Chained

Chapter 14: Downed

Black awoke with a strong jolt, quickly realizing he had a deep pain in his stomach. He examined his surroundings as he started to fully wake up. He immediately noticed that he was being dragged on the dirt floor, his wrist being held by Red's tentacle, and hurriedly, too. Though, dragging someone around can't be too fast.

Black quickly attempted to get on his feet and ended up tripping over a stone jutting out of the ground. Red noticed the movement and looked backward.

"Oh! Black, you're awake! Finally, and just in time." Red skidded to a stop and reached out a hand for Black to grab, the tentacle that was previously gripping his wrist sinking back into Red's oxygen pack. Black grabbed Red's hand and they quickly started off running, Black clutching his stomach, which was starting to bleed from all the cuts from the rocks jutting out of the dirt he had been dragged along.

"What- hff- are we running- h- from?" Black panted, slowing down as he lost stamina.

Red looked back at Black. "Simply speaking, Lime. NOW RUN!"

Black twisted his gaze behind him, and sure enough, Lime was sprinting just a few feet behind him, tentacles sprawling out of her body and being used to boost her. Black sped up, now motivated to continue running.

Red wrapped a tentacle around Black's wrist and yanked him forward, sending Black flying. Black yelped, trying to land on his feet but tripping and falling face first. Red ignored this and continued to pull on his wrist. Black stumbled and flipped, leaving a flurry of dust in his wake.

Red lifted Black up in an attempt to gain speed. Now, Black was swinging back and forth, into the walls and trying to regain his senses dizzily. He shot out two tentacles on either side of him and reached out to the walls -- he realized quickly that this was one of the medium tunnels, big enough to fit two normal-sized impostors side by side. In fact, it was taller, too, so if Cyan tried to get in, she'd succeed if she were crawling.

He felt the walls with his tentacles and pushed himself until he wasn't swinging so strongly anymore. Then, he took his tentacles and shot them toward Lime. She jumped over one aiming for her feet and grabbed the other, which was aimed toward her chest. She yanked the tentacle, bringing Red and Black to a halt.

Red tried to move but with limited success; only moving a few inches or so before he was just slowly walking in place.

She's strong, Black thought nervously as he tried to tug the tentacle out of her firm grip.

Red looked Black in the visor. "Stay here and don't die." He quickly let go of Black's wrist, scooped up Strawberry Milk, and took off running, leaving him and Lime staring after him, wide-eyed. As he disappeared out of view, Black and Lime looked at each other for a moment in utter confusion. Lime shook her head to clear it and shot out a tentacle from her oxygen pack, fastening it around Black's leg.

Black's nerves rose and he struggled and kicked the tentacle, all while also attempting to pull his own out of Lime's firm grip. Lime also seemed to be struggling a bit, but not as much as Black.

Black shot out two tentacles in Lime's direction. Lime's visor widened and she quickly jumped over one and ducked right under the other. In all this panic, Lime had let go of the tentacle she had been holding, and Black quickly brought his tentacles back to his body in triumph.

Lime growled, her visor turning a deeper shade of red. Lime extended a tentacle, reaching above Black's head.

She's trying to knock me out! Black panicked, bringing a tentacle above his own head to block it. Lime quickly threw a strong tentacle and knocked the other one out of the way, before smashing it down on Black's head.
"You little..." he muttered weakly. His vision and mind grew fuzzy as everything faded to black.

Black awoke with a start, breathing heavily. He looked around.

He seemed to be in a donut-shaped room which branched off into a couple other rooms, one of which he could see from where he was laying. It looked like an indoor jungle, with leaves and vines everywhere — and a single oak tree in the middle, with a tablet built into it.

Black sat up groggily and sluggishly walked toward the oak tree room. He took a few steps, and out of the corner of his vision, he saw some movement over to his right.

He stopped in his tracks and looked toward the movement. He didn't expect to see Red sitting there, with his tentacles out, rubbing his head. Red stopped rubbing and his hand lay still on his head as he looked up at the cyan-visored impostor.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Black spoke up.
"What in the STARS just happened?!"

Red lowered his hand and his tentacles relaxed, resting on the floor. "Well I had a plan-"

"HOW DID YOU EXPECT THAT TO WORK, RED?!"

"I was going to sneak up behind her, and knock her out so we could continue on..."

"How exactly did you expect me to survive in the time it would take to get all the way across the hole system?"

"W- well..."

Black sighed in irritation. "Well, what happened? Lime knocked me out while we were fighting."

"I came behind Lime, knocked her out, but found you knocked out too. And apparently my hit was weak or a vent impostor got me or something... I was just analyzing the damage and I was taken o-" Red stopped, his visor widening nervously. He looked through all his tentacles before sliding them back into his oxygen pack. "Ohhhhhhh STARS." Red was instantly on his feet once the last of his tentacles slid back into him.

Black cocked his head at him in confusion.

Red sighed in annoyance. "They got SM..."