Chapter 43: Slippery Railings

On the balcony, Bentley and I were still waiting for Fred, Ave, and Dylan to come down the rope. Holding onto the railing, Bent looked up, then shone his flashlight above. “By large, how big do you mean?”

“More than a meter tall, maybe a meter and a half.” With balconies on each floor blocking our view, we didn’t know how our heavies were doing up above. I hoped they’d come down soon.

He looked at me, eyes wide, “That’s almost as big as a human!”

“And stronger, too. I don’t know, one tackled Fred, but Ave bashed its head in.”

Boots appeared from behind the balcony above, then legs with armor, it was Dylan, shimmying down as fast as he could. “Catch me!” he swung toward us, taking a step on the railing, then jumping down.

We both took hold of his arms, trying to slow him, but the whole thing went so awkwardly all three of us fell onto the cement.

“Ouch! Ok, off,” said Bent.

Pushing myself up, I asked, “What about the others?”

“Right behind me! I hope the rope can hold their weight!”

Ave’s legs came into view and then the rope suddenly went slack, and she fell, grabbing onto the railing. But it was rounded, and her fingers began to slide off. She threw a shoulder over the rail, gaining some purchase. Jumping to our feet, Bent and Dylan ran for her, each taking an arm and helping her get onto the balcony, and I went after the rope.

It almost fell past, but I somehow managed to grab it, shouting, “What about Fred?”

From above us, he yelled down, “I’m on the balcony one floor up. Can you catch me?”

“Not a chance!”

“Then, I’ll just let go and catch that one.”

“No!” shouted Ave. “You’ll dislocate your shoulders!”

“I wasn’t serious.”

“Fred, can you get into that balcony? I’ll throw the rope up. You can tie it on up there.”

“Yeah, one sec. Oh shit!”

There was a smashing sound, and then one of the large ant-people fell past us.

Fred yelled down, “They’re climbing down after me!”

“Firing!” Ave leaned over the railing on her back, pointing her Skorpion up and let loose on full auto, bullets jetting out to the left and falling into the darkness.

After knotting the end of the rope up as fast as I could, I looked up, getting ready to toss it, only to see Fred hanging on the railings above by one arm, hitting his sword into one of those thickly armored ant-people, while it swiped its claws at him. Then, it raked across his hand holding the railing and he dropped straight at me.

Backing up, I extended my right arm and flung the rope out as if throwing a bolas. It sailed around his waist, caught on, then pulled me rapidly toward the railing. “Help!” I yelled, crouching backward and trying to use my legs as a brace.

Ave grabbed the rope in her left hand just as it pulled taught, then her right, letting the submachine gun fall against her side, hanging by its strap. Shouting over her shoulder, she said, “Three incoming, Dylan!”

Dylan leaned back against the rail, pointed up and began shooting. It was strange seeing someone in plate mail armor firing a submachine gun. Chips of concrete fell past him, bullet casings ejected over our rope, raining down into the dark. “These guys are impervious to bullets! Bent, get over here!”

I said to Ave, “We’re going to have to drag him up.” He was heavy and not moving, probably unconscious. I pulled and pulled, straining with everything I hand, and we only made headway because Ave brought the rope up hand length by hand length.

“Watch out!” shouted Marci behind us as a claw swiped at Ave.

She ducked, Marci came running up, and a bolt of electricity shot from her outstretched arm into the creature, it clenched up, then fell into the darkness, narrowly missing Fred.

Bentley leaned over the railing on his back, put his two hands together, and flames leapt up to the balcony above us, creatures falling down. He washed the flames back and forth while we hauled Fred up. “I don’t see any more right now.”

My arms and legs were exhausted, almost cramping, when we finally got him up to the balcony. Dylan and Ave hoisted him over the railing and in, sitting him down upright. They undid the rope around his waist, checked his breathing and heartrate and Ave placed her hand on his forehead, brushing back his hair. For my part, I shook my arms, massaged them a little.

“How in God’s name did you manage that with the rope?” asked Marci.

“I really don’t know, it just came naturally to me. Maybe the same way you’re shooting lightning bolts. Uh, points in whip.” I picked up the rope and coiled it around my hand and shoulder, then handed it to Marci, saying, “Here you go.”

“You know, you should keep that. I think it works better in your hands. Who knows, maybe it’s magical, too.”

“An elven rope. I feel younger already.”

Hands on her hips, Marci tilted her head, “You actually do look younger. Kinda.”

