The four of them raced across the desert landscape, Jesse racing across the ground on all eights, Winslow still burrowed under Cassie's beanie, and Ivor a little after them.
Jesse skidded to a stop just in time as the woman jumped into a hole, Ivor falling in and landing on his stomach with a loud "Oof!" and Cassie following suit a second later, landing right on top of Ivor. Winslow let out a yelp of complaint, and Cassie winced as the lump under her hat spasmed a bit.
"Ouch," Jesse winced.
"A signal would've been nice," Ivor groaned up at the woman, rather sarcastically.
"Gotta tell you guys," Harper said, Jesse hopping into the hole as well, "that was some pretty smart work distracting PAMA. Now we just need to get off the grid. Get back into hiding- that way we can figure out what to do next."
Cassie scowled at the woman. "We don't need any help from you," she snapped.
"Rose? We kind of do. That machine's got our friends, and I have no idea how to stop it. Unless you have an idea?" Jesse asked, panting a little bit. Her arms were literally covered with sand that she was forcibly shaking off. If they got out of this alive, Jesse never wanted to see sand ever again.
Cassie's hard gaze softened, and she looked down at the floor. Jesse gave her a raised eyebrow.
Cassie noticed, and mouthed a 'Later' to Jesse, who reluctantly let the matter go for now.
"I still might be able to save them," the woman said, before frowning. "But I really need your help."
Jesse glanced back at the monsters milling around above them, before back at the white-haired woman. "What... kind of help?" she asked, slowly.
"We need to get to my secret lab," the woman said, a bit more matter-of-factly than just now.
Jesse glanced up at the zombies, then back down at her and the others. "Well, let's get there FAST- these zombies aren't just stronger than any I've ever seen, they're also faster."
The woman hesitated, before speaking up. "We'll need to split up- you head to the lab, while I lead these mobs away, got it? I'll use the back route- throw 'em off our trail."
Cassie stepped closer to the woman, eyes narrowing. "Listen to me for a second here- if you try to get out of helping Jesse and us, so help me I will gut you like a fish."
The woman winced a little bit under Cassie's bloodred gaze.
Jesse scratched her head, giving a weak cough to break the awkward silence. "O-okay, you're sure you'll be fine?" she addressed the woman.
"Yes, of course. Just start walking that way," she hopped out of the hole, and started running in the opposite direction of where she'd just pointed. "And look for the 'big difference'- you'll see it!"
As all the mobs went chasing after her, Jesse gave Cassie and Ivor a baffled look. "Either of you have any idea what that meant?"
They both shook their heads, before hopping out of the hole and bolting in the direction the woman had pointed. "She is... intriguingly cryptic, isn't she?" Ivor huffed.
Jesse shrugged a bit at that, before narrowing her eyes. "Waiiit a second..."
Ahead of them was a sort of... painting? Was it a painting?
Ivor slammed full-force into it and stumbled back with a pained yelp, clutching his face. Okay, apparently it was. "It's... like an exact copy," he grunted, rubbing his face in slight pain, before frowning. "Or is it? Seems just a bit... off."
Jesse poked her head around the painting, looking around curiously as Cassie kept watch. "I don't see any mobs... yet. I don't think," she reported, squinting.
Jesse stepped back and off to the side, looking at the painting and then at the landscape. "Huh- that cactus isn't in the painting." And she trotted over to it, Ivor following.
Jesse heard a loud, rather loud expletive, and looked over her shoulder- and then groaned as she saw what Cassie had just cursed at. There was a group of monsters (skeletons, zombies, those two) coming towards them, and coming fast.
Jesse veered around the cactus to find a trap door. "Okay, let's see what this does!" And she yanked open the trap doors to find a lever, which one of her lower arms yanked upwards.
A loud rumbling sound, as blocks thundered down from the landscape beside them to reveal a large, gaping hole.
Cassie crossed her arms, looking impressed against her will. "Huh. I guess she didn't lose her affinity for redstone." Her expression softened- just a bit, mind you, not very much, but it did soften.
They all bolted for the hole, Jesse stopping and peering for the edge.
"Hope you've got an idea for what comes next." Ivor was looking over his shoulder and back at Jesse so fast it looked a little ridiculous, dark blue eyes filled with worry.
Jesse squinted down into the hole. "Working on it..." she spotted the smallest pool of water that led into a sort of stream, right at the bottom. "Um, I see water- we can aim for that!" she reported to the two of them.
Jesse tensed her lower legs, before jumping, the exhilarating feeling of air rushing past her and making her hair whip around in her face greeting her, as Ivor and Cassie followed, Jesse squeezing her eyes shut-
SPLASH.
Jesse let out a gasp as her head bobbed out of the water, which was pleasantly cool, and honestly, the first sign of water she'd seen in AGES since getting here. Climbing out of the little pool and watching as Cassie splashed down, climbing out with a soaking wet Winslow sitting in her arms, not looking too pleased, and then Ivor, in rapid succession.
Jesse walked forward a couple steps, looking around her as Winslow shook himself off, spraying his owner with water and making Cassie chuckle faintly, all of them looking around the sort of cavern they'd landed in- as several mobs rained down from the hole above, missing the water altogether and smashing into dust.
"Looks like PAMA's throwing everything it's got at us," Ivor said quietly.
A zombie landed with a sort of bump on a cobweb nearby, standing back up and lurching towards them.
"Oh- crap, brace yourself!" Jesse yelped, as the zombie bore down on her, before all six of her arms reacted and she shoved the zombie forcefully backwards, upon which it tripped and fell into the pool of water. Sparks and little bolts of electricity shot everywhere, before the chip on the back of the zombie's head shot off several fee, landing on the ground nearby, and the zombie came back out, its eyes back to emptiness.
"Its eyes changed!" Cassie pointed out, a now rather fluffy-and-damp Winslow sitting in her arms. "The minute it hit the water!"
Jesse shot her d- mentor a teasing look. "Hey, Ivor, dare ya to poke it."
Ivor just gave the spider hybrid a rather amused look. "No thank you. Even though it does look completely shut down."
A/N: Haha xD
No new comments :( Oh well, anyone else excited for Episode 8? That's the episode I'm most excited about writing.
x.X. A.L. X.x
