by Sam Ryder
Luckily, someone else was better prepared:
Beat.
She was like a pro as she barked out orders. “Eve, hold her head steady so she doesn’t injure herself when she revives. Sam, I need you to do chest compressions. Like this.” She demonstrated, showing me the spot on Lace’s chest to position my interlocked hands, the proper angle and how I should lock my elbows to keep my arms straight.
I tried to mimic her positioning and she made only subtle adjustments to it. “When?” I asked, feeling like sand was running through the hourglass on Lace’s life.
“Now,” she said, her voice as calm and steady as a summer’s breeze.
I started, counting them off as I went. “One, two, three—”
“Faster,” she instructed. “Two compressions for every second, if you can.”
I sped up. “Four-five-six-seven—”
“You need to go deeper, at least two inches in or you won’t compress the lungs sufficiently.”
“But I’ll break her—”
“Deeper!”
I bit off my protests, pushing deeper, waiting to hear the cracking sound as my large hands broke her delicate bones. Nothing. It spurred me on and I continued counting. When I got to thirty, Beat said, “Stop.”
I obeyed without question and Beat leaned in and gave two deep rescue breaths into Lace’s mouth, her cheeks filling with air.
No response.
“Continue compressions.”
I obeyed, getting into a rhythm while Vrill and Eve could do nothing but watch us. After thirty more compressions, Beat breathed into her once more. This time Lace gagged and some water leaked out of the corner of her mouth. Beat breathed into her again and her body convulsed, her head extended upward and then flopping back down. Thankfully Eve was there to catch her because of Beat’s foresight. Lace turned to the side and threw up a ton of water. I felt a swell of relief. Throwing up was good. Throwing up was something alive people did.
“Did you just….kiss me?” were the first words that came out of her mouth. She was staring at Beat.
“Not exactly, but yes,” Beat said.
“You saved my life.”
“Sam helped.”
“I only did what she told me to do.” I really could take no credit for any of this.
“I feel so…alive,” Lace said.
“You need to rest,” Beat said.
“And let you have all the fun?” Lace said. “So long as we don’t have to go swimming again, I’ll be okay.”
She was one tough kitty, I had to hand it to her. She talked the talk and walked the walk. I respected that about her, even if she could be a coldhearted bitch at times.
Still, we waited a few minutes so she could just breathe for a while. I enjoyed just sitting and breathing too. Vrill and Eve went off together to search the area for the monster. Almost like friends. The thought made me smile. Lace said, “I thought we were goners. I can’t believe you held your breath for that long.”
“I had help.” I told her and Beat the story about the Persepheus apparition that appeared to me and filled my lungs with air. Vrill and Eve returned just as I got to the good part.
Vrill said, “Thank you, Persepheus.” Those were three words I never thought I’d hear from her lips, at least not in that order.
“The effort might have killed her,” I said, conveying my fears.
“Maybe,” Eve said. She knew the Three better than any of us, so it gave me a sinking feeling hearing her confirm what I’d been thinking. “But we can still save Minertha. Vrill and I found a trail of water leading out of this cavern to a tunnel.”
Great. Another tunnel.
We grudgingly got to our feet and followed Vrill and Eve to the tunnel. Sure enough, in addition to a clear trail of water, some of the rocks were oozing with the green gooey blood of the albino monster.
When we reached the tunnel, I took up position at the front. If that thing ambushed us, I wanted to be the one to take the first hit.
Sounds echoed down the corridor.
Almost like chittering laughter.
“WTF is that?” Beat said.
Unfortunately, because I’d been here before, I knew. “The monster has friends.” Well, more accurately they were minions. I’d previously thought that the albino monster had chased away the smaller demons when last I’d been in this situation. But now I suspected that wasn’t true. They’d left as a sign of respect, offering the beast the kill—meaning me. Now, however, they were ready to fight on the monster’s behalf.
Sometimes it sucked being right.
