Beast Soul

"What do we do now, Gerald?" Harold asked, glancing at Alphonso for a second before shifting his focus back to Gerald. "Alphonso can't move. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that he needs medical treatment."

"What to do indeed," Gerald placed his hand under his chin and thought to himself. The sewer openings were now not accessible, and the only remaining way out is…

"That." Gerald said as he pointed at the collapsed roof, and everyone's attention turned to there. 

"Well, isn't that great.." Harold said in a sarcastic tone, but he also felt frustrated because he couldn't think of any other method to escape.

The collapsed roof, although still covered in boulders, provided a small opening to the outside world. 

"Isn't it too high for any of us to reach?" Harold asked, concern evident in his voice. 

"You're right, it is.." Gerald nodded his head and he pointed at the centre of the circular space, where the pile of sand was originally present. In its place now laid a giant boulder that seemed to have been a part of the roof. "But not if we get to that rock right in the middle."

Both Max and Harold squinted their eyes, trying to get a good look at the boulder, and like Gerald said, the boulder was indeed really tall in size. So much tall that perhaps a person could grab onto the broken roof if he jumped from the top of the boulder.

"Maybe it could work, but …" Harold stopped speaking and turned to look at Alphonso, who was lying on the ground with his back leaning towards the wall. The others did the same as well.

They knew. Alphonso was too injured to even stand up properly. He wouldn't be able to jump.

"You don't have to look at me like that you as*holes.." Alphonso said while he was gasping for air. "I'm not dead yet …" He said with a smile.

Gerald bit his lips. He knew that Alphonso was just trying to calm down everyone. He could see that Alphonso's face was pale, and even though he tried to hide it, he could tell that his hands were shaking.

GRRRRA!

The spider monster growled as it darted towards Noah, who was leaping backwards with such incredible speed that the creature was having trouble keeping up with him.

All of a sudden, the creature opened its mouth in the middle of moving, shooting the glue-like substance once again, except this time, in a string-like structure, similar to that of a spider web string.

Splat!

The spider web got attached to Noah's chest, and before he could use his flame breath to destroy it, the spider creature instantly pulled him to its side and swung its leg right at him.

BAM!

Noah got knocked back a few steps because of the attack, and before he could get back up, the spider creature had already gotten near him and issued another strike, this time using a headbutt, which send Noah flying upwards and slamming against the broken roof, causing a few boulders to fall down onto him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The countless boulders began falling on top of Noah, which just made it even harder for him to get back on his feet.

"Ugh!" An aggravated Noah screamed loudly before he raised his head and in an instant, shot out flames from his mouth, causing a loud explosion right above him as the boulders were completely destroyed. 

Whoosh!

He headed towards the spider creature once again, and the spider creature responded by shooting out its spider web at the broken roof and using it to swing away while still facing the fast approaching Noah.

Tfoo! Tfoo! Tfoo! 

The spider creature continued shooting the glue-like substance all over Noah, but he kept on dodging it and continued reducing the distance between them.

WHAM!

The spider creature, now irritated by Noah's constant dodging, cut the web that it was using to swing in an instant and rushed towards Noah, swinging its sharp legs right at his chest.

Zoom!

Noah could see the sharp leg approaching him. His eyes sparkled as though he was waiting for the attack. His eyes followed the movement of the creature's long leg, and right before it could collide with Noah's chest, he bent his upper body backwards, causing the creature's leg to miss its target by a hair's breadth!

"Bingo!" Although his voice was completely different right now, Noah spoke with an excited expression on his face. For a second, it looked like his eyes were beginning to return to normal, but right then, they returned to how they were a few seconds ago; completely black.

"GRA!" The spider creature seemed confused. It looked like it was confident about landing that hit, and yet its prey was still alive, which seemed to have made it confusing for the creature. 

Noah, of course, saw the distracted creature as a chance for him to attack, and so he burst forward, immediately arriving in front of the spider creature within a split second and grabbing hold of its head.

BAM!

Noah pulled down the spider creature's face before it could do anything and rammed it's head right onto his knee with a tremendous amount of force, causing the creature to be flung back onto the wall with such incredible speed that it resulted in a crack on the wall.

"Weak… prey… not good… enough.." The transformed Noah, although speaking with some difficulty, was capable of completing the sentence. 

Tap! Tap! Tap!

He began walking towards the spider creature which had now fallen down onto the ground. 

"What happened?" Harold, who was looking at ways to help Alphonso reach the top, turned to look at the fight between the two creatures, curious as to what the result was. "Is it finally over?"

The rest of the group turned their heads as well, and saw the spider creature on the ground, groaning as it tried getting up.

"GRRRRRAR!" Right when they all thought that the spider creature had given up, the creature growled loudly, which forced the group of boys to cover their ears in response.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The sound of flesh being ripped apart was heard, and it came from the direction of the spider creature. The group of boys watched in horror as the spider creature's face opened up like flower petals, revealing the wide and fleshy interior of the creature's mouth and the long tract which was lined with multiple rows of sharp teeth.

"Oh dear god… That is terrifying!" Gerald exclaimed in horror, and Harold could only nod his head in response. Even Alphonso, who was in pain, was terrified by the creature's hideous face.

 Max on the other hand, had his gaze fixated on the corpse which was still lying under the boulders. It was moving its mouth, as though it was trying to say something. But there was no sound coming out of its mouth.

SHWAAAA!

The spider creature tilted its head upwards and from its now opened hideous mouth burst out a green coloured gas, which filled the atmosphere inside the circular space within seconds.

"GRRRR.. Wh- What…" Noah, who seemed to be perfectly fine up until a few seconds ago, was forced to kneel down on the ground as soon as he came into contact with the gas, and his eyes slowly began returning to normal.

"God- God Dammit!!" Noah, who seemed to be frustrated, screamed as loud as he could and immediately rushed towards the spider creature.

SHUAAAA!

The green gas spread towards the group of boys, and before they could realize what was going on, they began to feel lightheaded all of a sudden.

"Sh- Sh*t… what the hell is.." Harold said while squinting his eyes and massaging his forehead. He was sweating and looked extremely tired.

"It's the gas!" Gerald, who had quickly figured out the problem, yelled out loudly as he covered his mouth with a handkerchief. 

"Sh*t!" Harold immediately took out his handkerchief, and although Alphonso was far weaker than the rest, he too took out his handkerchief and placed it over his mouth.

'What the hell do we do now?' Gerald had a grim expression on his face as he thought to himself. After all, they can't just hold their breaths forever. It was simply not plausible.

"Wait! Where the hell is Max going?" Harold yelled out all of a sudden before he realized his mistake and immediately covered his mouth once again. His loud voice got Gerald and Alphonso's attention, and they turned around only to see Max heading towards the corpse. 

'Shit! He's not covering his mouth!' Gerald said to himself as he dashed towards Max.

Max, who seemed to be near losing consciousness, stumbled in front of the corpse as Gerald arrived right next to him and pulled him by his shoulders.

'What the hell are you doing Max!' Is what Gerald wanted to say. But Max simply didn't say anything and held the corpse's cold hand.

Screeeee!

The vine monsters, which were lying still until now, opened their mouths and began to snarl loudly, which made Gerald flinch and move back.

The vine monsters, however, didn't attack them, and instead, they slowly opened their mouths, and spat out multiple green eggs which were covered with spikes.