Blackfriars Priory School
writers club
The Authors:
Paul Hennessy
Antonio Caiazza
Alexander Bishop
Zachary Dalton
Matthew McDonnell
Alex Klatt
Riley Kruger
Ethan Gray
The illustrators:
Connor Mazzachi
Zach Bezzina Lane
1
©Blackfriars Writers Group 2014
Parameters
Primary character 1: Sky-Diver
Primary Character 2: Gangster
Non-Human Character: Flesh eating Plant
Setting: River TORRENS
Issue: Drought
RANDOM WORDS: HECTIC, FASCINATING, CANTAKEROUS,
FURRY, CURIOUS
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Sponsors:
Joshua Box
Mark criscitelli
Samuel Hollitt
Vinh lam
Dion lussetich
Antony macolino
Luke macolino
Vincent muneretto
Danny Nguyen
Apichart phanthapangna
Andy phung
Josh pinyon
Demos pokmakis
Liam teagle
Luke tokic-bensley
Lachlan Valente
Tarun vythilingam
Jordan pappas
and the Hallinan SENIOR Library
3
Dear children of The Women’s and children’s hospital
wishing you a speedy recovery and
we hope you like our book.
– Blackfriars Priory School Writers Group
eY, i hear You aren’t that Well, i hope You get better
soon and enjoy the book
– The Boss
Graaagh, enjoy the book and get well soon
– The Plant
I hypothesise you will highly enjoy the book and I
personally wish you a speedy recovery
– The Skydiving Scientist
4
Chapter 1
Curious
There was an unmistakable stench to the air. It smelt like a compost heap and a pound of
butter blended into the worst smoothie you could imagine. It hung in the air like a deadly silence,
and everyone around me in their own frightened panic, flailing and screaming and never letting go.
They all knew what that horrible smell meant; that smell of rotting leaves; that smell that lingers
under your nose for days on end. The Queen had been dead for almost a week now, and it was
starting to drive the local wildlife crazy – but we were no different, so who am I to talk.
When I was young, I think I was only 500 years old or so, the first Queen died – she had been
around for about 100 years, and boy that was hectic, I tell ya. At the time, we were above ground,
and we were pumping water all over the country. But for around six months, everything stopped.
Everyone started to panic and scream and yell, much like they are now actually, and I can remember
that then someone came up and said she would take over, becoming the new Queen. I don’t know,
it was pretty silly. See, once you’re Queen, It’s pretty much a death sentence – you only get around
100 years, then you can either get out quickly, while you can, or you can keep going – then you die,
which had never happened before, (so you can see why everyone was getting pretty crazy) I think it
only happened every few Queens… the current death-toll I think is just resting at seven or eight or
nine… I don’t remember all too well - doesn’t matter.
You see, the job of the Queen is to regulate your people – to ensure that they save as much
water as possible. Our job is to take any rain water we can and pump it into all the river and ponds.
This regulates the water flow and ensures that the local life can survive. If the Queen is dead, we get
lost. If we get lost, we can’t pump any water. If we don’t pump water, that’s how we get a drought.
Anyway, where was I, so everyone was getting crazy, and I was looking over at my mate, and
I said, ‘This is pretty crazy, hey?’
‘What?’
‘I said this is pretty crazy, huh. Reminds me of that one guy a few thousand years ago.’
‘I wasn’t there then, mate. Sorry.’
I had forgotten how old I was in relation to everyone else. Even I had to admit, I think I was
the oldest who hadn’t become Queen yet. It didn’t bother me though; I was okay with it. I mean, I
don’t really want to die, and even if I did leave the throne before my death, I’d still have to go off
swimming through the ocean to the Great White Beyond. True beauty so they say.
Anyway, sorry, so here we all are, I thought, screaming and yelling and panicking, with no
one listening to anyone or quieting down, so I got up on my vines, untangled from the great mess of
it all and burrowed my way up for some fresh air. I can’t breathe it for too long, a day above ground
at the most, but it’ll relieve the stress and calm me down. Bloody Queen, why didn’t she abandon
the throne around a week ago or maybe a little more, just to be on the safe side?
See, every day of my life, people have been badgering me on. ‘Go on, volunteer! Take up the big job.’
