Into The Depths [Discontinued]

Chapter 4

The man screamed- although it sounded more like a child's scream to me- before leaping back while swinging his stick wildly. The stick hit me on the wrist, but I ignored it. I was too busy laughing to really care. Finally, I was able to get some revenge on the guards, even if it was as petty as that. I barely registered the other guard running up the staircase before pausing completely at the sight in front of him. I was sitting close to the slide, holding my head as I wheezed. The man had retreated to the opposite side of the slide, glaring daggers at me.

"That wasn't funny!" He raged. "̷N̵o̶,̸ ̶i̸t̸ ̴w̸a̶s̵ ̵h̷i̷l̶a̵r̴i̷o̶u̶s̵!̴"̷  I was starting to calm down by then, but my grin was wider then usual. "No it wasn't! Why the hell would you jump out at me like that! Not cool!" The man continued to glare at me, as if daring me to say it was. The other guard chimed in at this point, asking 'what happened' and looking between the two of us curiously. Even the scientist had climbed up the stairs and was standing behind the guard.

"It jumped out at me when I looked down the slide." The guard sounded exasperated at this point. "̵Y̴o̸u̸ ̶f̵o̷r̸g̵o̸t̴ ̴t̵h̷e̴ ̴p̸a̸r̶t̵ ̵w̶h̵e̴r̶e̸ ̶y̶o̸u̷ ̵s̷c̴r̶e̵a̴m̶e̶d̸ ̶l̷i̷k̵e̸ ̴a̵ ̶c̸h̴i̶l̷d̶ ̷o̸n̸ ̴h̷e̵l̶i̸u̶m̵.̴"̴ ̸  I cackled as the man turned bright red, before I whipped around and scuttled down the slide. "YOU LITTLE SHIT!" I heard the man yell from behind me, before thumping footsteps ran down the stairs. I darted out of the slide right as the man hopped off the staircase. He was practically foaming at the mouth as he charged me. I only had time to bark another laugh, before I took off running. 

I then immediately realized I made a mistake by running away. I was not faster then him. I could not outlast him. But I could possibly outmaneuver him our outclimb him. I angled back towards the playset, where the other humans were staring in shock. I glanced back to check where the man was, before squeaking in surprise that he was almost right behind me. I jumped for the monkey bars, throwing myself on top of them as he caught up. I then realized I was screwed when I picked the monkey bars, since it did not connect to the rest of the playset.

Oh well... I accept my fate. 

I stood up on the bars, my claws curling around the beams for balance. The guard had started trying to climb up with me, and I hopped over to step on his fingers. He let go, and I remembered I could potentially survive this by not letting him up. A cycle was started where the man would try to climb up, I would stand on his fingers, he would let go, and try somewhere else. I had calmed down now that I knew he couldn't get up. 

Eventually, the man calmed down too, choosing to glare at me instead of trying to climb. "Cheater. Come down and face me like a real man." The man tried to goad me into coming down. "̵N̸o̵ ̸t̵h̵a̶n̷k̶s̷,̵ ̸I̷ ̷r̶a̴t̷h̶e̸r̶ ̷l̸i̷k̶e̶ ̵l̶i̸v̴i̶n̵g̷.̸"̸  I couldn't help but chuckle. The guard grumbled a few curses, before walking away to stand next to the other humans. In all honesty, I had completely forgotten about them while I was distracted. I made sure the man wouldn't come running back, before sliding off the monkey bars. I walked away from them, investigating the underside of the playground. There was an odd little hole, maybe twice the size of my head, positioned on a random wall under the main walkway. You could walk around it easy enough, making me wonder why it was even there. I stared at it for a second, before climbing through. I didn't know why I wanted to do it, probably just my instincts talking. They usually made me do really weird stuff for no apparent reason.

I shook myself off, before grabbing the side of a ladder and climbing up. I went back to my original perch, sitting on the top of the playset. It gave me an excellent view of the room, and unless somebody was under the playground like I just was, I would be able to spot them. I watched as the humans stared at me, before the scientist called up to me again. "6030? Please come here." I sighed, before leaning to the side to fall off the playset. I landed nicely, on the ground about fifteen feet away. The humans gaped at me for a second, before trying to look like they didn't care.