Jump!!

You know how fast these two things are now, so you know that you can't just run back down the bridge! You desperately start climbing the bridge's bannister, fumbling to try drop down into the cold running stream below as the monsters look at each other and huff out of their noses in agreement.

You've got one leg hooked over the bannister when they start to rush towards you.

"Eep!" You eep, straddling the wooden railing and going all big-eyed.

They're on you in no time at all, sharpened scythes raised and ready to slam into you. You squeeze your eyes shut and prepare for the impact. When it comes, it comes with enough **** to send you toppling over the bridge and crashing down on your butt in the icy water of the stream.

Before you can hobble up to your feet, the monsters start rushing down the bridge and towards Delilah, who scrunches up her face. You can see her eyes darting between you and the bridge, muttering some quiet and sloppy calculations to herself, and then....

KKRA-CKOOOM!

A deafeningly loud explosion sounds from atop the bridge, shaking the ground you're lying back on, as a bright flash of orange light appears just moments before you shut your eyes and curl up in the water for safety with your hands on the sides of your head. All around you, you can hear the splashing of charred wood landing in the stream, and the smell of burnt wood is strong.

As the smoke starts to clear away and the splishy-splashes grow infrequent, you slowly open your eyes again and sit up in the water. To your side, Delilah stands on the land with her eyes fixed onto you. The monsters are nowhere in sight. Just in front of and above you, the bridge barely remains at all, completely in ruins. There's a groaning and then a crashing sound as what's left collapses into the water on the other side, blocking off the stream and stopping the artificial flow of water. All around you, burnt chunks of bridge bob and float to the top of the water. You look back over to Delilah.

"Did you get them?" You ask. She just nods, still looking at you with a surprising amount of concern. Hey, does this mean she really does have feelings after all?

Your thoughts are interrupted when the flowing water on the other side of the makeshift dam finally builds up enough to pour over the top of it, splashing you with water and eventually rising high enough to knock the bridge chunk over and let the water really flow full **** again. Unfortunately, in getting knocked over, it landed on top of you and now has you stuck in the water. You squeak in surprise, but luckily it doesn't really hurt at all.

"Debbie!" Delilah shouts, running over and working to dig you out of the rubble. Surprisingly, the wood is much lighter than either of you expected it to be, so it's not long before she's pulled you out and lifted you up to stand in front of her in the stream.

She pants heavily despite the admittedly subpar required effort and looks you up and down, a hand on each shoulder after just lifting you to your feet. Your hair and clothes are completely soaked, and now hers are too, but you still give her a bright smile anyway. Though you should probably move back to land. Cold water is running through your socks.

"Don't- just, don't be stupid like that again." Delilah says. She looks down at one of her hands, holding onto your shoulder and frowns before pulling it back and looking at it like it's covered in plague slime. "Ewwwwww...." She says, crouching down to wash the Debbie off in the stream's water. You hate to see that kind of thing happen.

"Alright, everybody, come in!" Professor Phoebe calls out, hopping down from the hut's thatched roof on the other side of the battlefield. "It's evaluation time."

The two of you slowly slosh your way out of the stream and head over to the hut, where Cameron and Jace walk out from the door. Both look safe! You knew it. It's a bit difficult to walk quickly up the gravel path with how much water your hair and every piece of fabric on you is carrying, but you still manage to keep roughly in time with Delilah in front of you, even if you might look a bit silly with your big and lumbering steps. At least, until she looks back and sees you, and breaks into a little jog to catch up with the rest of the group. Rats.