I always end up saying, ‘Nah, it’s not for me’ or whatever. I just know, every hundred years, when
the time rolls around another Queen has to leave or occasionally die. There’ll be a few more days I
have to live through of constant ‘You should be Queen’. I’m over it. I give up. I think I need some
fresh air.
5
I feel like I’m rambling. Am I rambling? Look, guys, this is a bit of an odd story, so if you’re
feeling a bit confused just let me know, and I’ll slow down.
6
Chapter 2:
Hectic
I walked out of the laboratory with a shiver running up my back. I had been called into an
urgent meeting, something that hadn’t happened to me since…well, it
had never happened. My usual outfit billowed as I rushed to the meeting,
displaying my black attire underneath.. My glasses were sitting nicely on
my nose for once, as they usually felt out of place, like they didn’t belong.
My mind wandered as I rushed to the meeting, ever so nervous about it.
My jet black hair was whipped around by the wind, occasionally getting
caught in my glasses.
I came to a staircase, quickly dashed up it and seeing the security
door up ahead, took my key-card and swiped several times. It wasn’t
that the system was bad, just that I shouldn’t have spilt acid on it so
many times. Finally, the door opened and I rushed in to take my seat.
The director of N.O. (an agency alike to the CIA or MI6), was seated at his
desk. The Governor-General, as well as the Australian Prime Minister
were also seated there. Immediately I knew that something was wrong,
very wrong, if it was important enough for all three of these characters
to be seated here together.
Skydiving, an art that I have perfected, has allowed me to do
things that other scientists would have only ever dreamed of. The money
from teaching students was extremely beneficial to my research and,
due to this alternate mode of transportation, I was able to reach virtually
inaccessible areas. That was one of the reasons on why I was the only
scientist to ever write a PHD on the raging raven of Red Rock Peak.
Knowing that my expertise in skydiving was probably the reason I had
been called in to this meeting I asked the first question. ‘Where do you
need me to go, and why?’
The Director of N.O. immediately answered me, and with his
expression not changing said, ‘You need to land in the River Torrens. As
you are aware, the level of water is dropping. On investigation, we have
found the remains of a dead plant. We believe that there is a colony of
these plants in the river and that they are somehow connected to the
drop in river levels. Good luck.’ The Director handed me a slip of paper
with my coordinates on it and, with a nod, I was off.
7
The drone of the plane that I was in was growing annoying. It was lucky that I was nearing
my destination. Knowing this, I reached for my chute and, in the same motion, opened the door of
the plane and leapt out. The wind was deafening as I rushed towards the ground. It’s definitely
stronger than it should be. Hopefully I won’t have too much difficulty landing. With a quick tug, I
deployed my parachute and, to my despair, realised that there was no way for me to land on target,
but instead on a boat running upstream. I hoped that any nearby tourists wouldn’t be too scared.
THUDD! I landed much harder than I should have, hard enough to cave the roof in
underneath me. It’s rather fascinating that a boat designed for tourists can’t hold the weight of a
human on the roof. A woman driving the boat was startled by my arrival, giving off a small squeak of
surprise before her face narrowed into something like I imagine a sniper would look before they pull
the trigger on their victim. ‘Get off my boat or I’ll call the police’, she shouted at me. It’s only then
that I noticed the classical music playing; a piece I believe to be Beethoven, as well as the gun at her
hip. Clearly, by my non-compliance she interpreted offence as she quickly drew her gun with a hand
so steady that she must use it regularly and aims it at my head. Suddenly, my vision darkened as an
enormous shadow cloaked everything in darkness. I quickly turned and gasped in horror at what I
saw. Before my eyes, was a massive plant; a very angry-looking plant, each of its many eyes, glaring
at us. It reared up, screeched, opened its mouth and lunged.
8
Chapter 3:
Cantankerous
I never asked for this to be
happenin’ to me, I am a legitimate
businesswoman spendin’ my life making
the pasta by hand; cookin’ the pasta; makin’
the sauce; yellin’ at my legitimate business
assistant Gianni; hittin’ Gianni over the
head with a fryin’ pan… I mean giving my
wonderful assistant a light tap with my tea
towel.
I do well for myself; I live
comfortably, and my clothes are
hydrophobic pinstripe. I’m the only girl in
Adelaide who looks good in a suit mind you.
