As Gem hobbled to a hiding spot choosing a passage by their left, Zain couldn't contain their excitement.
"Alright, listen up! I've noticed that rats, in general, don't like loud noises; it scares them off. So, Dem, pull off your metal helmet and give it to me so I can bash it against mine. We're going to make some music and give these giant rodents a taste of our 'rat-tling' skills!"
Dem gave Zain a skeptical look but played along, realizing that they had to try something.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A smile appeared on his face as he smashed them both together, but the smile didn't last long.
Oops, seems like it didn't work. The rats, a few meters away from them, didn't even flinch.
"Keep running, don't stop, or it'll catch up," Zain spoke as he quickly threw away his helmet and darted nearly forgetting Gem behind, before he then came back to lift Gem up to his feet before running of.
Gem and Dem did follow, but the short time they spent made the beast closer than they were; they were just five meters away now, all the distance they gave the gave the beast earlier felt like a waste. I mean... no no, it wasn't in vain, infact it is the only reason why they haven't being ripped to shred by drooling creatures behind.
They still were currently in the worst-case scenario. Firstly, they are running through a maze that they have no idea of. They don't know where the right way is, which road leads to more roads, and which road leads to walls. Besides, booby traps are something we should watch out for.
"Wait a minute," *pant* "booby traps, we *pant* haven't encountered them for a while even though we are running with instinct-driven direction, but I know that *pant* they are here," Dem spoke, realizing. "Why am I starting to get a bad feeling about this?"
In front of him was Gem, hard on his track. That's when Zain finally realized what led him to scream.
"Geeeeeeem!!!"
Quickly grabbing on to Gem's armour by the collar, he pulled him back with one hand. Zain's aura of stupidity was immediately erased and replaced with one of action.
Gem and Dem couldn't help but hold their breath as it happened.
Just as Zain pulled Gem backwards, barely an inch away from their feet, hundreds of spikes extended straight from the ground in immense speed causing ripples in the air that went past their faces.
*Crash* *crash* *Crash* *crash* *Crash* *crash*
The extremely sharp spikes extended straight from the ground, piercing the ceiling that was also made of tiles with ease, forcing the ceiling to crumble, blocking their path.
"You just got detected by a booby trap, that's why it happened," Zain spoke before they even got a chance to ask.
"And don't ask me how I knew. After reading so many fantasy books, you don't expect me to still be a novice at most things that might not happen, such as this. We followed the wrong road; we'll need to turn back. I'll take the lead from here.
It's not common to see booby traps in buildings. No one does that.
Seems like every one of us now has a use," Dem chuckled but still nervous. "We're starting to encounter these, only meaning one thing—we are close to the end, and we've been following the right road. How lucky—we only made one wrong turn—"
"That's not what you should be saying now, Gem," Zain chimed in. "You should be asking how we're meant to correct this."
Zain said as he turned his head sideways.
*Pant* *pant* *pant* *pant*
"Damn, the backlash of running too much is starting to take effect." They all placed their hands on their knees, completely drained of energy while still backing away from the rats.
Due to how much they were huffing and panting, their backs were starting to move up and down, and without realizing it... They were all literally twerking at the beast inching closer and closer, and damn! Dem was good at it.
"Let's stop all this and run for our lives!" Dem screamed.
"But that's the problem, we can't run. There's no path for us to use. Our only choice is to fight," Gem declared as he stepped forward with his swollen left leg.
Turning around, Gem stepped forward. Unlike the duo behind him, he wasn't scared to fight.
*********
"Zain cannot realize it, Zain cannot realize it." His mother was pacing up and down in panic.
"I need to go tell his dad." Rushing towards the exit, she then climbed upward.
Reaching the exit of the underground Lab. The only way to exit is to lift herself with her hand.
"Damn! This is harder than it thought. I'm finding it hard to raise my body even upon the fact that I'm this slim. I wonder how I would have coped if I was fat."
Finally exiting the place, she rushed towards her home.
"I need to... That's when it finally hit her. How could she contact when they haven't met for thirteen whole years?
Yeah, Zain's mother hasn't met Zain for three months, unlike Zain who has not seen his father for years.
He does not visit her but still sends letters to catch up once in a while, anonymously.
He has a schedule, though, of how long he spends a long time before contacting her—six months to be specific—and he sent letters three months ago. That means he will be sending another three months from now."
She stopped at the door of her house, staring at it. "Seems like it's up to me to tidy up things now," she said with a sad smile as she finally opened the door.
"I'll take this into my own hands," she spoke coldly as her pupil emitted a luminescent glow of gold.
–––
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Gem screamed as he charged forward. Readying his fist, he then leaped upwards to gather enough momentum and to balance the height difference, then punched the first incoming beast from above on its head.
Unlike the other beasts they fought outside that were so weak that a single punch like what Gem just delivered would send crashing to the ground, this beast's head only tilted slightly downwards on impact.
Without wasting time, Gem delivered another punch to the beast's head, but it didn't do more than make it flinch.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
He screamed as he rained down punches at the beast from multiple directions, but still, it wasn't doing much.
Still in deep focus on the beast in front of him, Dem forgot the fact that there were still a horde of beasts behind it, and right beside him, a beast leapt forward with its claws ready.
*Slash*
It sliced Gem right on his left arm like butter.
The slice went quite deep, drawing out blood.
"Geeeeeem!!!"
They both screamed from behind, but it was already too late. He staggered backward before crashing on the ground, unconscious.
"No.. No... Gem!" "Gem, peekaboo!"
*************
Author: (Gem, peek-a-boo!!!) "Is that his full name?" "Wanna know, then Please give me some power stones."