Chapter 19 - This means war

O.K., Bev thinks, this creature isn't 'on their side', no way José!. She shoves the fulcrum and in one pocket, and the dangling chord in the other.

It turned when that other kid entered--does it see?!

Well let's try, full power!

Bev throws on a pair of cheap Ray-Bans and reaches into her coat. She squeezes the wires of her gadget, closing the circuit manually!

...And the lights on her shoulders blast bright beams of light at the creatures 'face!'

Glad to be free of the claustrophobic durt tunnel, Johnny staggered out of the hole into the purple-lit hollow far below the tree. Wiping the long half of his hair out of his face with muddy hands, he got a good look at the wormy horror...

The Hunters are made of stern stuff - and the sight of this thing disgusts them without overwhelming them.

They all have to cover their eyes, as a bright light flashes from the girl shoulders!

The horrific creature seems to pause and stumble for a moment. It seems stunned by the light. [outside]

[tree hole passage (Ripper)]

[round tunnel ]

[root chamber (Johnny, Al, Bev, Logan, Worm Thing)]

Alana lunges forward with great precision and plunges right into the writhing nightmare with great force, expecting to find its body solid and easy to tackle. However, her arms grab at nothing, the worms move out of her way just to reform behind her arms after they have passed through, with unbearable squelching noises. It is like hitting jelly... with the jelly letting her in to simply reform after she's gone.

The others see Al wading through the centre of the wormy figure, trying to grab it. The worms scatter and squirm away, to then recompose the thing.In the brief, surreal moments in which she is inside the worm-thing, she catches a glimpse of a dark core at its centre, something more solid against the ever-changing tide of the wiggling beings. It is just a glimpse, then the sight is covered once more by thousands of worms....

With a squelchy impact, the pseudopod hits Beverly full-on, smacking her hard. She spins for the shock, and has to take two steps back to avoid falling.

Logan grabs the baseball bat from his backpack and charges the thing, swinging it hard at its 'body'.
This time the Worm thing seems more reactive, and moves quickly out of the way, creating a hollow in its body that lets the baseball bat through, then reforms once it has gone.

Ripper, finding herself all alone in the passage, decides to leap into the round tunnel to search for her human friends. She jumps in the dark passage yelping and scrambling a little with her short legs, then makes it inside the circular passage and starts advancing in the dark...

Ripper bravely carries on towards the voices ahead. Eventually she finds the end of the round tunnel and drops in the cave. She recoils immediately at the sight and smell of the writhing thing confronting her friends!Ripper whines loudly and a small puddle darkens the ground where she is standing. She turns around and hops back in the round tunnel, her paws scraping at it as she tries to scamper away from this horrible danger!

The thing focuses on the aggressor with the bat, sending both writhing limbs to clutch him! It now moves with great speed...

Whack! Whack! The pseudopods impact with extreme violence on Logan!! He is projected back in the air and crashes on the ground. All other hunters hold their breath, but Logan surprises everyone bouncing back on his feet, shaking his head to clear it!

He picks up his bat again and shouts a defiant "That the best you can do, bag of bait??"He decides that the thing is a little too hard to hit, it seems to dodge and reshape itself past the blows. He tries to sprint left, then right , then left again to confuse it.The thing does not seem to fall for it, it stays balanced and focused, making Logan's attempt vain.

Still shaken by the blow, Bev attempts to refocus and act...

...but this is the first time she's taken a hit, and experience is a lot to handle.

The glistening mass of worms is revolting to her. But worms dont glisten when they're dried out..

Bev runs to the tunnel mouth, where the dog is scampering up. She turns to see if the creature interested in following her, or more accurately, the fulcrum in her pocket...