In Vendetta House (The Vendetta Series #1)

Chapter 27

Chapter 27



"Oh, ow, ow, ow, ow."

"Eric, shut up!"

"I'm getting strangled to death here!"

"So are we!"

I whack the tentacle around my waist with the blunt of my sword. There is a bitter taste in my mouth as I struggle. My rib cage feels compressed within itself, every breath I exhale makes the side of my skin press painfully against the armor.

My legs flail around in air. There aren't actually many people still situated in the ground. The attackers are giant octopus-like things that automatically go for picking us up and shaking us around. They are green, slimy and are constantly making gnashing noises with their mouth. I try not to shudder.

I squirm. Turning as much as I can, I stab the sharp of my sword into the tentacle. I can't get much in while being used like a salt-shaker, but it's enough for the tentacle to unwind, dropping me.

With a sharp scream, I fall and hit the cornstalks. Bits of them cling to me as I crawl deeper into the field. The tentacle comes feeling around for the toy it dropped, and I bless the corn for being tall enough to hide me- even if it's freaking painful. The tentacle drips blue blood from the wound I made. I cringe as the blood gets slathered onto corn near me. Gross.

"Owwww!" I hear Eric call out again. "I can't breathe!"

A grunt. A squish. Jesse jumps free. Another squish, and Eric whoops, "Yus!"

Jumping out from my cover, I charge at the octopus with a scream. I dodge its outreached tentacles, and leap.

"Ariel! A little help!" Sasha screams.

I land, grunting, and hold tightly onto what seems like the head of this thing.

"I'm coming!" I say.

I inch my way to the front of the octopus. Meanwhile, dinosaur-like birds with shark-like teeth in their beaks have started swooping low and pecking at people. Oh dear.

I plunge the sword deep into the eye of the octopus. It shrieks, and dissolves, casting a putrid stink that erupts across the stimulation.

As we drop to the floor again, birds caw out, attracted to the smell. More birds. Fantastic.

"I don't suppose we can just hide here, can we?" Sasha sighs, smoothing down the hairs sticking out from under her helmet.

"S'pose not," Jesse murmurs.

The sky flashes. Red lightning flashes down, and not soon after, thunder rumbles. More hideous beings are rising in the center clearing of the corn field.

I feel a sudden weight on my belt, and look down to see a bow and quiver appearing. The quiver holds about ten arrows, each garnished with a sharp point.

"Ooh!" Sasha exclaims, unhooking her own bow. "Finally something I can use-"

She is interrupted by a scream and a body knocked flying. The clearing is in chaos; there are too many monsters and not enough people.

We run towards it, making sure to take out some swooping birds along the way.

I grunt as one nearly knocks off my heavy helmet.

"Stupid thing."

As we reach the clearing, Sasha stops, and nocks an arrow from a distance towards a boy surrounded by bears. She aims, with one eye shut for precision, and releases.

It hits a perfect center of a bear-like body. It roars and whirls around, clawing at the arrow. She sends out a few more at rapid speed, each hitting vital places. The head gets hit, then another in the chest, followed by one in the throat. The bear drops and dissolves, giving another foul burst of smell. My jaw drops.

"Sasha!" Jesse exclaims.

She looks surprised. "What?"

"Your shooting is amazing," Eric says, awed.

She beams. "Thank you."

I hand her all my arrows. "You know, I think you'll find these more useful than I will."

As soon as Sasha takes the arrows, something knocks me right off my feet.

I hear a scream, probably Sasha's, as I am flung from one end of the clearing right into the deep end of the field. I am too winded to let out any noise. The moment my back hits the floor, a giant worm-like thing presses itself onto me. I gag, with shock and with disgust, and struggle with my arm to get my sword that was knocked out. It is strangely muffled and quiet in this row of corn. I am far from the others. Nobody rushes to my aid- everyone has their own problems to deal with. I have to make it out alive on my own.

