CHAPTER EIGHT

  They heard its approach well before they saw it.

  THUMP. SCRAAAPE! THUMP. SCRAAAPE!

  And they’d felt it’s heavy footfalls long before then.

  THUMP. SCRAAAPE! THUMP. SCRAAAPE!

  The very ground quaked under them. Every shifting vibration setting off the butterflies in Robin’s stomach for another round of fluttering.

  “If anyone happens to have a pet goat lying around, I vote we let that thing eat it,” quipped Maya.

  There was the sound of a harsh slap followed by a yelp of pain.

  “Really?! Jurassic Park? At a time like this?” asked Eva, incredulous.

  “What can I say? I love the classics.”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “Yeah whatever. Seriously though, isn’t that kinda too big? I mean, I know it’s the final boss and everything, but to go from beanie babies to Godzilla seems like a bit of a stretch to me, no? Anybody else feel the same way?”

  Time Remaining until Boss Encounter: 0:45

  “We can’t know what we’re up against until the timer reaches zero,” Robin tried to console them.

  In the distance there was a loud snap, sounding almost like a gunshot, followed by the creaking groan of a toppling giant. It was several tense seconds before the resulting cacophony of shattering branches had quieted enough for her words to be heard.

  “You never know. Maybe… maybe that thing is just passing by. It could have absolutely nothing to do with us,” Robin continued, though not even she sounded convinced.

  A deafening shriek shook the crowns of several far off trees, setting the entire canopy to trembling.

  “In your opinion, on a scale of one to ten, how likely do you think that would be?” asked Maya. “With one being ‘it’s entirely unlikely,’ and ten being ‘we’re totally screwed.’”

  “But wait,” asked Marlene. “Wouldn’t that mean that both of ‘em are the bad answer?”

  “Got it in one, my mild mannered friend! Get the next two right and win a prize!”

  “Wait, huh? You sayin’ there are prizes? You mean like, from the tutorial and stuff?”

  “Yes!” said Maya.

  “No,” said Eva.

  Maya pouted.

  “Ignore her Marlene. She’s just teasing you. Just, like, trying to push your buttons. Get a rise out of you, and stuff like that. I swear she, like, gets off on it or something.”

  “Hey, I resent that accusation! That’s- that’s- shirt what’s it called again? Uhh. Ah, right! That’s defecation!”

  “It’s defamation you-! Ugh!” Eva rolled her eyes in exasperation. “See! She does that shirt on purpose, I swear.”

  “Do not! Anyway, right! Defamation. I could, like, totally sue you for that, you know. Saw it on Judge Judy.”

  “Umm. I… think so. So just, don’t respond? That seems more’n a bit unneighborly though.”

  “Hey, are you listening to me? I’ll drown you in so many litigation fees, you won’t know your rear end from teakettle.”

  “She’ll live.”

  Maya grumbled.

  “Bunch’a killjoys. It’s no fun when you don’t play along.”

  “Like I said, just ignore her.”

  “Okay… I’ll try…”

  “Kids? Love the bonding, I really do, but now’s the time to focus up!”

  Time Remaining until Boss Encounter: 0:15

  Time Remaining until Boss Encounter: 0:14

  Barely a stone’s throw away, trees began to bow and bend. Groaning in protest, casually shoved to the side, as if by the girth of something well and truly massive. Birds squawked in indignation. Taking to the skies in mass like flies from a contested dung pile. Making their joint dissatisfaction known in no uncertain terms, as their nests were disturbed, snapped off, or completely demolished—eggs made to paint the forest floor far below.

  The actual tree line was so sparse that they could easily make out the lower half of the creature. The bipedal thing’s slowly limping gait—bad leg digging a massive furrow into the earth. Fuzzy pink hind paws, like fluffy slippers, entirely covered in muck. Each one the size of a grow man’s torso. And were those—the hems caked in all manner of muddy tree sap and leafy detritus—denim overalls?

  A massive rusty hook punched its way into the clearing, well above head height, and caused everyone present to jump in surprise. Catching on a pair of tree trunks, the meat hook ripped to the side, literally tearing the two towering oaks up by their roots. Flinging them to the side in a spray of wood splinters and upturned soil and obscuring the scene in a cloud of dirt and debris.

  A deafening crack followed, as the two impromptu projectiles slammed into another set of unsuspecting trees. The whole lot of them crashing down like an ungainly tower of matchsticks.

  There was silence.

  A fleeting silence that was swiftly shattered by the seismic thumps of its too heavy approach. An approach they could all feel in their very bones. Vibrating their teeth. Numbing their hands. Setting their knees to knock and legs to tremble.

