Zkwich Run

“There’s no way!” Greg argued.

“He’s going to get…” Caio made a sign slit motion with his hand over his throat as if Oliver couldn’t see him.

“I’m so sorry Leader but you cannot do this to him,” Sylvie pleaded. “He’s not at fault for his awful timing. Captain Khan should have stopped him from coming.”

“Let us stay with him!” Caio added.

“Sure, speak for yourself,” Greg mumbled.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to need my whole crew in the front,” Leader Quispe declared. “And you won’t be able to stand a minute against a wave just the three of you. I’m not getting more losses tonight.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Oliver coldly cut.

“I’m so sorry we had to meet this way kid but if I were you I would start running,” Quispe said, commanding the squad to move forward.

A burning rage started growing in Oliver’s chest. He was mad at the captain for ordering him to venture inside the zkwich unprepared, mad at Leader Quispe for disposing of him like dirty dishes, mad at Sylvie for being the worst guide ever, mad at the handlers for being a dirty fraud, and mad at himself for taking that walk the night before.

Oliver started running as fast as he could away from the group.

“Mmm, sorry, please don't go that way,” A man at the head of the group requested so politely that Oliver got even angrier. “We have to go that way, so choose another tunnel.”

Oliver looked around just when the tunnel they came from disappeared under a curtain of sand.

Oliver shrugged angrily.

“Over there,” The man pointed to a tunnel about three meters over the floor.

Oliver whispered an ungrateful thanks and ran to the tunnel.

“Newbie, wait!” Caio said as he grabbed Oliver’s arm. “Listen carefully, with a sandy zkwich like this, the closer you get to the nucleus the fleshier the conducts get. As long as you stay in sandy zones, the ABs will be weak. Okay?”

Oliver nodded.

“This is a picorium node,” Greg explained showing the pod tied to his belt. “They’re what connect the ABs to the nucleus and keep them alive. Cut the nerve,” Greg showed the dark cord attached to the pod, “And tie them to your belt.”

Oliver put his hands on his belt, making sure he had one as well.

“We saw you fight in the Robo-contest,” Sylvie added despite Oliver’s unwelcoming glance. “You’re strong, you’ll make it, just stay in the sandy trails.”

Oliver tried not to blush after a pretty girl like Sylvie called him strong.

“Now go!” Caio gently pushed Oliver’s back. “KeyWee will let you know when we’re done, listen to her.”

Oliver started climbing the wall as Caio and company disappeared down the other tunnel.

“Is KeyWee a her?” Oliver asked the air as he pulled himself up the tunnel’s ledge.

“Everyone at the Windstail says I am,” KeyWee responded. “If it makes sense for you, it’s good for me.”

“Okay,” Oliver sighed as he rested against the tunnel’s wall. “And what exactly is an AB?”

“You were told to run,” KeyWee indicated.

“Just answer the question!” Oliver replied.

“Alright. AB stands for antibody, they’re the zkwich’s defense system,” KeyWee explained. “Like the one behind you.”

“Zwoosh!” Oliver evaded the AB by a hair, the little hairs on his nape raised as the sand mass smashed the ground.

“Run!” KeyWee convincingly suggested.

Oliver started sprinting in the golden-lit tunnel. He jumped over a sand pile in formation and ducked when another tried to tackle him from above.

“Which way KeyWee?” Oliver asked when he reached a double bifurcation.

“Mmmm,” KeyWee took her time as the stomps from behind the tunnel sounded closer and closer. “The right one looks more humid, so my bet is for the left.”

Oliver followed KeyWee’s advice and darted into the left hole. He raced on the tunnel, feeling the stomps of the ABs behind him shortening the distance when the tunnel suddenly opened into a three-meter cavity.

“Thud!” Something impacted Oliver’s right side and sent him flying against the wall.

“Ugh!” Oliver groaned as he tried to stand up as the AB approached. Luckily the soft sand pile he impacted absorbed much of the hit’s strength.

“Oh no!” Oliver uttered as the sand pile he landed on started morphing.

“Zwoosh!” The AB that tackled Oliver charged again. Oliver arched his back as if he was after the gold in the limbo world championship. The AB launched again, Oliver jumped back, and the impact hit the other AB forming on the floor.

“There it is!” KeyWee urged “Cut the nerve!”

