Property of WICKED

Chapter 9 ~ Panic, sweat, and more panic

"A few more times and he'll be up!" Thomas grunted as they used their body weight to pull on the vines. Thomas' plan was by far the best one they had all discussed, yet it was close to impossible. They used all their body weight, but because of how overgrown the vines where, they had to pull them from the wall every now and then which used up more strength than yanking up Alby.

Iris heard a small metallic clanking, for a moment she thought she was hearing things but once she peered round the corner the saw a claw, or what looked like a claw.

"Iris! Pull!" Thomas broke her away from her daze and she started pulling again, her palms burned from the vines causing the skin to graze, but she paid little to no mind to it. Her adrenaline was helping her power on, she hoped it didn't wear out for a while.

"Minho, what are you doing?" Iris heard Thomas speak, she looked up behind her and saw Minho was staring down the corridor she had been staring down, his eyes looked like they would pop from their sockets they were so wide.

"I'm sorry..." He muttered, Iris and Thomas knew what was coming.

"Minho, don't go!" Thomas shouted, Minho let go of the vine causing Thomas and Iris to be pulled towards the wall, colliding with the ivy and concrete. Minho was long gone, they couldn't even hear his footsteps.

A god awful shriek came from close by, both of them froze, but Thomas was the first to act, he began tying off the end of the vine. Iris couldn't move, all her joints had seized up, all she could feel was her heart punching against her chest, she could hear her own pulse in her head.

"Iris!" Thomas grabbed her arm and yanked her into the ivy, she still hadn't moved on her own. A metallic clicking came from the right of her, by the corridor the shriek had come from. The clicking was loud, and it sounded like a metal detector. A claw gently placed itself in front of them, in bedding into the concrete creating a small hole. Then another claw, and then another, then the entire body showed itself.

Iris gripped Thomas' hand, he gripped hers back just as hard but neither of them paid attention to the pressure of their strength on one another.

It was large and a bulbous like creature, the moonlight reveal the shimmer of slime on its actual flesh, but the legs weren't like its body which made Iris tilt her head. Through the ivy, She could see the legs were robot like, metal, but the body was actual slimy flesh. She knew they weren't natural creatures, they had been made by some sick people, yet she felt she had seen it before and wasn't that surprised when she saw the size of it, a familiarity lingered in her mind. Like it was on the tip of her tongue..

The creature stopped for three seconds, directly infront of them. Through the ivy she could see the body slowly go by, she never saw the face but suspected it to be just as terrifying. It must have heard something as it shot into the corridor to the left of them both, the sound of the metal claws slowly disappeared into the atmosphere.

Two minutes went by before Thomas moved the ivy from his face. He poked his head out first, looking left and right thoroughly before taking the first step out from the ivy they were hiding behind. Iris followed his lead, the feeling of taking off sprinting took over, she was about to but realised she couldn't leave Thomas like Minho had done.

Thomas turned around and rushed towards her, he placed both his hands on the sides of her upper arms and stared into her eyes, he spoke in a panicked and rushed tone, "We have to stay together, Iris, don't leave." All she could do was nod, she couldn't form words in that moment, fear did a weird thing to her it made her freeze up.

"We need to leave, or go somewhere." Iris had felt a sudden wave of adrenaline return to her body, she grabbed Thomas' wrist and tugged him behind her as she walked down one of the thousands of maze corridors.