Chapter 14: Monsters, Truck, Slam!
"What is that thing!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The wind and music that was blasting made it hard for me to hear anything else. I decided to try and get to my feet, the other two did the same.
"That's a traveling spirit! Someone who died on a road before reaching their destination! I encountered some when I was younger!" Glen shouted while also getting to his feet.
I stared at the green ghoul. It was thin and green with lanky arms. I took out Fate. Before I was able to do anything Glen charged ahead. He took out his twin swords and swung at the spirit. The traveling spirit raised its arm and slashed at the sword with his forearm. Glen's sword did nothing, not even a cut.
I was about to go assist Glen but as I started to head toward the back the trailer shook. I lost my balance again, although I seemed to be the only one who fell. Glen then slashed again with his other sword and made the monster stumble back. I got up to my feet yet again and got right behind Glen.
"Goheorheorego?" The monster said in a gremlin-like voice.
"What did that thing just say?" Sabrina asked.
Glen didn't seem to care. He charged right at the monster. This time he didn't bother swinging. The son of Ares pushed the monster right out of the trailer. At first I thought we were in a good position. One monster down, two left. Nope, somehow this lanky monster grabbed the chariot it was previously in and regained his passenger position.
I started to think of something to do. I thought about throwing Fate, Although I would be defenseless if they decided to jump in again. I got the crazy idea of jumping onto the chariot or at least on the horses. If I missed it would be guaranteed instant death. My body would be a mess on the highway.
Luckily Sabrina took charge after Glen did. She started throwing brewing equipment and ingredients toward the chariot and solo rider. A glass tube shattered on one of the robot horses' faces. In response the horse shook its head like there was a bug buzzing around. I decided to copy Sabrina's idea.
I found a beaker and threw it at one of the traveler spirits. Right after I threw it I realized it was pointless. This beaker just so happened to be made of plastic. Crap I thought as I decided to double check what the stuff was made out of before I started to throw again. I felt like part of it was pointless. I was never good at dodgeball.
Sabrina who after her initial hit had a series of misses switched up her tactic. She pulled out her bow and grabbed an arrow. She pulled back and stopped right before firing. She slowly released the tension of the bow and put it back in her quiver. "Can't waste any," I heard her mumble. So instead she put the brewing items in her bow and fired them. Surprisingly not one of them missed, not that they slowed the monsters down either.
Slowed down… I looked at the highway and our surroundings. Everything seemed to be getting slower and slower. Surrounding cars seemed to pass right by our road fight." Hey guys, we're losing speed!" I shouted. Glen cursed as just then we heard and felt a bang as the robo-horse hit the side of the trailer making a small dent.
"We have to speed up!" Sabrina said.
"How do we do that?" I asked.
"We gotta get their attention!" Glen stated as he got right up to the busted doors. He then started climbing up the folded metal door. I hesitated but I started to follow him. I started positioning myself to climb. I looked up and saw that Glen was almost to the top of the trailer. Looking up at him gave me flashbacks to the climbing wall back at camp.
I tried not to look at my side as I could hear the ghastly neighs from the horses and the gibberish screams from the traveling spirit. I focused on my other side and looked at Sabrina. She was firing anything she could find. For a moment I got her attention. We made eye contact before the horse hit the side of the trailer again. The shockwave throughout the trailer made me lose my footing and grip.
The thought of getting road burn and being trampled by monsters raced through my mind as my hands finally slipped. Then I felt two people grab me. I looked up and saw Glen who was at the top of the trailer holding onto me. Then Sabrina was pushing my back up with a free hand. With both of them supporting me I was finally able to get on top.
Even though we were slowing down I took out Fate and used it as a walking stick to keep my balance. Glen seemed to do the same with both his swords. He was moving along fast. I tried my best to keep up with him but went at my own pace. This whole time by the way I was generally looking at Glen. I looked up and saw where we were.
I couldn't tell you exactly where we were except we were near some cliffs. Well cliffs may be a bit of an exaggeration, we were more on a really big hill or mountain that was very steep. I wasn't necessarily afraid of cliffs but after falling out of a flying chariot. I wasn't exactly the biggest fan of them. I looked toward the side of the semi and saw the solo rider look up at me.
The monster pointed up at me and sped up until he was right next to me. "Gora detamalbaquirkey!" it said before opening a hatch of the robo-horse. Did that thing just say Albuquerque? I thought to myself watching the monster. It then reached into the hatch and pulled out a small looking potion bottle. I looked closer and noticed it was green, I knew instantly what it was.
I looked up at Glen who was now near the actual truck part of the semi. "Greek fire!" I shouted at the top of my lungs hoping he would hear me. I put my attention back on the ghoul, just in time too as he threw the vile. I dropped to the floor and the bottled up fire went right over me. The horse rider started to drive up right next to Glen. I gathered all my strength and ran up to Glen.
