Chapter 19 #2
There was a bright, blinding flash, followed by the same robotic voice.
“Favor granted.”
I suddenly felt the gun’s weight in my hand, and when I was finally able to see again, I noticed it wasn’t like any gun I’d ever seen before. It was made of the same sleek, dark metal as the ball in my pocket, and its barrel was far thicker than I was used to.
It still had an obvious trigger, placed above and in front of the handle, similar to other guns, but I couldn’t find a spot to remove a magazine or add ammo.
What the hell?
Did this thing even have ammo? What if the favor points were like a genie, and I had to be really specific and ask for a loaded gun?
The footsteps were directly above us now, and I didn’t have time to question if I’d made a horrible mistake as the fleshy beast came sailing down and landed gracefully in front of us.
Everyone backed away and moved to huddle behind me, with Tyler right there to take over and protect the women if something happened to me.
The beast whirled to face me, tensed its hind legs, and pounced.
I didn’t have time to think.
I instinctively raised the strange, foreign weapon, took aim directly at the creature’s bulbous head, and squeezed the trigger.
There was no loud bang, nor the familiar smell of burnt gunpowder that I was used to with my other firearms. Instead, there was a loud zapping sound, as if I’d just fired a laser, and a small ball of bright blue light shot from the barrel of the gun.
The viscerid dropped to the ground like a giant, dead bird, just a few feet in front of me. When I crept closer to investigate, I noticed the massive hole in the center of its head, and it was still smoking, as if someone had shoved a flaming-hot poker through it.
Holy shit.
“Holy shit,” Tyler echoed my silent sentiment, and then he finally got over his initial shock and shook his head with a joking grin. “Now, why don’t we have guns like that?”
I chuckled, but it was a mix of amusement and relief.
“Is everyone alright?” I asked as I turned to the women, who were still huddled together in stunned silence.
“Y-Yeah, we’re okay,” Parker finally replied in a shaky voice. “More surprised than anything.”
The others nodded their silent agreement.
“You and me, both,” I murmured.
“Should we keep going now?” Tyler suggested.
“It’d probably be for the best,” I agreed, and I lightly kicked the dead creature with my foot. “Preferably before more of these things show up.”
“Good point, but at least now we have a weapon we know works against them.” He shrugged. “How much ammo do you think that thing holds? Because it looked more like a laser than it did a bullet.”
“I have no idea.” I frowned at the weapon in my hand. “If it is a laser, then I would assume its ammo is pretty close to unlimited, unless it runs out of charge or juice or whatever. But I don’t really want to test it out and risk using it all up if it isn’t.”
“Good point.” Tyler nodded.
“Alright, is everyone rested enough to run again?” I asked as I moved toward the red button on the wall.
When everyone nodded and replied that they were, I pushed it and waited for the rumbling to begin.
When the wall finally pulled back, the entire front part was splattered in blood and meat chunks that no longer resembled anything even remotely recognizable.
I had a pretty strong stomach, but even I had to avert my eyes because the idea that that could’ve easily been one of us was too sobering.
We all carefully stepped over the remaining bits of flesh, and then we began our run, and because we started running even before the wall had fully opened, we made it safely to the other side with plenty of time to spare.
Then we continued back down the twisty corridor until we reached the clearing we’d found Sadie in.
“I was trying to go through that hallway over there,” Sadie murmured as she pointed across the clearing toward where the viscerids had come from. “But those beasts kept blocking my path.”
“Like they were guarding something,” I said as I stared at the seemingly ordinary walkway.
“Exactly.” Sadie nodded.
I paid close attention to my gut feeling, and the closer we got to that particular corridor, the stronger the feeling became.
I was comforted by the fact that we actually had a good weapon to defend ourselves with, but we still walked with caution in case there were any hidden traps.
Not to mention, just because I could shoot an attacking creature didn’t mean we couldn’t be ambushed and taken by surprise. So, I held the gun firmly, and I kept my eyes and ears open for any signs of threats.
We came across several more traps like the trip line I’d found earlier, except instead of a saw blade, when the line was triggered, it shot out a cluster of small darts from the wall. It was very similar to the darts from the obstacle course.
