VINES

• Zachary Lymberopoulos, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2011

Battered and bruised, I clenched my teeth and forced myself onto my feet. I wiped the trickle of blood from my brow, and turned to face the plant. It was a disgusting creation, and hurt like crazy. From the outside, it was a large mass of thick vines that whipped around and grabbed you if you weren’t careful. In the centre, and planted firmly into the ground, was a large green bulb. It was as tall as me, and throbbed and pulsed.
This plant was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It seemed to have a mind of its own. It attacked to kill, a mind like a predator forcing the impulse through its vines. The vines whipped around, and all I had to defend myself with was a curved knife.
For the past ten minutes, the plant had dragged me around, pulled me this way and that, thrown me across the dark clearing, and made me ache all over.
I shook my head, saying, “This is ridiculous.” Then I charged at it, my knife above my head.
Instantly, a vine whipped out and wrapped itself around my leg. It pulled me in faster than I could blink. I was about to hack at the vine when another one grabbed my arm. The knife flung out of my hand.
“No!” I cried. I didn’t have time for this. If I didn’t get that antidote for Aleta she’d die. I prepared to be flung across the clearing and before I knew it, I was on the cold, hard dirt, scrambling to get up.
I looked back in time to see the plant fling my knife in the opposite direction, over the trees and far away from here. I yelled out in fury. Ever since Aleta, Chris, Carla and I had been stranded out in this forest, we’d had to learn survival skills the hard way. Although we’d run into a lot of trouble, nothing was as bad as what had happened to Aleta.
We had figured out that the bulb in the centre of the plant was covered in prickles. These prickles injected a venom into whoever they touched. The only cure was the goo that pulsed around inside the bulb. To get to that, we had to kill the plant first.
I cried out in anger, and charged once again at the plant. It seemed to be enjoying this; straight away, it whipped out and dragged me in.
Suddenly, I heard someone call out my name. It was Chris. “Dylan!” he said from across the clearing. “Catch!”
Something shiny flew from his hand and through the air. I laughed softly as I caught the knife. The vine swung me towards the sky, then back in towards the bulb. Seizing my chance, I rammed the knife into the bulb.
Almost instantly, the plant stopped moving. The vines dropped to the floor, and I was freed from its clutches. I looked at Chris, smiled, and said to him, “Let’s go save Aleta.”