"Watch it green skin!" He shouted at the monster waving his sword in the process. The monster started to look for another bomb to throw at us. Glen took this opportunity to get the truck drivers attention. He jumped down while holding on to the back of the Truck and cautiously made his way to the door. He held on to anything he could grip, completely defenseless.
"Hey, speed up you-" I couldn't hear what Glen said after that as another semi driving on the other side of the road honked their horn. From where I was on top of the trailer I could just barely see the driver roll down his window. All the surrounding noise made it so I couldn't focus or hear what they were arguing about. I wanted to know if this guy knew we were being chased by monsters. The mist should have hid the traveling spirits although the mist has been glitching lately.
The monster finally pulled out another vile of greek fire and dread washed over me. Glen was stuck on the side of the truck with nowhere to go."Glen lookout!" I shouted yet again. He turned his head around and looked at the monster. The spirit winded up its arm about to throw right at Glen. I quickly grabbed Fate with both my hands and with all my might launched it at the traveling spirit.
The sword didn't slash the monster in half. In fact the blade never made contact with the monster. Instead after I threw the sword it went spinning. With enough force the hilt of the sword hit the monster and it fell off its horse. Speaking of the horse after the monster fell the vile of greek fire fell too. The magical fire fell right in the back of the running horse, blowing it up.
There was so many things to look at I didn't know what to do. I first looked back at the fallen monster. It was toppling and rolling down the highway as gold dust was scattered on the road. While I was looking back I observed the other two monsters. Both were going crazy jumping up and down in the chariot. I then noticed both were pointing straight up at me.
I looked at Glen, I don't know what he said or did but he got the truck driver to open the door. He started using the open door to climb on top of the truck and that's when my heart sank even more. When I looked up there were three giant birds flying overhead. Thats what those stupid spirits were going crazy for!
The first one swooped down and landed at the end of the trailer. So, I panicked and didn't bother to think about what to do. I jumped down in between the open space of the truck and the attached trailer. I just barely managed to land on the hitch of the truck and felt sharp pain as It felt like I twisted my ankle. I looked up and saw two birds still flying in the sky.
"Adin!" I heard Glen yell from my side.
I looked over and he was stretching himself to the limits outside the door to look at me. I could just see the part of his back right side.
"Throw me your sword Glen!" I shouted to him.
"What no, why-" is all I could hear as my ankle started to throb and I bit my lip.
I was starting to get very mad."THROW ME A SWORD GLEN!" I shouted with all my might. He hesitated at first but threw me one of his golden swords. For a second I remembered this thing has a history to melt. Thank the gods it didn't. Thank the gods again that I was able to catch the sword.
"What I- " He started to say something but I couldn't hear him from all the other sounds that I heard. I added to the noise myself by making an awful metal sound as I started to stab the trailer trying to make a hole. It wasn't a lightsaber, but after a few stabs it did the trick. I started to push the sword into the hole to make it bigger.
"Sabrina, help me please," I shouted as I was able to get the sword in some more. I could see Sabrina in the hole I was making as it was slowly getting larger. She was looking around for something. I could see her pass slightly and it looked like the two spirits were starting to slow down and I got a little bit more motivation.
Sabrina finally came over as the sword could stick about all the way through now. She had a metal pipe in her hand and started to hammer down on the sword. It made the hole expand faster. After what felt like forever, I was able to make myself step into the hole safely.
I started to catch my breath as I leaned against the wall. The adrenaline died down too. My ankle started to throb more and the pain expanded.
"What happened, what's that sound on top?" She asked me
"We got birds".
"We got birds"?
"Yeah we have giant flying birds, maybe hawks or eagles? Hey do you have any ambrosia I twisted my ankle"?
I got distracted as we heard some awful charging noises from outside. I heard a thump before I decided to look. The same spirit jumped back in from earlier. I looked around for something to throw. There was almost nothing. The trailer seemed almost empty besides some boxes which were also empty. I got up as quickly as possible using my good foot. Sabrina took out her arrows and started firing.
I didn't know how many arrows she had but I ran forward. I tried to run past the monster as best I could. Sabrina fired an arrow and it hit the monster where the heart should be. This didn't slow it down. I swung the sword down onto the shoulder. I tried my best to back the monster outside. We started to get the best of the monster before it found its footing. It grabbed me by both my arms and threw me to the side.
When I hit the wall everything started to go blurry. I tried to focus on the monster. It was slowly walking toward Sabrina like a zombie, which I guess it technically is. It stretched out its arms slowly going toward her. I looked around for the sword I borrowed. When I went back to check on the spirit and Sabrina I saw that it was still lodged in its shoulder. I cursed out loud but I couldn't even hear myself from all the highway noise.
I looked around for anything I could use. I grabbed an empty box and jumped up which was a mistake. My ankle was still in immense pain which almost made me fall again. Instead I did my best to ignore it and leaped at the monster. Sabrina was in the middle of the trailer standing her ground. I quickly looked at her and although she was staring at the monster she had determination in her eyes.