  THUMP. SCRAAAPE! THUMP. SCRAAAPE!

  And out from the impenetrable cloud emerged…!

  A fluffy pink bunny.

  If said bunny also happened to be two stories tall, brutally scarred across the left side of its face, and in possession of a rust covered meat hook in place of its amputated left forearm. A wall of sound buffeted them then—half piercing shriek, half paralyzing roar—drowning out every other sound in the clearing. The accompanying shockwave savagely ripping at their hair and dragging tears from the corners of their eyes.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  +—|-BENNY THE BUNNY BEHEMOTH-|—+

  ?[Lvl 7 ELITE]?

  Time Remaining until Boss Encounter: 0:01

  Time Remaining until Boss Encounter: 0:00

  *DING!*

  Benny the Bunny Behemoth, Big Ben to his friends, was babysitting a clutch of ShareBears for an old pal of his, when he decided to take a nap.

  You can imagine his surprise when, upon waking from said nap, he finds that, not only are his appointed charges missing, but a large portion of his stockpiled armaments as well.

  Having tracked their progression all the way here, he is understandably dismayed upon finding the lot of them dead at your feet.

  Main Objective: Survive the Bosses Wrath for 15 minutes.

  Bonus Objective: Reduce the Bosses Health to 85% Before the 15 Minutes Have Elapsed.

  Bonus Objective: Complete the Main Objective With Less Than a Quarter Casualties.

  Current Number of Casualties: (0/13)

  Time Remaining: 14:54

  They were barely given a chance to read over the objectives, when “Big Ben,” took a lumbering step forward. The jolt of shifting earth snapped everyone back to attention.

  “So we don’t need to kill this thing right?” asked Denise, giving her rusty hatchet a couple of practice swings. “Just distract it?”

  “It seems that way,” Robin replied.

  “Perfect,” she said, before kicking off her heels, and dashing to the side.

  Away from the huddled group of children, Robin noted appreciably. It would seem she too had understood the meat of that third objective.

  “Hey ugly! Over here!” she screamed, waving her arms near the furthest tree line. “You’re looking for revenge, right? Well, I offed my fair share of the little tikes. And you know what? If you chop their itty bitty heads just right, they pop off like champagne bottles!”

  The boss roared, turned, and launched itself in her direction, fury writ large on its whiskered face. At nearly double the speed it’d shown previously, even with its prominent limp, it was nearly upon Denise within seconds. In brief windows, caught between its rhythmically pumping legs, Robin could see the stark terror in the woman’s bulging eyes. And yet, despite that, she stood firm, back straight and feet planted, a determined set to her jaw.

  It was admirable, and made Robin ashamed of her own hesitancy.

  Barely a stones throw away now—a single step for this massive creature—Denise watched the boss raise its meat hook high, sunlight glinting off what patches of metal weren’t covered in creeping rust. Denise tensed, taking in the mangled stuffed animal towering above her—it’s hook arm nearly as big as she was. It’s mere presence enough to blanket her in shadow.

  Legs shaking ever so slightly, and—who was she kidding?—the rest of her too for that matter, she just hoped the few YouTube videos of matadors she’d watched would aid her here. Tried not to dwell on all the videos depicting gored men and women—of bulls trampling their way through large crowds—which she’d seen on… less reputable sites. The boss closed the distance. Denise made ready to dodge. It’s hook came whistling down, far faster than she’d been expecting. She wasn’t going to be fast enough! Even as she willed her legs to do something, anything, they felt wooden. Not up to the task

  As if she were attempting to move through molasses.

  Move, lamb you! For forks sake, move!

  It was just as her life began to flash before her eyes, reflected in the patch of polished metal rapidly descending, that a furry round something bonked the seven meter tall bunny on his head. The boss froze, both its and Denise’s gaze trailing down to the decapitated ShareBear head now lying at its feet. Slowly, the boss turned, and Denise was allowed a glimpse of Robin, standing resolute, double fisting a couple of vibrant, stuffed craniums.

  “Think you dropped something!” the woman called. “Here!” and so saying she tossed another of the impromptu projectiles. The head bouncing harmlessly off of Big Ben’s chest. “You really can’t go leaving these out for anyone to find. Somebody might get hurt!”

  It was only then that Denise noticed that, inside each decapitated head, a rusty implement had been jammed in deep.

  No wonder they flew so far.

  “Hardcore…” muttered Maya in an awed tone heard by all.

