Chapter Four - Vorpal
"I mean," said Alice, "that one can't help growing older."
"One can't, perhaps," said Humpty Dumpty; "but two can. With proper assistance, you might have left off at seven."
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The Jabberwocky looked at them consideringly, turning its head from side to side.
"What's it doing?" whispered Trixie.
"Looking for the weak member of the herd," Sophie whispered back. "It's working out which one of us will be the easiest to catch. Like all predators, it's basically lazy. Minimum effort for maximum reward…"
Stephanie held Emma closer to her. If it comes anywhere near Emma, she thought grimly, so help me, I will tear its head off…the Jabberwocky gazed at her for a second, blinked a little, and moved on.
"Maybe it's a vegetarian," said Ruby hopefully.
Robbie laughed mirthlessly.
"Does it look like a vegetarian?"
"If we all stay together," said Sophie softly, "maybe it will give up and go away. Predators often get confused when they're faced with multiple targets. That's why they go for the old ones and the young ones and the sickly ones…they stand out from the herd…"
"Where are you getting all of this from?" asked Pixel, fascinated in spite of himself.
Sophie shrugged. "I like the Discovery channel."
"And where's it going to go?" asked Stephanie. "If it's hungry…and it doesn't eat us…" she thought of her Aunt Bessie in her office, her Uncle Milford pottering in his garden, Molly and the other high-schoolers getting ready to spill out of the school and into the afternoon sunshine, and shivered. "No, we have to get rid of it. We have to."
"Open to ideas, Barbie," murmured Robbie without taking his eyes off the Jabberwocky.
"This is ridiculous," said Nick suddenly. "This can't be happening. I have not driven hundreds of miles to a small town in the boondocks to get eaten by something out of a fairy story. This is not happening. It's a dream. And so…"
"Nick, no!" screamed Sophie, but it was too late. Nick set off at a dead run across the meadow.
The Jabberwocky snaked its head around and flapped its wings once. In a second it was on him, and again its wild, climbing shriek erupted into the air -
"Don't look, baby, don't look," begged Stephanie, holding Emma against her -
Nick struggled and cried out briefly as its claws closed around him. It held him up before its face for a minute, turning its head so it could look at him with first one eye, then the other. Then its jaws snapped open. They heard the crunch of bone, and then a bright red spurt of blood, pulsing with the rhythm of Nick's dying heart, jetted into the air where his head had been. The Jabberwocky stuck out a long, thin tongue and lapped at it greedily, then tipped him upside-down so that his blood poured straight into its eager, wide-stretched mouth.
"Nick!" screamed Ruby.
"Come on," said Robbie firmly. "Quick, while it's distracted - "
"We have to help him!"
"Help him? It's eaten his goddamn head, woman! You think that's fixable? It's not going to grow back, you know! Come on!"
"Man makes a damn good point," observed Bob to Ruby, hopping after him.
Stephanie looked at the Jabberwocky as it hovered in the sunshine, enjoying its afternoon tea. One long sharp claw sliced down the back of Nick's suit and peeled it off him like a banana skin. Then it began to crunch its way pleasurably down his body, tearing off large, greedy bites.
I'm coming after you, monster, she thought grimly, as soon as I can find a suitable weapon. No way you're taking over my town. Then she ran.
"Quick," said Robbie, standing at the entrance to the pipes. "In here."
They all looked at him incredulously.
"Oh, what? There's that thing waiting for you, and you want to get into this? Every time I have people round - look, do I criticise your front doors? Just get in! Barbie, you first. Put the brat on your knee. Come on. Move. Before it realises - oh, shit and corruption, it's nearly finished eating - "
The Jabberwocky had now eaten down to Nick's socks and shoes. It gazed at the two leather brogues in perplexity for a moment, holding them close to its snout to it could sniff them. Then it hooked a claw into each shoe and neatly extracted his feet, skewered on the ends of two claws like chunks of pork on a kebab. It threw the shoes away, plucked off the socks with its teeth and spat them out, popped the feet into its mouth, and crunched them with visible relish. Finally, it licked its claws and jaws clean with that long, thin tongue, and turned its huge head towards the little group clustered around the entrance to the bunker.
