Alright. Let's get our hands dirty. We're in the woods. As everyone knows, the Labyrinth isn't mine, and neither is the "Choices" Universe. I just play with them.
Enjoy the carnage!
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Chapter 9: What are you afraid of?
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"At least we can see where we're going..." Sarah said gratefully, trailing behind Taylor whose bright beam illuminated the path ahead.
Their eyes dart around see where they're going and to watch their step over the uneven forest floor. Occasionally, Taylor would point the flashlight off the trail in an attempt to look for Dan.
"Well, this place is as creepy as ever." He muttered, stepping over twisted roots.
"I don't know." Sarah smiled wistfully, "It feels almost like...home."
She was surprised to find that, even though she was apprehensive about the whole situation, she had sincerely missed the woods. Sarah had played in the woods almost every day as a child, and walking through it felt bittersweet as it reminded her of happier times.
The forest was enormous, and they were finally struck with the realization that it was HUGE undertaking they had just accepted. Where should they look for him? How on earth were four teenagers going to comb this place to find him? Would they really have to go back to the ruins to start their search? They started calling his name as they walked along.
As Sarah stopped to try and get her bearings, a cool breeze brushed past, carrying a faint but familiar whistling sound...
"Huh?" Sarah breathed out in surprise, turning towards the quiet noise. She began to follow it off the trail.
"Sarah? Where you going?" Taylor turned and asked her suspiciously.
"Don't you hear that? It's coming from this way..." She continued walking and Taylor silently followed her. MJ and Sean noticed that they were heading off the path and began making their way back toward them.
The sound drew Sarah to the base of an old twisted tree, where something hung from the lowest branch, glittering in an eerie moon beam. Sarah stopped as if she had been stabbed. She slowly reached forward with trembling hands to grasp the hanging object. It was Jess's whistle.
Taylor appeared at her side and shined the flashlight as they both stared down at the whistle in her hand. It's tarnished surface gleamed mockingly in the light.
Taylor barely breathed, "Is that..."
"I thought it was lost." Sarah's voice sounded strange to her ears.
She turned the whistle over as MJ and Sean caught up to them. "Woah, where'd that come from?" Sean pointed at the whistle, worriedly recognizing it.
"Weird." MJ noted, popping her gum again.
"It was her birthday present..." Sarah began to murmur to herself, "If she ever got into any trouble all she'd have to do was blow it, and...and..." She stopped short, tears welling up in her eyes. She held the whistle to her chest. Oh, Jess...
Luckily, Taylor interrupted, giving her time to compose herself. "You hear that?" Taylor asked, spooked.
Everyone stopped speaking and Sarah closed her eyes. She heard the wind moving through the trees...and something else moving too.
"Something's coming." MJ said, "I don't know what it is but...be ready."
Sarah looked at the whistle and grasped it firmly in my hand. Suddenly, she jumped! Nearly crying out as Taylor suddenly grabbed her forearm in a tight grip!
"Don't ...move..." He whispered.
Slowly, hardly daring to breath, she inched her head to follow Taylor's petrified gaze.
Twenty feet down the path, transfixed in the beam of Taylor's flashlight, stood a sinister creature with a wide smile of sharp teeth. It's eyes gleamed in the flashlight like a cat's or dog's would. It's bright red fur was puffy in some places, but its stomach, legs and arms were hairless and bone thin, making it almost look like an emancipated lion-ish man. Sarah recognized the being immediately and felt like someone injected ice in her veins. Jareth sent THAT?
"That's not a fae, is it?" Taylor whispered, never taking his eyes off of the thing.
She shook her head slowly, still not feeling the air enter her lungs. At the movement of Sarah's head, the creature shifted it's body in jerky movements to the side, cocking its head at her, grinning wickedly with it's strange, wide snout. Eyes burning.
"It's a firey." Sarah whispered.
"Oh hell no, I did not sign up for this." Sean said, afraid. He backed away with his hands up before Sarah could tell him to stay put.
The creature grinned wider and then slowly advanced, cocking it's head back and forth, boney limbs jerking in odd angles, a gob of saliva dripped from it's jaws in the flashlight's gaze, yellow and sticky. Clicking and cackling sounds came from it's throat.
The whole group was frozen in terrible, horrible fear.
"Sarah, W-what do we do?" Taylor asked panicked, and began backing away as well.
The Firey cackled, and lunged towards them.
"RUN!" Panicked, Sarah grabbed both Sean and Taylor's coat arms and wheeled around. They all bolted into the trees, crashing through branches and undergrowth on either side of her.
