“Fresh meat,” it groaned, reaching out to me from several feet away.
“A little too fresh, partner!” I called back, letting my arrow fly.
The silver arrow hit the zombie in the chest, staggering it slightly, but not really slowing its overall speed as it lumbered slowly toward me. That was fine. Up on the hill, the things had taken about three shots to take down and it was slow enough I wasn’t too worried.
I took a quick step back, and as I did, my feet slipped in the mud, and I fell onto my ass. Fear shot through me as the zombie lumbered closer, but it was still too far away to reach me.
“I’m coming, boss!” George cried, leaping over me from the path while, executing a double front flip and landing in between the zombie and me. His furry body began to glow with sapphire light, and the ground beneath his feet frosted over as he glared at the zombie. “Die, motherfucker!”
My breath came out as mist as George executed a perfect back flip, and as his hind legs came around, an icicle the size of a garbage can exploded from his heels.
The blast of cold slammed into the zombie with a sound like breaking glass. The top half of the zombie came to a screeching halt as it turned to solid ice while the bottom half kept trying to walk, causing the torso to snap off at the waist and fall to the ground. The half-frozen zombie shattered against the mud like a champagne flute on granite, sending shards of ice in every direction as the shambling legs took another couple steps toward us.
“Woah,” Two’ Manchu exclaimed, staring at the still-moving zombie legs in disbelief as they burst into colored shards and blue leveling light rippled around the bunny.
“Your pet has reached level two,” Elizabeth told me as I shook my head at George.
“How the fuck did you do that?” I asked, staring at George in amazement as the bunny rolled his huge brown eyes at me.
“I dunno. As soon as I joined up with you clowns, I remembered I knew how to use Cone of Ice.” He padded over next to me. “Cool, huh?” He grinned, baring his huge front teeth as he hopped over to where I was sitting. “Pun intended,” then he covered his mouth with his paw and beckoned me closer. As I leaned in, he added, “motherfucker.”
“Yeah, awesome,” I said, straightening up and trying not to laugh. I was extraordinarily glad George was on my side. If the bunnies had remembered they knew devastating magic while I was fighting I’d have been royally fucked. “Okay, from now on Two’ Manchu and I will concentrate on drawing in the zombies while you finish them off with Cone of Ice.”
“Sounds like a plan, boss,” George replied, shaking his fuzzy tail at me, which seemed a touch odd, I’ll be honest.
“You good with that, Two’ Manchu?” I asked, glancing at the barbarian, who nodded apprehensively.
“As long as we don’t pull too many. I don’t want bunny boy to run out of mana with a horde of undead staggering toward us.” It was an excellent point, but not one I was worried about since George had full mana, and his total had increased by almost twenty by leveling up.
“Relax, Tubs of Fun, they won’t be interested in what you’ve got between your ears,” George replied, rubbing his ears with his foot. “You do your job, and I’ll do mine!”
“I fucking hate you,” Two’ Manchu said as I started forward into the wasteland on the look for more zombies. Every time I took a step, the ground beneath my feet shifted and slid, so I had to go slow, otherwise I’d fall again. No wonder the zombies walked around like an old lady crossing the street.
“The feeling is mutual,” George replied, hopping along beside me as we moved forward. “But don’t take it personally. I hate everyone. You’re not special.”
“Dude,” I said, glancing at the rabbit. “Why don’t you chill a bit?”
“What can I say, boss? I tell it like it is. If there’s one thing George W. Rabbit is good for, it’s laying down smooth rhymes and dropping bombs like his last name was Bush.” George smirked as he glanced at me. “I keep it real, son.”
“Oh, snap!” I snickered as I looked from the bunny to Two’ Manchu. “You seriously just got told by a rabbit.”
“Whatever, your rabbit sucks. Next time, maybe you tame something nice,” Two’ Manchu said, narrowing his eyes at the bunny before glaring at me. “Like, I dunno, a rabid wolverine.”
“Dude, I’m nice. Nice like yo momma,” George mocked and then raised his paw up in the air. “Up high!”
I high-fived the bunny. What can I say, I’m weak.
