20. Level Three- Where in Hell are we?
CHAPTER 20
Level Three- Where in Hell are we?
Moni
I wake up to warm brown eyes staring down at me. “Did I pass out again?” I ask before taking flight. “What number are we up to? What’s today’s bet? What are we betting anyway? Wait. This isn’t the bathroom,” I say, noticing the vast emptiness around us. “This isn’t even the church. What happened?” Frustrated, I put my hands on my hips and stare my mate down, looking for answers.
He pushes his glasses up with his middle finger and shrugs. “I don’t know what happened. We were all together just a moment ago.”
I turn around to take in the area that doesn’t look familiar at all. Instead of the stairs, we’re in a field covered in a thick white fog, and in the distance, I can barely make out dark structures. Are those people, trees, or are they buildings? How thick is this stuff? If I move away from Chester, will I lose him in it? I have no clue where we’re at. “Well, last I remember, I was inside talking to my bestie,” I tell him.
“Um, well, we hit our time limit, and Rez ran out here with you. We got a note on the door saying that we needed to become one with rage or become part of this world. Something like that, and then bam, it’s just you and me in this,” he says, waving his arm, indicating the mess we’re in.
“What does that even mean?” I throw up my hands, and my helpful mate shrugs once again before hiking up his backpack. Hmph. “Well, I think the first thing we should do is find the others,” I suggest, and Chester agrees as I fly forward and slam into an invisible force. “Fart Tarts, that hurt,” I whine as I rub my nose and look up, finding a shimmering wall that expands past my vision.
Chester backs up quickly, hitting another wall that shimmers and expands in both directions. “Is this a maze? Which way do we go?” Chester asks, reaching out to run his hand along the solid wall.
Peering at the wall, it wavers slightly before blending back into the foggy background. Knowing that it’s still there, I reach out and find the solid wall, running my hand along it.
“Well, this is gonna take us forever.” I worry my lip as I think of a faster way of finding a way around these walls or at least finding the edges instead of using my face. Yes, I’m covered in bark, but that doesn’t mean I don’t bruise underneath after so many hits in the same area.
“Well, are there any sticks around here we can use as walking sticks or something to poke around?” Chester throws out as his foot shuffles along the ground. “It might help keep us from running face-first into the walls,” he says helpfully.
“Oh, I know!” I say, turning to smile up at my mate. “I can practice my booms.”
Chester’s eyebrows furrow in confusion as he meets my eyes. “Your booms? How do you figure?”
My heart plummets at his look, but I shake it off. He just doesn’t understand yet. “I can do smaller booms that should cause ripples along the edges of any walls. Hopefully, it will give us an edge up so we don’t go plowing into them,” I tell him.
“That’s a smart idea. Just one problem.” He grimaces.
“What’s that?” I move in front of him and push his glasses back up his nose for him.
“How will we know which way to go?”
I frown as I come up blank with an answer. Well, crap on pimple knees times three. I have no clue. Pulling out my life essence from my S.I.N. box—so glad Rez finally came up with a name for it—I take a sip and relish the first taste of fully waking up. As the warm liquid rushes through my body, I feel my muscles relax slightly, the fog in my brain easing a bit as I let out a delightful sigh of bliss.
“There, now I can think.” I smile and open my eyes to see Chester giving me a cheesy smile.
“Feel better?”
“Completely.”
I jerk back from a shock, dropping my coffee cup and grabbing my left wrist. My heart starts pounding at the foreign feeling, and my breath comes faster as I slightly pull at one of the pieces of bark. The tattoo that JP gave me in my father’s office is vaguely glowing. Placing my hand over the tattoo, and warmth pulses out of it, reminding me of JP. It’s as if I’m wrapped up in warm, fluffy towels fresh from the dryer, surrounded by my favorite foods.
“What’s wrong?” Chester asks, cupping my face with his free hand.
“JP,” I say, looking up at Chester. “I can feel JP. I know which way to go,” I explain, smiling. “I don’t think he’s in distress, but I know which way he’s at. He’s that way.” I point to our left, and that’s when I notice my coffee in Chester’s hand.
Aww, this man truly loves me and knows the way to my heart.
“You saved my coffee?”
“Of course!” he says, kissing my forehead and handing back my cup. “So, which way do we go?”
Taking another sip of life, I close my eyes and allow the pulse of the tattoo to turn me in the right direction. Nodding, I put my coffee away and let out a small boom, watching it roll along the walkway, revealing two pathways at the end. The pull to JP is coming from the right, so we turn that way and continue the process until we round a corner and find a pack of wild animals tearing at a dead carcass.
Over a dozen of them are snarling, fighting, and foaming at the mouth, but before we can back up, the closest one jerks its head up, spotting us.
Oopsies. I think I just poopsied.
“Chester,” I whisper. “It might have spotted us. Do you think it will see us if we don’t move?” I ask out of the corner of my mouth.
