(Artwork by bigdad)
The three gasped, turning around and facing the gasmask-wearing giant that was standing behind them, firmly gripping a sharp harpoon and staring down at them.
"Oh SHOOT! RUN!!"
Seven cried out, picking up his nome and starting for the sliding door, but he immediately halted as the giant's deep voice began to plead for him to stay.
"WAIT! DON'T GO OUT THERE. IT'S DANGEROUS."
"Huh..?"
Turning around with a confused expression, Seven looked up at the giant who crouched down, lowering his deep, robotic voice down to a whisper.
"THOSE GUESTS WILL EAT ANYTHING THEY SEE, STAY IN HERE FOR NOW."
"You mean those big people sitting at the tables?"
Mono was slightly skeptical, keeping his distance from the giant who was seemingly friendly and speaking to him at a distance.
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Yeah... they're pretty ruthless... hey, why aren't you trying to kill us?"
Six asked, looking up at the giant and tilting her head slightly.
"YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE THIS AWFUL PLACE. THE LEAST I CAN DO IS HELP."
The giant rested the metal harpoon against the wall, then placed his gloved hands in the pockets of his large coat.
"Wait, so... are you working for her?"
Mono questioned, taking a step forward as the nome hid behind his leg, too afraid to come out completely.
"THE LADY? I STILL AM, TECHNICALLY. SHE DOESN'T KNOW THAT I'M HELPING YOU KIDS OUT, AND I'D LIKE TO KEEP IT THAT WAY."
"Do you know where she is right now?"
"I'M NOT PROHIBITED TO ENTER HER QUARTERS, SO I DON'T KNOW HER CURRENT WHEREABOUTS."
CLICK!!
The giant's radio that was attached to the collar of his coat suddenly began to produce noise, a quiet but baritone voice emitting from the speaker.
"REPORT. ANY SIGHTING OF THE RUNAWAYS?"
The guard slowly raised his hand, gesturing for the kids to remain quiet as he gripped his radio, turning it on.
"NEGATIVE, DON'T SEE ANYTHING YET."
CLICK!!
"They're talking about us, aren't they?"
Six asked as the giant nodded in response to her question, Mono shaking his head in disbelief as Seven felt a little proud at how much attraction they had gained.
"YES. YOU KIDS ARE THE TOP PRIORITY AT THE MOMENT. I HEARD YOU HURT THE LADY."
"You're damn right we did."
Mono bragged, crossing his arms and nodding at their accomplishment.
"YOU ARE THE ONLY LIVING BEINGS ON THE PLANET TO DO SO."
"Well, it wasn't THAT hard..."
Six scoffed, shrugging as Seven spoke up after her.
"Yeah, and I found out that her reflection is her weakness!"
"Oh, right. That was all him."
Six pointed at Seven over her shoulder with her thumb as he smiled and nodded his head.
"NICE WORK OUT THERE. USUALLY, RUNAWAYS DON'T GET THIS FAR."
"What do you mean?"
Mono raised an eyebrow, both intrigued and scared of what the giant was saying.
"I'VE SEEN IT HAPPEN MANY TIMES. THE KIDS TRY TO ESCAPE, THEY GET CAUGHT, USUALLY KILLED, AND THE CYCLE REPEATS."
The giant lowered his head, letting out a deep sigh.
"I'M TIRED OF STANDING AROUND AND WATCHING IT HAPPEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN."
"Wow... well, I'm glad we met you."
A slight smile appeared on Mono's face as he looked up into the gasmask the giant was wearing over his face.
"Yeah... I'm glad that not EVERYBODY here is a crazy blood-thirsty maniac."
Six laughed to herself as Seven held a hand up, asking the question that had been on his mind for the past few minutes.
"Were you the same guy who tried to stab me with a harpoon earlier?"
"ME? NO. I'VE NEVER TRIED TO HURT A CHILD LIKE YOU."
"Phew..."
Seven let out a sigh of relief, the giant could hopefully be trusted.
"Alright, uh... we gotta get going soon, so-"
SLAM!!
Six was abruptly cut off as the sound of muffled groaning and smashing was hurt on the other side of the sliding door. The guests were trying to break through the wooden door, wanting to resume the hunt on their prey that lay in wait on the other side of the wall.
"SHIT."
The giant grabbed his harpoon that was resting on the wall next to him and held it off to the side as he lowered his hand out to the floor.
"CLIMB ON."
Mono grabbed onto the giant's clothing and hoisted himself up onto his coat, turning around and helping Six up as Seven gathered all of the nomes who were still trembling in fear, running up the giant's hand and setting the nomes down on the guard's arm.
SMASH!!
The wall suddenly broke open, the large bodies of the guests appearing as they flooded into the tiny room. The guard brandished his harpoon, holding it out at the giants in front of him.