"Go," said Robbie urgently. They slid in, one after another.
"Funny sorta place to live," commented Bob with a twinkle in his eye as he hopped up to the entrance to the pipes.
"Fuck off, rabbit. You're getting in my face for living underground?"
"Yah, well, I'm a bunny-rabbit. It's culturally appropriate. Whoops, it's comin' for us again. See ya." Bob dived into the pipe and disappeared.
Robbie barely made it down in time. He felt the Jabberwocky's claws pass right through his hair as he slid down under the ground.
-----
Ruby was sitting slumped on the floor in the bunker. Her face was grey and she was shivering with shock.
"Is there a blanket or something?" asked Trixie, looking at Robbie.
Robbie looked around at the horde of people in his private sanctuary. Pixel was roaming in fascination around the bunker, picking up various gadgets and turning them over in his hands. Sophie slapped his wrist hard and he put them down hastily. Robbie's gaze fell on Emma sitting in the orange fluffy chair; he looked at Stephanie in pained outrage, then sighed and closed his eyes. Anyone else but you, he thought…
"You're very welcome," said Robbie crossly to Trixie.
"What?" she asked impatiently.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I miss the part where you all thanked me for saving your sorry asses and getting you to safety? I hope you know what a huge violation of protocol it is for me to even let you down here."
"Sorry," said Stingy, grimacing, but Trixie glared at Robbie in rage.
"Thank you? Thank you? I seem to remember, Mr Super-Villain, that you were the only person who knew what that - thing was, which makes me damn suspicious. In fact, now I come to think about it, I also seem to remember you owning up to having something to do with it arriving in the first place! So don't imagine that we're going to be falling over ourselves to - "
"I think I'm going to be sick," said Ruby shakily. "Is there a bathroom?"
"Down the hall," said Robbie gesturing. Pixel put an arm around her and helped her. They heard her feet pick up speed, a door opening, and then the sound of retching.
"Anyone else?" asked Robbie wearily. "I've only got the one bathroom, but I'm sure I can find a bowl or something…no? Well, thank God I'm not stuck with a total bunch of soppy idiots."
"She just watched her friend get eaten," said Sophie, looking green.
"Oh, he so was not her friend. He was a salesman. They never have any friends. Just golf buddies and drinking partners."
"She still knew him!" protested Ziggy.
"And I've known you since you were born," drawled Robbie, "but that doesn't mean I'd lose my lunch if I watched you get eaten from head to foot. Sorry, and all that. What?"
"You're a monster," said Trixie, her eyes blazing.
"Why, thank you."
"See, you humans, you gotcha basic spectrum of responses to a crisis," observed Bob, sitting up on his hind legs. "Some - " he gestured down the hallway - "lose their lunch. Some lose their rag…" he winked at Trixie.
"We need to kill it," said Stephanie, prowling around the bunker.
"And some," said Bob thoughtfully, "lose all sense a proportion…how the hell ya gonna do that, sister? It's huge. And carnivorous. Trust me, gal, this one time you're at the wrong end a the food chain. I'm a rabbit. I can tell these things."
"We're safe down here," said Pixel. "It can't get in - "
There was an ominous jiggling from the hatch at the top of the ladder. They all shrank back as a clawed talon on a long, thin arm snaked down the ladder and flailed wildly around for a moment, before reluctantly withdrawing again.
"Want to bet?" asked Stephanie, with a grim smile. "Besides, even if we can hide in here…once it realises it can't get in to us, where do you think it's going to go next?"
They looked at each other.
"So," said Stephanie, continuing to prowl, "somewhere in here…there's got to be something we can use to kill it."
"I wouldn't count on that," said Robbie darkly. "Mess with its head a bit, quite possibly. Kill it…not really my specialty. Sorry."
"How about this?" Stephanie rummaged briefly among the clutter of junk on the table, and picked up a sword. It was huge, heavy, almost as long as she was tall, and it shone brightly even in the dim light of the bunker. She picked it up, surprised to find that it felt good in her hands, well-balanced and easy to lift. On an impulse, she whirled it around her head in a perfect and effortless figure-of-eight. Everyone ducked.
"Where the bloody hell did you find that?" asked Robbie. "And where the hell did you learn to use it?"
