RETALIATION

19. Surprise Shockwave

     Ow...

     My head burned, and although my eyes were shut, I felt everything was disoriented. A terrible dizzy spell came over me as I felt a hot breeze slam me in the face. A squirmy noise jolted my eyes open, to the sight of a mega-frog directly in front of me. Those damned eyeballs glared into my soul as I slowly sat up, feeling an immediate sharp pain in the back of my head.

     Where am I?

     Where's Ivan?

     I never took my eyes off of that mutated amphibian as it croaked with a deep tone. It had to be a human-frog hybrid. There was no fucking way it was a purebred frog with a giant physique. Then again, the idea of this damn thing being a hybrid made me realize that it wasn't a safe creature to be around.

     It's either get killed...or kill.

     My hand felt its way to my waist, where my baton was. Slowly, and as discreet as possible, I slid it out of the belt, clenching it tightly and cautiously. I maintained my laying position on my stomach, still keeping intense eye contact with the frog. My other hand began to develop a ball of air to hurl at the beast.

     The second after I blinked, a giant, pink, slimy tongue whipped out of the frog's mouth, suddenly wrapping around me. I choked for air as it began to suffocate me, wriggling and squirming at the same time in an attempt to escape. I could feel my own face turning a deathly shade of blue and purple, my eyelids threatened to shut, nothing but my own pounding heart could be heard.

     Then a massive jolt of electricity shocked me, my eyes went blind for a few seconds as I heard the unbearable sound of the frog suffering. It croaked with the highest pitch, it made my blood run cold, I honestly wanted to go deaf just so I couldn't hear that ghastly sound.

     "Argh!" I yelped as I fell to the mucky floor.

     "Just in time," a shockingly familiar voice sighed with relief.

     My eyes grew wide. I couldn't find the words to express my shock. I froze, a relieved smile soon spreading across my face as she bent down to hug me.

     "Ai...Aisha..." I mumbled quietly, feeling so confused, yet terrified and somewhat relieved at the exact same time.

     "They killed Aria and Arminius," she whispered with a raspy voice, releasing from the hug to kneel in front of me.

     Fuck...

     ...we're so screwed.

     "Where's Toby?" The lack of news about the lad concerned me.

     Aisha suddenly looked over her shoulder with a nervous faze. "I-I...I'm not sure..." she bit her lip anxiously. "I thought he was right behind me..."

     "Shit." I muttered, brushing a hand through my hair. "Do the Lazarus know that you're gone then?"

     "Hopefully not," she sighed. "C'mon, we should try to find a way out and back to HQ," Aisha said, turning around to search for a way to leave this dungeon. I delicately grabbed her arm, holding her back gently.

     "Before we do, you need to know something."

     All the colour drained from her face at the sight of my stern expression.

     "I think Ivan is the Lazarus."

     "Then we need to fucking get out of here." She became serious, another spark of determination lighting her eyes. "We might have to leave behind Toby if we don't cross paths."

     I nodded with an emotionless face. Aisha was right. If they had killed the other two members of our group, then we were in grave danger. Total deep shit. So the first thing we did was search the room, keeping our eyes peeled for anything that seemed like a potential way to escape.

     We began to remove the ventilation gates, checking if the space was large enough for both of us to squeeze through. Unfortunately, none of the vents could fit both of us- either I was too tall, or Aisha and I couldn't fit within the width of the tunnels. Our hopes began to dwindle when it came down to the last two vents, and we knew that we would have to leave this room soon to avoid any other sorts of factors that could put our lives in danger. 

     "We're so screwed if neither of us can squeeze through the same vent," Aisha muttered.

     I nodded quietly, suddenly catching the glimpse of something that I did not want to be in the room with us.

     "Fuck! I think it's a security camera!" I frantically tapped her, directing her view to the dark lens of a silvery prism.

     "I'm kinda glad you noticed it," she suddenly coughed, weakly kneeling to the ground. "Sometimes-" she flinched once, and blinked once as well, "sometimes...I-I have these shockwave spasms," Aisha said breathlessly. "I suggest you make an earth shield before I unleash it," she looked up at me with glowing eyes.

     "Al-al...alright," I stammered and began to stomp against the ground, trying to manipulate the dirt into a protective dome. The top had small holes, but it was the most that my powers could let me control.

     "ARGHHHHH!!!" Aisha's blood curdling scream shattered my eardrums as I felt a powerful wave of energy push against the walls of my earth dome. Dirt particles flew into my face as the whole room rumbled with a blinding light, I gritted my teeth and kept fighting to keep the dome's shape until her shockwave spasm was over.

     I can't take this any longer!

     My body broke out in sweats and soreness as I desperately waited for the rumbling to stop. But eventually, the shockwave died down, and from sheer exhaustion, I collapsed, with entire earth dome piling and falling on top of me. I weakly lifted my head up and saw the fried surveillance camera, sparks still flying from it before the neck snapped and caused the head of the camera to fall to the floor.

     "Oh shit! A hidden door!" Aisha's voice urged me to snap my head up once more. This time, I saw a partially opened door that blended in with the dark walls.

     I panted and got to my knees, shaking and brushing the dirt off my body and hair before I tiredly stood up.

     "Let's go," I said, wanting to escape this dungeon.