Fufu! Help me!

A flash of pink made it between the roots that continued to assault the young man. Every move he made kept death and pain at bay. Even the vines that continued to whip toward the cultivator were getting closer, one almost making it to the man’s skin.

The young man with an exceptionally long nose was struggling to stay free of the vines and roots, not noticing the pink ball of fur at his feet. Two long teeth belonging to a rabbit with beady red eyes chomped down on his ankle, almost severing the limb in half as his foot touched the ground for a moment in the dance of defense.

Stumbling from the loss of his foot and support, the cultivator threw out a hand, sending a jagged blade of ice toward Fufu. Haylock’s root flew in front of his familiar and took the damage, the piece falling to the ground as the rabbit darted away.

At that moment, young Thomas, someone Haylock had never known and would have hated in life back on Earth, felt the pain of being impaled by a dozen roots. Roots came from different directions, jabbing and piercing. He was pierced in each arm and leg in multiple places, and the two vines struck the hand that held the sword, cutting it off and sending the blade crashing to the ground.

Screams of pain and agony filled the air, and Haylock relished knowing he had caused such pain and was the one to exact revenge.

His roots and vines pulled the young man closer to him as his body continued to slowly make its way through the property. The wall had been knocked down where he had moved through, allowing him the ability to pull the cultivator close.

The young man with the schnauzer for a nose was screaming, his eyes trembling as horror covered his face. The expression was priceless, and Haylock lifted the man upward, closer to his maw, bending his flower toward the man.

Taking a massive sniff, he could smell the fear and the chi, knowing that inside that one was power, like the first gift Mimi had given him.

That thought broke Haylock from his rage for a moment, and he turned his flower, eyes focused on the older woman and where Nini was trying to do something to help stop the blood that flowed from her. Tears ran down the teen girl's face, and Haylock’s fury raged again.

“Pain!”

Haylock surprised himself when he heard the word come from his mouth. It sounded gutteral and like something an orc or ogre might say from the Lord of the Rings movie. He knew at that moment that a part of him would no longer be the botanist who loved listening to audiobooks by Heath Miller. Instead, he would be like his father, Andy. An Australian who fought wars for others and killed those who hurt them without remorse.

In a single moment, Haylock fed the man into his mouth, teeth chomping down and drawing blood. A warmth and sensation of absolute pleasure filled senses Haylock hadn’t known he had. The taste of the flesh was better than any steak he could remember eating. No flavor or seasoning ever matched the way the man’s life and chi felt.

Lost there in the joy of the meal he was taking, Haylock couldn’t hear the sound of bones as they crushed from the force of the chewing. Instead, he continued to chew and enjoy each moment until the sound of crying caught his attention.

Haylock swallowed and saw Nini, covered in blood and holding her grandmother close.

+ 200 SC

+ 71 Chi

He moved slowly, sending a vine toward the girl while Fufu appeared by her side, snuggling against her leg.

“She’s almost dead,” Nini said. “Her body is barely alive… I’m not sure I can heal her.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Haylock could see that Mimi’s life force was weak. Her chi was less, and whatever she had done to save Nini had cost her greatly. Bending down to look at her, he started to gag, choking on something in the back of his throat. His mouth opened up, and a hand fell out on the ground next to Nini, who stared at it in shock.

Embarrassment flooded Haylock as he had never had this happen before, especially so quickly after enjoying himself.

“A spatial ring?”

Haylock watched as Nini reached over and pulled the severed hand toward her face and slowly slid the ring off the half-missing finger. The young girl slid the ring onto her finger and started tapping it, not having any luck. It appeared to be what she had hoped for. Her face was scrunched, and her eyes narrowed as she took the hand and tapped a finger against it.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, and Haylock saw items starting to appear on the ground next to her. Dozens of backpacks, small pouches, weird clay jars, and other items made the ground look like a flea market at the local drive-in that had shut down a decade ago.

Unsure of what the Nini was searching for, Haylock changed his point of view, scanning the area and ensuring that no one else was about to come from the trees and attack. No one was nearby that he could sense or see, so Haylock continued to increase his view.

