Hi, I'm back! Had a brilliant holiday and am now resigning myself to the
fact that school will be cutting into my blob-out time and am not very
happy about it. Not happy at all. Meh, stuff happens. So any writing for
this I do will probably be during maths when I'm supposed to be learning
the wonders of linear graphs and other such riveting things.
Shady777~ I may begin calling you Shady Ashford too! Have I mentioned I am a devotee of the evil cliffhanger endings? I'm not sure if I resolve them satisfactorily, but hey, I try^_^
Zarbok- that is so cool! I'm full of questions about your Four Winds Tribe! Congrats! I'm surprised (and honoured) that you took the time to read and review my story when so much exciting stuff was happening for you!
TheBurninSamari- heh, I love your name! Thanks for reviewing! Omigod, you read my story in one go? Squee! Thank you!! I would love to have Wesker kick some ass, as you say, but I'm not good at writing that sorta thing so we'll see how it goes. I'll try to! As for your other request.*conspirital wink*..
Arch: hah! You sound all intellectual in your reviews, but I know the truth! It's all the contacts, isn't it? If you wore your glasses you wouldn't be HALF as smart!!!!! Uh. anyway, thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you could believe what I wrote about Rebecca and do I smell burritos? I must investigate this further..*walks of stage*
Chapter Nineteen: Party dress-(ing vampires)
The scent of pine cleaner was so strong that it made Wesker's eyes water. On the upside, the floor was so clean you could perform surgery on it, if you so wished. The walls were equally clean, and the entire room was empty but for a heaped corner full of empty 'pino-cleen' bottles and the two figures.
Wesker, eyes watering furiously, tried to appear menacing. The 'Look', as he called it, was hard to achieve when one's nose is being attacked by intense pain which causes one's eyes to weep. Needless to say, he failed and consoled himself by cursing his sensitive nose.
The young girl bore a distinct resemblance to the late (hopefully late, anyway) Alexia Ashford, right down to that superior smile that graced her mouth. Wesker wouldn't have been surprised if she magically produced a golden goblet of blood and began to sip daintily from it.
"You have caused much trouble for us," she said in a voice similar to any teenager. It was devoid of all Old English terms like 'thou' 'hast' and 'caus-ed'. Very un-Shakespearian and very disturbing.
For an answer he glared stonily back at her. In the intensity of his glare he saw the small movement of the neck that indicated a change in stance. Because of this he was ready for the following attack which happened in milliseconds. One moment her hand was on her hips, the next it was on an upper-cut journey to his chin.
A fist that would've taken his head off sailed harmlessly past his left ear. He caught the attached wrist and quickly twisted it until there was a large crack.
The vampiress looked at her mangled hand and smiled sweetly. "I have a proposition for you."
***
"Hey!"
From instinct, Rosanna's head jerked up to see what was going on. For her curiousity she was rewarded with a jarring crack to the head as it came in contact with the low ceiling.
"Aargh, shite!" She rubbed at the spot tenderly. "Damn low ceilings to chocolate-less hell."
"A formidable curse indeed," Ian replied dryly.
"Who's damn idea was it to go into the crawl space anyway?"
"Yours," Sena said. "I believe you said to do it or, and I quote, 'there'll be hell to pay'."
"That," said Rosanna, "is beside the point. So. hey, what?'
"I think I've found a way out of here, Roz," Sena told them. "Ben, can you pass me the torch, please?"
The torch was relayed through the tunnel, from Ben to Ian, to Rosanna and finally to Sena, who turned it on and shone it at the walls. There was a sharp left turn, and then the tunnel opened into a larger cavern.
"We're outta here," she whispered.
Rosanna gave her friend a quick shove and then climbed out herself. Ian was slower, claiming to be stuck because of his lack of potbelly. It took some time, but he eventually managed to get himself theatrically out.
"You had to be all dramatic, didn't you?"
"'Course," he said, grinning.
