Lily started to stand up but a voice interrupted her. "I wouldn't move a single bit, Lily!" A dwarf stood on the top of the hill, smiling. "There are sensors on the bomb to detect air movements." "What about her?" Lily asked, pointing to Stacy. "Oh, don't worry!" the dwarf smiled. "I've set the grenade to target you and only you. Nobody else will be affected."
2:27.
2:26.
Lily tried to act calm. "Why haven't you detonated the bomb now, huh?" she called. "Too scared?" The dwarf scowled. "How ... how dare you!" he sputtered. "Nobody speaks to me like that!"
1:59.
1:58.
Lily kept talking. "So you think you've won the war? You're wrong. The elves have countless weapons in stock for you." The dwarf snorted. "Untrue!" he yelled. "Yes, true!" Lily yelled back. "You have a good imagination, human," the dwarf seethed. "But we have already won."
1:00.
0:59.
Talking wasn't going to do any good. Unless Lily could trick the dwarf ...
"Look! A giant booger!" she screamed.
Apparently, the dwarf knew what a giant booger was because he whipped around in terror. When he saw nothing, he laughed. "A good try," he admitted, "but if you think you're going to escape, forget it. For I am Alban the dwarf, and no one has ever escaped my wrath."
0:17.
0:16.
Lily had to do something fast, or the bomb would explode. She did have some advantages, though. She was quicker and taller than the dwarf, and she was completely out of her mind. "Alban, you're scared of giant boogers, and you think you still can catch me?" she laughed. Lily dropped to the ground and rolled to the big lake. BOOM! The grenade exploded in a shockwave of barbed wire, but the force of the shockwave hit Lily's back, ten feet away. Instead of being destroyed, the powerful blast only gave more momentum to Lily's roll. Her jacket, which already had holes in it from the barbed wire, ripped on a sharp rock as she passed it. As she dropped to the water, Lily could hear Alban howling in rage as an elf attacked him from behind.
She swam as fast as she could, not daring to look back as the strong current sped her on her way. Bong! The sound was like a muffled explosion as Lily banged her shoulder against a metal wall. She looked and saw a circular door made of glass set in the metal. A tunnel stretched behind it. Lily yanked at the handle. The door didn't budge. She began to panic. Her air was running out and returning to the surface was risking capture. Lily pulled her legs all the way back, slamming them into the door. Nothing happened. She tried again. A spider web of cracks appeared on the door. She kicked at the door a third time, and the glass shattered. A new current quickly sucked Lily through the new opening, the broken glass scratching at her arms.
Lily bumped against the tunnel wall as she was roughly pushed forward by the current. Her strength was mostly spent from swimming around and kicking the door. Even worse, her lungs were crying out for air. Lily had to resist the urge to open her mouth for oxygen that wouldn't be there.
The water spat her out into another deep pool of water. Not more water, Lily thought. If she ever got through this, she wasn't going to the beach for a long time. Above her sunlight rippled through the dim blue-gray liquid. She used the last of her strength to kick upwards.
Lily gasped for air as her head emerged from the surface of the water. Pulling herself onto shore, Lily filled her lungs with unbelievable amounts of air. After five minutes of gasping and wheezing, she managed to stand up. Her sodden clothes dripped with water. Lily stumbled to the nearest rock and sat on it. As she tried to shake the water out of her hair Lily wondered where her friends were.
***
Stacy woke up sprawled on the grass. Groaning, she flopped over in different directions, trying to locate Lily. She was sure that she was standing next to her only a few seconds ago. As Stacy climbed to her feet she saw a burst grenade shell on the ground with several particles of sleep powder inside. "I knew it!" she said. But why was there a second grenade shell next to it? Stacy crouched down to take a closer look. She squinted at the weapon code. 4798173E, the label read. It was an explosive bomb. The empty shells rolled around as wind ruffled Stacy's hair. Something smacked into her face. Her fingers closed around a piece of cloth. "What the-" Stacy recognized the jagged fabric from Lily's black jacket. Lily was most definitely in trouble. Clutching the cloth, Stacy jogged back to the elf city.
The main city waspacked with elf soldiers and dwarves, creating an action-packed scene ofviolence. "Go away, you fat little fiends!"Jake yelled as he kicked a dwarf in his little butt. Another dwarf clung to hisback like a baby, screaming as he was shaken around vigorously. Stuffing thecloth in her pocket, Stacy joined the fight.