[Danny]

this chapter was f*cking difficult to write, so you'd better appreciate it...

CHAPTER 57

“What’s the matter?”

Mildar was now shaking the device in his hands in desperation. “It doesn’t seem to be working! I can’t get a signal…”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” he snapped at Volt, “Just shut up and let me…” He paused, his face brightening. “Of course…”

“What? You got an idea?”

“Why didn’t I think of this before, it’s so obvious…”

“Tell me your plan!” Volt tugged on Midar’s ankle, to no avail.

“Just shut up and close your eyes…”

Outside, the crowd were getting restless. The murmuring of before had begun again, and risen above and beyond its previous volume, as Rettick stood before Mebek’s hut, praying that the creature would appear through the surrounding trees at any moment. He saw Mebek trying to ask a question over the noise of the crowd, but was unable to hear him, and so just shrugged, and turned to the crowd, clearing his throat.

Behind him, Mebek’s house exploded, the roof bursting upwards, showering Rett with debris as he fell to the floor. Rolling, he saw a huge figure, nearly three times his own height, standing waist-deep in the remains of Mebek’s hut. It had four scrablike legs, and two arms which ended in palps similar to those of a paramite. Its skin was scrab-red, and in its scrablike mouth, there gleamed a sharp set of teeth.

It was, without a doubt, the scariest thing that Rettick had ever seen…

Mebek regained his voice before Rett. In fact, he regained his voice before Rett had even managed to stand up. “The Shrukull!”

How the **** did that get into that hut? he thought to himself, Unless… Mildar. Of course, it’s Mildar… He saw Volt dragging himself out of the shattered hut, and realised that he was still lying on the ground. Pulling himself up, he staggered over to Volt, and lifted him up to head height.

Only then did they realise that their ears were being assaulted by a roaring. Turning around, Rett widened his eyes at the sight laid out before him.

The crowd were simply cheering. Except it was cheering unlike anything he’d ever seen, not even on the TV. In the patches of light, he could see them leaping into the air, dancing around, and expressing their joy in every way imaginable. Even when a couple of them fell over the barrier that ran around the platform they were standing on, it did practically nothing to suppress their excitement… Only awe kept them from climbing up onto the platform on which Rett, Mebek, Volt, and ‘The Shrukull’ were standing…