Pyrrha

Episode 10: We're Going to Live Happily Ever After

Slowly, Kevin's eyes opened.

Johnson was ecstatic. He beamed with joy, the fruit had worked.

The elevator halted.

"Johnson..." Kevin said weakly.

"Thought I lost you for a second." Johnson said, hauling Kevin to his feet. Kevin wrapped his arm around Johnson for support as they both walked along.

"We're almost at the palace." Johnson said as he helped the limping Kevin walk. "Don't worry, we've almost done it." Johnson reassured. "We're going to walk in, grab Pyrrha and live happily ever after, you hear me?" Johnson's words were empty. They held no promise.

"Where are the Gears at the moment?" Kevin managed to say.

Suddenly the loudspeakers blared again.

"Delta Squad is in your house, bitch! You hear that shit!? You grubby ass bitches are going down, like way down, so far down that you won't even know what way is up. Your going to be cryin' to your skank ass Queen saying, oooh, Mama, don't let the bad men hurt us! Fuck you!" An arrogant voice screamed.

"Whooo!"

"I guess that answers that question." Johnson said with a shrug. They limped out of the elevator and into a large room.

It was disgusting in here.

Bloodmounts lined the walls. They snarled and rattled their cages as Johnson and Kevin stepped in.

There was blood everywhere. Tables and boxes were filled with corpses, presumably food for the Blodmounts.

Johnson looked left and right.

There were no Gears to be seen. They must have ended up in a separate part of the palace to them.

The smell of rotting flesh filled the air.

Johnson quickly let Kevin down and pulled the fruit out again. He squeezed the remainder of the juice into his wounds.

Suddenly, Kevin came to life again as if he'd been stabbed with an adrenalin needle. He looked wide-eyed, that fight-or-flight response rushing through his veins. He gasped for air excitedly as if he'd just been hit with defiblirators. He was very much alive. "Let's go." Kevin said, making his way to the door.

"That Gear sounded pretty angry, they must be near the palace." He said.

"What makes you think that?" Johnson said, chasing after him.

"For that message to have been broadcasted over the loudspeakers they would have had to be in the command centre." Kevin said, recollecting his knowledge of the place. It had been fifteen years, but he could still remember it inside and out.

"The Queen should be in the throne room and if they're in the command centre, then they've got quite the lead on us." Kevin said.

"How is that possible? We bet their Grindlifts to the palace." Johnson added.

"Yeah, but you picked the slowest elevator in Nexus. They're ahead of us." Kevin said, coming to the door.

"Why does that matter?" Johnson said.

"Because they're here to kill the Queen!" Kevin shouted, taking hold of Johnson's shoulders. "Don't you see? If they find out there's a Princess, they'll kill her too!"

"Dear God." Johnson breathed.

"Now let's go!" Kevin exclaimed in a sense of urgency.

He was suddenly stopped.