“Must be the terror we’ve all be facing.”

“Or the exercise.”

Just then, Fred took in a deep breath, “That was not fun. Oh, my ribs hurt.”

Kneeling down beside him, Ave asked, “Are you ok? Anything broken?”

“They’re cracking a bit as I breath in, but I think I’m ok.”

Bent looked at me concerned, and I considered. We only had a potion and a half of healing left. So, we needed to conserve it. But we also needed our heavy hitter up.

I took the half-full one, or the half-empty one if our circumstances were dire, out from a front pocket and passed it to him. “Fred, here, finish off this healing potion. Hopefully, it’ll help. We can’t stay long.”

“Thanks, Boss.”

Bentley, still leaning his back on the rail and looking up, said, “They seem to have stopped. I wonder why.”

Marci said, “Maybe fire scares them?”

“Hmm,” Bentley straightened up, looking at Marci. “I’m thinking they recognize in-game abilities as dangerous, but not our bullets. Not sure if that’s correct, though.”

“That or they’re trying to figure out where we are now,” said Dylan.

“Damn. Yeah. Either way, we need to move.” I thought for a moment. “This should be the seventh floor. Let’s head for the elevator shaft. We can be reasonably sure they’re not in there yet.”

Ave pulled Fred up to his feet. “Better?”

“Much.”

She then faced me, “Is that the plan, then? Run to the elevator shaft, brute force if we have to?”

“That’s all I got. The staff stairwell is compromised from level eight. I think they’d hear us entering from this floor. Then, we’d be running down toward a lobby full of them with a horde on our trail. The elevator shaft seems safer.”

Releasing his gun’s magazine, Fred checked the bullets, then put it back in, saying, “I got an idea, Boss.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

***

Marci was at the door. She looked back at me with a ‘what the hell’ look.

I shrugged. “Fred, Ave, you ready?”

“As we’ll ever be.”

“Ok. Marci, open the door!”

She did, pulling it toward her and making herself as small as she could against the wall.

Fred and Ave rushed forward, pushing the heavy mattress ahead of them. They had to tilt it, and it barely fit through the door. Then they held it almost vertical – slight slope toward them – and ran down the hallway toward the elevators. We followed.

The bed took up much of the hallway.

Ave yelled out, “Anything in front of us?”

“You’re clear! Wait! One little guy by the elevators!”

I craned my neck around the left side of the mattress, just in time to see the little ant-person bolt down the stairs.

Fred and Ave let the bed fall sideways in front of the elevator shaft, giving us a wall about a meter and a bit high, two and a bit long. Dylan and Bentley pulled open the doors, Marci and I climbed in and we each took hold of the doors from the inside. Bent, then Dylan, Ave and Fred climbed inside, we let the doors shut.

“If nothing else, they’ll have to move the mattress first.”

Dylan, a touch of a smile on his face, said, “You know I think, I sorta think, we probably didn’t need to do all that.”

Shaking his head, Bent said, “It was a lot of work for one guy.”

“Hey,” said Ave, “we both moved the mattress!”

Bent just smiled.

“You know,” said Fred, “what if we drop the mattress down the shaft. Then we could just jump down. No need to climb!”

“I don’t . . . I don’t think that would work, Fred.”

He winked at Marci. “Just kidding.”

I let out the breath I was holding, worried Fred’s transformation had somehow damaged his mind, but he seemed fine. “Ok, Fred and Ave, you guys down first. Me, Marci, Bent and Dylan next. We’re going for the lobby and lots of them are going to be in it. This will be a serious firefight. Everyone, check your bullets.”

“What if some of those bullet-proof ones come?” asked Dylan.

“Marci, Bent, can you hit them with magic from a distance?”

“I can try. Up on the balcony,” said Marci, “was the first time I’ve sent electricity at a distance. But I think I can do it again.”

“Great. Bent?”

“Yeah, I can manage. As long as no one is in front of me. It was a fan of flames, so I’m a little worried about hitting you guys. Or blowback.”

Hanging onto the metal support of the elevator, my wrists and arms were a little sore, a little tired. “We’ll keep that as a last resort then. If we get to that point, Fred and Ave, you two switch to your in-game weapons. Dylan and I will keep firing on the little ones, Marci and Bent using their magic when possible.”

Everyone nodded and there were no objections.

“Alright, let’s get going, as fast as we can safely manage. And quietly!”