I am Number Twelve

19 + 20

19

'Keep quiet, Zeda.' A manly, deep voice whispers in my ear. 'I'm going to take my hand off. It's me Jake.' WIth that, he takes his hand off, and before I turn, I kick his shin with my heel.

'Ow! What was that for?' He says.

'Why are you here? Why did you follow me?' I'm clearly annoyed with him.

'Because I couldn't just sit in that canyon and wait for you to either come back or not. I want to help.' 

'I've been gone a hour, I don't want your help!' He looks hurt as soon as I say it, and I wish I didn't.

'I know you don't need it, Zeda, but I don't want you to do anything stupid.'

'Stupid? Since when have I been stupid?'

'When you decided it would be safe to go back on your own without a weapon, or any fire. Seriously Zeda, we wouldn't be here if you knew to care for your own life.' It strikes me then, that he knows more about me than I do. I am a bit frantic and idiotic when it comes to things like this.

'Sorry... I'm sorry, Jake.'

'I know.' He pulls me into a hug. 'So, any idea where your bag and chest is?' He says.

'No clue.' He pulls back and tucks my long hair be hind my ear. He grabs my hand, and I squeeze his, we set off down the corridor, and find ourselves down the very next one, facing two Zens, with two strange bulbous creatures at the end of a short leash.

Their pink skin shines in the fluorescent lights, and they snarl, foam coming out of their mouths. They each have five short legs, and two deep red eyes. I have never seen them before.

'Give me a leg up?' I ask Jake, and he complies immediately. He hefts me straight into the air, and I land on the bulbous creature, and stomp it to the ground. Simultaneously, Jake whips out the Zentolion pistol, and shoots at the Zens, killed by their own weapons.

As I gauge out the first creatures eyes and bend its five legs to abnormal angles, Jake, with a sharp eye and perfect aim kills the remaining 'thing' and the new oncoming soldiers.

I grab my own pistol and one of the guys key cards, and we sprint inwards, deeper into the mountain, passing cells, offices, pools of green liquid, science labs, and a stack of clear cages. We skid to the right, having lost the Zentolions, and walk ahead, down the corridor, getting dimmer and dimmer, until we are nearly in pure blackness.

'Got a torch?' I ask.

'Nope.'

'Didn't think so.' I reply. 

We come across a room with light inside. I try the handle, locked. I reach around my neck for the key card, and swipe it into the slot, success!

The room is large, and thankfully there are no soldiers. A large light bulb illuminates the room, with high ceilings and a wide span.

I spot an object,  small in size, and blue in colour. My bag, still shrunken. My eyes wonder around the room, searching for booby traps when Jake taps my shoulder. I spin to face him, and his gun is pointed just below the ceiling. I follow the line of aim with my eye, and it ends on a large muscular purple animal, with a spiky tail, and axe-like hands. This just gets better and better.

I see its heavy muscular purple tail coming towards me, menacing spikes threatening to hit me. I duck, sliding to the ground to avoid the spikes. I stand back up and I hear a whoosh, the tail streams through the air, and I feel the pain of a thousand years radiating through my shoulder, I scream and fall to the ground, I see Jake rummaging through draws in the many desks. He pulls out a small transparent gun, and snatches my bag, missing the spiked tail by a few inches.