Mated To An Enemy



Sadie shouted and clapped her hands. She ran toward the lake instead of the trees. It wouldn’t give them much time, but some was better than none.

The creature that had been waiting raised up on its long thin legs. It snapped both of its massive front claws in her direction and then moved toward her. She had been right. It was incredibly fast.

Sadie’s heart was in her throat, and her body felt numb.

‘Please be safe,’ she thought as she closed her eyes and prayed for the others.

“Sadie!”

Her eyes shot open, and she turned to see Stefan running toward her. She turned back to the monster; it was so close now. It stopped and raised its back. The whipping tail swished back and forth and then shot forward.

Stefan jumped in front of her. He pushed her back. Sadie fell to the ground, and her body screamed in pain from her earlier wounds. But she looked up and saw his face twisted in an anguished shriek.

The thin tail was wrapped around his body. His clothing was torn or burned away somehow in the places the tail touched. Angry, red welts were already appearing on his skin, and Sadie gasped as she saw blood trickling on his chest.

“No!!!” she screamed, reaching up to help him.

Stefan slapped her hand away before she could touch the tail.

“Don’t!” he growled. “It burns!”

He clenched his jaws, trying to fight the pain. Sadie felt tears running down her face.

“Stefan…”

Her eyes went wide. Behind him, she saw the claws open and racing toward him.

“Stefan!!” she screamed.

The monster held him securely with its tail. It reached out for the kill, planning to cut him in half with its strong claws. Just as it was about to grab him, it let out a guttural screech as one of its claws was snapped off.

Stefan whimpered and cried out as the tail dragged back over his skin before he was released and fell to his knees. He let out a soft cry before his eyes rolled back, and he fell forward. Sadie caught hold of him, pulling him to her and hugging him protectively as she looked toward the monster.

She was shocked to see that the one that had attacked them was being attacked by the other.

The second creature was clawing and whipping at the first. It had already removed one of the claws and appeared to be trying to remove its legs. The first tried to defend itself, wrapping its tail around the attacker's claws, attempting to keep it from opening them, but the attacker was relentless. It thrashed and swung until it tore off the tail of the first.

Another guttural screech came from the first creature. A bright green liquid oozed from its back where its tail had been torn off. The ground bubbled and sank in where the liquid fell.

“Can you stand?” a familiar voice asked.

Sadie turned back in surprise. She looked up at Ashleigh and felt relief wash over her.

“Sadie, can you stand?” she repeated.

Sadie nodded.

“Yes, but Stefan is badly hurt,” she said.

Ashleigh looked down at Stefan. She clenched her jaw at the sight of him. She reached up and pulled the pin from her collar, placing it on the remains of his shirt. Small chords surrounded his body.

“That will protect him for now,” Ashleigh said, “we need to get out of here.”

Sadie nodded, but another screech drew her attention back to the creatures fighting.

The attacker had managed to crack the carapace of the first creature. Now it screamed as the attacker ripped it open and tore it off. Finally, the creature’s remaining legs gave out. It fell to the ground with slight convulsions of its legs and one remaining claw. The attacker then used its heavy claw to crush the head of the dying beast until it moved no more.

Sadie quickly got to her feet, ignoring the protests of her body. She expected that once the first creature was dead, the second would focus on them as its next victim. So they needed to move quickly before it saw them.

But, to her surprise, that didn’t happen. Instead, it just stood there doing absolutely nothing.

“Do you have them?!” came a shout.

Sadie’s heart jumped at the voice. Then, back by the tree line, she saw the other children and standing before them, his jaw clenched and his eyes glowing a bright green, was Myka.

Instantly she felt relieved.

Ashleigh leaned forward to pick Stefan up, but the creature began to shuffle and thrash in the dirt as she reached for him.

“Myka?” Ashleigh called out with concern, her eyes on the beast.

Myka fell to one knee, grabbing his temple with a pained expression. A trickle of blood ran down his nose. Sadie ran to his side.

“I… can’t hold… it…!” He growled through gritted teeth.

Ashleigh stood up and pulled out both obsidian karambits.

“Hold as long as you can,” she said. “But let go before you don’t have the strength to carry him and get out of here.”

Ashleigh didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she charged forward and jumped onto the creature’s back. Then, turning both blades down, she raised them above her and brought them down forcefully onto the thick carapace. Though the obsidian worked better than other blades, they still could not cut through in one go.

Myka let out a roar as his head ached, and the creature broke free of his control. Ashleigh quickly corrected, and instead of trying to cut open the carapace, she severed one of its legs and then jumped to another.

“Ashleigh!” Myka cried out.

“Go!” Ashleigh shouted. “Get them out of here now!”

Myka clenched his jaw, he didn’t want to leave her behind, but he knew she was right. So he ran to Stefan and lifted him into his arms.

“Go, go!” he told the others, pushing them ahead toward the path down the mountain.

The creature bucked and thrashed, finally succeeding in knocking Ashleigh from its back, but on her way down, she managed to cut through another of its legs.

She landed on her back, and the creature immediately turned and tried to smash its heavy claw onto her head. Ashleigh was quick. She rolled to the side and back again as it tried to do the same thing with the other.

She got back to her feet, and in doing so, she found a sweet spot, a crack in the carapace. She lunged forward and caught her karambit in the crack. She tugged with all her might, and the gap grew as the creature roared. Ashleigh quickly stabbed repeatedly into the opening.

It flung its heavy claw back at her, catching her in the chest, and she was thrown backward. She landed painfully in the dirt, and the wind was knocked out of her.

She lifted her head and could see that the damage was done. The creature was barely standing, struggling to hold itself up. As she took deep breaths, she smiled.

But the creature had one final action to take, one parting blow.

It used the last of its strength to turn its body, its tail dragging through the dirt. Then, with its back to Ashleigh, the creature sprayed a bright green liquid from its tail. Ashleigh’s eyes went wide, and she tried to crawl away. But a thick stream landed on her stomach, and without even the protective layer of the armor from her pin, it instantly burned into her flesh and was excruciating.

Ashleigh screamed, and soon the world went dark.

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