Somewhere must be those coming from the east…

It took a few minutes, but eventually, Haylock spotted the movement within the trees. They were moving slower, and it appeared that more trees had been displaced. A trail could be made out now of the descent they had taken along the mountain.

Tomorrow… whoever that is will be here tomorrow.

Activating his vision of his eyes, Haylock saw even more stuff on the ground. Some of it he recognized. Food, clothes, a tent. All things were the same across any world, but he also spotted two cores like the one he had found inside the monster Mimi had fed him.

“Praise the heavens!” Nini exclaimed as she held up a jar.

Haylock could sense some kind of chi inside the container and watched as Nini moved to her grandmother, rolling her over and holding the open container to her lips. It pained him to see how weak the older woman was. The light inside her was dim and Haylock struggled with the knowledge that she might die.

“Drink it, grandmother… I know you can hear me. This will help,” Nini whispered. “You can’t leave me… you’re all I have left.”

Slowly, the liquid in the jar made its way into Mimi’s mouth and down her throat. Nini was doing hand motions, and from what he could deduce, the young girl was helping her grandmother swallow the liquid. When it was all gone, Nini set the jar down and sighed.

Slowly, Haylock moved a vine and gently touched Nini with it.

“She’ll be ok… she has to be,” Nini said. Her voice didn’t sound certain. “We’ll need to let her rest, though.”

Frustrated at the knowledge that more people would apparently be coming here, all because of him, Haylock began trying to draw in the dirt with his vine.

He felt like a toddler, trying to draw a masterpiece with crayons on a wall in someones house. The vine didn’t move like he wanted and often it only made a mess.

“What are you trying to tell me?” Nini asked as she glanced at what he was doing and then at his flower.

Groaning inside, Haylock wished he had spent more time attending the faculty meetings. Most of the time, they were boring beyond belief, but they had occasionally played charades. None of them were good at it, which was why it was one of the few agreed-upon activities.

Scanning the area around them, he saw the items on the ground and worked on picking up a few of them. Three items he placed as best as possible in the dirt, all where he thought the houses and buildings would be.

Grabbing two bed rolls, he laid them along the side of the flat items like the mountains.

He then tapped at the north side and dragged his vine through the dirt.

“More people from the north?”

Haylock shook his flower, seeing a bit of relief wash over Nini’s face as her jaw unclenched. Tapping the bedroll to the east, he pointed multiple times in the direction of the people coming.

“East? Is that the mountains?”

Moving his flower again, Haylock then took his vine and drug it from that spot to the area he had created for where they were.

“People are coming here from the east?!”

Slowly, Haylock nodded his flower, watching the young teen’s face change. Her lip quivered, and Nini stared at her grandmother in her arms.

Picking up a tent, Haylock shook it and turned his body, putting it back in the garden behind him. He then touched Mimi carefully and tapped the tent, repeating it multiple times.

“You want me to put her in the tent? Behind you?”

Haylock nodded and then slowly reached out to where Fufu was, cuddled up against Nini’s leg. The rabbit’s nose moved as the vine came close, but it didn’t react as Haylock touched it, then Nini, and finally his massively thick stem.

“We’ll protect her?”

Nini winced, and Haylock realized smiling like that was probably not the best idea.

The girl sniffed a few times and nodded. “Very well. I’ll get the tent set up and then move her inside.”

After carefully laying her grandmother down, Nini stood up and moved in the direction of the tent he had set down, weaving through all the items on the ground. As she came close to him, Nini paused. Slowly she reached out and put her hand on his stem, patting it a few times.

“I’d hug you if you weren’t a guy,” she said, smirking for a moment. “Thank you, though… for everything.”

Haylock tried to say you're welcome, but instead, a horrible sound came from his mouth, making Nini cover her ears.

As the young girl got ready to take care of the tent and Mimi, Haylock turned his attention to the corpses. Unsure what might be headed their way, he needed to get stronger, and that required food.