The three waited as the last, and surliest, member of their group came out. The light pack he'd been instructed to take was hindering Ben's process. With a team-effort, they managed to pull the bag off and drag it out of the crawl-space.
Ben got himself into some weird and wonderful positions there, and it took him a bit to get untangled. Finally he managed to be facing the right way again. He was halfway out when he stopped abruptly.
"What now?" Ian asked, helping his friend out.
Ben seemed to be pulled back into the tunnel. His face was taut and drawn. "Something is on my leg. And it really hurts. Any help would be graciously accepted."
The two girls rushed to Ben's other side. A tug of war ensued, with the teenagers making precious headway due to their opposition being lying down and unable to pull with all its strength.
Ben fell to the floor with a loud thump. Bloody lines trailed from his upper calf to his ankle, made by some type of claw, or even strong fingernails. Attached to his ankle was a mottled hand, and attached to that was a three foot tall vampire wearing a party dress.
Ben gasped as the creature released its hold on his ankles. More trails of blood seeped down to sully the floor as the callous vampire walked right over him to the others which posed more of a threat.
They backed away, feeling guilty at leaving the fallen Ben prone to attack. Ian put the torch strap between his teeth and desperately tried to remember self-defence classes from school. His memory failed to function.
When they had backed into the wall and had no where to run, Ian reached the conclusion that something had to be done. With his hands free he grabbed the neck of the vampire and pulled it off the ground.
Which was an incredibly idiotic thing to do.
This, well brilliant as far as amateur fighting goes, did stop the vampire from being able to bite anyone but did allow it full use of its arms and the ability to flail its legs. Which it used to the full extent.
Rosanna grabbed a flailing limb- a left arm, to be exact- and straddled it, desparetly recalling all those PE lessons she'd spent joking with Ian and Sena and the others. This was a more nasty move, not supposed to be used unless the situation demanded it. And boy, did it demand it.
She straddled the arm as Ian was forced to lower the creature to the ground and pulled it up sharply till she heard a 'poip'.
"Hot damn," Ian muttered, unable to restrain himself at any time from a smart remark, "remind me never to assault you in a dark alley, 'kay?"
The vampire screeched as its shoulder was dislocated. The initial burst of pain over, the pale purple eyes narrowed into threatening slits. They focused on Rosanna, recognising her as the one responsible for the trilling pain in its shoulder.
A normal human would have been severely dizzy, maybe even would've fainted. Then again, the party-dress-wearing vampire was not human, much less normal. It disregarded the pain and possible nausea, preferring to grab Rosanna's forearm.
Being three-foot tall and attacking someone almost twice your height is not a wise tactical decision in anyone's book, as the vampire was finding out first hand. It was still making progress, but not as much as it would've wanted.
Sena took this moment to deliver a forceful kick to the vampire's back. It is doubtful the kick caused much damage, but it did incense anger. The teenagers learned some very valuable information, which will be shared with you in the book Ian was considering writing. It is as follows;
How to stay alive when attacked in the sewers: Page One, chapter heading: attackers.
Don't try to do anything that will only increase rage instead of pain to your attacker. They're already angry enough. Don't encourage them.
The vampire, incensed to the point it should be frothing at the mouth, went on a kamikaze mission of complete destruction. In the ensuing chaos, there was a total of three broken fingers (courtesy of Ian), a cut that bled heavily enough to be worrying (thanks to Rosanna) and. well, the others got off almost scott-free on account of Ben being on the ground and Sena behind the vampire. There was a general (and impressive) collection of minor cuts, scrapes and bruises.
The brawl lapsed as the party-dress creature remembered Ben was still on the ground, leg bleeding heavily. You could almost see the cruelty radiating from the purple slits as it approached him.
With one sharp, clawed fingernail the vampire drew a scarlet line over Ben's trembling clavicle to the jugular. Sena and Rosanna watched in horrified shock as the creature gave a hiss of anticipation and Ben shut his eyes tightly.
