“Sid, we’ve discussed it.”
Kaya folded her arms.
“And we think it would be safer for everyone if you made us more like Barbara.”
Alan nodded immediately.
“Much more.”
Sid continued stripping ligaments from the goblin.
“Okay.”
Silence.
Alan blinked.
“Wait.”
Another pause.
“Really?”
“If it’s possible.”
Sid pulled another tendon free and inspected it.
Then pointed at Kaya.
“You.”
Kaya straightened.
“Yes?”
“Learn how to fight from the giantess.”
He gestured toward Barbara.
“Your current limitations are primarily behavioural.”
Kaya stared at him.
“What?”
Sid had already returned to the goblin.
“Ugh…”
Alan stepped forward.
“What about me?”
Sid looked up.
“What about you?”
Alan stared.
Elsewhere, Elias wandered alone through the vegetation.
His crimson eye lights traced the distant cavern walls.
“A cavern supporting this much plant life should contain substantial carbon reserves…”
Pale vegetation stretched across the cavern floor in every direction.
Some of the plants rose several metres overhead, reaching toward the distant crystal-lit ceiling. Thick white roots, almost ceramic in appearance, twisted through cracks in the limestone and vanished into the earth below.
Elias stopped beside one of the taller stalks.
TAP.
The stem flexed.
“Hm.”
He pressed a finger against its surface.
“Hollow.”
Another tap.
“The internal structure resembles bamboo.”
He bent the stem.
It yielded easily.
“Although considerably less rigid.”
His eye lights narrowed.
“Rapid growth appears to have been prioritised over structural integri—”
The vegetation shifted several metres ahead.
Elias stopped.
Crackle.
Something moved between the stalks.
Footsteps.
He dropped silently to the ground.
The pale vegetation swallowed most of his body.
CRACKLE.
Closer.
Elias remained still.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
He slowly turned his head.
A leg stood between the plants.
Tibia.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Fibula.
Bare bone.
No clothing.
Elias’s eye lights narrowed.
A skeleton?
Then—
“¡Puta madre!”
A feminine voice tore through the vegetation.
Elias sat upright.
Several metres away, another skeleton stood partially concealed among the pale stalks.
The stranger hadn’t noticed him.
Grey light burned inside her sockets, fixed on the distant clearing.
On the group.
muttered something under her breath.
“Ese hijo de puta de antes…”
Low.
Fast.
Angry.
She bent down and picked up a rock.
Elias watched.
The stranger crouched and began creeping through the vegetation, using the thick stalks for cover.
Straight toward the clearing.
Straight toward Sid.
Elias considered this.
“Interesting.”
He drew his red crystal.
Then followed.
Crackle.
The stranger stopped.
Elias dropped behind the vegetation.
Silence.
Several seconds passed.
She continued.
So did he.
Slowly.
Patiently.
He drew close enough to hear her muttering again.
“Le partí la cabeza a ese cabrón hace una semana…”
A pause.
“¿Así que sobrevivió?”
Elias’s eye lights narrowed.
The stranger moved closer to the clearing.
Then stopped.
Ten metres away.
Her gaze had landed on Barbara.
Silence.
“I wonder how long it’ll take before we run into that T. rex again.”
Alan rubbed his brow.
Kaya looked over.
“T. rex?”
“Thankfully, we don’t appear edible enough for it.”
He picked up a stone and tossed it into the stream.
It skipped once.
Twice.
Then sank.
Rustle.
Sid turned.
“Ah, there you are, Elias.”
He started toward the vegetation.
“I was just about to ask—”
The plants exploded apart.
A skeleton charged straight at him.
Rock raised overhead.
“¡Tú eres el hijo de puta que me trajo aquí! ¡Muere, cabrón!”
Sid froze.
A pause.
His jaw slowly opened.
“Dud?”
“¡PUTA MADRE!”
The voice was unmistakably feminine.
Sid squinted.
Then his eye lights widened.
“Oh.”
The skeleton kept coming.
Sid spun around.
“HOSTILE!”
He sprinted behind Barbara.
Barbara looked down at him.
“You know her?”
“YES.”
Her gaze shifted to the charging skeleton.
Then the rock.
She sighed.
“Of course you do.”
Barbara stepped in front of Sid.
The stranger skidded to a stop.
Her rock remained raised.
Sid peeked around Barbara’s leg.
“I think she may still be upset.”
Barbara slowly looked down at him.
Elias emerged from the vegetation behind the stranger.
His red crystal was already raised.
The sharpened tip hovered inches from her spine.
“She knows you.”
“Eh?”
The stranger spun.
Her rock whipped toward Elias’s skull.
He stepped back.
WHIFF.
The stone missed by less than an inch.
Barbara moved.
CLACK.
Both enormous hands closed around the stranger’s torso.
Her feet left the ground.
“Relax.”
