The Eleven – Chapter 5

I sprinted forward holding my right arm behind me. My heart was beating fast as I drew closer to the monster. I was still several blocks away. BOOM! BOOM! It took two fast steps and was right in front of me. "RAAAAAAAAAAA" The monster pulled its arm back and got ready to punch me. Without knowing what else to do I stopped thinking and let my body take control. While still moving I began to bring my arm forward to meet the beast's fist.

"RAAAAAAAAAA!" we both screamed.

I was splattered with more blood. The blue light extending from my hand drove deep into the ogre's flesh. Its fist was now millimeters away from my own. At the base of the blue light was a bulge that swirled around my fist and formed a sort of hand guard stopping the beast's punch from touching me.

"Oh!" it whimpered. It quickly lifted its hand back into the air. And I followed. The light was stuck in the fist and when the monster lifted its hand I went with it. I was now dangling off of a giant ogre and the only thing keeping me from falling to my death was a magical light. But I remained confident. I saw another hand come towards, and I moved my feet in a way so that I kicked off of it and landed on its arm. I quickly climbed to the shoulder before it had another chance to grab me. The hand came and I swatted at it with the blue light. A little bit of blood squirted out and it stopped just long enough for me to climb up its neck onto its face using the light as a kind of climbing axe. I reached its nose, and waved my arm around a few more times to scare the beast's hand away once more. That left me with just enough time to climb into its nostril.

I looked around, but it was mostly dark. The blue light dimly lit the small area around me. It was a tight fit. Maybe only an inch or two of space on either side of me and a couple feet above and below me. But it was safe. It couldn't grab at me and if it did I could just jab at its fingers with my blue light. Then the wind began to blow. Slime rained down from above giving my clothes a new layer of filthy stink. I sacrificed the back of my head to keep my face free from snot. I started to slip and new that I had to grab onto something so I stabbed the inside of its nose.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" it screamed out in pain. Blood was now washing away the slime. A finger came in and I jabbed at it. It was pulled out quickly. Another finger came in and I jabbed again. I couldn't stay here forever. If I left the nose I would surely be killed in a matter of seconds. So since I couldn't go out, I went in. I climbed to the top of the nostril and started slashing it with the light. "RAAAAAAAAAAAA!" it must have been painful for the creature, but I didn't care. This thing was a demon. It deserved pain. More and more blood rained down until all my skin and hair head to toe was a deep red. "RAAAAAAAAAAA!" the screams never stopped. Nor did I. Further and further I dug into the nose, so far that its fingers could no longer reach me. All I did for who knows how long was slash and stab to the sound of the agonizing creature's screams. "RAAAAAAAAAA!" they became louder. "RAAAAAAAAAAA!" and more painful. "RAAAAAAAAAA!" and more desperate.

I wasn't the one screaming for my life this time. And suddenly it wasn't either. The screams stopped. BOOM! It fell to its knees and I was shot from the dark slimy hole. I soared through the air and was heading toward the ground. Was this it? Was I going to die from being thrown out of a monsters nose? I had very little time to ponder before I hit the ground. Slap! I hit the road, and my blood and slime covered body skidded across the street. But it was virtually painless. I moved my legs and arms and nothing hurt. I wiggled my fingers and toes, nothing. I stood up and looked to where the ogre was on its knees. Its eyes were open wide and water was dripping out of them. It was crying.

Did I just take a life? But it wasn't human. It wasn't an animal. It was a demon. It was a killing machine and it deserved to die. But despite the fact that it killed four people I began crying too. I don't really know why. It tried to kill me. I should have been happy that it was dead. But I was crying for the monster that killed Troy. I think I was just confused. So many things had happened I just didn't know what to cry for anymore. It was pathetic.

I looked up into the air, "Dammit!" I cried. "Now what? NOW WHAT! I killed this monster! BRING EVERYONE BACK! You hear me God? This is your doing isn't it?" I fell to the ground. "Please…Dad…just bring everyone back." Everything was getting black. My eyes were slowly closing. "Ah…Dad…" I blacked out.

…

"Hey? Is this one alive?" it was a man's voice. It was Alex's voice. "Hey…oh my god! Blargh" He threw up. "He…he…look at him!"

I opened my eyes to see Alex and his wife standing over me. "Oh! Get him inside! Hurry!" My eyes had closed again. I could tell the voice was female, most likely Alex's wife. I felt myself get picked up and carried for some time. While I was being carried I heard a few other voices.

"Oh!"

"What the hell happened to him?"

"Jesus Christ!"