We emerged from the horizontal shaft and into the place I’d ventured into previously. The space was like a dome, the walls smooth and pocked with thousands of smaller holes. And, as before, the holes were brimming with the smaller albino demons that resembled the Maluk’ori, except rather than dark skin they had pale, translucent skin. Their teeth and claws, however, were no less sharp and deadly.
At the opposite end of the space was the massive beast, surrounded by a posse of even more of the smaller demons. Two of them got in each other’s way and began to fight. Without hesitation, the massive monster grabbed them both, smashed them into each other, and then bit off their heads. He spat out the heads in our direction. They bounced a few times before landing at our feet.
He tossed the bodies aside and released a roar.
Holy fucking shit.
In the dude’s chest, Minertha’s heart pulsed bright red.
“Anyone have any good ideas about how to win this fight?” I asked.
“Kill shit?” Beat said.
“That helps.”
Lace said, “This is no different than fighting in the Black.”
I raised my eyebrows. She was right. There were plenty of times we were outnumbered during our nightly battles. Which meant we needed a Protector to command us, the very same Protector who’d just made a half-joking comment. “Beat, you’re our leader now. Get us into position.”
Beat smiled, in her element now. She still had the two pieces of her broken spear, which she’d tucked into her belt while she’d swam. She drew them now, pointing the broken ends at the bastards chittering at us. “Okay, folks. Form a circle. Ryder will be at the front, because he’s built like a wall. In order to the right: me, Lace, Eve and Vrill. No matter what, hold your position. We protect each other’s backs, understood?”
There was no disagreement. “Good. No let’s kill some of these assholes.”
With that pep talk finished, we shifted into the assigned positions, creating a circle. The albino monster was watching us, maw open and dripping the blood of the two minions he’d decapitated with his teeth. He wasn’t intimidating at all.
Sense my sarcasm.
I drew my hammer and gripped it with two hands, remembering the last time I’d fought these creatures. Then I’d been overwhelmed and if it wasn’t for the big bastard’s sudden appearance, I probably would’ve died. But this time I was a Demigod, more powerful than ever. Plus I had the four most badass women I’d ever met by my side. “Bring it on,” I growled.
Oh, they did. The albino monster barked out its own guttural order and the chittering demons sprang into action, galloping on all fours like deranged monkeys, their back-bent legs bending at the knees with each bound. All around us, more demons poured from the holes in the domed wall and ceiling, crawling down the smooth rock like spiders.
There were at least a thousand, maybe more. Even without a calculator, I had no trouble with the math; we’d need to kill about two hundred of these fuckers each. Not to mention we’d then have to defeat the huge guy at the other side.
Our circle of protection was like a large boulder in the middle of a raging river, the demon’s parting to stay out of each other’s way, swarming around us. Surrounding us.
Then they attacked.
Some went high, springing off each other’s shoulders, while others went low. I was prepared for the tactic, and I knew protecting my vitals was crucial. My
neck. My head. My armor, which had weighed me down in the underground river, would protect my chest and heart. Thus, I focused on the demons that went high, treating them like fastballs that I needed to fight off because I had two strikes and I didn’t know whether the umpire considered the strike zone to be above the chest or not. I hit the first demon as it flew through the air, claws and fangs bared. I hit it so hard I felt my hammer squish into its chest, breaking all kinds of shit as it mashed through him. A flash of light erupted, vaporizing a few of his buddies.
However, because I’d focused on the leaping demons, those that had gone low were already around my legs, clawing at my armor, searching for seams. A few claws managed to poke through the gaps, piercing my skin. I kicked at them while taking another swing of my hammer at more leaping demons. Light flashed once more and foes died. My kill count was at seven or eight already, but to get to two hundred? Shiiit.
Still others raced across the ground, except they weren’t trying to get to me, they were trying to breach the gaps in our circle. The rule was to pivot right, so that’s what I did, hoping that Vrill, who was to my left, would do the same. That way we could, as a group, plug all the holes. I shoulder-barged one demon and kicked another in the face. Beat had shifted right as well, so the demons flew harmlessly past where she’d been a moment before.
