Its After Me

Thea rolled to a stop and shot up to her feet. she turned to the side and saw the three students gawking at the large daemon. Its red glaring eyes bore into Thea.

"Run!" Thea shouted out to them, "Run dammit!!!"

The three of them quickly turned away from the daemon and began making their way down the street. Persephone held onto Damian's other hand and helped Adrian in pulling him along.

The daemon turned its gaze towards them, but a blast of blue light struck its face.

Boom!!

Thea squeezed her hand around her gun and glared at the giant gorilla when it turned towards her, "What the hell are you looking at?"

ROOOAAAARRRR!!!!

It jumped off the building it was standing on and crashed into the street. Thea ducked and ran into a shopping complex behind her. The gorilla bent and tore its hand through the front of the complex, trying to reach for her.

'I think I should've thought this through a little more' Thea thought while dodging the gorilla's hand. She ducked behind a large table and held her gun to her chest while trying to catch her breath.

There was a whimper from beside her and she turned around to see three women crouched behind the same table. They looked petrified, staring at her like she was the literal devil. They were wearing business suits and had name tags on their shirts, so she guessed they were workers here.

There was a great crash and a large portion of the shopping complex crumbled, Thea winced as the three women began to shake.

"Hey.." she whispered in a soft voice, "Just.. stay here. Okay"

The woman at the front nodded quickly and Thea's gun began to hum. Light blue lines traveled across it and she released a deep breath before jumping out from cover.

"AARGGGHHHH!!!"

She let loose a battle cry and unleashed blast after blast on the gorilla's arm. It roared as it pulled its arm back and slammed it into the roof of the building.

Thea dodged under a falling section of the roof and drifted over to the other side of the complex. She slid to a stop behind a large stone slab and tried to catch her breath again.

'I don't know how long I can do this' Thea thought, 'My technique would be useless against it. There's nothing I can do other than shoot. And even that is beginning to lose effect. S-class… it's too strong'

The shopping complex rumbled as the daemon slammed a fist into the roof again, making the women that had been hiding behind the table run out as a giant rock fell on it. Another slam on the roof made it cave in and the daemon peered its face in.

Thea took a deep breath and then turned around to face the monster. She aimed at its eyes. The daemon roared at her in anger and its fist came up.

She fired a shot straight at it, but her eyes widened when the daemon turned its head to one side and dodged it. Its hand blurred down and Thea saw her admittedly short life blur before her eyes.

'I'm… going to die here,'

BBOOOMMMM!!!

The daemon roared in pain as multiple blasts rained down on it from the side, driving it away from the shopping complex. Thea still stood at the same spot she had been in. Her gun hand was shaking and she had to use her other hand to bring her hand down mechanically. She cradled her gun to her chest and turned to the entrance of the shopping complex as a man ran in. He had brown hair and eyes and he was shouting something out to everyone.

Thea didn't even hear him. She simply walked through the entrance, side by side with one of the women who had been hiding under the table - someone with black hair and red eyes. Everything around her was muffled and it felt like she was swimming underwater, watching the world through a screen.

She planted her back against the wall of the building once she got out and slid down. A hand grabbed her shoulder and she flinched.

"Are you okay?" the man asked.

Thea looked at him blankly for a moment before she finally nodded, "Y-Yeah," she shook her head and forced herself back to her feet, "I can help"

"No, leave this to us. You've done more than enough against it. Head east, there's a transport waiting"

The man gave Thea no other option as he simply pushed her backward and ran towards the group of hunters shooting the S-class in hopes of keeping it back.

Thea looked at them and then down to her shaking hand, 'Stop shaking,' she pleaded as she squeezed her hands together, 'Stop shaking'

There was a crowd of people being hoarded away by hunters and Thea reluctantly joined them in moving towards the transport.

-----

Damian, Adrian, and Persephone were being guided towards a large military-like helicopter in the middle of the streets. It had four large rotors blades attached to its four sides that were still spinning, making the copter hover off the ground slightly.

Damian was helped in by a man who quickly ushered him to the side to sit down, Adrian and Persephone both came to sit beside him. They were breathing heavily and Persephone had her head buried in her knees - her shaking shoulders told him she was crying.

Damian simply tilted his head back till it clanged against the metal wall.

More people were hoarded into the aircraft and Damian looked up suddenly when he felt someone coming towards them.

"Are you three okay?" Thea asked while kneeling in front of them.

Adrian nodded, "Yes," he said, "Thank you for what you did back there"

Thea gave him a shaky smile while shrugging, "It was nothing"

Damian didn't say anything because he felt it wasn't the time, but he could clearly see how much Thea's hands were shaking. Like a phone set on vibrate.

She cradled it to her chest and gave them another smile while moving away to sit against the opposite wall. She didn't want to talk about it. His gaze moved to the new group of people that were sitting beside Thea - most of them were women wearing suit uniforms with name tags on their chests.