"MOVE BACK RIGHT NOW."
The guests froze in place, groaning and sniffing the air while they slowly backed up on their hands and knees. Keeping his harpoon out in front of him, he began to walk toward the guests, the giants forming a path for him to walk through as he quickly stomped out of the room, fast walking toward the door on the other side.
"WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES?"
The guard lowered his voice as he spoke, glancing over at his shoulder as he addressed them.
"I'm Mono."
"Six."
"Seven!"
The guard opened the door and quickly slammed it shut behind him, crouching down and waiting for the three to go back down onto the floor. They carried their nomes with them as they hopped down onto the floor, Mono turning back around asking him a question.
"So, what about you? What's your name?"
"JASON. ALSO, KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN. SHE HAS EYES EVERYWHERE."
"Yeah, we figured that out the hard way."
Seven said as the giant stood back up, putting his harpoon under a sling on his back.
"IF I GET CAUGHT HELPING YOU KIDS, I'M AS GOOD AS DEAD."
"Then we better get a move on. Do you know any nearby exits that we can take?"
"YES, BUT ALL OF THEM ARE FAR AWAY FROM HERE."
Seven peeked around the corner and shuddered at the sight of more hungry giants. The next door was on the other side of the room, but there was a catch. A large eye was monitoring all of the guests, its ray of light shining down on each of them as they continued to mindlessly devour the food that was poured out for them from the ceiling.
"Uh... Jason? We have a little bit of a problem..."
Jason was careful while he walked, making sure not to step on any of them as he stood next to Seven, peering around the corner.
"IF WE GET SPOTTED BY THAT EYE, IT WILL TURN US TO STONE."
"Even you?"
"YES. I'M NOT ALLOWED TO BE HERE WITHOUT REASON."
Six sighed, thinking to herself as she tried to devise a plan to get them to the door on the far side of the room without anybody dying on the way there.
"YOU SHOULD JUST SNEAK ON OVER TO THE DOOR AND GO."
Jason began to walk in the other direction, leaving the children to escape without him so they wouldn't get in any further trouble.
"IT WAS A PLEASURE MEETING YOU, MONO, SIX, SEVEN."
"Wait, Jason! "
"YES?"
"I got something better, come back here."
Mono gestured toward the giant to return, which he did, walking over and crouching next to him.
"WHAT IS YOUR IDEA?"
"Guys, come here too. You all need to hear this."
Six and Seven walked over to Mono, huddling up along with the nomes to listen in on his master plan.
"We can cause a distraction and make the guests go crazy, and that will hopefully set off the eye, giving Jason an opening to get across."
"Ooh... sounds like fun!"
Seven clapped his hands together with enthusiasm and Six nodded in response.
"Sure. We need Jason anyway so he can show us the way out of here."
"I DON'T WANT YOU KIDS TO BE IN DANGER JUST TO GET ME ACROSS."
"It's fine, we've survived the impossible, a little mayhem wouldn't hurt!"
Mono confidently smirked, peering around the corner at the currently peacefully eating guests who were completely oblivious to the scheming that was going on next to them.
"IF YOU INSIST, THEN WE CAN GO THROUGH WITH YOUR PLAN, MONO."
"Alright, just wait here until I give you the signal, Six, Seven, you're with me."
"What about the nomes?"
Six asked, holding her nome up to Mono.
"They stay with Jason for now, until the distraction is over."
"How are we even gonna distract them?"
Mono merely smiled as she asked her question, nodding his head.
"You'll see."
They crouched down and began to slowly walk over to the row of guests that were consuming an unhealthy amount of meat, Mono gesturing toward Six and Seven to split up and choose their own guest to hide behind, Seven sneaking over to the middle one while Six chose the one that was off to the left. Mono chose the one on the far right and stood on his tippy toes as he tried to get a clear view of what the guest he had chosen was currently chewing on.
"Please don't mess this up, Mono... come on..."
He waited for the guest to look away from his food, the time coming eventually when the giant looked up at the eye and got mesmerized in its bright ray of light as it shone directly on him. As the light shifted away from the guest, Mono immediately grabbed onto the ledge of the table, lifting himself up just enough so the plate came into view.
"Come on... come on... almost... got it!"
Grabbing the plate, he immediately dropped back down and hid, hoping the guest who was looking in the other direction hadn't seen him.
"Mono, what are you doing!?"
Six whisper-shouted at him, giving him a weird expression as he held up the plate he had stolen from the guest.
"Now watch..!"
Mono pointed up at the guests, waiting for his plan to hopefully work out as he wanted. For a moment, the guest didn't realize what had happened, looking over off to the side and getting lost in a portrait that was hung up on the wall, before turning back to engorge himself with more food.
