5 - Will It Be a Watery Grave?

The Oasis

I watched that huge-ass papa scorpion coming for me. Maybe it was the way the starlight reflected off the thing’s shiny exoskeleton. Maybe it was how it dwarfed me in size and power. But it reminded me of Beef, someone I hadn’t thought of in a while.

Seeing it reminded me how much I loathed that guy. How much I’d love to beat the ever-loving crap out of that guy. He wasn’t here, so I’d have to redirect all that buried anger at the scorpion instead. That was fine. I’d had enough of these guys, too. And I was tired of getting my ass kicked so much.

After levelling up, my strength and speed were better than ever. I could feel it, and it felt good. Almost smug, I pushed into the sand as I burst into a run — and fell on my face. I spat sand out and felt new scrapes on my knees. Apparently, there was some cog-something difference or whatever the term was between my new abilities and brain. Being able to do more seemed to require practice. That made sense. Getting to my feet again, I looked up.

The monster was skittering closer, pointed feet tearing up the sandy grass. It came to a palm and barely made an effort to go around, backhanding the tree with a gargantuan pincer, and bending the tree right out of the way. It came to another and slowed just enough to snip through the tree with the other pincer.

The tree toppled back onto the scorpion but did no visible damage. It did, however, cause three assassin spiders, each with a legspan as wide as an umbrella, to leap out of the falling tree and land on the dark exoskeleton. The scorpion completely ignored them because it was covered in armour, and they swiftly leaped off and scuttled away.

Whatever bluster I’d had for a moment fled in a similar fashion. Obviously, trying to keep the trees between the beast and me wasn’t going to do anything. My mind went blank. I was weak, wounded, and all I had for a weapon as a positively inadequate spear when what I really needed was a damn tank.

The scorpion slowed to a stop.

My hope rose. Was it not going to attack after all?

The crystal stinger lit up, going from a tiny spark to a tiny sun in seconds.

“Shit.” I spun and threw myself behind the dead momma scorpion, hands over my head.

Even when the baby monsters had thrown lightning, there’d been a little crackling sound almost the same as the mini lightning bolt. When the momma had fired, it had been more of a sharp, humming crack like real thunder. Big daddy fired a genuine bolt of lightning at my ass and a genuine crash of echoing thunder sounded at the same time. It was enough to hurt the ears, shaking my whole body, and it made me want to curl up in the fetal position with some kind of primal terror.

The lightning zapped into the scorpion corpse and some of the sand around it. Glory be, the dead scorpion’s body was resistant to electrical attacks! Thank suckin’ spice. They probably fought each other all the time and had evolved it as a defence mechanism. Somehow, it blocked or diffused the energy, and my life was spared. The thunder left me dizzy, though, so I guessed I had inner ear damage. Probably why I fell on my face again, trying to get up on my hands and knees, but it was like the ground wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and I kept missing.

The giant scorpion crawled forward.

I probably looked like a drunken idiot, but I got to my feet. Seizing onto an idea, I grabbed the dead momma by the tail and heaved it onto my back, tail slung over my shoulder, held down with my bad arm. Squatting under the weight, I managed to pick the spear up. I tried to scurry away when I made the interesting scientific discovery that lightning turns sand to glass. There were a bunch of root-like glass tubes on and under the surface around where the momma had been lying. I also discovered how fragile and crunchy they were by stepping on one, screaming as it sliced my foot, falling to one knee, and nearly stopping. It occurred to me that bubbles of glass had been propping the sand up in front of the cave, and stepping on them had caused them to break, which is how I’d exposed the cave. Only sheer will got me back up, pushing through yet more pain, and moving again, hobbling because a shard of glass was in the bottom of one foot.

I planned to try to circle the oasis. If I could keep it between me and the beast, maybe the thing would eventually give up and go away. So off I went. But I’d made it maybe fifteen or twenty steps, a trail of blood in my wake, when I noticed a bright reflection growing in the water of the oasis. I glanced over my shoulder in worry and, yep, more artillery fire was incoming. I grunted and dropped to my knees, hunching under the dead thing on my back.