"Just here on the table. Isn't it yours?"
"Amazingly enough, Barbie, no it isn't. Weaponry isn't really my area. And if it was, I can assure you I'd choose something a bit more practical. An AK-47, that would be handy right about now…" he looked at the expression on her face, and took it firmly out of her hands. "Not happening, Barbie. There's no way you're going up there. I don't mind sending someone else up, if it comes to it…but not you."
"Why not?"
He stared meaningfully at her still-flat stomach.
"Want me to spell it out for you?"
"Why do you think I want to - " she looked at Emma. "She's my baby and he left me in charge of her and I am damn well going to take care of her, you understand?"
"Not happening. Be told." He, too, looked over at Emma, curled up in the orange chair, sucking fiercely on her thumb. "I wonder…"
-----
"Brat?"
She looked at him crossly over her thumb.
"Go 'way," she told him.
"Emma, then," he said, sighing. "I need you to do something for me."
"No!"
"All right, for mummy, then. Can you do something for mummy?"
She stared at him blankly.
"Well, I'll take that as a yes. Worth a try, at least…." He looked around to make sure no-one was watching. Pixel and Sophie were comforting Ruby, who was sobbing hysterically. Trixie and Stingy were in muttered conference in a corner. Stephanie was restlessly experimenting with the sword once more. Despite its length and weight, he had to admit that it looked right; it whistled through the air and caught the light as it span. Ziggy was watching her and chewing on his fingernails. Only Bob the rabbit was looking straight at him, one ear cocked mockingly. "I need you to get a message to your daddy. Okay? Let him know that you and mummy need him to come home right now."
Emma stared at him for a moment longer, then turned her back.
"You actually think that's gonna work?" whispered Bob to him. "Who's the daddy, anyway? Oh, you're kidding me…the guy in blue? Shee-it. Didn't see that one comin', that's for sure…Christ, you folks…" he began cleaning his ears.
-----
The pipes began to rattle and shake. The Jabberwocky's bellow, magnified and distorted by the pipework, filled the bunker below.
"It's determined to get in, isn't it?" whispered Ruby. "We're all going to die, it's going to eat us the way it ate Nick - oh, God - " she scrambled to her feet and ran for the bathroom again.
"She's got a point, you know," said Sophie to Pixel. "We have to think of something fast. Surely if you and Robbie put your heads together - "
At that moment, the lights went out.
"What happened?" asked Stingy, groping for Trixie's hand.
"Nobody move," said Robbie calmly. "I'll get a candle."
"Mummeeee!" wailed Emma.
"I'm here, baby," said Stephanie. They heard a series of crashes and stumbles, and then an ecstatic squeak from the region of the orange chair. "There, honey, it's all right…we'll sort it out, I promise…"
"That's the first lie I've ever heard you tell, Barbie," said Robbie softly, appearing next to her with a candle. "That was the electricity going out. Damn thing must have cut through the power-cable."
"I didn't know there was a power-cable."
"Of course there is, you fool. How else do you think I get lights down here? God, you dancers…the point is, though, Barbie - the cable is underground."
"You mean - "
"I mean," he said, "that it's digging."
-----
They cowered together in a huddle in the near-darkness of the bunker, white-faced and wide-eyed. Above them, the monster raged and roared. The ground shook around them with the force of its rage.
"What the hell are we going to do?" asked Stingy at last.
"Send Ziggy out there," said Robbie firmly.
"What? Are you completely insane?"
"You'll go, won't you, Ziggy?"
"Sure will," said Ziggy, trying to sound confident.
"No, you bloody won't," said Trixie firmly. "You're not going out there, you're too - "
"Too what?" cried Ziggy passionately. "Too young? Too dumb? For God's sake, when are you guys going to realise that two years younger doesn't make any difference any more? I'm strong enough, I'm brave enough, I'll give it my best shot - hey, Stephanie, come back - "
"No, don't you dare -" Robbie shot across the room and made a grab for Stephanie's ankles as she disappeared up the ladder, clutching the sword to her chest. "Come back here, you silly girl, you're going to get yourself killed - and he'll never forgive me - come to that, I'll never forgive myself - " He scrabbled frantically up the rungs after her and seized her around the waist.
