PERILOUS JOURNEY
The journey to Boontown (cont.)
Stranger ventured deeper in to the heart of the Sleg Swamps, where the air became more humid and bog-like, and the water became spontanious, in dark patches under marsh-like grasses. The smell of rotting vegetations wrought through the trees, the dark waters brewing the primordial soup.
Fleshy vines dug through the marsh grasses, and in to the murky waters.
Stranger hung around hooked derooted tree roots, minding the vines holding out as a trap for him.
Crickets chirrped in the artificial darkness, and various creatures croaked witht the chants.
Umi, becoming paranoid of the swamp, darted her head around to louder croaks and branches snapping.
She moved uncomfortably in Stranger's arm, as her headache became more powerful.
A whoop of an unknown creature scratched against the grain of the chirrps.
She grunted in discomfort.
"Ain't nothin' out there, Umi. Just some bugs," Stranger whispered, and continued forward, holding his arm with his bow out down.
But Umi didnt' care to what Stranger had said.
Something was definitely out there, stalking them slowly...
The trees created a thicker canvas roof of the swamp, creating a darker atmosphere outside the trees.
They kept walking, no matter how dark or ominous the swamp presented.
Just as Umi rested her head on his arm, relaxing her eyes, the red flash came by her again, but not as painful as she presumed.
Her eyes popped open, keeping completely still, and staring out to the darkness behind the trees.
And beyond there, she stared in disbelief.
The same pair of eyes she saw was glaring, its hellish-red eyes piercing her vision.
Umi stopped her breathing, fear contorting her courage.
Just as she blinked, the eyes disappeared, but with a sound of rustling leaves and grasses following far beside them.
"Stranger..." she said in quiet distress, tugging at his shoulder in panic.
Stranger stopped, an irritated sigh coming from him.
"What is it now?" he asked impatiently.
She was scrambling from his arm, and her back rubbing against his shoulder, her eyes glued on the area where the eyes were placed.
"Something's out there..." she said.
Stranger looked out to where Umi was faced, nothing but darkness veiling his vision.
He rolled his eyes at Umi's paranoia.
"Umi," he sighed, looking to her.
"There's nothing out there. Would ya calm dow-"
A growing shriek pierced through the shadows, echoing eerily in to a low roar at the end.
Stranger flinched at the abrupt shriek, holding his bow down in defense.
"Ok, Umi," he said, nodding.
"You's got my attention,"
He pulled his arm up with his bow, continuing forth deeper in to the swamps, darting at his every side.
Wow, now I'm becoming paranoid he thought.
He glared at every dark corner of the trees, hearing a brief rustle here and there.
The canvas above shook violently.
Stranger spun around, his arm growing tighter around Umi.
The rustling disappeared, only leaves softly gliding down.
Stranger growled uncomfortably.
Whatever stalked them was cheeky.
And whatever followed them thumped on the ground behind them.
A heavy thud on the soft mud rumbled gently under his feet. A splash of water from a footstep made stranger spun around immediately.
His arm fell limp to the creature overtowering him.
An enormous claw was perched right in front of him. As he looked up, the creature's appearance became clear.
Its face could only describe how much fear pulsed through Umi's mind, the exact same glare that fixed through her conscious.
Its face was long, dinosaur-like, and a beak or a claw dropping down from its nose. It had two large mandibles beside its mouth hanging wide open, drool stringing down its teeth and gums.
Its neck stretched long down to its body, two arms with opposite sickle-like claws arching down from its fingers.
From its ribs, it had six pairs of legs; two in the front, two in the middle, and two holstering its backside, with its tail whipping furiously and spines retracting on the spine of its tail.
It glared at the intrusion, heinous glowering eyes piercing deeply in to Stranger and Umi.
Both of them were frozen solid of fear, his legs shaking, and refusing from running.
This thing was 10 times larger than Stranger, and a 100 times larger than Umi.
Its fixed glare moved upon the human, immediately recognizing it, as its eyes narrowed.
Umi felt her mind freeze.
The creature snorted, fixing its neck straight to full length, flaring its nostrils.
"Don't move..." Umi told near his ear.
The creature let out a shrill roar, ending with a loud screech.
Both Umi's and Stranger's hearts stopped.
Its head cocked back, then lowered down to the human, sniffing her out with large gusts, keeping its eyes locked on her.
It snorted away, shaking its head, and clicked its mandibles, glaring at both of them.
Stranger's ears went down.
"What's it doin'?" he asked.
Umi looked down to its legs, it tapping its hind leg in the dirt, and slashing back.
That stance was familiar.
Almost like a bull...
Her eyes then widened.
"It's going to attack..." she said almost in a frightened whisper.
Its jaws clicked once more, then screeched a battlecry once more, its head sticking straight up.
"RUN!" Umi screamed.
Stranger popped Umi in his arm, and began to run opposite of where they came from.
The creature stampeded after them, its six legs rowing in a motion of a centapede, clapping its claws together.
She noticed Stranger's lack of speed, and watching the creature catch up so quickly.
"You can't do anything with me in yer arms!" Umi shouted over the loud crack of tree branches.
"I ain't lettin' yer on yer own! That thing'll rip yeh to shreds!" Stranger roared.
"Well, I'm not gonna get us killed! It's either me, or both of us!" Umi glared at him.
Stranger looked ahead, biting his lip hardly. He looked back to Umi, her eyes stern and seldom.
He let out an inaudible sigh.
"When we lose this thing, I'll let yer down," Stranger finally said.