No one expected the sudden movement from Ian. He brandished the torch and brought it down squarely on the vampires exposed neck. He must've used some force as the first and second vertebrae were crushed, severing the spinal column. The purple light faded to nothingness.
The four were left in the darkness. There were gasps of pain and relief from all.
"Ben! Omigod Ben, are you okay?" Rosanna said urgently.
"Yeah, I'm. I'm fine. Just got a really bung leg at the mo'. Uh.Thank you, Ian."
"Sena? Ian?"
Sena answered, with a hint of shame, "Good."
"Ian?"
"Uh. both my hands are useless. I think something might be broken in my left, but the right feels crushed from impact with that bloody thing's neck. And, uh.." A sigh, "you're not going to like this but. the torch is broken. Absolutely shattered. Maybe that's one of the reasons my hand is so sore."
"Okay, well if everyone's fine." Rosanna said thoughtfully, "does anyone have a torch left? That's mine broken."
There were general murmurs of dissent and cursing as Ben and Ian rifled through their light packs and found a lack of torch or a broken bulb.
"We'll just have to go on without then," Rosanna announced with a touch of dread. "Can you walk, Ben?"
"Yeah, but, if it's not too much trouble."
"Spit it out," Ian demanded.
"Can I have a support crutch?"
Ian gave a hollow chuckle and helped drag Ben up. Sena went on Ben's right side, shivering as claustrophobia regained a tight grip. In a rather painful tangle of limbs, the three hobbled after Rosanna, who still held a hand with a smudge of chalk to the wall, leaving a trail.
"That was so cool back there guys," Sena whispered. "Like something out of a B Grade action-thriller movie."
"Big budget?" asked Ian, always focussing on the arguably most important thing.
"Definitely. It can pay us all compensation for injuries and trauma."
"Bloody good."
***~~~***
I think this is one of the longest chapters I've written so far. Actually, chapter 8 is probably bigger. yep, it is. By a hundred words. But this one's more pages and takes up more space, so that's gotta mean something, right?
Anyway, I think I might be writing some larger chapters from now on~ there's been a call for it from no one in particular *cough, Arch, cough*~
Please read and review for me! I really, REALLY, love reviews!
Shady777~ I may begin calling you Shady Ashford too! Have I mentioned I am a devotee of the evil cliffhanger endings? I'm not sure if I resolve them satisfactorily, but hey, I try^_^
Zarbok- that is so cool! I'm full of questions about your Four Winds Tribe! Congrats! I'm surprised (and honoured) that you took the time to read and review my story when so much exciting stuff was happening for you!
TheBurninSamari- heh, I love your name! Thanks for reviewing! Omigod, you read my story in one go? Squee! Thank you!! I would love to have Wesker kick some ass, as you say, but I'm not good at writing that sorta thing so we'll see how it goes. I'll try to! As for your other request.*conspirital wink*..
Arch: hah! You sound all intellectual in your reviews, but I know the truth! It's all the contacts, isn't it? If you wore your glasses you wouldn't be HALF as smart!!!!! Uh. anyway, thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you could believe what I wrote about Rebecca and do I smell burritos? I must investigate this further..*walks of stage*
Chapter Nineteen: Party dress-(ing vampires)
The scent of pine cleaner was so strong that it made Wesker's eyes water. On the upside, the floor was so clean you could perform surgery on it, if you so wished. The walls were equally clean, and the entire room was empty but for a heaped corner full of empty 'pino-cleen' bottles and the two figures.
Wesker, eyes watering furiously, tried to appear menacing. The 'Look', as he called it, was hard to achieve when one's nose is being attacked by intense pain which causes one's eyes to weep. Needless to say, he failed and consoled himself by cursing his sensitive nose.
The young girl bore a distinct resemblance to the late (hopefully late, anyway) Alexia Ashford, right down to that superior smile that graced her mouth. Wesker wouldn't have been surprised if she magically produced a golden goblet of blood and began to sip daintily from it.