The worm hisses, and opens its mouth. I try not to throw up, as the tiny hole on the blunt of its head opens wide, revealing a giant mouth full of spinning teeth. That's right, the teeth spun like a bloody chainsaw.

The worm's long body curls around my limbs and holds me down. My skin practically shrivels where it makes contact. The armor does nothing to fight the revulsion of the disgusting slobber dribbling onto my neck.

This is it, my mind shrieks. If you don't do something, YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING DIE.

I reach and stretch for the sword as the teeth move closer. It has my arm squashed down. I can't move it.

Instead of stretching out my hand, I pull it in. My arm circles around the bit holding me down, and I blindly reach for the any weapon I have left on me. ,y fingers close around the bow tucked in my belt.

"Argh!" I grunt, pulling it free. I jab it at the underside of the worm right as it lunges for my face. I twist my head to the side, making it narrowly skim my ear. Gasping, my hand develops a mind of its own as it goes crazy trying to stab the worm. The blunt object doesn't do much, but it shoves it off enough I can shimmy out and tighten my fingers around the hilt of my sword. I grip it tightly, and bring it up to shove deep into its throat (or what appear to be its throat). The spinning teeth dent the sword slightly, but the worm spasms as I push the sword in with more strength.

All I hear are my own heavy pants as the worm dissolves. Jesse, Sasha and Eric choose this precise moment to arrive.

"Are you okay?"

I wince as my head spins. I stand, and raise a hand to check for bumps. My earlobe is bleeding a little, and I probably have Kansas-sized bruises on my back. But I'll survive.

"Yeah," I choke. "I can manage."

That's when another monster, closely resembling a human plant chooses to suddenly pop out of the field and take Sasha and Eric, who were standing near the edge of the cornstalks, in its two arms of thick vine.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I scream, running after them.

I don't get far.

One of the pelican creatures swoop down with its mouth wide open. My first instinct is to duck, hoping it will piss off. No such luck.

"Ariel!" Jesse screams.

"I got it!" I scream back, slamming my sword in an arch, trying to catch the forsaken bird. I manage to slice the head, but as soon as it dissolves, another takes its place.

Turning back to check how many were coming, I see a zombie bear stagger towards Jesse.

"Jesse! Behind!"

He turns right in time to slash the bear's middle. Blood splatters all over his face. I'm sure mine is in the same condition. I move closer to cover more space.

"Bloody hell!" he snarls, slashing the bear again for good measure. "This is stupid. Goddamn stupid. I can't even see any reason for doing this. It proves nothing!"

I almost freeze as a pelican swoops at me. Somehow, we had ended up fighting back-to-back and occasionally shifting to side-to-side. This was the exact position I saw. That was the exact line I heard. I swing my sword across the pelican's neck, and the blood flies at me.

I know what the next line is supposed to be. But I refuse to say it. I won't follow the fate already set. I'll make my own.

"I know," I seethe quietly. "I know."

I survey the surroundings. The monsters are beginning to die down as kids fight and eliminate. We'd taken out most of the ones in our area. My chest heaves up and down, breathless. One thought, and only one drifts around my mind: ensure my own survival. I push it down.

"We need to find Eric and Sasha," I say.

He nods, then a glint catches in his eye. "There!" he yells, pointing to a blob of green in the field. We dash into the stalks, and I chop away corn getting in my way like a mad serial killer. I wonder if Aunt Nelly has found her Nephilum yet. I am getting tired of this.

We reach the vine monster quickly. Sasha is struggling to nock an arrow as the vine moves with her hanging upside down. Eric is having trouble even lifting his sword. The arms Sasha and Eric are tangled in have sharp spikes on the outer edges, closely resembling razor blades.

Jesse tries to charge in immediately, but I grab his hand and pull him back.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," I hiss.

He turns back, confused. "What?"

