The roach digs it’s legs into the cement, but it’s no use, the van is much more powerful right now. Black blood trickles from the gaping wound in its side, and it takes no time at all for its brethren to decide that bug is their next meal.
For the moment, the people in the restaurant are forgotten.
I see Adrian move to Carina, grasp her arm, and drag her over to me, all while Dirk is screaming for him to let her go, that he loves her, that they will not be parted.
“Leave her be! Leave her be! Carina, I love you! I will come back for you!”
He runs up to Adrian, flinging himself on to his back like a monkey, but Adrian just continues his forward motion, a man on a mission. Dirk lands a lucky hit to Adrian’s temple, and at this Adrian stops, backs up violently into a wall, knocks Dirk loose, then turns around, and shoves him in the chest with his free hand. Dirk stumbles backward, landing in a chair that’s been set out for diners.
“Calm down, lover boy, I just need her to help me get him back home.” He jerks his thumb over his shoulder, pointing it in my direction.
That’s some serious restraint. I’m glad for it, though.
Carina scowls at both of them, then bends down and looks at my face, the arm Adrian holds dangling up and behind her as he keeps a grip on her wrist. “It’s okay, Jed, you’re going home now.”
She grasps my hand, and I am gone.
Thomas tells me later all about what happened after I left the game. He says he was sitting at his computer, watching everything unfold when he saw the bug eat the beacon. He reached into the game, intent on grabbing the bug and pulling it out when it apparently saw his hand and made its own decision.
He tells me the bug ran forward, like it was running right at him in his room, and then it did run at him, in his room. It came right through his screen.
Thomas is terrified of cockroaches.
He pushed his chair backward, fell over onto his drum set, and scrambled up to try and find the bug before it escaped. He didn’t have to look very far. It was there, on his carpet, having been smooshed by his computer chair as it fell over onto the ground.
The game reset as soon as the bug ran out, Jake made it home, and he’s recovering. How he managed to be gone for five days with no one noticing, I haven’t figured out.
We’ve also gotten in touch with RainbowCreeper, letting him know he saved our lives, though I’m sure he thinks we’re overreacting.
The killer bugs are gone, ported back to wherever they came from.
All except for the one that came out of the game.
That one is with us, in my room, sitting safely in a piece of tissue, locked in the safe on my shelf.
The End
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Ty
What Happens Next?
The World Keepers
Book 8
Coming Soon
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Thanks so much to Buddy Poke for letting me use their app to make these characters.
You can make your own at buddypoke.com
The World Keepers 7 Page 11