So why do I have this possibly dead body in
the middle of my kitchen you ask? Well, I
get these blackouts see. I’ll see somethin’
or hear somethin’ that upsets me and I get
so upset that I blackout and wake up with
something bad happening right in front of
me (they’re not real, it’s just what I tell the
coppers and they let me off scot free every
time, I guess it’s just my ladylike charm).
These “blackouts” can make me look like a
worse person than I really am. I honestly
am a nice girl. It’s just that sometimes, in
certain situations, at varying frequencies of
apparition, I can “blackout” and wake up
with… someone being buried in soft sand or
slowly sinking into the ocean. Sorry, did I say slowly? I meant plummet in a sad fashion, with their
screaming increasing their rate of suffering. Shame I can’t help them a large block of concrete
encasing their feet tends to hasten their demise. I wish I could help them - poor, unfortunate souls.
I’m afraid I ramble too much: my mind is running ahead for comprehension right now. All I
know is I have a body in my kitchen who may be dead. I fear I have become cantankerous when I
“blackout”. I don’t know why I keep reflecting on my behaviour all of a sudden but it seems to work
for me. How am I going to dispose of this body? Beethoven comes into my head, for both the
composer and my science assistant share the name Ludwig, so it’s ever present in my mind. As I’m
calling Ludwig I notice the television yelling about some drought. Sensationalist garbage!
9
Ludwig never answers his phone on time. I hear a click. ‘LUDWIG! I DID A BAD THING!’ I yell
down the line. ‘Did you, boss?’ comes his cold almost cynical reply. ‘I… I did. I had another episode!’,
I stutter, repeating the same lie I tell everyone who sees or hears something that might even be
slightly incriminating. They all fall for it - all except Ludwig who reads me like a book - almost too
well. He knows me too well. ‘I have a body in my kitchen: my kitchen boy Gianni was insubordinate
and took some product for himself breaking the rules. I need a disposal method that’s untraceable,
can you help me?’ I plead with him. ‘I have heard small plants with acidic saliva can be a useful
method of disposal with little clean-up. I have detected a small colony under the River Torrens. Your
yacht’s hull is too deep for the low water levels; however, a ship called the ‘Popeye’ should provide
quick and simple access to the colony. The water level is lower than normal but the shallow hull
should still be able to navigate it with ease. As you know, I know what N.O. knows so if I know them
they’ll probably be sending an agent right now to collect, so if I were you I would be leaving now.’
His orders are clear enough so I bundle Gianni up and take my leave.
Beethoven plays on the Popeye’s audio system fitting for a 200 or so year old composer. The
river is serene as I glide across it. I can’t see anything but my GPS says I am near the location of the
colony.
Something scratches the side of my hull; a stick or something, no matter, Gianni’s body will
not complain about sticks scratching his furry cheeks once I dissolve him with the plant’s saliva.
Suddenly I hear a bang. The roof caves in and I see him. He doesn’t know me but I know him. I am
not letting him take my boat and take my dead kitchen boy. My mind fades to Beethoven.
10
Chapter 4:
Initial encounter
Once, when I was about 1000, these other things turned up. They were odd-looking
creatures, they were made of meat, if I remember right, and they had this hard white stuff inside
them, and they were actually delicious. We would sneak above ground at night and crawl our way
over to them and steal the smaller ones and take them back underground. Good times. Some of us
do it still, actually, and they talk about these new ones, with lighter skin and everything – I don’t see
the fuss. Meat is meat. It all tastes the same, I used to tell them, but they think it’s all elegant to eat
the lighter ones, like its fine dining.
Anyway, I’m feeling dazed – can’t seem to stay on any one point, probably the lack of water.
You know, ever since these great tall stone buildings came about, we’ve been almost starved. That’s
why we live in this underground warren of caverns, right under what little river there is left. We
can’t go anywhere else.
Dammit, I’m going off topic again! Okay, so here I am, burrowing my way up to the surface. I
haven’t seen the sunlight in ages, and I have to say – I’m kind of looking forward to it. I don’t like the
sun, by the way, but it’s like going home to a family that doesn’t love you – it’s nice just to be going
home, if only for a little while. Then you leave and go back where it’s nice.
There is no light around that I can see underwater – it’s all dark, like it used to be when I’d
eat the little ones. GOD It’s hurting. Now that I’m above the surface of the water, the only thing I can
see anywhere is some little floating blue thing with odd little marks on the side. I can’t read the
damn thing, so I don’t know what it’s supposed to be. Looks like a larger version of the things the old
meat-sacks used to push along the river. Old times, good times.
