“When we get to the Hatter’s, I’ll explain everything.”
He stretches out his hand towards me, and I stare at it. He hasn’t told me anything. I’m about to walk through the door into the land of nightmares, and he hasn’t revealed a single fact. I can either accept that and trust him, or risk going a different way. I have a feeling he won’t let me just waltz through another door, and I don’t have his lock picking skills. I really have no choice. Just as I make up my mind, the room rattles at the same time that there’s a loud bang. I turn my head to the left, watching as the first door we’d tried to enter bows inward from the force of whatever crashes against it. I jump at the sound, my heart kicking into high gear and forcing me to take a step closer to White.
White’s face turns savage at the sounds, and his long fingers wrap around my wrist roughly. “We’re out of time,” he snarls, just before he yanks me through the door into the Dark Lands.
I glance back before he can close the door, just in time to see the first one crash open. A massive rotting snout sticks through the opening, saliva and blood dripping from its jaws. Whatever it is, snaps; the sound of its teeth locking together makes me cringe. White slams the door shut just as that godawful shriek starts again. The abrupt cut off saves my ears from bleeding, but my nerves are fried either way.
“New rule,” he growls at me. I shrink away from the savageness in his voice, but he just yanks me closer. “When I tell you to do something, you listen.”
At his words, my own anger morphs, turning my own lips in a grotesque scowl. I close the last of the distance between us and stand on my tiptoes, putting my face as close to his as possible, short of kissing him. I stab him in the chest with my finger.
“Don’t snarl at me, Rabbit! I’m not a child!”
“Then don’t act like one!”
The anger bounces between us, darkening the atmosphere even more. I haven’t once looked around me to see what we’re dealing with. Instead, I’m so focused on the man in front of me, I can’t think of anything else.
Our eyes drop at the same time to each other’s lips. We’re close enough to crash together in a savage kiss, and I desperately have the urge to wrap my fingers around his ear and pull him into me.
“Shouldn’t we be going?” I whisper, and the moment shatters.
White straightens up and steps away. He tugs the edge of his stained waistcoat and smooths it down, ridding himself of the disheveled appearance. I realize at that moment how suffocating the heat in the Dark Lands actually is. My skin peppers with sweat, soaking through my clothing. I can almost hear my hair begin to frizz. I tug the pony tail free and rework it, attempting to smooth down the strands as best as possible.
White waits just long enough for me to finish before he threads his fingers through mine, and we take our first steps through the Dark Lands.
I’m not sure what I expected. I had seen the glimpse through the doorway, but it hadn’t done the place justice. It’s barren, the ground cracked and dry as if it has never rained. The landscape is broken up by large boulders and dead, scraggly trees. There’s no wind, no sun, nothing but heat and wasteland. Somehow, everything is washed in a bright-red light, allowing me to see. In the distance, I can hear the barest hints of inhuman screams. I’m not sure I want to find out what sort of creatures live in the Dark Lands if the Bandersnatch is a part of Wonderland.
The air is filled with the crackle of flames and hisses of steam that randomly shoot up from between the cracks. It seems more like Hell with every step we take, the heat stifling. We walk in silence for what feels like miles, but it can’t have been that long. A cluster of trees springs up in the distance, and we make our way towards it. It’s the first color I’ve seen since we stepped foot in the Dark Lands, the trees a brilliant green discernable in the darkness. Some of the plant life glows with phosphorescence, like someone held a black light up to them. I perk up in curiosity. White releases my hand as we step into the growth, and I take a deep breath at the instant temperature change. The heat dims just enough that I feel like I can breathe again, almost like I took a dip inside a pool. It’s a relief after all the heat.
“Stay on guard,” White mutters, stepping over towards a tree that’s glowing bright green. He scrapes off some of the phosphorescence into his hand and sticks it in his pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“The fungus has healing properties. We might need it.”
He obviously means to save it for me since he can’t die. I tilt my head to the side. I need to ask him how that’s possible. I’m a bit curious if his blood really could help cure diseases and vaccinate against toxins if developed. Not that I would cut into him like the lab would have, but a vial of blood never hurt anyone.
