Chương 16: No Escape

"Stop!" Kach screamed as Mister and I ran through the corridor. Mister had promised to get me out of this place. He had tried his best to keep that promise, but escaping was harder than either of us had imagined. The security was tight, and everyone in the facility was searching for us. I did not want to think about what would happen if they caught me again.

"Do not worry," Mister said.

"I will get you out of here."

"No, you will not." A knee slammed into his chest, sending him flying across the floor.

"You are not taking her anywhere," Kach said as she grabbed my hand. Her grip hurt.

"Let her go." The voice that answered was not the gentle voice I had listened to all this time. It was the voice of a monster. And I was terrified of it.

"Stop!" Lania flinched and made her toy stop. Two of Strange Toy's legs suspended in the air.

"What happened?" Lania asked.

"It's Mr. Moark," Pyiari answered.

"Can your toy move without making a sound?" Lania shook her head.

"It can't. It's too heavy. And we should just run if it's Moark."

"No, no," Pyiari said quickly.

"That's his superpower."

"What superpower?" Lania asked.

"He can make footsteps echo within a certain range. If we run, he'll hear us and come after us. The best choice is to move silently."

"But your toy can't," I said.

"So we only have one option."

"You mean leave it?" Lania's voice trembled.

"You can't be thinking that." The echoing footsteps grew closer, each one bouncing through the hallway like a warning bell.

"It's temporary," Pyiari said.

"Will Moark do anything if he sees it?"

"I don't know," Lania replied, clutching the toy tighter, "but I won't leave it behind."

"Can it outrun Moark?" I asked.

"I don't know that either."

"Then we have to leave it."

"But I don't want to!"

"I understand,""What are we going to do?" Pyiari asked.

"Let me think." I glanced down the hallway, listening to Moark's footsteps grow louder.

"I can distract Moark while you two escape, Then I'll lose him and catch up with you later."

"But how will we meet again?" Lania asked.

"Only you can read the map." Why am I so dumb?

"You two stay right here. Don't move. I'll lure Moark away and come back for you."

"But how are you going to escape from him?" Lania asked.

"I've done it once before," I said.

"I'll manage." I slipped off the back of the strange toy and landed softly, careful not to let my footsteps echo. Before I could say another word, a scream tore through the hallway. I had heard that scream before. It was Orand's scream.

"Why is he here?"

"I don't know," Pyiari whispered.

"Maybe back after his date with Ms. Bochi."

"We should have stayed with Ms. Filki for a bit longer." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Why was Filki so eager to push us out anyway? Was this her planning? No point in doing this right now. I have to focus on what's ahead right now. The echoing footsteps of Moark were almost upon us now. We spoke in hushed whispers, but neither of them seemed to hear us. This changes everything. If I leave now, who's going to protect them?

"Pyiari," Lania asked "can't you make all of us sleep?"

"It doesn't work on Mr. Moark," she answered.

"I've tried before. You and mister would fall asleep, and Moark catch us."

"How does it not work on him?"

"How would I know?" she snapped at her This was the first time I had seen her in anger.

"Stop arguing and think of something else!" Think, think, think. What are our choices? Can't escape, the only choice is to fight. Fuck. I don't want to make Lania fight. Fuck. But there's no choice.

"Can your toy handle either of them?"

"I think it can handle Moark," she said, though her voice shook.

"Good," I said.

"Then I'll handle Orand."

"Are you strong enough to fight him?" Pyiari asked.

"Does it look like I have a choice?" Pyiari and Lania dropped from the Strange Toy's back too. The hallway stretched endlessly before us. Behind me, Moark's footsteps grew closer. Ahead, Orand's heavy steps began to echo as well. The moment Orand came into view, Moark's footsteps stopped. I tilted my head and saw him clinging to the wall on my left, his body twisted unnaturally as he watched us.

"Mister, here!" Pyiari whispered, throwing a small vial toward me. I caught it with my left hand. Tundra's Water Cinda had been fighting Shugli for over a decade now, but none of the nations would budge. Cinda secretly asked Life's Last Hope to develop a drug to boost their strength. Cinda fell before they could use it. Recorded in the Akashic System in the 13487 A strength potion. I uncorked it and gulped the liquid down.