Anyway, so I push my way over to that great blue thingy and hitch myself on the side of it.
Man, its cold. Was it always this cold? I can’t remember. And what’s that sound? God, it sounds like
screeching. It sounds like the fifteenth Queen dying.
Now the blue thing is moving. Okay, at least I’m feeling better now. Okay, okay, okay… This
should turn out fi- WHAT IS THAT SOUND? WHAT… WHAT IS THAT HORRIFYING, AWFUL, TERRIBLE
NOISE? I’m REALLY annoyed now! It’s just… I can’t STAND IT ANYMORE!
I start crawling up the side of the boat, squelch-squelch, trying to find out what that sound is,
squelch-squelch, because boy it’s annoying, squelch-squelch. One vine over the edge, two vines,
three, four – now I can see.
Oh… my… gosh. It’s one of the old-time people I was telling you about earlier. It’s one of the
long-hair types, and boy… I’m starting to feel hungry now. I haven’t eaten in centuries, I‘ve been
living off of small bugs and grubs and a little bit of rain water. Sweet, sweet delicious meat, there’s a
light behind her, and it’s making a lovely shadow, and it’s piloting the boat-thingy. Mmm... And
behind it there’s another one, the type with the short hair and… what? It… its skin is odd. It’s
lighter… sort of exotic. I don’t care, really, at this point I’m hungry for just about anything.
11
I crawl up, and make myself seem big – like, really big. I
grow and grow and then I’m taller than they could ever handle – I
think. I’ve never fought with one before. The long-haired one is
staring at me really scared; the other one with the strange skin
hasn’t turned to see me yet. I’m a sneaky little bugger like that. I
tear the top of the blue floating thingy off in one clean tear, and
stand taller, so I can see them from above. I can see the two of
them now staring at me in shock. I pull open my lips – I haven’t
done that in a while, I gotta tell ya – and give out a fantastic screech
– YAAAAAAGH!!! Whipping my vines forward, I grab onto the longhair one, with the short-haired one dangling over the side. Two in
one go, perfect. Then they start wriggling and writhing in my grip
and one of them – I’m not quite sure which one, mind you, gives me
a little prick, but man it hurt. I ended up throwing them out into the
river without even noticing, and I even started wrapping my vines
around the boat-thingy. I was twisting and turning, and strange
green liquid was coming out of the place where I was stabbed. I was pulling really tight on my vines
now and the blue boat thing with the strange markings on the side and the roof which wasn’t there
anymore, and it stared to sink. I was clawing at it and everything, and my vines were still wrapped up
all over it, and it sunk down into whatever water there was left.
For a single, brief moment, I thought about the comedy in just that single moment, how the
boat was sinking into a tiny puddle of water, and how it would be even thinner tomorrow, and even
thinner the next day, and thinner and thinner and eventually there wouldn’t be any water left. Then
all the ground folk would
all die out, and we
couldn’t eat them to live
anymore, and then we’d
all die out, and then this
would be one great big
dead rock.
But for now, I was
grabbing at a sinking ship,
in a tiny lake, in the
middle of a river,
chuckling to myself at
the thought of it all. I’m
a funny little bugger
sometimes.
12
Chapter 5:
Furry
The plant was so tired that it could barely see. Swimming isn’t a very good idea, especially
for a plant that enjoyed more artistic past-times. At least it wasn’t in the water anymore. It wished
that the Popeye hadn’t sunk. The terrible fresh water all through that place had weakened it so
much that it could barely think straight. Then, the plant saw it. It was the perfect place. The house
was dark, dry and easy to get into. The plant reached out with its exhausted vines and crawled
towards it, slowly but surely, vine over vine, until it was there, in the nice, dark place, where it was
all dry. Then, with a triumphant sigh, the plant collapsed.
One of the four-vined noise-makers, what were they called again…humans! Yes, humans.
The plant had hit the two humans into the water with one of its vines. The plant supposed that it
had hit them too hard, since it had gone flying into the water as well.