I got right up behind the monster and put the box on its head blinding him. Sabrina took this opportunity and pushed the monster back. I followed her lead and grabbed Glens sword out of its shoulder and pushed it back even more. Right as I pushed it back the monster got the box off its head but it was too late. The monster fell backwards out of the trailer and onto the highway. The spirit didn't have the same dexterity as earlier when it landed back onto the chariot. The monster hit one of the robo horses on its back, splitting it in two and turning the monster into dust.
The golden dust then went into the chariot, covering the driving spirit. I was leaning against the wall watching the whole thing go down. Sabrina joined me by my side. I looked at her and she was expressionless which I wasn't used to from her. She readied an arrow which I found out to be her last as her quiver was now empty. "Apollo guide me," She said out loud, not taking her eyes off her target.
She fired and the arrow went soaring in the air. The traveling spirit was done wiping the golden dust out of its face when the arrow landed in between its eyes. I didn't think that would stop it, I knew it wouldn't stop it. But I guess that arrow had more force in it then I thought. Its head got completely decapitated and went toppling onto the highway.
"Nice shot!" I said and raised my hand to give Sabrina a high five. After our clap the victory was quickly ended. We heard the sounds of the giant bird on top screeching and clawing. Then the robotic neighs that were still coming from the horses which were still chasing us. Sabrina didn't waste any time. She took out a small plastic bag from her backpack and tossed it to me. There was a block of ambrosia that fit in my hand. I tore off a small corner piece and gobbled it up.
Sabrina started to climb the busted door like Glen did before and took charge. She put her head up and made sure the coast was clear. She waved for me to come up before she finished her climb. I grabbed Glen's swords since I KNEW he would kill me if I forgot it. My ankle was feeling fine so my climb wasn't bad.
Sabrina grabbed my hand to heave me up. When I got up she was on her guard. I looked forward and the bird from before was still there, although its back was turned. The giant bird was scratching at the trailer with its talons. We started sneaking up behind it. I was in between Sabrina and the bird with the sword ready.
Bang, bang! I heard and felt as the trailer started to shake again. The bird flapped its wings and turned around. I quickly looked down on the highway and saw the robo-horses and chariot still chasing us on the side without a rider. I focused on the bird in front of me which was getting closer. It didn't do anything but I kept on backing up.
The bird was now standing right over me which made me look up into the sky. I saw one of the birds from earlier still flying, following us. Where did the other bird go? I then heard Sabrina scream behind me. I looked around and saw Sabrina get picked up by the missing bird. The talons gripped her shoulders as the bird started flying up into the sky.
"Sabrina!" I shouted looking at her. My back was to the bird which was a mistake. I felt a tug in the back of my shirt. I looked down and saw I was being picked up off the ground by its beak. "Let me go!" I shouted although it was pointless. I saw the birds shadow spread its wings. The rouge chariot bashed against the trailer again shaking everything.
The bird lost its stance and ended up dropping me out of its beak. I threw myself in between its bird legs and headed for the top of the trailer. I made it to the top and saw Glen was hanging out the passenger door looking up eyes wide open. I looked to see what he was looking at and saw the bird flying high up with Sabrina.
"Glen!" I got his attention. I tried to think of something to do. Deep down I was hoping that Glen had an idea.
"Get in the truck! First hand me my sword!" He shouted at me. I was annoyed but laid down on the trailer since knowing Glen he'll probably fight me if I don't give him his sword back. I tried not to think about all the danger around me. Laying down I carefully took out his sword by its blade and handed him the hilt.
Glen stretched out even more out of the truck. He just barely grabbed the hilt. Screeecchhhh! I heard a bird let out a screech. A wave of fear came over me but the screech wasn't for me. I looked ahead and saw the flying bird swoop down and pluck Glen out of the side.
"NO!" I yelled. I looked up as the bird flew higher up. As it got higher it looked like the bird then flung Glen onto its back. I turned around to face my own bird. It was now turned around and was slowly walking to me with its head down. I looked to both my sides. On my left was the slope of the hill we were driving on. In front of me was a giant monstrous bird. And on my right was the worst of all.
The robo-horses were readying up to slam the trailer again. BOOM! Went the self-driving chariot. I started rolling all over the trailer roof. Birdie started flying up after it lost its footing again. I need this bird to get Glen and Sabrina back! I tried to get up to reach the bird but heard the worst noise yet. The sound of metal scraping and clunking overtook the other noises.
The trailer started shaking even more and tipping back and forth. Panic ran through me as I tried to grab a metal bar on top of the trailer. I looked over to the railing as the trailer started to scrape against it. Although we were on the ground, the side of the hill was so steep it made me feel like we were in the air. Then the worst of it happened.
I heard another BOOM and the trailer started to shake even more. I was getting tossed and turned on top of the trailer like someone mixing a salad bowl. I held onto the bar as best as I could. In my moments of being tossed I was able to look forward and saw that the truck had disconnected from the trailer. With the trailer now disconnected it went crazy swerving back and forth on the highway. I silently prayed to any gods that would listen. I then heard another crash as I was then thrown over the railings and down the hill.