The Boy with Words for Skin

Chapter 32: Fight

Evry squeezed her eyes shut and released herself from the ceiling. She landed on Tang's back and covered his eyes with her hands. He screamed and let go of Keys. Face turned to see what had happened and a huge glob of mud hit him in the middle of his mirror face. The mud splattered outwards and covered the entire mirror. He stumbled backwards, shocked, arms flapping as he tried to regain his balance.

I stumbled to the front of the grave. "Push me out, guys! Push me out!" I jumped and hands grabbed my legs. My head and shoulders cleared the edge and I grabbed onto the ground. Another shove, some frantic clawing, and I was out of the grave. I rolled onto my back, twisted, and reached back down into the grave.

Z grabbed my arm. I pulled and D-rip pushed. He came up and out much easier than I expected. He kneeled and spun around and we both reached back into the grave. Then D-rip jumped and dug his feet into the walls as we pulled. He came right out. The three of us looked back down into the grave. Light was still sitting, his head in his hands.

"Light!" I called.

He didn't even look up at me.

"Just do as I say, Light! Listen to me!" I said.

Nothing.

"Do you hear me? Do as I say!"

His head bobbed once. That'd have to be good enough.

I turned and looked around the room. It was huge. The floor was dirt like the rest of the basement. But instead of being crowded with a maze of boxes and junk, everything was stacked along the walls. A naked bulb with a pull-string hung from a wire in the center of the room.

"Keys, are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded.

Tang stumbled around, blind, as he tried to pull Evry off his back. Face was on his knees about twenty feet away. He wiped his mirror one final time and looked at us. When he saw the four of us standing there he picked up his knife.

"You missed a spot!" D-rip said. He'd already made another muddy puddle and had his hand full of mud. He threw the mud, but Face dodged it.

Face started for us, knife ready at his side. I grabbed the shovel and we circled to the other side of the grave.

Across the room, Tang threw himself backwards against a part of the stone wall that wasn't hidden by boxes, smashing Evry against it. I heard her head hit the wall. Her body went limp. She slumped and fell off Tang to the ground.

Face reached the grave and jumped across it.

"We should've thought this through better!" Z said.

We shuffled backwards, tripping on each other, as Face slashed at us with his knife. Keys screamed and fell backwards into a stack of boxes. Z threw his arms in front of his face. The knife slashed across both of his forearms. He cried out in pain and Face grabbed him by the shirt and yanked hard. Z stumbled forward, tripped, and then fell back into the grave.

"Z!" D-rip said. He pointed his fists at Face and two huge jets of water shot out of them. The water hit Face with so much force that he stumbled a few steps backwards.

Tang lunged out of nowhere and tackled D-rip to the ground. They rolled over and over each other. They came to a stop, Tang on top. He pinned D-rip's shoulders down with his knees and punched him in the face.

I barely turned in time to see Face come at me. I stumbled backward and swung the shovel. The flat side of the blade hit him in the shoulder. He screamed in pain but only paused for a moment before continuing to come at me.

"Light!" I said, moving backwards as fast as I could. "Make it dark!"

Nothing happened.

"Make it dark!" I backed into a stack of boxes. I swung the shovel at Face, but he pulled back and I missed. It threw me off balance and I almost fell over.