“Whatever. Just wait until I’m decked out in epics. I will fuck your shit up, bunny rabbit,” Two’ Manchu said right before the ground opened up beneath him and swallowed him whole. It happened so suddenly, I don’t think any of us realized what was happening until the barbarian started falling down into the dark, dank earth.
“Two’ Manchu!” I cried, leaping for his hand and trying to grab him. As I did, the edge of the wasteland beneath my feet gave way, and I went tumbling down after him. I crashed to the dirt some twenty feet down and lay there stunned as my health dropped by twenty percent. Two’ Manchu lay on the muddy earth beside me, his eyes blank as he stared up at the sky overhead.
“You guys okay?” George called from on high as he peeked his head over the edge of the sinkhole. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to follow the bunny down the rabbit hole, not the other way around?”
“I think I’m okay,” I said, getting to my feet. Everything hurt from the fall, but I fixed that with a quick heal spell on both myself and the barbarian.
“Can you climb out?” George asked, still watching me.
“I’m not sure,” I said, moving toward one of the walls. As I reached out toward it to try to do just that, my fingers clawed uselessly at the mud, causing it to slough off with the slightest effort. After a couple seconds of trying, I moved to another spot and quickly realized climbing out of here wasn’t going to be an option since the walls were slick mud. “I don’t think so.”
“All right then,” George said, before leaping down and landing next to me with minimal effort. He glanced around the hole and sighed. “Guess that’s the way out, eh?”
He pointed to a creepy as fuck cave to my left. Stalactites and stalagmites filled the entrance and I could feel moist heat wafting out like the breath of an ancient creature. God, how I hoped it wasn’t the mouth of an ancient creature. It was a little weird since I’d looked around and hadn’t seen it, but maybe I’d just missed it in my haste to escape?
“I think so,” I said, walking over to Two’ Manchu who was no longer dazed but was still confused. “You ready to go, champ?” I asked, holding my hand out to him.
“Yeah,” he said, grabbing my hand and letting me pull him to his feet. It was surprisingly hard to do even with twenty strength. “So what’s the plan?”
“We go inside. Murder the fuck out of whatever is in there, and get back to the surface,” I said, taking a step forward and equipping my scythe. “I’ll stay in front since I have more health. You stay behind me and attack with homing arrow.” I glanced at George. “You make sure anything that comes out dies a nasty frozen death.”
“Will do, boss,” George said, following so closely behind me, I nearly tripped over him as I moved toward the cave and sucked in a deep breath. The musty air hit me at once, filling my mouth with the taste of old gym socks and clover.
The cave’s mouth stood before us, and while I knew we had to venture inside, I really didn’t want to do it. Who knew what lurked beneath the Wasteland of Chaos. Still, we had our bows and arrows. And we had a secret weapon, George the bunny.
“Yuck,” I said, weaving between the stalagmites as I ventured inside the cave.
“God, this place smells like moldy ass,” Two’ Manchu said right before two glowing red orbs appeared a few feet in front of me. I had half a second, to try to backpedal away from whatever it was, but as my back pressed against the cold, dead stone stalagmites, a skeletal hand burst from the darkness, wrapped its bony fingers around my the throat, and
jerked me forward into the cave.
20
My feet went out from under me as I fell forward into the darkness unable to do more than stare into the burning scarlet eyes of the creature strangling me. I tried to lash out with my scythe, but the damned weapon was too large for me to do more than smack feebly at the monster. As the bone handle of my scythe impacted it with a wet squelch, a horrific shriek exploded from the creature’s gaping maw.
The smell of rancid meat filled my nose as I struggled for breath, causing my stomach to lurch and my eyes to water. I reached up with my free hand, grabbing onto its wiry, skeletal wrist as it pulled me toward its gaping mouth. The thing had so many teeth, it had to be more shark than man, and something told me, they weren’t used for munching on elderberries. No, those were the jaws of a carnivore.
