Chapter 4: the cage

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Chapter 4

The cage

 

 

 

 

 

 

     When we awoke later, we were groggy and just a bit delirious too. We had no idea how long we were out, but that didn’t cross our minds then, because we still just wanted to sleep. Tj was the first one of us able to stand. He rose up of the concrete floor we were on and took a long good look around. His jaw dropped wide open and his before half open eyes widened to the size of eggs. My dad and me both saw his expression and tried to stand up too.

     His gawking expression didn’t change, he just stared stupidly, and then we figured out why. It was where we were. It looked like a forest or jungle habitat in an enormous barred cage. There was garbage scattered through it and it had concrete flooring. We were trapped in it too, that part of it sucked. I observed my surroundings a little more and saw bushes and trees. I also saw a wooden covered trap door a few feet away.

     “Now that you are finally awake,” a man said, I was the same man from before. I still didn’t know his name. “I can watch you die in there!” “Why are we in a giant cage?” Tj asked. “Well, because of this.....Release the monkeys!” He yelled, and then vanished into nothing. We saw these gates open around us and heard the iron scrape on other iron. We saw red eyes watching us all around. It was still quiet even though, until the red eyes emerged from there smaller cages. They came charging at us, many of them.

     This was as unbelievable as anything. He had sent a raging hoard of rabid living dead monkeys, with their tails wrapped tightly around hatchets. This guy seemed more and more demented as this went on. Drooling weapon-wielding monsters they were, with their mouths wide open bearing all their sharp canine teeth. This was a tough one, they were speeding at us and that was a very scary thing.

     I thought for the second I had, and decided that things I had exploded. I didn’t say a word to the others; I just grabbed my S.P.A.C.E. box had hurried so we could keep our lives. I reached into the box and felt around until I found what I was looking for.  Seventeen grenades. I cut them open with my knife from my pocket and spilt the gunpowder onto the ground into a pile. I turned to my dad as he watched me and tossed him another knife and a grenade and nodded. He started to do the same. I cut a strip of my shirt off and set one end on the eight-inch high pile of white powder and the other in my hand as I ran for the trap door we spotted when we first woke up. Tj and my dad followed, not even asking what the hell I was doing.

     I kicked the padlock that kept the door shut and it broke off from it being rust covered. We climbed in one by one and let the door fall shut, busting one of the hinges. I flicked the lighter on and gently touched it to the fabric. The fabric was slowly engulfed in the flame and traveled slowly towards the pile. That’s when they realized my plan. “Cover your ears, it’s gonna be loud.” We heard the sparks from the powder that had been scattered around the pile a bit. Then came the brain-shaking explosion.

     It violently shook the building, sending dust and debris from above us. It had felt like an earthquake of a huge magnitude. Nothing could have survived that, and the animals didn’t. They all burned, although some still twitching.

    I took a breather for a moment, and then had to be alert again. I only had to be ready for something because the floor started moving and floors aren’t suppose to do that. It violently shook us in all directions. I was barley even able to stand.

Then the floor stopped shaking and started to rise up real fast. It pushed us up with it, and broke thought the trap door, sending it flying off the other broken hinge. We tumbled off when it was a few feet off the ground and stood up fast. I fell back again and sat there staring up in Aw as the creature rose higher and higher until it was its full height.

    It had a long, thick, slimy, pale-pink body that emerged from a huge pile of steaming green slime of some sort. That body connected to the head of it. The head was basically a huge skull covered in the pale pink skin and a massive chin. But it had no eyeballs in its sockets; instead it had one huge one in the middle of its forehead. And that eye was looking right at us.

     Its head started to drop and its chin was coming right for us. My dad grabbed Tj and me and pulled us out of the way. It slammed down on the ground and sent dust and dirt spiraling towards the ground. It also released little tiny creatures that were clinging to the ceiling. They hit the ground and bounced open from their ball form and landed on the ground on all six. They looked like little mutant crabs of some sort.

     They came at us with a slow walk, almost seeming to enjoy our fear. Then they leaped together as one. They jumped to face level and open their legs wide to grab them. I stepped out of their way but my dad and Tj weren’t so fortunate. They were clasped by the creatures’ legs and pushed down to the ground.

I quickly ran out after them and carefully kicked the creatures off their faces. They gave a small shriek before they slammed against the wall. Luckily that was the last two around for a while so it gave us a chance to only deal with one enemy.

     The worm grew tired and angry, so with fury he did roar. Then he summoned some slime from the depth of his body and brought it up his throat and puked it out, aiming for us. We moved out of its way, but it followed us precisely, within inches behind us. The entire floor was covered with the stuff!

     I took out my gun and shot it eighteen times down the neck in a single-file row. It screeched and summoned more acidic ooze. Lucky for us it ended up dripping out the neck holes. That meant his little trick was disabled and made it more of an even fight.

It was really pissed off by then. Purely aggravated. That obviously meant trouble for us. It decided to show us another cool trick it could do somehow. It stared directly at us and stood still. Its eye started to glow with a faint reddish coloring. Then it got intense till it was pure red, and then it fired. It turns out its evil eye was equipped with a powerful laser. We stepped back to avoid the concentrated beam, but we could still feel the heat that was streaming off the floor.

