Super

29 - Felt A Disturbance In The Force, Luke?

I nodded, lips set in determination. Suddenly, the buzzing was replaced by low, gravelly voices as my friends' voices faded to white noise and I honed in on the wasps. They were speaking!

Kill them, they hissed. Must sting. Must kill.

Shocked, I stumbled back, landing hard on my wrists. But the voices weren't gone just yet and Ciaran's voice sounded distant and funny as he called my name. 

Must do what master says.

Must sting.

Must kill.

Sting, kill, sting, kill.

Must guard. 

The gurgling voices sounded like river water rushing over rocks, sending pebbles scraping along the bottom of the riverbed. The voices were thick, scratchy whispers that drowned out all other sound. It was evil, too. Not only could I hear what they were saying, but I could feel it. I could feel the anger and the hatred. Eventually, my eyes started prickling with tears as I felt all of the hatred and spite directed at me. 

Then I heard White Panther say: You don't have to kill us.

Must kill.

But why? You don't have to...

Must sting. Must kill! The wasps hissed lividly. Thirsty... Thirsty!

Thirsty?

Must sting. Must kill. Must drink.

Drink? Drink what?

Your blood.

That's when I realised someone was screaming, sharp and high-pitched. The wasps went nuts. They were no longer gravelly voices, but furious buzzes as they swarmed, getting ready to attack. Belatedly, I realised it was me who was screaming and the reason I couldn't understand them anymore was because it had startled the White Panther so much that she had lost her focus, but by then, Ciaran had grabbed my arm and was pulling me to my feet.

"Annie, let's GO!" 

"Annabelle–" Gabriel piped up, but the White Panther whipped around to look at him. 

"You shouldn't have said that!" She shrieked, "the wasps were directed to kill her!"

"But the venom can't affect me!" I panicked.

"No, but any wasps' venom can kill you if they sting you enough," Finn said nervously. "They can't turn you into a zombie, but they can still kill you."

"Everybody go!" The White Panther shrieked, "I'll hold them off."

"No, you're coming with us!" Gold Thrush roared above the buzzing that was now too loud to hear anyone over. All of a sudden, the wasps began flooding out of the vents. We all made a beeline - ha, beeline - for the staircase, swatting at the wasps that were congregating around our heads. Bat Boy got there first, slamming into the door before yanking it open and ushering everyone through.

We ran past before he slammed the door closed. Only a few wasps had gotten through, but that's all it would take to sting my super friends and turn them into zombies, or kill me... 

Gold Thrush and Gabriel started flying in circles to confuse the wasps while Mist turned into vapour and started poisoning the wasps as best she could without poisoning any of us as we hurtled down the staircase. For some unknown reason, there were no air vents in the staircase, but the remaining wasps were rushing at us, their enraged buzzing melting together to drone like an oscillating fan.