“I think it’s too late for that,” he says, slowly reaching into his bag. I can only guess he’s going for his guandao.
“No, I heard about this. Keep absolutely still. Its vision is based on movement.”
“Where did you hear that?” Chester asks adamantly.
“It was during our last movie night,” I say helpfully.
“Moni, that was Jurassic Park, and those”—he jerks his chin in the direction of the monsters—“are mutated demonic chihuahuas.”
“Hmph.” I pout before pulling my sais free. “Well, at least you can’t say I didn’t try to help.”
“I would never dream of it,” he says before leaning over and giving me a quick kiss.
The dog that spotted us yips and pulls the attention of the others. Their beady, bloodshot eyes narrow as they focus on us, and their sharp canines snap in our direction. They dig into the soft ground as they take off toward us and I grip my sais hard as Chester and I brace ourselves.
“Flank ‘em?” Chester asks as he turns to press his back against mine.
“Yep,” I say, holding strong. Having Chester by my side and the training from L.A.M.B. gives me the courage to face down anything, especially these little ankle-biters. Their size seems to double as they approach, and my eyes go wide.
“Okay, I wasn’t expecting that,” I mumble under my breath and turn to face them fully. “Change of plan.” Extending my arms, I arch my arms wide and release a thunderous boom that rolls through me and out of my tiny frame. The demented puppers slam into the shimmery walls and slide down them in heaps, completely unconscious or maybe dead. Either way, I’m not willing to check.
“Hmm, I’m impressed,” Chester says, grabbing my hand and his bag and running through the mess.
“So am I.” I give Chester a wide-eye look as we run past my handiwork.
We make it around another corner with my boom technique when I smell a heavenly scent that’s only second to coffee.
“Is that popcorn?” I ask, taking a deep breath and letting my eyes roll back into my skull for a moment.
Chester steadies me as he peaks around the corner and meets my gaze with a frown.
“No, it’s definitely not popcorn.” He gently pushes me back and brings his weapon in front of him.
“Then what is it? Because I swear I’m smelling popcorn, and I’m craving a movie night right about now,” I ask, shrinking down and peering over his shoulder.
“You’re smelling their genitals,” Chester whispers.
“WHAT!?” I shriek, but Chester quickly muffles my protest, his hand covering my mouth as well as the entire front half of me.
“Their scent glands,” he says quietly. “Now, can I take my hand away?” I nod and reassure him that I’m zipping my mouth shut.
Around the corner, we undoubtedly do not find popcorn. Instead, there’s a group of a dozen creatures I’ve never seen before. The creatures look like those cat-sized dumpster diver animals, but they’re missing their masks and have razor-sharp whiskers. They have low, wide, muscular bodies that definitely look like my little sais won’t penetrate through. Their dark, shaggy coats cover them from head to toe, but at the tip of their fur, there seems to be some type of dark liquid that looks to have an endless supply that drips off of them. One of them shakes, sending black beads flying across the ground, and hissing can be heard as it hits some of the foliage. Was that acid? Their tails remind me of an anteaters, but their snouts are like Chester’s lemur. I’ve never seen anything like this in Purgatory. Are they from Earth? I haven’t read about these in my studies. They have to be strictly from Hell.
“What are those?” I ask in wonder, keeping my voice down as their low, stocky bodies shuffle around.
“Those…look like Binturongs, but I’ve never seen them like this,” Chester admits.
“What do you mean?” I whisper.
Before he answers, one of the Binturongs’ bright red tails shoots up in the sky, straight as an arrow, and he lunges at another animal, snapping his jaw. This causes a chain reaction as the entire group gets involved. We get our first look at how dangerous these creatures are. Their whiskers go flying into one another, and they replenish as if they have an endless supply. Their claws barely penetrate through their thick coats, but that doesn’t stop them from trying.
I look down at my sais and back up at Chester.
“I don’t know how well my boom will work on them. I’m not sure how helpful these will be either,” I say honestly. Gone is the confidence I had a moment ago, and I take in a shaky breath, wishing Rez or JP was here. Chester glances in my direction, nibbling on his bottom lip before taking a deep breath as if making up his mind. He backs up from the edge and hands me his weapon.
“What are you doing?” I hold his Guandao in front of me, not sure what to do with it.
“Here, I need you to take care of my items. I’m shifting to take care of you,” he explains, and I scowl.
“Chester. You’re crazy. There’s nothing in there to climb,” I say hurriedly, trying to plead my case as I quickly shove his clothes in his bag along with his weapon. I rethink shoving his glasses in his bag, and put those in my S.I.N. box. He gives me a small, crooked smile.
“Who said I was changing into my lemur? Get ready to ride, baby,” he says as he drops to his knees.
I flutter to the side to watch his transformation, and within seconds, my jaw drops.
Holy butterbees! Now, this is the way to travel!