Dodging around a fallen tree, Sarah gasped as another dark shape loomed up in front of them, blocking their path! The dark creature is revealed to be a second Firey once Taylor's light flashed onto it's red body. The second Firey's teeth glint and it raised it's boney arms and long fingers as if ready to snatch them.
"Aaaah!" Sarah screamed. She made a sharp left turn, and the Firey cackled. It fell in beside the first creature chasing the frightened teenagers.
"Where are you goin' Sarah?" the Firey at Sarah's right wheezes maliciously at her, almost causing the group to trip in fear at the sound of it's voice. Sean gasped, and started running harder.
Sean yelled in a high voice, "They TALK! WHY ARE THEY TALKING?!"
"Don't ask questions! Just run!" Sarah yelled, pumping her arms.
Taylor shouted from her left, "Sarah! We need to turn around! We're heading straight for the ruins!"
"Crap, you're right! Come on—" Sarah began running to the right but one of the Firey's surged forward, forcing her back onto the path!
"I think they're HERDING us! They WANT us to go to the ruins!" Sarah panted, thinking of their options. They could go left, right, or straight...
Taylor caught on, "And they don't want us to find Dan!" he panted angrily.
"We can't keep going this way! Who knows what'll happen if they drive us to the ruins?" MJ shrieked across to Sarah, scared now. Finally a scared reaction from this girl! Sarah thought, disgruntled.
Still running, She quickly glanced around. One creature trailed behind her, driving her forward, while the other stuck close to her right.
"Alright…On my signal we'll go…"
"Come on, Sarah! Don't you want to play with us?" the Firey behind laughed maliciously. That sent them into a cackling frenzy. Memories of the Underground and the first time she met the Firey's danced around in her head. They were obviously distracted with images of ripping her head off.
Sarah grit her teeth. "TURN RIGHT! NOW!"
Steeling herself, she made a sudden, hard turn to the right and dodged past the red furry creature. The others followed.
That surprised them. The Firey snapped at her with his snout, but missed! Covering her face, Sarah crashed through a thick wall of bushes…and found herself in a quiet, moonlit clearing. There was a flat tree stump in the very center of the clearing, almost as if designed this way on purpose...
Sarah doubled over and placed her hands on her knees, panting, as her friends skid to a stop next to her.
"Yo, we gotta keep moving. Those freaky dog things are right behind us!" Sean said, barely out of breath. Sarah stared up at him, breathing hard. Must be nice being a basketball player. Gosh, I need to work out more…
"We need to find Dan, fast. What if those things are after him too?" Taylor wheezed, looking around.
"Yeah, about that…" MJ said, staring straight ahead, eyes wide as she also huffed and puffed for breath.
Sarah followed her gaze…and saw a third Firey across the clearing, crouched over a still figure lying in the dirt.
"Oh my gosh….Dan?!" Sarah cried. Her already fast-beating heart did a double backflip.
"HEY! Get away from him!" Taylor shouted out to the furry beast, raising his flashlight in warning.
The creature let go of Dan's leg and lifted his head to grin at Sarah. He then turned back to Dan and hissed something to him, too low for the group to hear from across the clearing.
The group suddenly had to twist back and face the way they came as answering hisses and cackles from all around sounded through the forest. Suddenly the woods were full of burning amber eyes, hellish feathery fur, and glinting teeth…
Sarah's fist tightened around her baseball bat, which she just barely realized she still had with her. Thankfully she hadn't lost in their haste to get away.
"Get ready…we can't let them take Dan." Sarah grit through her teeth and raised the bat in warning to the Firey coming out of the woods. There were so many...
"This is not the way I thought today was going to go.." Sean said. He looked over at Sarah and grinned, cracking his knuckles and bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Sarah glared at him, "Seriously, Sean? This is not funny!"
"Hey, it beats homework." Sean shrugged.
"Heh, I guess so…?" Sarah's lips curled up unwillingly at the absurdity of their situation even though this was no laughing matter. She was glad they had agreed to come with them and it wasn't just her and Taylor. Surprisingly, She didn't feel so afraid anymore, having all these guys with her. "Be careful though." Sarah said, and turned back to face the oncoming hoard, "Don't let the Firey touch your head. And the best we can do is separate their body parts from each other…"
Taylor's knuckles whiten as he shifted his grip on his flashlight, his eyes wide. "I'm ready."
MJ stooped down to pull a long knife out of her boot.
Taylor did a double-take, mouth dropping open, "What the—where'd that come from?!" It was almost comical, the look of surprise on his face.
