Ava's POV
Egg after egg dropped, filling the space, and I couldn't help the feeling of raw panic eating me up. I had never seen such a monster with different traits. It had pincers like scorpions and made loud noises. It buzzed like a bee and was so solid even though it was made of ants.
It was laying eggs, which was really unbelievable, but what scared me was that I didn't know what would happen if the eggs happened to hatch. What creature would we see there, and how would they eat us up?
I took in deep breaths as I and Jace were pushed together. I couldn't help myself. It felt like I would suddenly scream and go out. The eggs fell against us, and it was then I knew I couldn't help myself.
“Jace!” I called out as my hand closed over his shirt tightly. My mouth opened wide, and I fought for breath but couldn't find it.
“Ava, Ava, breathe!” Jace said, looking at me intently as I hit my chest, trying to breathe.
My eyes filled up with tears, and it felt like I was going to die. The whole thing suddenly felt hopeless, and I just wanted to escape. I wanted to scream and burst out from the hole. It felt like I was being squeezed, and at that point, I was willing to do anything just so I would feel and see a lot of space. I knew it was just a panic attack and that I wasn't dying, but I couldn't help myself.
“Ava, look at me.” Jace said as the tears ran down my eyes. “Look, look at me alone.” He said, and it was only when I focused on him alone, filling my mind with the image of him, that I was finally able to breathe.
He stroked my hair and tucked it behind my ear lovingly.
“We're going to get out of here. It's fine.” He said, with a smile, and I wondered what I had done to come across someone as affectionate as he was.
If he knew I was a female, the care could even be more than this.
“Look at all that sweat. Come on, we can climb on these.” He said, taking my hand, and together, we began to climb the stairs.
When we got to the top, Jace raised a fist and punched the monster hard. It let out a screech this time around, and I joined Jace, hitting it with my all. The eggs were slippery, and I was so scared of falling that I gathered all my fear and put it into punching the creature.
Eventually it got up, and I gasped, taking in all the air I needed. He helped push me up, and I rolled onto level ground. The monster was there, coming towards me, with its mouth open, ready to thrust its tongue with me.
The tongue came lashing out, and I threw myself onto the floor, rolling away from its strike. It raised the tongue again, and I knew I'd be too slow to get up and dodge.
Fortunately, Jace was already out. He raised a really large rock and hurled it at the tongue.
The rock pushed the tongue to the floor and landed hard on it, making the monster screech.
“Ava!” He called, running towards me.
“Jace!” I pointed behind him. The monster was aiming for him. Unfortunately, Jace was too slow to avoid it. The tongue swiped him up, and I screamed, getting to my feet.
It took Jace, aiming to throw him into its mouth, but Jace raised his hand high, taking out his claws. He plunged it into the tongue, and something dark poured out.
Seeing that we could use our claws, I pulled mine out and attacked the creature, slashing at its feet wickedly.
It screeched, and eventually, Jace was dropped.
We both attacked it, swiping, digging, and thrusting our claws as we saw fit. We weren't about to lose.
Immediately the monster lost its footing and tumbled to the floor; we both turned and ran, like we had agreed on it.
We ran as fast as we could, without looking back. I jumped over the low branches and fallen trees with the speed and agility of a panther. Well, the fear was mainly accountable for it. I felt so cold inside as sweat poured out of every area of my body.
Unfortunately, I tripped and screamed. Jace tried to catch me, but ended up falling as a result.
We both rolled down a steep slope, and it was a mix of fear, pain, and panic. The stones and sharp twigs slashed at us, cutting us mercilessly, and about four times, I dashed my head on a rock.
When we stopped rolling, I could feel warm liquid running down the side of my face painfully.
“Ava.” Jace called softly.
“Before it catches us again.” I said, getting to my feet. Almost immediately I fell down again as the world was turning, and my head was swimming.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jace asked, touching my cheeks.
“I'm fine.” I assured him, and when I stood, he assisted me. “I didn't know our claws could work.” I said, looking at my hands.
“Neither did I. I only used it out of instinct and was surprised at the outcome.” He replied, and I smiled.
“Look at the way we fought against that thing. I hate it.” I said, feeling disgusted.
“We should be thankful it didn't suffocate us with those eggs.” He replied.
“No. We should be grateful those eggs didn't crack and bring out more despicable creatures. I'd die from the fear and my scream before anything touched me.” I said, and he laughed.
“The fear alone is enough to kill.” He replied as we got to a little stream. “Let's cross it to the other side and continue before that thing finds us.” Jace said, and I nodded. He held onto my hand tightly, and we both stepped into the stream, only to discover it wasn't just a normal shallow stream that would have our feet hit stone, and ground.
We fell in, and were swallowed by the water.
Water rushed into my mouth, and I gulped down water without intending to. The stream pushed us away from where we had intended to go to, and me and Jace were torn apart.
I fought against the water, kicking my legs out wildly, and slashing it with my hands, trying desperately to get back to Jace.
I managed to get my head out of the water, and was only able to take in one breath before I was swallowed by the water again.
Luckily, Jace was close to me, and I reached out to get his hand. He also tried his best to reach out to me, but he was unable to get to me. The water was insistent on tearing us apart. Meanwhile, I was running out of breath.
Finally, I was able to get my head out again, and I gasped hard for breath. A few feet away from me, Jace also raised his head, breathing hard.
“Ava! Ava!!” He shouted, looking like he had seen something terrible.
I looked back only to find that we were going to fall down a huge waterfall.
The water moved even faster, and I barely had the time to try to swim backwards before I began to fall.
I screamed.