12 Chapter 12: Exodus(Part 1)

"Kat...sounds nice." said Madison while smiling towards Kat as she continued to eat. Madison enjoyed what calm time they had for now but knew that sooner or later they would have to get moving. After a few more minutes Kat finished eating and they collected their stuff. Madison walked over to the table and assimilated the furniture as to not leave the around. She then made sure Marcus and Kat were ready and together they began leaving the city again.

On the way to the city's edge, Madison explained their situation about how they were leaving the city as the Night monsters were becoming more active. They were headed outside of the city where they were going to make a new home according to Madison's words. They were arriving at their last resting spot for the day before they would reach the city edge after Madison finished her explanation.

They were at a gas station looking for food that they could use. They were low after having been on the road for a while and they didn't want to run out while they were leaving the city. They had gathered a generous amount of supplies when they heard a loud crash in the distance. They finished storing their supplies and ran outside to see what the commotion was. When they got outside they looked towards the edge of the city where a few skyscrapers were located. On the top of the 2nd tallest skyscraper was a pair of Griffins ripping apart the building, most likely fighting someone, they were quite a ways away but since the griffins were in between them and the city's outskirts. They knew that they would have to fight the two griffins.

The group finished gathering as much supplies as they could and left the gas station. They went outside and saw that the griffins were no longer attacking the building and the skyscraper was not in shambles. Holes the size of trucks were riddled throughout the skyscraper's upper floors and several of the corners of the room were cut clean off. Madison, Marcus and Kat looked at each other and nodded before making their ways towards the buildings.

The time it took for them to reach the city's outer buildings was around 20 minutes. They made their way to the buildings and slowed down once they got close. They didn't know where those Griffins were and they didn't want to find out, but since it was so quiet and there was still debris falling and dust in the air, they weren't able to be too certain. Madison had been trying to see and hear better with her enhanced senses from her race, and to her surprise, she heard slight flutters in the wind that would rapidly fade then appear. It was as if whatever was causing it would fly towards them at high speeds before going back at the same speed in an instant. It was even more difficult because the direction the sounds were coming from were rapidly changing so she couldn't determine where it was from.

After passing several buildings, Madison halted the group immediately at the entrance to an office building. The ground beneath their feet began to shake, slowly at first, but growing faster at a rapid pace. Kat hid inside at Madison's orders to keep her as safe as they could as they knew that being around them would not be the best decision. When it sounded like whatever was shaking the ground was next to them, the shaking slowed down before stopping again. Madison and Marcus looked at each other and stayed still for a moment. Several seconds later, Madison's metal ears twitched and she heard a slight ripple down below. For a brief moment, Madison was confused at this ripple but it dawned on her in the next second as she leaped at Marcus, grabbed him and ran away from the Office Complex. Where they had been standing, the ground looked as if it had exploded and after the dust settled, what they saw was a Yellow-Brown Griffin that was covered in dirt. When Madison focused on the Griffin, she saw it's name as [Terra Griffin].

Madison readied her Talon and Marcus readied his Sword and Shield. Madison fired a volley of rounds at the Terra Griffin which were blocked by a large slab of solid earth that rose from the ground in front of the Terra Griffin. Marcus had gotten in front of the Terra Griffin and slammed his shield into the ground, afterwards a red glow shot out from the shield towards the Terra Griffin. The Terra Griffin looked like it was hurt by the glow before it's already crimson eyes glowed a deeper red. The Terra Griffin looked at Marcus and howled at him before sending several high speed balls of dirt at him from the ground. Marcus was able to withstand the onslaught but he was being moved backwards by the sheer force of the attacks.

With the Terra Griffin focused on Marcus, Madison ran to the side of the Terra Griffin to gain a better angle to attack it. She readied her Talon and overcharged its chamber, firing it at the Terra Griffin. The shot is fired and it tears through both wings before colliding with one of the skyscrapers' walls. The Terra Griffin roars in pain as it is rendered unable to fly anymore. The taunt effect from Marcus wore off due to the damage inflicted from Madison and the Terra Griffin charged full speed at Madison. Madison began running to the side to meet back up with Marcus to work out another strategy of keeping the Griffin where it was. Madison was about to reach Marcus when a wall of dirt slammed into her side sending her flying across the ground away from Marcus. Marcus saw this and ran to Madison before slamming his shield into the ground again, however this time instead of taunting, his shield extended to both sides by several meters, creating a wall against the attacks. After Madison got back up, she saw Marcus defending her and she used this time to overcharge her Talon as much as she could. Eventually her hands started to hurt as her Talon began to heat up rapidly. "Marcus, when I say now, close your shield and get down!" Madison shouted over the barrage from the Terra Griffin.

Marcus only looked a bit to the side and nodded before returning all of his focus to holding back the attacks. Madison continued to overcharge her Talon to the point where she could barely hold it because of its heat. When it reached this point she shouted at Marcus, "NOW!" Marcus' shield collapsed in on itself and he hit the deck as fast as he could. Not even a second later a loud bang could be heard before everything went silent. Marcus looked behind him and saw Madison with a scratch on her cheek where a piece of a projectile hit her. However her gun's barrel was white hot with steam coming off of it. Marcus looked back at the Terra Griffin and what he was a hole going clean through it's right side. After a moment it fell to the side with a loud crash and you could hear slight whimpers from the Terra Griffin.

Madison and Marcus chuckled a bit at their ill-tasting victory as Madison fried her hands and Marcus was reeling in pain from defending against the constant barrage from the Terra Griffin. They both headed for the Office complex to go get Kat when they heard an insanely high pitch screech that hurt their ears to listen to. They turned around and saw nothing, then Madison looked up and saw a dot in the sky approaching them rapidly. "Move...NOW!"