Then after I don't know how long I was put down on something soft. The comfort was unfamiliar and startled me awake. I was lying on a clean white bed surrounded by a hundred frilly white pillows. It was evident I had been placed in a girls room because the walls were pink and hanging on the wall in colorful wooden letters was the name "Jessica". Stuffed animals were scattered all over the floor and there were several cluttered doll houses set up everywhere you looked. There was a tiny rocking chair in the corner with a teddy bear sitting in it, looking at me.

"Hey!" Did that voice come from the teddy bear? "Hey, Nara are you okay?" It was Alex and he was standing over me yet again, but he wasn't wearing his aviator jacket anymore. It had been replaced by an equally ill-fitting white polo.

"What? Where am I?" I asked still a little dazed.

"We brought you to a house. Everything is okay now." He replied in a calm voice.

I sat up, "Everything is okay? You mean everyone is back? Everything is normal again!" I was really excited.

"Um…no. But that monster is dead and everyone is waiting downstairs. We need you to come downstairs for something, but first take a shower. You're filthy." I looked down and the clean white bed was covered in blood and some sort of light green slime. "The shower is right next to this room. I already used it and it works. Hurry up." Then he walked out.

I went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. I was frightened of my own reflection. My entire body was blood red from the tip of my head to the bottom of my socks, apparently they had taken my shoes off. I touched my face and it was crusty. I touched it again with my other hand and tried to wipe off the blood, but to no avail. "No, no, no, no, no" I wiped again and again. "No, no, no, no, no!" I quickly turned on the shower and jumped in, clothes and all. I started washing off all the blood from my face and stripping off my clothes while in the shower. Every nook and cranny of my body had been covered in blood. It soaked through my clothes and dried in my hair. The water came out of the shower head clear, hit my body, and washed down the drain red.

I must have spent an hour scrubbing everything I could reach until I was back to normal. After I was all clean I stood there just staring at my hands. Did I really kill that monster? Then I remembered the blue cube. I leaned out of the shower and picked up my pants. There was a bulge in the pocket, and I reached my hand in and pulled out the blue cube. It was still glowing faintly. While still in the shower I squeezed my hand shut around the cube and the light came out. "woah!" I fell down and the light cut the shower curtain. I pulled the light back and make a big gash in the tilled wall. I quickly stopped flailing around and opened my fist. The light disappeared and the cube fell onto the ground.

"Hey! You okay in there?" It was Alex "I'm putting a change of clothes in the room you woke up in so, just hurry up." I carefully picked up the cube with two fingers and turned off the shower. I went into the room next door, got changed into a pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt, put the cube in my pocket, and walked down stairs. There were seven people gathered around the TV. It was everybody who had survived.

"Okay, the jack ass is here. Let's get this thing started." Apparently the guy with the purple mo hawk had survived too.

"I'm not a jack ass" I replied weakly.

"Finally" came a voice from the TV. It was a man's voice and he had a British accent. "Took you long enough jack ass".

"Whoa, why is the TV-"I started, but before I could finish I was interrupted by Alex.

"He's going to explain everything to us so just be quiet and listen." He seemed really eager so I shut my mouth, focused on the TV, and paid attention. I couldn't even tell that the TV was on. The voice was coming from the speakers, but there was no picture on the TV.

The British voice started again; "Good deal" He seemed excited. "So Nara you were the one who killed the monster, yes? Everybody give him a round of applause." Everyone remained quiet. "I SAID, EVERYBODY. GIVE HIM. A ROUND. OF APPLAUSE. OR I WILL KILL YOU!" His voice was angry and serious.

A few people started weakly clapping. "Look at that Nara, they like you. They really like you." Said the British man in his excited voice again "So I assume you found out how to use that blue cube thing-a-ma-what-sit?" I was quite. I didn't feel like talking to a TV after watching so people die right in front of my eyes. I just wanted everything to be back to normal. "LISTEN TO ME! ANWER THE QUESTION!" He was angry again.

"Uh…yea, yes" I said startled.

"That's what I had assumed. Good for you. Okay so now onto more important business, why all this is happening." Everyone leaned closer to the television set. We were finally going to learn why everybody had disappeared and why we were attacked by a giant monster. The British man whispered, "I'm not telling." There was a stunned silence.

"What the hell is this?" The guy with the purple mo hawk screamed. "Is this some kinda joke? Are there cameras somewhere? "

The British man remained calm, "Stop talking", but the guy with the purple mo hawk continued.

"It all makes sense! This is some kind of stupid TV show! I'm leaving!" he got up and made his way toward the door.

Still calm the British man spoke "Sit down please."

"I'm out of here! You guys can all go to hell!" he grabbed the door knob and immediately froze. A few drops of liquid fell to the floor then he hit the ground hard. Blood was leaking from his ears and he wasn't moving.

