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Just as Zoe pulled herself through onto the 'surface' of the creature's body, the creature collapsed to the ground and she found herself grabbing one of the meatball lumps as a handhold to keep her balance and avoid falling back in. The hiss of the acid did draw her attention, though. In her shock, she didn't really react, acknowledging it with no more than detached interest. Without the panic of imminent digestion to push her, everything just felt numb as shock set in.

The creature started to drag itself away with a movement that was so pathetic she almost would've felt sorry for it if the fucker hadn't just swallowed her whole. As it moved, she briefly caught sight of Alexis' corpse, a view which brought with it a sudden flash of anger. Anger that wasn't all directed at the monsters either, but there'd be time to deal with that when the fight was done.

As it was, the rush of emotion at least brought her out of her shock enough to take action. She couldn't afford to quit yet. She had to keep going, even if that meant hanging on to every shred of anger and confusion she could just so she wouldn't be able to shut down. Keep moving. Keep fighting. If she just kept doing that, maybe she could ignore everything that was going on in her head.

Grasping the edge of the hole she'd torn in the monster with one hand, Zoe channelled her power into the other, driving it into the stomach's surface next to it and dragging it along to tear the flesh open in an attempt to spill what was left of the monster's guts. From the damage the acid had done, she was sure this would finish it off. And for once, she was right.

What was left of the creature's insides spilled out with a sickening squelch, rendering her attack almost as disgusting as it was effective. And effective it was, the creature letting out one final agonised shriek before it finally went still. Every last noodle, every piece of meat, completely unmoving. It was dead. She'd managed to kill it, finally. Laughter rose in her throat, nervous and unstable. She was alive! It was dead, and she was still alive!

[color=palevioletred]"That's what happens when you pick a fight you can't win."[/color]

She made her way up the side of the plate, climbing the now-still noodles until she was stood on the rim. From her new position, she looked around the battlefield - and was more than a little annoyed to see that two of the monsters were still alive. The one nearest her had a hold of Allison, though, so she decided to focus on that. There wasn't time to pay attention to everything that was going on. Glancing at the ground, Zoe felt confident enough in her jumping skills that she could fall that distance without being hurt, but she wasn't sure she'd reach the creature in time. The next best thing she could do was try and distract it.

[color=palevioletred]"Hey, how about picking on someone your own size?"[/color]

Of course, the only way she really knew of to distract things was to royally piss them off. It was with that idea in mind that she grabbed one of the nearest now-dead noodles, separating the end from the rest of the main body and tossing it as hard as she could at the monster which had a hold on her teammate. What better way to piss something off than by throwing its allies' remains at it? Thinking about it, that was probably kind of fucked up, but Zoe couldn't have cared less.

Instead of waiting to see its reaction she jumped, landing and rolling to deal with most of her momentum before she got shakily to her feet. The dizziness and nausea from the fog along with the shock of the whole ordeal left her struggling to gather her thoughts. She just needed a couple seconds to think about what was going on. Or maybe not to think about it.

To her credit Zoe was maintaining a reasonably convincing expression of confidence, but despite her attempt at keeping up the cocky act, her eyes betrayed her true feelings. Barely restrained panic, fear, and anger shone through them in conflict with her expression. Her breathing wasn't quite under control yet either, and her fists were clenched unnaturally tight, little cracks in her facade that would show anyone particularly observant that she wasn't anywhere near as okay as she was trying to pretend. She doubted any one of her teammates was close enough to figure any of that out quite yet. As far as they were concerned, Zoe would no doubt seem as cocky and unbearable as ever from a distance.

[color=palevioletred][i]Just gotta keep it together until we're done fighting. Can't be weak until no-one's there to see.[/i][/color]

Even though the overwhelming nausea and dizziness was bringing her way too close to throwing up for comfort, part of Zoe was thankful for the fog. It hid her expression at least. This way, no-one could see how close she was to falling apart.