The lightning bolt crashed into us. Every hair on my body stood up, and I was deaf and dizzy again from the thunder, but I was alive. I drunkenly spun and gave the papa scorpion the finger while holding the spear. I could barely make him out in my state. I shouted out while trying to stand straight, “Suck it. That’s right, I’m immune to your lightning, jerk face! How do you like that?” My eyes focused again.

The scorpion seemed to glower. Then its pincers opened and closed a few times with a sound like metal garden sheers.

I turned and shuffled away as fast as I could.

Twice more as I rounded the shore of the oasis, the scorpion fired at me from afar with lightning. But twice more, I managed to survive thanks to the dead one on my back. Still, the bolts were leaving electrical burns and little lightning patterns on my shoulders and back that were adding up. We did a full circle around the oasis, and the obstinate creature showed no signs of giving up. Was it super hungry or out for vengeance? The lightning grew less frequent as it probably ran low on energy or magic or whatever, but it was getting closer.

Honestly, if it had just charged full speed at any point, I’d have been screwed. Not entirely sure why it didn’t. Maybe it was wary of prey and preferred blasting things to death to prevent any risk to itself. Guess it didn’t know I was a smushy human with almost no defences and that the massive, armoured bug was capable of cutting me in half with almost no effort. Then it got a chance to do just that.

I was getting really tired, limping and fighting my way around the shoreline with the heavy corpse on my back, trying to hold on to the thing with a bum hand screaming like it was filled with shards of glass, and my foot actually cut up from shards of glass. I stumbled and fell. The momma rolled off my back and into the edge of the water.

The chasing scorpion halted. It watched me. Then it darted forward on the offensive, both pincers opening.

I didn’t have time to pick the corpse up, and it wouldn’t have done any good anyway. Papa would probably clip clean through it before getting me the same way. I tried to run, stumbling and tripping, trying to get away, but it was on me in no time.

A huge pincer descended.

I ducked away, but the tip caught my shoulder and spun me like a rag doll, laying open the back of my shoulder like a butcher’s cleaver. Which is why the second pincer missed cutting my head off, and the base of it punched me in the head instead.

I flew backward, tripped, and fell. Somehow, I’d gotten turned around and landed ass-first in the oasis shallows with a splash.

The scorpion kept coming, pincers snipping at me.

I kicked my feet and crawled backward as I dodged, going deeper, somehow avoiding dismemberment. The open wound in my shoulder had me openly weeping in seconds. It was the same arm as my ruined hand. I was being taken apart, piece by piece.

The scorpion came to the edge of the water, only its front feet getting wet. The sensation seemed to spook it, because it immediately reversed, stopping a couple of paces up on drier land.

I half-floated, half-stood in chest-deep water, panting like my life depended on it. Looked like the scorpion wasn’t a fan of water. Would I be safe there?

That bloody stinger lit up once more, shining on me like a spotlight at an execution.

“Gah!” I turned and dove, dropping the spear in my haste, and swimming hard. I’d learned my lesson. I went deep. Despite the size of the lightning bolt, I only felt a painful sting on my feet, like a thousand needles jammed into them, instead of getting totally fried or knocked out.

I got an idea: I would lure the behemoth into the water and then attack it.

Staying underwater for as long as I could, I turned and tried to aim for the spot on shore where I’d dropped the momma. The darkness of night made that hard, so when it got too shallow to hide underwater anymore, I popped up, took a quick look around to get my bearings, and then slogged as fast as I could through the knee-deep water toward the body.

I saw the papa scorpion turn its entire body my way. It was like it had been entirely blind to me until I’d broken the surface again. But once it had found me again, it charged.

I grabbed the momma by the tail and pulled her deeper into the water, yanking with all my strength.

The scorpion arrived in a flurry of sand and water spraying, all snapping pincers and chomping mouth from hell. Thing wanted me dead, bad. One attack snipped an arm off the momma before I could back out of range. The scorpion came deeper this time, almost half its body in the water before it stopped and backed up.

