As the beam came down, I rolled to the side narrowly avoiding being crushed, unfortunately the kitbag wasn’t as lucky and was flattened instantly. Bits of plastic water bottles and broken chips from burst packets flew everywhere.
I took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. The roof started to break apart and what appeared to be large red fingers made from light curled around it. Whatever it was slowly prised the rest of the roof open, pulling it apart as easily as if it was peeling through the skin of an orange. Sections of roof iron and debris fell around me as I stared incredulous at what I was seeing above. The fingers began to glow pink and emit light rays, pulsing and throbbing as they made their way further into the roof cavity of the gymnasium. Strangely transparent, I could see through them and see the dark red sky beyond. They seemed to crackle with vibrant pink energy sending sparks cascading down upon me.
As the roof continued to break open, a large head with two dark sets of eyes came into view and peered down at where I lay. Reaching in, the fingers opened to reveal the gigantic palm of a giant hand. I scrambled to get to my feet, but the creature grabbed me, wrapping its fingers around my entire body and squeezing tightly. Gasping, I tried to scream but nothing came out. With my arms pinned to my sides, I kicked frantically as I felt the electricity from the creature crackle around me.
It squeezed tighter, until I couldn’t breathe at all. I fought as hard as I could, my legs working overtime to kick my way out of its grip but it was too strong. The edges of my vision started to blacken and I felt a strange dizziness take hold.
Suddenly a loud crack filled the air and a lightning bolt flew through the sky hitting the creature between its top set of eyes. It cried in shock and loosened its grip. Another bolt struck it in the same place and it let go of me, choosing instead to use it’s hands to try and block the attack.
I fell to the floor and landed awkwardly on my feet, taking in ground shock to my ankle on my right leg. Screaming in pain I fell to my knees and curled into a ball grabbing my ankle and holding it tightly.
Above me, the creature was hit with more and more lightning bolts sending massive waves of energy through the air. I felt them wash over me like warm pulses, the static electricity from them sending the hairs on my arms and the hair on my head on end. Roaring through a mouth that opened in the middle of its body, the creature dripped with ooze and fragments of what appeared to be some kind of glowing radioactive green coloured bile.
The pain started to subside in my ankle and I stood up gently putting my weight on it. I was able to hobble over to the countertop where the beam had fallen and I looked for the kit bag to see if anything remained. A few bottles of water in it had escaped harm and had rolled under the counter so I picked them up and grabbed a couple of bags of chips that had also survived. I tucked in my t-shirt, then stuffed the bottles and packets down the top to make a makeshift carrier so my hands would be free if I needed them.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Above me the battle continued, the creature howling with every strike of lightning. I squinted my eyes to see what looked like a person hovering to the side of the creature, firing balls of lightning at it from their hands. Blinking a few times to clear my vision, I looked again and confirmed to my brain that it was actually happening.
“What is going on?!” I whispered out loud trying to figure out if it was all just a really bad dream. A bolt of lightning went awry and came down towards me, grazing my skin just underneath my eye as it flew past into the ground. The pain told me that the situation before me wasn’t a dream at all. I needed to get back to the others.
I hopped up on the counter and flung my legs over to the other side, careful not to hurt my ankle and I tried to keep my breathing slow and steady even though my heart was beating frantically. Slowly jumping down from the counter top, I ran to where the entrance to the main gym used to be, hopping every so often to take the weight off my injured ankle.
“Roderick?! Reese?! Are you there?” I called out keeping a watchful eye on the battle above. I heard rustling from through the other side of the pile of debris, and some of it started to fall around my feet. I heard Rodrerick’s voice call out
“Ariah! Are you okay? What happened? Roderick cried out.
“I’m okay. Can you all see what’s happening above us?” I replied.
“Yes, now would be a good time to get out of here before the whole gymnasium comes down around us.” Roderick said, his voice wavering.
“I think I can get out through the door that we came through and meet you around by the carpark?” I suggested, looking around for a quick escape.
“I don’t want you to leave my sight again, there is a small hole here that you can crawl through and you won’t have to go outside without us.” Roderick answered with a sternness to his tone.
“Have you seen the state of this gymnasium?” I said looking around at the building around us, there were holes in walls everywhere, plus what was left of the ceiling was only partially covering everything else. “We’re basically standing outside as it is.”
“Climb through and we’ll pull you the rest of the way while that beast is occupied.” He responded ignoring my witty retort.
I weighed up going through the hole in the debris or going outside and decided that I didn’t want to face what was out there alone. Taking the water bottles and packets of snacks out of my t-shirt, I pushed them through the hole first then put my arms and head through. Reese and Roderick were waiting for me and grabbed my hands, helping to pull me the rest of the way. Just as I was halfway through, the pile started to wobble and the roof from where I’d just come started to crash to the floor behind me. I felt a rush of dust and fragments hit my legs and I yelped.
Roderick and Reese looked at each other then me and pulled my arms even harder just as the pile came down and enveloped us all.