Chapter 62:
Who You Gonna Call? Darcy, I Guess!
You know what I did next, don't you? If run and scream was your answer you are... wrong, actually! I held my position and went into my menu, equipping the fishbowl at the last possible second. It blossomed around my head, right as the ghost's teeth chomped down on it.
A new scream, this time belonging to the ghost as it flew around, its mouth open in pain, showing that some of its teeth had actually shattered against the fishbowl.
Fuck, yeah!
Okay, THAT'S when I ran. I left the ghost screaming in my dust and followed the rest of the people who appeared to have collectively figured out the only hope of getting away was the stairs. Up ahead, the ones leading the pack had already made it there. They darted up the stairs like a demon from hell was after them—which wasn't too far from the truth.
But I knew it wouldn't last. About four people made it up the stairs before they receded, becoming a slide. The four people slid back down knocking over some more, becoming a flailing mass of limbs. I jumped out of the way, watching as the unsuspecting ball of bodies slid down into the slightly recovered hands of the ghost. He flew straight at them, taking bites and swiping as he went through. Screams and blood went everywhere.
They kept on sliding, following the first person that'd been attacked into the ring of flames, tumbling to their assumed death.
I looked around. Only a handful of people left. Some continued to try the stairs, sliding back down no matter how hard they tried. The rest were scattered about around me. Some were shivering in fright but a couple I could tell were ready to go down fighting.
I stood in the middle, switching between the two mindsets every second. The last time I'd been here it'd been traumatic. By far the scariest thing I'd ever experienced. But this second journey was unfathomably worse. The possibility of death didn't just hang around—I witnessed actual death and there would be more and if I didn't think of a way out of this it would get to me, too.
Somehow, instead of succumbing to that fear, it rejuvenated me. I had to fight for my life. No one was here to save me. Just some strangers that I couldn't count on.
The ghost had been circling the blue flames, I guess watching as its prey plummeted into the pit. It grew tired of that and flew back to face the remnants of its attacks. It grinned, flashing its fucked up teeth. Even with what my fishbowl did to it, I knew they were still in good enough shape to deal some damage.
I threw on my battle armor. I had no idea what I looked like with the blue skull mask on inside the fishbowl, but I could only imagine it was quite terrifying. But if the ghost was intimidated, it didn't show it.
The few that were willing to fight—all three of them—mimicked me and equipped their own best armor. Taking out beam swords and guns.
The one closest to the ghost started to run, deciding for all of us that the time had come. All four of us charged, running straight for almost assured death.
The ghost cackled and flew down, his hand out, fingers reaching into claws that swiped at the guy leading our pack. His beam sword caught the fingers and held, flashing with power as it surged to match the strength of the ghost. The other two stopped their advances and pelted the ghost with energy bullets. They slammed against it and actually appeared to deal damage, they sunk into its body, leaving tiny holes in their wake.
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The ghost screamed and a wave of energy shot from its mouth and knocked the two gunmen away. The beam sword wielder was too close to be harmed by it but he had another problem. His sword was stuck halfway through the ghost's hand but was no longer making progress through it. The spector brandished its other clawed hand, prepping to butcher the swordsman.
I couldn’t let that happen. If he went down that meant it would be ME leading the charge and, despite how much I got on Stephen for getting all the credit, I was not about to jump at the chance to be a leader now. Not in a literal life and death scenario. So what did I do instead? I charged head long into the fray to protect him.
I sent energy coursing through my legs like I did in that alley, and pushed out, sending myself rocketing in between the ghost and the swordsmen in the knick of time. The clawed hand bounced harmlessly off my helmet and the ghost shrieked in fright or pain, no telling which. While it was distracted I tried to pull the sword guy away but he continued to try and yank his sword free.
In any other circumstances I would have called him an idiot and just left him, but he didn’t deserve to die for being stupid. I reached around him and pressed the button on the hilt of the sword. It retracted, freeing him in less than a millisecond. His face went red but there was no time to roast him. I grabbed him and pulled him along with me, falling back to where the other two were.
Our allies had gotten their footing back and were now armed with some hardcore weaponry. The one on the left had a rocket launcher over his shoulder and the right had a just as large laser canon.
“Get clear!” The rocket launcher guy yelled.
I dragged the sword guy in between them and ran a bit further ahead. Not fully satisfied with that, the guy threw down an energy shield and motioned for me to hide with him. It would be easy to assume that anyone trying to join a gang like this weren’t great people, but perhaps there was honor among thieves after all. I took up my spot beside him and we hunched shoulder to shoulder, watching the crazy show continue on the other side of our admittedly meager protection.
The ghost was still screaming, only now you could definitely tell it was with rage and not fear. It flew side to side, giving our allies a harder time to nail down a target. The laser canon owner didn’t seem to care. He let it rip. An intense beam of energy shattering the darkness and arching in a wide angle at the ghost.
It hit. Had no hope of missing, the beam seemed drawn to the ghosts energy. It zapped him, making his body go stiff, taking up a T-pose position. His head rocked around as the energy shot through its ghostly body.
The whole production gave off hardcore Ghostbusters vibes, except the laser wasn’t directing it toward a holding container but, hopefully, vaporizing it. But it was hard to tell what it was doing besides just holding him steady. But that was enough for the guy on the left. He readied his rocket launcher and fired.
A massive rocket shot forward and the last thing I saw was the ghost’s eye go wide with shock before it hit and he was lost to a cloud of fire and smoke. The explosion brought the two guys to their knees but my buddy and I were safe behind our shield.
The laser guy stopped firing.
“What are you doing?” The rocket launcher asked. “Keep fucking shooting that thing!”
“I can’t!” To my surprise, it was a girl’s voice. “Out of ammo.”
“Shit!” Rocket launcher spat. “But, Christ, surely that killed em, huh?”
The smoke swirled around in an unnatural way. It wasn’t like it was clearing but that something inside of it was moving. I held my breath, I think we all did, as we waited to see what still remained of the ghost.
The smoke spun around and then, all at once, it was forced out as an intense power pushed it away, revealing a ragged and injured ghost.
But far from destroyed. It gave an earth shattering shriek that sent our two allies flying behind us. Our shield held out a bit longer but then it, too, gave way.
The swordsman grabbed me and slammed his beam sword into the ground, managing to keep us held firmly in place as the ghost continued to scream. I know the swordmen meant well, but I kind of wish he just let us go flying because, as it was, we were now targets number one and two on ghost guy’s revenge list.
He stopped screaming. His eyes flashed an intense demonic red… and then he charged, ignoring the swordsman completely and heading straight for me.
Why the fuck was I always so popular with the psychotic weirdos?