A Desperate Save

Airbags had appeared all around Maitho, cushioning him from potential damages from the crash. Yet the airbags and the seatbelt themselves struck his body, causing a few sore spots. Regardless, when things settled down, he was thankful to Quinn for thinking ahead.

The airbags retreated into the car, giving Maitho a clear view of the world outside. The draugrs were already racing towards them. There was an army of at least a dozen of them. While some of them were running upright, others seemed to crawl on all fours. Yet despite their preferred stance of movement, they were all equally fast.

Maitho flinched as the first wave of draugrs leaped at the car, colliding with its body. Windows cracked and metallic thumps sounded all around him. The undead had surrounded them, some of them on top of the vehicle. Many of the draugrs attempted to break through any glass surface, yet each crack formed by a strike simply healed itself faster than the next attack.

"Quinn, take us out of here," said Maitho, his voice holding a hint of panic.

"I don't like this position as much as you do," came the response from the vehicle. "But something is holding the wheels."

"Is it draugrs?" said Maitho, trying to peek down at the ground from the top of the window to see what Quinn was talking about.

"Feels more like rope."

"We neit tae stop thaim," yelled Epona, her hands already moving to a bag of weapons.

She was right. Maitho opened the zip of the bag closest to him. He lifted out a shotgun and a box of rubber bullets. "Hang in there Quinn," he said as he began to load the weapon.

"I'll do my best," said Quinn, sounding as though he was speaking through gritted teeth.

Epona had taken out two smoke grenades from her bag. She lifted her crossbow and aimed it at the roof. "Whan ah tell ye, open the roof screen as fast as ye can," she said.

"I'm ready," responded Quinn.

When her grip was steady, she yelled "Now."

The roof panel slid open. But this time, instead of looking at another dimension, they were looking at the face of a draugr and beyond that, the evening sky of the world they were in. The creature screeched, which served as its last words. The arrow caught it in the middle of its forehead and the creature was turned to dust. As it was looking down into the car, the arrow fell back inside. Epona ignored it and waited. Another draugr's face appeared and it met the same fate as its companion.

As she focused on any potential undead who might attempt to enter the vehicle, Maitho completed loading his shotgun. "I'll take over," he said and pointed at the newly formed gap.

Epona took that opportunity to remove the pin from one grenade. A draugr's face felt the impact of a rubber bullet before meeting its dusty end. Even though the shotgun's ammunition didn't have the same force as a real load, it could still produce a strong enough impact at close range to cause serious damage. Epona chucked a grenade outside, then followed it with the second one. Within seconds, the entire vehicle was surrounded by a thick layer of smoke. Quinn covered the ceiling panel.

"Now open aw the windows," said Epona. "Shoot the draugrs, then shoot whatever is holdin the tires sae we can get the hell oot o here."

"I love that plan," said Quinn.

"Now," roared Epona.

The windows all came down. It was as though Maitho and Epona were telepathic. While he attended to the draugrs on his side, she started firing her bolts through the ones on her side. It didn't take them long to dispose of all the undead, partly because they were focused on their task and partly because Quinn would close a window quickly when a draugr attacked and opened it fast enough for a counterattack from the Guardians.

When there were no more undead remaining, Maitho risked leaning out of the window. The smoke was still present and it obscured his view a little. Yet a soft wind seemed to clear the air around them. Eventually, he was able to spot the ground. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Vines had completely covered Quinn's wheels. It was as though there was no trace of the rubber or metallic rims. Instead, it looked like every inch of the wheel space was covered in branches and leaves, which were all connected to a vine that disappeared underground, as though it was a large worm that had stuck its head outside to feed.

Maitho saw movement and it took him a quick second to realize that the vines were squeezing the tires. Without wasting a moment, he aimed the gun at the small section of the vine that was still visible aboveground. The shot sent the rubber bullet breaking through the tentacle-like body, leaving behind a thin section of it that still remained connected. All it required was a single strike from another bullet or even a sharp object to completely free the vine's hold on the tire.

Before Maitho could make a move, more branches began to slither around the thin section. Within mere seconds, the vine had return to its original dimensions and continued to hold onto Quinn.

"It's the Norse witch. She isnae lettin gae." Epona sounded angry, but there was no mistaking the concern in her voice.

Maitho understood her. If they didn't do anything, there was no telling what would happen to Quinn.

A loud bang made Maitho jump in his seat. A large vine that was easily wider than the average adult's waist had slammed into the the car on his side. From this large vine sprouted smaller branches, all of which began to crawl around the car. It was like watching the movement of a hundred snakes, all of them with the singular purpose of encircling the vehicle.

For the first time in his life, Maitho felt truly trapped. It was as though he was watching a coffin being created around him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Ideas began to race through his mind, one after the other in quick succession as he tossed aside each option for its high chance of failure. Yet he realized that he didn't have a lot of time to think. The vines were already crawling along the front and the rear windshields.

"Quinn, can you not add a spike on your body or something?" said Maitho, tossing out the first solution he could think of as he reached into the bag for more rubber ammunition.

"There's no point," said Quinn. "I need to free my tires."

"Can't you make them larger and tear through the vines? Or turn them into metal? Or add spikes?"

"I have already gone through those ideas and more, my dear. Her grip is not easy to break, I'm afraid."

Maitho began to look around. He didn't know why, but he hoped that by doing so, he might get some inspiration. His eyes met Epona's and he saw the same helpless concern reflected there. They both knew that they were trapped. She had probably run through a list of ideas of her own creation and found none of them to find an escape route in their situation.

