Ch. 148

Ch. 148
I risk a glance toward Perris.
The phantoms have tightened their grip on him, their translucent hands sinking into his shoulders and arms like hooks into fish. His eyes, still wavering between his natural green and that unsettling blood-red, are fixed in horror at the monstrosity before us. Little by little, I see the fog in his gaze clear, the green overpowering the red as he starts to come back to himself. His phantoms notice, too, and only become that much more vicious in their efforts to complete their goal. They drag him another inch closer to the water's edge, all but throwing him in front of their slimy overlord.
My momentary distraction costs me. A barbed tentacle whips toward my face, and I throw myself backward just in time to avoid being impaled. The barb catches my shirt, tearing the fabric and grazing my skin. A line of fire blooms across my collarbone as whatever toxin coats the barb makes contact with my blood.
The pain clarifies my thoughts, focusing my attention on survival. The swamp glows around us with that eerie shifting light, casting strange shadows that make the monster seem even larger, more otherworldly. But the same light reveals potential weapons—fallen branches, stones half-buried in the mud, more exposed roots jutting from the bank.
I grab a handful of swamp muck and hurl it directly at the creature's maw as it lunges again. The mud splatters across what, I hope, are the monster's sensory organs around its hideous mouth, and the monster rears back, appendages flailing to clear the obstruction. I don't waste the moment I’ve bought myself. Darting forward, I snatch a jagged branch from the muck and jam it into the soft tissue where one tentacle connects to its body.
The creature thrashes, sending waves across the swamp's surface. I hop backward, my feet finding firmer ground as I lead it away from where Perris struggles with his demons. If I can keep its attention on me, maybe he'll have a chance to break free.
"Hey!" I taunt, waving my arms. "Over here, you overgrown leech! Is that the best you can do?"
The monster rotates toward me, its entire body shifting to track my movement. It's learning, adapting to my tactics. Two limbs surge forward simultaneously from different angles, forcing me to dive between them in a move that would make Coach proud if he were here to see it.
I roll back to my feet, mud coating me from head to toe, making me slippery and harder to grab. It’s a small advantage, but I'll take whatever I can get. I grab another branch, this one thicker and heavier than the last, and brandish it like a sword.
"You're not the first monster I've faced down here," I growl, backing toward a twisted tree that will prevent the creature from surrounding me. "I’m liking my chances."
The creature pauses again, as if considering this challenge. Its flesh ripples with internal movement, the transparency revealing organs shifting position, rearranging themselves for some new attack. The maw opens wider than before, unhinging like a snake's jaw to reveal more rows of teeth deeper in its gullet, each rotating in the opposite direction from the one before it.
“Oh, for crying out—”
From behind me, I hear Perris cry out in renewed anguish as the phantoms grow more violent, shoving jagged, desicated claws into the flesh of his shoulders, pinning him to the muck below as they shriek, “You will stay and meet the fate that you’re owed!”
The creature lunges again, but this time I'm ready. I sidestep at the last possible moment, swinging my branch with all my might at what looks like a joint in one of its primary limbs. The wood connects with a wet crunch, and the limb bends unnaturally. The monster's subsonic screech intensifies, making mud vibrate on the ground and sending ripples across the water's surface.
I press my advantage, circling to keep the wounded limb between us while looking for another opening. The monster adapts again, its remaining appendages spreading wider to prevent escape, hemming me in against the bank. One tentacle slithers through the mud behind me, nearly catching my ankle before I leap over it.
"Come on, Perris!" I shout, desperation making my voice crack. "I could use some help here!"
The monster's maw descends toward me in a rush of fetid wind and grinding teeth. I dive beneath it, scraping my back on something sharp hidden in the mud, and come up on the other side.
“Fucking hell.” Without thinking, I hurl my branch directly into the rotating rings of teeth. The wood splinters instantly, but some pieces jam between the concentric circles, disrupting their perfectly synchronized movement.
The creature shudders from mouth to tail, its entire body convulsing as it tries to clear the obstruction. I scramble away, searching frantically for another weapon, anything to buy more time. My hand closes around a rock half-buried in the mud—not ideal, but solid and heavy.
The monster recovers more quickly than I expected, its teeth grinding the wood to splinters and expelling them in a spray of saliva and ichor. It turns toward me with renewed fury, its movements more erratic now, less calculated and more driven by rage. In some ways, that makes it more dangerous—less predictable, more willing to sacrifice limbs to catch its prey.
I back away, rock clutched in my mud-slick fingers, trying to lead the creature further from Perris while staying out of reach of those barbed tentacles. The greenish-purple light pulses around us, casting strange shadows that make the monster seem to be everywhere at once. My legs tremble with exhaustion, my lungs burn with each breath of the swamp's heavy air, and the cut on my collarbone throbs with unnatural heat.
But I refuse to give in. Not here, not now, not after everything I've survived. As the monster rears up for another attack, I plant my feet in the mud and prepare to meet it head-on.