She was not the best swimmer and when she got close enough to the gate, one of the flailing vine things grabbed her and yanked her through. She was dropped hard on the chalky ground, a pain shooting up her arm to her shoulder.
Dizzy and coughing up pond water, it took her a few moments to really focus.
This place was desolate, a barren waste—the opposite of a lake. She blinked and squinted into the sky. There was something flying there. Not birds...she didn't even know what to make of them. Suddenly, like her ears popping after driving up a mountain, she could hear monstrous screeches and the yells of her friends.
Getting to her feet, she spotted five of the not-bird-bat-things attacking someone on the ground—Steve. Nancy, Robin and Eddie were already there, whacking with oars. They were only ten, fifteen feet away.
However, her standing caught the attention of one of the hellbats. Before she knew it, it was flapping to her, screeching. She screamed in response because it was ugly and she was terrified. It swooped down and tried to attack and bite but only managed to chomp on her hair.
Unfortunately, it got its long tail around her midriff and tried lifting her into the air.
She flailed her limbs, making it harder for the thing to try. She dug her nails into the slimy and cold tail.
The bat squawked and released her. She landed unsteadily on her feet as the bat came in for another attack, jaws gaping.
Chrissy felt the whoosh of air by her head as an oar was swept through the air, hitting the bat, dazing it. She reached out for the tail and yanked it down. It landed with a thump on the ground, flopped around.
Eddie stepped on one wing and swung the oar at another bat. It cracked and split, leaving a jagged end.
Chrissy yelped as the barbed end of the tail swung around, slashing her arm. Eddie spun the broken oar and brought the jagged piece right down through the hellbat's spiny chest.
He then tossed the oar piece to Robin and between her, Nancy, and Steve straight up biting one bat's tail and ripping it in half, all of the beasts were defeated.
"Jesus H. Christ!" Eddie screamed, throwing down the oar. Chrissy stood there, semi-stunned, staring at the thick blood staining her hands.
They all scurried under a cave to take shelter from the bat. Nancy tended to Steve's wounds.
Robin crouched over one of the corpses. "Hey...do you think these bats have rabies? It's just that rabies are like my number one greatest fear."
"Rabies?" Chrissy gasped out. "We just...we just swam through a portal to an alien dimension where everything wants to kill us and your greatest fear is rabies?! Fucking rabies!"
"Hey, hey, Chris..." Eddie appeared in front of her. He had stripped some of his layers off and wrapped his black and red flannel around her shoulders. It was wet like everything else, but it was better than her very wet, very dirty white polo she had on.
Eddie then turned and tossed his denim vest to a shirtless, bitten up Steve. "For your modesty, dude," he said when Steve gave him a look.
He turned back to Chrissy who had started putting her hands through the sleeves, which were far too long but she didn't mind.
"A-are you okay?" she asked. Adrenaline and fear were rushing through her body and she found herself shivering and her teeth nearly chattering.
"Terrified," he said honestly, rubbing her shoulders with the hope of warming her up a little. "You didn't have to come in after me."
