CHAPTER 31: Breaking Right Through
"Elyssia, are you . . . okay?" Peater asked as he squeezed my leaf to wake me up.
I was still on the stone cold floor that I had collapsed on not very long ago.
"I . . . don't know." I answered, after a moment of being tongue-tied.
I finally managed to sit up, after a moment or two of pain. I wiped away my tears, and looked behind me. I saw those plants that fought with me, and they were staring back, hints of smiles beginning to appear on their faces. Before I knew it, there was sparse applause pricking the air.
"Wh-what the hell is this?" I sputtered as I looked at the rest of the plants, who were still clapping hard.
Peater smiled, and joined in the applause. "You're truly strong, Elyssia. You never backed down, no matter how much we gave you the gremlin's stare. You're . . . the kinda girl who's a heroine, and it's not just because of a prophecy that someone made 13 years ago. You're actually . . . always willing to die for those you love."
I blushed at those words, for they made me feel good all over. Then, Mareya spoke up.
"Elyssia, you fear death?" she asked.
"W-well . . . the only thing that I fear more than God is Peater." I answered jokingly.
"Ha ha ha . . . I'm dying of laughter over here." Peater huffed sarcastically as he whacked my head playfully, making everyone laugh, including me.
"Remember who picks you up when you fall down? Remember the one who throws aside his own life just to save you? Because hey ― I could've left you on the side of the street to die a while ago." Peater reminded me.
I smiled, making him laugh at last. It was such a long time since we laughed like this ― our lives seemed to consist of more and more turmoil and less and less joy. But the sound was immediately hushed by the presence of someone we knew full well was evil.
It was Dr. Zomboss.
"Enough of that nonsensical racket! It's gonna make me go insane!" Zomboss muttered as he swept into the cell. I so desperately wanted to retort, "So go insane then! It's not like I give a damn!"
But I kept my mouth shut.
Zomboss turned to me, and wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Swift fighter . . . how did you enjoy Nathan Phillips Square?" he asked.
"It was fine, thank you very much."
I then gave him a look that said ― no, screamed, "I HATE YOU!"
"Now, now. None of that attitude whatsoever is necessary." Zomboss warned me as he grabbed a whip from his coat pocket and struck me with it.
"You are a liar and a cheater, Edgar George Zomboss. You are a coward, not wanting to look at how weak you truly are. You will pay your price." I growled.
"How? Have you got some force that's stronger than . . . me?" Zomboss taunted.
"I don't have it... but it's everywhere, though nobody sees it. That force is called love, and it will slice you into pieces!" I spat.
"Ooh, love! The thing that makes me want to . . . to . . . puke on my zombies! You truly are ridiculous, Elyssia. How can something as disgusting as love overpower me, Dr. Zomboss?" Zomboss asked.
"It's one of nature's laws. If you're too dumb to know about it, what the hell do you expect me to do, huh? In any case, love can make any and every piece of evil ineffective. If you're too stupid to understand, well . . . it's your funeral." Zomboss muttered a few cusses under his breath before proceeding to start blabbering about his "great plans".
"Thanks to Ash, I'll take over the country! And do you wanna know about my other weapon? That weapon would be you, in case you were wondering. Ash so desperately wanted to be with his parents, and he wanted to be able to make you his. Well, guess what? After you two have been . . . ah, what's the word . . . bonded, I'll have you killed, so that I could turn Toronto, Ottawa, Stratford, Niagara, and all of these Ontarian cities into zombie paradises!"
I did everything I could to prevent my eyes from going wide with fear. If Zomboss succeeded in killing me, he'd jeopardize the safety of Toronto, because I was the one who helped the war effort turn the tides of the war, and I was ― or had ― this Coponeva Insuperabilis thing. Zomboss then smirked and said, "Have a terrible night, and let the bedbugs bite ― whatever the hell those critters are."
Peater started tending to the scratch on my head.
"Really Elyssia . . . you are stupid. Fighting back when you could've just stayed quiet." he muttered.
"Ouch! Leave it alone, or it'll get infected!" I shrieked as a bolt of pain came surging through me.
"Uh . . . I suggest that we change the subject . . ." Brian mumbled.
"Thank you, dear twin. How in the name of Canada would we get outta here?" Albert asked.
"Ugghh . . . why don't we just keep our butts here to rot?" Carol groaned.
"Hear, hear!" Temi and Martin chorused morosely.