     Unfortunately we stepped back on to the sticky puddles of green slime. A terrible aroma filled the air as our shoes slowly started to melt at the bottom. I heard the buzzing sound of it starting to charge up its eye again. That was very bad. I looked around for any resources I could use. I did so spot a large fragment of a shattered mirror amongst all the small piles of trash. “That would make an excellent reflector shield for the laser beam.

     It had almost completed the second shots charge, when I yelled, “Guys! Come over behind this mirror!” To Tj and my dad. I caught their attention and they did rush over to avoid the impending doom of the worm creature.

     Its charge was ready and it wasted no time waiting and aiming directly. It just turned its head and fired. By chance, it got lucky and actually came close to hitting us, narrowly missing us. He charged up his eye and we just stood there and, weird as it is, waited patiently waited for him to be ready and fire at us.

     I could feel my left foot start o tingle, and then I could feel the sensation in the right one. It made me start to squirm some. The overgrown worm finally shot another beam of light accurately. This one would hit us square. The mirror caught hold of the beam and threw it right back at him in the same path that it came. It re-entered the eye and spread through its brain. The heat instantly fried it and all the thoughts it held. And it was also blinded by it, which was good for us.

     Although after all that, it still wasn’t dead, but I did so figure some things out. One thing I did figure out was that zombies don’t need a brain to live, because they are already dead, but it is a key weakness. Without their brain, they can’t function as well and aren’t able to fight well, or attack well. The second thing is actually something I learned: The dead are relentless, and don’t give up.

We had disabled its sight, brainpower ability, acid spewing, and its laser beam power. Next was to finish him off completely. That was still wouldn’t be easy, but we had evened the playing field even more, maybe just enough to win.

     Tj started to run around, frantically trying to escape the caged prison we were in. He couldn’t find even the slightest hole, and the cage was pure steel wire! So he just proceeded to run in circles for a few moments, then he just paused. He looked around and just, stood there. We watched as he walked slowly over to a small hatchet that was a bit rusted and had a wooden handle. We totally and completely ignored the monster we had been fighting and focused on what the heck Tj was doing.

     He picked it up and started to spin around wildly and rapidly. He got started and after awhile span so fast in circles that only his heels were still on the ground. It made us dizzy from watching. Then he let the hatchet go and it spun away. He fell down from being so dizzy. It cut through the air like a knife through water, smooth and in control. It climbed up at an angle that seemed to be headed towards nothing, but when it hit its mark, we knew he aimed well, even though it seemed he just threw it randomly.

     The hatchet sliced through the air, getting closer and closer to what seemed to be the creatures’ stomach. In an instant, the hatchet took a sudden lift upward and hit the neck of the worm. It slid all the way through and kept on going until it hit the back of the cage. It clinked against the steel wire and just plopped to the ground with an even bigger clink.

     The creature stood stunned and confused. His eyes looked around fast, searching for an answer or something. He finally gave a small screech we could barely even notice, and then its head slowly started to slide off. It tipped and plummeted to the ground. It hit with a mighty boom and echoed through the whole underground building, sending small shards of stone and rubble falling from the ceiling. The rest of its long body twitched, and then receded back into the trap door opening from which it came. The funny thing was, it didn’t bleed or anything. It was a clean fight. I though that was awful strange. But I let it go.

     I stared blankly at the little boy lying in front of me. He sat up, shook his head for a moment, and then tried to get up unsuccessfully. So instead he just sat there until his dizziness subsided. I still stupidly stared at him more, not sure what to do or say! My dads face had the same expression on it, although he did that a lot.

     I did attempt to speak after a moment or two. “Tj, How......How did.....What.....Where did you.....huh?” I managed to stutter out of all my stunned brain. He just smiled and gave a small giggle, almost like he was saying: Let’s see you try that dude! His grin only widened as the longer I started. Then, like fingers, I snapped out of it. I just didn’t know a kid could be so smart. My dad was still in utter and complete shock. We knew he would snap out of it eventually.

     Tj and mw started to search the cage again and were hoping to find something we may have missed before. It was pretty secure, except for the top of the cage. There was a sliding door, pRobably used to get us in there. Now all we had to do is climb.....all the way up, about one hundred and fifty feet at least. This would be some task to do.

     I walked over to the edge and stuck my right foot into the fence cage. Then I proceeded to do the same with the left one. I slowly started to make my way up the side and tried not to look downward. I scaled the sides until I reached the top. That’s when I realized that I would have to climb upside down! I moved my hands carefully slid onto the top, and then I moved my feet up there too.

     I tried to move an inch, but my foot slipped and I was only held up with my hands. I decided to try to get over there the same way you would go on the monkey bars on the playground. I moved swiftly and carefully, swinging side to side to gain momentum. Finally I was underneath the door, but I didn’t know how I was going to get through it while hanging high above the ground.

     I held myself up by one hand and unlatched the door, and then I pushed the door open with great force, to ensure that it stayed open and didn’t re-latch. Then I started to pull my self up through the door, which was the hardest of it all.

     Suddenly, a vine shot up through the opening, and I happened to catch it. I looked down and saw it was from my dad, who had finally snapped out of it. I tied it up around the bars. Then they started to climb up. They made it fine and we stood on the top and caught our breath for a moment. Then we started our dreadful climb down the sides. My dad and I made it fine, but Tj fell off and hurdled to the ground about fifteen feet up. We were relieved to see he was fine. We were at the bottom, glad to see the end of that.