"You have caused much trouble for us," she said in a voice similar to any teenager. It was devoid of all Old English terms like 'thou' 'hast' and 'caus-ed'. Very un-Shakespearian and very disturbing.
For an answer he glared stonily back at her. In the intensity of his glare he saw the small movement of the neck that indicated a change in stance. Because of this he was ready for the following attack which happened in milliseconds. One moment her hand was on her hips, the next it was on an upper-cut journey to his chin.
A fist that would've taken his head off sailed harmlessly past his left ear. He caught the attached wrist and quickly twisted it until there was a large crack.
The vampiress looked at her mangled hand and smiled sweetly. "I have a proposition for you."
***
"Hey!"
From instinct, Rosanna's head jerked up to see what was going on. For her curiousity she was rewarded with a jarring crack to the head as it came in contact with the low ceiling.
"Aargh, shite!" She rubbed at the spot tenderly. "Damn low ceilings to chocolate-less hell."
"A formidable curse indeed," Ian replied dryly.
"Who's damn idea was it to go into the crawl space anyway?"
"Yours," Sena said. "I believe you said to do it or, and I quote, 'there'll be hell to pay'."
"That," said Rosanna, "is beside the point. So. hey, what?'
"I think I've found a way out of here, Roz," Sena told them. "Ben, can you pass me the torch, please?"
The torch was relayed through the tunnel, from Ben to Ian, to Rosanna and finally to Sena, who turned it on and shone it at the walls. There was a sharp left turn, and then the tunnel opened into a larger cavern.
"We're outta here," she whispered.
Rosanna gave her friend a quick shove and then climbed out herself. Ian was slower, claiming to be stuck because of his lack of potbelly. It took some time, but he eventually managed to get himself theatrically out.
"You had to be all dramatic, didn't you?"
"'Course," he said, grinning.
The three waited as the last, and surliest, member of their group came out. The light pack he'd been instructed to take was hindering Ben's process. With a team-effort, they managed to pull the bag off and drag it out of the crawl-space.
Ben got himself into some weird and wonderful positions there, and it took him a bit to get untangled. Finally he managed to be facing the right way again. He was halfway out when he stopped abruptly.
"What now?" Ian asked, helping his friend out.
Ben seemed to be pulled back into the tunnel. His face was taut and drawn. "Something is on my leg. And it really hurts. Any help would be graciously accepted."
The two girls rushed to Ben's other side. A tug of war ensued, with the teenagers making precious headway due to their opposition being lying down and unable to pull with all its strength.
Ben fell to the floor with a loud thump. Bloody lines trailed from his upper calf to his ankle, made by some type of claw, or even strong fingernails. Attached to his ankle was a mottled hand, and attached to that was a three foot tall vampire wearing a party dress.
Ben gasped as the creature released its hold on his ankles. More trails of blood seeped down to sully the floor as the callous vampire walked right over him to the others which posed more of a threat.
They backed away, feeling guilty at leaving the fallen Ben prone to attack. Ian put the torch strap between his teeth and desperately tried to remember self-defence classes from school. His memory failed to function.
When they had backed into the wall and had no where to run, Ian reached the conclusion that something had to be done. With his hands free he grabbed the neck of the vampire and pulled it off the ground.
Which was an incredibly idiotic thing to do.
This, well brilliant as far as amateur fighting goes, did stop the vampire from being able to bite anyone but did allow it full use of its arms and the ability to flail its legs. Which it used to the full extent.
Rosanna grabbed a flailing limb- a left arm, to be exact- and straddled it, desparetly recalling all those PE lessons she'd spent joking with Ian and Sena and the others. This was a more nasty move, not supposed to be used unless the situation demanded it. And boy, did it demand it.
She straddled the arm as Ian was forced to lower the creature to the ground and pulled it up sharply till she heard a 'poip'.
"Hot damn," Ian muttered, unable to restrain himself at any time from a smart remark, "remind me never to assault you in a dark alley, 'kay?"