"Hey Carol ― that's not the attitude of your type, is it?" Roosevelta scolded.
"No hope . . ." Mareya sighed sadly, the bolts of electricity jumping from one end of her head to another becoming weaker from sadness.
"Hey ― let's try!" I suggested to lighten up the mood.
We made our best attempts ― from Mareya trying to warp the metal of the bars to Temi and Martin chomping on the bars to me trying to make the metal crack by using the concept of expanding ice. Finally, we sank to the ground, exhausted.
"No hope is right, Mareya . . ." Peater panted.
I frowned at the pessimistic attitude that was reflected on everyone's faces. Then, an excellent idea came crashing into my head.
It was a no-brainer, but it had some degree of intelligence.
My plan was suspiciously simple to some, but that didn't stop me.
All we'd have to do was cause a diversion, get a guard zombie over here, knock them out, and grab the keys. From there, we could unlock the door and get outta City Hall for good.
"Not bad, Elyssia." Carol mumbled, nodding with approval.
Peater was simply taking it all in with a few nods, then finally he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.
"Elyssia Antonia, you are a genius!" he exclaimed.
I blushed, and smiled. Luckily, we got to skip the first step. Goose was coming over to drag me into Zomboss' office. He unlocked the cell door, and was about to grab me when I shot a jet of ice at him, knocking his head right off his neck. "So long, sucker." I muttered as I grabbed the keys hanging from his smelly coat collar, which led me to briefly wonder why anybody ― undead or alive ― would want to hang a set of keys from his or her collar. I unlocked our door and grinned.
"Freedom!" Albert, Brian, Carol, Temi, Martin and Roosevelta chanted silently, while Mareya was threatening to get me dizzy with an infinite do-si-do.
I put a leaf to my lips to silence them.
"Shh, for the best is yet to come." I reminded them.
Peater grinned briefly at my philosophy before setting off with the rest of the group. We ran into a few unarmed zombies, but they fell quickly. We had soon managed to get out through a side door. Making the trek over the sandy Nathan Phillips Square was effortless, but the biggest problem would be the zombies at the brick walls that marked the entrance to the plaza.
"Hey ― I just got an idea! Why don't you leave it to us to tackle the guards, while you get over the wall?" Martin suggested.
"Ummm, as much as I like your bravery, that sounds a little . . . harebrained." Albert hissed.
"Hey ― you guys have had absolutely no experience with terrorism. When you're a terrorist, you gotta know how to get past Officer A, how to trick Officer B, and how to stall Officer C. Leave it to us!" Temi explained confidently.
I nodded, and saluted the two Chompers before they went off to do their business with the guards. Just then, I heard a shuffling sound behind me. I turned around, and saw a brilliant orange flash disappear behind the wall.
"It's probably a hallucination . . ." I mumbled as I snapped my attention back to the task at hand.
"Guys ― follow me!" I whispered to the remaining plants.
We scaled the wall without trouble, and took a moment to see what the Yousif twins were up to. Turned out that all they did was spit a bunch of saliva onto the zombies, eat them, and get through the gates. We met up with one another, and realized that we were truly free.
"Umm . . . don't mean to spoil your plant food but . . . what are we gonna do?" Roosevelta asked.
"We split up, that's what. If you've got family, then go back to them." Temi answered.
"Martin and I will just go . . . live in the Flatiron building." Soon, everyone was going their own ways.
Everyone, that is, but Peater and I.
"Hey ― don't you have family somewhere?" Peater asked. I nodded slowly, then blurted out, "I do, but . . . I don't know where they are!"
Tears started to come into my eyes, and I couldn't stop them from falling onto the ground.
"I'm just gonna go my own way . . ." Peater murmured as he started to walk away.
But some stroke of impulse caused me to pull him back to me.
"Peater, remember our promise?" I asked, looking straight into his eyes.
"I've got nobody . . . nobody to really care for me . . . I'm alone." I whispered, more tears welling up and spilling onto my cheeks.
Peater put a leaf on my stem, then pulled me into a hug as my sobs began to become uncontrollable.
"Elyssia . . . it's fine. We'll just find a place to live in, and . . . leave it at that." he whispered. I blinked away a couple of tears before speaking.
"R-really? You . . . you aren't serious, are you?"
"If I wasn't serious, I wouldn't say anything." Peater replied.
I smiled as we began our journey.
But somewhere, deep down, I felt like someone was stalking us.
With a knife.
Ready to kill . . .