I smirked despite my fear and the adrenaline making me shake. “That’s it. Come on, buddy. Come for a swim. Your dead friend loves it. Look at her dance. La-la-la-la. Totally shallow out here. If she can do it, you can too. Trust me, bro.”

The scorpion just stared. Maybe the ruse was too complicated. Maybe it couldn’t see well enough. Maybe it decided frying me was easier. Because the stinger lit up.

I cursed and dove hard again, but I wasn’t going to make it in time. Behind and above me, the lightning struck the momma. The corpse seemed to absorb the energy because I didn’t feel nearly the same needle-like tingling that time. The lightning brightened the bottom of the pool enough for me to spot some scattered dark rocks thanks to some gold flecks in them. I reached out and grabbed a couple, tucking one under my armpit and keeping the other in my fist. I surfaced.

Gasping for air, I weakly swam closer to the scorpion despite my brain howling at me to do the complete opposite. My wet clothing was heavy, the robes making it hard to keep my head above the surface. With my off hand, I chucked the rock at the creature, then screamed, “Come on! That all you got? You’re a big, bad boss monster. Come and get me!” The rock landed in the water in front of it, causing it to twitch. I lobbed the second rock. It bounced off the scorpion’s head, making it suddenly duck away and turn side to side as if searching for an attacker.

I grinned. “Can’t see anything, can you? Bet you’re not used to people throwing things either, huh?” Wanting more freedom, I shucked my clothing, getting naked once more. I dove way more easily this time and got a couple more black, gold-flecked rocks by feeling around with my feet on the bottom. I hurled those too. My throws were garbage, but a near miss and another weak hit had the scorpion agitated.

I had to lure it into the water. With those thin legs, it would surely be a lousy swimmer, or so I hoped. It was my only chance. I dove for two more rocks. When I surfaced again, I edged closer and closer to the giant, trying to tempt it. Heart racing, I swallowed and threw again. “Come on! Come and get me, you coward!” I hurled the second rock.

Lucky strike; it hit him in the eye. Squealing and crossing its arms in defence, it skittered backward up the shore.

I took another step closer. “Coward! Who’s scared of a little—oh, shit!” The scorpion charged, and I spun with fucking haste. I tried to move as fast as possible while feeling like I was moving in slow motion against the water.

The scorpion had had enough. It launched itself into the water at full speed, pincers up and open, ready to cut me into pieces.

With a deep breath, I dove. I swam hard. I could feel the turbulence in the water as the scorpion got closer. Then it was overhead. Kicking scorpion legs churned the water, barely missing me. The water was pitch black, and I was blind. I had to move by feel and guess. I swam underwater, away from the creature. I needed my spear. I had a notion of where it was, but I’d only be able to find it by touch. Needing air, I gently surfaced.

The scorpion clumsily drifted and kicked. It was pissed and probably hated being out on the water. Which is why it seemed to be trying to turn and head back to shore.

I had to keep it in the water. I quickly searched the oasis bottom with my feet and found a rock. I ducked under the surface, grabbed it, and popped back up. I was a bit far, but I hurled the rock and it dinged off the scorpion’s tail.

The monster flinched and started turning to face me, moving ungainly in the water.

Ignoring it as best I could, I pushed ahead, trying to find where I’d come into the pool and where I’d dropped the spear. I dragged my feet through the muck, scraping them on rocks but ignoring the pain and cuts. If I didn’t get that spear, I was a dead man.

My foot touched wood.

Instantly, I dropped low. My hand grabbed the shaft. I was armed again! I pushed off the bottom, head breaking the surface, and gasped for air.

The scorpion was churning water like a mad thing, nearly on top of me.

I dove to the side, toward deeper water, and swam sideways with the spear in hand.

The scorpion turned toward shore. Maybe it was going to head for safety instead. I kicked my feet like crazy in the water to cause as much disturbance as I could.

Drawn by the splashing, like it couldn’t help itself, the scorpion turned away from shore and toward me instead. It followed me out into the middle of the oasis pool.

In the water, I was a bit faster, able to stay just out of reach of those deadly pincers. More importantly, I could go underwater, where it couldn’t.