○ imagine joining forces with your worst enemy to fight for your life. content warning: mild gore, creepy/disturbing imagery ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ / avior hardly dared to breathe. at his side, marcus stiffened. the orange line started to move again. / ◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜◝◜ on the screen, the orange line slithered in a winding path, occasionally switching direction or looping back around itself, but its intention was clear: it was headed for the two little dots in the center of the screen. in the real world, the sound of something being dragged along the floor grew nearer and nearer, and the louder it got, the more terrifying this whole situation became. avior's eyes were glued to the screen, closely tracking the orange line's progress. when would it reach him? what was going to happen? just on the other side of the table with the computers, a book toppled off a shelf. another book followed. three more. what must have been a dozen. the shelf swayed unsteadily. it tipped to one side, then rocked back to the other. more books fell, one landing on its spine and opening to reveal an illustration of a woman bent over backwards in an impossible position, limbs at odd angles, head twisted to face outward, a too-big smile plastered upon her face. the shelf rocked further and further from side to side, and then, slowly, it tilted down down "MOVE!" marcus yelled, grabbing avior's arm and yanking him out of the way. down. with a great crashing sound, the shelf fell upon the table of computers. a thick cloud of dust rose, obscuring whatever it was on the other side. avior leaned forward, eyes narrowed, straining to glimpse what might have tipped over the shelf. the dust settled to reveal a small figure with a shock of white hair lying facedown on the ground. marcus gasped. "is that ethel?" the person's (?) head snapped up at the sound of his voice. slowly it turned to face them. wrinkled, gray skin. eyes as wide as saucers. scales all down its back. a smile that quite literally stretched from ear to ear, and a mouth that was filled with what looked like hundred of tiny, gleaming, razor-sharp teeth. the thing that was not ethel anymore pushed itself up onto four unsteady, thin limbs. avior did not wait for it to make any further movements. he bolted, marcus close on his heels. the easiest way to escape would simply be leaving the library. avior flew through the door, marcus following a moment later. "CLOSE IT!" avior screamed as the thing that was not ethel anymore rapidly approached them, skittering impossibly fast along the ground on those spindly legs. the door slammed shut. marcus turned the lock. they both breathed a sigh of relief. the thing that was not ethel anymore slammed into the door from the other side. the wood cracked. marcus let loose a long stream of profanities. the wood splintered slightly. "we have to get help!" marcus yelled, gesturing wildly to the door. "that's not gonna hold forever, and we can't fight it on our own!" an old lady couldn't be much harder to fight than a giant robot chicken. "yeah, you're right. *we* can't fight it on our own, but *i* can," avior said, fighting hard to keep his voice from wavering. "go ahead and run for it. i want to fight," "but— i— no—" marcus stammered. he took a deep breath. "i'm not just going to leave you here to die, even though you're probably the worst person i've ever met," he said resolutely. "you are nothing but an insufferable, meddling stickybeak. i bet you don't even know how to fight," "neither do you!" another crack split in the door. "go into the classroom across from the library," marcus said hurriedly. "the teacher used to be a pro baseball player, he has all sorts of bats on the walls. get one for each of us. and go quickly!" avior did not take orders from meddling stickybeaks. but he did, just this once. only because it was a dangerous situation. as marcus had said, the walls were indeed covered with all manner of bats. avior selected a solid black one that could have been twice his body weight for himself and a simple, thin wooden one for marcus. no sooner had he handed marcus the wooden bat than the door finally gave in and the thing that was not ethel at once bounded into the hallway in all its horrifying, hissing, snarling glory. in the brighter light, it really wasn't very much larger than marcus. that was reassuring. it crouched low to the ground, still with that nasty, oversized smile on its face, and lunged at avior, talon-like hands extended, mouth full to the brim with those shiny little teeth opened wide. avior swung the bat as hard as he could. it caught the thing that was not ethel in the side and flung it to the ground amidst a tremendous cracking noise, and when it got to its feet again, an entire side of its chest had completely caved in, papery skin hanging loosely over an empty cavity where previously a bony ribcage had been.
pleased with himself, avior swung the bat again, and it came crashing down upon the creature's spine, which snapped in two, folding over like it was made of nothing. and again the creature crawled to its feet, now considerably less stable but now unencumbered by the restrictions that came with a fully functioning spine. smiling as it was, there was no doubt that the creature was angry, and this time it moved fast, far too fast, and leapt, firmly attaching itself to avior's chest. though the creature was not very big, it was definitely larger than avior, and he and the creature came tumbling to the ground. he was entirely at its mercy now, and with the wide-eyed, monstrous face leering above him, he feared this creature would be merciless. he took a deep breath (well, as deep a breath as one could take with a shockingly heavy monster sitting on their chest) and braced himself for the worst. but then the weight lifted, and the creature now laid unmoving on the ground, impaled by a wooden baseball bat. marcus stood frozen in place, empty-handed, staring bemusedly at the creature. "i think... i think i killed it," he exhaled. well, it certainly looked dead. bah. marcus had stolen the final blow away from him, and with it, he took all the glory of slaying a beast of that magnitude. how rude of him.
