Creatures

“Well...”

The group watched Talon and Karen take off.

“Think we will be alive when they finally take them down?” Carrie asked.

“I think they are our best chance of surviving this,” Lee spoke quietly as he continued to cut down the beings before him. “We must put our faith in their hands.”

“It will be rough,” Lily spoke from experience.

“They may not have all that many to deal with,” Eric told her.

“I do not care. One is almost impossible and we know at least three left.”

“How many did you take out?” The president asked.

“Two.”

“And it almost killed us both.”

“Then we can only hope that there is only three.”

“There.” Karen pointed.

“How many?” Talon asked as he continued to keep their legs free.

“Three.”

Talon was silent.

“What?” Karen asked as they continued to travel closer to the beings.

“Are you sure?”

“I am. Why?”

Talon took her arm and veered her away from the beings, breaking free finally and jumping into the trees.

“Listen to me.” He spoke once they were hidden from view. “One leader is almost impossible to take down. Taking down three has never been heard of.” He told her.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then we will just have to be the first,” Karen told him with a grin. “Do not tell me that you are frightened?”

“For me... No. For you... absolutely.” Talon was serious. He did not care for his own life, but if he lost Karen...

“Look at me.” Karen forced Talon’s gaze to meet hers and she felt their connection flare for a moment. “Put your trust in me as I have put my trust in you. We can and we will do this.”

Talon nodded, pulling her up against his body and taking her lips with his own.

Karen felt their connection flare to life, engulfing them in lightning and fire.

“Stay safe,” Talon whispered as he broke the connection.

“Back at you.” Karen stood and then took off towards the leaders, circling around and coming in from the rear. The plan was to get them to turn their backs on the fighting at hand and put their sole focus on the two of them. Hopefully, that would break their hold over the lesser beings and take some of the strain off of the rest of the group.

They had not made it far when the leaders took notice of them, dispatching the smallest one to take care of them.

Talon and Karen made their way to the leader. He was a short, balding man, wider then he was tall, but they could feel the power that radiated from his body and they knew.

“Would you like the honors?” Talon asked.

“No. You may have this one.”

Talon watched as a fireball grew in his hand, letting his gaze drift to the being before him.

“Will you show yourself to us?” He asked politely.

The being laughed and shook his head. “I rather like this body, thank you.”

“Then I am truly sorry for this.” Talon threw the fireball and the being merely swatted it away, along with the second one that Talon had thrown directly after the first.

“Cute trick,” Talon commented, turning to Karen. “Your turn.”

Karen nodded, standing still as she watched the being watch her. She had been practicing this in training but had never put it to use in combat.

“What are you doing?” The being asked as he watched the woman before him. Her hair started to rise as he watched and he could feel the air around him come alive.

Karen merely smiled as she dropped a bolt of lightning down on his head, covering the area with dust and smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Karen could see where she had cracked his shell, but she had not been able to completely remove his skin.

“I see. That is a dangerous trick you have there.” The being shook his head. His skin was ruined and he was not happy about it. “I think I will kill you now.” The being moved, so fast that Karen could not see him until he stopped in front of her. If Talon had not thrown a shield around her, she would have died.

Talon moved in and threw another fireball, burning more of the being's skin away.

“Why you...” The being growled as it started to peel the burning skin off its frame, coming out of the skin. It was tall and skinny, its reptilian skin changing colors as it moved. It pulled back its mouth to grin at them, showing the rotten flesh and Karen gagged at the smell.

“I will kill both of you now.”

“I think not.” Talon and Karen moved as one, attcking it from both sides. The being merely stood there, blocking their advances with a laugh. “You are no match for me.”

“Like hell we are not.” Talon gave Karen a nod and Karen dropped a bolt on the beings head as Talon infused it with his own firebolt. They watched as the lightning opened a crack and the fire snaked its way into the beings body, burning it from the inside.

“One down, two to go.” Talon commented as they made their way to the remain leaders.

“That seemed too easy.” Karen commented.

“He was the weakest of the two I am sure.” Talon did not say what was on their minds. They were tired and they had used quite a bit of energy already. Did they have enough to take out the remaining two?

“Did you feel that?”

“I did and look.” Michael pointed towards a group of beings that had suddenly turned their back and fled.

