“Maaaah,” she growled, intending to launch herself into the air and claw the man to death.
He grunted and held out his arms for protection.
“Bad pussycat!” Bonnie shouted at her as Jelly kicked her hind legs against the sand and jumped into the air, headed for the man’s face.
“Meow!”
The man’s attempt to guard his face worked. Jelly took a swipe with her extended titanium claw and tore the skin on top of his hand. He batted her away, sending her to the floor.
She landed on her infinity claws and scraped a lump of sand away, ready for a second attack. “Meow.”
WHUMP… The tree swayed around and coughed out a third and final sound. Jelly instantly relaxed and gave up her desire for blood.
She needed water, and the oceanfront looked suitably thirst-quenching.
“Shaaa—”
“—Meow,” Jelly snapped, cutting the man off mid-grunt. The stern look in her eyes suggested she wasn’t to be messed with. Her nose twitched over and over again as her whiskers began to vibrate.
The tree’s incessant humming of the tune came to a close.
Then, Jelly’s facial fur stood on end, as if having been rubbed by a balloon, “Meoowwuuurrr….”
Bonnie and the man couldn’t tear their eyes away. Something strange was happening to Jelly.
Her entire body shuddered continuously.
The tree began to subside and crumble apart.
The sky grew overcast with a milk-like substance.
Jelly’s whiskers tingled and sparked, lighting up. The intensity throttled her around, the air dragging her by the shoulders towards the shore.
“Jelly!” Bonnie ran after her. Ready to take out her Rez-9 and blast whatever was responsible for pulling Jelly to the ocean, she found herself at a loss. Nothing to shoot – no preventable action could be taken.
Powerless, Bonnie watched Jelly lift into the air, thrashing her limbs around and screaming for dear life.
“Oh, God…” Bonnie dropped her arms and witnessed the tree break apart and slink into the pink, bloodied ocean.
“Miyeeeww,’ Jelly let out a final squeal of terror fifty feet in the air. The invisible force released its grip and tossed her face-first into the water.
She threw her infinity claws in front of her face.
SPLOSH.
Helpless, Bonnie didn’t know where to turn. Perhaps the naked man could help?
“Hey, you,” she said. “Where are— oh, no. Oh no, no, no…”
She couldn’t believe what she saw.
His severed head rested atop the sand, opened-eyed. It looked as if someone had buried him up to the neck for fun.
She retrieved her Rez-9 from her belt and held it at the head, “Where’s… where’s the rest of your body—”
BOP!
An incredible forced slammed Bonnie from behind, throwing her chest-first to the floor. “Gah!” Her Rez-9 flew out of her hand and slid ten feet across the sand in front of her. “Damn.”
She pushed herself onto her elbows, expected to be blinded by the sun, “Help me.”
Instead, the shadow of something insidious crept over her face. Whatever it was scuttled in slow-motion toward her.
Bonnie kicked herself back along the sand, trying to understand the predicament she was in. “Jesus Christ, what the hell is that?”
It was an outrageous amalgam of flesh and skin, previously of human form. Measuring eight-foot high and around ten-foot wide. Twelve limb-like legs with stumps on each side working in unison to help it forward. A gaping concoction of gums and teeth opened up in the middle and let out a guttural, terrifying roar.
Seconds away from doing whatever it was it did to people like Bonnie, she decided she wasn’t sticking around to find out.
“Jeez…”
She scrambled onto her front and crawled along the piping hot sandy surface. Her fists slipped with each grasp forward, slowing her escape down to a near halt.
The creature gained on her.
“Come on, come on…” she squinted at her Rez-9 firearm laying five feet away from her, “Gah, gah… come on.”
She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder. The beast jabbed the sand with its four front limbs and pulled itself toward her.
“Aggh,” she dug her heels into the ground and pushed the top half of her body back a few inches.
SWIPE! SWISH!
One of its limbs tore her inner-suit with its razor sharp talon at the end of its stump.
Six of its back limbs lifted up, ready to strike, leaving six grounded flesh poles to move forward.
“No, no… please.”
The beast roared, spraying pink spittle into the air. Some of it hit Bonnie’s face as she trailed back by her elbows, “No!”
SWIPE!
Bonnie kicked her titanium foot at the beast in an attempt to fend it off. It had the opposite effect, enraging the beast even more.
Her leg detached from the ball and joint socket in her hip, the dislodged appendage firmly in the beast’s razor-sharp claws.
“Nooo,” Bonnie flipped onto her front and scrambled for her Rez-9. She grabbed at it but her fingertips couldn’t quite get there.
Just three inches separated her from death and freedom. “Please, please…”
WHUMP!
The beast roared once again and stabbed at Bonnie, spearing its front-left limb into the ground.
“Gah! Cute little thing, aren’t ya?”
Bonnie scrunched her face and planted the sole of her right boot on the creature’s front limb. The beast howled as she kicked herself back.
She rolled onto her side, swiped her Rez-9 in her right hand and swung the barrel at the center of the monstrosity.
“Hey, you!” She flicked the latch on the side of the chamber, arming the gun, “Look at me, you disgusting knuckle-headed bag of puke.”
All twelve of the creature’s limbs tightened up, throwing its body onto its haunches.
“Go to hell,” she pulled the trigger and covered her face.
The hole at the end of the barrel focused into the creature’s view, followed by a smothering of white light. It’s mouth opened up and screamed in her face. “Shantaaaaaaa—”
KA-SCHPPLLAAATTT!!!
The creature exploded into a zillion, gloopy pieces. It’s stuck front limb stood upright like a tent peg as the rest of it splattered across the ground, coating the sand a wet shade of pink and red.
Bonnie held her position – and her breath – wanting confirmation that the thing had been obliterated.
Her titanium leg slumped to the middle of the gore-strewn sand a few feet away from her.
She took a deep breath and pressed the back of her head against the sand, thankful she hadn’t been killed.
As the harsh, radioactive light from the three suns cooked her face, she realized she didn’t have to worry about sunburn. She was an Androgyne unit, after all, despite her memories suggesting the contrary.
Bonnie moved her head to the side. The waves crashed against the shore.
The tree was there a few moments ago but had disappeared during the fight. Its absence brought Bonnie back into action.
Where had Jelly gone?
CHAPTER TEN
A thousand bubbles raced up Jelly’s arms as she waded through the clear, blue water.
“Blug-blug-blug,” came out of her mouth instead of a meow. Her lungs expelled the oxygen into the never-ending depths of the ocean.
Her whiskers lit up a neon yellow and fizzed at the tips. Her infinity claws acted the same way as she forced herself to keep her eyes open.