"GILL, WATCH OUT!"
With a few creative swears, Gill ducked just in time to prevent a large blast of fire from roasting his head, courtesy of one of the black goop like monsters that were chasing them.
"Thanks!" Gill shouted back.
Angel screamed with surprise and pain when she failed to dodge another blast of fire, which burned her right leg badly. "OW! Fucking shit!"
Normally, Angel would swear in her head or mumble it (except Dead By Daylight, that is the only exception), but with the situation they were in, she felt that it was very appropriate to swear. She never swore so loudly in her entire life and that was something, especially since she had a habit of screeching out creative swear words at the top of her lungs during Dead By Daylight.
"WOAH!"
Jace had picked her up and placed her on his back, careful not to grip the burn too badly.
Angel started to struggle, "Jace, I'll just slow you down! Put me down this instant!"
"Sorry, but these things are dangerous and they might target you because of your injury, we can't risk anything!" Jace retorted. "Geez, do you even eat?"
"I do eat, thank you very much! You're just all muscle!"
"Come on, even Olivia can lift you up!"
"Work on the timing, guys. Huntress, Hag, and Nurse up ahead!" Gill cut in before Angel could say anything as he pointed to the Killers in front of him.
"What-?! Ah, shit!"
A hatchet flew at her head, which she dodged with a bit of difficulty.
She vividly remembered what happened in the last twenty minutes. They teleported inside a broom closet ("Do you think this is where Lukas and Jesse sneak off to make out?" "...I don't need that image in my mind while searching, Jace, smack him for me. I can't reach." "Roger." "Ow!"), got attacked by what seemed like even more Killers and gained a few more scars, found the scarf ("What is that hanging on the power beam?" "I don't know… what the heck, is that Aiden's scarf?!" "Holy shit, it is!"), then got attacked by monsters that don't seem to be affected by their weapons, kicks, and punches. They wasted too much time trying to lose them. If they don't get to Aiden in time, Maya's going to die, and at this rate, she will.
Her feeling was right. Something did go wrong. Why was this Hunting Game a lot harder than the other three? If The Black Musical can make it harder for them, why did she wait until now to do it? What is she gaining from this?
Why Maya? Why do it to Maya of all people?
Angel remembered how The Black Musical chased after her, how she shot her in the leg and shoulder, how she hanged her on a meat book, how she chose her as the first victim, how she dropped her a mere inch away from the spikes in the grinder, how she seen to especially glare at her and her friends when they discovered the letter loophole…
What did The Black Musical had against her and her friends? What did they do to deserve the hatred?
Angel felt scared. She had lost her mom, dad, little brother, uncle, and so many others. She didn't want to lose Maya too…
"Just our luck!" Jace roared, pulling Angel out of her thoughts. "Three Killers and those things front and back!"
"Jace," Angel screamed suddenly, "DUCK!"
"What—?"
"I said duck, not quack!"
Jace finally understood and ducked. Angel swung herself around and used her legs to kick back one of the monsters, who decided to pound and, if not for Angel, would have burned Jace's head off.
"Whew, close one. Thanks, Angel. Ooo! Hang on! I'm going to jump through this trapdoor."
As Angel swung back around to her original position, her alarm bells went off immediately. As far as she knew, Jace doesn't usually think before he acts. "Jace, wait a min— WOAH!"
She immediately tightened her grip around Jace's neck as they jumped through the trapdoor, Gill going after them after closing the trapdoor just before the Killers and monsters pound on them.
"JACE!"
Jace landed roughly on the ground then hissed as Angel tightened her grip."OW! Angel, are you trying to strangle me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Angel hissed angrily. "You told me to hold on as tight as I can, and I did just that!"
Jace spluttered in outrage, then said, "I didn't mean that tight! Just tight enough so you won't fall off!"
"Well, you should have been more specific then."
"Can you guys please stop?" Gill said nervously. He glanced up at the trapdoor. "The trapdoor's looks like it's ready to blow up."
He was right. The trapdoor was shaking from the force of the Killers' and monsters' attacks. Angel was honestly surprised the trapdoor didn't break.
Jace sighed and adjusted his grip on Angel. "Alright. Let's find an exit and fast. There are only thirty minutes left."
"Fuck. Yeah, let's hurry," Angel said. "By the way, why did you choose a passageway to the Chamber of Secrets of all things?"
"For your information, this passageway was the closest one to us," Jace said, giving Angel a strange look. "And you're too obsessed with Harry Potter. Sure this place is creepy and wet, but it doesn't really look like the Chamber of Secrets."
