Beast Soul

"F*ck my life!" Alphonso's loud scream echoed throughout the sewers as he dashed towards the pile of sand, running right behind Gerald and Harold.

Screeee!

The vine monsters screeched at the three boys who were rushing forward in their direction, but didn't attack them.

Whoosh!

Within seconds, the three boys had leapt over the large pile of sand that contained the partially covered human body, landing right next to Max.

BAM!

"Ouch!" Harold yelled out loudly as he raised his head from the ground, rubbing his back as he crouched down next to Max. "That hurt like hell! Why on earth did I jump with such power?"

"Probably shouldn't have done that!" Max replied in a hushed tone. 

"Probably not…" Harold nodded as he turned his gaze towards the other two, Gerald and Alphonso. Gerald had closed his eyes and was breathing in and out, while Alphonso was lying on the ground, gasping for air. 

"This is not how I imagined how my day was going to be…" Alphonso whispered under his breath, before coughing continuously.

"Yeah, you and me both…" Harold replied, and then he turned his head towards the sewer opening which was now blocked by countless boulders and the giant spider creature, which was lying right in front of the pathway.

The rest of the group peeked their heads over the large pile of sand, their gazes fixated on the spider creature which was lying still on the ground.

"Is it dead?" Alphonso whispered under his breath. He then turned to look at Gerald. "Do you think that thing is dead?" He repeated the question.

"I-I don't know, Alphonso.." Gerald replied, stuttering as he spoke, his gaze still stuck on the unmoving creature. He seemed afraid, as though the creature might suddenly come towards them as soon as he shifts his gaze. "I don't know if you know this, but I'm not an expert when it comes to monsters from hell.." He said while letting out a long sigh. "... Or wherever the f*ck that thing is from.."

"But maybe he does," Harold said, as he pointed his finger at Max, who was leaning backwards onto the large pile of sand, thinking to himself. "Don't you, Max?" Harold said as he let out a snort. Max glanced at him for a split second with an indifferent expression on his face, but didn't reply. This only angered Harold even more. "What's the matter? I thought you could hear the thoughts of the f*cking vine monster. What happened to that ability?"

"Harold…" Alphonso shook his head, but he didn't know how to continue or what to say. "What are you looking at me for?" Harold said as he turned to Alphonso. He was clearly enraged. "It's his fault that we're stuck in this f*cking place!"

"Harold, just stop." Gerald said. He didn't even turn his head, but Harold couldn't help but shut his mouth. His tone was sharp. Harold could tell that Gerald was angry. They all knew that he was angry. After all, they've been friends for a long time. They could tell easily, even if he didn't show it externally.

"Whatever happened happened." Gerald said, as he squinted both his eyes. He was trying to make sure that the spider creature wasn't faking being knocked out. "It's over. There's nothing we can do to change the past." Finally convinced that the creature might really have fainted, he turned his gaze towards Harold, who still had an unsatisfied expression on his face. "Fighting with each other is not going to solve anything." Gerald said with an indifferent expression. Or at least, he was attempting to portray an indifferent expression. But nevertheless, the frustration was slightly visible on his face. "You know this already, right Harold?"

".... Hah.." Harold tilted his head upwards, closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "You're right. I'm sorry." Harold glanced at Max for a split second right after he spoke, but didn't say anything to him. "I shouldn't have gotten heated. I let the frustration get to me. It was my fault."

"It's alright, man.." Alphonso nodded his head. Gerald nodded as well, and then turned his gaze towards Max, who although seemed reluctant, opened his mouth to speak. 

".... I'm sorry too." He said while breathing out. "When I heard the voices, I- I don't know what came over me." Max had his gaze fixed on the ground, as though he couldn't look them in the eye. "I didn't think about you guy's safety. I should've been careful." 

Gerald, Alphonso and Harold nodded their heads. "Good, now that that's settled.." Gerald said as he clapped. "Let's try to figure out how to get out of this damn hellhole."

"Well, it looks like the way we came isn't a viable option for use anymore." Harold said as he pointed his finger towards the sewer opening that was now covered with boulders. 

"We might have to use the rest of the pipes to escape." Alphonso said. He motioned at the other large pipe openings. 

"Well, we could. But the issue is…" Gerald bit his lips as he muttered. The remaining openings were right next to the spot where the spider creature was lying. "I don't know if we can trust the f*cking spider to not attack us."

"What do we do about these vines, though?" Harold said as he pointed at the vine monsters that were snarling and drooling all over the ground, moving around in the air right above the group, which was making them feel uneasy.

"It doesn't seem like they're trying to hurt us," Gerald said while tilting his head up. "Although I can't say for sure why.."

"Maybe Max might know something about it," Harold said, and his gaze shifted towards Max as he continued, "After all, he's the one who was supposedly hearing voices."

Gerald turned to look at Max, who returned the gaze. "What do you think, Max?" He asked. "Do you have any ideas?"

Max was about to open his mouth when all of a sudden..

GRRRRRAR!

The spider creature's hand swung up from underneath the boulders, sending them flying into the air and towards the pile of sand where the group was hiding.

"Look out!" Gerald yelled out loud and pushed away Alphonso, while both Max and Harold immediately leapt from their spots and rushed to find cover.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Countless boulders began to drop down onto the ground and onto the pile of sand containing the human body, and the vine monsters growled loudly while showing their sharp teeth, as though they were angry at what was happening.

GRRRRRAR!

The spider creature roared loudly as it stared at the vine monsters with anger in its eyes. 

"Oh, you have got to be f*cking kidding me!" Harold, who got up from the ground and looked at his surroundings, couldn't help but curse at their terribly unfortunate luck. "The f*cking monster is back up!"

"Oh for f*ck's sake!" Alphonso said as he rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, clearly irritated.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The boulders began pouring down like raindrops onto the vine monsters and the human body beneath them, piercing through its flesh and causing it to bleed.

SCREEEEE!

All of a sudden, the head of the human body, which hadn't moved an inch all this time, burst open its eyes in an instant and let out an ear piercing scream, which caught the boys completely off guard!

"Ahhhhh! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!" Alphonso, who was standing right next to the body, was the one who was affected the most. The loud scream and the movement of its head send him flying back and causing him to land on his a** right on the ground.

SCREEEEE!

The boys watched in horror as the human body, which they had previously thought was dead, rose up from the pile of sand like a zombie rising up from the grave.

"What the actual f*ck?" Harold mumbled under his breath. 

Twitch! Twitch!

The corpse's eyes began to twitch rapidly, which caused the boys to take a step back on instinct. Well, all except Max. Max stood right there, without moving a single muscle, his eyes fixed on the corpse. 

"What are you doing, Max?" Gerald called out to Max, who seemed to be stuck in some sort of trance, similar to how he was right after they heard the noises. "Get the hell away from it!" He screamed.

But Max didn't seem to care. All of a sudden, the corpse turned its head in a robotic manner, its enlarged bloody eyes staring at Max's face. 

Zeeeeee!

The corpse opened its mouth, and a weird noise that almost sounded like static began to emit, which made the boys feel uncomfortable.

"It's- It's trying to speak to me…" Max whispered under his breath. "What?" Gerald turned to Max and asked, confused at his words, and Max slowly nodded his head. "Yea- Yeah, it is…" A smile appeared on his face as he spoke. "It- It said…"

GRRRRRAAA!

His words were interrupted by the loud roar of the spider creature which charged forward at them, arriving in front of the corpse in an instant and swinging its giant arm with a tremendous amount of force.

"Look out!" Gerald screamed as he immediately rushed towards Max and pushed him down, both of them ducking for cover.