Grey wasn't a nice colour. Especially not for a plant as artistic as this one was. The plant
didn’t like this room. It hoped that the rest of the house it was in would be better
There were two shiny things down here, the grey room where the plant had crawled into,
the ones that the humans opened and shut and, with the turn of a key, moved around in them by
making the four black wheels spin. They would be nice to spend time with, nice things that didn’t
kick or noise-make and they were shiny on top of it all. Why did they have to be grey though? It was
depressing. The plant would have to do something about this, something to cheer it up. It lifted up
one of its many vines, this one bright purple with slightly wet hooks on it, and shoved it up through
the roof above.
It could see! It was nice in here, very nice. It was all pink. Pink is a very nice colour, the plant
thought to itself. There was pale pink, hot pink, deep pink, purple pink, the sort that the humans
called savender, or labenser, or something like that. The plant didn’t have time to name the colours,
though. It had to figure out how to get up here, how to get into this beautiful, bright wonderland.
With a mighty spurt of energy, the plant heaved up thirty-so of its vines, all different colours, red,
yellow, orange, blue, black even, which was very uncommon for a plant possessing a nature like it
had, and flung its pulsating mass through the floor of the pink room. It was even lovelier than the
plant had thought. Of course, the plant could see much better with its own eyes instead of the vine
vision that it had used to see this wonderland for the first time. There were so many interesting
things in here. There was a big, soft thing pressed up against one of the pale pink walls, coloured
entirely in the savender-labenser colour.
There was a shiny thing inside of a frame against another wall that had a pulsating mass of multicoloured vines with a pod coming out of the top with a mouth on the top, all inside of the frame. It
looked an awful lot like the plant itself, but that clearly couldn’t be, since water couldn’t stand up in
a frame to make a reflection.
13
The plant continued looking around the bedroom, making occasional squeals of delight as it
found a doll-house, a set of drawers full of bright pink clothes and a television set. Then, finally, it
saw the perfect thing.
It was furry, of course. Cute things have to be furry. However, the plant hadn’t ever seen a
creature as curious or cute as this. It had long ears with white fur on the outside and pink skin on the
inside. The body was all crouched up with short front legs and long back legs crouched underneath it.
The head was small, with teeth coming out of its mouth, blunt teeth though, ones for eating
brocolillies and corn-cobillies, or whatever the human noise-makers called their plants that they ate.
The animal was fascinating. It would’ve been very nice to look at. The plant would’ve done that if not
for the fact that it was getting hungry, so very hungry. It was gobbling time.
The plant heaved itself closer to the cage. It was made of metal, so just hitting it wasn’t
going to work. The plant raised itself up, gathering it’s mass together and spat on the cage bars.
Immediately the spit started bubbling, melting through the cage rapidly and then a good deal of the
floor afterwards. Once the job was done the plant quickly snatched the creature out of the cage and
snapped its neck with a swift twist of its vine. The long-eared creature didn’t have time to squeak.
The plant gulped it down quickly. It was a very sad event, eating such a cute, little thing.
The plant slowly hauled itself over to the soft, savender-labenser rectangle against the wall
and then started sobbing. Nobody knew that plants were emotional, but they were. Everything has
feelings. Well, everything except brocolillies and corncobillies. That would just be silly, thinking that vegietables had feelings. Then the pale-pink door opened.
The plant hadn’t noticed the door before, but it
was obvious now. Nearly as obvious as the four-vined
noise-maker standing in it. The plant couldn’t tell if it was
a fimmy-tale or a male human, the plant hadn’t seen
enough humans to know something that difficult.
However, the plant knew that the sound the human was
making was absolutely appalling. One just couldn’t stand a noise like that, so high-pitched and loud
and continuous. The plant could’ve eaten the human if not for the issue that it had just eaten the
long-eared animal and was now full. So there was only one way to escape the noise-maker’s
screaming.
The plant turned around, grabbed the window-sill across the room and heaved itself out of
the window.
The plant loved flying, especially when it was this fast. It should do this more often. With a
loud racket the plant landed. Landing wasn’t as fun as flying. All of a sudden, the plant realised that
this wasn’t fun anymore. It was scaring the noise-makers, who weren’t nice, but weren’t mean at the
same time. It had eaten a cute little creature that had done nothing. Then, on top of everything, it
had just hurt its favourite vine, a masterpiece that had red and blue swirls all along the length of it. It
wanted to go home. It set off, happy thoughts in its mind as it headed back to its dwelling.
