Apocalypse

Chapter 16 - Courage and Stupidity

Scared, I stumbled backward as Zhormii thrust his defiant son aside. I had no idea what to do, so in my fear I began to run. I glanced back to see Zachary on the ground, his face bloodshot with confusion and terror. Pamela was outraged, but decided that it would be best to come with me.

Zhormii laughed, chasing after us. He was faster than I was, and he had his newly grown wings. He flew over me and instantly pinned me to the ground with his hands on my wrists, knocking the sword out of my hand. I screamed helplessly, kicking up at him to fight him off. He reached for the sword, but Pamela grabbed it before he could. He let go of me in surprise, allowing me to escape his clutches and continue running as I came upon the staircase. Pamela was struck right in the face before she could join me.

I was weary, and beginning to hunger, but Pamela and I pressed on as Zhormii raced behind us. Luckily, the staircase was narrow, and there was no room for his wings. He threw them about, which was a mistake on his part, as it only slowed him down. Pamela and I ran as quickly as we could, nearly tripping up several times. It was a very long staircase.

We finally reached the bottom, panting and sweating, with Zhormii far behind us. I held myself up by the sword, clutching it tightly. "I - have - to go back," I told Pamela, out of breath, "I have - to," I stood for a moment to catch my breath, whilst Zhormii roared from the staircase behind us. He was getting closer.

"I have to defeat him," I said, looking back. I was exhausted, but I had to get that monster off my planet. "I think the sword will still work if I-"

"No," Pamela interrupted, "I'm too tired, you're too tired, and we need to regroup and form a plan if we can even think of beating him."

"We can't run away!" I shouted, "We have to be brave!" I wiped off a line of sweat that would've ended up in my eye. "Being brave is facing your fears, not running away from them!"

"No!" she screamed in return, shockingly harsh, "Running into anything that scares you isn't brave, that's stupid! Being brave is doing what's right when it's hard, and right now, what's right is going into that safety bubble so we can heal ourselves and kill that thing!"

I stopped, realizing the wisdom in what she had said. My wrists were torn and bleeding where Zhormii had pinned me, and Pamela had blood staining the hair that fell on her face. It wasn't courage that made me want to go straight back in after all that, but stupidity. We were both hurt pretty badly, and she was right.

"Okay," I said, and as Zhormii finally reached us, we located the mini dome and sprinted for our lives.