"Wait for it..."
The guest looked around for the plate, grumbling in confusion. Eventually, the giant got impatient, reaching over and grabbing the guest's plate that was next to him, chewing on the stolen meat.
"Uh... well that works too I guess... Six, Seven, grab a plate..!"
Mono didn't expect the guest to steal, but it would suffice. Six and Seven both nodded, the girl in the yellow raincoat wanting to disagree but knowing there was no time to, jumping up and snatching the plate along with Seven, who fumbled the plate in his hands, almost dropping it onto the floor.
"WATCH OUT, SEVEN!"
Jason called out as a guest near Seven suddenly fell backward, the boy in blue moving out of the way just in time as the giant came crashing down near him. The guest next to the fallen one grinned, cracking the fist that he used to knock the giant down.
"Jason, get back into cover!"
The guard looked up and shielded his face as the bright light of the eye shone directly on him. He winced in pain as he ducked behind cover, his arm smoking a little from the ray of light that had been cast on him. A lot of mayhem began to fall upon the guest area as every giant fought one another, throwing punches, gouging out eyes, biting, and kicking. The eye sporadically moved around, unsure of which giant to target.
"Mono, move out of the way!"
Six ran over to him, grabbing onto his hand and pulling her toward him as two guests fell backward near him, throwing fists at one another as they crawled on the floor like animals.
"I think we got our distraction!"
Seven called out, gesturing toward the nomes and Jason to follow him.
"Yeah, let's beat it!"
Six yelled, the three turning toward the door and running toward it. Almost immediately, though, they were halted in their tracks, a guest crawling toward the front of the door and reaching up for the doorknob, trying to flee.
"Aw... COME ON!! So damn close!"
Mono groaned as the guest turned around, facing the three and letting out a loud yell as it charged for them.
"OTHER WAY, RUN THE OTHER WAY!!"
Mono yelled, turning around and tensing up once again, another guest appearing in front of him and crawling toward him, the giant's crazy eyes sending chills down his spine.
AGGHH!!!
Jason suddenly came up behind the guest and plunged his harpoon through the top of the giant's bald scalp, blood splurting up from the impalement region and getting onto the guard's coat.
"AHH!! HELP ME!!"
Seven let out a scream as the guest grabbed onto him, lifting him up into the air and opening his maw, preparing to make a snack out of the tiny child.
"SEVEN!!"
Six got out her lighter, prepared to set the giant who was about to devour Seven, but it wasn't needed as Jason placed a foot on the corpse of the guest he had killed, grabbing onto the harpoon and pulling it out of the body. Reeling it over his shoulder, he launched it at the guest.
"LET GO!! LET GO-"
Seven gasped as the giant let out a gurgle, the harpoon entering his open mouth.
"GOT IT."
"Eugh..! Nice throw, Jason!"
Mono gave a disgusted look at the now dead guest as he gave a thumbs up to the guard who ran over to the giant who was struggling to stay alive, gagging on the harpoon that was thrown into his agape jaw. Releasing his grip on Seven, the boy quickly ran away as Jason finished the guest off, pulling the bloody harpoon and lodging it into the giant's skull.
"Okay, I've seen enough! Let's get going!"
Six blocked the disgusting sight with her hand as Jason gave the three a nod. The nomes quickly scurried over to them, hiding under a chair as the guests continued to battle in the background. The mechanical eye was being distracted by all of the action, flickering back and forth between the fighting giants, trying to get the situation under control. This gave them more than enough time to get through the door.
"I'LL GET IT OPEN, TELL ME IF ANY GUESTS TRY TO ATTACK ME."
Jason unequipped his harpoon and ran over to the door, turning the knob and pushing. The door remained in place, however.
"DAMN. IT'S BEING BLOCKED BY SOMETHING ON THE OTHER SIDE."
Taking a few steps back, he grunted as he kicked the wooden door, dust kicking up into the air as he forcefully broke it open.
"COME ON, LET'S GO."
Jason moved out of the way, letting the three children and the nomes run by him as he got out his harpoon, bracing for impact as a guest rushed him. He was pinned against the wall, struggling against the giant who was clawing and biting at him. Six saw an opportunity and seized it, flicking on her lighter and running over to the giant.
"I GOT YOU, JASON!"
She lit the giant's clothing on first, sending it into a frenzy and giving Jason an opening. Getting the guest off of him, he plunged the harpoon into its back, not killing it, but stunning it for a long enough time.
"COME ON, LET'S GO!"
Mono called out to Six and Jason, who retrieved his harpoon and quickly ran over to the door, the guard slamming the door shut as soon as everyone had made their way through. They caught their breaths while the nomes acted rather strangely, straying off from the group and feeling along the walls for something. Seven looked over his shoulder and observed them for a moment before curiosity took the better of him.