"but I'm-a regret it if it get's you,"
Her eyes softened at his decision, glancing back at the crreature still coming after them. Then she looked back ahead, only a vast, watery land stretching before them.
The only way to lose them was to dart in to the trees.
And that's exactly what Stranger thought, as he leaped to the trees, and went deeper.
The monstroucity was too large to fit through, but it could rip the trees out within a matter of seconds.
Stranger ran further, until he felt it was safe for the moment.
He gently let down Umi, his eyes growing concernly.
"i want yer to be careful, Umi. This may be the most stupidest thing I've done for you," he told firmly.
Umi gently smiled.
"'ey. Don't worry 'bout me. We've all done stupid things in the past,"
"How can I not worry 'bout you, ya lil' varmin?" he chuckled.
The Shredder, as he would call it now, roared far in the background, a trace of annoyance squawking loudly.
They could hear the thunderous cracks of tree trunks snapping down with force.
It was coming closer.
Stranger snapped back to Umi.
"Go!" he shooed her, unlocking his bow.
Umi nodded, and ran towards the Shredder's path.
His eyes blinked in bewilderment.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Stranger bellowed.
Umi didn't look back, as she saw the eyes of the Shredder cut through the darkness.
It slashed its sickle-like claw across the trees in front of it, breaching even further.
Umi stopped before it, a defiant grin glaring up at it.
"Alright, ya brute," she growled.
The Shredder stared upon the human in front of it.
"You've tampered with my head,"
She reached for her weapons on her belt.
"But you ain't gonna hurt Stranger!"
She began to run towards its leg.
The Shredder brought down upon its leg to stop the human climbing up, but only confused itself with its pain.
The Shredder roared, wincing in pain.
Umi had finished clawing up its leg, and began to the back of its neck, when the Shredder's head spun to her, and cranked down to her level, glaring angrily.
Her mind froze, the hellish red piercing deep in to her eyes.
A faint echo of a deep voice flooded her mind.
"Don't even think to defy me, human," the voice told angrily.
Who are you? Umi spoke back thorugh her mind.
"I am the defender of this Swamp, and I will eliminate anything who dares to intrude," it snorted.
We just want to get passed to the Chixapox fields she pleaded.
It gave an intimidating chuckle, its eyes narrowing to her.
"That's what they all say..." it said.
A sharp pain simulated in her mind again, temporarily disabling her of moving.
The Shredder wrapped its tail around the human tightly, and brought her up to its leveled head.
It screeched victoriously in the air, now feeling a second presense below it.
It brought its head down, staring at the bounty hunter, a hateful glare bestowing upon it.
"Let...'er...go...now," he growled, muscles tensioning.
The Shredder snorted a laugh at his defiance.
His hair frazzled on his neck.
"I said NOW!" he roared, picking his arm up to the Shredder, the bow open with Boom-bat Seekers placed on each launcher.
It clicked its mandibles, its eyes daring him.
"I'm-a count ter three, and if yer don't let 'er down...I'm-a kill yeh," he bared his teeth.
the Shredder placed a foot forward.
"One..."
The Shredder snorted again, placing another foot forward.
"Two..."
His bow locked down with the 'bats fluttering their wings hyperly.
Just as he did that, tentacle-like vines sprouted from its spines surrounding Umi's head, and dug in to her throat.
She grunted loudly, feeling a sharp pain cut through her neck, and dig for her voice box. She choked from the tickling feeling, as the tentacles tapped on to her voice box.
Her eyes shot blank, falling limp.
Her head was brought back up forcefully, her eyes glowing a deep blood-red, and an intimidating smile growing.
"If you think to risk your friend's life, I suggest not to shoot," her voice sounded mixed with the deep voice he had heard when he had his nightmare.
Stranger felt defeat come over him.
"What the hell did you do to her!?" Stranger bellowed.
"Have you not noticed, I've taken over her body. She's mine to control now,"
His hand crumpled in a tight fist, his claws digging in to his hand, almost to the point of bleeding.
"Damn it! She ain't a dummy, you bastard!" he roared.
"Well, now she is..." it let out an ominous chuckle.
"Now, if you want to see your friend alive, don't even think of following me,"
It turned around, holding its tail up with the demented taken-over human close to its face.
"'ey! We ain't done yet! I said turn yerself around! YOU HEAR ME!?"
The Shredder snapped back around, its eye squinting down.
"Oh. That's right..." it moved back around so that its tail was behind it.
Stranger waited, so the moment would sink in, watching deviously at the Shredder.
Just then, his arm snapped up, and shot nearly a full clip of Super Stingbees to its face.
The Shredder let out a loud chuckle, bringing its tail in front of its face.
The Stingbees trekked up its tail, striking upon Umi's face, her without cringing.
"NO!" Stranger cried, his arm lowering down to his side.
His muscles flared angrily.
"You odd-damn coward!"
Bleeding holes gushed out of her face. She began to flinch, as the stingers exhausted out of her face.
Her eyes now glowed a lighter shade of red.
"Like I said..." it spoke through her.
"Follow me...and she dies,"
Just as it finished, it whipped its tail, then swung it across Stranger's body.
His stomach caved in painfully, the air exhausting out of his mouth. His spine crashed in to a tree behind him.
He let out a pained grunt, then his head fell limp, staying in the position where he fell unconscious.
The Shredder scoffed, turning away from the limp Steef, trampling noisily through the swamp.
The only thing at stake was Umi's.
Revenge was about to be plotted, and death would fill the air.
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