Angel sent him an annoyed look. "Well, it looks like it to me. Look, there are snakes engraved on the walls. And there's some more over there— WHAT THE HELL?! THEY'RE ACTUALLY ALIVE!"
And she was right. The snakes were slowly moving off the walls, looking like the monsters that attacked them before. They slithered around them, raising their large heads. At first, Angel didn't know what they were doing, but that's before she saw the nostrils flared.
They're sniffing for humans, Angel realized. They can't see, so they have to rely on their sense of smell… Maybe even motion…
She dearly hoped the snakes don't smell them. Apparently, so did Gill, as she heard him muttering "Please don't smell us, please don't smell us."
Unfortunately for them, they did.
The largest snake's tail lashed out and smacked Jace in the face, causing Angel to fall off and hiss when a large boulder hit her burned leg. The tail lashed out again and smacked Angel into a larger boulder. She felt her head explode with pain and her vision blurred as she landed on her side, surrounded by boulders, her hair fanned out and damp, and her clothes ripped and covered with blood.
She heard Jace shouting in panic, saw his blurred form running around the rocks, saw Gill's form dodging the snake's tails and fangs, felt her leg flared up in pain as another boulder landed on it, heard Jace shouting for help—
Angel weakly looked over a boulder.
A black blur shot out of nowhere and began hitting the snakes with rapid speed, slashing them apart into tiny pieces with a long stick thing. Angel dimly wondered how the blur managed to harm the snakes.
A moment later, the snakes were nothing but piles of black gloop. Angel's vision cleared and saw Renee standing in the middle of the mess, flicking the gloop off her spear. She looked over to something that Angel couldn't see and jumped over a few rocks and boulders, her wolf ears and tail swishing in the air. She was out of sight now.
"Are you guys alright?" she asked. Angel heard running, and lifted her head higher and saw Mason, Ann, and Ariza running behind her, each and every one of them covered in black goop and red blood.
"We're fine," said Jace's voice. He sounded tired and strained from pain. "Where's Angel? She was thrown somewhere after one of those things smacked her away."
Angel lifted up her hand and called, "I'm over here!" She couldn't stand up due to the boulder on top of her leg.
The boulders around her were immediately tossed to the side to reveal Renee standing over her, her brows furrowed.
"You look awful," Jace said bluntly as he came over and shoved the boulder off her leg.
"Geez, thanks, Jace," Angel muttered. She lifted her injured leg. "I swear, this leg is cursed. I can't even count how many times it got injured. Ow, I think I just smacked my head against a rock…" she said as a pair of strong hands grabbed her sides and lifted her up. A glance at the jacket told her it was Gill.
"Come on," He said. "The question as to why Renee can harm those monsters when we tried literally everything can wait. Where's the nearest exit?"
Ann pointed to a pair of tunnels to their right. "Over there. Order in tunnels to get there is up, down, right, left, up, and that should take you there."
Angel opened her mouth to thank Ann for directions when Mason's alarmed shout caused them to jump in shock.
"I think you need to do now! There's more coming!"
True to Mason's word, the monsters were creeping through small cracks and heading right towards them. A loud CRACK followed, and the three Killers and the monsters that were chasing them before jumped down. They were surrounded.
"Go! We'll hold them off as long as we can!" Ariza shouted. "Take Renee with you just in case you're running out of time!"
Angel's eyes widened. She knew they can fight against the Killers but what about the monsters? Renee's the only one so far who can harm and kill them. What's going to happen to Ariza, Mason, and Ann if they take Renee with them?
Renee was apparently thinking the same thing, as she was glancing at Angel's group, then her group, then again with a frown on her face.
"What about the monsters?" she asked. Definitely the same thing.
"Knock them back, of course," Ann said indignantly. Whatever it was because she was offended that Renee had just implied they can't fight or that Renee thinks she can protect them forever, Angel didn't know. "Just because we can't harm them doesn't mean we can't knock them back."
Renee glanced towards Angel's group and sighed, "I'll… I'll just leave the decision to them. What do you think?"
Angel internally cringed. If they take Renee with them, they might get to Aiden and save Maya faster, but Ann, Mason, and Ariza might get killed. The Killers' weapons may be enchanted not to kill, but she wasn't sure about the monsters…
On the other hand, if they don't take Renee, they might get to the Claw Room slowly and might be too late, but Ann, Mason, and Ariza will have Renee defending them from the monsters and get out of there with fewer injuries.
What to do, what to do? Angel thought as she glanced at Jace and Gill, thinking of the devastation if they failed to save Maya.
"We'll take Renee, but be careful."
"I'm sure we'll be fine on our own, but you guys can easily get overwhelmed.
Choose Wisely~ :)