"Given that knives at school are an expulsion-level offense...let's say 'the Hardware Store'. Mmmmkay?" She raised her eyes at him pointedly, then cracked her neck and eyed a Firey that was bouncing on a tree branch with malicious excitement.
Grateful that she didn't just bring bubble-gum, Sarah laughed, relieved. "Glad you came prepared!"
"Alright." Sarah faced the Firey in front of them and took a deep breath. "LET'S DO THIS!" She yelled.
At the sound of her battle-cry, the excited creatures sprang into action, closing in from all sides.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" They laughed, shrieked, and cackled.
One charged straight at Sarah, laughing and snapping discolored fangs.
"Come and get it!" Sarah seethed. She wound up with her bat and…SMASH! The bat caved into the Firey's ribcage with a loud CRUNCH!
"SHREEEEEEE!" It squealed in pain!
Sarah's mouth dropped open but quickly turned to the next Firey heading for her, and did the same thing. She gave a surprised laugh, shocked that it was actually working.
A Firey who saw what she had been doing, looked even eviler as it hissed, it's feathery fur poofing out even more and shaking in fury. It reared up in front of her, jaws stretched open for a bite.
BASH! The bat smashed right into the creature's maw, it's head exploding off of it's body and flying into the undergrowth of the forest! The body of the creature acted bewildered without it's head and began to get on it's hands and knees, searching for it. Sarah wound up her bat again and sent the Firey's body sprawling into the other direction.
Sarah felt adrenaline rushing through her veins and let out a laugh. She got cocky. "Yeah! That'll teach you not to mess with—OOOF!" Another Firey slammed into her while she was distracted, knocking her to the ground!
"We liked you a lot more when you was little." It growled at her. It's powerful jaws snapped and yawned just inches from her face as she strained to push it away with her bat! It's hands clawed at her shirt, tearing it a little. But oddly enough, it wasn't reaching for her head…?
"Little help here?!" Sarah shrieked to the group.
"Hey fluffy! Here comes the pain train!" Sean's voice came from above somewhere. The Firey turned toward Sean's voice, but was too late to stop him from grabbing it from behind.
Sean hoisted the Firey overhead, easier than he had done with the bag of dry cement and slammed it against a tree! Body parts flew everywhere. Legs, arms, eyeballs, head... they all fell to the ground in a twitching heap.
"Woo! Three points!" Sean whooped, offering Sarah a hand and easily pulled her up. "You good?"
"Better now!" Sarah shook her head, smiling. What a rush!
"We've got the monsters covered, see if you can get to Dan!" Sean said, as he turned back to help Taylor. Two Firey were dancing around him and he was swinging his flashlight at them, but they'd just jump away, taunting and teasing him. MJ wasn't making much progress either, although the Firey seemed more cautious around her than the others because of her long glinting knife. Why didn't we all get bats?
Nodding, Sarah sprinted to where Dan lay unconscious. The single fiery from before grinned evilly at her as she came closer to it and it's prey. It hissed amusedly, "So, the heroine returns. You can't save him, Sarah. He belongs to the Goblin King now."
"No. I couldn't save Jessica from Him, but I'm going to save Dan." Sarah gripped her bat tightly.
"But who's going to save you? Hmmm?" The Firey cackled, cocking it's head at her, seemingly entertained by this whole situation.
"Get away from my friend!" Sarah growled, and pointed her bat at him warningly.
With it's hand on Dan's leg, it cackled at her display and started to back up quickly, dragging Dan towards the trees!
"Oh no you don't!" Sarah dropped the bat and grabbed both of Dan's wrists, digging in her heels as they began a grim tug-of-war over Dan's limp body. Thank goodness that Dan's limbs aren't detachable like the Firey's are.
"Hold still." MJ's yelled, running up from behind Sarah. She stepped forward, her knife flashing as it sliced into the Firey's hand. It yowled with pain and dropped Dan.
It turned to MJ and growled,"Rrrrr!"
She glared back at him and growled back, "RRRRrrrrrrrr, To you too!"
Sarah huffed a bewildered laugh, awed.
The Firey tried to pull away as MJ raised her knife ready to rip into the Firey's body again and again. Without thinking, Sarah stopped her, grabbing her wrist, "NO!"
MJ gawked at Sarah in shock, "What!?"
The Firey glared at MJ for a last time, then turned to Sarah. It smiled, baring it's teeth menacingly and ran away, holding onto it's severed hand. They could hear it cackle to itself as it ran through the undergrowth. That could be a problem…
Suddenly Sarah was shoved to the clearing floor, and landed on her stomach painfully. She turned back and saw MJ with her knife above her, super angry.
