The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 60: Immunity

Part 3/3

“Why’d you run?!” Samuel yelled with clenched fists, “You could have, you could have-”

“Could have what? Tore those leeches off myself? Even though you were having trouble doing it! What good could I have done?” Aurora said, “I came back with help because I knew I couldn’t do it alone! That was the most rational decision I could’ve made yet here you are berating me about how I shouldn’t have run, PLEASE. Nothing I do is ever smart or good enough for you, huh? You probably think I’m just a brat who can’t take care of herself and can’t do anything on her own!”

Aurora began to walk off into the direction they were supposed to go.

“But now I can see you’re just a selfish prick who only cares about himself.”

Andres looked at Samuel, and offered his hand.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

Andres hauled Samuel up to the ground, and Samuel felt something weird in his heart. Guilt. Was this the right thing to do?

“No. It isn’t,” Samuel admitted to himself as they continued to travel along.

The rest of the way was silent. No one dared to utter a word in fear of being verbally harassed by Aurora and her stunning speech. But what Aurora said WAS true though. She did the most reasonable course of action in that situation.

Suddenly, the cavern began to open up, revealing a gigantic cavity that was filled with large orange sacs and cobwebs. It certainly was a terrifying sight. They could see two other pathways too, and before they knew it two women emerged from the right path. Tiffany and Ruby.

“Tiffany! Over here!” Andres said, waving at her. Tiffany and Ruby turned, waving back at him.

“Look at that, we didn’t even have to split up!” Ruby chuckled. Everyone laughed except Aurora and Samuel. Everyone quickly regrouped, taking a moment to analyze their surroundings.

“So, this is the end of the cave. Was that really all there was to it?” Neddy asked. Tiffany shook her head, her heartbeat slowly drumming over the sound of the trickling water.

“Don’t think so. Look over there. You see that caught in the webs?”

Everyone stared at where Tiffany was pointing at and saw it. A strange spheroid that was made of a mysterious metal and had engravings that glowed a rosy red. It hummed with a strange power, and beneath the webbing were strange metal veins made of the same material as the object. It was certainly the artifact.

“So it’s the artifact… But how exactly are we supposed to get it?” Neddy asked. Andres walked up to the webbing and tried jumping up to grab it, but it was too high.

“Arghhh, I can’t get it!” Andres groaned. Neddy ran up to him and jumped on his back. He let out a squeal as he lost his balance, stumbling forward a few steps before steadily regaining his step.

“Try not to drop me,” Neddy told him. Neddy slowly began to stand up on his two feet, and Andres quaked as he carried Neddy’s weight. Neddy outstretched his hand, touched the artifact, and it disintegrated into metal shards.

“Woah!” everyone gasped.

The metal shards flew into Neddy’s implant, and he let out a gasp as he fell off of Andres, falling to the ground. Neddy’s implant glowed, but the color faded away.

“Ahhhh it just entered me I think I’m gonna-” Neddy paused, and he suddenly gasped, “Wait a minute, woah, my airways feel all clear now! That darned stuffy nose I had all day is gone!”

Neddy got up from the ground, blinked his eyes, and took his glasses off.

“And I can see better now!”

“He absorbed the artifact and gained its power,” Tiffany realized with wonder. So with the artifact collected, everyone made haste and left the cave.