CHAPTER 56: The Beginning of A Storm

I looked up at the bridge that connected Hudson Bay's office building to what used to be the Eaton Center.

"So . . . are there any plants in here now?" I asked.

"Yes, but last time I heard, the base got a new leader. Eric, I think he's called." Elias answered, anxiety tinting his voice.

"Well, let's get in!" I shrieked as I pulled the two plants into the base.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two . . ." I heard a voice drawl from behind me.

I swivelled around slowly . . .

. . . and I saw a Chomper standing there, a fine selection of knives in one leaf.

"You . . . deserve to die!" he growled as he approached me.

"What the hell did she do?" Elias snarled.

"Go! Now! We need a bit of time to ourselves, bozos." the Chomper jeered.

"All right . . . but try any funny business or harm her . . . I swear to God . . . you'll get one hell of a thumping, you hear?" Peater threatened.

"I'll tie you to a stick, beat you up ―"

"Okay, I think we get it, Pea. Now let's boot it outta here and see if we can talk to Eric . . ." Elias interrupted Peater's rant and dragged him off to the side of the building.

"All right . . . what do you want?" I huffed.

"Zomboss demanded your death. He knows that you're going to boot him out of Toronto, but we're not gonna let that happen." the Chomper replied coolly, before he decided to pick a knife with which to torture me.

I still had weird, curving scars from Mar's torture, and I didn't want them to get any worse, considering that they were struggling to heal themselves. Finally, he decided on a knife that had a cruel, unyielding blade, and a curve that made it look all the more menacing.

"Hmm . . . looks like I'm going to finish you off . . . with style." the Chomper hissed as he held it to my forehead and started digging in.

I bit back the need to yell in pain, because I didn't want this . . . this cannibal to get pleasure from my suffering. When the Chomper decided to work on cutting around my eyes, I took this opportunity to shoot a pea at him.

"Right! Now, what were you saying about finishing me off?" I scoffed.

"All right! Hold it right there!"

I wiped the blood out of my eyes and looked over my shoulder, where I saw a Cactus and several other plants looking at us with apprehension.

"Inside." The Cactus ordered.

I just stood there, not knowing whether to trust him or not.

"Now, if you please." he shouted.

"Now tell me . . . what happened?" the Cactus asked.

"It's . . . this stupid, crazy girl just came and randomly attacked me!" the Chomper roared.

"Is that true, dear?" the Cactus asked.

"Aw, hell no! Why, that story's just about as artificial as plastic! The Chomper just used a knife to cut into my face!" I screamed, pointing at the cuts that were slowly bleeding.

"That's true, and that's why we called you, Eric!" Elias chimed in from the doorway.

Eric looked at the Chomper and frowned.

"Well, Norman, I'm afraid to say that you'll be tossed into our jail." he hissed.

"Not unless you can catch me!" the Chomper named Norman snickered as he jumped onto the table.

"Not so fast!" Peater cried as he tackled Norman. Norman only squirmed out of Peater's grasp, leapt to the window, and disappeared.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear. What's your name?" Eric whispered.

"The name's Elyssia." I introduced myself.

There was a collective gasp from around the room as soon as they heard my name. Murmurs and whispers broke out soon after.

"Elyssia Antonia?"

"Yes, it is Elyssia Antonia, in the flesh!"

"The Coponeva Insuperabilis? No way!"

"By Jove, that girl-plant's gonna be the country's saviour!"

I was tempted to yell, "All right, now what is with going ga-ga-ga whenever I introduce myself?! And what the hell is this Coponeva Insuperabilis thing?!"

But I didn't want to come off as rude, so I just said that in my head.

"Anyways . . ." The room was silenced as soon as I had resumed speaking.

"The one who tried to stop whatever his name is ―" I waved my leaf at the window that Norman escaped through.

"I think his name was Nathan, or something . . ." another plant in the room mumbled.

"Uh . . . his name was . . . Norman! Yeah, it was Norman!" Eric cried.

"Thank you, Eric." I said.

"Now going back . . . where was I . . . oh, yeah . . . the one who stopped Norman is Peater, and the one who defended me is Elias." I replied.

"We came here to tell you about an attack that happened in Markham. The zombies are gonna strike back, and we need to drive them out of Toronto." Peater explained. Eric took this in with interest, and smiled.

"Come with me."

We were lead into a passageway that looked like it was connected to the subway tunnels. This guess was confirmed when a subway train came whistling by noisily.

"Look up, you three." Eric instructed.

We looked up, and saw a map. The map looked like a map of Toronto, with ten labelled circles dotting it like sprinkles.

"These are the sub-bases of Toronto, see here? There's Union Station, Osgoode Hall, Mosspark Armoury, Ontario Science Center, Royal Ontario Museum , Air Canada Center, Allen Gardens, St. Lawrence Market and the Rogers Center." Eric explained. "And that ― near the Yonge and Dundas intersection ― is the Toronto Eaton Centre. We're in the passageways that connect the bases. The passageways are either the remains of P.A.T.H or . . . sometimes even the subway tunnels."

I nodded, and rubbed my leaves together in excitement.

Because I'm gonna get this rebellion started, and nothing's stopping me.