Characters: Joan, Vic, Eric, Cain, Lynne
Location: Somewhere in the Enchanted Forest, within Kaligar
Time: Day 4 - 4:30 PM
Joan looked down at Lynne’s lifeless body. “I can’t believe I did that…”
“The bitch had it coming,” Cain said, spitting to the side. “But I still say we should gut her like a fish.”
“I don’t like blood.”
“And I don’t like the thought of that blue-haired freak hunting us down and cutting us apart in our sleep. I like my body parts where they are, thank you.”
A sudden whooping of the other six ninjas, tearing through the forest with razor-sharp swords, startled them.
“I don’t think we’re going to be asleep when they cut us apart,” Joan said, taking a step backwards. “They must know something is wrong.”
“Great,” Cain grunted, pulling out his axe. Vic backed him up with his sword and Eric nocked his bow towards the direction of the ninjas. “It’s about time we got to do some killing.”
“Are you insane!?”
“Girl, I don’t know what I am, but I like it. Let’s dig some ditches and burn through these bitches.”
“Yeah,” Vic said, tightening his grip on his sword. “We’re tired of running.”
Eric closed one eye, zeroing in on the flashes of the ninjas. “Stand back, M’lady. We’ll take care of this.”
Swallowing hard, Joan reached into her knapsack and pulled out a can of beans. “Oh, I’m sure you will.” She rolled the can between her fingers, holding it like a baseball.
With a vicious scream, the ninjas lunged from the tops of the trees. The first one landed with a plop and was immediately met by a prick in the thigh from an arrow and a tin can that thumped against her shoulder. Before the can touched the ground, she performed a back flip, swiped the can from midair, and hurled it at Joan’s gut with such force that Joan was thrown back into a tree.
Then the other five ninjas dropped down.
Vic stared up at them in awe. “This is one of those days we’re going to feel tomorrow, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think we have to worry about seeing tomorrow,” Eric said.
Without waiting for his friends, Cain charged forward, swinging his mighty axe at the big toe of one of the ninjas. But even her toe was faster than him. It curled into a ball, causing the blade of the axe to whoosh right by, and then flicked Cain’s tiny body. He stumbled into the mud.
“Cain, we’re coming for you!” Vic cried, diving into the mud. A foot came down on him, but he swam under it, holding his breath.
Meanwhile, Eric retreated, flinging a volley of arrows at the ninjas. They stung like bees, but the ninjas were quick enough to dodge most of them. Dark shadows washed over their faces.
Clawing at the ground, Joan rose to her feet and belted one of the ninjas with her knapsack. Cans and pots clanged like iron bells. The ninja grabbed the knapsack, hurling her body around, but Joan quickly dug one heel into the dirt and stuck her other foot out, tripping the ninja. They both tumbled to the ground.
A couple of the ninjas knelt down beside Lynne, checking for a pulse, and Eric nailed them in the butt. They fell back into Joan’s vomit and drew their swords. But Joan threw herself between them, rolling over Lynne’s body as the swords whizzed by overhead.
Surfacing in the mud, Vic wrapped an arm around Cain’s neck and paddled towards an island of grass. One of the fallen ninjas saw him, scowled, and reached out with a hand like a jaw, ready to gobble them both up. With his free hand still under the mud, Vic pulled out his sword and cut through the soft skin of her palm. Blood rained down. She made a second swipe, but Vic yanked Cain and himself under the sludge, dodging the greedy fingertips.
Suddenly, Eric appeared on the ninja’s head, holding a three-inch piece of bark. He jumped into the air, putting the bark under him like a snowboard, and skated down the bridge of the ninja’s nose. She swatted at him, but missed. He ramped off her nose, still on the piece of bark, and landed on her arm, riding it down into the mud. The bark continued to bounce along the surface like a skipping stone.
“Grab on!” Eric yelled, reaching out for his companions. But he sailed past them, washing onshore of the grassy island. The ninja reached for him, but he quickly picked up the bark and shoved it into the cut in her hand, opening the wound. “I never liked ninjas anyway!”
With cuts across her face, Joan grabbed the ninja’s hood and slammed her face into the mud. Then she stood over her, frying pan in hand, gasping. The other five ninjas surrounded her.
“Fa raide ni,” one of them said. “Tilla sai.”
“I’m not afraid of you…” Joan said, circling around on her heels. She kept the frying pan steady. “You…you all smell like bad cooking.”
“Joan!” Eric cried, running up to his knees in the mud. “Joan! Joan!”
Vic suddenly surfaced again, grabbing Eric’s ankles. He quickly pulled him under.
The ninjas drew closer to Joan, their swords raised.
“I said I’m not afraid!” Joan screamed, swinging the frying pan at the nearest ninja. The ninja blocked the frying pan with her fist, did a high kick that sent her leg up over Joan’s arm, and disarmed the weapon. Then she tightened her leg’s grip around Joan’s arm, sending her to her knees.
“Gaaaaaaah…” Joan cried, sputtering out mud. She looked up at the ninjas under bleeding eyes. They each raised their swords to the black sun. “I’m not afraid… I’m not afraid…” She closed her eyes. “I’m not afraid of you, you ugly bastards.”
Five cold blades cut through her. She felt them all. Felt their pricks, their touch like icicles, their lethal medicine flowing through her veins, their promised anesthesia on her last breath. Her eyes turned bloodshot and then drowned in the red. Is this how it was for Raven? Did it have to be so cold? Where were the welcoming hands of the other side? What happened to the Light?
Her fingers trembled. Her skin felt loose, gone, distant in her mind. Like a spirit or like a dream. She felt the numbness, the empty air under her next footsteps, and then she sank into the mud. She fell beside Lynne, landing with one arm over her, under the darkest forest of her nightmare. For a moment, everything was clear. And then there was nothing. Nothingness forever.
She heard the voices. The never again, the never again, calling out to her. It was calling. It was there. Reality and fantasy. They were one. There were no dreams anymore. Her heart and mind, slowly mixing, forgetting, the wires of life snipped. The veins and the shadows, they were coming, crawling like warm skin on the surface. Did it have to be so cold?
Her breaths died in the dark waters. They died, calling out to the never again.
Eric thrashed through the mud, screaming, kicking his legs against the current. “Joan! God, no, Joan!” He tried to swim for her, but the ninjas turned towards him and Vic pulled him under again.
“It’s too late for her!” Vic yelled into Eric’s ear before his lungs filled with sludge. With Cain at their side, the three of them paddled through the muddy waters. The ninjas waded into the mud, kicking and clawing at it in hopes of unearthing the three Men, but the current was already carrying them away. Down and down the muddy stream they flowed, only surfacing for air every now and then.
When they were about a mile downstream, they swam to the shore, coughing and panting. They were covered in so many layers of mud that they looked like frogs, laying on their backs, staring up at the black trees that towered over them. They couldn’t help but think every one of those trees looked like the ninjas. Black clothing and bark, bare arms and branches, watching them, everywhere. They couldn’t escape the horror.
“Joan…” Eric said. “They killed her. They killed her like they killed Raven. They killed her…”
Cain threw his axe down next to him. “Shit. This is all shit.”
Sitting up, head in his hands, Vic crinkled his brow and sighed. The dark rays of the sun rained down on him. From somewhere to the south, a chilly wind blew through and the muddy stream continued on forever. They watched it, like a dream, like a nightmare, like one in the same.
Giantess World