WHOOSH!!
Turning into a nome, he walked over to them and tried to understand what they were doing.
"Huh? Where did Seven go..?"
Seven turned around and hopped up and down, waving his hands around at Mono who was wondering where he had gone.
"Oh, there he is. Wait, why is a nome..?"
Six questioned, walking over to them and watching the nomes run their tiny hands along the wooden walls.
"HE CAN TURN INTO A NOME?"
"Yeah, he can talk to the nomes too."
Mono added, crossing his arms and standing next to Six as they watched Seven follow the three nomes.
CREAK!!
They eventually hit something along the wall, the three pushing against it and unveiling something none of them would've expected.
"What the..? More nomes?!"
Six looked over Seven's shoulder as he transformed back into a human. He turned around and face her and Mono, an ecstatic expression covering his face.
"Guys, look at this! They found a way out! We're free!"
He bounced up and down, cheering as Mono and Six smiled, laughing as they watched him pick up a nome and hug it tightly.
"We lived! We made it out!!"
"REALLY?"
Jason crouched down, scaring the group of nomes that were standing near the hatch in the wall that led to the outside world, which appeared to be a sandy beach. A couple of nomes were working on a boat and paddles, trying to get them to work.
"I... I can't believe it..!"
Six's jaw dropped to the floor, not believing her eyes. This was the first time they had seen outside in what felt like forever.
"Let's go help them with the boat!"
"Wait..."
Mono held a hand up, telling Six and Seven to stop in their tracks as he swallowed, a bit of sadness building up inside of him as he prepared for what he was about to break to them.
"Yeah, Mono?"
Six looked at him, confused as to why they were waiting.
"WELL, NOW THAT YOU FOUND AN EXIT, I'M GOING TO GO BACK AND LOOK FOR ANYBODY THAT NEEDS HELP. GOOD LUCK MONO, SIX, SEVEN."
"Bye Jason!"
Seven waved at the guard with the gas mask as Six and Mono called out to him in unison as he opened the door, waving at the three one last time before leaving them by themselves.
"Bye!"
"GOODBYE!"
Closing the door behind him, Six and Seven now turned toward Mono and waited for him to say what he wanted to say before.
"So, what were you gonna say, Mono?"
She tilted her head with curiosity as Mono sighed.
"I'm not gonna go with you guys..."
"What..? Why?"
Seven frowned as Mono shook his head.
"I can't... not with that lady still roaming around."
"You mean... you still want to go after her?"
"Yes, Six. I have to. She could be a danger to many cities if I let her go."
Six clenched her teeth, facing downward as Seven tried desperately to convince Mono to drop it and go with him.
"Look, if you go after her alone that'll be a one-way trip! You'll die, Mono! You can't do it alone..!"
"I'll go with him."
Mono froze, looking at her and immediately shaking his head.
"Wha... Six, wait... you don't have to..."
"Mono, you said it yourself. She could be a danger to many cities, and if we don't stop her while we have the chance she could move onto even bigger populations."
"Guys... wait..."
Seven covered his face with his hands, his breathing growing uneasy as he began to grow emotional.
"I'm sorry, Seven, but... I want to go with Mono."
"It's... it's fine... I'd go with you guys too, but... I need to make sure these nomes get out safely."
Mono nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in as Seven heaved out a heavy but plaintive exhale.
"Alright, well... it was fun while it lasted, I guess..."
He choked back tears as Six put her arms around him, trying her best to comfort Seven as Mono walked over and hugged him as well.
"It's alright, Seven..."
"I'm... I'm gonna miss you guys..."
He put his arms around them, hugging them back. Breaking the group hug, Mono put a hand on Seven's shoulder.
"Get those nomes to a safe spot. There are like twenty of them, so... make sure they get to a big enough place."
"I will."
Seven took a step back, glancing over his shoulder at the nomes. Walking toward them, he stepped through the hatch and gave Mono and Six a final glance.
"Alright... best of luck..!"
"You too!"
He forced a smile on his face as Mono and Six waved goodbye to him, Seven turning around and walking toward the boat that the nomes were surrounded around.
"I hope he makes it to a safe spot..."
Mono sighed, hoping he was making the right decision by splitting up.
"He will."
Six gazed at Seven, watching him drag the boat that they were going to use to sail out toward the water before grabbing onto Mono's hand, the two walking in the other direction. She got out her lighter, holding it in front of her as they proceeded into the darkness.
Word Count: 3485
Welp... there are officially two chapters left in the book before it ends...
Don't know whether to feel relieved or saddened, to be honest.
Thanks for reading!
I hope you enjoyed it, and if you find any mistakes, let me know in the comments.
Have a good day!