Game of Life

Chapter 10

"Okay," I breathed. "We can do this. Same as before, you take that side and I've got this one." I pointed to specify and he released me. We prepped balls of lightning in our hands, prepared to throw them the second the bees came into sight.

A yellow body flashed by and I sent out a shockwave, feeling the air shift as Eric did the same, again the magic spread out, dropping them to the ground.

"Did you get 'em all?" Eric asked and I turned to face him.

"Yeah."

"Did they seem...different to you?"

"What do you mean?"

I glanced back at the pile of bodies and gasped softly. They were still twitching, not dead yet. I frantically grasped at Eric's hand.

"Eric..."

He turned his gaze to mine, eyes widening before he turned back to face his. They continued twitching and I pulled his sleeve. "Run!" We ran through my group, crushing several beneath our feet. Buzzing rose up again behind us and I swore, sending another shockwave flying behind me. The resulting silence was short lived and again the terrifying noise resumed.

"How do we stop them?" I panted.

"Just keep running! Look for another staircase."

I kept my eyes peeled as we ran, checking every passageway for an indication of a slope. "Did those look bigger than the others to you?"

"Yeah, and considering the lightning didn't take them out it's a safe bet to say it's going to get harder the higher we go."

A revelation hit me. "That's how we find the queen."

"Well shit."

"Wait, here!" We turned into the next stairwell. The swarm that had been right on our tail stopped at the entrance to the passage, spreading out along the door but, thankfully, didn't cross the threshold.

"I think we're safe," I panted, leaning over and gasping for breath.

"For now."

"I don't think they can get into the stairs."

"I don't want to find out." Eric moved to go up the stairs and I grabbed his pant leg.

"Stop for a minute. I need a break and this is as close to a safe spot as we'll get in here."

He contemplated for a minute, druming his fingers on the wall. "The queen is going to be on the top floor of the hive."

"I don't even want to think about what's on the higher floors."

Eric snorted, shaking his head.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Everything. To think, two days ago all I had to worry about was passing my midterm. Now I'm trapped in a beehive, being chased by mutant bees, in an alternate world with a demon who takes a sick joy in our suffering."

"Yeah tell me about it." I leaned against the wall, taking a few minutes to close my eyes. "Let's keep going."

"Are you sure? I thought you wanted a break?"

"I've rested enough. The sooner we finish the sooner we can get out of here." I pushed myself to my feet and started making my way up the stairs, Eric following close behind.

"How many floors do you think there are?" he asked as we stood on the threshold for the third floor.

"No idea." I took a deep breath to steady myself and we crossed into the new floor. "Let's keep quiet so we can listen." He nodded at my words and we walked on in silence. The dim lanterns barely gave any light and we had to feel our way through the almost pitch black halls.

I considered using a fireball to light the way but was concerned that we may end up lighting the hive on fire, not an experience I wanted to try today.

As we walked I found it odd that we hadn't run into any of the others. I didn't know precisely how many people we had left after all of this but it had to be at least a thousand, and we hadn't seen a single other soul. The hive wasn't that big. Was it? Deciding to leave that thought for later I shrugged and kept on.

I jumped at a sudden vibration, the ground shaking slightly under my feet almost made me trip, but I managed to catch myself on the wall. "What the hell was that?"

It shifted again and Eric reached over to steady me, pulling me back to my feet. "No idea. It doesn't sound good."

Humming started up, surrounding us and I swore. Bracing myself, I stood up and waited for the attack. A flash of yellow went by, followed by hordes of them and I stared in confusion as they just flew past us, not even sparing the two of us a glance.

"What the fuck?" Eric watched them go, just as confused as I was.

"Let's follow them," I ordered, running after the bugs.

"Wait!" He grabbed my wrist. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? Those are giant mutant bees."

"Do you have a better plan?" When he shook his head I waved him off and dashed after them, following the loud buzzing noise.

They turned into the next stairwell and I paused, confused. "I thought they couldn't cross?"

"Something must be happening, don't stop now."

I eyed the stairs warily but went in anyway, taking the steps two at a time. When I crossed the opening to the fourth floor I let out a screech. I had walked right into one of the massive bees and we stared at each other. Its body shifted and long skinny legs with spines for tips protruded from its back, raised in a threatening position.

I tried to take a step back but fear held me in place. The insect was at least half my size, wings flapping rapidly in the air so its eyes were level with my head.

"Calla, back up slowly." Eric's voice broke through my panic and I slowly shuffled backwards. At my movement it twitched, raising its spines ever so slightly. It was enough, I screamed and spun around, sprinting down the stairs behind Eric. I made a mistep on the way down and stumbled, fearing for my life I curled up, protecting my head with my hands as a sharp pain spread along my back.

Then...nothing. I glanced up, the bee had just...disappeared, without a trace. "Calla! Are you okay?" Eric called from the bottom of the steps.

"Yeah, it just got my a little on my back, what happened? Where'd it go?"

"I don't kn-" A rumbling interrupted him and I spun around frantically. I stared in shock as the walls of the hive started to collapse.