VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 80

Terrence was completely wiped out, barely able to keep his eyes open- though he forced them to, anyway. He didn't even want to know how many bones he'd broken.

". . . God . . . god . . . that did not just happen," Sadie's breathing was heavy and hitched. She was so angry that Skeeter was dead, and all her friends had nearly met the same fate. She was horrified. Stricken with grief, and disbelief that Jason Clever had turned out to be a terrorist mastermind.

"I'm taking you two to the hospital," she managed to whisper, looking back at Fuku. "It was cool of you to protect her. And . . . him, I guess. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. My wrist kinda hurts, though," Terrence shrugged. It was a stupid lie, but he didn't want her to worry. She probably had a lot on her mind already.

". . . You're somethin' else, T, but . . ." she shook her head. "Why'd you save him?"

"I know Greg." Terrence replied weakly. "He's . . . I know he'd never . . ." After a few coughs, he continued. "He helped fight Krashna. Swung a baseball bat right in his face. I know he . . . made a bad decision, but he'd never do it willingly . . . I trust him . . ."

"If you say so . . ." Sadie replied, not buying it, "anyway, we gotta get to the hospital."

"N-no," Terrence feebly said. "We need to go to Frisk's house. She's in danger."

"Are you sure? I mean, T, you took a helluva beating. You're probably delirious and—"

"Please." Terrence insisted. Sadie pursed her lips, before nodding. He wasn't sure why he assumed his girlfriend was in danger, but he just . . . knew. Like a gut feeling. For a moment, it felt like he was getting lashed by Krashna again . . . he was gonna have some serious trauma.

Everyone probably would.

However, as they passed through the busier part of the city, something happened that captured everyone's attention.

The various screens on the surrounding buildings all flashed to a single image. A man with slicked back blonde hair and a bushy spruce mustache, wearing glasses and a clean navy blue two-piece suit. As Sadie was forced to stop due to a traffic jam, Terrence rolled down the window to hear the man's booming voice as it echoed through the city. He felt like he'd seen this man from somewhere before . . .

"Attention residents of Voxis City," he spoke, his gaze stern and cold, his voice equally so. "The monsters that invaded our city have finally done as we all knew they would. Asgore, the Monster King, has declared war on all of humankind, and has killed our standing mayor when he refused to grant Asgore his seat during a hostile takeover attempt. Humans, barricade your homes, stay inside, and wait for further instructions. As of now, Voxis City is under martial law. Acting against our police force will result in your immediate death. Tune into station 47.7 for further instructions. This message will repeat."

"Asgore did what?" Sadie looked bewildered at the thought of the monster king doing something so violent. Granted, she'd only met him once or twice and hadn't engaged in a lengthy conversation, but she'd always been under the impression that he was a big teddy bear.

"It's crap," Terrence shook his head, scowling. "I dunno who that guy is, but Mr. D wouldn't do something like that."

"How do you know?" Sadie questioned, not in a mean or condescending way- she'd just appreciate something that could make her feel a little better about this 'martial law.'

"I've literally seen him drink tea in his underwear while watching Europe's Got Talent, and he cried during all the singing performances. He gardens, he has a good job, he's a great dad- he just . . . he wouldn't do something like that. He's not the type."

"Well, if you're sure, I trust you more than that guy, I guess," Sadie gestured to the various screens. The traffic jam was a hundred times worse now as people began to panic, some of them even abandoning their cars and running off on foot.

"This . . . isn't good. We need to get to Frisk's house, and fast. I don't know if we can wait to get you two to the ER," Sadie blinked, her breathing still strained and heavy.

Terrence grit his teeth, fighting off the urge to pass out to glance back at Fuku and Greg. ". . . Grillby's is closer. Let's take her to her dad. He'll know what to do . . . I hope."

However, the line of cars refused to move, leaving the group to reluctantly abandon Rian's nigh-totalled car, the two humans dragging Fuku and Gregory to Grillby's as best as they could. Fortunately, nobody got in their way or even paid attention to them as they moved on. Terrence greatly struggled to keep his eyes open and his feet under him.

However, this failed the moment the bar and grill came into sight. Terrence fell to the ground, slipping unconscious, dragging Gregory down with him.

"Hey, get up!" Sadie urged, to no avail, lowering Fuku to the ground to try and slap him awake, again to no avail. "Argh, stay here," she told them before dashing off toward Grillby's. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to leave them both there, but Sadie lacked the strength to drag all of them. She looked back about every three seconds, but luckily, the scared, panicking citizens were too wrapped up in scrambling around cars pointlessly to even acknowledge the three limp bodies on the sidewalk.

Sadie threw the door to Grillby's open, rushing up to the fire-man behind the counter and pointing at the door. He was staring up at the TV screen by the bar with an even blanker gaze than usual, not polishing a shot glass for once.

"G-Grillby, it's Fuku! We got attacked- all of us! She's outside, I don't know what to do, this was the closest place, and . . ."

Luckily, the restaurant was empty, so Sadie's barging in didn't disturb anyone. Not that it concerned Grillby, who was immediately willing to cooperate when he looked outside to see Fuku, Gregory, and Terrence collapsed.

Wordlessly, he marched past Sadie and descended upon the trio. He bent onto a knee, and pressed his hand against Fuku's forehead. As the flames of his hand intensified, the brightness of her body returned as he seemingly restored her, though she failed to wake. Grillby scooped her up into his arms, cradling her before gesturing for Sadie to collect Terrence and Gregory.

At that moment, a few people seemed to take notice of them, Grillby certainly calling a lot of attention to him with his bright flames.

"Monster!" One man yelled, raising what appeared to be a golf club. Grillby simply turned away from the man as a wall of fire erupted from the ground on either end of the street, completely blocking anyone off from the restaurant.

"Eugh. Gross . . ." Sadie wrinkled her nose at the group of people. "Are some people really just going around to gang up on monsters because of what that guy said?"

She looked over to Grillby, who as usual, had nothing to say in reply, having crossed back to the Bar & Grill he owned, Fuku in his arms. He just stared down at his unconscious daughter, who'd been mercilessly thrown about the football field . . . actually injuring fire monsters such as them was a feat few were able to achieve without water. This seemed to genuinely scare the usually stoic Grillby, though Sadie couldn't tell what he was feeling at the moment.

"We can't hide here forever. I- I have a family. And I left Rian at the school, what do we do?" Sadie asked, looking outside to see the walls of fire remained just as intense as when they'd been summoned.

Grillby still said nothing as he sat on the ground, leaning against his bar as he removed his glasses to rub at where his eyes would be.

"I can't just wait around here, Grillby, I need-"

"Just wait." Grillby replied, resting his head on the wall.

Sadie blinked. Waiting wasn't going to solve anything. Rian was in danger at the school. Frisk was in danger at her home. The Messiah wasn't afraid to start killing people, and they were trying to pin the blame on Asgore and the rest of monsterkind. Even though it was set up to be an attempt to exterminate monsters, nobody was really safe.