Death Wish

Chapter 16

I lay curled in the grass, hands over my head and heart beating too fast.

I've refused to move since I lost Auctor Vitae, without her I'm hopelessly defenseless. If I move on from where she was dropped she's doomed to be gone forever. As long as I lay here, there's a small chance I'll find the gun again.

But I won't look. Not since I've heard noises in the brush just a few minutes ago.

My wide, terrified eyes stare into the dark as I strain my ears to hear over my rapid heart beat and throbbing injuries. Nothing is working for me, I'm merely too panicked to focus on my own survival. The dark itself makes my insides knot up with fear over the endless possibilities of what's to happen to me.

If I'd never run out on my own I wouldn't be like this. I wouldn't be fated to either bleed out on my own or by attack, I wouldn't be in this much pain, and I wouldn't be feeling like this big of a dumbass!

I wrinkle my nose in anger and and pinch my eyes shut to cut off my view of the darkness. Hot tingles spread through my nose and eyes, threatening tears and runny snot. I sniff to delay the worst, but as soon as I do I realize there's much more to be upset about than bodily fluid.

The sniffle echoes through the dull brush, attracting more attention than I intended. The ambience of The Pit is disturbed by not only my refusal to look like a pussy, but by the abrupt stops of other footsteps. My eyes snap open where I lay and I bolt to sit up. My bones ache in detest, but I keep upright where I can see.

It's still dark. I smear my eyes with a sleeve to try and see better, but it doesn't do nearly as much as I hoped it would have. My heart races loud enough to make my ears ring again as I come back to reality and know I'm weaponless and alone.

Several low, flat footed steps plop towards me. I hold my breath and keep my head up to brace for the biggest, nastiest monster I could ever behold when -

Tffft.

The tall grass moves, but nothing is standing over me. I look around warily before my eyes drop low to the dirt to see a small pack of colourful and horned frogs. Their skin is swirls of blue and purple with spots of white and silver, making their pitch black eyes stick out even more. Each of their horned noses twitch innocently as they all stare up at me.

I let out a huge breath of relief, "Holy shit." I almost laugh hysterically now as I look at them all. "You guys scared me."

Of course they don't respond. I sit there for a moment before awkwardly going to shoo them. "Go on, go go go . . ." I sway the back of my hand at them gently to pressure them to move away.

As soon as my skin comes into contact with the leading frog's head, it squeaks and steps back. A small sting spreads up my hand and I wince, "Ow..." As I peer through the dark to make sure nothing serious has occurred, the other frogs soon panic over it's friend before all glaring to me.

I look from my hand to the small monsters. We have a tense stare-off for a few moments before they all suddenly erupt into angry, inhuman commotion and leap onto me to attack. Every inch of bare skin they touch stings just as hard as the last time.

I instantly go down in a tiny, colourful, adorable riot.

~ ~ ~

Frank spreads his limbs out for balance as he tries to land as gracefully as possible. While levitation is a norm, it's a lot harder to safely drift to the ground with The Pit's force pulling him down so quickly. He waves himself around anxiously to try and force the levitation to overpower the increasing weight being put on him.

"Ffffff -" He stresses.

As the bottom comes faster by the second, he's close to just about giving up. He screws his eyes shut and braces for the worst.