From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 29: Desperate Gamble

The massive creature had indeed turned its attention to the more alarmed survivors, drawn by their broadcasted fear like a predator to the scent of blood. While it focused on the anxious orphans, the Zeros made steady progress toward the barrier.

"The second canteens." Kira whispered, her hand going to the one I’d switched from Darien’s pack. "The black water. It masks emotions from Corruptors."

"They knew." I said, the pieces clicking into place like a puzzle. "They’ve known from the start. The lake, the tunnels, everything. They had a plan all along to use us as diversions while they escaped."

A cold fury settled in my chest, displacing the fear that had gripped me before. The System’s final cruelty wasn’t exile. It was making us believe we had a chance to return, only to use our desperation as a weapon against us.

"So what do we do?" Kira asked, her voice steady despite the horror of our situation. "We can’t outrun that thing."

My mind raced, assessing options with the cold calculation survival demanded. Direct confrontation was suicide. Stealth was our only chance, but even that seemed futile with the wasteland offering little cover and Corruptors seemingly able to sense the slightest flicker of emotion.

Then I remembered the canteen at Kira’s hip, Darien’s canteen, filled with black water from the lake. Our one stolen advantage.

"We need to reach someone with a useful ability." I said, scanning the field of wreckage. "Someone who can help us get to the barrier without being detected."

My eyes landed on the closest glider to us, its wooden frame relatively intact despite the crash. Beside it, two figures could be seen, unmoving but clearly alive,

Coco and Rolen.

"There." I pointed. "Coco’s juice making is basically transforming water. If we could get the black water to him—"

"He could make more of it." Kira finished, understanding immediately.

I nodded without being certain on our juice wizard gamble, but already planning the route. The massive Corruptor was currently occupied with what remained of Ember and Cobb’s glider, its back turned to us.

From the wreckage, a raw, ragged scream tore through the air. Ember. She was on her knees beside the glider, tears cutting clean tracks through the grime on her face. She wasn’t just crying. She was roaring, hurling fire at the Corruptor’s body in a wild, unbroken stream.

The flames washed over its dark plates without effect, but she kept throwing them, each blast weaker than the last, her sobs becoming part of the scream. It was the pure, useless rage of a tiny flame trying to burn down a continent.

Kira’s hand found my arm, her grip tight. We shared a single, awful look. A whole conversation in a glance. That’s going to be us. That’s how it ends. There was no time to hold the thought. We let it go, like dropping a stone.

"We need to time this perfectly." I said, pulling out my yo-yo and letting it dance at the end of its string. The familiar motion helped me think, the rhythmic transfer of energy from hand to toy and back again somehow clarifying the chaos around us.

"First, we open our black water canteens." I continued, my voice low and urgent.

"The scent might mask our emotions further. Then we walk toward Coco and Rolen."

I loosened the cap slowly, careful not to let it clink against the metal rim, and met Kira’s eyes in the dim light.

"Ready?" I asked, the canteen hanging open on my belt.

Kira nodded, her own canteen already open. The familiar, cold, metallic scent of the lake’s despair started to emerge through the air around us. We took shallow breaths, letting the psychic residue wash over us. A strange numbness followed, a hollowing out.

The sharp, personal dread we felt for Ember’s screaming, for Gale’s still form, for our own certain end. It didn’t vanish, but it became distant, like a tragedy we were reading about instead of living. The black water didn’t make us brave or feel despair. It was just enough to make us feel empty. Her eyes took on a vacant, empty stare.

"Ready." she said, her voice flat.

We crouched behind our wrecked glider. The Corruptor had finished with whatever remained of its previous victims and was turning slowly, its only eye scanning the wasteland for new prey. In the distance, Darien’s group had made significant progress toward the barrier, now perhaps as close as the next glider was.

"Now." I breathed as the creature’s attention fixed on something in the opposite direction.

We broke cover, keeping low and moving as quickly as our damaged bodies would allow. The pain in my left shoulder flared with each step, but I pushed through it, focusing on the immediate goal. Reach Coco and Rolen, formulate a plan, survive.

As we closed the distance to their glider, I could see them more clearly. They weren’t frozen in fear as I’d initially thought. They were injured, Coco clutching what looked like a broken arm, Rolen with a nasty gash across his forehead that had painted half his face with blood.

"Don’t react." I hissed as we slid in beside them. "It senses emotions."

Both jumped slightly despite my warning, but the black water’s effect seemed to dampen their response enough that we didn’t immediately draw attention.

"What’s happening?" Rolen whispered, his glasses tilted on his face, one lens cracked. "That thing. It took Cobb and—"

"I know." I cut him off. "Listen carefully. The Zeros have been planning this from the start. They’re using us as distractions while they escape towards the barrier."

"What? No, that can’t." Coco began, but Kira interrupted, her voice empty of emotion thanks to the black water.

"It’s true. They’ve had black water with them all along. In small breathed amounts it doesn’t induce despair, it just keeps our emotions in check."

Understanding dawned in their eyes, followed by a dull anger that even the black water couldn’t completely suppress.

"So what’s the plan?" Rolen asked, his voice steadier than I’d expected.

I glanced toward the massive Corruptor, which had now turned in our general direction, though it hadn’t yet fixed on our position. Time was running short.

"Coco, we need you to transform water." I said, gesturing to the canteen at Kira’s hip. "Can you make more of that black water? At least enough to fill your canteens."

Coco’s eyes widened slightly. "I’ve never tried with that stuff, but maybe? It would take a lot out of me."

A plan began to crystallize in my mind. Not a good plan, certainly not a safe one, but possibly our only chance. With Coco’s ability, we might create enough of a shield to reach the barrier.

But as I watched the massive Corruptor slowly turn its voidlike face, I knew we were out of time for careful deliberation. The creature had finished with its previous victims.

And the massive Corruptor was hunting for new prey.