CHAPTER 32: Mug Jumped in Purple

"Well, we need to find a good house . . ." I mumbled as I looked around the vicinity.

I cautiously opened the door of a brick house. There was blood everywhere, and there was a human corpse with large parts missing from its head and arms. Not very far away, a zombie was nibbling at a brain sparingly, sitting on a wooden chair, his back turned to the door.

"Oh jeez . . . not a good place . . ." I muttered as I went on to find another house.

Just then, I heard groaning.

"Elyssia, we gotta hide! What if it's a . . . a . . . a horde of Gargantuars?" Peater yelled as he ran inside the house.

Instead of following him, I ran around the corner, and found a Gargantuar. He looked like the one that I had encountered in the arena, but he looked a bit smaller and weaker. In the trash can he had strapped to his back, there was a heavily armed Imp, and what appeared to be Zomboss and another plant that happened to be bright orange in colour.

But I shrugged it off, considering how many times that my overly active imagination had gotten me into trouble.

"I gotta get up there . . ." I muttered as I stepped a bit closer.

I made a rude gesture at the zombie and mouthed "Stupid shitty brainless slut". That was enough to make him mad, so he grabbed his passengers and tossed them at me. Turned out that my "overly imaginative imagination" wasn't fooling me. The Imp gave me an evil grin, and prepared to shoot me with his machine gun. I shot him with a barrage of peas, which routed him instantly. I looked a bit further, and there I saw Ash and Zomboss lying face down.

"We'll just rest, and lie here as if we were unconscious. We don't want the Maccabaeus child to get suspicious." Zomboss huffed in a muffled voice into a faceful of dirt.

"We'll stalk her, and jump her when we got the chance." Ash replied in a voice that was just as inaudible as Zomboss'.

Shrugging, and desperately hoping that the two villains wouldn't be able to catch up to me, I jumped on the Gargantuar's leg, and slowly made the dangerous climb to the trash can. When I had finally reached my goal, I sent a blast of ice and a salvo of peas hurtling at the Gargantuar's head. The head popped off, and that left the rest of the body to sway back and forth, and eventually fall to the ground. I jumped out, and hit the ground with a thud that bounced off the surrounding buildings. Peater came running at me, and gave me a huge slap.

"You stupid, stupid girl!"

Then, his attitude changed from livid to loving as he gave me a hug.

"You could have gotten yourself killed out there, Elyssia. And I hope that you'll never die, as long as I'm alive and breathing . . ." I shrugged, and pulled away.

"We should hide . . . like, now . . ." I mumbled as I tugged Peater along the abandoned road.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I saw Zomboss and Ash get tossed out of the Gargantuar's trash can. They're basically just lying there, acting as if they're knocked out, waiting for the right moment to get up. From there, they'll stalk me, and look for the right moment to mug-jump me." I answered, my steady walk turning into a jog in no time at all.

"And that means we need to hide as soon as possible."

Peater and I travelled the lonely streets for hours on end, looking for a place to be safe. I would occasionally hear a shuffling sound behind me, with the sparse, whispering voice pricking at the air. I would always turn around ― and see absolutely nothing. We ran into a at least twenty one different groups of zombies, walking the beat to kill any plants. I left none standing. Finally, we had arrived at a small house. It was crumbling, but I heard no groaning, which meant that it was zombie-free.

"Hallelujah . . . at least we're safe . . ." I mumbled as I threw my leaves into the air and threw open the door.

No zombies, no corpses. Just brown rats, scurrying around, minding their own business, keeping themselves to themselves. I found a cushion and lay myself down on it. My eyes began to droop, and before I could realize it, I had drifted off to sleep.

I was awoken from my rest by the eternally weird sound of something making contact with the wall. I heard a few irritated voices coming from the kitchen. I cautiously entered, and I saw Ash throwing knife after knife at Peater.

"Jesus, he's fast . . ." I mused.

Then, realizing I had to take action, I grabbed a spatula and whacked the back of Ash's head had with it. Dropping the spatula, I ran over to Peater, who held my leaf as Ash recovered from the blow.

"Elyssia Antonia Maccabaeus, you had one job! ONE JOB!" he growled, tossing a knife at me, which I barely dodged.

"And what job would that be, Lethus maniac? Killing innocent plants? Giving up who she is just to be with you?" Peater asked.

"Keep your piehole shut, you jerk." Ash jeered as he tried to stab Peater again, only to miss.

He began to get very angry, and the flame on his head began to turn from orange, to blue, to a poisonous shade of purple.

"Your job was to choose me, and what the hell did you go and do? You went off with . . . with . . . some crackpot!" he growled.

I could feel the temperature in the room heat up, and to prove that it wasn't yet another figment of my imagination, I saw the thermometer by the refrigerator crack. I could feel my crystals become a greyish blue as I began to become more and more fearful. I could feel myself melting, and I could feel my soul melting along with me. Ash pinned Peater to the wall, and tried to stab him, but I was too quick. I jumped in front, and took the blow.

"Elyssia, what the . . ." Peater mumbled as he saw the knife embedded in my stem. I saw that it was only a centimetre or two below my heart, and that I was lucky that I was still alive.

For now.

"Elyssia, what the hell did you . . ."

Ash tried to get out his words, but all that came out were a few jumbled expressions. Finally, he grabbed a needle from his bag, and stabbed Peater hard with is.

"NO!" I screamed as Peater's eyes rolled into the back of his head while he groaned in pain.

Finally, the groaning stopped, but something was wrong with him. His eyes were red slits, and it looked as if someone else was controlling him. He ran in front of me, and took out the knife, letting the blood ooze out and pour onto the floor. I then collapsed as the room began to spin. Peater caught me just before I hit the stone cold floor.

"Elyssia . . . I'm so sorry . . ." he whispered as he looked into my eyes.

Judging by the way he said that, I could tell that he didn't mean it. His voice sounded strange, as if it wasn't . . . his. I tried to look away from his demonic gaze, but it was as if I was pinned to the spot. Finally, Peater began to smile deviously, and he plunged the knife right back into my stem with a laugh, this time harder. I began to cough up blood as my vision swam.

"Peater . . . why would you do this to me? I thought . . . I thought that you loved me . . ." I said as loudly as my voice would permit me to.

More blood was spilling onto Peater's leaves, and the more blood he saw, the happier he seemed to be.

"Times change, Antonia. Times change." he chuckled in that voice that wasn't his as he pulled me into a standing position, his eyes blazing brightly and satanically, not showing one ounce of regret for his actions. Once again, he pulled out the knife, and forced it back in, harder than ever. As the knife dug into my stem, my broken, weak body could stand no more. I screamed, then closed my eyes as I collapsed.