Fortunately, with everyone remaining vigilant, we were able to spot the traps long before any of us were actually hurt or endangered. We also came across several more pitfalls, but we didn’t run into any other viscerids, nor did we hear any other sign of life.
It didn’t necessarily mean they weren’t out there, but maybe it meant there weren’t any in the general vicinity.
Along with the traps, we stumbled across more forks and winding turns in the road, but each time we went with my gut feeling, and eventually we made it to another small clearing.
This one was a bit different from the previous one because there wasn’t any grand fountain at the center, and there weren’t any other paths connected to the area.
It looked like a dead end.
“Maybe it’s another false wall situation,” Tyler suggested. “I’ll go test out the walls and see if I can feel any gaps.”
I nodded as he moved to the nearest wall with Claire at his heels, and he started feeling along the length of it.
While he did that, I moved closer to the center of the space and looked around for any potential clues.
The clearing was a lot smaller than the first, but it was still beautiful. It had those same marble benches and flower beds that ran along the sides, and the same flowering shrubs and butterflies.
Except for the far wall…
The hedge furthest from us didn’t have planters that ran along the full length of it, and instead it had two long flower beds that framed either side but didn’t meet in the middle, which left a section of bare hedge.
“What are you looking at?” Parker asked as she glanced in the direction I was staring.
“That section of the hedge is different from the others,” I murmured, and then I spoke in a louder voice as I pointed to the suspicious foliage. “Tyler, check that spot right there.”
Tyler immediately moved to that section of wall and felt around, but a few seconds later, he turned to look back at me and shook his head dejectedly.
Damn. I really thought we had something there.
I still felt like we were in the right place, so there had to be something here, and that spot was the only one that looked odd.
Sadie and Parker both moved to take a closer look as well, and a few seconds later, Sadie called out to me.
“Liam, you need to come look at this!” She sounded excited as she pointed to something in the flower bed near the bare, hedge wall.
I hurried over to see what she had found, and the others gathered around her with excited expressions on their faces.
“What is it?” I asked as I moved closer.
“I think it’s some sort of plaque,” Parker said.
The group made space to let me through, and then I saw it.
It was indeed a small, golden plaque, and it was mostly hidden by the surrounding bushes. I quickly shoved them away so I could see what was on it.
“What does it say?” Claire asked eagerly as she tried to peer over Tyler’s shoulder.
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get a word out, I heard soft footsteps behind us.
I whirled and raised my gun immediately, thinking it was a viscerid sneaking up on us, but I was surprised to see Kyle standing at the entrance instead. He glared at me, but he quickly raised his hands in surrender when he noticed the weapon pointed at him.
“Is that a gun?” he asked in disbelief. “Where the fuck did you get a gun?”
“It’s none of your concern,” I retorted.
I wasn’t about to tell him about the favor points. With the way he’d been acting lately, I was worried he’d use his favor points to get a gun of his own and then try to kill us all.
“What the hell are you guys doing in here?” His expression hardened further, and his tone came out accusatory. “I’ve been out here fighting for my life, while the rest of you have been in here having a fucking tea party?”
“We’ve had plenty of close calls, too, Kyle,” Parker replied with a sarcastic eye roll.
“Yeah, and if you don’t recall, you were one of them,” Tyler bitterly added as he pointed up at his bruised face.
“Well, clearly, this section is a dead end,” Kyle said instead of acknowledging Tyler’s comment. “So, we should probably move on.”
“We?” I asked in disbelief. “I’m sorry, but when did we become a ‘we?’ We certainly weren’t a ‘we’ when you were trying to kill Tyler earlier.”
“Right… yeah.” Kyle shifted uncomfortably. “Sorry about that.”
He certainly didn’t sound very sorry.
“Look, I had a moment, okay?” he continued. “But I realized it would probably be safer if we all stuck together.”
“Oh, so you mean what we’ve been telling you all along,” Parker scoffed.
Kyle ignored the jab and stared at me as he waited for my response.
“Whatever, just go sit on the benches over there and stay out of our way,” I grumbled as I gestured to the marble benches by the wall furthest from us.
Then I waved the gun in the air so he could see it.
“And if you try anything that any of us don’t like, I’m going to shoot you in the face. Got it?”
Kyle didn’t look pleased by my response, but he begrudgingly nodded and moved to sit on the bench away from us.