Disclaimer: "Level Up" is not mine. I only own my original characters and my typos.
6
A week passed between the night of the invasion and the morning that Maldark's army of Tenrec soldiers and Mesmers returned to the juvenile prison-turned-dungeon. During the interminable wait, former guards and prisoners were locked up together, left to their own dark speculations about what would happen when the invaders returned for them. Mesmers had patrolled the passages of the dungeon, subduing any prisoner who so gave the slightest hint of rebellion or other such disobedience. Most of the humans were kept in submissive trances…
…most save for about one dozen of the boys, including Dante, Rat, and Deacon. The first time the Mesmers had used their hypnotic powers on the teenagers, they'd made a discovery: The Mesmers' power had no effect on them. Somehow, the boys were impervious to the avatars' mind-control. Knowing their survival hinged upon keeping that advantage a secret, they'd become quite good at fooling their captors. All they had to do is stand there with blank expressions, maybe drool now and then, and the Mesmers were none the wiser.
They waited. They watched their captors as intently as their guards watched them. Those who had families somewhere in the city wondered and worried about them. It was the first time Dante found any consolation about losing his mom-at least she wasn't out there, at the mercy of the freaks that had overrun the city.
And they planned.
The preparation made it no less terrifying the morning that Saast led his army to the dungeon to collect the prisoners. Dante rewrote lyrics from his band inside his mind to distract himself from the fear, to keep his hands from shaking when the Tenrecs began sorting the humans into lines and chaining them together in groups of ten. He sneaked glances in the direction of the other boys. Their blank expressions would fool their captors, but Dante had spent weeks with this group. He saw the telltale beads of sweat on their brow and the twitches at the corners of their eyes that betrayed fear. Only Rat exuded the genuine calm of someone truly out of his freaking mind.
The lizard general and his pet slug was inspecting each line of prisoners, barking orders to his spiky porcupine soldiers. "This group goes to the farms," he said of the first line of teenage prisoners. A Mesmer led them away, flanked by Tenrec guards. Saast turned to a line of former prison guards next. "These humans are strong. Good laborers. Send them to the mines." Like the other groups, the prisoners were led away by a Mesmer and Tenrecs.
The Timiga's gaze fell on Dante…in particular, to the black uniform the boy had been cursed with during the transformation of the prison. Saast's reptilian mouth curled into a scowl. Dante could swear the slug on his shoulder hissed at him as well. He resisted the urge to find a salt shaker and melt the slimy little creature.
"This one—you had a game avatar. You are a game warrior," Saast observed. "How unfortunate. Maldark's instructions were explicit. Game warriors must be executed. We'll see how well you fight in the Grimferno before you finally die." He turned his back to the boys to address the last Mesmer. "Send the rest of them to the factories."
Dante managed to keep the blank expression, despite being freaked out by the threat. When the monsters looked away, he and the other boys dare to blink.
Rat sneezed, dislodging the narrow length of metal that had been hidden up his nose. He scrubbed a hand across his face, cringing. "I think I punctured my brain, man…"
"Ssh!" Dante spit out a nearly identical pin that he'd hidden in his mouth. All along their line of prisoners, the other boys were removing their improvised lock picks from their sleeves, socks, and any other place they'd been able to hide them. "We have to do this fast."
Deacon made a face at him. "Really? Think so?"
Luckily, this was juvenile hall, and every boy in there had learned how to pick a lock…especially the archaic shackles that the monsters were using. The humans were being taken from the building. The boys were about to be dragged out the door…after that, it would be too late.
In the prison yard, Saast watched the lines of humans being led from the prison. A Tenrec lieutenant was giving the General the morning report. "I regret to inform you, the hunters were driven back at the Stenchwater Swamp. The Shrieking Delilahs were too-"
Saast's tail thrashed. The Tenrec braced himself to dodge in case his general should spit a fang in his direction. "In other words, Hugginson defeated your mighty warriors with some smelly flowers and pond scum. What an impressive lot are your Tenrec scourge…confounded again and again by human children. Gather five Timiga Hunters willing to follow me into the swamps. I'll show you how to deal with h-"
His tirade ended when he noticed that, in the line of human prisoners who were marching past, there were eight now-empty shackles being dragged along.
"Stop!" He looked over the faces of the humans. It was difficult to tell one ugly human from the next, but Saast specifically could see that the human boy in black was among the missing. "Where is the game warrior? Where are the other prisoners?"
Typically, the Mesmer was silent. The Tenrec guards' quills stood on end in alarm as they realized their mistake. Saast ran inside, but found empty hallway where the boys had been seconds earlier.
"Search the building!" Saast yelled.
