~ Jaden stared up into the beast's face and felt suddenly sick. It was flat; small nostrils placed high between the wide set eyes. The thing had a freakishly wide mouth with thin, transparent lips that didn't quite cover yellowed, serrated fangs. But it was its eyes that were the worst part.
The creature seemed to stare right through Jaden with those eyes. They were darker than the night. Blacker than anything that Jaden had ever seen before. Staring into the beast's eyes was like staring into the abyss of hell, and he couldn't look away. They were hypnotizing and horrifying. Nameless terror rose in Jaden's throat like bile.
The beast bent forward and snarled over him, its wounded arm hanging useless, blood and saliva dripping down onto Jaden's legs. He tried desperately to get his fingers to work, but it was no use.
"Guess you're going to die now, Jay... That kinda sucks."
"Oh, shut up."
Jaden slowly edged himself backwards, in an attempt to put at least a couple of feet between himself and the beast. Even a few more inches would be an improvement. It snarled again and stepped on his leg with a clawed foot, crushing it into the ground and pinning him in place, causing him to gasp as the talons dug into his flesh.
As feeling finally came flooding back into his arm in the form of a million tiny pinpricks of agony, Jaden realized that his shoulder was resting on something soft. It was his sleeping bag. The creature had thrown him all the way back into the center of the clearing.
The beast reached down to grab his other leg, presumably to either drag him away or rip it off. Jaden left off fumbling for his knife, trapped underneath his pinned leg, and threw his hand out to where he knew the fire had been. He thrust his fingers into the ashes and grabbed a handful of the still scorching coals underneath, flinging them up into the beast's face. Into those blackest eyes. The beast screeched and leap back, swiping at its face with the backs of its furry hands.
Jaden's action had been split second, but it had not been fast enough to avoid also burning his own hand. As he scrambled to his feet, he frantically scrubbed off the hot ashes that were still stuck to his palm. Before he had a chance to decide what exactly he was going to do next the creature sprang at him with a terrifying scream. It seemed the decision was made for him. Jaden tucked and rolled, thankfully coming out of it, once again, on his feet. He spun to face the beast, at last unsheathing his knife.
That was when he realized that his little avoidance maneuver had placed him with his back to the woods, and the beast with an open shot at Takyle and Andrew, still in the thick of their own battles. That was unacceptable. The beast ran at him, driving him still further from the center of the clearing. A glint on the ground caught his eye as he spun away a third time. His hatchet.
He scooped it up and, as the creature came at him for the fourth time, he stood his ground and without pause threw the small ax with all the force and precision that he could muster. The blade landed with a thunk in the beast's chest and it staggered backwards, momentarily stunned. The world paused for a moment as the creature stood there, wavering, and then to Jaden's astonishment it began stumbling forward again.
He sprinted around the slowed beast, and once again gained the center ground. As he stood there frozen, possibilities racing through his mind, something whizzed by his shoulder. A dagger buried itself to the hilt in the creature's throat and with a soft gurgle, the beast gently toppled to the earth. Jaden spun to find Andrew several paces behind him, arm still extended from the throw. At his feet, a third creature lay unmoving. A short distance away was another, Andrew's hatchet lodged in the thing's face. Its mouth was open, teeth stained with its own blood and bared in a hideous grimace.
Jaden's eyes darted to Takyle to find her just pulling her hatchet out of the abdomen of a beast that towered over her. She stepped back and watched it fall, writhing, its belly slit diagonally, entrails spilling over the ground, glistening with dark blood. She moved forward and with one more quick chop she severed its throat and slowly, gradually, the thing stopped struggling. She glanced around the clearing and, seeing no more enemy, called softly to Jaden and Andrew.
"Gather your weapons and regroup."
Jaden cautiously approached his former enemy, still not completely able to trust that it was at last dead, and dislodged his hatchet and Andrew's knife. He attempted not to look at either the beast's ghastly wounds, or its nightmare face, with limited success on both counts.
Back in the center of the bloodied clearing Takyle stood catching her breath.
"Are either of you hurt?" Andrew and Jaden shook their heads no.
"You seem to be limping there, Jay," noted Andrew.
"That thing tossed me a few yards and I just landed wrong. Bit numb; I'll be fine." Takyle nodded at him in the dark.
"Well let's pack up. There are five of those things dead, but at some point one that I wounded apparently drug itself off into the woods. Who knows; maybe it's going to get reinforcements. In any case I don't particularly like this spot that much anymore."
"I agree. We need to move," said Andrew, his voice grim.
"Ok, get your stuff." Takyle began to turn away.
"Hey Ta," said Jaden. "I kinda got a bit of a burn and a couple of, um, scratches. Do I have time to put something on those, or do you want to clear out ASAP?"
"No, do what you need to. One of those things clipped my arm, too. Suppose I ought to put some antisep on it." Jaden heard Andrew snicker in the dark as he turned away.
"I didn't get hurt at all, losers." Takyle shook her head.
"Yeah, go ahead and rub in your superiority there, Stab Wound Lad." ~
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