We continued in this manner, an ever-rotating circle.
It worked for a while, until the demon’s recognized the pattern. They began attacking from different angles, while others clambered up the domed ceiling and dropped in from above. Those that hit the ground directly broke their legs and splattered all over the place, but a few managed to land on us, which both broke their falls and allowed their claws to sink into our heads. One even bit my ear off, spitting it out in full-on Mike-Tyson-eats-Evander-Holyfield style.
I grabbed the asshole and slung him off me, my aim good as the demon crashed into a couple of his buddies and rocked them back.
More and more demons came at us, and a few managed to sneak through the gaps or drop in behind us. In short, the circle had been breached.
Now, instead of five warriors protecting one island, we were five warriors on five separate islands, each protecting our own territory. We were forced to keep our heads on a swivel, checking and rechecking each side and our blind spots constantly. I didn’t even have time to check on the others to make sure they were still alive, still fighting. Hell, even if I could I wouldn’t be able to help anyone, barely keeping myself alive. My hammer was crucial to the effort, because for each demon I bludgeoned, the blast of light took out another two or three.
The others didn’t have such a weapon.
Hell, Beat’s primary weapon, her spear, had been broken previously, so now she was wielding each half separately, relying on brute strength to shove her attackers away. Vrill moved like lightning, her twin daggers flashing, cutting open throats. Lace’s claws pierced flesh and hearts, killing at will. And Eve…well, if Eve faced off against the wind, I would bet on Eve. She’d managed to evade her enemies until she was able to climb up one of the walls by grabbing the lips of the numerous tunnels that marred its surface. Now, balancing with only her feet on a small protrusion, she fired off arrow after deadly arrow, killing at will.
And yet it wasn’t enough. Not even close. There were simply too many, and they were still coming. I slammed by hammer into a trio of albino demons, which gave me some short-lived breathing room to take stock of the situation. Demons were pouring from the tunnels. Several appeared near where Eve was perched, reaching for her, clawing at her. She lost her balance, rocks skittering underfoot. For a second I held my breath, expecting her to fall. Somehow, she managed to pinwheel her arms and remain steady. She turned and shot an arrow into one of the demons point blank.
Another grabbed her leg with its teeth and began gnawing while she screamed.
Beat was overrun too, slowly being dragged toward the ground by at least a dozen foes.
Vrill leapt in the air, using the demon’s as step stools, running across heads toward Beat. I charged in the same direction, throwing bodies out of my way as I went. We reached her at the same time. I grabbed two of the demons that were piling on her, lifting them in the air and smashing their heads into each other before tossing them bonelessly aside.
Vrill plunged one dagger through the back of one of the demon’s necks and reached around another to slit its throat. We worked methodically until we cleared all of the demons off our friend, surveying the damage.
It wasn’t good.
She had somewhere between thirty and fifty wounds. Teeth marks. Claw marks. Deep punctures. Shallow slashes. She looked like she’d been mauled by a pack of angry hyenas, which wasn’t far from the truth. The worst injury of all, however, was the one to her chest, where her armor had been split by one half of her own broken spear, which was now embedded in her flesh.
Right over where her heart was.
She needed ooze, and bad.
“Cover me!” I shouted.
More demons were pouring toward us, but Vrill leapt forward fearlessly to block their path. To my surprise, Lace joined her, Wolverine claws fully extended and looking as badass as ever. Eve had managed to shed her own attackers and return to floor level, and now she executed several acrobatic maneuvers to flip and spin her way through the throng to get to us. We were reunited once more in defense of our fallen comrade. Our friend.
Beat’s eyes fluttered open. She was pale and looked exhausted. She smiled.
No, I thought. No you fucking don’t.
“Sam,” she said.