The Tenrec lieutenant mocked: "Confounded by human children, Saast?" The avatar exploded into a spray of computer coding when Saast spat a fang dead center into the lieutenant's forehead.
Gently, Saast set his frill-necked slug onto the ground. "Hunt," he cooed to the beast. The slug picked up the boys' scent and let Saast, the Tenrecs, and the Mesmers deeper into the dungeons.
"Is this a bad time to point out that we have no plan beyond getting out of the cuffs?" Deacon asked as they made their way through the winding passages of what had once been juvenile hall. Every door in the former prison had been replaced by heavy wooden doors and rusted, barred gates. The boys closed and bolted as many of the doors as they could behind them, hoping to slow down the monsters that were close behind. "Do you even know where we're going?"
Dante had only played the game a few times before he'd gone into juvy, so he was trying to remember the game characters—for starters the lizard man and the porcupine men-as well as their weaknesses. He wracked his brain for any recollection of the game that could help them elude their captors. He was dressed like his avatar; he just wished he had his avatar's weapon and powers, too. The boys were turning to Dante as if he somehow had all the answers because he had played the game. It was adding pressure when he wasn't feeling too sane or sure of himself in the first place.
"If we don't know what we're doing, they won't know what we're doing. It's a perfect plan," Dante answered.
Jonas laughed at that. "Do you just make this crap up?"
"Most of it," Dante admitted.
He skidded to a stop at the alcove that had once been the storage unit for prisoners' personal effects. The boxes were still there and still tucked away behind rusted bars. Dante stretched his hand between the bars, fumbling for the box with his name on it.
Only the hope that Dante somehow had a plan for their survival kept Deacon and the others from leaving him behind as he wasted precious seconds on what they saw as a pointless effort. "What are you doing? We've got to go!" Deke demanded.
"Just need some supplies."
"Any idea where to go now?" Rat asked, the picture of complete trust in the older boy.
Dante snagged his box, pulling out the backpack and skateboard that had been confiscated when he was arrested a lifetime ago. Somehow, he felt less vulnerable with these back in his possession.
The cries of approaching Tenrecs brought the vulnerable feeling back full force.
He pointed at the dirt floor of the dungeon. The ground had been disturbed much as if a mole had tunneled beneath the prison…if the mole was the size of a small house. "Dig. Dig for China," Dante told the others, demonstrating by pushing aside the loosened dirt with his bare hands.
Saast's fat slime slug oozed its way through the barred door of the former locker room, following the humans' scent. This time, Dante was sure the thing hissed when it spied him. While the others dug frantically, he picked up his skateboard and swung it like a bat, propelling the slug back. The slug hit the bars of the door, which sliced it neatly in half.
Now, two slime slugs snarled at the escaping humans.
His eyes widened. Okay...
It didn't take long, working together, for the boys to break through the mound of dirt into the tunnel below. The Tunnel was huge.
"What do you suppose made this tunnel?" Rat asked nervously.
"And, more importantly, is it still down here?" Deacon added.
Dante guessed, "I only played the game like three times, but I think it's a Chameleomole burrow."
Rat nodded, despite having not a clue what a 'chameleomole' was. "Is that good or bad?"
Saast's face appears behind the barred door. The two slime slug slid up his arms. He bared his fangs and spat one at the dark-haired game warrior. Reflex saved Dante. He lifted the skateboard just in time for the razor-sharp tooth to imbed itself in the deck. Roaring, his frilled neck fanning out to make him look ten times as fearsome, Saast grabbed the bars and begins ripping the heavy door off its hinges.
Dante waved the others towards the hole they'd made. "That's bad. Jump! Jump and then run!"
Saast pried the door open enough for a Tenrec to squeeze its arm into the room. Unable to aim with its movement limited, the quills missed Dante by at least a foot…still too close for his comfort.
As they dove into the tunnel, Dante did his best to cover their escape. He dug into his backpack, willing himself not to panic, until he found a fistful of small stink bombs. He remembered using them to annoy Barbra, and the memory brought another surge of grief…but only for a minute. Grief gave way to determination.
He hurled one of the bombs at the Tenrecs trying to break down the door. The monsters recoiled, the odor overwhelming their sensitive noses. For good measure, Dante dropped the remaining two bombs into the tunnel. The Tenrecs would think twice before they jumped down there to chase the other boys.
Saast would have smacked the porcupine beasts had they not been covered in poisonous quills. "It's nothing but gas! Seize the game warrior, you fools!"
The Tenrecs sent another volley of quills in Dante's direction, driving him away from the mouth of the tunnel. The needles struck his backpack. He knew the next round would make a pin cushion out of him. Cut off from the tunnel, Dante found another exit-this one a more solid, wooden door with a large bar that slid down to lock it. He hoped the guys were making their way down the tunnel. If he was right, it would let them out at the river in the park.
