Voodootown

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Twister

Their tunnel ended in the middle of a street they had walked down earlier that night and Twister looked back to see Doctor Midnight crash through the wall of the arena and stomp down on the middle of the tunnel.  She didn't want to think what would have happened if they had still been inside.

The others were running up ahead.  She joined them and they had only made it a block before Twister could tell that Midnight was about to catch them.  They needed a passage that was doll-sized; something that he couldn't crush or walk through if they were going to get away, but even the alley up ahead was wide enough for the human to easily fit into.  She pointed it out to Ju Ju.  "Can you narrow it?"

Ju Ju looked behind at the human, who was getting closer with each giant stomp.  She nodded.  Twister sped up, passed Ribbon, Root and Flow before slowing.  She sagged as she pointed them down the alley and waited for Ju Ju and Sticks.  She couldn't see Camo anywhere, but assumed she was blending in.

As they entered the alley, the walls of the surrounding buildings began to move in, angling into a tunnel that no human could fit through and was too high to step on.  They ran down it and she turned back again, saw Doctor Midnight reach in with a hand.  He sent a bolt of red lightning down the tunnel and Twister slowed time so much that she could see the bolt fork off into different arcs as it moved toward her.  The lightning was the same color the thrall Blitz had sent at them just the night before.  Twister suspected that the thrall had been skinned and added to Midnight's gloves.

She wobbled, felt her vision narrow from the exertion as she looked all around.  The only thing in the alley that hadn't been surrounded by the growing walls was a pair of rusted trash cans.  She grabbed them, stacked them in the middle of the tunnel and reached into the bag of hexes.  The top one this time was a tiny faucet.  "Thank you," she said as she twisted its handle.  It began to spew out water over the cans and ground.  Time wobbled around her a moment, the lighting speeding toward her, then slowing down.  She tried to jump away, but could only manage to fall and roll away as she turned time back to normal.

The lightning struck the water soaked cans and they exploded, sending flaming trash down the tunnel in both directions.  Some of the shock traveled through the ground to her as she tumbled back and she felt her hair stand on end and smelled burnt ketchup.

As she tried to get up, Twister took a moment to look down the alley at Midnight.  He stared at her, and slipped something that looked like a gummy worm into his mouth.  She decided she didn't want to know what he had taken or what he was doing.  She forced herself to her knees, then her feet and ran after her friends.

When she turned out of the alley, she nearly ran into Ribbon and Flow.  Ju Ju was standing off to the side, narrowing the buildings, while the others stood next to Blink and Squat.  They both had a distant look in their eyes, but did a double take when they saw her.

Squat just pointed at the blackened condiment that covered her.  "What the hell?"

"Don't ask.  No time to stop," she said.  "Come on!"

They all turned away from her at a sound from the alley.  Doctor Midnight was on his stomach, wriggling through the tunnel. 

"What did he do?" Sticks asked. 

The space was far too narrow for his shoulders and Twister realized he must have done something to his bones so he could squeeze into the tight spaces after them.  Twister shrugged briefly, then waved at them all.  "Time to go."

They followed the newest tunnel that Ju Ju had made and Twister saw that they weren't far from the entrance she used to use.  She looked back again.  They were finally outpacing Midnight.