Escape from another Necromechanical Thing

Hendrix POV

Hendrix woke up. However, he couldn't see or speak, and when he tried moving, he couldn't. He also felt warm and comfy.

"Good morning Hendrix. How are you?" Natasha asked while loosening her grip so Hendrix could speak and smiling softly at him.

"I-I..." Hendrix's eyes widened, remembering he was in Natasha's embrace, and thought this was all to build him up and break him later.

"Shh, I won't hurt you, Hendrix. Please trust Valentina, Allura, and me. We wish to protect you." Natasha cooed while beginning to rub his back and humming softly, trying not to scare him any further.

"But I can't..." Hendrix stated while beginning to tremble violently, fearing the worst. Additionally, he began tearing up again.

"Hey Hendrix, it's alright. You're with us. We will keep you safe to the best of our ability." Valentina added while moving closer to Natasha and petting Hendrix's head.

"I don't trust you..." Hendrix replied while his heart rate increased and he began sweating.

Natasha and Valentina sighed after hearing Hendrix.

"I understand you don't trust us. I'm painfully aware of this fact. But we'll show you through our actions that you can depend on us. You don't have to go in alone. Heck, I'll carry you whenever you need it or want it." Natasha replied while she began rocking back and forth.

{How can Hendrix and I know you aren't plotting against him, just like Kendra.}

"I will as well, and I bet Allura will agree to. So please let us take care of you too." Valentina stated while not seeing Ackalon's scroll form floating around them.

"Hey, where are we supposed to go, broken one?" Nicole stated while staring at Hendrix and raising her brow.

"I'll lead you all down that path. Can you please let me go? I have to walk on my own two feet." Hendrix replied while squirming, trying to get free.

"I'm afraid I can't put you down, Hendrix." Natasha stated while holding him closer.

"And why not? I have my own feet." Hendrix replied.

"I said I'll take care of you, didn't I? Besides, we can make it to our destination quicker, and you can rest, taking out three birds with one stone." Natasha explained while smirking.

"Hey, I want to pick him up to Natasha." Valentina replied while getting up and placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, tomorrow, you can carry him. For now, I'll nurture and protect him. And Hendrix, your very light, perhaps thirty pounds or less." Natasha guessed while she got up as well and smiled.

Hendrix sighed, knowing he was helpless to resist right now.

"Do you both like Hendrix?" Nadia asked while smirking.

"Not in the way you think. It's more of a motherly way rather than a romantic one." Natasha explained while she held Hendrix.

"I feel the same way about Hendrix. I want to protect him." Valentina agreed while sighing.

The other male students didn't look at Hendrix jealously anymore, realizing Natasha and Valentina saw him as someone to protect and nurture rather than someone to get romantically involved with.

"I still have a chance. Natasha doesn't see Hendrix that way." One of the other classmates replied while smiling and clenching their fists.

"I know. I'm glad too." Another student replied while smirking and grateful.

"Oh, I'll be their prince who saves them from the horrifying monster and earns their love." The third student replied while looking into the sky longingly.

"You know that phrase is kinda cringe and sus, right?" Nadia stated while she furrowed her brows.

"I uh don't care, let me dream." The student replied.

"Even if they don't like Hendrix that way, do you think they will have time to get romantically involved with you, Shawn?" Nadia asked while smiling.

"Why yes, I mean they eventually will get bored of him. And I'll have my chance." Shawn replied while puffing his chest.

"No, they won't. They seem like they would adopt him if they weren't the same age." Nadia explained while narrowing her eyes.

"I see. That doesn't sound fun." Shawn stated.

Meanwhile, Valentina and Natasha kept talking to Hendrix.

"Hendrix, when you're sleepy, just rest. We'll continue to walk on the path while you nap." Valentina stated while patting Hendrix's head.

"Your safe with us. Just relax and enjoy us spoiling you." Natasha stated while gently ruffling Hendrix's hair before smiling and looking at everyone.

"Everyone, listen up. We are going to a refugee camp. There we will meet up with the rest of the class and travel to the Okrian portal." Hendrix announced

All his classmates nodded, and the group began going down the path toward the Refugee camp and were close. And after about two hours, one of Hendrix's classmates started wasting time near a ledge.

"Hey, Shawn, I don't think we should be this close to the cliffside." One of the other students warned.

"Oh, come on, these cliffs are quite durable. They must be because we climbed up some of them, so don't be so scared, Clark." Shawn replied while smiling, picking up and throwing rocks off the cliff.

"I don't care. It's dangerous!" Clark replied before hearing a faint cracking sound coming from Shawn's direction and his eyes widening.

"What is it, Clark?" Shawn replied while picking up a rock from the ground.

"Shawn, hurry!" Clark yelled while he hurried to Shawn. However, the ground collapsed from underneath Shawn.

