When Given a Lemon

Part 33

Fair or unfair, doesn’t make any difference because I can’t even move with this oaf still on top of me! I'm mentally kicking him so that we will wake up and see what's about to happen to us but neither of us, that I know of, are telepathic! Worlds later, or mere seconds -the growing thrum surrounding me on all sides makes it hard to count rationally- Denyel very slowly rises to his elbows, blinking the dust away to peer into the haze around us.

Already many of the buzzballs are climbing in through the little round openings that had been destroyed by our fall. Several scuttle around the area, as if surveying the damage like little builders, while the rest make their way toward us to see what had intruded.

If they were more like bees, I'd already be covered from head to toe with a lot more bites and stings. But because they aren't bees, that I know of, I don't know what will happen to us, if we will even survive this!

Rather than getting up and trying to flee, Denyel freezes. More and more of the agitated balls buzz fly into the broken space, swarming around us. He keeps silent but I can tell by his winces that he is getting the brunt of the bites and is being stung over and over again – his face, albeit hidden mostly in shadow above me, is mere breaths from mine and can’t hide the expressions of discomfort. I can’t move my arms or legs, completely pinned under his bulk without any way to fend any of these things off or try to crawl to safety.

Then another sound joins the angry buzzing that is chorusing around the small space.

A thwup, thwup, thwup is coming from above us. Strange little pockets of sound that are landing in random spaces above, below, next to, all around me; over and over until the swarming mass changes its movements, and begins to lose interest in Denyel’s flesh.

Their swarming still continues but instead of focusing inward, they seem more interested in something in an outward direction, facing away from us. They begin swirling in a new upward angle around the ruined space, like an angry thrumming vortex that is terrifying to be below, even if they are the creatures that had normally been completely benign.

When a small break in the swarming mass appears long enough for me to see through it to the sky, I see Lemon standing at the edge, the vortex funneling toward them as they rapidly throw small objects down into edges of the frey. Someone else seems to be there keeping Lemon from being completely pummeled.

Denyel doesn’t wait for another moment, instantly clawing with his bare hands at the soft matter of the surrounding walls, digging his way more horizontally to freedom while they are distracted by their new attackers.

More thwup, thwup, thwups come from different locations and I realize others must also have stepped in, trying to lure the little beasts away long enough for us to escape. Though I don’t know where we hope to crawl away to since these tunnels only seem to lead down deeper into their labyrinth of a home. Our movements and the shifted earth upset other members of the colony and soon we too are once again beset upon by countless members of the swarm. I pray that we will soon find an end to this, a spot of regular rock or soil that we might be able to climb up. Hopefully, before we are both swollen pincushions or go into shock.

Finally we reach it.

Hard stone.

More like I ram my face into it, so used to pushing through the soft material that I tried smashing through something that did not provide any give. I’ll definitely be sporting a lovely bruise later on. Denyel is already up above me, finding places to grip in the cracks of the stone even while being assaulted by the upset creatures.

On any other day I would be rooting for them, if I knew someone smashed through their home, but what we did wasn't intentional and right now we’re only trying to leave!

If I make it out of here, moving my body won’t be a thing, for a while, not with the amount of bites and stings I am rapidly acquiring! Everything is getting puffy and I feel like I'm choking on everything in the air, and the air itself. It makes it hard to grab hold of anything, to not only reach out but also pull myself up into the next ledge, and I’m still injured!

The longer I try to climb, the further away Denyel becomes until I can no longer see him and I am left with a grey wrapped rockface clogged with angry fuzz to try to climb through. This is the most ridiculous situation I have ever been in! And I wish knowing that made it less scary, but somehow the complacent appearance and soft walls of their nest only make it worse!

I feel my fingers slip and I start to skid downward, scraping my nails against the wall seeking purchase. I’m in pain and tired and scared because my body wants to give up even when I keep telling it to move! Welts form on my hands and wrists that make it hard to grab hold of anything so I am left just hanging here. Afraid to let go or try and move because I am now certain I will fall if I do.

Trying not to let the panic overtake me I close my eyes and press my forehead against the cold rock before me, one foot dangling, arms locked into slivers above. It can’t be that much farther but it may as well be miles. I try to take a breath, then another but it hurts. Then movement above me shifts my attention as small debris showers down on me followed by the nimble movements of someone's body.

It’s one of my companions. I can’t say which, all I see is their legs; the pants of their uniform, and their heavy boots. When they carefully climb down far enough to be next to me, I see they are hidden by their hood that is tied close around their face. All I can see are their eyes. They kick a leg out around me so that they are clinging to the rock face on either side, then reach an arm across.

“Hey– Keenah–” Cayeol’s voice puffs out of the hood. “Can– can you turn around?” I shake my head no, I’ll fall if I turn. “Okay, that’s okay.” They shift a little and a small chnk! hammers into the rock near me; it's just within view, a small knife is being used to carve out places to grab hold of. “I’m gonna help support you while we climb up, okay?”

And that’s what they do. It takes a nightmarish amount of time where I often struggle to grasp anything as the welts begin to swell up more. I don’t recall the stingers hurting like this before, back when we had been swarmed in the woods. Could there be something different about these buzzballs, or do they have different stingers for different purposes? It could just be the amount of times that I have been stung. Whatever the reason, it made it especially more difficult to move the longer we took.

At least Cayeol was able to fend most of them off as we ascended; their clothes acted as a barrier while he shooed them away from me. When we got close enough, the others pulled us out and dragged us both away from the edge of the nest. Far enough that the buzzers eventually felt we were no longer a risk to them and returned to help reconstruct their home.