CHAPTER 18: The Flatiron Fight
"Have you heard those weird noises coming from the Flatiron building?" I asked Peater as we roamed around, looking around every so often to see if a physical attack was in the offing.
"Well . . . now that you mention it, yes. I'm hearing people or plants having a discussion, I'm hearing clanging, the occasional yell . . ."
He trailed off as he looked at the copper-roofed building that was once a human residence.
"Well, why don't we check it out? It just might be zombies or something like that!" Peater implied.
"Or it might just be nothing important!" I replied as I tugged on his leaf to coax him along the road.
"Hey ― this just might be a life and death matter that we're being drawn against!" Peater exclaimed.
"Fine. But if I end up wasting my energy on something unimportant . . ."
I trailed off and shook a fist at Peater.
"You most definitely don't want to be on the receiving end of my wrath, Peater." I growled.
"You're acting real weird today. You've been like that since you came out of Ash's office. Is anything wrong?" he asked.
"No. And I don't remember going into Ash's office!" I answered.
"Hey hey hey! Guess who!" I heard an excited voice behind me. I turned around, and found a young Sunflower behind me.
It was Annika, and she was tugging a Cactus behind her.
"Guys, meet Roosevelta Dahria. She and I met one odd day, and we've been pretty close. I like to call her Roosie, or Roose." she explained. The Cactus waved an arm shyly.
"Hi . . ." she murmured.
"Roosie, this is Elyssia and Peater." Annika introduced Roosevelta to us, and we nodded politely in response. Just then, there was a loud yell from inside the brick building.
"Probably a bird . . ." I mumbled as I continued walking along University Avenue.
"Elyssia, have you gone deaf?" Peater sputtered.
"Of course not!" I replied.
"And if the zombies came charging right outta that damn building, what are you gonna do, huh? Die?" Peater retorted.
"Die I will, if that's what's gonna happen! Anything to keep your head on your stem!" I answered.
"So I just should've left you there to die a while ago? I should have been hell-bent on my thinking the other week?" Peater asked hotly.
"Yeah, and that means that you'd miss out on an awesome girl, and that means that I would have died, all the same!" I answered, just as fiercely.
"Let there be peace?" Annika whimpered.
"Oh, yes. Greatly appreciated, you two." Roosevelta echoed. I simply ignored their pleas for peace of mind.
"I mean, look at how certain plants have been acting towards me! Like, let's face it: nobody cares!" I hissed.
"Certain plants, ha! Like who?" Peater fired back.
"You, those bullies at school, my own damn parents . . . damn, the list could go to the moon and back!" I responded.
"What the heck are you implying?" Peater asked.
"You just wanna use me, and then cast me away and do away with me as if I'm some kinda . . . some kinda freaking marionette!" I answered.
"You just have no self esteem whatsoever! You don't know how much your life means to a lot of plants!" Peater growled.
"Ohhh, suuureee. He says, "no self esteem", when I'm just tryin to be a heroine!" I mocked.
"Like I said, let's just face the double damned truth!" I snarled, actually sending a bit of spit that narrowly missed Peater's root.
"I'm not important! I'll just die fighting and leave it at that! Besides, nobody thinks I'm worth being kept alive! I know you're thinking like that, even though you won't admit it! Be that way, and just let me go effing die!" I screamed.
"FINE! YOU WANT IT SO, THEN IT'LL BE SO!" Peater growled, finding a metal pole and beaning me with it.
"Oh, well, let's see if we can get the death penalty around, and maybe start the chain by killing you!" he growled.
I did my best not to cry out at the pain as a little blood ran down my face.
"Leave me alone, you bitch! Go to hell and meet Ellen, Alduin, and the fricking devil! Tell them that I'll hate 'em till the end!" I yelled.
"You need me, don't you?" Peater growled as he glared daggers into my eyes. In response, I glared fiercely into his eyes, clearly fazing him.
We spent the rest of the walk to the Flatiron building in silence. The silence was not peaceful at all. In fact, the silence was like the quiet a few minutes before a war was about to be declared. I kicked the first door we came to right down.
"Hey ― vandalism, girly." Peater growled.
"Shut the bloody hell up, Peater." I retorted as we followed the noises right into the attic.
We could see Ash, and my aunt Mary talking with several zombies. They were talking about mushy, unimportant things, and it made me want to throw up. A tiny light was on, adding to the mediocre light that Mary produced, but they still looked almost unidentifiable.
"Ash! What are you doing here?" Roosevelta asked as she came into the room.
The congregation turned in our direction, and when they saw me, they looked pissed as heck.
"Get outta here, all of you!" Mary snarled as she grabbed a rock and tossed it at me.
"Annika, get inside that box in front of us." I hissed through the corner of my mouth.
Annika, quiet as a sly fox, slithered right into the box for protection.
"We don't have to get outta here if you're doing evil things!" I yelled as I sent a blast of icy wind over to the zombies, the damn bastards.
"Oh, you . . ." Ash muttered as he jumped on top of a box and started shooting at me.
I took a few shots, and I didn't even glance at the wounds that were slowly starting to bleed. I didn't even take notice of the pain coursing through my body as Ash's burning peas put a negative effect on my body. Next thing I knew, two Chompers had jumped out from behind a box and started chasing me around. Now I was left with two choices: hide like a coward or fight and die. Something told me to decide on the first option, and I dived inside the box that Annika was hiding in.
"Hey... just in case I die, can you bury me beside Daddy? He's in Humber Summit, and I loved him." she whispered. I nodded.
"Look ― stay here like a good girl, Anni. I want you to keep your head on your stem."
Annika nodded in response before I jumped out.
Peater was holding back the defectors well, and I decided to lend a hand. I dodged and shot like there was no tomorrow, and Peater seemed to be . . . waiting for something to happen. Finally, Aunt Mary had given up. In one shrill scream, she had jumped right out the attic window and into the street below. That left me with three boys to face. Surprisingly enough, Ash had ceased his shooting, and it was just . . . silent. At long last, the orange Chomper had spoken up.
"My name's Temi, and this blue dude over here is Martin. We're the Yousif twins, believe it or not."
Martin grinned, an evil toothy grin.
"We've been sent here to . . . kill you."
"By who?" I asked.
Then I turned to Ash.
"Oh you fricking traitor from hell!" I growled as I shot a jet of ice at his head.
"Bull's-eye!" I hissed triumphantly.
Peater stepped up.
"I sent them to kill you. I thought they were talking about someone else but ―"
He was cut off by Ash's insanity or something. Anyhow, Ash just tried to jump out of the window that Mary had used as an escape route, only Temi blocked him.
"Finish this off, and leave us Yousifs to suffer pain and to die!"
I could hear faint whimpers from the box in which Annika was hiding in, but I paid no mind.
"It was entirely what, bastard?" I asked.
"I . . . I thought that it was some kind of deal with Ash to restore Toronto to its former glory, but it turned into . . . this." Peater whispered.
"Hey . . . we were sent here on a blood mission?! Sorry, but count us out!" Temi whimpered.
And with that, he and Martin shrank back to watch the slaughter.
"It's finished, girl." Ash snarled, and with that, he had ripped my stem open and I was gone.
The end.