"Let go of me," she said, struggling.
"Not a chance, Barbie."
"Someone has to go."
"It's not going to be you."
"Why not? You were going to let Ziggy go."
"Ziggy," hissed Robbie between gritted teeth, "is desperate to prove himself. Besides - he's expendable. You're not."She stared at him in complete disbelief. Then she kicked out sharply with her right foot. Robbie fell off the ladder and landed on the floor, doubled over in agony.
"Christ, Barbie," he gasped, writhing with pain, "it's a good thing I wasn't planning - ouch - on having any children - " he glared around him at the cluster of people. "Can't one of you stop her? Do I have to do everything around here?"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry - " Stingy leapt over Robbie and ran to the bottom of the ladder, but it was too late. Stephanie scrabbled up the remaining rungs of the ladder and opened the lid of the hatch.
A spine-chilling scream of triumph echoed around the room below.
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The Jabberwocky's huge head snaked around on its long, thin neck and stared at her as she stepped out of the bunker. Its scream should have chilled her to the bone, but instead it filled her with a strange, cold feeling of triumph. She held her head high and clutched the sword tightly in her hands. Its eyes, pale and staring, looked her up and down. Its tongue appeared between its lips and flickered as if it were smelling her. Near the entrance to the pipes, she could see the deep gouges in the ground where it had been digging, digging, working its relentless way down to the bunker below.
"Come on," she hissed, swinging the sword. "Bring it on. I'm ready. You just come over here where I can reach you and I am going to take you down - "
Its charge was terrifyingly swift. It seemed like no more than a heartbeat before it was on her. Desperately she ducked out of the way of its snapping jaws, and thrust upwards with the sword. She felt it connect, and then a trickle of hot, red-black liquid was running down the blade, over the pommel and onto her fingers. Her skin burned where it touched, and she wiped it hastily on her tunic.
The Jabberwocky screamed.
-----
"It's killing her," sobbed Trixie, white-faced. "It's killing her, I can hear it. My God, my best friend is being eaten alive by a monster and I'm just down here doing nothing - I'm going up there - "
"No you are fucking not," said Stingy firmly, holding her tightly.
"No-one else is going up there," said Ruby, her voice rising into hysteria. "I'd rather stay down here and rot, do you hear me? I'd rather die down here and rot away here in the dark than go up there and - " her voice broke and she began to keen softly. Sophie put her arms around her and rocked her gently.
Robbie was pacing savagely up and down the bunker, his fist pressed against his mouth, muttering to himself. Emma, curled up in an ominous foetal ball in the chair, appeared to be asleep. He sighed, and, on a reflex, checked his watch. It was just coming onto four o'clock.
Un-noticed by anyone, Ziggy, armed with a hammer and with a glue-gun tucked in his belt, crept silently up the ladder.
-----
The Jabberwocky paused and hovered in mid-air for a second. Its head snaked around underneath its long abdomen; it inspected the damage. Then its head came back up and it gazed at Stephanie. Its expression seemed almost accusing. She gazed back steadily.
"Stephanie!" Ziggy appeared next to her.
"Ziggy?" She stared. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to help you," he said simply.
"What? Ziggy, that's so unbelievably sweet of you, but - look, get back down there quickly before it charges again - "
There was a rush of air as the Jabberwocky flexed its mighty wings. Then it made its charge. Stephanie swung the sword high over her head again. At the last second it swerved away, out of her range, then dived straight down, claws outstretched. They flung themselves away, just managing to roll out of range. Ziggy swung wildly with the hammer at a talon as it struck deep into the earth, and heard the sickeningly satisfying sound of one claw splintering. The Jabberwocky flapped away to consider its next move.
"When are you going to realise that I am not a child any more?" Ziggy yelled, helping Stephanie to her feet. "Look at me, Stephanie! Look at me! Please! Just for once, look at me and see who I actually am!"
She looked wildly at him. She saw a tall, thin, lanky young man - he really is taller than me, she realised with a shock, why haven't I noticed before? - his eyes bright, his expression determined.
"Watch out," he said suddenly. "It's getting ready to charge again - " he held up the glue-gun. In spite of herself, Stephanie laughed.
