Old Magic

Living Goo

Wind whipped past her ears as the goo whipped her body back and forth. Her leg banged into a wall and she screamed as a flash of pain ripped through her injured limb.

Where was David? Why wasn’t he helping her?

The goo let go and Melody found herself directly on course for the wall. She held her arms up to shield her head, but the force was still strong enough to make her eyes cross.

“Hold on,” David called, his voice strangely distant.

Melody was still blinking the stars away when she was hurtled through the air again. She managed to clear her vision just in time to see the massive line of spikes ahead of her.

There was no way that she was going to survive this one; her body froze and the world seemed to slow as she hurtled toward her own doom.

David had been right, they weren’t both going to make it out of these caves alive, and while she’d known that on a conscious level, seeing her end made everything so much more real. She shouldn’t have listened when David told her they should come, she should have told him to stay away, but now it was too late.

The world snapped back into place as something cut into Melody’s side, diverting her path. She slammed into the ground, the wind knocked from her lungs, but at least she was alive. She coughed.

“I’ve got you,” David said, “don’t worry.”

The words didn’t help much as sludge lifted her again, but this time, when it tried to throw her, David pulled her back to the ground in seconds.

Her body ached as she slammed back down, but she caught sight of David and he appeared a lot closer than he had before. It was small comfort though as the goo changed tactics, slithering over her arms and legs, encasing her in the sticky mess.

In seconds, she could already feel the sludge climbing up her neck. Her body started to shake as she tried to pull her head away, but it was a useless endeavor.

The black goo covered her mouth first before climbing up around her nose as well, cutting off her air. Her lungs burned as she tried to catch a breath, but she was completely incapacitated, she couldn’t fight against it.

Tears leaked from her eyes as she continued to struggle against the mess, but as her vision started to blur, her hope faded.

Something hot smashed into the side of her face, the force so great it would have knocked her over had she not been held by the goo. The burst ripped through the sludge though, freeing her face, and she gasped for air. She’d never truly appreciated air before, but nothing compared to how good it felt to finally breathe again. Her whole body seemed to relax.

Several more energy burst zipped through the air, slamming into various parts of her body, but Melody didn’t care, still unmoving even though her limbs were clear of sludge again. Moments later, David’s arm wrapped around her and she was standing upright.

He hugged her tight, his hand snaking around her back and into her hair as he pulled her closer.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said, “I didn’t know what to do, I thought you were going to die.”

Melody didn’t respond at first, allowing her body the chance to recover from oxygen deprivation. Her limbs were heavy and dragging, and her eyes kept threatening to close of their own accord. She needed to sleep, to allow the medics in her blood the opportunity to heal the damage. This wasn’t the place though and she knew it; she needed something else to focus on.

“Did you shoot me with a plasma g*n?” she asked, her voice groggy.

David looked abashed and Melody chuckled, but the sound turned into a groan as her muscles complained.

“I didn’t have a choice,” David said, “you were suffocating. I didn’t know what else to do, I couldn’t move. I knew that it might kill you, but if I didn’t do anything you would have died anyway, so…”

He trailed off and Melody chuckled again, trying to stand before her legs collapsed beneath her again.

“It’s fine,” she said, “and it worked, so no harm done.”

“Do you think you can walk?”

Melody looked down at her legs and took stalk of her pain level.

“Maybe,” she said, “but I’m going to need help.”

She tried her legs again. They burned as she applied weight, but they held and she took that as a good sign. Her medics were working hard to repair her body but it would still take a while for her to regain full strength.

With David’s arm wrapped around her waist once again, she found that she could navigate through the cave. Her face remained scrunched in pain, but the realization that the goo was reforming around her spurred her on to greater action. The skeletons were scary, but they hadn’t come as close to killing her as the goo.

“So did that stuff attack you too?” she asked.

“No,” David said, “it didn’t, it just kept me stuck in place while it threw you around.”

“I wonder why it did that?”

David shrugged.

“I have no idea. I think the skeletons wanted us to come this way though, why else would they stay outside?”

“If that’s true,” Melody said, “I hate to think what else might be waiting for us at the end. Or maybe we weren’t supposed to get to the end.”

“I’m guessing that you weren’t supposed to make it to the end,” David said, “the question is why.”

Melody didn’t have any answers, but even though she knew they were about to enter the massive cavern, the thought brought her relief because it meant that she wouldn’t be stuck in here with the sludge.

“It’s crazy to think that two minutes ago, the skeletons were the things that scared me the most,” she said, “but now I’m practically delighted at the prospect of facing them instead.”

“Can’t say that I agree with you, but I’m not the one who was almost choked by living tar.”

Melody frowned. Living tar. It was an apt description of the goo but, like the skeletons, it wasn’t supposed to be alive and conscious.

“Is that what is keeping the skeletons alive?” she asked.

