Chapter 8 #2
He was paired with Parker, so if he failed this trial and got disqualified, that also meant Parker did as well, and I didn’t want that.
I tried to keep my mind focused on the task at hand: stay quiet and find one of the jewelry pieces for Tyler.
I had the earrings, so that left the amethyst bracelet, emerald necklace, or diamond ring. I wasn’t sure if the other pieces were hidden similarly to the earrings I’d found, but they’d been hidden in plain sight, and I hadn’t had to go digging for them at all.
I assumed the other pieces would be similar.
Tyler and I continued to move silently through the store, and I still hadn’t seen any other signs of people around.
Where were the other competitors?
We hadn’t heard any other screams or signs of struggle, either, but we did occasionally hear the sounds of the creatures as they paced the area. Their scrambling would echo toward us, and they would randomly make an odd, chittering call.
They were hunting us.
Our goal was to find the jewelry before the others did, but I was forced to direct most of my attention toward remaining as silent as possible.
Suddenly, I heard a strange scraping sound to our left, and Tyler and I both instinctively froze and stared in that direction. The sound was coming from the other side of the shelf, and it almost sounded like something was climbing up the side.
There was more scrambling near the top, and then one of the creatures leaped up onto the top of the shelf with an aggressive squeal. It was facing us, but I knew it still couldn’t actually see us because it kept cocking its head to listen, and it sniffed at the air.
Tyler and I remained frozen as we watched the creature in horror.
Though the creature had made a good deal of noise, it hadn’t attracted the other creatures toward us, and I wondered if the creatures just automatically knew what the others sounded like and were developed to ignore those particular sounds.
The alien beast continued to sniff at the air, and it began to move down our side of the shelf, closer to us. Its small, hooked claws allowed it to grasp at the shelving frame with ease, and as I watched it move closer to us and sniff, I silently prayed they couldn’t smell blood like sharks.
I glanced down at Tyler’s injured arm. That would certainly be just our luck.
The creature continued to move closer, and Tyler and I both instinctively held our breaths, but we couldn’t remain like this forever. Either the thing would hear us or it’d smell us.
The beast wasn’t particularly large, and it didn’t appear to be armored at all, in fact, its entire body looked rather soft and fleshy.
According to Tyler, they were quite fragile, and I had no doubt in my mind that Tyler and I could easily kill it with the weapons we had, especially right now while it was holding still.
But I was afraid the sound of our attack would lure others here, and I wasn’t confident we could fight every creature in the whole freaking store.
I didn’t care how good I was at fighting, no amount of training could ever prepare me for that.
So, what were our options here? We needed some sort of diversion.
I glanced around, and I noticed a plastic frisbee not even three feet away, partially tucked underneath a LEGOs box. I’d certainly be able to reach it if I crouched down low enough.
The real question was whether I could do that without making noise or not.
I caught Tyler’s eye, pointed to the plastic disk, and mimed a throwing motion before I gestured up at the slowly descending creature.
He nodded his understanding, and I noticed his grip tightened on the metal bat. If something went wrong, and that thing jumped me, he’d beat the shit out of it.
With the comfort of knowing Tyler had my back, I slowly lowered myself to the floor, and I never once took my eyes off our enemy.
The creature cocked its head and paused its descent to listen.
One wrong move, and we were going to be in deep shit.
It clicked its little jaws, and I continued to reach for the frisbee, but I wasn’t sure how I’d slide it out from under the LEGOs box without making a sound. I glanced around for something else I could use instead, and that’s when I noticed it.
It was so small and tucked all the way at the back of the bottom shelf, so I never would’ve seen it if I hadn’t been so low to the ground.
Another small piece of black, alien metal.
And right beside it, also tucked away, was a small metal spoon.
That could work.
I carefully shifted my weight so I could lean forward, toward the shelf. This would be even more risky because I was angled directly below the creature from this position, but the spoon would be easier to grab.
The little alien thing clicked its jaws again, and I carefully gripped the spoon and lifted it off the shelf.
The movement hadn’t made any noise. So far, so good.
I slowly moved the spoon back toward me, and I was careful not to bring it too near the top of the shelf and risk bumping it. Once it was safely in my grasp, I carefully stood back up.
