16. Vesper #2
“Fuck,” I growl. “New plan.” I set him back on the ground and shove the short sword into his fist. “Swing at anything that moves.”
Then I wrap my fists in the back of his shirt, and start to drag him to the clearing.
The people lumber after us, reaching out toward Locke and me, making sounds of sadness as we rush away.
Locke swings the sword, catching one of the people in the knees, sending it toppling over.
I grit my teeth as I drag the heavy motherfucker away, trying to save him, trying to save us both.
How did we get so far from the clearing? I swear it was only a meter away.
I rush faster, dragging Locke over branches and rocks, no doubt hurting him further, but it’s either that or be absorbed by the fucking killing trees. And, no thanks. I don’t have any desire to turn into one of these things.
One of the rotting players appears in front of me, moaning something that sounds strangely like my name.
“Ves . . . P . . .”
I kick it, hard, sending it flying backward. As I drag Locke past, he swings the sword and bashes its head in. It still gets up. It still follows.
Finally, the edge of the clearing appears. My arms are screaming. My chest is burning. I’m out of breath and exhausted. I break through the tree line, grin, and am immediately yanked backward by the force of something grabbing onto Locke.
He shouts in pain and swings the sword, but he can’t reach the creatures that suddenly wrap their hands around his ankles.
I drop his shirt and pull out my own blunt dagger, stabbing at their faces.
The blade, despite how dull it is, sinks into the rotten flesh, revealing nothing but branches underneath.
My horror isn’t enough to overrule my survival instincts.
I kick them both back into the trees and drag Locke the rest of the way into the clearing, dropping into a defensive stance as they all come rushing back forward.
So many.
I can’t even count them all as they amble in the darkness, moaning and reaching for us. I wait for them to flood our little clearing, but they stop right at the edge. They reach for us, but they never step foot past the line.
“They can’t come into the clearing?” I ask Cipher.
“They cannot,” he responds, “but—”
“Locke, we need to—”
Cipher’s sensual voice interrupts whatever I’d been about to say.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
You took on the killing trees and her spawn. And you survived! Now that’s one heck of a chia pet. Now you can grow your own from your flesh as its spores dig their way further into your bones.
REWARD: two killing tree spore antidotes. You’re going to hate this.
Before I can dismiss the notification, another pops up right after.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
You risked your life to save someone else. That was really stupid of you, but it worked, I guess.
REWARD: this man-eating house plant. Feed him, Seymour.
I stare in horror at the two small bottles and potted plant that appear floating in the air even as a notification pops up showing my XP growing. It’s not enough to level up yet, just ten XP, but I don’t even care about that right now. I’m still stuck on the spores digging their way into my bones.
“Locke is going to turn into one of those things?” I gasp, staring at where he’s bleeding from wounds on his legs.
“If he does not take the antidote, then yes. Any wound sustained by the Killing Tree will fester,” Cipher says.
I slowly look down at my arm where one of the branches had scratched me.
As I stare at it, the barest tip of a branch pokes through and dips back inside.
My chest squeezes and I grab the two bottles from the air in front of us.
I resist the urge to toss back one of the potions first and instead kneel down beside Locke where he moans and shakes on the ground.
“I need you to drink this,” I tell him. “And I’m pretty sure it’s going to suck.”
“What is it?” he asks, staring at the glowing purple bottle.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell him. “But you gotta drink it.”
“What if I don’t want to?” he asks, his eyes showing his distrust.
“You either drink it, or you turn into one of those things anyway,” I growl. “So fucking drink it.”
His face scrunches up but he slowly nods and reaches for the bottle. His hand shakes so bad, I’m worried he’ll spill it, so instead I push his hand down and pull the cork.
“Drink it all,” I say, tipping it up to his lips.
He does so, his throat bobbing with the movement. He wipes his lips with the back of his arm as he finishes. “That wasn’t so bad. It actually tastes pretty goo—”
He back bows off the ground so suddenly, it cuts off his words with a guttural scream as he starts to convulse.
“Your turn, Vespera,” Cipher instructs. “The longer you wait, the worse it will be.”