David’s lips pinched together as he thought and Melody could practically hear the gears turning. The mapping drones had indicated that the pit may be the source of the skeletons' life force, had they somehow stumbled into the source of the pit?

“I guess we’ll find out,” David said, drawing them both through the final opening on the cave.

Light accosted their eyes as they stepped through the false side wall and Melody had to blink several times before her vision sensors readjusted. They were located in a tinny alcove, still in slight shadow compared to the rest of the cavern, but even hidden away, more than a hundred skeleton eyes were on them, and they looked angry.

Melody knew that she didn’t stand a chance against the bulk of the main hoard, and as she stared them down, every ache and pain reminded her of her own fragility.

“What are we going to do now?” she whispered.

David just shook his head, his eyes wide as he stared around. Melody faced the hoard and the hoard glared right back at her. For several long seconds, nothing happened, but Melody felt her legs shaking. The second she dropped to the ground, the skeletons surged forward.

David swung into action, his machete blasting through one skeleton after the next. Bones flew through the air in every direction, clattering off the remaining skeletons like enormous hail.

And while David was doing an amazing job of subduing their attackers, Melody could see the exhaustion in his body. He’d exerted so much energy just trying to get her to this point and now his strength was waning.

Fighting her own exhaustion, Melody grabbed a femur and started her own attack. The skeletons didn’t break apart as they had with the machete, but at least she was keeping a few of the skeletons distracted.

“Grab the boy.”

Melody froze as the deathly cold voice echoed through the cavern and she looked around to see where it had come from. But it wasn’t until she spotted the strange zombie man that she realized that he’d been responsible.

David had frozen for the briefest of seconds after the voice had called out, but now his efforts had redoubled. Melody saw the fear in his eyes as he swung his blade, knowing that the skeletons were after him. 

It didn’t make any sense, despite everything that had happened in the passage. Why did these skeletons want David specifically? It had seemed that whatever this consciousness was, it didn’t mind, and even wanted, to get rid of Melody, but it didn’t act the same with David.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard something emerge from the passage behind them. David was too distracted to look around, but Melody was hardly considered a threat, so when she turned to look, the skeletons she’d been fighting return their attention to David.

“Son of a b***h,” Melody swore when she spotted several more lines of skeletons.

It would seem that the skeletons from above had decided to join the main force and cut off any chance of escape. It was a good plan, and one that they’d expected, but that didn’t make it any less annoying.

Whoever had lain this trap, they’d done their work well, leaving no chance for escape. Overwhelming numbers, resurrecting troops, and few exits pretty much guaranteed victory.

She couldn’t keep up, there were too many, David couldn’t keep up either. They would die here, trapped in a stupid cave because they’d both been too stupid to realize the danger.

David screamed and Melody turned to see the machete falling from his hand.

The skeletons took full advantage, their bodies swarming over David’s. Melody swung the femur but she just couldn’t match the speed of the onslaught. Several skeletons grabbed her arms and forced them behind her back.

“David!” she screamed, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to help.

She could hear his cries as the skeletons hoisted him into the air. She tried to pull free, and even made it a few feet, but she couldn’t reach him.

She looked up at the zombie man, tears streaming from her eyes.

“What are you going to do to him?” she asked.

The zombie man looked down at her, his eyes dead but aware. He didn’t say anything though, just watched her for several seconds before turning his attention toward David’s flailing body.

“Melody,” David called, his voice cracking, “I’m scared.”

She turned her gaze back to David and could see his face through the tangle of bones. She knew that David would never admit such a thing if he didn’t think that he was about to die, and as his body was lowered toward the pit, she knew he was right.

“It’s going to be all right,” she yelled, “I promise.”

It was a lie without a doubt. Everything had led them here, to this moment, and there was nothing she could do. Her stomach clenched and her heart raced as she watched the skeletons force David’s face toward the pit.

“David,” she called, wanting to bring him comfort.

His eyes shifted toward her, his face mere inches from the pit surface.

“I just wanted you to know,” Melody said, “that I-”

David’s face disappeared into the tar and Melody choked. She hadn’t been able to get the words out in time and now he was going to die without knowing how much she cared.

Her eyes burned as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. Her chest ached and she collapsed to the ground, trying to suck in air even as her body raged against the pain. He would never know, she’d waited too long.

There had been so many opportunities for her to speak the truth, but she’d passed them all up, believing that she would always have tomorrow.

Through her tears, she watched as David’s body convulsed and jerked. She could imagine the black liquid flooding down his throat even as he tried to fight it. She’d seen it before in training, but this was so much worse. 

David didn’t deserve this. He’d always been the best of the Grave Diggers, a shining example of the person they all wanted to be. She couldn’t just let him die.

Fire burned under her skin, fueling the guttural scream that ripped from her throat. She pulled her arms free, grabbed the fallen machete, and sliced through the nearby skeletons, the scream intensifying as dislocated bones showered around her.