"What on earth is that?"
"It's what there was," said Ziggy grimly. "Don't laugh at me, Stephanie, please don't laugh…if this is going to be my last hour on this earth, can I please not spend it being teased…"
She took his hand and squeezed it tightly for a second.
The Jabberwocky charged them again.
-----
As they sat miserably huddled around the single candle, listening to the battle going on above their heads, Emma stirred in her chair and sat up.
"Daddy's coming," she said, smiling brilliantly.
"That's right, honey," said Trixie, mechanically. Robbie stopped his pacing and looked at her sharply.
"Where's Ziggy?" asked Pixel suddenly, looking around.
-----
"We're not hurting it enough," panted Stephanie. They were both burned where its thick black blood had dripped onto their skin as it flew backwards and forwards above them.
"I think it's realised we can fight back. It's clever…it's learning…"
"We've got to finish it off…got to…if it heads off towards the town, it's going to kill everyone…"
"I know." He looked at her and smiled suddenly. "It's all right, Stephanie. I've got faith. Always a way, right? We can do this."
"How?"
"I've got an idea…" he suddenly dropped the hammer and the glue-gun, and ran across the meadow, away from Stephanie and away from the Jabberwocky.
"Ziggy, no!" she screamed in horror. He stood alone, a small brave figure, unarmed and vulnerable. "Come back here right now!"
He shrugged and smiled.
"Come on!" he called, waving to the monster. "Come and get me! Yes! Me! Over here! See the live bait? Here I am! Waiting…!"
The Jabberwocky looked at him keenly, registering that he was no longer armed. Its eyes like pale lamps swivelled in their sockets. It drew back its talons and began its charge.
The airship screamed through the air like a huge white bird diving, straight across the path of the Jabberwocky. It screeched in frustration and pulled up short, wings beating frantically. Sportacus leapt down the ladder and looked around. He saw Stephanie, standing straight and proud, the sword clutched in her hand; Ziggy, alone and defenceless; the Jabberwocky, ready to begin its next charge. It was the most terrible choice he had ever had to make.
"Go to Stephanie!" yelled Ziggy, pointing and waving. "Stephanie! Help her! Please! I can take care of myself!"
It had been the first instinctive impulse of his heart; he had only hesitated because of the long years of discipline and training that had ingrained in him the basic rule; take care of the weakest first. He looked again at Ziggy, indecision on his face.
"I know what I'm doing!" Ziggy shouted desperately. "It won't attack her because she's got the sword! You have to help her kill it! Please! Don't save me or she'll never get a chance to - "
The Jabberwocky dived, and instinct took over. He ran across the field to Stephanie's side.
-----
"Where is he?" asked Robbie, taking Emma by her shoulders and shaking her a little.
"Leave her alone," said Stingy furiously. "She's just a baby, she wants her daddy, that's all - "
"Oh, you just have no idea about anything that can't be reduced to dollars and cents, do you?" hissed Robbie. "Half of everything she is comes from his people. It's a goddamn miracle she was ever born at all! Do you even know what that means? Where is he, Emma? Is he going to be in time?"
"Daddy's up there," she said, pointing. "It's all right. He's here now."
Robbie reached for the periscope and pulled it down from the ceiling.
"She's right," he said. "The Cavalry has arrived."
-----
The Jabberwocky dived towards Ziggy. Stephanie bent her knees, and then, using every ounce of strength and every minute of the long years of dance training, leapt straight up in the air, the sword held high above her head. The bright blade danced through the air towards its neck. She felt the shock of metal against flesh and then against bone, heard it scream in pain, pulled back for a second, and then jumped and swung again, harder. One two, one two, she thought to herself, the sword humming as it travelled through the air, and then she was all the way through, the scream cut off abruptly, and someone clutched her desperately around her waist and pulled her away from the drenching flood of hot, burning black blood that poured out of the neck, away from the crushing weight of the head, away to safety.
"I go away for just three hours," he said to her, holding her tightly against him, "and this is what happens? It's all right, it's dead, you've chopped its head off - oh no, please, no - "
They watched in horror as the body of the Jabberwocky, propelled by the inertia of its dive, crashed heavily to the ground, right where Ziggy was standing.
