13 Death

*Stomp, Stomp, Stomp*

A giant white devil sprinted across the landscape maneuvering around the buildings like a fish in water, Running so swiftly anything that set eyes on the beast when in close proximity would only see a passing blur.

Every step it took caused a thumping noise to sound out, The ground shook. The creature seemed distressed and frantically moved. It was searching. Trying to find her child. The scent she was tracking led her to the entrance of a back street.

The mother raised her head to the air, her nose loudly sniffing. Her child had been here. She changed directions and sprinted trying to find another path. The alley the smell had led to was just too narrow for her to enter, And it would take too much time to break through. She couldn't climb up either, the weak walls would never be able to hold her.

She was afraid and in distress. This was supposed to be a small hunting ground where only weak creatures lived. Only a few strong ones appeared every now and then and she made sure to take care of them when they did. She made extra sure today. Yet her child sent her a signal. A signal of distress. The Mind Link she received earlier broke almost instantly but the moment it connected and shattered she felt three emotions from the other side. One of those feelings was panic. Not too different from what she was feeling right now.

The second was fear.. As for the third she wasn't quite sure, but even if she didn't know what the last emotion was, the brief moment she felt it she hated it. It was similar to fear but very different at the same time. It made her feel... Hopeless? Something she's never felt before. It was like she was being stared down by an overwhelming enemy, with no hopes of winning or even escaping. Just from that brief connection, she knew she absolutely hated it, And right now her young one is feeling it. She must hurry. To go to him and help.

She was like all female Deathclaws. She loved her child. But her love was different from their love. Their love stemmed from maternal instinct. She shares this instinct with them. But normally overtime the mothers will lose that instinct. She's seen it before. When a Deathclaw hatches they will be looked after by their mother with love and affection. But after the hatchling reaches childhood and they are sent out on their first hunt. When this stage comes The mothers would have already laid a new batch of eggs and would almost entirely lose interest in their previous young children. The love would practically vanish overnight. Even if a Deathclaw child were to die the mother wouldn't bat an eye. There have even been times where the mothers would kill their older children for accidentally harming their hatchlings.

She knew her love was different from the average Deathclaws. Maybe if her young one was the same as the other Deathclaws she would have lost interest in him. Or maybe, if she had more eggs, she may have stopped caring. But she didn't believe she would. Her young one always interacted with her. He taught her play. He even spent the majority of his time speaking with her. It wasn't something other deathclaws could do. Only she and her child could speak. Conversation was a nice experience. Her young one knew things he was never supposed to know. Yet it didn't bother her. He was probably just born different, like her. Just more different. 

But she still loved him even after becoming a small child and sending him out on his first hunt.

She didn't worry. She sent him believing he'd easily kill everything in this place. He was much stronger than other Deathclaws his age. His strikes alone could probably even rival a normal adult. Which was very impressive. The only thing that worried her was his hide. It was still weak. While it was tougher than others his age, It was still very very weak. He could not just shrug off damage like her. Even so, he was still strong. So she believed he would trample everything. The Bugs, The wolves, The rats and the crazy two legged things that attacked anything in sight. Even her. But they all died in one strike So she sent him.

Oh how she regrets. It hadn't even been 2 minutes since she received the Mind Link and she was desperately trying to follow the scent of her young one. But even with her incredible senses she couldn't point out his exact location. She could only point out his general location. The reason worried her even more. She even began to feel terror well up in her stomach as her tail nervously started lashing back and forth.

'Many smells… too much many…'

There were way too many smells in the air mixed together. It wasn't just 1 or 2 or even 10 for that matter. She couldn't make out the exact amount but she knew there were way too many.

She didn't waste any time and dashed around the next building.

She began to understand the feelings she felt. Her child was fearful not of any one opponent, but dozens of enemies. With all these smells in the air he would no doubt be surrounded.

'Could already be dead.'

As the thought passed her mind the terror she was feeling since earlier grew even stronger. Death? Would her child die? Could he already be dead?

She didn't want to think about it. She couldn't. She could only hurry.

Tight turn after tight turn, She tried navigating around the houses looking left and right searching for the young Deathclaw.

Slowly his smell became stronger. She was getting closer but the scent of rats grew more powerful as well.

Approaching another alley she rose to two legs.

*Sniff, Sniff*

The smell was very strong.

'He was here. Not long ago.'

But this time the scent was exiting the alley.

She sped down the road. Still frantically looking around trying to spot the familiar Gray skin. Another alley, Then another.

*Sniff, Sniff*

That smell.

*Sniff, Sniff*

Her eyes widened. It was the smell of blood. And it was not a small amount of it. It was a pool.

'Dead.'

Her body was quivering as she was about to explode.

"Motherrrrr!!!"

She froze

"I need help!!!"

He was alive. The anger that was about to boil over simmered slightly. It was still there but she couldn't allow herself to go berserk. So she tried her best to suppress it.

Her young one was alive, she heard his words not in her mind but in her ears.

Turning in the direction the voice sounded out she rushed down the street with wild abandon. He needed her help. His light voice called out to her practically screaming.

She HATED it. The rage that had just simmered already began growing again. She didn't let it take control but she allowed it to fuel her body, using it to move faster than ever before. She hated the bad emotions she felt in his screams.

Sprinting down the old dirt covered street she threw some cars aside and followed what seemed to be some kind of trail formed by hundreds of feet. As well as a splatter of red. It was definitely blood from her young one. It formed a trail… She didn't waste a second following it. Then suddenly a rat appeared.