14
Chapter 6:
Plan B
The duo splash into the water with the force of a cannonball, causing a spray of water as
high as the monster they had just faced. They burst from the water with an almighty gasp - The
woman first, then the man.
‘Oh god this river is disgusting!’ she commented at the sight of a rusted trolley and a dead
fish, fizzing and bubbling.
Frantically paddling for the shoreline, fearing that the plant would pursue the duo and finish
the job, the gangster and agent glued together. The water was thick with debris of the sunken
Popeye and the remains of the fantastic blue parachute, slowing their exit of the water.
By the time the pair could reach the shore the woman in grey has become hysterical. She
crawled from the water and fell to the ground; the then less athletic agent turned skydiver caught up.
He had trouble hauling himself from the water due to his soaked clothes.
‘Help me out would you?’ He complained as the soil of the shore broke away under his
weight.
‘This is a free for all now weirdo!’ she shouted as she sprinted away from the river.
‘Where are you going? The plant is back that way!’ He called after her.
‘There’s no way I can take that plant all by myself, that thing isn’t worth my life!’ She
continued along the beach.
In her haste to escape the scene of carnage, a root caught her foot and she tumbled to the
ground. She becomes tangled in the damp and dirty weeds. After throwing his heavy, soaked lab
coat onto the shore the doctor was finally able to haul himself up to dry land.
‘I require your assistance in this matter.’ He stated calmly. ‘I feel we can both benefit from
this situation if we work together.’
The gangster calmed down and began breathing normally at the prospect of a success
coming out of such failure.
‘How will this help me?’ she inquired. ‘And what do I have to do?’ she added, almost as an
afterthought.
‘Well I want the creature alive, and you can have anything that does not compromise that
objective.’ He articulated his thoughts clearly and concisely so as to avoid any loopholes in the deal.
‘I want the saliva from the plant for my own reasons. It’s acidic, right?’
He nodded, with a concerned look across his face.
Still tangled in the roots she straightened her suit and tried to remain as dignified as possible
in her embarrassing situation, torn clothes and all.
‘Now that we have worked out a deal, how are we gonna carry it out?’ She asked.
After describing a plan akin to a Scooby Doo episode (including various nets, pulleys, ropes
and bait) the man in the lab coat smiled silently to himself, staring blank-eyed at the shocked and
appalled face bared by the woman in front of him.
‘Are you insane!’ she shrieked.
‘What? No… I thought it was quite clever.’
‘What are we gonna use as bait? Hmm?’
15
The scientist rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly ‘umm… I don’t know. I figured you
might want to be-‘
‘WHAT? No way, dude. YOUR dumb plan, YOU’RE the bait.’
As the two were distracted in their heated debate they failed to notice the plant disappear
from sight from the opposite bay and up over the beach into the sprawling suburbia of Adelaide.
‘Well that’s just GREAT! Look what you’ve done NOW your highness! The scientist screamed.
“’What’re you looking at me for? I’ve just been lying here attempting to break loose!’
The two continued to bicker and shout and yell (the gangster at some point breaking loose)
and then continuing to argue and scream. It didn’t seem to matter what happened anywhere – the
two were just that annoyed.
At some point, after all the yelling and screaming, a loud boom came from only a little way
up the bay. The two bickering children turned to look at the mound of leaves and vines, when the
two noticed that it was the creature itself – and it was coming straight for them!
It crawled its way a little closer and closer – the two backed up further and further.
Eventually, it became apparent that the two were seriously out of their depth – they backed
up further and further, but the plant was growing larger and larger, and then the unmentionable
happened… which I will now mention is extreme detail.
The plant whipped its hand over to the scientist and gave out an almighty screech, almost
deafening the two. She raised her gun out of her holster and prepared to shoot, though she could
not see too well because of the dazing shriek. She readied up and aimed at the gripping vines,
holding the now comatose scientist.
16
Chapter 7:
A fitting end
A yellow-like substance seeps from the new wound caused by the shot. The plant lets out a
blood curling screech making the two humans cover their ears. They dare to hurt me when I was
trying to make amends for my mistake. While the plant held a death grip around the two humans’
waists it contemplated on what it was going to do with these two noise-makers.