“Let go of the boss!” George cried, leaping into the darkness beside me as I tried to wrench its hand free of my neck. With reckless abandon, George executed his bunny backflip, flinging icy death into the darkened void. The projectile smacked into the scarlet-eyed monster with enough force to tear the creature free from my throat and send it flying backward into the darkness.
Its skeletal fingers tore gouts in the flesh of my neck as it struggled to release me, reducing my health by five percent as I stumbled backward against the chilly cave wall. The hard, unforgiving stone pressed against my back, and I fought back the sudden terror threatening to rise up in me as the creature howled again, causing two more pairs of scarlet eyes to appear in the distance. Fuck.
“I can’t shoot anything. It’s too dark!” Two’ Manchu called from behind me as I struggled to catch my breath. It was weird because I knew I didn’t actually need to breathe, but at the same time, my brain thought I did.
“Got it,” I wheezed, and the words scraped against my throat like sandpaper as they came out. I shut my eyes for a moment, trying to force myself to know I didn’t need to breathe and that I wasn’t actually hurt. It was hard, but I couldn’t deal with pain and not being able to breathe. No, I had to fight, and for that, I needed to fucking see.
“Light.” As the word left my lips, a golden sphere exploded from my outstretched hand and lurched upward toward the ceiling. In an instant, the room came into view like someone had switched on a few high-powered fluorescents, only I almost wished it hadn’t because it illuminated the three monsters.
The creature who had grabbed me was only a few feet away. Frost clung to its mottled green and black fur, and as it stood there with arms so long they touched the ground, I realized I knew what it was. The monster was a fucking wendigo. Those things were like werewolves except silver didn’t fucking hurt them, and they were always in pissed off rage beast form. Oh, and they loved to eat people.
“Wendigo!” Two’ Manchu cried, unleashing an arrow that zipped through the air in a hail of blue light. Only before it could strike the wendigo down, the creature’s serrated, wolverine-like claws whipped through the air, turning the projectile into scrap that clattered uselessly across the rocky ground.
“Fuck!” I cried, taking a step backward and trying to create enough distance to use my scythe. Only I couldn’t since there wasn’t room to swing the weapon in here. No, I was going to have to try something else, but what?
“Eat ice, motherfucker!” George cried, executing another backflip of doom and unleashing a frozen blast that staggered the creature. Only, it didn’t matter because not only was it not dead, but its two friends were loping closer. Fast.
“Energy Bolt!” I cried, unleashing a blast of magic at the lead wendigo, while swapping out my scythe for the pair of goblin short swords. They might not be as strong as my scythe, but at least I could swing them in here. It was either that or try punching them, and that seemed like a recipe for disaster. Nope, if it was a choice between using my fists or using my swords, I was definitely going to go with pointy metal.
My blast of blue energy hit the wendigo full in the face, knocking it back into its friends and causing little arcs of lightning to zip across its fur, but didn’t seem to hurt it much. A snarl of rage erupted from its shark-like jaws as it bounded forward, cutting the distance between us to nothing in an eye-blink.
Its claws tore into me as I initiated Sidestep. My body passed through the creature as I whirled and drove both swords into its back. As they sliced into him, I followed up the maneuver with a kidney punch. The wendigo staggered forward stunned as I reared back to deliver my rogue’s patented finishing move, Revering Vendetta!
Emerald light rippled off my blades as I thrust them forward with all my might, striking him in the center of the back with all the power I could bring to bear. An explosion of light and sound erupted around me as the wendigo flew forward into the cave wall and shattered into a million shards of color.
“You have learned the skill Kidney Punch. It is now available for use. You have learned the skill Revering Vendetta. It is now available for use.” Elizabeth told me right before a thousand pounds of wendigo landed on top of me. My face smashed into the rocky surface and my health dropped by nearly forty percent, leaving me with only thirty percent left.
“Kahn!” Two’ Manchu cried, unleashing a flurry of arrows that peppered the wendigoes about to rip me limb from limb. The creatures screamed in fury as they reared backward, covering their faces with their arms as Two’ Manchu continued to pump them full of arrows. I wasn’t sure if it was actually hurting them much, but at the moment I didn’t care. I had to get away from them because there was no way I’d be killing shit lying face down on the ground.
