5.12

Hunter soared to the other side of the lobby and slammed into the ground. He skidded for a moment before picking himself back up again.

“You all good?” Jimena asked. Her and Silas came over to Hunter and looked at the apartment door that had just been splintered.

A trash golem stood at the door. It bobbed up and down on its two stubby legs and looked straight at them.

Hunter couldn’t quite place it, but this one seemed different than the other trash golems they had faced before. It appeared to be more solid.

The trash golem let out a strained cry and got down on all fours and bound toward them.

The three teens readied themselves for a fight. Jimena stepped to the side and covered her arms in slime, Silas inflated himself and Hunter readied his dust javelins.

The trash golem was on them and about to take a swing at Hunter when Silas kicked himself into the creature. He knocked it to the side and continued to fly through before bouncing against the wall. He rebounded off the wall and hit the underside of the stairs. Silas rapidly bounced between the floor and ceiling before kicking himself free and launching himself at the trash golem again.

As Silas bounced, Jimena fired her slime balls at the creature. Each one impacted but appeared to have little effect. It appeared as though the slime was being absorbed into the creature.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Jimena shouted to Hunter.

The tight space made it a little harder for Hunter to think. He reformed his dust into one giant bat and sent that at the creature.

Silas cannonballed toward the top of the trash golem and Hunter sent his bat at the bottom half of the golem. The two forces collided with the golem and Hunter felt a surge of confidence as they watched the creature explode into countless pieces.

However, the victory was short lived as Hunter noticed the pieces of the trash golem crawled along the ground. They watched as the trash golem reformed in front of their eyes.

“That’s not fair,” said Silas. The creature snarled and grabbed Silas. His skin started to burn where the creature held him. Silas continued to inflate himself, bigger than Hunter had ever seen.

Silas kicked himself again and carried the creature with him as he slammed into the wall once again. The creature splattered against the wall and Silas bounced himself away.

The creature reformed again, and this time went for Hunter. Silas and Jimena had been momentarily stunned into inaction and the trash golem started to crush Hunter in a bear-like hug.

His skin burned and Hunter was taken over by a moment of terror as the trash golem’s jaw extended and tried to engulf him.

“A little help,” Hunter shouted.

Silas launched himself at the creature again. The trash golem turned and caught Silas in its mouth. Silas inflated himself again and the head of the creature exploded.

“There,” cried Jimena.

“What?” the trash golem had let go of Hunter and the two boys watched as the trash golem slowly put itself back together again.

“Among the pieces there is a small part that glows green. I don’t know what it is, but maybe its like, the core of the creature or something.” Jimena pointed toward it, but it had been encased once again in the refuse.

“Can’t hurt to try,” said Silas. He launched himself at the trash golem once again and collided with the creature. He bounced off the far wall and came back at the golem again. It exploded on the second impact and this time they all looked for a piece that glowed green.

“There it is,” said Hunter.

“I’m on it,” said Jimena. She fired her slime at the piece. Encased in the slime, the piece stopped moving. All of the other pieces stopped moving too.

Hunter stooped down and grabbed the piece the glowed. It felt brittle. He crushed the piece in his hand and the golem was no more.

“How many more floors in this building?” Jimena asked.

“I think there are six more above us,” said Silas.

“That’s a lot of apartments to check,” said Jimena.

The trio worked their way up the floors, knocking on each of the doors as they made their way up.

There was nothing on the next two floors. Some people didn’t even answer the door and so they had to assume everything was okay.

The fourth level had a trash golem in each of the three apartments they all checked. The three heroes made quick work of the threats and continued to push upward.

“Hey, just so you guys know,” Stick’s voice came over their wrist communicators. “There’s been sightings of quite a few villains and criminals in general running amuck through Athena City. Crooked Downs seems to have a few. So just be careful.”

“Yea, no worries. You be careful too,” said Hunter.

There was nothing on the fifth and sixth levels either. Quite a few of the residents in the building were in a complete panic and Hunter, Jimena, and Silas did everything they could to comfort each one.

On one door that Silas knocked on, a kid goat answered the door. He looked no older than five.

“Hey little fella. There’s some silly stuff happening right now. You don’t have any scary monsters in there do you? Where’s your parents?”

“Mum’s out working, and I don’t know where my dad is. There’s a scary monster in here though, can you come help?”

“Sure.” Silas followed the goat through the apartment and was brought to a spare room that had a closet.

“In there.”

“Okay, I’ll check it out. Make sure you stand back.” The kid did as he was told, and Silas approached the closet. He threw the doors open and there was nothing there save for some smelly clothes.

“All clear.”

“Are you sure?” the kid asked.

“Yep. Now, lock up again and wrap yourself tight in your blankets and try and get some sleep before your mum gets home.”

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“Yeah.”

Silas, Hunter, and Jimena made their ways up to the final level. The ceiling was covered in some kind of goopy, fleshy mess. It undulated and dripped foul smelling liquid.

“What the?” said Hunter.