I move closer to a particularly tall tree to get a better look at the glowing fungus. I wish I would have brought some containers to put samples. Who knows what all I can learn here. There’s a tickle at my ankle, and I look down just in time to see a thick vine wrap around my leg. I scream when it yanks me off my feet. Suddenly, the world bursts into a cacophony of sounds as my perspective dips, and I’m dangling in the air. I scream again at the weightless feeling.
I watch as White turns, his eyes opening wide even as he swears. My backpack drops on my shoulders and slaps me in the head, my shirt slides up my belly as I slowly turn and get a good look at what has a hold of me.
I stare into the face of a flower, it’s petals white streaked with purple, it’s center larger than my body. I watch as a thousand eyes blink at me, and a mouth littered with teeth opens. I don’t scream this time.
My breath is gone, stolen by the giant flower in front of me.
“Food,” it hisses, the sound like wind whispering through trees.
What the actual fuck?
Chapter Thirteen
Those thousand eyes blink at me at the same time. They reflect my image, showing my eyes wide in terror. I squeak as a forked tongue flicks out of the open mouth to taste the air, tasting me.
“White!” I scream, staring at the tongue that dances in front of me.
“Food,” the flower hisses again and shakes me. My backpack slips from my shoulders and falls to the ground with a thump. White sprints beneath me and looks up in concentration. He throws my backpack over his shoulder.
“When it moves you closer, slash at its eyes,” he yells up.
Shit, I have to wait for the damn thing to try and eat me before I act? Not the plan I hoped for. I slip the small knife from my waist. I’d stored it into a belt loop holder before we left. I’ve never been more grateful to have the tiny blade.
When the flower opens its mouth again, the putrid smell of its breath hits me in the face. I cringe and try to hold my breath as much as possible. The vines move, making my body sway where it dangles as it begins to draw me closer. The smell threatens to make me gag, but I ignore it as best as I can, attempting to take slow measured breaths as I focus on the gaping maw that widens as the vines pull me closer. I clench the small knife, my knuckles white from the grip I have on it. A thousand eyes blink as I look down the throat, about to be ingested by a goddamn flower. If I wasn’t dangling twenty feet above the ground, I might want to laugh about that fact, or at least be amazed. Instead, I tense, my abs flexing as I get ready to swing. When the giant tongue flicks out and touches my face, I swing my arm in a wide arc, slashing at the eyes. The knife hits home, the flower making a garbled shrieking noise just as the vine loosens from my ankle, and I’m falling through empty air for the second time since I came to Wonderland.
I scream and flap my arms. I’m not sure what I expect will happen, if I will suddenly grow wings and fly away, but I know if I land in the position I’m in, I will most likely break my neck, especially from such a height.
I come to an abrupt stop in White’s strong arms, and my breath rushes from my body at the landing. White doesn’t stick around to give me time to slow my racing heart or to see if the flower will back down. He takes off in a sp
rint, cradling me in his arms, my backpack on his shoulders.
Behind us, the flower roars, angry at an escaped meal.
“Morsels!” it cries, hissing after us.
When the copse of trees is far behind us, and we’re again in the middle of a wasteland, White slows and sets me on my feet. I sway and have to brace myself on my knees. I breathe deeply, not even caring that the air is filled with suffocating heat and dust.
“What the absolute hell was that thing?” I ask between breaths. I study my ankle where the vine had been wrapped, an angry red welt rising where it had dug hard into my skin.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of the talking flowers,” White mumbles, staring off into the distance.
“Yeah, but they don’t eat people. They sing and dance.”
“Not in Wonderland, they don’t.” He shakes his head and meets my eyes. “Nothing is safe here.”
I don’t ask him if he’s included in that statement, but it’s clear he considers himself part of the generalization.
“Holy shit.” I blow out a breath and scrape my errant curls back into my ponytail again. “I’m not okay with that. No more people-eating flowers, please.”