“One of them must be dead.” Carrie commented.

“One down... how many more to go?” Emerald asking what they were all thinking.

“I see that you have managed to defeat my brother. He was a weakling.” They stood before the second leader. This one was tall and skinny, looking like a bag of bones with a skin covering.

“We will see.” Was all Talon said before, once again, asking the same question. “Will you show us yourself?”

“With pleasure.”

They watched as the being took off his skin, stepping out and tossing it to the side. “I always did hate that thing.” This one looked much like the other being, only his skin seemed to be oozing some kind of dark fluid.

“Poison I am sure.” Talon commented.

The being laughed. “For humans.” He commented, before shooting some at Talon and Karen.

Both threw up their shields in time and then watched as the poison slowly slid down the shield, burning it away as it went.

“Seems to stop it, but it also destroys it.” Karen commented. “Shields will only work for so long.”

“Then we need to take him down quickly.” Talon informed her.

“You cannot take me down if you cannot get to me.” The being smiled, slime oozing out of its mouth, burning the ground where it fell.

Talon shot a couple of firebolts at the creature, but it merely created a thick black cloud of smoke as it made contact with the slime.

“Do not breath that in.” Talon warned, covering his mouth as Karen did hers. “Fire will not work.”

Karen shot a bolt of lightning towards the being and watched as it traveled across the beings body and was shot back at her, this time covered in the poison.

Karen dodged it and jumped into the nearest tree. “Well that does not work either.”

The being stood there and watched them. “What will you try next?”

“Does it have any other weapons that you see?” Karen asked Talon.

“No.”

“Then if we can get within striking distance, he should be no problem.”

“We have to get within striking distance.” Talon commented. “Easier said then done.”

Karen looked around the clearing, how to get close. “I can get within striking distance, but I would need diversion.”

Talon nodded. “Allow me.” He dropped from the tree and headed towards the creature, doing what he could to keep the poison from him as the creature attacked.

Karen moved through the trees until she was directly behind the creature. She knew that she had to time it perfectly. She took her weapons and snapped both in half. The being would expect two, so the third one should go through and the fourth one... She hoped she would not have to use it.

She waited patiently, watching as Talon sacrificed his shield time and time again to keep the poison at bay. She watched until she found the rhythm in the beings attack and then... There, she saw her opening. Without thought, she threw one... two... the being deflecting both and then the third, watching as is slipped past and buried deep into the beings side as the fourth lodged itself into the beings shoulder. She followed the weapons with her lightning and Talon threw his own bolt into the mix. They watched as the being exploded, shooting her weapons deep into the bark of the nearby trees.

“Are you all right?” Karen asked. Talon’s shield was destroyed and he had burn patches on his body from where the poison had hit him.

“I will be fine.” Talon was breathing heavy and he was hurting.

Karen touched his wounds, healing them just enough that the poison could not travel into his blood stream.

“I am sorry, that is the best I can do for now.”

“It is enough.”

“Shall we rest?”

“Only for a bit. The others need us to succeed.”

“True, but look.” Karen pointed to where the beings were starting to turn and run away. “There is only a third of the number there was before.”

Talon nodded and closed his eyes. “Any food around here?”

Karen laughed and sat next to him. “I will cook you anything you want when we are done.”

“I want Chinese.”

“Then we will eat Chinese for a week, despite what Carrie says.”

“Deal.”

“More are leaving,” Lee commented. “They must have taken out another leader.”

“Then we need to work in shifts for a bit and conserve our strength,” Michael commented. “There are few enough now that we can at least hold them at bay for a while. We will not be able to win, but we will be able to stand our ground.”

“Agreed. Emerald, Evan. Go to the Library, get some rest, we will change out every half hour.” Carrie pointed to the house where they could see into the library.

“Got it. Come on Emerald.” Evan dragged her away from the fight. They needed to rest.

“But I want to fight.”

“Then you will die.” Evan bit out at her.

Emerald shut up and followed him. He was right. They would die if they did not rest.

“Mr. President. You go as well.”

“Thank you my dear.” and he followed the kids.

“Now. Who is next?” Carrie asked to the beings as more fled before them.

“How long have we been resting?” Talon asked.

“A couple of hours maybe.” Karen and Talon laid in the branches of a tree.