The roof bent inwards with a metallic groan. Eventually, every last window was covered. With that, darkness flooded the interior. Yet with everything that was happening around them, Quinn managed to switch on interior lights. Maitho watched as several light panels appeared all around the interior of the car, managing to illuminate the entire space. When one of them cracked under the pressure of the vines, it would soon be replaced with a new one. When the spot wasn't flat enough for a new panel, another would form nearby where it was possible to do so.

"Ah dinnae think she wants anyone tae make it oot o here," said Epona. For the first time, Maitho heard genuine fear in her voice. Yet soon after, she found her inner anger. "Ah guess we'll juist have tae keep choppin thae branches."

It was a brave plan, but a desperate one. They didn't have powerful enough weapons to deal damage and neither could their limited armaments form a dent in the vines. Maitho watched as the doors began to bend inwardsa nd the windows began to crack. The sound that came from Quinn was one of strained effort. The car was fighting against the power with all his might.

"Listen you two lovely people," said Quinn, his voice sounding like he was lifting a heavy object. "I don't think we are all going to make it out of here. But I know two of us can."

"Whit?" said Epona, the alarm clear in her voice. "Na. Dinnae ye say it."

"I'm afraid the time has come for us to part ways," said Quinn. "Though not gazing upon your beautiful features again is truly a big loss."

"Quinn," said Maithi, gritting his teeth in a combination of mounting frustration and panic. "Could you please let us think for a moment?"

Quinn laughed. "That determination is truly your strength, my dear."

"Dinnae dae anythin stupid Quinn." This time, Epona's voice was pleading.

"Don't give up on life, you two. Especially you Maitho. You deserve it like everybody else."

A vine broke through each of the front two windows, hooking themselves around the frame in the middle. They looked like two misshapen fingers about to pull apart the car. From the larger vines grow smaller tendrils of branches, crawling in the interior and digging into the fabric of the vehicle. Quinn kept the illumination going as much as possible, but the branches began to shatter the light panels faster than he could create them. He was running out of space and the interior was growing dimmer.

"I do think that we make a wonderful team." Saying that, a small panel opened on the ceiling. The space was wide enough to squeeze a small object through.

"Quinn, ye emotional bastard," screamed Epona, her anger flooding out like a wild beast.

"Don't you dare do it," shouted Maitho, adding his own fears and rage into the mix.

Numerous seatbelts appeared, running across Maitho's torso, hands and legs. They pinned him to the spot. He tried to free himself, straining against the binds. But no matter how much he struggled, it didn't matter.

Then Quinn screamed. It was a sound of pure animalistic pain. The cry shocked Maitho that he simply froze. All the raw emotions pouring out of that sound permeated his bones and forced a tear out of his eye. The seat was then wrenched out of its place and shot outside. Airbags surrounded Maitho so that he could only see a small view of the world in front of him.

It then occurred to Maitho why Quinn had screamed. Every part of the vehicle was a part of his body. By removing the seats, he had torn a part of himself in order to save the two Guardians inside. It was like biting off your own arm in order to help someone else.

The impact was softer than he imagined. Some of the airbags popped, causing explosive sounds close to his ears. But otherwise, he was relatively unhurt. The seatbelts came off and Maitho was already on his feet. He saw Epona walk to his side.

Together, they witnessed the horror in front of them. Quinn was entirely covered in vines. Maitho couldn't see a single surface of the car. Yet despite all that, a single bag shot out from the top, landing several feet in front of them. It was one of the bags of weapons that they had taken out of the basement.

Epona raised her crossbow and fired an arrow. It did little in the way of stopping the vines. She fired another. Then another. Maitho could see the futility of her efforts. Yet even he felt desperate enough to simply raise his shotgun and start firing. He would use every weapon at his disposal to stop the attack. At that point, he wondered if he should have gotten lethal weapons instead.

He needed to find a way to stop the vines themselves.

Then it hit him.

"Adahlia," shouted Maitho, his voice filled with fury. He walked around Quinn and stopped when facing the front doors of the Celtic base. "I know you can hear me. Come out here."

The large vine that had attacked them and that still held Quinn seemed to appear out of the open doors of the base's main entrance. There seemed to be shapes moving inside the lobby, but they moved in the erratic ways of the draugrs. Just when Maitho thought that he wouldn't receive a response, a figure walked out.

Adahlia was dressed in a green gown. The bottom of the dress ended in leaves and flowers that seemed to change their shape and color. One second, there was a rose and then next, it had turned into a lily. The leaves grew and shrunk in odd intervals, seemingly without any discernible pattern. They even changed their appearances, turning smaller and into a shade of purple one moment, then expanding into a vibrant shade of orange the next. The sleeves of her dress ended at her elbows, at which point they blossomed into the petals of a flower. The petals changed colors at frequent intervals, as though they were a kaleidoscope in slow-motion.

"It's been a while Maitho," said Adahlia. Her posture was poised with confidence. She talked without haste, as though she had all the time in the world. Her facial features remained relaxed. "Though I would have preferred we met under different circumstances."

"Well, if you stopped helping the Celtic team, then perhaps we might have," said Maitho.

She smiled. It wasn't because of annoyance. Rather, she genuinely looked like she enjoyed his remark. "Time does not permit us to ignore our purpose. On that subject, what is your purpose?"

"Let go of Quinn," said Maitho. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Epona point her crossbow at Adahlia. He instantly raised his hand to block her attack. When he shook his head, he watched the anger on her face remain for a few seconds before fading away. She lowered the weapon.

"What do I get in return?" asked Adahlia.

Maitho turned to face her. "Please. Let him go. We can work out whatever demands you have. There is nowhere for us to run right now."

She made a show of thinking for a few seconds. "Interesting proposition," she said. Then she looked Maitho straight in the eye. "But I have a better idea."

And before anyone could so much as react, the vines split Quinn into two halves as his screams pierced the night sky.