Chapter 43: Escapé
Describing my current mood would be a bit depressing to say the least. Not only was I doomed to die an agonizing death, but all my newfound friends were doomed to follow, or in Misery's case: following.
I looked over to the other cage where the only people left I could call family occupy. They all had similar looks to mine. Frank had his head buried in his knees looking both upset and furious at the same time, Len was resting his chin on his arm looking completely lost on what to feel. Iris had her arms crossed in front of her face looking terrified and like she was holding back tears, Poe was pacing the cage looking as though he was deep in thought but looked as though he was equally as lost. Skull Boy had a look of disappointment on his face as if he was blaming himself and he currently had his arms around a shuddering Ruby who I've never seen look so crestfallen before, as if she had finally embraced her last name. Doom was burying her head into Ruby's chest looking utterly shattered while Ruby was clutching Doom doing her best to comfort her beloved feline. Scaredy currently had a good reason to be terrified as he was hyperventilating into a paper bag whilst also shaking like a leaf. My mom looked as if she was trying to be strong for everyone since she was the adult (along with Poe) but seemed as if she was disappointed on her failure to protect me and the other innocent victims that were roped into this brouhaha.
I myself remained silent as I had nothing more to say, mom always told me "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I stared down at my hand which still had the spherical bomb attached to my flesh with superglue. I was lost in how to remove it and knew that DeDe had the power to arm it at any time she pleased. I felt as though there was no light at the end of the tunnel, this was it.
Just then a clunking sound was heard by everyone as we gazed around the room and heard a ruckus coming from the vents.
"What's that noise?" asked Skull Boy.
"Perhaps it is our inevitable demise coming for us." shivered Scaredy.
"I guess the early bird gets the worm after all." stated Len.
"Except not in our favour." added Poe.
Then I decided to speak up "Guys?" I said getting their attention. "If this is it I just wanna say thank you for giving me a new home, it was everything I could ever want. My only regret is that I didn't get more time in it." I finished sincerely.
"It was our pleasure Zaí." said Ruby. "You were the missing piece we never thought we needed."
"You'll always be one of us." added Iris.
"Now and forever." said Frank.
Just then a crash echoed throughout the room as the grate of the vent fell to the floor we all watched in anticipation as the figure crawled out of the vents.
But much to our surprise a black high-heeled boot was the first thing to emerge out of the vent followed by another and the figure then jumped to the floor beneath us and we all gasped in complete shock as the figure we all saw was our presumed dead companion... Misery.
"Hello" she said nonchalantly.
My jaw hung open while I saw that the gang all had tears in their eyes and looked as if they were about to cry tears of pure happiness.
"Misery!" they all shouted simultaneously.
"You're alive!" Frank shouted.
"You made it!" added Skull Boy.
"We thought we lost you.." Ruby said solemnly.
"That we would never see you again.." added Scaredy.
"How did you escape?" asked Iris.
"It was an intense battle, with bloodshed and violence but in the climax I won. Now if you don't mind guys, maybe it would be best to save the details until after we've escaped?" She said clearly thinking rationally about how the situation was close to the edge.
"I must agree with Misery, perhaps finding a way to escape should be Plan A." said Poe.
Inside my head I knew they were right. "So how are we going to escape?"
"Leave that to me." Misery said with confidence. Firstly she went to the door to ensure no one was coming after it was evident that the coast was clear she then made her way over to my cage.
"Okay you're gonna want to stand back a bit." I did as I was told as Misery took out her trusty scimitar and leapt up to my cage and sliced right through the iron bars. I couldn't believe it I was free!
Although the question of how the scimitar could cut through iron entered my mind I remembered that now was neither the time nor the place for questions.
Misery then repeated the move for our friends cage as I climbed out.
Once we were all free Misery glanced over at the barred window.
"I believe this is the same window I saw earlier." She said as she peered down seeing the two guards standing watch.
"Hmmm now how to get rid of them? I don't suppose any of you guys would have any ideas?"
Everyone stared in silence as nobody seemed to know what the next step would be.
"I guess we're just gonna have to wing it." Ruby said enthusiastically.
"Guess it's up to me then." Misery said knowing she'd need to act fast. She counted down on her fingers 3, 2, 1...Now!
She then sliced through the bars on the window with enough force to cut through them before she kicked through them and jumped out the window to the ground below. The two guards were caught, well off guard so to speak (I know) as they barely had enough time to react before Misery swung the scimitar and with one swift slice decapitated them both. Their necks spewed out blood like geysers before collapsing to the ground as their blood stained the dirt.
Me and the others were surprised but knew that it was now our opportunity to escape.
"Excellent work Misery now let's go!" Poe stated as he flew from the window. Everyone else followed after of course Scaredy and Doom had to be carried down by Iris and Ruby respectively. My mom helped me down since one of my hands was still superglued to DeDe's bomb.
"Misery that was totally awesome!" Frank said as we had all started leaving.
"Uhh thanks I guess." She replied bashfully.
"Okay guys, remember we're not out yet we've still got to get out of here and back to Gloomsville once and for all." Skull Boy said.
"Right, let's go now so we can make some ground before DeDe notices we're gone." I said as we all headed off for the outskirts of the lake of zombies to avoid our unpleasant fate.
—
About 20 minutes after we had escaped DeDe came into the room Misery had entered from.
"Now that we've got all of those worthless Gloomsville miscreants in our clutches there'll be no hope for anyone anymore. Those disgusting zombies will be wiped off the face of the earth and Zaí will be history!"
She then went to grab her chimera blood filled brooch but was met with an unfortunate surprise once she saw that the lock had been sliced open!
"What?! How did this happen?" She panicked and opened up the cabinet only to find her precious gem had disappeared.
DeDe let out a scream of rage at the loss of her power "Saboteurs, I should've known, that's what happens when you let your guard down." She said before sitting down and burying her face in her crossed arms.
Although she didn't stay that way long because shortly a new idea bubbled into her head as a sinister grin spread across her face. DeDe proceeded to rifle through the drawers of one of the desks when Vyperine and Wisteria came in.
"DeDe are you okay?" Wisteria asked her.
"We heard your scream and rushed over here." added Vyperine.
"Don't worry about me guys, I'm all right I've just experienced a minor set back is all, but nothing that this can't handle" she said producing a remote from the desk.
"What is that?" Vyperine questioned.
"Let's just say it'll put a dent in our little friends escape plan." DeDe stated confidently.
"How does it work?" Asked Wisteria.
"All in good time my dear Wisty. I'm sure they'll figure that one out soon enough."
She gazed at a toggle switch, "But right now, it's time for a little payback."
DeDe flipped the toggle switch and the word ARMED flickered on the screen, for it wasn't a remote.
but a detonator.
—
Another chapter under the belt a few more to go and we reached the end. Thank goodness because I'm running out of snappy blurbs to put on the ends of chapters!