“How are your wounds?”

“Getting better, but I have not let my body heal them properly, so there will probably be some scarring.”

“I would rather have you alive and scarred, rather than dead.”

“Me too.”

“What of your weapons?” Talon asked and Karen glanced down at her wrists where her bracelets glimmered, now with a faint crack through them.

“They seem to be holding up, but I do not know what kind of permanent damage I did to them.”

“That was a foolish thing to do.”

“It saved your life.” was all she said.

They sat there for a while longer, listening to the battle in the distance.

“I wonder how they are doing?” Karen asked after a while.

“I am sure they are holding their own.”

“Do you think the baby will be all right?”

Talon shrugged. “Only Carrie will know that and I do not think that she will allow anything to happen to it.” Talon let out a sigh. “If we are going to end this, then we need to get going.”

“Agreed.” Karen stood and looked at the ground.

“Scared?”

“So are you.”

Talon pulled Karen into his arms. “I will not lose you.”

“And if I lose you?”

“Then I expect you to mourn for me for the rest of your life.”

Karen rolled her eyes. “You are supposed to reassure me that I will not lose you.”

“But I cannot,” Talon told her with all seriousness.

“I know.”

“Shall we?”

Karen nodded and they were off, weaving through the trees until they came to the gates of the compound where the third being was waiting patiently for them.

“You have become a thorn in my side.” They looked at a grotesque man. His body covered with scars and an arm missing, but the power coming from him was immense.

“So you are the leader,” Talon spoke.

“I do have to thank you for getting rid of the others. It does make managing the lesser beings much easier, however, I cannot manage as many and that is the problem. So I am afraid that I must destroy you.” He stood and slowly peeled off his skin, doubling his size as he stepped out of it and stood before them, oozing slime and flames.

“I do hope that you have realized that your ‘powers’ will not work on me.”

Karen and Talon looked at each other. What to do about this? The being was right. Other then their weapons, they were powerless.

“Now... what will you do?” The being asked.

“Fight,” Karen informed him as she sent several bolts his way. The being deflected them easily and sent an arrow of poison at her. She threw up her shield only to have the arrow pierce straight through it. She dodged but felt the arrow graze her shoulder.

Damn that hurt! Karen took a look at her shoulder and applied pressure, healing the skin so as not to absorb the poison.

“Shit.” Talon appeared next to her. “Now what?”

“I do not know.”

“We could try the sneak attack again,” Karen commented.

“No. He would not allow it.”

“Then what?”

“We need to pierce his skin. Our powers would work if they can get to his insides.”

“But how, he is immune to our powers.”

“True, but what about the others?” Talon asked.

“How do we get them here?”

Talon looked at Karen.

“Oh no, we do not even know if it will work.”

“But you can do it.”

“Yes, but it is sporadic at best.”

“Still...”

“Oh all right.” Karen sent him a glare. “I need time.”

Talon nodded. “I can give you that.”

“Talon.” Karen grabbed his shirt.

“Yes?”

“Do not die on me.”

Talon gave her a grin and was off.

Karen climbed a tree and settled herself in, drawing her power inward as she focused her thoughts. Once she felt enough power behind her thought, she pushed it out and in the direction of the others. Part of her and Talon’s training over the past couple of months was working on silent communication with the President. If she could reach him... but she had only had limited success and Talon none.

She reached further and further from her body, praying she had enough strength to get to them. Eventually, she felt it, she felt the president’s mind. He was resting in the library.

“President? President? Can you hear me?”

President sat up at Karen’s voice. “Where are you?” He asked.

“I am only here in mind. We need help. Come to the front gate. Need... Help... Front... Gate.”

“Karen?”

Karen leaned against the tree. Hopefully, she had reached him. If not... She was tired, more tired then she had been in her entire life and she knew that she was at the end of her power. If she was hit, she would not be able to recover on her own now. She reached up and felt her braid, wondering if she should take it down. Would it give her more power or was she really used up?

She reached up and removed the braid, but kept the ponytail. She had never trained with her hair all the way down, having been told it was too uncontrollable, but at least without the braid, she should have a bit more, right?

She headed towards Talon and the being. She could not waste any more time. Talon was starting to wear down as well and she prayed the others would reach them in time.