“They aren’t always so big.”
I wrinkle my brow.
“If there are ones that are normal-sized, I’d love to study them. Without risk of being eaten of course.”
White grins.
“Even after almost being eaten, you’re still so curious.” I blush under his appraising gaze. “I like it.”
White looks off into the distance again where I finally realize there’s a dust cloud rising. I stare harder, the air charging with electricity as I see lightning striking inside the clouds. The sky darkens impossibly further, throwing everything into shadow beside the approaching clouds.
“What now?” I whisper, stepping closer to White.
“It’s about to get a whole lot worse,” he replies, his body tensing as the clouds seem to rise higher in the sky.
“What is it? What’s coming?” Slowly, the cloud begins to move. It’s far away in the distance, but even I can make it out as it begins to move, throwing the cloud larger as it closes the miles between us.
“Chimera Storm,” White whispers. There’s a thread of fear in his voice, and that’s what really starts my panic. If White is afraid, I should be, too.
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” I eye the billowing clouds, looking for a clue as to what they can be.
White turns to look at me, his eyes large and haunting. There’s nothing around for miles, only the scraggly trees and the steam. In the distance, I hear a roar begin to fill the air, like the sound of a thousand bulls stampeding. White’s fingers thread through mine.
“If we don’t find shelter now, we are going to die.”
Chapter Fourteen
The first shriek reaches my ears just as White yanks on my arm and practically drags me into a run. I have no idea what we’re running from. The sounds coming from the Chimera Storm aren’t like those of the Bandersnatch. It’s more along the sounds you would hear in a horror movie, or in a zoo when the animals are stirred up.
White sprints in the opposite direction, and I’m fighting hard to keep up with him. He moves fast, his legs pumping, and he’s practically dragging me behind him as I try to stay on my feet.
The wind picks up, swirling dust and ash into my eyes and coating my throat. I’m not nearly fast enough. I can hear the storm gaining momentum behind us, the shrieks and roars growing ever closer. I trip on a dry, crackled root when I try to glance backwards, and I go soaring towards the ground. I have a moment of panic, knowing I just became the stupid person in horror movies that trips right before they get murdered or eaten. If it isn’t such a terrifying moment, I might have rolled my eyes. Before I can hit the dirt, White scoops me up in midair and throws me over his shoulder. It’s clear I was slowing him down. The moment I’m off of my feet, we really begin to move, the world speeding by as if we’re in a car. I clench my hands hard into White’s waistcoat and force myself to look at the Chimera Storm closing the distance.
The air roars with the shrieks and screams behind us. There’s pain in the sounds, as if numerous creatures are in agony. I squint my eyes at the billowing dust to see what’s inside. Suddenly, as if I asked it to, the clouds become clearer, and I can make out what exactly is chasing us. And they’re moving so fast, they’re closing the gap even with White’s speed.
The Chimera Storm is made up of swirling cloaked figures tumbling over each other in their attempt to get closer. The material of their cloaks matches the landscape. They’re torn, bloody, and dirt colored. The creatures’ faces are shrouded by a hood as they climb over others to get closer, never once leaving the confines of the cloud. Hands tipped with foot-long claws reach forward, ready to tear into us the moment we’re close enough. One of the creatures in the middle loses his hood, the wind ripping it away from his face. It reveals a skull inside, not human. It’s some form of creature, horned with large dripping fangs. If I don’t know any better, I’d say they almost look dragon-like. When the skull tips backwards, I realize it’s a mask, but their real faces aren’t any better. The creatures have empty eye sockets, great gaping mouths, no lips, no nose. They’re horrifying, and I panic as the cloud slips a little bit closer.
The figure pulls the hood back over its head quickly and shrieks as they gain on us. I clench hard onto White, my heart beating a frantic rhythm inside my rib cage.
A clawed hand reaches forward, barely twenty feet away. Still, there’s no shelter in sight, nowhere we can hide from the storm.