The skeleton immediately smashed the rock against Barbara’s forearm.
CRACK.
The stone split in half.
Silence.
Barbara stared at the pieces.
Then at the skeleton dangling between her hands.
“Hm.”
Sid emerged from cover.
“I wonder why this specimen is so hostile…”
“I NO SPECIMEN!”
Sid stopped.
A pause.
“Oh.”
His eye lights brightened.
“So you speak English.”
“LET ME GO!”
“Remarkable.”
Sid nodded.
“Albeit somewhat broken.”
“I KILL YOU!”
“Hostility appears unchanged.”
Sid stroked his chin.
“Interesting.”
Sid looked toward Elias instead.
“So she came from that direction?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect.”
Sid immediately pointed toward the vegetation.
The stranger started struggling again.
“¡PUTA—!”
“You are incredibly predictable.”
Kaya shook her head.
The skeleton stopped.
Slowly.
Her grey eye lights shifted toward Kaya.
Sid stepped closer.
“So.”
A pause.
“Will you cooperate?”
The skeleton's eye lights narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because we currently possess a significant tactical advantage.”
Barbara lifted her slightly higher.
“HEY!”
“And because you are statistically safer with us than alone.”
Silence.
The stranger looked around.
Barbara.
Elias.
Alan.
Kaya.
Then Sid.
“You say that after kidnapping me?”
Sid blinked.
“Technically speaking, I kidnapped everyone here.”
Silence.
Kaya covered her face.
“That’s not helping.”
“You were already dead.”
The stranger stopped struggling.
Her gaze snapped back to Sid.
“Dead?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“No.”
A pause.
“It is wrong…”
Her voice lowered.
“…but not dead.”
Alan approached.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
He looked at the stranger.
“Did you die in your sleep or something?”
The grey lights inside her sockets widened.
“NO!”
Silence.
Alan gestured vaguely at her.
“Then why are you a skeleton?”
Her gaze dropped.
She looked at herself.
Bare phalanges curled around empty air.
Her gaze travelled down her arms.
Across the exposed ribs.
Toward the legs dangling beneath Barbara’s hands.
She stopped moving.
“I…”
Kaya stepped closer.
“What’s your name?”
No answer.
Kaya kept her voice gentle.
“I’m Kaya.”
She gestured toward herself.
“I know we look frightening, but nobody here is going to hurt you.”
Sid raised one finger.
Kaya immediately pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
He lowered it.
The stranger hesitated.
Then looked away.
“Rosella.”
Kaya nodded.
“Okay.”
Elias stepped closer.
“Prior occupation?”
Rosella blinked.
“Huh?”
Elias pointed at Sid.
“Surgeon.”
Then Barbara.
“Military logistics.”
Then Alan.
“Some sort of shady organisation.”
Alan frowned.
“It wasn’t—”
“Occupation?”
Rosella stared at Elias.
“Why?”
“Pattern recognition.”
He folded his arms.
“We appear to retain the majority of our memories and learned skills following death. Your profession may therefore provide some indication of what knowledge you retained.”
Silence.
Rosella stared.
“What?”
Kaya sighed.
“Job.”
“Oh.”
Rosella hesitated.
“I was a waitress.”
Elias nodded.
“Interesting.”
“What’s interesting?”
He clenched his jaw.
Then turned away.
“Nothing.”
A pause.
Rosella stared after him.
Barbara finally lowered her closer to the ground.
“Little one.”
Rosella looked up.
“Are you going to attack Sid again?”
A pause.
Rosella looked at Sid.
“Yes.”
Barbara raised her again.
“HEY!”
“Wrong answer.”
Kaya snorted.
Rosella glared down at Sid.
He waved.
Her fingers curled.
Barbara waited.
“…Fine.”
“Good.”
She placed Rosella on the ground.
Rosella immediately stepped several paces away from Sid.
Barbara turned toward the others.
“Now, according to Elias, we need coal.”
She glanced back at Rosella.
“Have you seen any black rocks?”
Rosella blinked.
“Black rocks?”
“Yes.”
She thought for a moment.
“Eh…”
A pause.
“Maybe?”
Sid’s head snapped around.
“Coal?”
Rosella recoiled.
“I said maybe.”
Sid shot to his feet.
“Potentially.”
He pointed dramatically toward her.
“Then you must go at once.”
Silence.
Rosella stared at him.
“You come.”
Sid lowered his arm.
“What?”
“You want black rock?”
“Yes.”
“You come.”
Sid looked toward the vegetation.
Then at the half-dissected goblin.
Then at Elias.
“Coal is important.”
Barbara nodded.
“So you’re going?”
Sid stared at her.
“But that isn’t my area.”
Barbara’s eye lights narrowed.
“What is your area?”
Sid gestured toward the goblin.
“Currently?”
A pause.
“Intestines.”