The vampire screeched as its shoulder was dislocated. The initial burst of pain over, the pale purple eyes narrowed into threatening slits. They focused on Rosanna, recognising her as the one responsible for the trilling pain in its shoulder.
A normal human would have been severely dizzy, maybe even would've fainted. Then again, the party-dress-wearing vampire was not human, much less normal. It disregarded the pain and possible nausea, preferring to grab Rosanna's forearm.
Being three-foot tall and attacking someone almost twice your height is not a wise tactical decision in anyone's book, as the vampire was finding out first hand. It was still making progress, but not as much as it would've wanted.
Sena took this moment to deliver a forceful kick to the vampire's back. It is doubtful the kick caused much damage, but it did incense anger. The teenagers learned some very valuable information, which will be shared with you in the book Ian was considering writing. It is as follows;
How to stay alive when attacked in the sewers: Page One, chapter heading: attackers.
Don't try to do anything that will only increase rage instead of pain to your attacker. They're already angry enough. Don't encourage them.
The vampire, incensed to the point it should be frothing at the mouth, went on a kamikaze mission of complete destruction. In the ensuing chaos, there was a total of three broken fingers (courtesy of Ian), a cut that bled heavily enough to be worrying (thanks to Rosanna) and. well, the others got off almost scott-free on account of Ben being on the ground and Sena behind the vampire. There was a general (and impressive) collection of minor cuts, scrapes and bruises.
The brawl lapsed as the party-dress creature remembered Ben was still on the ground, leg bleeding heavily. You could almost see the cruelty radiating from the purple slits as it approached him.
With one sharp, clawed fingernail the vampire drew a scarlet line over Ben's trembling clavicle to the jugular. Sena and Rosanna watched in horrified shock as the creature gave a hiss of anticipation and Ben shut his eyes tightly.
No one expected the sudden movement from Ian. He brandished the torch and brought it down squarely on the vampires exposed neck. He must've used some force as the first and second vertebrae were crushed, severing the spinal column. The purple light faded to nothingness.
The four were left in the darkness. There were gasps of pain and relief from all.
"Ben! Omigod Ben, are you okay?" Rosanna said urgently.
"Yeah, I'm. I'm fine. Just got a really bung leg at the mo'. Uh.Thank you, Ian."
"Sena? Ian?"
Sena answered, with a hint of shame, "Good."
"Ian?"
"Uh. both my hands are useless. I think something might be broken in my left, but the right feels crushed from impact with that bloody thing's neck. And, uh.." A sigh, "you're not going to like this but. the torch is broken. Absolutely shattered. Maybe that's one of the reasons my hand is so sore."
"Okay, well if everyone's fine." Rosanna said thoughtfully, "does anyone have a torch left? That's mine broken."
There were general murmurs of dissent and cursing as Ben and Ian rifled through their light packs and found a lack of torch or a broken bulb.
"We'll just have to go on without then," Rosanna announced with a touch of dread. "Can you walk, Ben?"
"Yeah, but, if it's not too much trouble."
"Spit it out," Ian demanded.
"Can I have a support crutch?"
Ian gave a hollow chuckle and helped drag Ben up. Sena went on Ben's right side, shivering as claustrophobia regained a tight grip. In a rather painful tangle of limbs, the three hobbled after Rosanna, who still held a hand with a smudge of chalk to the wall, leaving a trail.
"That was so cool back there guys," Sena whispered. "Like something out of a B Grade action-thriller movie."
"Big budget?" asked Ian, always focussing on the arguably most important thing.
"Definitely. It can pay us all compensation for injuries and trauma."
"Bloody good."
***~~~***
I think this is one of the longest chapters I've written so far. Actually, chapter 8 is probably bigger. yep, it is. By a hundred words. But this one's more pages and takes up more space, so that's gotta mean something, right?
Anyway, I think I might be writing some larger chapters from now on~ there's been a call for it from no one in particular *cough, Arch, cough*~
Please read and review for me! I really, REALLY, love reviews!