  Somehow, the beast’s button eye, twitched. It then roared with an intensity that put its previous roars to shame, and charged. Denise, always quick on the uptake, dashed forward to snatch up the two heads the boss left behind. Looking up, she saw that the other three teens had done much the same—having spread themselves out all around the clearing.

  Huh. Sort of like a high stakes game of hot potato. You know, this could actually work. Definitely better than my idea, Denise thought, as she readied herself for her turn to be big behemoth bunny bait.

  +++

  Robin was forced to throw herself to the side, inexpertly rolling across the torn up turf as the massive meat hook whistled by. Planting its tip into the dirt with an explosion of earth. As if a miniature landmine had gone off. Thankfully, Marlene’s next throw did manage to catch the beasts attention, giving Robin the time she needed to scramble to her feet and scrape the dirt from her eyes. Glancing up at the timer in the top left corner of her vision, she didn’t know whether to feel relieved or exasperated.

  Time Remaining: 3:12

  Only three minutes left to go.

  She still thought they could manage it, but they were definitely cutting it close.

  Already she could see that some of the others were beginning to flag. And that went doubly so for herself. Had they been forced to manage this with even one less person, she genuinely did not believe they’d have survived as long as they had. It made her glad she hadn’t simply given up on Marlene immediately following her blunder—no matter how potentially disastrous it might have been.

  As she took in the clearing, torn and scarred from repeated contact with the monsters terrifying hook weapon, she saw that Maya was, yet again, doing far more than she’d deemed safe or necessary.

  Kiting, or so she’d called it, though what the suicidal maneuver had to do with kites, she had no idea. Even as she watched, the girl dashed in and out of the trees nearest the tree line. Avoiding the wide sweeps of its massive weapon by getting it caught on tree trunks and groups of branches. Of course this resulted in wood chips and large splinters repeatedly peppering the foolhardy girl from all sides. And yet, despite the spots of blood dyeing her pink hoodie and jeans, Robin could see the flashing white of her smile from here.

  Robin could only shake her head in exasperation. She turned her gaze from the idiot girl, to the group of children near the center—the only patch of greenery that hadn’t been touched by the rampaging boss monster.

  All fine and accounted for. A bit scared, but then who wouldn’t be in this situation? I sure know I am.

  Finally running out of steam, Maya just barely managed to duck behind a tree in time—huffing and puffing all the while. It’s hook arm whipped around to cleave the oak in two. The tree trunk toppled to the side with a deafening crash. Now plainly visible, covered in twigs and leaves, the girl glanced up to see the top of a rusty hook rapidly descending. Maya screamed. Luckily for her, Eva’s aim was remarkably on point. A fuzzy blue cranium bounced off the bosses left shoulder, causing it to turn with yet another roar, and mindlessly charge.

  Robin let out a breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding. She was seriously going to have to do something about that girl and her recklessness. On the bright side, her antics had managed to buy them a decent chunk of time.

  Time Remaining: 2:01

  Time Remaining: 2:00

  It was as they reached the two minute mark, however, that something strange happened. The timer began to flash red, and the boss monster, previously keen on chasing Eva around the clearing, abruptly stopped in its tracks.

  “Uh oh…” Maya said, her quiet voice audible in the hush that’d blanketed the clearing.

  “Uh oh?! What’s ‘uh oh?!’” Denise exclaimed. “You know something?! Girl, tell us what’s happening!”

  “Uhh… I’m not sure, but I think it’s a second phase.”

  Both the other teens seemed to blanch at this revelation, leaving Denise and Robin even more confused than before.

  “Second phase?! Is that supposed to mean something!?”

  “It means-” Eva started, but was cut off by sudden movement from the boss.

  It didn’t matter.

  They soon found out first hand what a “second phase” entailed. There was a deeply resonant clunk, as if some mechanism disengaging, followed by the sudden dislocation of its hook arm, and the rattle of links of chain. The hook hit the ruined turf like one might expect an anchor to hit the bottom of the ocean—with a detonation of dirt and debris. And connecting that hook to the monsters left elbow joint, was a gleaming, bright silver chain. Not a spec of rust on it.

  That was when Benny the Bunny Behemoth reached over, grabbed the chain, and began to swing the hook around like the blades of a helicopter.

  Time Remaining: 1:53

  Suddenly, it didn’t seem like so little time.

  If this is super easy, I don’t even want to know what hard looks like.

  Patreon with 16 advanced chapters available for a reasonable price. Hoping to ramp up the number of advanced chapters as I gain in patrons.