His daughter (Sequel to intertwined fates)

Chapter 23: The Creature

Wind swept through my face, forcing me to face the other way. From where I was, I could see above me the silhouette of the aircraft we'd been on. Below were several trees, all of which might as well have been
10 feet high. All over the sky, figures could be seen either divebombimg down, or floating with their parachutes. I aimed myself downwards, feeling giddy as the air rushed past my face. Clutching at the parachute cord I waited until the trees had been cleared and buildings stood evermore present.

Time slowed down as everything was coloured in a tint of blue. I found myself able to stand on seemingly nothing. Then, the options appeared before me: a grappling hook, a bounce pad and a rope. I swiped at the rope out of curiosity. The ground was fast incoming. I threw the rope forward, causing it to tangle around a pole. However, the rope didn't get caught as the ground was inches away from my face.

The fail screen met my eyes. Its blue hinge illuminated the words in front of me.

Fail: Did you think that would ACTUALLY work?

Swiping at the retry button, I found myself again with the 3 options. This time, I chose grappling hook. As soon as I did, it appeared in my hand. Time resumed as I was now falling. Using it, I saw the pine extend extremely fast. It hit a building and latched on, causing me to start to fly forward. I braced for impact, but it did not come.

The blue tinge was there, along with two options: a teleporter and bounce shoes. I slso noticed the timer above me was ticking down, the wall slowly approaching me. In a hurry, I swiped at the bounce shoes.

Time resumed as I turned myself around. However, as the shoes made contact, I felt massive pain ricket through my bones. My legs gave way as I launched backwards, tumbling and spinning.

Fail: That doesn't look like the cartoons.

Yet again, I was met with the fail screen. However, now the pain I'd had was gone. Only the mental feel of my legs breaking was left with me. Even as I swiped retry, I couldn't get the though out of my head.

Choice: You good?

He stood there, behind the message.

Hannah: Yeah...yeah I'm good.

However, stopped me from clicking retry by covering the word. His face was filled with a stern worry as he came through.

Choice: I know your not fine. No one would be ok after that.

He outstretched his hand as a jug if water appeared. He passed it to me,  beckoning me to drink.

Choice: You can see why not many people can get through the choices. They think about not having to worry about getting something wrong. About having plenty of opportunities. That's why I made the contract. These allow me to give Chaos users an easier time.

I took the cup, realising my hands were shaking as my throat felt dry. As soon as the cup reached my lips, I felt a sensation of warmth hit my forehead, making me gasp in shock.

Choice: Carefull. Don't stress yourself over it.

I blinked as he disappeared. In the bottom of the cup was a note: "Try not to think about failures too much kiddo.".

Before I could comprehend what had just happened, I found myself in the same situation. However, this time, the timer above me was longer. Without hesitation, I swiped at the teleporter.

It came into my hands as I immediately pushed the large red button. Reality around me distorted and warped. I gasped as I found myself underwater, only to end up next in a building, high above the floor. Then a volcano, a campsite, a room full of jackets and a church. I saw flashes of many other places I could not see, before I ended up falling forward, into some kind of mesh.

My arm stretched out as I landed, feeling thorns stab my face and arms. Yet, I could still hear and see. Rolling over, I found I'd landed in what appeared to be a false bush that looked realistic and had some plastic thorns. My arm ached, but I didn't move as I heard gunshots a bit ahead.

???:Keep pushing em back!

Looking around, I recognised some of the buildings. The closest building to me was a storage facility, used to hide weapons and small stacks of cash. Next to that was a barricade which was weathered and had vines growing on it. Over past that were several other buildings, towers and, what I could only presume, a bunker at the other side of the site. From what I'd known, it had been the launchpad upon which the rocket had sat. Now, it housed the grave for my supposedly dead father.

I created behind the fake bushes znd trees, trying to avoid gunshots and grenades. The options appeared several times as I swiped at the right items: a shock wave grenade here, a "pocketable rock wall" there. My only real goal was trying to reach the bunker. Yet, before I got to it, I heard a figure running in my direction, grunting as they did. The choices were "Enderpearl glitch" and "Funny rock". I went for the first option, finding a shiny, green ball with a purple and black centre. I ran to the bunkers side and threw the pearl down, just like in the game "CraftMine".

A sensation of agony seared through as, for a split second, I was stuck in concrete. However , I dropped down several feet, onto a solid concrete floor. My mouth hurt like hell either a gash on my cheek, so I used a nearby, purple scarf as coverage. Even as I got up, I heard muffled sirens coming from outside, followed by a loud voice somewhere nearby.

???: ATTENTION ALL TOPPATS! THE BUNKER HAS BEEN INFILTRATED! I REPEAT, THE BUNKER HAS BEEN INFILTRATED!

In a panick, I ran towards a door. Opening it, I darted through a hallway, about to turn a corner when I felt my pain in my leg. I stopped, making sure I was ok when I heard a noise.

It was a buzzing. A mix between a bee hum and a car engine start. I leaned against the wall, using what skills I'd learned in the resistance camp to peek at what was down the other corridor.

There stood quite a sight. A four foot tall, floating tube in the shape of a cone with a flat base and a red pulse from underneath. It bobbed up and and down as, a few inches above the top, was a large, concrete ball in the image of an eye. The pulpil was overly dilated as it glowed dark, menacing blue. On either side of it were claws, sending waves of electricity into the stone sphere, keeping it floating as the energy went down into the cone.

The options appeared, but I payed no heed to them. My eyes fixated on this strange, menacing thing. It was like a robot and an animal at the same time. I swiped half hazards behind me and felt a grenade in my hand. Pulling on the pin, I threw it down the corridor and covered my ears.

There was a loud buzz, followed by an explosion and several smashes. Looking, I saw bits of stone, metal and marble flying everywhere. I dodged a piece of flying debris, still wondering what that thing was.

Still, even as I walked through the mess, I heard buzzing from the corridor behind me. And it wasn't just the buzzing of one robot. It sounded like there were 12 robots about to turn the corner. I didn't know what they'd do if they caught me.

And I did not want to find out.