“Don’t call me that,” I said, understanding exactly what she was doing. Saying goodbye. “And you’re not going to die. Not on my watch.” I ripped open my satchel, spilling its contents, which were scant. I didn’t care, searching the pile for the emergency supply of primordial ooze. There! The bottle was corked and I ripped it out with my teeth. I don’t know why I did what I did next. Shit, I’d never even theorized about it. Some instinct just kicked in and instead of pouring the ooze across her skin, coating the variety of injuries, I grabbed her chin, tipped her head back to open her mouth, and made her drink the stuff.
Which was kind of gross considering it was spit from three different mouths. Beat would probably give me shit for it later, but I could take anything she could dish out and more.
She gagged but I held her nose and forced her mouth shut until she’d swallowed every last drop.
From what I could hear, I knew the other three were locked in an epic battle for our very survival, but I only had eyes for Beat, watching her face for any sign that the ooze could work from the inside out. Her eyes had closed as she’d swallowed the ooze and now she was breathing deeply. Like she was sleeping. Her breathing became shallower, more labored, like taking each pull of air required a monumental effort.
“Ryder!” Eve yelled and I was forced to look away from Beat to find the three women getting pushed back by the mob. They were almost on top of me now, their wall of protection on the verge of shattering. They needed my help or we would all die.
My eyes flicked back to Beat and I expected to see her lifeless body.
Instead, her eyes were open, their color having morphed from their usual blue to an unnatural cerulean that might’ve been colored contacts. “Sam?” she said, using my first name for the second time in as many minutes.
Her spear had been pushed from her chest and now lay on its side. The wound was sealed off. “Beatrice?” I said, in awe.
“Call me that again and I’ll rip your head from your neck and use it as a bowling ball,” she said.
Hearing her say that was music to my ears. “The albino dude just called you that three times,” I said.
“I’ll kill him,” she said.
“A little help, Ryder!” Eve called again, pulling me back to reality. I stood up and grabbed Beat’s hand. She grabbed half of her spear on the way up and we pushed forward, joining our friends.
Fighting for our
lives. Fighting for this world we’d inexplicably come to care about, to call home. Fighting for the life of a goddess who was good and evil in equal measure but a helluva lot better than the demon overlords that had ripped out her heart.
We were energized, determined, warriors in every sense of the word. But—yes, I hate that word sometimes—we were only five against a veritable army, none of whom seemed to care about their own lives, throwing themselves at us with reckless abandon. Forcing us back step by step until we were trapped against the wall. Overwhelming us with their sheer numbers, which continued to grow as more albino demons streamed from their hidey holes.
Despite our efforts, we were still fucked.
“It’s been a pleasure,” I said to all four of them.
I hadn’t meant there to be innuendo but Beat slammed her broken spear into a demon’s eye and then snorted. “You can’t even go two minutes without thinking about sex, can you Ryder?”
I rammed the butt end of my hammer into a demon’s mouth and then spun it around to bash it into another. “It’s this Demigod body of mine,” I said. “It wants two things: killing and sex.”
“Then why have you been so hard to get lately,” Lace said, slashing down two demons with one swipe of her claws. She emphasized one word more than any of the others.
“I’ve been kinda busy,” I said, crushing another demon’s skull in a downward blow. “Seriously though…you all have changed my life for the better. So thank you for standing with me. I’ve enjoyed the ride.”
Beat groaned.
Oops. I’d done it again.
We were out of time, our backs literally against the stone wall now. It was pocked with tunnel entrances, but none of them were a viable option for escape, too small for even the smallest of us, Lace, to escape through.
Over the heads of the demon horde I could see the massive demon with its stolen, pulsing heart. It was watching the battle with what appeared to be glee. The bastard. It was a shame we hadn’t taken him out back in the first pond area. A certain rage filled me. I’d always hated a bully—hell, I’d been on the receiving end more than once growing up—and at the core, that’s what this ogre was. That’s what the Morgoss were. A bunch of monstrous bullies.