Hooves Cubed

Chapter 6: Running Away

[Mitch]

Jerome and I stared blankly at the huge shadow cloud as it started closing in on us. We had looted the chests of all the good stuff and we were ready for anything that these misty creatures might throw at us. I had on a chainmail chestplate and an iron helmet. I was armed with a bow and twelve arrows, and an iron sword. Jerome had on an iron chestplate and golden leggings. He had a stone axe ready to do some chop-chopping.

"Give us all ya got!" I shouted at the creatures. One came charging at us, and I stuck out my sword to kill it. The creature passed right through the blade, and scratched my right hand. It stung really badly, and I winced at the pain. The creature started to laugh maniacally, and then started to slash at Jerome. He tried to defend against the shadow, but his counterattacks were not enough to stop it from landing quite a few blows.

"Run!" Jerome growled, and started to run off towards Ant, Ian, and Quentin. I started to follow him, but the huge wall of shadow clouds was closing in on all five us. We turned to the left and made our ways under the cover of darkness. I took the chance to turn and see if the shadows were following us, and that answered my question. They were hot on our heels, and I could almost feel the sting of their claws on my back. I tried to go faster, although it was hard to dodge the trees. The arena edge was in sight, but it was too high to climb, and too jagged to break. We made a sharp right, and followed the edge of the arena to a low break. I rushed past the others and was the first to jump the edge. I didn't take the chance of looking back as I thundered past the remains of the lobby. Just as the darkness began to clear, I was stopped by more shadow clouds. Jerome was the first to catch up, and we stood back-to-back, facing the shadows. They started closing in, wretched smiles on their ugly faces. Where did the other three go?

"This is it," Jerome said, terror filling his voice.

"No, no it's not. We still have these," I said, showing him the bloopers and TNTs I had. He smiled at me, and we put our weapons away. I kept my hands relatively close to my pockets, ready to grab the secret weapons. As the shadow clouds approached us, our devilish grins grew wider and wider.

"What's so funny?" one of the shadows asked.

"THIS!" I yelled, running towards the shadow. I placed the TNT in front of it, and ran back to Jerome's side. The TNT exploded, and the shadow flinched.

"Bloop," Jerome said, and tossed a blooper at the shadows behind us. I then started racing around in a circle, placing the remainder of my TNT as Jerome blooped the shadows. We were on a roll for a few seconds. But, our fun was interrupted when I was suddenly lifted into the air. I looked around, and noticed that one of the shadow clouds had lifted me up. It lifted its other hand threateningly, and glared at me.

"Hey, steak-breath!" Jerome yelled. "I got ninety-nine problems..." he trailed, and threw a blooper at the shadow. It let me go, and I landed with a thud on the ground. I got up, and walked over to Jerome.

"But a dumb, good-for-nothing shadow ain't one," he finished, spitting at the stunned shadow.

"Haha, good one, biggums," I said. We fist-bumped.

"Hey, Jerome, what are you doing, trying to kill this world's inhabitants?" a huge shadow cloud asked, glaring at the recovering shadow. Jerome? It wasn't looking at the bacca. There were two Jeromes? The shadow Jerome looked absolutely nothing like a bacca. This would get somewhat confusing.

"They were viciously acting against us, what was I supposed to do?" Shadow Cloud Jerome fired back.

"Oh, really? Is that so? I guess we have our first two prisoners," the huge shadow said, cackling.

"But, we were--" Your Friendly Neighbourhood Bacca Jerome began, but was silenced by the huge shadow's glare. It reached forth, and grabbed both of us in one massive hand. It carried us over to a huge stone structure, and tossed us into a hole in the wall. The inside was dark, and the giant shadow looming in the only window wasn't helping.

"Until milady says so, you will stay here. Bread will be supplied to you once a day," the shadow said. It then left the window, leaving us alone in semi-darkness.

"Ew," Jerome muttered. I nodded in agreement. For a while, we went back and forth about what might've happened if the shadows didn't ruin the Games. Who Ant killed in what order, how long Adam would've been able to last, and if Jerome and I would've made it to the final three with Ant. The answer was most likely, as long as someone didn't come charging through with a diamond sword massacre.

Then, we heard three loud thumps near us. I tried looking around, but it was almost pitch black in the confinement room.

"You two will now have company. As I've said before, there's no easy escape, and bread will be supplied once a day," the shadow's voice echoed around the walls.

"Mitch? Jerome? Is that you?" Ian's voice said. "It's us, Ian, Ant, and Quentin."

"Oh, it's you!" Jerome exclaimed.

"Yeah, we are here now," Ian said. "What the heck happened?"

"I'll tell you what, you five imbeciles better zip it before I make you," Shadow Jerome growled. I shuddered. This would be a long night.