The woman screamed as she tried to use the butt of her gun to whack the vine away from
her waist. However, the vine was so thick that nothing she did worked. Doc groaned as the vine
slowly grew tighter around his waist. He had to act soon. With all the effort he could manage his
hand reached the handle of his machete. In a few seconds he had freed the machete from its holder
and started to hack away at the vine. The first strike did nothing to the plant however the second
struck into the vine trapping it as the vine squirted its yellow substance all over Doc. The plant
screeched once more in pain as the substance continued to leak out of the new wound. In anger the
plant threw Doc into a tree so hard that it caused a small blanket of leaves to wrap around him,
sticking to the substance. While the plant was howling in pain its other vine loosened its grip around
the woman enough so she could slip free and run to her new partner.
‘Doc, are you still alive?’ She used her hands to wipe the leaves away from him as she
checked over him. She found his head was bleeding a little from the impact. With a soft groan Doc
answered with a nod. ‘Listen, I think the only way you will be getting it is if it’s dead.’ Doc didn’t
want to kill the creature as he was sure N.O. could do many tests on a living specimen. However this
wasn’t a time to be picky about how they got it. With his machete still stuck in the vine he was sure
it wasn’t going to stop and leave.
With a sigh he nodded, ‘Yeah I guess we don’t have any other choice, but the question is
how we are going to kill that thing? Your gun seemed only to slightly wound it and my machete is
still stuck in its vine.’
While the two continued to make a plan to take the plant down it continued to screech in
pain, its other vines trying to pull free the scrap of metal that was lodged into its limb. After a few
moments the vines had pulled the metal out of the vines and flung it back at them, luckily for them
hit had terrible aim and stuck into the ground. The two looked at the machete and smiled, they had
their plan.
The plant acting in a fit of rage shot vines at the wounded human. Doc was ready for the
attack. He quickly moved so the vine crashed into the tree. With a hard quick chop he cut the vine
clean off of its body sending the plant recoiling in pain. Their plan was working, use the machete to
cut through the vines and the gun to keep its attention. While the plant was recoiling in pain the
woman aimed her gun into the body of the plant as she pulled the trigger. Another hole seeped out
the yellow liquid. More screeches came from the plants mouth as it turned to face the noise-maker
who continued to throw small metal objects at it. It lunged at the woman thinking she was the
weakest link. However all it did was fall into their trap. As it twisted several of it vines together to
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make its way towards its new target, Doc lunged at it. Doc hacked away at the vines that were being
used as legs. As Doc continued to attack at it from below, the woman continued her barrage of
gunfire trying to keep the plants attention. It was working. Her shots were placed just below its
flower shaped head, the plants vines moved to protect that place. The plant was confused, not sure
what to do; go after the one cutting its limbs off or the one who is shooting at it. By the time it
decided to act it was already too late. Doc had already chopped through over half of the creature’s
vines causing it to plummet to the hard ground. The plant weakly moved his vines in an attempt to
reach the river to return home. Once again its attempts were cut short as Doc cut the vine.
‘Maybe we don’t have to kill it, look how slow and sluggish it is.’ Where the creature lay was
covered in the yellow liquid, it was on death’s door. The plant couldn’t believe that these two noisemakers had him in this position. It let out one final screech before it accepted its fate. As it waited
for the final blow it heard the cries of his brethren. Both Doc and the woman heard the screeches
but played them off as the plants final cry. As the woman readied her gun to put the final bullet in
the plant, she pulled the trigger yet only a click was heard. Her clip was empty. As the woman
reloaded her gun ready to finish, it was too late.
An army of the plants had arrived to help their wounded brethren. Both Doc and the woman
looked at the army knowing they would die if a fight broke out. They did the logical thing, and ran.
As they were running Doc picked up one of the plants vines, he couldn’t return empty-handed. Their
attempt to escape was futile as the plants had made a circle around them, making escape impossible.
The two looked at each other as they had met their fate. Within seconds, the army of plants were on
them. They both screamed out as the acid of the plants ate through them with ease. After a minute
had passed the area was silent.
The dying plant was made the Queen, as it
was the only way to save its life. Once it had taken
the place the ecosystem slowly started to correct
what had happened in the absence of a Queen. As
it was its job to regulate all the water in Australia, it
takes their life to be able to regulate the world’s
water. Each one lasts only one hundred years
before a new Queen takes its place to ensure the
continuation of the water. This was the role the
plants had in the world, one that humans must not
interfere with. The plant accepted its fate knowing
that in time it would reach the Great White Beyond.
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