The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 53: Deja Vu

Part 2/3

Ruby quickly took aim and shot an arrow at one of them. It moved to the side. Ruby grimaced, and pointed her finger at them.

“Goofy, get them!”

Goofy complied and quickly charged at the Terror Birds. The Terror Birds weaved out of the way of the hulking bull beast, and Goofy ended up smashing his head into a tree. Goofy shook his head in distraught, shaking his head dizzily.

“Ugh, guess that didn’t work…”

“There’s no time to be thinking that, they’re coming right at us!” Aurora shouted. She ran forward, and one Terror Bird tried to bite at her, but Aurora sidestepped and quickly slammed the spear right into its gut. It let out a cry and blood spewed onto her clothes, but the other Terror Birds quickly began to swarm Samuel and the others, ignoring their wounded friend.

“Crap,” Samuel swore. He leaned forward, and Star jumped right on his head. One Terror Bird tried taking a bite at Star, but Samuel quickly leaned backward. Star let out a squawk and pecked at the Terror Bird. It let out a cry and backed away.

The other three Terror Birds were circling around Neddy and Ruby, who were face-to-face. Alongside each other, they didn’t seem so scared. Neddy grinned, his spear gripped tightly.

“Heh. You three look really dumb. You know that, right?”

One of the Terror Birds began squawking at him, and Neddy began to laugh, but then gulped as he turned white.

“Um. I don’t understand Terror Bird language, but I think that means he’s going to rip our guts out.”

Samuel inserted the spear into the Terror Bird he was fighting, and it was defeated. Samuel looked at the beehive that hung in the tree, and an idea grew on him.

“Ruby, shoot that beehive down!”

Ruby looked at the beehive and began to sweat.

“But that thing’s so high up!”

“That doesn’t matter… Just focus on your breathing, clear your mind!” Samuel cried out. Ruby took a deep breath of air silently, closing her eyes and concentrating on her surroundings. Samuel’s eyes darted up to Star, and she nodded. Her chest began to glow, and suddenly… Ruby’s mind was cleared!

“I feel enlightened,” Ruby whispered. Ruby aimed her crossbow at the hive and pulled the trigger.

Pew!

The arrow soared through the air, and after some descent it hit its target! The beehive shook back, and the buzzing began to outgrow the Terror Birds’ cries. The Terror Birds jolted their heads back in fear, and giant bees began to swarm outside of the hive, making their way to the five.

“Uh oh, here they come! I think it’s time to go,” Neddy stated the obvious. Neddy began to make a mad dash for it, and Ruby followed, but not before whistling to Goofy. Goofy shoved himself off the ground and started running after them. Fish Eater began to flee as well.

Aurora hopped on Blueblaze and began to run. Samuel gritted his teeth and began to run after her.

“What the hell are you thinking? That’s my raptor-” Samuel was interrupted as he felt something sharp prick his heel. Then, the prick began to grow in pain. Then it began to swell and vibrate throughout his entire leg. Samuel let out a roar of frustration and turned around to see a giant bee’s stinger had made its way into his heel. The bee was much larger than the others, and its buzzing was so loud that was all Samuel could hear. Star quickly made a decision and hopped off Samuel, diving right into the stinger. The stinger snapped in half, and the pain began to loosen. The bee began to buzz loudly, flying away, and spitting out more bees, somehow.

Samuel looked out to see his allies slowing to a crawl, and looking back was Neddy. Samuel could spot Neddy hop on Goofy, and Goofy made his way back to Samuel.

“Oh my goodness Samuel!” Neddy gasped, seeing Samuel’s state, “Don’t worry, I got you!”

Neddy reached his hand out, and Samuel grabbed onto it. Neddy pulled Samuel up, and now the two were making their way back to the others.

“Woah, uh,” Samuel said, speechless, “Thanks for helping me. Back there.”

“Yeah, of course, no problem,” Neddy said, “Even though we AREN’T friends… I’m still going to help you. Because I believe we CAN be friends, if you just try a little harder!”

“Hmm.”