Page 13 of Justice
Oak took my hand, pulling me forward, trying to keep me upright as we slipped and slid through the gore, stepping over limbs and skimming our way around bodies. The others followed our lead until we passed the final lifeless body and entered a clearing.
There was only one way to go, and it was hard to push my foot forward. Above us, vines decorated the ceiling, making me feel closed in. I breathed hard, trying to work through the claustrophobia I felt when my eyes caught something. I stopped, pulling Oak’s hand until he fell back toward me.
“The vines are alive.”
His brows pulled together. “Of course, they are alive. They are green.”
“I meant, they just moved,” I sputtered.
“Likepoised to attackmoved or like a gentle sway in the wind?” Ellis asked.
My head turned to him. “What do you think?”
All four of the men cursed in unison. No one had fully recovered from the spiders yet. All our bodies were exhausted. And now, vines? As if on cue, they began to slowly creep toward us, leisurely covering the ground in leaves and eliminating space for us to roam.
“We need to run!” Oak instructed, only I was still a human, with human speed, while these boys could cut the distance easy as pie. There would be no way I was making that before the vines snaked up my legs and pulled me under the layer of leaves they’d just formed.
Oak’s hand gripped mine hard as he pulled, trying to urge me to move faster as I stumbled after them. But I couldn’t keep up; I was only slowing him down. I released his hand at the exact moment a vine caught up to me, pulling me backward until I fell onto my stomach, then dragged me back toward the wall. My fingers fought for purchase, searching for a hole, a rock, a stick – anything to grab on to, anything to buy me time, but I only felt the smooth sand-like gravel as I fought and resisted.
Oak appeared before me, falling to his knees to grab my arms and pull me back, trying to hold me in place long enough for Ramsey to cut the vines at my ankles while the others chopped through anything that approached. Each time he freed a leg, another vine grabbed it. The task seemed impossible.
“Just go!” I kicked at a vine, then used my knife to stab another as he crept toward my torso.
“NO!” All voices yelled in unison right before Ramsey shouted, “I got it!”
With his words, Oak pulled my body hard, freeing me before throwing my body over his shoulder and running. I clung to him tightly as the surroundings blurred around me. The scenery changed, faded to tan stone walls, and still, he kept going until he was sure the vines were out of view, and we were in the clear.
He sat down on a patch of grass before running his hands through his long hair. “We weren’t prepared enough for this shit.”
Sterling’s chest heaved. “I don’t think we could have ever been.”
Beside them, Ramsey grinned. “Well, I, for one, think this is a fantastic field trip.”
Everyone ignored him as Ellis asked, “How much more do you think there is?”
Ha, wasn’t that the question of the hour?
Oak’s fingers tugged at his scalp, gripping the hair tightly as he looked around. “One problem at a time.”
“Yeah? What’s the current problem?” Sterling had to ask like this whole situation wasn’t a complete fucking problem.
Oak walked over to the cliff’s edge and looked down. “It appears there is lava down there.”
His voice was calm, a complete juxtaposition to my panicked screech. “Lava!”
“Yup.”
“How are you saying this so damn calmly!?”Lava. There was fucking lava.
“Well,” he sighed, “I figured if it isn’t attacking us at the moment, there’s no need to panic. I did just murder some spiders bigger than my body and had my butt felt up by vines.”
“The vines touched your butt?” I wasn’t sure why that perturbed me so much, but I felt a strong sense of ownership to that butt.
“Yup, slithered its leaves across on its way to strangle you.”
I sighed. Well, at least it had good taste. I took a few steps closer to Oak and peered down into the canyon below. Definitely lava. And judging by the bubbles it kept spitting and the steam rising from its surface, definitely hot. Couldn’t there be cold lava? I liked that idea much better.
I was too concentrated on my potential pain; I hadn’t noticed Ellis had joined us, walking around the edge of the cliff as he searched for a way across. “There are some rocks over there.”