Even though I’d been careful, the fabric of my jeans rustled slightly with the movement, and the creature tensed and swiveled its head to face me directly. It clicked its little jaws, and I could see its rear wiggle, similar to the way a cat does right before it’s about to pounce.
I didn’t give myself time to think. I straightened my legs to finish standing at full height, drew back my arm, and flung the metal spoon as hard as I could into the air.
It soared over the shelves, and about a second later, I heard it clatter in the distance.
The result was immediate.
The alien creature turned and leaped back over the shelf and out of sight to rush at the source of the noise, and I could hear scuffling as others did the same from all different areas in the store.
Tyler and I let out a relieved sigh.
While Tyler’s eyes were still focused on the spot the creature had disappeared, I quickly crouched back down, retrieved the small metal piece, and jammed it into my pocket.
I’d take a better look at it later.
“Come on,” I whispered. “Let’s keep going.”
We continued to move deeper into the store, and we came across another aisle that had a lot of blood in it. Someone else had been attacked here, but there wasn’t an obvious blood trail for us to follow.
We moved to the end of the aisle where it opened into a much larger space near the right side of the store. And I noticed something on the high shelves along the wall…
A small, opened, velvet box.
And inside was the emerald necklace.
It was still a good distance away, but as we hurried toward it, something else caught my attention.
There was movement to our left from one of the aisles across from us, and Zade suddenly appeared.
He had a hard, tense set to his face, but he looked completely unharmed.
He’d seen the necklace, too, and he moved toward it like he was a man dying of thirst and the necklace was a cold glass of water.
I didn’t want to compete with Zade, but Tyler still needed a gift, too, and I had a feeling this could turn into an ugly fight.
Tyler and I both rushed forward in an effort to get to the necklace first.
That was when all hell broke loose.
Suddenly, Zade let out a loud grunt of pain, and he stumbled forward and crashed to the floor. His fall disturbed a number of items scattered there, which clanged and clattered on impact.
Shit.
Behind Zade stood Kyle, and he had an almost manic expression on his face, as well as a two by four in his hands that he gripped like a baseball bat. The wood piece was covered in the strange blue blood of the creatures, but I also noticed a few tints of red streaked along it as well.
Although, those streaks could have been from Kyle himself, because his three-piece suit was clawed and completely torn away in some areas, and his hands were cut up and looked to be actively bleeding.
He’d clearly hit Zade on purpose because I didn’t see an ounce of remorse in his eyes, and he quickly stepped around the struggling man and moved toward the shelf with the necklace on it.
From the other side of the store, I could hear scuttling sounds, like a bunch of little feet sprinting as fast as they could in our direction.
Double shit.
Within seconds, a swarm of six of the creatures came into view as they all pounced onto Zade, who was still prone on the ground.
They immediately began to claw and gnaw on the man, and it seemed like every part of his body was covered by one of the aggressive little creatures.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” Zade started to scream in a way I’d never heard before.
It was the sound of indescribable pain and fear.
From my peripherals, I could see Kyle continue to creep toward the necklace, and he seemed completely unconcerned about the horror he’d just caused.
I leaped into motion.
“Get the necklace,” I instructed Tyler before I rushed forward, with my fireplace poker still in hand.
Zade had two beasts on his left leg, one on each arm, and he was struggling to pry the fifth one off his face, while the sixth tore into his chest. There was so much blood, I couldn’t even see his skin anymore.
I used the fireplace poker like a spear to skewer the one on his left arm, and a stream of light blue blood sprayed out from the creature’s wound.
It instantly stopped moving.
In the same motion, I swung the poker back around and knocked the one on his chest off, along with the one on his leg.
Good news, Zade was finally able to get the upper hand on the creature that had been tearing into his face, and he tore it in half. So, now, he only had the one on his arm to deal with.
Bad news, I had two very angry little creatures that I’d just hit with a metal poker that were now stalking me.
They both leaped at me at the same time, and I swung wildly to block them.
The first one had aimed high, and I was able to successfully connect with it. The force of my swing sent it hurtling back into a nearby shelf, where it splattered completely, and the remnants of its body plopped motionless to the floor.