Oliver jumped to the sand crater that formed after the impact, grabbed his pickaxe, and tried to cut the nerve.

“Why don’t you cut it?” Oliver asked his pickaxe when the other AB landed a flying press over him.

Oliver shook his head, trying to order his ideas as the sand dispersed around him and started reshaping into the AB.

“You’re using the wrong side,” KeyWee informed.

“The wrong side of what?” Oliver confusedly asked, his head throbbing after the impact.

“You’re pickaxe!” KeyWee impatiently insisted. “Where the pick and the stick intersect, there’s a blade attached.”

“Oh…you’re right,” Oliver giggled, inspecting the pickaxe while the two ABs surrounding him viciously expected the best moment to attack. “And what should I do with this?”

“To cut the nerve!” KeyWee urged as she visually indicated the piece of nerve Oliver was still firmly holding.

“Oh yeah! Slice, slice,” Oliver carelessly replied, easily sliding the blade over the nerve. The AB about to tackle Oliver instantly dispersed, and a shiny pod peeked on top of it.

“Oh, hello guys!” Oliver happily greeted the other three ABs who stood at the entrance of the cavity.

“Oliver, RUN!” KeyWee commanded.

Oliver obediently escaped through another tunnel as the gears in his brain started to work again, he sped up his pace.

“KeyWee, is it just me, or I’m quite faster than them?” Oliver asked, coming to his senses and realizing that the stomps sounded farther away.

“Watch out!” KeyWee urged as an AB attacked from the left lower corner of the tunnel, Oliver swiftly jumped over it. “You’re right, as long as you maintain your current speed, they’ll have a hard time catching you.”

Oliver smiled. In the end, Quispe’s advice resulted in being the best. He could keep running at that pace for an hour more, easily, by then the squad would hopefully have finished with the zkwich.

The light on the tunnel dimmed until Oliver found himself running in total darkness. He asked, “Should go back?”

“The ABs would catch you,” KeyWee replied. “Don’t lower down the pace. Keep running.”

“I cannot risk getting injured with a bump,” He said and started jogging, his voice echoing in the darkness. Oliver extended his arms to prove that he was no longer inside the tunnel. He began walking and stumbled upon a bulk.

Oliver wanted to tell KeyWee “I told you,” but the bulk began to light up, it resembled the trilobites Oliver had seen in the museum, just sixty centimeters longer.

Another one lit up, then another, and another. The spacious caverns came to light as tens of sand trilobites surrounded Oliver. He slowly stood, trying not to disturb them.

“Bam!” A sand trilobite impacted Oliver’s face, it crawled up but Oliver managed to quickly cut the nerve and threw it to the other side of the cavern as another trilobite jumped to his leg.

“Oliver! Oliver…” KeyWee urged as more trilobites attacked Oliver. He couldn’t listen to her, he just finished cutting the nerve of one and throwing the pod in the same direction when another attacked. Cut, throw. Cut, throw, Cut, throw. Cut and throw, sometimes catching two, sometimes cutting the air.

“Slash!” Oliver sliced the nerve of the last sand trilobite. Oliver looked victoriously at the pod glowing in his hand. “Hoo! Finally!”

“Oliver…” KeyWee said.

“What now Key…” The pod fell to the floor as Oliver turned to find a three-meter sand trilobite raising before them, shimmering golden loops lighting and dimming all over its sizzling sand shell.

“If you gather many pods, they can form clusters,” KeyWee calmly explained as Oliver ran away from the giant sand trilobite. “And if you happen to drop them on the same spot they can reattach to the nerves and form a bigger antibody.”

“Smash!” Oliver jumped back as the trilobite impacted the only exit from the cavern. When it moved, the tunnel was no longer there.

“KeyWee! Advice!” Oliver shouted as the trilobite resumed its chase.

“I provided it and now we’re doomed!” KeyWee replied offended. “I think I’ll pass.”

“Noo…sorry…I wasn’t…” Oliver managed to say as the trilobite whipped its tail, it impacted Oliver on the abdomen and sent him flying to the other side of the cavern.

The soft and fine sand of the unexplored part of the cavern began to cushion all of Oliver's efforts to move, when the trilobite came to claim its prey, all it could find was Oliver’s desperate hand sinking into the quicksand bank with a muted "Ssssshhh…"