"I told you to sit down." The man in the TV cleared his throat "NOW LET THIS BE A LESSON! If any of you EVER disobey ME. YOU WILL DIE! UNDERSTAND?"

"Wha…what did you do?" asked Karin who was sitting on the couch horrified.

"WHAT THE HELL! Did I tell you to ask me A QUESTION!" Karin froze. Blood poured from her ears and she slumped down in the couch. She was dead. This man was crazy. People were dying just because they were frightened. First the monster kills people with its sword now this man was killing people with is thoughts. This was definitely hell. People were dying all around me and there was nothing I could do.

"Oh my goodness I'm terribly sorry. I don't know what got a hold of me. Well, I have to explain the rules now so it would be best if everyone was alive to hear them. Upsey-daisy" The guy with the purple mo hawk who was lying on the floor opened his eyes. Karin sat up in the couch. They were alive!

"What just happened? Did I black out?" Karin asked when she came to.

"No, no, no. You were dead. That was my bad. Sorry darling. Now, Nara would you be a good lad and open the front door. They need to hear the rules as well." I was really confused. A TV which could kill people and bring them back to life with his thoughts told me to open a door to let "them" in. All I knew was that if I didn't open the door he was probably going to kill me too. So I walked to the door and opened it. There were three people standing on the other side.

My eyes widened "Troy?" Troy was standing on the front porch along with Father Ares and the man Troy tried to save. "Troy!" I was so happy to see Troy, and I gave him a big hug. "I can't believe you're alive." A few tears escaped from my eyes.

"Um…who are you?" Troy asked confused. The other two men at the door looked a little uncomfortable.

"I was in the church with you. Remember?"

"Yea I know that, but your name?" I had completely forgotten Troy didn't know my name. We were complete strangers. I hadn't even said a word to him before this, yet I was crying over his return from the dead. I looked into his eyes-

"OH. . Nara, get your penis out of his ass and get over here!" The TV man interrupted our reunion. "I don't have all day for you guys to play find the snake hole!" he cleared his throat "Sorry, sorry. I mean can you please pay attention to the rules before I VOMIT FROM MASSIVE GAYNESS!" he cleared his throat again "Oh, no I mean. I'm sorry. Just please come over here, grab a seat, and pay attention. Thank you!"

Feeling somewhat humiliated I walked over and sat on the floor and Troy sat next to me. We looked at each other and he scooted a few feet away. The guy in the purple mo hawk was giggling the whole time. "Okay now that you're all here let's start going over the rules. First-"

"What about the man in the suit?" asked Troy. He just interrupted the TV man. Everyone looked at him horrified.

"FIRST RULE: You NEVER INTERUPT ME, Second rule: If you die then you die for good. The first round was just practice. Die again and I won't revive you. This isn't freaking Harry Potter." A picture of Harry Potter riding a broom appeared on the TV screen. "Third rule: I know this sounds trivial, but I'm required to say it. Don't leave Earth." Harry Potter was replaced with a picture of a rocket ship with a big red X going through it. "And there are a couple more rules, but eh…they aren't that important." This had to be impossible. No sane person would believe this; yet I don't think there was a single person in that room who thought it was false. We whole-heartedly believed those stilly rules because we needed to. If we didn't have those rules we would have no way to explain what was going on. We needed those rules to stay sane.

"So, what the hell was that creature?" the guy with the purple mo hawk spoke.

"Oh yes. Every six days a creature will come and try to kill you." And another rule. Did that mean that every six days an ogre was going to attack us? I didn't' know if I could handle that.

Alex immediately responded, "What do you mean a creature will try to come and kill us every six days?"

The man in the TV cleared his throat, "Oh, I'm sorry if that wasn't clear. EVERY SIX DAYS. A CREATURE WILL COME! AND TRY TO KILL YOU!" Alex put his head down.

"What about these cube things?" I reached into my pocket and held out the blue cube in front of the television set.

"Good question boy. You each received one of those cubes upon switching dimensions. You can use them however you choose. Now, I have enough time for one more question." We switched dimensions? This was all really hard to believe, but after the giant monster and the bringing people back to life thing it was hard to say that it was impossible. It at least explained why everybody disappeared.

"So do the cubes-" I started before Troy interrupted me.

"Who are you?"

It was silent for a minute. Everyone was wondering that same thing. Everyone wanted to know who he was. I wanted to know who he was. He was the master of the world where monsters existed and magic was real. He could bring people back to life with no effort at all and kill them just as easily. He was neither God nor Devil, but he was just as mighty as them both.

"My name is Geppetto." The man calmly responded.

"And you are my puppets."

-End of Chapter 5-