"What do you mean, what? The red blood on your face really brings out the blue in your eyes?" I suggest, sarcasm coating my voice even in the most inappropriate times. "If you charge in there, you're not gonna have eyes!"

Jesse wrinkles his bloodied nose. "Weird way of putting it, but okay. Point taken."

I examine the way the vine moves as it makes a screeching noise. I shift uncomfortably as the blades on its arm strays dangerously close to a fidgeting Sasha. Orange lightning is constantly flashing, bringing down more heat. My sweat is making my hair is sticking to my skin.

"Okay, I'm going to go in first and take off some of its weird vine legs as a distraction. You can sever its arms and rescue them. Sound good?"

He nods, then hesitates. "Are you sure you can do the distraction? I could do it if you want."

"Of course I can do it!"

I must look offended because his expression becomes even more concerned. "I'm not doubting you I'm just saying-"

"I know. But I can do it."

I step in before he can say anything more. The vine monster is a green tree: the body is the trunk, holding a pitchy black center eye. Its two arms are the branches and its legs spread out like roots, raising up and down to move like a snake.

As soon as I detach some of the legs and the vine turns towards me, almost narrowly its eyes, Jesse darts out. With a short yell, he severs the left arm completely. Eric falls with a thud.

"I'm getting real tired of falling and falling and falling some more," he grunts.

The vine turns its attention onto Jesse and lets loose a wail. I'm not sure from where, seeing as it has no mouth.

"Hey!" I scream, trying to distract it as Jesse attempts to free Sasha. He doesn't even have to; the vine voluntarily drops Sasha before his sword even makes contact. He swings at air as the vine reaches for something else. Me.

I dive to one side as the arm shoots at me like a bullet. It knocks my shoulder back. I stumble, my front armor plate falls to the side a little.

"Sash!" Jesse yells as Sasha moans on the floor. I guess the vine didn't really drop her, but more or less throw her.

Eric tries to take out some vine legs as the vine focuses all its attention on me.

"Eric, stab the eye!" I yell, dodging another attack and trying to cut off its remaining right arm- the one posing the biggest threat.

"Okay!" he screams back.

As he glides close to the vine and plunges his sword into its disgustingly gooey eye, the vine finally gets a hit on me. The sharp edges of the arm swipes across my stomach right as it dissolves.

Now, I've never been stabbed before but I imagine the pain is something similar. My hand clutches the slit on my torso. At first, I feel nothing but cold and numb. But the shock sets in as soon as I see blood. My own blood coming out of my stomach. Underneath my armor was nothing but the shirt I was wearing earlier. Once blue, now purple. My stomach is throbbing. Every breath is agony, and I struggle not to scream from the intensifying pain. I could feel it all the way to my toes. It resonates into my bones and then back out again, buzzing across the skin. It feels as if my skin cells are going to explode and pull apart.

I inhale, my hands shaking. That had to have gone deep, so why am I not going losing consciousness or going into shock?

My skin is tingling. And it doesn't feel good. Not at all.

"Ariel?" Sasha calls out. Then, more hysterical: "Ariel!" She's seen the blood.

A hand grips my side. A finger brushes the hair out of my face.

"Oh shit, shit. Double shit," Eric is murmuring.

This has to count as life-threatening, right? I mean, I don't know but I'm 99.9% sure the stomach contains vital organs that aren't supposed to be punctured.

That's when I realize it doesn't actually hurt that much. Does it?

I pull my hand away from my stomach. It comes back completely covered in blood. My once pale skin is scarlet from fingertip to elbow.

"I'm okay," I say. I am, right? "It's... it's just a skin wound."

"Are you sure?" Jesse asks, staring at my bloodied arm. "You don't lose that much blood over a skin wound." He reaches for the hem of my shirt and lifts it slightly, examining the cut.

I would have protested, but I feel so tired. In fact, it doesn't even hurt anymore.

Okay, maybe I am going into shock a little.

He curses. "It's still deep enough to continue bleeding."

