When Given a Lemon

Part 24

Shattering booms and crashes resound behind me only a moment or two later, and my whole body flinches. It's loud enough to cause pain to my ears, my head; adding to the cacophony of its snarling growls as it shredded anything in its path, be it plant, earth, or living creature.

Then suddenly a volley of spheres joins the mayhem. The monstrosity is momentarily caught by surprise; Stones were raining down, pummeling it.

Voices heard from afar, the villagers offering cries of support, yelling to take aim, and fire! are brought with the wind as they continue to rein down one after another of the bludgeoning boulders onto it.

I finally succeeded in forcing myself to chance a half terrified glance back at the vile beast, and I instantly wish I hadn't. It's pure malice; a horrid behemoth momentarily stopped as it fights off the projectiles. Siaya and Denyel are both dashing for the water, only a step or two ahead of it. I gasp seeing how close it is to them, and almost faceplant in the process.

The megalithic beast growled and swatted at the air, looking more infuriated than hurt. My only hope is that they keep it distracted long enough for us to get the hell out of here!

A gut wrenching sound breaks out that I try to block out; shrieks of pain and fear forming somewhere behind me. The voice I know, but my brain hides it from me, still too overwhelmed from the continued sound of Bill's suffering father down. My cracking voice betrays me as I run screaming for the closest trees. The monster's roar blends with the voice of pain and terror then it is silenced with a horrifying squelching crack!

The sound is sickening, making me misstep, twisting my foot and sending a hot pain spiking up my leg like a rapid flame. Then I am suddenly knocked to my feet by a vicious blow, my head colliding hard with the base of a tree, knocking me senseless.

Thoughts swim by but they make little sense and a great sensation of pain and wetness overwhelms me. Dizziness wraps around me and my eyes only see fuzz then darkness, fading in and out disconcertingly.

I wonder faintly if I am dying.

I cannot understand what has happened for the longest time, unable to get everything to stop spinning, unable to put together the fractures of thought flitting through my head.

More thrashing and booms, thumps and thuds, shaking rocks and sand, debris flying everywhere, covering me. Screaming in the distance… farther away than I remembered it being before. I can't make sense of any of it. A searing jolt of agony split through me pushing all other thoughts to the side.

I shut my eyes, giving up on the swimming world around me, just for a little while, trying to breathe in slowly, at least until I feel things start to level again.

Over time, the world slowly comes back into focus. But the pain in my head and body persists and bile rises until it fills my mouth.

My body promptly tells me that I am still alive by the amount of pain I feel; it's screaming through me like a wind devil riding through a storm. My neck, head, and back all throb tremendously with momentary sharp spikes of intense pain. I'm still laid out flat on my stomach. There's little chance for me to do anything other than breathe. My jaw aches and my mouth is filled with copper and filth.

I open my eyes to find my whole view is of gnarled tree roots; dark, twisted, and looming far up above me. Some of which have found a way into my mouth along with dirt and blood. I had bitten into the wood from my hard landing here, though I can't remember what force had sent me to this spot.

More blood flows from my forehead than from my mouth. Where I had connected with the tree left a splotch of red leaking onto the base of the trunk. I'm too weak to move to wipe it clean, I quickly give up because it's too painful to try. I feel weighed down like I have a big bag of wet sand on top of me, too heavy to lift enough to free myself from.