*Scree-

*CrrrackSplat*

She raised her arm up and viciously brought it down. The rat couldn't even finish its screech before its body exploded into a gory fashion splattering blood, flesh and limbs alike in all directions.

She didn't pay it any attention. The only thing on her mind were the words she heard earlier. 'Help me.'

More and more rats appeared and she stomped every single one as quickly as she possibly could. Killing them didn't slow her down whatsoever. How could it? With her size it just required her to step forward. Some of the rats were still alive after being stepped on but those were the unlucky ones. They will die a slow and painful death. Twitching in agony as life drained from them at a snail's pace.

She killed at least 12, twelve of them before reaching her destination. The scent of her young one's blood was the strongest here.

Her body stilled. There was nothing but rats here.

A giant pile of rats. Many of them were screeching out trying to bite whatever it was the others were holding onto.

A whimper rang into her ears and she understood... The scent she had been so desperately looking for was right here. Hidden under the sea of rats was her child practically being eaten alive.

Gnashing her teeth, her vision turned red and the absolute rage she had been suppressing surged and gushed over the edge, all of it was formed into a terrible roar that shook the earth and sky.

"HhhhhhrrrrrraaaaaHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

The screeching of the rats faded as the rage was released into the air. Immediately all rats turned to where the noise originated from. Even the ones currently biting the little Deathclaw let go to see what made the scary noise. When they did, they laid eyes on a heavily breathing Deathclaw that was stampeding towards them with a face full of rage and fury.

All the rats present felt fear grip them and were momentarily frozen in shock. This was the beast that ruled over the territory. It's almost never attacked a rat before so why now?

They didn't even know that they had attacked the child of the demon.

Some of the rats were preparing to run but were too slow to escape. The hulking figure cashed into the large horde of rats swinging its arms and tail wildly or so it appeared but every swish a rat's body was dissected or crushed.

Most of them broke out of their fear and began scampering away as fast as possible. But some brave few tried attacking the monster.

*Crack*

The rodents that tried biting the Albino Deathclaw found their large teeth breaking, failing to even scratch its hide.

*STOMP!*

A spray of blood shot out as the beast rose one of its feet and brought it down as hard as it could, killing three rats at once as well as causing the other rats around it to stumble.

Turning towards the fleeing rats the DeathClaw released another roar of hatred and sprinted in their direction, trampling over all the vermin in her path.

The rats could never hope to match her speed and were quickly caught up to. Reaching forward her large hand she grabbed one of the panicking weasels. It tried struggling but with the creature's claws digging deeply into its skin it's attempts to free itself would never succeed as its life quickly ended.

*CRACK,CRACK,CRACK*

Its bones were crushed under the grip of the devil. It only suffered for a few seconds before it died but the pain it experienced when its shattered bones tore through its own organs was greater than what could possibly be described in words.

The Deathclaw swung her hand and chucked the meat pile at the rat in front of her. She didn't bother checking if either was still alive and dashed forward continuing her killing spree.

Rat after rat was killed all in a gruesome manner, Even the few Elite monsters that attacked could not scratch its hide and died just as easily as the others. For a minute the killing spree continued until finally the surroundings grew quiet.

Less than a quarter of the vermin managed to escape her wrath. Unfortunately since they scattered in every direction it was impossible for her to kill them all. But for all others that weren't fast enough, kill them she did. It was a massacre, pools of red began forming as the large amounts of blood spilled out the carcasses of the rats like a river.

She didn't have the time to watch the blood stain the ground, she needed to help her child.

She quickly made her way to where the rat pile used to be. In its place was the battered and bruised body of her child. She was nervous…. Very nervous. Setherrog was laying on the dirty road. Covered from head to toe in blood and no part of his body was unwounded. Very slowly, and very gently, she picked him up.

Nothing

He didn't so much as twitch. Just laid there.... Unmoving. Worried she tried to shake him awake, Poke him, call out to him and even form a Mind Link.

Nothing

He still wasn't waking…

Does that mean….

'Dead'

Gently she cradled Bal.

'He is dead.'

....

....

.....

She was exhilarated when she laid her first egg. She had never laid an egg before and then suddenly she had one. What's more it was alive even though she was never inseminated. It didn't make sense but she did not know any better. She was just happy to have offspring and waited a whole 3 months for the egg to hatch. And hatch it did! A whole month early in fact! And then out came a small Gray baby. It was born weaker than the other babies she saw, but it was fine. Because she was the same. It also seemed to have developed some of her traits, but it was different at the same time. No hunch, Shorter arms, Strange black horns, and orange eyes that reminded her of a pale fire. She watched as he walked out of his egg and rolled on the floor. As he stared up at her in fear. Then, as realization came to his eyes as she cleaned him.

They spent a year together. He even taught her things she did not know. She did not know why he knew but it didn't matter. He even taught her play and was strangely gentle and kind with her. Never nipping at her or snapping at her. She quite enjoyed it. It was a lifestyle she had never thought about. She had lots of fun.

She started shaking as she stared down at the limp body in her hands. She was too late. She could not even save him. Did he think she abandoned him? Perhaps he thought she did not care.

For the first time in her life tears gathered in her eyes as she stared down at the corpse.

'.....Snow.'

A terrible feeling overcame her, she clutched the body closer and opened her mouth.

"Mother…...is..sorry."

"If....only I was here sooner, I could have helped you."

The quivering words that came out were soft.

Consumed by her sadness, she began weeping.

End Of Chapter.