White tendrils breached the soil, so thin they were nearly invisible to the naked eye. If she hadn’t walked under a sunray, none would have noticed them crawling up her back to dip between the space of our visor and exoskin.
“What the fuck?” The hair on the back of my neck stood. I looked down, discovering tendrils slithering over my ankles. “Check your feet!”
The tendrils were too thin to see where they might have taken root. Flicking on the flamethrower, I pointed and let loose. The tendrils fell into a withering mass of ashes. The others did the same. Roys took the chance of sleuthing closer to Arana, all the while checking on the bulb. His hand brushed her arm. Hundreds of tendrils lunged. He stumbled away, flamethrower up, and the tendrils retracted.
Were they sentient enough to realize what our fire did?
“I vote we list this place as uninhabitable and get out of here,” Lilea shouted from where she continued to burn the surrounding ground. Her limbs were half retracted into her shell.
I agreed and kept the flames burning, checking behind me. The tendrils came from there, too, but they stopped at about ten feet. Once I got past them, I’d be home free.
The tendrils feared the flames, but when Roys blasted them, they split into many. He couldn’t get closer, and Arana moved toward that damned bulb. The one thing all the tendrils connected to, so maybe I didn’t have to risk running.
I dropped my flamethrower and went for my blaster.
“Don’t shoot, Ethin. That’s an order!” Roys shouted. “We know these flora have a variety of defense mechanisms. We do not know what is in that bulb. If it blooms, we could be in even bigger trouble. Just wait a moment!”
I wasn’t dying. Not for her. Not for anyone.
I raised my blaster and fired. The tendrils dropped, but the bulb flashed an indignant red. The shots burned partway through the gelatinous substance. The holes oozed before the bulb unfurled and the liquid spewed out.
Roys cleared the space between him and Arana in a second. He grabbed her waist and pivoted. The liquid fell to the forest floor, burning all it touched. Roys screamed, face contorted in pain. Smoke rose from his back, but he stumbled away with his arms tight around Arana. The tendrils on her broke.
“What the fuck!?” Arana bellowed.
The bulb rose from the soil. Beneath the flora came a contorted, strange, irritated creature constructed of translucent tendrils thicker than my waist. The flora wiggled about, its petals drooping and body coated in acidic liquid. The thinner tendrils breached the soil in waves, each reaching for us.
Iylene yanked Zavir back, who had been too stunned to move. Ryker and Lilea joined them, their flamethrowers drawn and burning away. The creature didn’t make a sound, but its wild body swayed from side to side, cracking apart stalks and crushing the soil.
Holstering my blaster, I turned to run and was met by thrashing tendrils. I went for the flamethrower when a tendril caught my ankle. Yanked to the ground, they dragged me toward the flora. With all its movement, the soil softened to simulate thick sludge. Its root system became the very earth beneath us, and we unsettled it. My fingers ripped through the muck, never finding purchase.
“Ethin!” Roys bellowed, foolishly pushing forward with the flames.
The tendrils melded together to form a giant one and slammed toward our group. They were forced to disperse. I looked back to find the roots rising further from a great, deep hole. A heavyweight fell across me. My groan mixed with Roys’, whose hands snagged me under my arms. He dug his heels into the muck even as blood poured over his arms.
What a selfless idiot.
“His leg!” Roys yelled in a hoarse tone.
Arana stumbled through the muck, waving her flamethrower about. The tendrils tried snagging her. She couldn’t get closer, not with the tendrils grabbing us. They crawled over my visor and squeezed through somehow. I felt it, a calling, like a song.
Just let go, and everything would be alright. Let go. Let go. Let go…
Then a loud zap, one after the other, brought me back. Arana had whipped out a blaster and fired. She hit a few tendrils, and I pulled free, unintentionally tugging Roys with me. The blossomed petals brightened that angry red, then rose higher. I gawked under the shadow of the towering flora, vines whipping out to slice stalks and cut soil. Beneath it, a hole led further into the earth, where the heart of the beast slept until we came along.
“Run!” Roys ordered.
Flames and blasters were useless. Nothing stopped the flora from its rampage. Roys and I lumbered out of the flora’s shadow only for theplant to move. The weight atop the soft soil had the ground shuddering. Our feet sank, and Roys got dragged in up to his knees. His arms fell from my waist.
I moved forward without looking back. The flora rose, smashing into the canopy. An entire root system breached the earth and, at its center, was a beating heart strangled by vines. It tore a hole in the earth, and the soil dragged us in. My feet lost any purchase they had, and I rolled back into Roys’ arms. He and I shared a fearful look, realization settling over us before he tugged me into his arms to tuck my head under his chin like the self-righteous dumbass he was.
We were dragged into the shadowy depths.
04
Iwasn’tunaccustomedtowaking up in a man’s arms, but I never thought that man would be my annoying captain. I wouldn’t have known who held me if not for my cracked visor blinking that illuminated Roys’ pallid face. That face contorted in pain when I moved.
Roys opened his eyes and heaved a great breath. “Are you alright? Injuries?”
