The Caterpillarian

Chapter 5

I briefly scanned the hallway. Somehow, Amatoshi always knew when we were out of my room, so I knew we had to be quick. He wasn't in the hallway, at least.

I dashed to the top of the stairs and glanced down. And he wasn't at the bottom of the stairs, either.

My heart was thudding painfully. I hated not knowing where he was. Was he in my parents' room? The bathroom? The living room? The kitchen? We just had to keep going.

I bolted downstairs, not caring how much noise I made because it didn't matter. I pictured him standing just outside the living room door and my heart jumped.

He wasn't there but he was in the kitchen.

"You who do not value life," he said, slowly drawing his sword. "Do not deserve it!"

Before Amatoshi could make a move, I saw a sunriken fly over my shoulder, and hit him square in the chest. The room filled with light and warmth, and Amatoshi fell to a knee.

That was our last sunriken, so we had to make the most of it.

I ran forward, squeezed past Amatoshi's rambling form, and darted my eyes around the kitchen. There was something propped on top of the breakfast counter. But it was a beehive and not a head. Surely, this was it, though? Why would there be a beehive randomly on the kitchen counter?

The three of us yelped in surprise when an eye opened in the hole at the front of the hive. The "white" of the eye was gold and the pupil was black.

This was creepy. I mean, creepier than anything else going on.

I hesitated, but ultimately heaved the beehive, or head, or whatever it was into my arms, the course surface scraping against my palms. It was decently heavy, but I could handle it. It was a good thing I was so big for my age.

"Look!" Japer yelled, pointing into the corner of the kitchen.

Laying on a green tile was a pile of sunrikens. Relief washed over me. Amaatoshi was still down, however, so we could save them for now.

"Alison, get some food and drink!" I ordered.

She slipped past me, and opened a cupboard. Her hands disappeared into the cupboard for a fleeting moment, the sounds of crisp packets crackling and pop splashing could barely be heard over Amatoshi's complaining.

With Alison's arms packed with food and drinks, mine wrapped around the beehive, and Jasper's pockets stuffed with sunrikens, we could finally be on our way.

Startled, I dropped the beehive and it hit the floor with a thud. I'd heard a buzzing noise and instantly thought that it had come from the beehive. But now that I listened more carefully, I realised it was coming from behind me. I turned. It was something much worse than bees.

Flies.

You're wondering how flies could be worse than bees? Well, these were GIGANTIC flies. Their bodies, dripping with pus, were as big as the beehive, and their scarlet eyes were as big and as round as Amatoshi's hat. These things could feed a spider for a year.

And then, before any of this could really register, I glanced down at the spider mask in Jasper's hand.

"Web!" I simply said, unable to form sentences right now. I pointed to the mask as Jasper stared at me. "Mask!"

He looked at it. "Oh!" He held it up to his face and his fingers up to the flies' faces. Web launched from his tips, ensnaring the massive insects. The web began to squeeze the flies' bodies. It squeezed and squeezed, until they popped like water balloons. I clasped my eyes shut as pus rained down over me. I opened them again. The kitchen cupboards, the breakfast counter, the floor, and Jasper were coated in yellow puss. Alison had smartly ducked behind the counter. It looked disgusting, but the smell was even worse. It brought me back to that time we'd put an egg in the microwave for a laugh. The thing had exploded, the inside of the microwave stained with shell and yolk. It took me ages to clean. I was grounded for a week.

Blame the internet.

But, anyway, it stunk exactly like that.

My stomach churned. The food in Alison's arms no longer seemed appetizing.

I picked the beehive back up with a grunt.

"Let's go," I said with disgust.

But there was something I'd forgotten about: Amatoshi. And he was standing back upright, leering down at me.

"Drink or die," he hissed.

I simply shook my head, my whole frame trembling.

Before he could execute the latter of his proposal, a sunriken knocked his hat off, filling the kitchen with warmth again.

So happy Jasper had found those extra sunrikens.

We slipped past Amatoshi once more, sprinting for the stairs.

"Ah!"

I turned back at the yelp. Jasper was crouched over, a hand on his leg. Blood was trickling from under his palm.

"What happened?" Alison asked with concern.

"The sword," he hissed, attempting to stand back up.

Amatoshi was still keeled over, his sword in his hand which was resting on his leg. The blade was stained with blood. Jasper must have accidently caught his leg against it when he was running by.

"Can you walk?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said with a pained expression. He picked the mask back up that he'd dropped, and hobbled over to us.

"You go first," I said to him. If Amatoshi recovered in time, he would easily catch up to Jasper. Then again, Amatoshi would easily catch up to I and Alison if we had to lag behind Jasper. Still, it was the right thing to do.

He limped past me as I kept an eye on the skeleton. Judging on how long the other sunrikens lasted, this one would soon be burning out.

Amatoshi left my view as I stepped to the bottom of the stairs. Jasper limped as fast as he could up the stairs, and I and Alison slowly followed him.

The familiar sound of rattling bones and sloshing water pricked my ears. Amatoshi was back on the pursuit, though he was still in the living room.

"Jasper," I started.

"I know!" He grunted. Blood was running down his leg and had stained his sock, but he kept up a decent pace.

"All I wish is to wet your dry tongues!"

I swung my head around, cracking it in the process. Amatoshi's sockets were glaring up at me. He was at the bottom of the stairs—but he wouldn't be for long.

"Is that too much to ask?" He added, placing a foot on the bottom step.

Jasper had reached the top and Alison followed behind.

My heart was walloping against my ribs and my legs were shaking. I rushed up the stairs one by one, Amatoshi right behind me. I'd never felt so terrified.

Jasper and Alison waited in the doorway for me. I'd reached the top and was rushing towards them, struggling to keep the beehive contained between my arms. Something swiped at my leg and I yelped, crashing onto my bedroom floor. The beehive rolled across the room. I swirled around, just in time to see the door slam in Amatoshi's face.