"What the hell, Sarah?!" MJ yelled, and kicked Sarah's shoe for good measure, making her flinch.
"I…I'm sorry!" Sarah said, shocked, twisting around to lean back on her elbows, looking up at MJ.
"They've been trying to kill us! Why didn't you let me destroy the damn thing?!" She stopped talking, breathing hard.
Sarah laid there, nervous and confused. Why didn't I let MJ slaughter that Firey? They were obviously trying to kill us, right? Sarah looked back over the clearing. Nearby Sean and Taylor were dismembering the last Firey. Taylor swung his flashlight, hitting it square in the jaw. It went down, and they continued to take off all it's body parts. But...It was almost too easy. None of them were hurt. None of the Firey's had even TRIED to go for the head! It was as if, it had been something of a game to them...
Sarah turned back to MJ, making up an excuse, "I'm sorry, I-I couldn't handle the blood. Next time...just... warn me to close my eyes, or something."
MJ stared back at her. Sarah wondered what she would do. Eventually she sighed, and pocketed her knife. "Seriously, dude? Blood? That's your kryptonite?"
"Huh?" Sarah said, as MJ offered her hand and pulled the bewildered brunette up.
"It's hard to rattle you, Sarah. I would know. I say things on purpose just to get a reaction out of you! And now I find out it's just blood that makes you nervous? Pssh!" She smirked at her, and Sarah knew that she was forgiven.
Taylor and Sean were on their way over to the two girls. "I'm sick…of these freaking….WOODS!" Taylor yelled angrily as he kicked some of the heads away out of his path. They howled in protest. He reached Sarah and MJ, and put his hands on his lanky hips, leaning over and breathing heavily.
The clearing went still except for the twitching red, orange, and pinkish body parts. They would reassemble soon, but for now nothing else wanted to kill the teens. Sarah saw one leg hopping away into the forest…
"We're…ok?" Sarah asked nervously, hardly believing their good luck.
"Don't know if I'd go that far. I mean, we just got attacked by furry 3D puzzle pieces." Sean stomped on a long-fingered hand that was trying to crawl away.
"I'm good." MJ said, unwrapping another piece of gum and popping it into her mouth.
"I'm fine. It's him I'm worried about." Taylor said, nodding towards Dan's form.
Everyone's attention turned to the pale boy in a hoodie and gym shorts, prostrate on the ground. Sarah knelt next to Dan, gently brushing leaves and dirt off his pale face.
"He's breathing, but… jeez, he looks terrible." She murmured, taking in the scratches all over his body from trees and bushes and perhaps even Firey claws. "Dan? Dan, buddy, you gotta wake up, okay?" Sarah shook him a little, gently smacking his face.
At the sound of Sarah's voice, Dan's eyelids twitched, and then began to flutter open.
Sarah sighed in relief, then allowed her worry to come through. "Dan, why are you out here!?" She gave him an extra shake, a little gruffly. Why would he do this?
Dan's eyes seemed to look past her as he opened his mouth, mumbling softly.
"Here… I'm here… You're… He's… here."
"We're all here, Dan. It's ok now…" Sarah sighed, relieved and frustrated. She looked around the clearing again. Maybe we should call an ambulance? We gotta…
Sarah gasped in surprise as Dan's hands snapped out to grab the front of her hoodie and pulled her closer. His eyes, suddenly clear, bored right into hers.
"Why!? Why did you come, Sarah?" He didn't break gaze with her.
Sarah was speechless. "I-What? We had to! We couldn't leave you out here-"
"You shouldn't have come." Dan's voice broke and his lips trembled, his eyes were tearful.
He suddenly pulled her closer, angry. His eyes were watery and his voice became a terrified hiss, "Now… he can LEAVE!"
Dan let Sarah go…and she fell back, scrambling away from him.
"No…." She whispered. Oh please no!
Everything felt colder as mist seemed to sneak along the forest floor. Sarah could almost imagine the excited, tell-tale whispers of Goblins all around her...
"Sarah?! What is it? What did he say?" Taylor asked worried, crouching down next to her.
Sarah put her hand up to ward Taylor off. She shook her head, unable to speak as Dan's eyes fluttered closed. With a final sigh…he went still once more.
"What did he say, SARAH?!" MJ and Sean demanded, fear evident in their eyes.
"He said we're screwed, guys. We're screwed." Sarah wrapped her arms around her to stave off the cold she felt.
What have I done?
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So! What do ya'll think? Hopefully these chapter will inspire comments, favorites, and follows. I'll be waiting for 5 reviews before continuing the story, like normal. Love ya guys! What's going to happen next? Dun, dun, DUN!