Chapter 15

chapter fifteen Ick erupts as the sack explodes beneath us like a water balloon dropped from thirty stories up. The half-built creature inside breaks our fall—and is flattened into a smear. We all lie there for a moment, not quite able to believe what just happened. "Ugh, it's in my nose," June says finally. "It's in my underwear," I say. "It's in my foot underwear," Quint says. "Just call 'em socks, Quint," Dirk says. The ground is slippery from the gooey remains of the shattered sac, and it takes us a comically long time to stand. We've landed on the peak of some peculiar structure—high-enough up that a breeze whips over us. As I finish scrubbing off, I hear June whisper, "Uh, guys..."

I'm pretty sure we landed at the center of a prison compound, a prison compound inside a monster fortress. But where's the light prison part? Think we're standing on it, buddy. "This is like a Russian nesting doll of lousiness," I say. "The Maparatus is indicating that the Directarium is below us," Quint says. "Down there." So down there is where we go... There's a wet, floppy fissure at the platform's center—and we hurry to it. Squeezing through, we drop down into the spiraling prison. It's like a Jenga skyscraper—with some pieces missing, some only halfway inserted.

"This prison clearly wasn't built for human legs," Quint observes. There are no steps—just a circular, endlessly winding tube, like a looping parking garage ramp. The tube is partly see-through—like it's made of plexiglass smeared with strawberry jam. It leads us past an endless string of prison cells—each one vacant. As we continue down, we find ourselves—without meaning to—walking along the floor, then up the wall, across the ceiling, down the other wall, and finally back down to the floor. And then it repeats. Again. And again. It's a long way down—er—up? Sideways, maybe.

I don't think gravity worked the same in this place. Oh yeah. We gave it away. "I never thought I'd miss trekking through the Forbidden Forest of Foreboding," Dirk says after nearly an hour of walking. "But I do." "From our hero quest," Quint explains. June laughs. "Oh, is that what you're calling it?" "You bet," Dirk says." 'Cause that's what it was. Me and Quint even had statues erected in our honor. It was epic." OK, seriously. Just how much stuff did I miss out on? I think, and my imagination runs wild... -THE FOMO COLLAGE

该页暂无翻译

"Yeah, well," I start, my mouth quickly getting away from me. "Me and June had a hero quest, too. While you were gone. It was awesome. We, uh, we fought a Bone Halfer—" "So did we," Dirk says, unimpressed. "But we fought the front half." "Yeah, well, we defeated rezzoch and Thrull. Did I mention that? Yep, they're dead now. Also, we ran into a buncha zombie influencers and we all started a YouTube channel and already have a ton of followers." I look to June to back me up. But the only thing she backs up is the bus, right over me. "Nope, none of that happened. I already went on my own solo adventure; I don't need to join your fake imaginary one, Jack." —I don't know how much time has passed when the never-ending tube finally spits us out on the ground floor—I just know I'm happy it's over. We exit out into some sort of lobby. A single prison guard stands at a vending machine, angrily poking buttons. We quickly tiptoe past...