peter Parker was the first to react. He grabbed Gwen Stacy's hand and shouted:
"Run! Something's coming!"
Damian felt Kate trembling on his back, but there was no time to comfort her.
He sprinted after Peter Parker toward the elevator less than a hundred meters ahead.
Yet the screams behind them grew louder—closer—as if that "thing" were racing down the corridor, devouring every survivor in its path. And now… it was their turn.