"Ahhh! Help!" Shawn yelled as he fell with the ledge piece.

"Shawn!" Clark yelled while tears fell from his eyes.

All the other student's eyes widened as well, realizing what happened, and they hurried to a few feet from the ledge, however not too close trying to figure out how this happened.

***

"Ahhhh! No!" Shawn yelled as he approached the ground before he was impaled through his chest by a rocky spire. And blood flowed from his nose and mouth while his eyes rolled back as he drew his final breath.

However, Shawn's death cries weren't unheard as they woke up, a dormant thing not seen for eons.

***

Meanwhile, the group of students above mourned over Shawn's death before making a makeshift grave and leaving.

"Shawn..." Clark whimpered.

"Sadly, we have to keep moving, Clark." Nadia stated while hugging him.

"Okay, Nadia." Clark replied while hugging back.

After about a minute, the ground began to shake and tremble violently, causing tiny cracks on the path.

"Is there an earthquake?!" One of the other students questioned.

"I'm not sure, Jake, but it's scaring me." Clark replied before looking backward and seeing a dust cloud rise on the cliffside.

"Natasha, if an enemy comes, I'll fend them off while you take Hendrix to safety." Valentina stated while giving herself, Natasha, and Hendrix one extra luck.

[Luck has risen by one temporarily.]

'Ackalon, what do you think is coming?' Hendrix thought while his eyes widened.

{I'm not sure Hendrix}

After another minute passed before it stopped, and the dust cloud dissipated, revealing a horrific sight.

A metallic but necrotic silhouette seemingly stood motionless in front of the cliffside. It had many holes along its frame, which had a strange brown gas and liquid leaking out of it. And it seemed to follow Trilateral symmetry as its top branched out in three directions.

Below it lay three gigantic spindly limbs with parts of them drooping like icicles as they irregularly pointed downward. Similar holes lined each one, all leaking the same unknown substances. Alongside them, many thin and long tendrils hung from its underside.

[You received an Emergency Common Quest]

[Escape]

[You need to escape the thing set on eliminating you!]

[Quest completion Requirements]

1) Escape

[Optional Objectives]

1) N/A

[Failure Penalties]

1) Your death

[Rewards]

1) Your Lives

[Optional Objective Rewards.]

1) N/A

[This quest is mandatory unless you accept your death]

'No, not again!' Hendrix thought, seeing the thing somewhat resembling the Necromechanical Terror.

{Oh no}

"What the heck is that?!" Natasha yelled as she backed away while her lips quivered and her eyes widened.

"I'm not sure, but let's run!" Valentina stated as her body trembled and started to run away.

"Agreed." Natasha nodded while running away after Valentina down the path.

Most of the others were more curious than afraid as an eerie horn-like sound emanated before three long spindly tendrils came out of its front and faced the crowd. The ends of them had a bulb-like shape that began lighting up a dim crimson hue and shot at the small group.

Those hit seemed to scream in agony before their bodies distorted and fell to the ground, no longer keeping their shapes and becoming a pile of flesh.

Subsequently, everyone else began running, and after a minute, a third of Hendrix's classmates who were running away had perished. However, they arrived in the refugee camp in front of some guards.

"Get your best soldiers! There's a horrifying thing after us!" Natasha pleaded while crying and holding Hendrix in her arms.

"Hurry, it's after us and is bloodthirsty!" Valentina yelled while frantically looking back.

However, before the guard could speak, the sound of crushed trees and boulders emanated, causing all the guards and students to turn around in unison as they saw the unnerving silhouette appear on the horizon.

Its frame towered over everything, seemingly like a ten-story building, while it surveyed the multitudes of people before emitting the horn-like sound again.

"Everyone in our class, follow us!" Natasha yelled before hurriedly entering the gigantic refugee camp.

Valentina and the remaining classmates followed Natasha behind a building and hid.

Meanwhile, a crowd from the refugee camp ran down the street screaming and running for their lives while the thing followed and killed more of them. Its steps were eerily mechanical and fleshy as they sounded throughout the landscape while it followed the crowd at a moderate pace. Additionally, its many tendrils reached down and picked up the flesh piles and pulled them into the sea of tendrils.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Natasha yelled while panting.

"I'm not sure. Hendrix, are you alright?" Valentina asked while patting his head.

"..." Hendrix stayed silent and continued to shiver in fear.

"Are you alright, everyone?" Natasha asked the remaining classmates.

Everyone shook their heads, resulting in Natasha sighing.

"We need to find our other classmates before fleeing this place." Nadia suggested.

"I agree, Hendrix, do you?" Valentina asked

"Go ahead. It's not like I have a choice anyway." Hendrix replied.

Afterward, the class looked for their other classmates.