Human Error

The Fight

Fox had grabbed her bow and arrows, Silencer had a makeshift dagger, Historia made due with her talons, Jack had his fists and the axe they made, Vines used his..well..vines, Eyes used his tentacles, and Guardian had a large stick, almost as tall him, and about an inch and a half thick. The bow was drawn after an arrow was nocked and then it flew.

It hit the creature's chest and bounced off. The slime girl's eyes widened and she dropped the bow to look for another weapon. The rest got in a stance with the bigger in front of the smaller. It was angry and screaming, and then it lunged at Guardian, who panicked and slammed the stick down on its body. It fell and started convulsing, then scrambled to its feet and tried clawing at him. The others jumped into action, beating at the thing or stabbing it. Historia even lifted it off the ground and immobilized it enough so Silencer could stab it and Vines could hold it in place.

Its arms and legs were tied tightly together and its head was whipping from side to side violently, screams erupting from it despite there being no mouth. Guardian smacked it again and finally broke the tough skin, leaving the others to do their damage and get rid of it. Each of them suffered scratches, some worse than others. It fought until the very end, soon falling limp in its web, which was broken a minute later. They made sure it was dead before dragging the body off and leaving it by the lake.

They waded in the water to wash off and try to relax at least a little.

"Is everyone okay?" the siren asked moments later, looking around.

There was a chorus of yes's, but once voice was absent.

Vines.

"Where'd he go?!"

They grew frantic again and started looking around the lake. There, about 20 ft. away, was a little ring of ripples and bubbles. Eyes swam over quickly and dove down. He spotted the little green sprout on top of the plant boy's head and swam further down, a few tentacles outstretched to grab hold of him. They hooked under his arms and he started swimming up. At least he was trying to. It felt like a weight was attached to him and when he looked down, there was a creature with several rows of jagged teeth growling at him and its own tentacles around Vines' legs. It was a game of tug the rope with the poor kid who was currently drowning, deprived of the air he needed. Eyes struggled to break the surface, but when he did, he screamed at the others to help before going back under. All but Silencer swam over.

They helped as best they could and dragged the two out, hacking the other off with a series of punches and kicks. They dragged Vines to the bank and started pressing on the center of his chest while his head was turned to the side. It took a few pumps and CPR, but they got their friend breathing again.

The walk "home" was slow and the kids were discussing what to do.