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A horrendous chirp sounded off from the abominable creature and sent Drew scrambling away. The rapid movement and stumbling motion brought the beasts attention to them.
“Holy hell!” He took off in a full sprint back the way they came with the creature rapidly gaining on them by using the surrounding buildings as grappling points. “There has to be somewhere safe.” Rapid glances to the sides of the street offered no respite for them as the plants had filled all visible gaps between buildings.
The creature’s largest tentacle was 30 feet away and all hope was draining from Drew while the constantly chipper Nurgle threw his hands to the side as they stumbled particularly hard only for the large beast to overshoot them due to its immense momentum.
He rapidly stood up to take his bearings and saw their salvation, a narrow alley. Drew bolted to the alley that was partially hidden by the extensive foliage in a bid to rid himself of the pursuer. Quick gasps for air left him and Nurgle as they stopped half way down the alley.
“Why are you breathing so hard? I'm the one that's been doing the running.” The hushed whispers left him as quickly as they died out. The creature apparently was not as dumb as he had hoped as faint shuffling noises drew his attention away from Nurgle and down the alley.
A massive eye peered down towards them and felt the walls with its smaller tentacles. The creature was far too large to fit the alley they had chosen and they were given a nice reprieve as it tried to work out a way to them.
“Aren’t so scary now that you can’t reach us huh? Stupid bird, well, chimera thing.” Drew turned around and started walking towards the other end of the path, away from the creature, in a leisurely pace unbefitting of a man that nearly died without putting up any form of resistance.
Nurgle flapped his arms at the creature in what Drew understood as the ultimate insult a beast could make as the creature seemed to take it exceptionally poorly. Its large eyes turned bloodshot and it redoubled its efforts to reach farther into the alley
“Let’s not do that anymore buddy. You’re making it needlessly angry.” The skyscraper-like structures were the only things keeping the creature from keeping them trapped there forever by merely going over the building with its suction cups and having a more motivated bloodthirsty beast was not on the top of Drew’s list of to do activities.
They picked up their pace down the long path, trying to make it to the other end of relative safety. Emboldened by the distance and false sense of security, Nurgle gave the creature a send off flapping and made itself comfortable in Drew’s arms. A sudden cracking sound stole his attention as he glanced back towards the beast. It was forcing itself into the gap using its soft octopus flesh to squeeze inside more and more by the second.
“You are going to kill me Nurgle, but right now it's time to run.” They hurried down the alley quicker than before with a pep in their step that can only be created by a livid cephalopod hot on your tail. It was picking up speed as it got more used to the tight corridor and it reached most of the way to them when they burst out of the exit to the alley.
Not wasting any time, Drew ran down the street and a familiar building came into view. His metaphorical birth place. The ground floor of the transmigration office he had awoken in. They sped over to the double door impressions in the stone and hesitated to attempt entering immediately. The failed tries earlier to enter rooms from the outside fresh on his mind.
Drew glanced back at the octopus thing only to see it prying itself all of the way out of the alley. He tentatively pushed into the door with the bindle only to be allowed entry without any fanfare. They rushed further into the room and turned to look at the door as they backed up. Dirt had fallen into the doorway, seemingly blocking solidification of the door and allowing them entry back in.
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Seconds of silence ticked by as Drew backed into webbing that had popped up in their short absence from the room. Scuttle suckers had rapidly colonized this empty space as they found the new gap and set up new webs for whatever purpose they had for them.
Tentacles slammed around the corner as it felt for where they had disappeared and found purchase on the doorframe. More and more slimy lengths of its arms funneled into the room.
“Well this has been fun, eh Nurgle? You don’t happen to have any superpowers that will save us from this situation?” He glanced up at Drew and, with an intelligence Drew had yet to see from him, smirked. He turned to the creature then back to him then flopped his head back and started wailing and shaking in absolute terror as all hope drained from the little monster.
“You suck, you know that? Why do you have to get my hopes up like this? I don’t appreciate that.” The creature withdrew some of its tentacles and stuck its bird-like head in and squawked at them while forcing its large arm into the door to reach them.
Their continuous backing up led them to the opposite end of the room to await their death. Drew could feel his and Nurgle's hearts slamming into their chests and his mind went into overdrive to look for a way out.
The tentacles had already reached the elevator and the suction cups were popping into the room more and more frequently. A glance to their right stirred Drew from his stupor and he rushed for the janitorial closet.
He sat Nurgle's hyperventilating and sobbing self in a bucket and looked around for anything that might be of use. Any stick presetnwould not be sharp enough to puncture its skin and the shelfs were carved from the wall which left no way to block off entrance to the room.
“There has to be something of use here. Anything to fight back. Something. Something.” The bindle spilled its contents on the floor and the caps to the previously opened bottles leaked some of the contents on the floor. “I refuse to die this early. Nurgle, stop being so loud, it isn’t helping me at all.”
An acrid smell brought Drew’s attention away from the mess that Nurgle had made in the bucket. The leaking chemicals had mixed on the floor and it created a noxious smoke that formed rapidly on contact. He picked up the leaking bottles and cough the fumes out of his lungs.
“This could work. Oh yeah, we’re not done yet buddy. Calm down.” The room didn't let in drafts from the outside like the open lobby had which gave him some hope the chemicals wouldn't flow right back into their hiding spot and drop them dead.
He lifted Nurgle out of the bucket and dumped all of one type of chemical from his sack and the shelves into the container then did the same with the other chemical into another bucket. Drew stuck his head out into the room and saw the octopus had lodged itself into the space and was worming its way towards them slowly.
He reached back into the janitor closet to grab the first large bucket and slung its contents at the slimy creature. It redoubled its efforts to get closer to them with the bleach-like chemical almost lubricating its path. Drew grabbed the other bucket and threw the entire thing at the pissed off creature and dived back inside the room with mild hope that he and Nurgle would not suffocate in the next minute or so.
Almost instantly, the ground stated to rumble and the sound isolating effects of the doorways came into play as the creature reacted violently to the chemical concoction that flooded the room
Message differed until attack ends.
“No way I killed that thing.” The rumbling came to an abrupt end and Drew took that as his signal to peek out into the reception area to survey the damage. He immediately recoiled in pain as the chemical hit his eyes and singed his nose hairs. He sputtered out loud coughs as the worried Nurgle clopped over to his side in worry. The brief view of the room was clouded by the horrendous fumes
“I guess we’ll be camping out here for a while, Nurgle.” Drew moved the overalls into a bundle and laid back into the corner to wait for the room to air out. Nurgle sat down and leaned against the side of the clothes to get comfortable.
Anxiety and fear had pumped him so full of adrenaline that his hands were shaking and his heart was slamming in his chest. Given a few hours to relax, the relative safety and makeshift pillow allowed them both to fall off into sleep thanks to the taxing day.