Chapter 13

The sound of my new sword ripping out of my scabbard and slicing down towards the goblins neck echoed throughout the hallway before it, and even me realized what was happening. The edge of the blade parted the skin beneath it, causing it to spread outward as its head came flying off of its body. It landed with a splat as the body fell with a thump before me. But the damage was done.

From all four rooms, the mass sound of screeching, bodies flopping off of each other, and the slaps of bare feet on stone could be heard. "WE HAVE TO RUN!" I thundered. Zach, after a split second of hesitation, took off running towards the entrance to the hallway. And I wanted to follow, but before I could step off to run, something stopped me. A tugging feeling in my stomach.

I didn't want to listen to it, not in the slightest, but it wouldn't let me run. I didn't know what it was. I wasn't a hero, never was. I've turned a blind eye to injustices before, if it meant preserving myself. So why is it that now, I'm getting these feelings?!

Cursing myself, I fumbled a matchbook taken from Mino's bag out of my pocket. I grabbed four matches out of it, and quickly tried to light all four of them, one after the other. Amongst the sounds of screeching and running, I could hear the scratching of the red tip of the match striking against the rough side of the matchbook, and the world dulled around me. Sweat dripped down my face as I honed in on my task. On a subconscious level, I knew that if I couldn't light these matches in time, I was dead. So I focused, concentrated with everything I had. The sight of four lit matches in my hand sent shockwaves of happiness through me.

I quickly whirled around and threw one on each of the doors closest to me. I don't know if Zach had doused his door in gasoline, but I didn't have time to check. Mine quickly went up in flames, but his remained stoic and dead. I sent a silent 'Fuck you' to whatever deity was watching over me.

I began to run to try and light the other doors, but the sound of both of them smashing open at once made me stop in my tracks. A mass tide of green bodies piled out of the room, clearly disorientated, but I knew their killing instincts were still sharp. There was no way for me to get close. So in a last ditch effort, I chucked the two matches at their respective doors.

One blew out almost instantly, and with it a part of my soul. The second one, however, flew through the air like a beacon of hope, and landed on the gasoline soaked door. It instantly erupted in flames, covering the mass of bodies. The hallway began to rumble with the shrieks and groans of the goblins who the fire had touched, the hot flame melting the skin and muscles off their bones as they reached towards me. I could tell the smell would burn itself into my nostrils for a long time.

I pivoted back around, and immediately started sprinting back down the hallway. I rounded the entrance of the hallway at a run, slamming into the opposite wall with my left shoulder as momentum carried me forward, and continued running forward. My flashlight bounced up and down as I sprinted full speed down the hallway. I could hear the sounds of the goblins who escaped the blaze running down the hallway after me, the slap of their feet on the rocky stone getting closer and closer with every step.

Amazingly, I found myself in a hallway that looked familiar, and knew that the way out was to my left, so I grabbed the corner with my left hand and came around it in an arc, the stone digging into my palm and leaving a few small scratches. I kept running, pumping my beaten body as hard as it would go.

But there was an issue, and a big one. My body was slowing down. The running pumped the drugs I had taken out of my system faster, and I could feel that old pain starting to come back, compounded by all the hard running. But I couldn't stop, I tried to keep the same speed, despite my whole body starting to feel like it had been beaten and stomped on by an entire team of American Football players. But I continued on, the sounds of the goblins behind me getting even closer.

I shined the flashlight over my shoulder to see a mass of dozens of goblins crowding the entire hallway, a moving wall of flesh and anger. Getting closer and closer. I grit my teeth and stared ahead, pushing my body as far as it would go. What if this wasn't the way to go, what if I made a mistake, what if this was a dead end, what would they do to me if they caught me? All of these questions crowded my head, and despair started to flood my body. But I saw the brightness of the main chamber filled with LED's, and with renewed determination and vigor I pushed myself forward.

Every bit of effort I could muster went into pumping my legs forward. I saw Zach carrying Mino up the slope, pushing her up out of the hole, before he turned and saw me. His face widened in realization at the situation, and he started shouting "HURRY, RUN!" As if I wasn't doing that!

I flew into the main chamber at a blistering pace before starting to claw my way up the slope. The goblins were right behind me. At this point pain started to fill my body completely, and the simple effort of trying to climb my way up took every ounce of willpower I had. I felt a searing pain erupt from my leg, and I looked behind me to see a goblin digging its claw into the fleshy part of my calf. I cried out in pain, my climb being halted. The goblin extracted its claw before raising its hand to impale me again, before I saw the shaft of an arrow sprout from its forehead.

As I lay there in shock, Zach crashed down the gravel and grabbed me by the underside of my arms and hoisted me up the remaining part of the slope. Arrows continued to rain down, their owner only being revealed to me as I passed by them. A quick glance, and I had to do a double take. The weak, almost dead kid we had rescued was standing there, hands swiftly moving from the quiver slung across their shoulder to the bow in front of them. The sheer speed of his shooting was impressive, each arrow meeting their mark, always either in the forehead, the neck, or the shoulder of a goblin.

With a grunt, Zach pushed me up and out of the hole, throwing me as far as he could upward. I landed with a groan next to Mino's body, before he hoisted himself up. He turned around and reached a helping hand down to the kid, grasping him by the forearm and pulling him up. Together, they stared down the hole, Zach with hammer in hand, and the kid with an arrow readied.

The sound of the goblins slowly became fainter and fainter as they apparently retreated

back down. I don't know why they didn't come up. Together, the three of us let out a sigh of relief. Then Mino's body started to stir next to me, before her head slowly and weakly lifted up off the ground. "What happened?" she asked with a slight slur of exhaustion in her voice.