“White!” I yell as I slip the knife from my holster again. I’m not sure what it can do against a pack of whatever those creatures are, but it’s all I’ve got.
“I know!” he shouts. He doesn’t even sound winded, and it helps me to focus better. At least he isn’t tired after running with me over his shoulder.
“Twenty feet!” I figure the best plan is to let him know how close the Chimera Storm is. I don’t have any idea how to handle this situation. I can swipe at the creatures if they get too close, but their numbers alone will overtake us almost immediately.
We’re flying across the land now, the landscape threatening to blur from our speed. More of the hooded figures appear, climbing over each other to get closer. We shoot past some sort of creature on our right. It’s running but far slower than we are moving. It resembles something like a Wendigo, its face a skull, antlers coming from it’s head. Its long limbs stumble, and I watch in horror as the cloud descends upon the creature, closing around it. I cover my mouth as the hooded figures tear into the Wendigo beast, tearing it limb from limb. Pieces of raw meat fly around the cloud that other cloaked figures fight over. The creatures shriek in victory even as the Wendigo’s bellows of pain bring tears to my eyes.
“Fifteen feet,” I croak, my voice gone hoarse from the scene.
“We’re almost there,” White shouts.
We’re moving swiftly across the Dark Lands, but the storm draws closer with each step. The rest of the world is a blur now, the cloud swallowing up everything we pass.
“Ten feet!” I scream, readying myself to slash at the creatures as best as I can.
I watch as one of the closest creatures lowers his hood and focuses on me. The skull tips back, and I’m certain it smiles before a clawed hand reaches out, closer, deadly. The cloud rises behind us like a wall, the sheer number of hooded figures tumble over each other threatening to take my breath away. We’re going to die. This is it. We’ll be consumed by a storm of Chimeras. Lightning strikes between the creatures, showing the impenetrable wall that is made up of hundreds, thousands of creatures, barreling closer.
“Five feet!” I shriek as another clawed hand reaches out. “White! Five feet!”
“Almost. There,” he grunts, enunciating each word as he pushes himself to move faster, pumping his legs harder.
I twist around just in time to see him raise his wrist and ta
p his watch. I hear the clink, clink, clink clear as day as he reaches around my thighs. Everything slows, the creatures barely moving within the cloud even though they still close the distance between us. White keeps pushing himself as hard as possible, his breath sawing from his chest in hard pants now. Slowly, the world begins to gain speed again, and the creatures draw too close.
Just as a claw reaches out and strokes against the ends of my hair, we tumble through the air and into a dark cave. The cloud doesn’t follow us inside, and we land hard on the stone, my knife skittering along the floor and further inside at the impact. We roll over and over again before coming to a hard stop against rough stone. I cry out at the impact, my body no doubt going to be covered in bruises later.
Outside, the creatures shriek in anger.
Chapter Fifteen
I rub at my back, listening to White move around the cave. It’s completely dark inside, but I find I can see the barest amount, as if there’s the tiniest beam of light shining off of the walls. It’s not enough to actually see, but I’m able to watch White’s dark form moving around as he picks up things from the floor. It’s clear he doesn’t seem to have as much trouble with his sight as I do.
“What are you doing?” I whisper. My voice echoes loudly in the cave anyways, the stone cavern perfect for acoustics.
“Building a fire,” he mumbles. I realize then that he’s throwing dry wood in a pile in the center of the cave.
“Do you have a lighter?”
He snorts. “I don’t need a lighter.”
I grin. Seems White is a bit of a boy scout. I know the logistics of striking two stones together to spark, but actually having to do it, I’ve failed each time I’ve tried. I hear White strike the stones together, and I’m relieved to see the sparks that immediately jump onto the branches and begin to climb. The light brightens in the cavern, as if someone turns up the dimmer switch, until I can finally see White. The fire coats everything in a yellow light, but it does nothing to detract from White’s attractiveness, even if he’s still sporting the large blood stain.
Late as a Rabbit (Sons of Wonderland Book 2) Page 8
