Apple

Chapter 14

Goggles This Time

...

I sprinted down the shallow red channel; my breath was running out while I ran down the dark place. I can't say I'm lost because I wasn't found in the first place.

Handling Maples scent last night was heaven compared to this purgatory. The acidic aura that radiated off the beige waves was way too much to handle, and with the last bits of my breath, this wasn't something I could let in my system. I need Air! Fresh air!

The beige sea was a breath away from taking me inside, on my dead Flesh! I would die rather than let this thing touch me. But I was running out of breath and energy, I was bound to get yanked in at some point. I'm one to face facts, I thought as I ran down a corner, the fluid backing off a little.

I stopped in my tracks for a couple of seconds to catch some air, even though it was unfiltered nasty air, but oxygen nevertheless. I leaned on one of the wavy walls; I cringed at the touch and yanked my hands back as fast as I laid them.

"Ew ew ew ew!" I shrieked once the wet substance on the unfortunately unstable wall came in contact with my skin. It was time I resumed my run, anyways, I convinced myself. And still the disgust didn't go away.

Shivers ran down my spine as I heard the faint sound of the fluid like water running down the faucet. I sighed in contemplation as I sprinted down the dark clearance. Right now I was moving down the slope with ease down since it was downhill, this part was.

Even though the ground would contract every time I stepped on it, at least it was better than—

My thoughts were put to an end when I tumbled down the floor and rolled like a joint. I was in no place to feel the wet ground beneath me, but I did. And I did hard. I tried to stop or to stand up but it was a failed attempt. My rolling was halted when I felt the gravity pulling me downwards. I was afraid to say the least, it was now darker than usual, and the maroon color surrounded me like a four-black-walls to a depressed individual. And honestly that's how I felt.

My fall thudded and echoed around the place. At least the diving didn't hurt. I sat up straight and tried to stand up from my place. I looked above me, trying to figure out how to get out of this hell hole I'm stuck into. My vision was blocked when a yellow acid, which smells suspiciously like the chlorine in the public pools, came floating and surrounded me like a dry surfer.

Even though I would never admit it out loud to anybody, but I screamed like a girl! The liquid was warm, my agony was muffled by the water, I did all that I could so I won't swallow the disgusting molten, but a bunch of it came down my throat a moment later. I tried to float but it seemed like the fluid filled the whole room, I'm being transported forward anyways.

I tried swimming against the concentration gradient but every step I took was backed up by four long swings, so I stopped. I was concentrating on keeping the bag attached to myself more than I was concentrating on breathing. It was a lost cause. I would rise up and take a long breath before dipping back in again.

The fluid ceased, I was almost about to get back on the ground again. Mere moments later passed, and before I knew it I was back down on the yucky ground. I was at the point of adjustment to the grossness of the location around me; meaning that I became accustomed to sitting on—or walking on—fleshy, red, bouncy air balloon. Or so it felt like.

I was weirded out for the whole no-arrow situation. Where am I supposed to go? An hour has passed— according to my clock— and I haven't shot even one apple on today's mission. I'm hitting rock bottom before I even reach the mid success.