I scrambled to my feet, and as I did, I cast Heal on myself. Warm, white light enveloped me as George executed a third backflip and flung more ice at our attackers.
My health went back to fifty percent as I stood there, clutching my short swords like they were daggers. I needed to get in closer to stop the wendigoes, but I couldn’t risk it while the two of them were together, not with low health anyway. No, the bunny and the barbarian had the right idea.
“Energy bolt!” I cried, flinging another blast of magic at the pair of creatures, only this time instead of aiming for them, I aimed for the stalactites above their heads. My blast hit the ceiling of the cave with an earsplitting crack as chucks of rock shattered. The thin, needle-like stalactites exploded outward, showered the wendigoes in razor-sharp shards.
Cries of pain erupted from them as they lunged forward through the barrage, ignoring the rocky shrapnel even as it sliced their flesh to ribbons. Two’ Manchu continued firing at them, and while they knocked away some of the arrows as they charged, they wound up looking like pincushions by the time they reached me.
I blasted the left one in the face with an energy bolt as I sidestepped through the right one’s attack. My health dropped by fifteen percent as its claws tore into me, but I ignored it as best I could and slammed my fist into its kidney. It wobbled forward stunned, but before I could capitalize on the blow, the one I’d hit with Energy Bolt backhanded me across the face with so much force my vision went blurry.
As my body sailed through the air and crashed to the ground several feet away, my health dropped to fifteen percent.
“Eat frozen death!” George cried, unleashing a blast of ice that killed off the one I’d stunned, but caught the attention of the wendigo who’d struck me. It spun on its heel and lumbered toward the bunny. Fear shot through me. I had nearly a hundred and fifty health and George, by comparison, had only twenty. If the wendigo hit him, he was a goner.
I tried to get back to my feet, but as I did, I knew I’d never make it in time. Well, I just wouldn’t stand then.
“Energy Bolt!” I screamed, hurling the magic at the creature’s back, but if it cared, it didn’t show.
George valiantly threw another blast of cold at the creature, but this time, the monster’s claws whipped out in a stunning display of speed and batted the ice ball away. Crystalline frost spread across the wendigo’s arm as George’s magic hit the wall of the cave and exploded into a flu
rry of snow.
“I’m going to roast you and fry you and boil your bones into broth,” the wendigo snarled as it reared back one hand to smack George into oblivion. Its claws glinted in my summoned light as I hurled energy bolts at it to no avail.
“Get away from the bunny! If anyone is turning him into stew, it’s gonna be me!” Two’ Manchu cried so loudly the walls seemed to shake. “Banzai!”
The barbarian’s massive body hurtled forward in a blur of speed. Red light streamed off of him as he gripped the Big Ugly Club like a baseball bat and brought it around like he was swinging for the fences.
As the monster turned toward him, the massive spiked club smashed into the wendigo’s face with so much force the impact of it reverberated through the air like a shockwave. The creature’s feet left the ground as it flew into the wall, bounced off of it, and came stumbling back toward the barbarian like a punch drunk boxer. Blood and slime poured from its wounded face as it stumbled around dazed.
“Nighty, night, fucker!” Two’ Manchu said, whipping the club around and bringing it down on the top of the wendigo’s skull. The earsplitting crunch of shattering bone filled the air as the wendigo disintegrated into an explosion of color.
“Level up!” Elizabeth whispered sweetly in my ear as blue light encompassed not just me, but all three of us. My health went back to full and my dizziness went away in an instant as I attained level seven.
Even still, my heart hammered in my chest and adrenaline surged through my veins. That had been way too close for comfort. George had nearly died and Two’ Manchu had barely saved him. Holy fuck!
“If this is where I’m supposed to thank you, don’t get your hopes up,” George said, looking sheepishly at the barbarian. “But I’m sorry for being such a dick to you, princess.”
“It ain’t no thang,” Two’ Manchu said, looking pleased as punch as he put the club against his shoulder. “All in a day’s work for an awesome adventurer like myself.”
Soulstone: Awakening (World of Ruul Book 1) Page 13