Free Ellie Quin Episode 5: A Girl Reborn by Alex Scarrow Page B

little thing flailed, squealed and drummed it’s arms and legs against the ground like a toddler throwing a fit in a mall.
    Ellie stepped out of the chaos and made her way around the edge of the fray towards Jez.
    ‘JEZ!’
    Jez looked at her, grinning manically. ‘Hey, chik! This is fun, fun, FUN!’
    ‘No it’s not! This is horrible!’
    ‘Huh?’ Jez was too busy watching the scrum. ‘Come on, my skinny boys!’
    Ellie grabbed her arm. ‘Jez! This is totally…
sick
. This is…I really can’t do this!’
    ‘What?!’ Jez looked incredulous. ‘This is, like,
awesome
!’
    ‘It’s not a game, Jez. Can’t you hear them screaming?’
    ‘
Mine
aren’t!’
    She looked at the nearest of them. ‘You didn’t give them mouths!’
    ‘Hey…they’re just
toys
, El’…they’re just-’
    ‘They’re not. They’ve got feelings. They can feel pain. They can scream-’
    Jez laughed. ‘Oh, come on soppy-chik! Your problem is you went and made yours look too fregging cute!’
    ‘I want this to stop! Right now, Jez! Please!’
    Jez turned from the battle to look at her. ‘OhMyGod. You
crying
, Ellie?’
    Ellie touched her cheek and realised she was. ‘Please? Can we stop this?’
    ‘Shit…alright.' The manic grin dropped from her face. 'Okay, hun'.’ She cupped her hands around her mouth. ‘Hoy! Skinny Boys!! Stop!!’
    ‘
Woah, woah! Here come the big guns!
’ boomed Gray’s voice, drowning Jez’s out. ‘
Looks like it
’
s going to get even bloodier!
’
    Ellie spun round and saw three of the giant scorpions scuttling towards the melee going on in the middle of the battlefield. The fight on the right flank had ended…it looked as though all of her soldier-bears over there had been eviscerated. And now Jonny and his un-clawed, un-toothed, comrades were about to face the same dreadful fate.
    She let go of Jez’s arm and turned.
    ‘Ellie? Hey! Where you going?’
    ‘I’m going to stop them!’
    ‘Huh? But that’s not
allowed
…is it?’
    Ellie was already running, hurrying around the squirming mass of bodies. She positioned herself between the struggling black and furry blonde bodies and the approaching scorpions and started waving her arms and screaming at them.
    ‘
Hmm
…
technically, I
’
m afraid, that
’
s a breach of the game rules, Ellie!
’ boomed Shelby. ‘
Direct involvement in the battle is not permitted-
’
    ‘
Aww just let her be, man
,’ replied Gray. ‘
She
’
s not actually fighting them, dude
.’
    ‘
She
’
s obstructing them, Graham
.’
    He laughed. ‘
Oh, you
’
re such a frikkin
’
pedant. It
’
s just a game, man
.’
    Ellie squared up to the nearest of them. It’s hulking form was just a bit taller then her. She looked at the creature, all glistening jagged-edged plates of chitinous armour and dark leathery tendons and muscle. At its front, she could see two black orbits for eyes that glinted coldly, without any apparent thought or emotion. It’s two bulging arms flexed and waved giant scissor-like claws.
    She stood her ground.
It
’
s okay
…
it
’
s okay
….
it can
’
t hurt me. It won
’
t hurt me
.
    She presumed this thing was loaded-up with some sort of rudimentary language insert; an ability to understand and obey commands from a human.
    ‘Stop!’ she barked loudly. ‘I’m ordering you to STOP!!’
    To her relief, the creature did as it was told. It came to a halt several feet short of her. The black eyes flickered as it looked her up and down, coolly evaluating her. Then, she saw something dart out beneath its eyes, like an antenna or a tongue, like some reptile tongue tasting the air for the scent of prey.
    ‘That’s right!’ barked Ellie. ‘You big ugly bug….I said
stop
!’
    It’s protuberance flickered in and out several more times, tasting something in the air as if it was seeking verification of a chemical signal.
    ‘Yeah,’ said Ellie feeling just a little more confident. ‘That’s right, you ugly thing! That’s right,