“What if something comes to get us while I’m down?” I ask worriedly, glancing at the things all waiting in the forest at the edges of the clearing.
“They will not enter the clearing. You will be safe until morning. Do not remove your medallion.”
Taking a deep breath, I toss back the other potion.
Locke is right. It tastes like berries, so at first, nothing happens.
I expect that. I also expect some sort of pain from the way Locke writhes on the ground and screams so loud, his throat has to be damaged.
What I don’t expect is the feeling of fire in my veins.
I scream, falling onto the ground beside Locke, my body convulsing.
Agony spreads through me, ripping me to shreds, clearly killing me as whatever the potion is wipes my veins clean of anything that doesn’t belong there.
I grit my teeth so hard, I worry I’ll break them as my mouth starts to foam and froth.
I’m gasping for air, so lost in the pain, I don’t realize when Locke goes still and passes out.
I don’t notice anything at all, as a few seconds later, I follow him.
The world goes silent.
The fire in my veins dissipates.
And I sleep so hard, I don’t even have nightmares about the Killing Trees.
The sunlight wakes me up. It’s warm on my face, shining so bright it drags me from the last bits of exhaustion, and I sit up.
When I try to crack open my eyes, sharp pain spears into my skull from the brightness of the sun, making me scrunch my face up.
I press my hand against my forehead, trying to soothe the ache there.
“Ow,” I groan, rubbing at my temple.
A Snaptrap lands on a branch at the edge of the clearing and chirps at me, its four mouth petals opening wide as it tilts its head side to side to better study me.
And then, as if it takes me that long, I remember what had happened before I passed out.
I gasp and tear my eyes open, frantically looking around the clearing.
Locke is laid out on the ground beside me, his eyes still closed as he snores softly.
The fire is black and charred, no smoke trailing up from it any longer.
I spin where I sit, looking around the edges of the clearing, but I find none of the Spore Players there. Just normal looking trees.
I hit Locke on the arm. “Wake up,” I hiss.
He jerks awake, his face scrunching up at the sun, too, as he fights to sit up. He gasps and reaches down to his legs where he drags his trousers up. His flesh is unmarred, healed after the tree had embedded in his bone.
“Fuck, I had the worst dream . . .” He says, pressing his hand against his forehead. “I swear that—”
“It wasn’t a dream,” I murmur, eyeing the trees warily. “We move quickly. We don’t sleep in this forest again. I don’t care if we have to leave this zone entirely before we reach a safehouse.” I meet his eyes. “Understand?”
He nods and rubs at his legs again. “So, the tree . . .”
I nod, getting to my feet. “Let’s go.”
I just barely remember to pick up the man-eating house plant and stash it away in my inventory. Just before it disappears with a pop, the plant groans and says, “Ugh! Not the pri—”
I stare at where it disappeared and decide to worry about it later.
We stand on the edge of the clearing for at least five minutes before we dare take a step out of it. When nothing comes ambling out toward us and the trees don’t suddenly reach toward us, we finally step out of it.
I hold my breath for a long time just in case.
A few hours later, we’ve finally relaxed.
Apparently, the Killing Trees are only a nighttime threat, one I’d never like to meet again.
We move quickly through the trees, heading toward the white line on the map.
Locke has a feeling that’s where the Minor Boss will be.
He has a hunch, he says. I give him until the sun is overhead to search for it before we change direction and head to the safehouse.
I know we’re gonna have to grind to level up, especially with us so close to that one hundred XP level.
I’m currently sitting at sixty-five. Locke is at fifty-five.
If we can battle a Minor Boss and win with more pizazz, then maybe we can finally level up.
I know I’m tired of feeling helpless against everything.
But if noon hits and we haven’t found the Minor Boss, that’s it. I’m not risking staying another night in this zone.
“What type of Glitch do you think you’ll pick?” Locke asks as we push through the foliage, giving a wide berth to what the description calls a Venus Fly Trap. It’s wide-open mouth keeps us far away from the thing.
“How would I know?” I reply, shaking my head as I give wide berth to another plant with large, sharp teeth. It grumbles as we stay too far away from it for it to eat us. “It’s not like we’ve been given a list of options and Cipher isn’t a well of information we can use.”