13) The rat race

As the day pressed on into the late afternoon Skye couldn't help but fall asleep and jolt himself awake, falling into micro-dreams each time. Dreams of the Dome, nightmares of the rippers coming for him, moments of running through thick forests.

It had been more than 24 hours since he'd rested, and the last few days have been hard on his body. He went as far as he could down the cavern and had a good idea of what it would look like. 

It was carved into bedrock and ran through a cave of such, maybe leading to a body of water based on how wet it felt there. He did discover something quite interesting, he was less thirsty than he was before. Water, like the energy from the ground, was moving into his body from his roots. It wasn't a lot, maybe a couple mouth fulls, but it really did help keep the pain of dehydration away. 

Ellie and Kai woke up not too long ago and Skye shared the news

"You were right, there is an escape tunnel. From what I can tell there isn't any movement down there, so either the roaches haven't found a way in or they all hide there at night and reappear during the day."

She just nodded her head in agreement, like she knew it all along.

"I don't think they can get in there, the door is still intact and the exit probably leads past their territory. It's not far from where we are, but as soon as we leave this circle they'll start to charge us again. We need something to protect ourselves."

Lingering for a moment she clapped her hands together in announcement.

"Alright, my turn. When I yell "Now" I need you to activate these seeds. All of them. At once and with as much power as you can" 

Skye wanted to desperately ask her what she was going to do. It wasn't night yet, the flat roach rats were still wandering around. But before he could, she was gone. Turning her head towards the exit and vanishing from the world like she was never there to begin with. 

Ellie was suddenly in the courtyard, then atop the wall, then at the door of the barrack's storage, gasping for breath as she steadied herself. These were all places she had been before and knew the steps it would take to get there. 

With the seeds in her hands she moved as fast as she could, scattering them in front of the opening in the wall and jumping in.

As soon as she did she worked as fast as she could, putting her hand on her hip to form a circle with her arm, the space between contouring and shimmering, she grabbed anything she could find and threw it in. She ran her arm over the shelves indiscriminately.

Grabbing and shoving whatever she could find, the noise was finally picked up by the roaches, and their stampede began. She had only a few moments before they got to the window and she counted. 

One… Two…

"NOW!!" 

She screamed at the top of her lungs, and Skye let his mana fly. 

There was an explosion of activity outside the storage room as a horde of giant roaches collided with a field of vines pushing out of the ground. Each entanglement seemed to grab at least 10 creatures, creating a wall of the first 60 creatures leading the charge to be formed. The middle of the formation crashed into them like waves off a rocky shore, being slung backwards into the sea of vermin. 

That bought Ellie the couple extra seconds she needed, in the confusion she jumped, equipment stored away, gritting her teeth, knowing there was a good chance she wouldn't have enough mana to make it all the way.

And like always, she was right. From the storage to the wall, from the wall to the courtyard, she was bone dry. Not even enough to move an extra inch. She was in the wide open. By the time she realised she didn't have enough and stumbled forward, every creature realised she was there. 

They flooded in from the other buildings, like a black tide over the green weeds of the courtyards. She jumped quickly onto her feet and took off into a sprint.

"Open the door!"

She cried, pushing her body to its limits. She was faster than she looked, but not as fast as she needed to be. Even to the left and right of their temporary base, creatures started to flow out, threatening to collide with her before she crossed the finish line.

She didn't breathe, she didn't have time, she just pushed herself. Tightening her core and moving her muscles as fast as they could go. Arms pumping and teeth clenched, she was almost there, but the swarm closed in infront of her. This was going to hurt.

As they were about to collide with her she leapt over their front line as best she could, letting the motion of her body take her farther. She travelled as far as that act was going to take her and landed in the bed of grey fur and sharp mouths, rolling to try and get back on her feet and continue moving through the tide. 

They latched onto her legs and back, their circular teeth moving side to side to cut flesh from bone. Ellie yelled as the shock of pain ran over her body, continuing to move forward despite her extra passengers. 

Kai and Skye couldn't just watch this happen, she was so close yet so far. Each step she took was slower than the last. 

Skye quickly threw the seeds he had been preparing into the crowd around and behind her, unleashing the vines to grab and block their paths. They were too weak to do any real damage but they succeeded in grabbing a few thrashing bodies. 

Kai took his sword and channelled mana into it, holding it above his head with both hands. He performed a downward slash, cursing the sword to shatter and splinter into thousands of metal fragments, raining forward in an arch in front of him. The shards hit the ground like thin bullets piercing the body of the swarm, causing dirt and grass to fly up with sharp thuds. 

This seemed to be the swords one and only enchantment, which could only be used one. Kai threw the hilt of the broken sword to the ground and it phased out of existence.

They both jumped into action, running forward in the momentary path Kai just created, and reaching Ellie who had started to stumble as her body received more bloody bites. Each of them grabbed her by her arms and slingshot her forward, hurling her into the wall and sliding onto the floor. 

The roaches that were attached to her quickly detached and squirmed with pain as they entered the ring of protection, some dying as they tried to leave, others getting out before it was too late. 

The swarm of hungry mouths switched targets quickly to the new bodies. The two of them used all their might to push off into a sprint back through the door. Their heels kicking up small grey bodies with every step, new bites leaving their marks. Kai and Skye reached the door quickly, falling to the floor, receiving plenty of bites of their own.

The swarm crashed against the ring of protection and felt the painful effects, pushing back against the other roaches pushing them forward, causing the tide to clash and disperse. 

Ellie laid there, bleeding and panting, curling into a ball. The pain of it all must have been too much. The mana depleting from her body, the physical toll of it all, and the feeling of having bits of your flesh ripped off all over. Skye only had about a dozen bites on his legs from that brief moment, he couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

He crawled over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, bringing her in to comfort her.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's all over. You survived. It's going to be alright now."

It wasn't okay and it wasn't all over. He was lying. But he didn't know what else to say.

Kai grabbed his shoulder, Skye looked up appreciative of the gesture of comfort. Kai pushed him to the side.

"Get the fuck out of the way man"

Skye tumbled on the ground to his side, propping himself up with a confused expression on his face. What the hell was that about, he was only trying to help.

Kai put his hands to her body where the blood was soaking through her clothes. They were stylish and the brown of it all complemented her skin perfectly, or at least it did, now they were mostly red. 

His hands started to burn bright yellow, like a field of hay, or iron ripe for the moulding. His face started to show signs of stress as he gritted his teeth. His breathing became ragged and his hands grew brighter. Slight whimpers escaped his mouth alongside a stream of blood on the corner of his lips.

"I've paid the price so give me what's mine god damnit"

He said in a single exhale of breath, both demanding and begging. The light from his hands extended forward and engulfed Ellie's body. The light around her flickered like she was on fire, and the blood started to evaporate. The visible wounds on her legs were closing at a rapid rate. 

Her eyes fluttered open in recognition. It didn't hurt anymore. All her pain was being burned away.

Kai's face could no longer hide how much pain he was in though, tears flowing down his face and mixing with the blood on his lips. His voice was now a primal growl. 

Nothing in this world came for free, pain demanded to be felt, it just didn't care by who.