He'd reached the part of the dungeon that used to be the kitchen and delivery area. It was there that Dante finally found a window that was covered only with wooden shutters. He pushed them open easily and climbed out.
Once he was outside, it didn't take the Mesmers long to spot him and sound the alarm. Dante took off on the skateboard, dodging various game mutants that tried to intercept him and jumping piles of rubble that blocked the sidewalks and streets. He was moving too quickly for the Tenrecs to keep up with him.
The Skelehawks, however, overtook the human with almost no effort. Dante glanced up to see the skeleton birds circle above and then dive at him. Their Rib Cages splayed like giant jaws. He dodged the first two swoops, but the third time, he felt the bones close around him and lift him off the skateboard.
Crap…Skelehawks, these were level three monsters. Dante had fought them in the game. How the hell had he broken out of the Rib Cages…?
Ribs…
The ribs closed around him, nearly pinning his arms to his sides. Nearly…but not entirely. Dante could just barely fit his lower arm between two of the beast's ribs. Able to bend his arm at the elbow, he fumbled for the fourth rib from the top of the bird's rib cage. He pulled against the rib with all his might. It snapped off in his hands.
The rest of the Skelehawk broke apart, falling to the earth as nothing but a pile of bones…Dante falling with it. He landed on the mounded hive of a Scurr swarm.
The bat-like Scurr descended upon the prone figure…until a shrill bleat from the Mesmers made them scatter like the mindless creatures they were. Tenrecs surrounded Dante; Saast glared down at him.
"Kill the game warrior," Saast ordered.
"Stop!"
Maldark had observed the chase with his viewing globe until he could no longer stomach the failure of his minions. The warlock himself materialized behind the Tenrecs, who stepped aside at once to make way for their master. Maldark offered the Timiga general a scathing glare as he passed. Saast dared not look him in the eye.
"This is the second time since we've crossed over into this world that a wretched human has escaped you, Saast. Perhaps you should go to the Grimferno and this boy should lead my armies—" Maldark gestured to the teenager who lay prone on the remains of the Scurr hive. "Perhaps he'd bring back my Genesis Orb without being cowed by a stink bomb or a gas-spewing flower."
Saast had no answer for that.
The boy had watched-against his will-every broadcast that Maldark had made since the invasion. He knew full well who the warlock was.
"You human children intrigue me-obviously, my Mesmers cannot control you and my hunters have nearly let you escape." Maldark considered the bothersome teenager. "Tell me, boy, why your people placed you in their dungeons?"
Dante told the overlord what he hoped would keep him alive for a few more minutes. "I….didn't like my principal…so I burned his house."
Maldark was amused by that. "I have no idea what a 'principal' is, but I believe I understand. I found the Sobo Grenwald disagreeable, so I burned him."
"Harsh."
Maldark gestured for Dante to stand. Shakily, the boy pushed himself to his feet. The warlock held out his viewing globe, replaying the theft of the Genesis Orb for Dante to see. Dante remembered the orb and the football player who'd stolen it from the endless broadcasts.
"This item was taken from me by a human child, a game warrior like yourself. If I were to offer you your life in exchange for retrieving my Genesis Orb, what would you say?" Maldark asked.
Life…life was good…but getting his ass handed to him by Lyle Hugginson and his football buddies was not going to impress Maldark. Then again, if he said 'no', Maldark would probably kill Dante then and there. "Yeah, okay, I'd say 'I need help'."
Maldark snapped his fingers. A flock of Skelehawks descended upon the street. Dante saw Rat, Deacon, and the other boys trapped in the birds' Rib Cages. He bit his tongue to keep from cursing. Another snap of the overlord's fingers, and the skeleton birds released their prisoners.
"You may have them," Maldark said.
Okay, ten nerds against the offensive line of the Daventry Hills Trojans still didn't tilt the odds in Dante's favor. "I need more help."
"I will consider it."
At the least, the deal might buy Dante time to figure out a better way to escape…and it was better than the Grimferno…whatever that was, it just sounded nasty. Dante offered the warlock a cocky grin. "Who do I have to shred?"
"Impudence. Bravado. Ego…and willingness to betray your own kind. I like you, boy." Maldark approved. "Of course, such qualities would preclude any sort of trust between us. One doesn't let a dog off its leash without guarantee that the beast will obey his commands. You can evade my armies and my Mesmers cannot control you. What to do about that?"
The warlock waved his hand and some kind of projectile flew from his fingertips to imbed itself in Dante's neck. He clamped a hand over the spot and felts a piece of metal stuck there. A quick check, and he saw that the other boys now had identical implants.