Jesse turns to Eric, who looks like he's on the verge of freaking out.

"Eric, tear me a bit of your shirt. Mine doesn't rip."

Eric doesn't even question it. He reaches under his armor, and tears the whole segment of the bottom off. He passes the long, thick strip of stretchy black fabric.

Oh my god, I really am turning into a Mary-Sue. My wounds are being bound by bits of fabric torn off a shirt.

Jesse secures it around my torso, his fingers careful and burning hot. I'm still staring into space, dumbfounded.

"I hope this secures it," he says. "I'm sure if it were serious, they would stop the stimulation, right?"

Why are they making such a big fuss of this? I feel fine. I can't even remember what we were doing.

"You should stay put," Jesse warns me. "It'll probably bleed worse if you keep moving. This stimulation can't go on forever, just stay still until it ends, okay?"

I nod, not really registering his words.

They start discussing something in hushed tones while I glance up. Has the sky always been orange? I feel dizzy.

"AHHH! Help! Help!"

The voice sends me reeling like a bucket of ice water to the face. I'd know that voice anywhere. I snap out of whatever daze I was in. I gasp, and adjust the plate of armor.

"Sebastian, Sebastian," I murmur as if it were my lifeline. "Sebastian is here. They got Sebastian. He needs my help."

"Ariel, no!" Jesse yells, frantic. "It's a trick!"

I've already dashed off. The pain in my middle is screaming at me to stop. I ignore it, and soon it disappears.

Something pulls at my wrist.

"Ariel! Cut it out!"

I try shake Jesse off.

"I hear Jake as well," he gasps out. "They're using voice recordings. This is a stimulation, remember?"

I stop and actually listen. Jesse is right. There is an entire cacophony of voices; I simply heard the one that mattered to me.

But then I start running again.

"How did they get the recordings?" I screech.

He grabs my arm back again. "Be logical. They've been watching for years. It's not hard to record someone and then cut out words to form a sentence."

I slow down. Okay, that makes sense. It makes sense. I glance towards the clearing, where people were fighting a new wave of shadow-like monsters, floating around the fake people and surrounding them. Whenever someone came too close, they shot purple icicles from their hands. The kids dodge them, barely. However, no one seems crazed. Some are realizing that the people trapped look too young to be the person they know. Or they were wearing a shirt they had thrown out ages ago.

That is the first thought that comes to mind when I see Sebastian in the crowd. I threw that Pacman shirt out three years ago.

Aunt Nelly has shoved us all in here for nothing. This all proves nothing.

Then, a frantic girl screaming "Garnet!" comes charging in.

"Oh no," Sasha mutters. I hadn't even realized she caught up to me.

Ruby goes wild, clawing at the shadows and only getting madder when she can't break apart the wisps. Her identical twin peers over at her, wearing a blank face.

"We have to help her!" Sasha cries. "Ruby is not the Nephilum. Dr. White is going to think she's the Nephilum."

"Sasha..." Eric says, almost hesitantly. "We all care about our family. But none of us are going batshit crazy over it and taking out shadows with our bare hands."

Sasha shakes her head furiously. "You don't understand. They've spent their whole lives together, never seperated. She can't be deemed Nephilum because she cares about her sister!"

And as she speaks, Ruby cries for Garnet and Garnet stares back, her mouth only repeating, "Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!" without other expression. I run forward, stumbling towards her while the shadow hits her hard with a translucent hand. I break into a sprint, Sasha close on my tail. Ruby pushes herself into a half-sprawled sitting position, fury radiating off her skin. She stares down the shadow, blank. Unmoving.

"Move out of the way, Ruby!" I scream.

The shadow shoots an icicle straight at her as Ruby makes no effort to move. I wrack out a sob, stupefied. Tears pour down her face too, but they are dead silent; running as fast as the blooming streams of blood. She inhales raggedly, clutching the icicle that goes in through her front and sticks out her back.