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We fall into a dark one-way shaft. Dim speckles of orange light flash continuously and rapidly from far ahead. The five of us tread forward lightly. As we step further, I make out three jaws, each large enough to block off the entire shaft. They open and close rapidly, revealing and concealing the orange light beyond. On the jaws are teeth shaped like ours and tightly spaced. My pace slows, and the others proceed ahead of me — Lucky stops and looks behind at me. Assuming they don’t desire to become meals, their eyes must not have seen them yet.

I expose my teeth to Lucky and pretend to chomp on something. They look at me, utterly bewildered. Further but not too far ahead, the others stop one by one. Lucky turns around and approaches the others before suddenly pausing. Now they’ve seen them.

Meeting up with the others, I realize each pair of jaws chomps at different intervals. The closer, the longer the break between a chomp. The furthest one chomps on the shortest interval. They each bite down quick and hard but open slowly. I also notice that each pair of jaws is spaced just enough apart from one another that you could fit safely between them, provided you keep still and stand tall. However, there’s no way you could get through all three of them simultaneously. Even if you could run as fast as you could spit.

One of us, I’ll call them Bold, boldly attempts to step over the bottom row of teeth of the first pair of jaws… Only for Lucky to pull them hard backwards. The jaws narrowly miss their leg. Lucky stares at Bold, clapping their own hands at the same interval of the jaws right in front of them. Bold, seemingly ungrateful and oblivious, ignores Lucky. They then lift their leg over the bottom row again and plant their foot on the other side. They turn to Lucky — smugly. Lucky gasps, quickly turning their head away and covering their eyes… Just as a scoff leaves Bold’s lips, the jaws come mercilessly, crushing down. And now, it’s just the four of us.

Warm blood pools around our feet. Bold’s body, crushed by the powerful jaws, is split into two. They are a mash of torn flesh, mangled organs, and fractured bones. Their death, aside from the sound of an interrupted scoff and their bones snapping under the pressure of the jaws, was quick and silent. Only their arms and legs, crudely severed, are recognizable. The jaws open, and the remains of their body rest on either side of the teeth. Where Bold had stepped over, the teeth have moved considerably, bent forcibly out of position, leaving more significant gaps while pushing the teeth closer together elsewhere. Blood seeps from the gums around some of the teeth. Inflammation appears everywhere, but particularly worse where the teeth crushed Bold.

While the membrane absorbs the blood, Lucky picks up one of Bold’s severed arms — the one on our side. They rest the arm on top of the jaw’s bottom row of teeth. In tempo, the jaws snap shut, crushing the arm in two. The arm slightly crooks some teeth. Lucky then picks up one of Bold’s legs and steps back. The leftover remains of Bold absorb and disappear beneath the membrane.

Elbowed jolts forward, quickly stepping over the bottom row of teeth after the jaws open. They turn around after making it safely on the other side of the jaws — looking at them as if they are surprised to have made it. Stung watches the jaws intently, readying themselves for the right timing. They make it across but nearly trip on the bottom row. It’s just me and Lucky now.

We both watch the first row of jaws open and close. Lucky raises their hand towards it, bouncing their hand in tempo. They squeeze my arm, then place their hand on my shoulder — guiding me to the rhythm. I ready myself. They quickly and lightly push my shoulder as the jaws open. I step over the bottom row and reach the other side next to Elbowed and Stung. Lucky steps beside me, only but a moment later.

The next row of jaws closes faster than the first pair. Stung leaps forward but trips their foot on one of the teeth. They fall into the succeeding third pair on the other side of the jaws. The third jaws clamps down with lethal force, tearing Stung into two across their waist. Stung screams and then abruptly dies.

The three of us stare silently and watch as their remains soon sink into the membrane. Lucky still holds one of Bold’s legs. After the jaws open, Lucky sticks one end between some teeth on the bottom row. The jaws crush down on the leg bone, effortlessly snapping it apart. Bone fragments spray at us, pushing Elbowed off-balance. They stick their arm out behind them to break their fall. The jaws behind us then bite Elbowed’s arm, completely severing it from their shoulder. Their voice violently shrieks — my ears ring in pain. They try to stop the bleeding with their other hand. Lucky and I look on helplessly, unable to move. Elbowed lays back and rests their head on the bottom row of teeth. The jaws close and crushes their face into their skull. Only a bloody pulp remains. Blood pools between the two jaws, covering our feet up to our ankles. It all then sinks away into the membrane floor.

Lucky and I are alone now. The front-row teeth on the second pair of jaws ahead of us have bent significantly out of shape — leaving a narrow gap, perhaps wide enough to fit through. While the jaws are closed, Lucky cautiously sticks their hand in the gap. The jaws open and close, leaving their hand untouched. Lucky lifts their foot and places it on the exposed gum in the gap. The jaws open and close again — safely missing Lucky’s foot. Lucky grips me. Using their foot, they kick and push on the adjacent teeth. I help hold Lucky in place while they gradually widen the gap. They also use their hands to further pry apart the loose teeth on the top row. The gap should be enough to crawl through now.

We both crawl through, being careful to avoid having our legs crushed by the first pair of jaws behind us. Only one pair of jaws remains in front of us. This one closes much faster than the other two. Too fast. However, this time, we don’t have any bony limbs to spare. I look behind me at the second row of jaws and get an idea. I use my foot and kick one of the loose teeth. After a few tries, the tooth eventually nearly breaks free. Lucky sees what I’m doing and carefully lowers themselves on their side. They pull the tooth free with their hands. I then help them up on their feet. Just before Lucky tries to place the freed tooth on the third pair of teeth in front of us, I stop them. They let me take the tooth from them.

On the end of the tooth is a sharp root. Using the sharp end, I begin digging away at the wall of the shaft. The membrane is initially tough and elastic, but the sharp root manages to break the seal. There’s more tissue beyond the membrane wall, but it’s softer and easier to dig through. I start digging my own narrow tunnel through the fleshy tissue. Lucky follows closely behind, nearly hugging my back. They aggressively nudge me forward as if to escape something from behind them. I continue on, tunnelling frantically into the soft tissue.