It was colder than ice—so cold it felt as if liquid nitrogen were freezing my veins from the inside. My skin went numb, but my muscles tightened with sudden power. The steel vial shattered in my grip. Orand screamed and lunged at me. At the same instant, Moark dropped from the wall, and the Strange Toy charged forward with thunderous steps. All four of us collided. Orand swung his long arms in a wide arc. I ducked beneath them, then sprang over the next strike as if skipping rope.

I landed behind him and slashed for his neck, but the trajectory was enough. Even after using a sword as my primary weapon for so long I had not gained a Skillcard for it. Which meant I was worse at it than a novice. My blade scraped through black sludge. Orand's arm slammed into my side. The impact hurled me into the wall hard enough to crack the stone behind me. Pain exploded through my ribs. If not for the Tundra's Water, I would have collapsed right there. I forced myself upright and glanced to the side.

Lania was shouting orders to the strange toy. It had unfolded its arm with spinning blades, and it was fighting Moark head-on. Clanging echoed as they clashed. Pyiari knelt beside the pack of medicines, desperately searching for something useful. A healing potion would be nice. Orand charged again. His fist crashed into the wall where my head had been a moment earlier, leaving a crater in the stone. An opening. I drove my sword into his broken jaw.

The blade resisted at first, grinding against something hard beneath the sludge. I threw my full body weight behind it. The sword punched through. Orand screamed. The sound was so close and so piercing that my ears rang violently. Warm blood trickled from my ears and nose, though the cold numbness from the potion dulled the pain. A massive fist came for my head. I ducked low and tackled Orand at the waist. He stumbled backward, his feet scraping across the floor. I was panting heavily now.

The strength potion wasn't just empowering me or making me feel cold. It was draining my stamina with every movement. I took a shaky breath and tried to calm myself. Orand pulled the blade out of himself. Its edge melted from the toxic saliva. I lunged at him when the sword clanged at the floor. Orand's arm came down at me. I leapt aside. His fists smashed into the floor, cracking the tiles. When I had gained the Lindy Hop skill I never imagined that it would be this helpful in a fight.

I bounced from one step to another, weaving around Orand's long arms, never staying in one place long enough for him to grab me. Then I saw my chance. I sprang upward and landed on his shoulders, driving my full weight onto his arms in the hope of breaking them. I had hoped for too much. The black sludge coating his body was slick as oil. My feet slipped out from under me, and I crashed onto the floor. Orand's fist slammed into my stomach. The air burst from my lungs.

I coughed bile and blood, curling inward as pain ripped through my body. Orand leaned over me, screaming directly into my face. Thick saliva dripped from his mouth and landed on my skin, burning like acid. He raised both hands high above his head. He looked like a mutated ape holding a rock, ready to smash it against a coconut. I was the coconut. Orand was going to crush my skull. I tried to move. My body refused. I wasn't strong enough.

"Tired toys are sleeping, books asleep. Blankets and pillows are waiting for the children. Even a fairy tale goes to bed to come to us in dreams tonight. You wish her: nighty-night." The melody drifted through the hallway, soft and gentle, completely out of place amid the chaos. Dizziness struck me immediately. Orand staggered backward. The song didn't affect me as quickly as it did him; my ears were muffled by blood, and the ringing dulled the lullaby's power.

"In a fairy tale, you can swing on the moon, And ride a horse across the rainbow, Make friends with the baby elephant, And catch the feather of the Firebird. Close your little eyes, nighty-night." I turned my head toward Pyiari. She stood there with her teddy clutched tightly to her chest, singing with tears in her eyes. But why? Why was she singing? The answer laid behind her. Strange Toy stood motionless, its body battered and broken. Four of its six arms had been torn off. In one of its remaining hands.

It held Moark, pierced from the middle, he hung on it.

"Nighty-night, all people should sleep at night. Nighty-night, tomorrow will be a day again. During the day we were very tired, Let's say to everyone: Good night! Close your little eyes, nighty-night." Lania fell, so did Orand and my eyes slowly closed.