Mousoleum Chapter 18

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
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"Plank, Plankrun." Zugzwang's voice was distant and hazy but at least I could hear him, it meant I wasn't dead. He shook my shoulders and my eyes snapped open.
"Ugh, how long was I out?" I asked propping myself up on one elbow. My head swam as I moved.
"A few hours." he said, relief washing over him. "Look Plank, we need to leave, we can't stay here, it's too dangerous."
I nodded my agreement, which sent new waves of pain through my skull. I winced. "How much cheese did I lose?" I asked.
"What? Oh yeah, well, a lot. The Vampire mouse really went for that cheese, something he appears to like more than blood. We don’t have much left. I salvaged what I could from your pack, and stitched up the rip in it."
"Thanks." I said feeling rather annoyed. Once I was able to think and move properly, the anger came. Anger for having lost most my RB stock, anger for the pain I would now have to put up with until I
healed, and anger that I was the one suffering, though it wasn't my fault the mice were like this.
"I'm going to kill those scientists when I see them again." of course I was exaggerating but it felt good to say it. They were the root of the problem in the Mousoleum and the Lab.
"Do you think you're up for travel?" Zugzwang asked me.
"Not till the morning. My head is still throbbing."
We both settled beneath a tree, as near to the entrance gate as we could get. The thing was all twisted and dead like everything else in the Mousoleum had been. As we sat I heard fluttering above us. When I looked up I saw a little bat like mouse land on the branches and stare us down.
"Don’t worry about him Plank," Zugzwang said when he saw my worried expression "they are mostly harmless, just a bunch of bait snatchers."
"Well, we should at least add him to the list of found mice. Will you?" I asked him passing over my journal, I cringed as the skin on my back stretched.
Throughout the night we could hear the howls of the Lycan in the distance. He soon became quiet as the moon floated across the sky ready for the sun's approach. Zugzwang and I didn’t even attempt to sleep. Every rustling leaf and every whisper of wind made me twitch in fear. My courage had been crippled, and I felt shame for the fear I had in me for this place. I knew we'd both feel better once we saw proper sunlight, and less of the gloom and darkness.
I woke the next morning stiff and aching. I hadn't meant to fall asleep but my head hurt and I needed some rest. Zugzwang sat propped against the tree staring blankly into the distance.
"Time to go, mate." I said. I pulled myself up with the help of the nearest gravestone. Zugzwang shook his head.
"What I wouldn’t give for a soft bed and a nap." he rubbed his eyes and stretched once he got up.
"Well you may get just that. I can't continue on, I'm a mess."  I said feeling the dried blood on my forehead. My shirt hung tattered over my back. "Wouldn’t hurt to have a new shirt either."
We both maneuvered through the broken stones and dead grass, trying to reach the entrance gate that would lead to a brighter existence. When we reached the path that would take us out of the graveyard we were halted by a loud rumbling.
"You don’t think any more of those Big Bad's are loose do you?" I asked nervously. In the state I was in I would just let the damn thing eat me.
"No, this is different."
The rest of the conversation was cut short when the earth shuddered beneath us. I lost my balance and hit my knees, Zugzwang fell beside me. The earth began to quake like the end of days had reached us. The soil thundered and rolled causing larger headstones to crack and hit the ground. The tree toppled over leaving roots sticking out around its base. The ground vibrated right through my core, it felt like the earth would be ripped open and everything else would be sucked into it. I felt Zugzwang grab my sleeve and yank me to my feet. We wobbled slightly trying to stand straight.
"We have to move!" he said and he jerked me forward towards the gate.
We didn’t run straight, more like we stumbled and tripped our way out. I looked behind me and deep in the Mousoleum I saw sparks fly from a thick misty portion of the grounds.  We were nearly out but that didn’t stop the moans from reaching our ears, or the powerful chanting. Suddenly Zugzwang found the ability to run and dragged me behind him. Both of us hit our knees when we finally crossed through the gate.
It was as if the quake had never happened. On the other side of the fence the world stood still. I panted staring into the darkness of the Mousoleum, my eyes hurting from the glare of the sun.
"What was all that about?" I asked confused, eyes watering from the pain in my head, ankle, and back.
"If what I heard was correct, then we have our work cut out for us. Something dark is coming Plank." he didn’t say anything more, just helped lift me to my feet and led the way silently up the path, putting quick distance between us and the Mousoleum.