When Maldark spoke, Dante heard the words with his ears, but also inside his mind. "Try to remove it, and you will dissolve into the worthless pool of chemicals that compose your useless flesh, human. Betray me or disobey me, and…" By demonstration, burning pain began to radiate from the shard in Dante's neck. He heard the other boys scream, but he refused to give the overlord the satisfaction. "…there will be consequences. Have I made myself clear?"
Dante wanted to make a smart-ass comment, but he was seeing spots and his nerves were burning from the shock. It was all he could do to stay on his feet, and he didn't want to give Maldark a reason to zap him again. He managed to nod in response.
"Good."
Another wave of his hand, and Dante's skateboard appeared in the teenager's hands. As Dante watched, it morphed into a wheel-free hover board. Any other time, this would have been Christmas and Dante's birthday all rolled into one awesome package. The Skelehawk rib that Dante had forgotten he was still clutching transformed into a Hail Razor. Identical boards and weapons were given to the other boys.
Maldark nodded. "Now, let us discuss your duties as my new hunters." He saw Saast glowering in humiliation…and added salt to the Timiga's wounded pride. "He cannot fail me any worse than you have, Saast."
The twin slime slugs on his shoulders sensed their master's antipathy and hissed. They meant to be comforting, but the only thing that would console Saast now would be wrapping his clawed fingers around the dark-haired boy's neck and wringing his head from his shoulders…
Dante's reverie was interrupted when someone punched him right between the shoulder blades. This time he did let out an involuntary yelp of pain. He whirled to face his attacker, not at all surprised to see a very angry, red-skinned, masked figure wielding a boomerang-shaped weapon.
Lyle returned to find the camp in an uproar. His friends met him halfway home, letting loose a barrage of questions.
Natalie wasn't a girl given to tears, but her eyes were puffy as if a few tears had fallen. "Is it true?"
Reggie had the Genesis Orb, which was aglow with images. "The broadcasts are showing the Grinders whacking that crazy guy from the tavern."
Lyle watched his dad announcing the news: "…of First One Saast are reporting the execution of two more dissidents: The marauder, Mahtava, who is responsible for the deaths of thirty human slaves this morning in the factory district." The image shifted from Maynard Hugginson to show Onterro and his Grinders taking out a masked figure…and a couple dozen fleeing human slaves along with him. The news continued: "…and the unknown warlock, who was executed by the Grinders while trying to incite mutiny against our glorious lord, Maldark."
Now, the orb showed Wyatt being vaporized by Dante. Lyle shut his eyes. He didn't need to see the replay after seeing the whole thing live and in person.
The others read the answer in Lyle's furious features. Their faces fell, and for a moment his anger shifted—just so slightly-in their direction. What had they expected? They knew what the Grinders were capable of, and hadn't they all insisted that Wyatt was crazy? Did they really fall for that garbage about alternate universes? Were they dumb enough to believe the computer geek was the key to finally ending this invasion? Had Wyatt gotten to them like he'd gotten to Lyle?
"Praise to you, citizens, for your bravery against sedition. All glory to-"
Lyle had to rein in his urge to smash the monitor. He punched his gloved fist through the windshield of a smashed and twisted car, wishing it was Onterro's face or, better still, Maldark's. The glass did not so much as tear his gloves.
"Little cramp's had a busy day," he snarled.
Natalie was pale, partially from the news and partially from Lyle's outburst. "The Grinders really killed Wyatt? Where were you?"
"What did you want me to do, Nat? Jump out of the bushes and take on all of them by myself? I warned the guy! You heard it!" Lyle defended. He stared at the Gula Muncher as it sat back on its three legs and whimpered like a dog. Wish the damn thing had bitten off Onterro's head instead of just taking a bite of his arm.
Kowalski slumped down onto a log, feeling hope he didn't know he'd had was suddenly ripped away. "He was crazy, but he was the only one who knew how to kill Maldark. We needed him."
Lyle remembered everything Wyatt said about the 'superweapon'…particularly how they had supposedly forged the weapon. "No…we need a sorcerer."
Not only a sorcerer; they needed a Thunder Pole. The only avatars who carried that weapon were wizards or warlocks…
"And I know just where to find one," Lyle nodded to himself. He jutted his chin, nodding for the others to follow him as he turned around and headed back towards the city.
McCobb asked, "Exactly where are we going?"
Lyle grinned that, despite the question, McCobb picked up a weapon and followed anyway. Reggie, Kowalski, Natalie, and Bob fell in more reluctantly, gathering their own weapons. Bob said something in Neanderthal tongue to the others of his horde, and a few also followed.
"Sculpture Park," Lyle answered.