Two Worlds (Written by a 10-year-old author, 62,000 words, 72 chapters)

Chapter 14: A stupid idea

As soon as Lily started punching dwarves, several shapes appeared on the top of the hill. As they got closer Lily's puzzlement turned to dread. Tara swore. "Ogres," she said. Stacy, who tended to be on the obvious side of things, said, "Oh, that's not good." The ogres roared and lumbered towards the battle scene. "Whose side are they on?" Lily asked. "Definitely the dwarves," Tara replied. Lily's fingers tightened around her grenade bag. "I'm going up there," she said. Tara and Stacy stared at her in shock. "Are you serious?" Tara asked. "You're going to get yourself killed!" Stacy said. Lily nodded in agreement and pushed her way through the dwarf crowd.

There were too many dwarves.

The small people were so large in quantity and so packed together that it was almost impossible to get to the ogres. But Lily still managed to reach the bottom of the hill. She opened her bag and pulled a grenade out. She pressed her thumb into the detonation button and lobbed the bomb at the ogres. As soon as the grenade had left her hand, Lily turned and ran as fast as she could. But even though she was fast, she wasn't fast enough.

KABOOM! The bomb exploded in a massive shockwave, throwing Lily fifty feet backward into the grass. Groaning, she looked up to find a massive cloud of stars flying up into the air. As they descended, they turned into powder.

A few grains of the dust drifted onto Lily's arm. She winced as the powder touched her skin, becoming tiny, searing stabs of pain. Where the particles made contact with her skin, they left angry red marks. It was even worse for the ogres. The majority of the powder had fallen all over the giant creatures. They roared in pain, clawing at their eyes and scratching at their skin. After what seemed like forever, the ogres raised their heads. Their eyes were red and teary.

ROAARRR! The ogres charged down the hill. The grenades Stacy had created hadn't worked well enough to keep them away. Lily gasped in terror and fled, shoving dwarves out of her way as they were trampled underfoot by the ogres. She reached Tara and Stacy. Stacy grabbed Lily's arm. "Well, the grenade worked," she noted. "Not well enough," Lily replied. "RUN!" Tara screamed as the ogres charged at them. They dove out of the way as the giant creatures cracked the ground where they were just standing. Lily watched as the ogres charged past. Unfortunately, you couldn't get away that easily if you throw a lethal grenade at someone.

The ogres turned towards Lily. Apparently, they recognized her as the puny girl who gave them the biggest skin rash of their lives. Growling, the ogres ran at her. "I think running would be a really good idea right now," Lily said. "I'll go get some help from the other soldiers," Stacy suggested. "Me too," Tara said. Lily pressed her grenade bag into Stacy's hands and ran.

As Lily's feet pounded the ground, the rumbling of ogre's feet could be heard behind her. She shoved dwarves out of her way, leaping over rocks and the occasional very tiny dwarf. Dwarves and elves screamed at the sight of the horrendous monsters hurtling at them. Lily jumped over another rock, burst through the northern tower door and slammed it closed.

Lily ran to the nearest window and looked through it. The group of ogres had paused in front of the door, searching and sniffing for their prey. A trail of squashed dwarves (the elves managed to jump out of the way just in time) lay in their wake. An ogre turned its head and Lily quickly ducked out of sight. But it was too late. The ogre had seen her.

ROAR!! The wall in front of Lily exploded into piles of rocks and debris and she tumbled across the floor. She dragged herself, coughing, behind a stone pillar. Lily sneaked a glance around the pillar and was amazed to find that only one ogre stood in the piles of rubble. The others had probably gone to search for her somewhere else. The ogre lumbered towards the pillar, crushing rocks underfoot.

A panicked Lily looked around for a way to escape. There were several hallways, but they were too far away. A door stood twenty feet away from Lily, but the ogre was right next to it, so that wasn't an option.

That left the P.O.O.P. chute. It was in the ogre's line of sight, so it was impossible to get there unseen. But it was also the best chance Lily had. She made up her mind and ran for the chute.

The ogre spotted her immediately. Roaring, it charged her, the fangs in its mouth gleaming. Lily reached the transport hole and as she suspected, there was no elevator box. It would be too slow, anyway. Lily jumped in as one of the ogre's feet stomped the ground where she was standing before.

Lily was in free-fall.

She knew if she grabbed on to a cable, she was risking getting caught by the ogre. Through the dim light, she saw a large hand go through the hole towards her. Uh oh, she thought. A cable intersection was below her. That meant she had about twenty seconds or so to either grab the cable or plummet into who-knows-where. The end of the cable was about fifteen feet below her.

Lily gritted her teeth to prevent her from howling in frustration. What should she do? What was the best choice?

At the last second, Lily stretched her arms out and wrapped her hands around the cable. Success!

The ogre's fingers closed an inch from Lily. Unfortunately, the ogre's sharp fingernails also severed the cable Lily was holding on to. Definitely not a success.