One of them stood out from the rest. A beautiful woman with black hair and red eyes. Her head was being held between her two hands and her eyes were staring at the ground with a wide stare like she was dreaming with her eyes open.

"What happened out there?"

Damian didn't know he had spoken out loud, not until Adrian spoke up from beside him.

"That was an S-class. This was mercy"

"A mercy?" Damian looked around at the people staring disbelievingly at their surroundings, "This is a mercy?"

"Yes. Mercy. They could all be dead. Would that be better?"

"It's wrong," Damian said while covering his face with his palm tensely, "This is all wrong,"

"Prepare for take-off!!"

Someone shouted from the front of the plane before the entire thing jerked into motion. Damian held himself steady as he felt the aircraft begin taking off the ground and hovering into the sky.

-----

The beast was confused.

This was the thought running through many of the heads on the ground. The hunters holding back the daemon were shooting consecutive blasts, disorienting it, and making it take steps back in pain.

The leader of the gathered hunters - a man with brown hair and eyes - could see that it was becoming confused about what to do. The gleam in its eyes - the one every daemon had - had begun dimming down, making him wonder what exactly was going on.

"What do we do sir!?" one of the men beside him shouted out. The man charged up another blast and shot it at the daemon.

"Keep at it," he shouted while taking a step forward, "We have to hold it back till the S-class hunters arrive"

"Helios is coming!?" one of the female hunters shouted. The man rolled his eyes.

"I don't know who's coming! Just keep shooting!"

The daemon was backed into a large skyscraper and the man cursed when it turned around and began climbing it like a tree. He told the hunters to hold their fire and they all stilled.

"Now what!?" one of them shouted.

"We hold it up there," the man said, "It can't cause any harm if it's hiding up there"

There was a deep rumble from deep in the city and the man smiled when he realized they were already evacuating the civilians. He was about to call again to ask about the S-class hunter, but then something changed.

It was abrupt, but also slow. Like watching a car crash in person.

Just as the plane rose above the city buildings and into their view, the daemon roared in agitation and 'Jumped'

The force it used in leaping broke every window in the skyscraper, raining shards of glass down on them. The man held his hand up to his head to protect himself, but immediately he was in no more danger, he turned around with wide eyes.

"Sir! It's gong for the transport!"

No shit.

-----

Damian was the first person to notice the look of absolute terror that crossed the face of the women sitting opposite them. It was the sort of look people got when they had a gun to their head. He should know, he experienced it firsthand.

One of the women rose a finger, "T-T-The…"

The what?

RRRAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Damian's eyes widened at the roar just before something smashed into them. The entire transport tilted to one side and alarms began to blow everywhere, drowning out the screams of the occupants. A red light burst to life above their heads, and a man shouted as he fell from the open door.

Damian was jostled and tussled and thrown about before he somehow ended up holding onto the edge of the door, looking down at the city below. The daemon was hanging from one of the helicopter landing girdles with one hand. Its face was right in Damian's field of vision, and when it turned its eyes to him, its pupils dilated into dots.

RRRAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

A hand grabbed Damian by the hoodie of his combat suit and hurled him back into the aircraft just as the daemon's hand smashed into the spot he had been. He landed on something soft and turned back to see Thea holding him to her chest while trying her best to pull herself higher.

The daemon dragged itself up till it was peering into the aircraft and Damian heard Thea shout out a curse, but his eyes were fixed on the daemon. The daemon was staring right at him.

A stupid thought passed through his mind. Something he would have dismissed if it wasn't happening right in front of him.

'Is it after me?'

"Damian!" Thea shouted, "Damian, I need you to climb up! Damian!"

Damian wasn't answering her and she grunted as the aircraft jerked. A man screamed as he slid down and out the open door. He was ignored by the daemon.

Damian looked to his left and saw the stricken face f Persephone. She was holding onto a metal railing to prevent herself from falling. On his other side was the red-eyed woman, she was desperately holding onto a rope attached to the hull and he knew she wouldn't last long.

Thea screamed something out to him again and he heard Adrian respond with a shout.

'If they died here,' Damian thought, 'I'd be free, won't I?'

"It coming in!" a woman shouted. The daemon was now squeezing its hand through the door, trying to take the entire thing down.

Damian smiled bitterly, 'When did I start thinking that way?'

"Let go,"

Thea looked down at him incredulously, "What!?"

"Let go of me!"

"Stop trashing, you idiot! Do you want to die!?"

"Let go!"

"Dammit! Adrian! Come over here and help me with this idiot!"

Adrian was holding onto a metal grid beside them. He glared at Damian.

"What the hell are you doing!?" he shouted.

Damian smiled at him. Like he was laughing at some inside joke "Being the hero," he said just before he kicked against Thea. Her grip loosened enough for him to slip from her grasp and Thea screamed as she saw him tumble down the aircraft and drop through the open door.

As Damian fell, he saw Persephone looking at him with a wide stare, like she couldn't understand what was going on. He gave her a mock salute and then a giant hand slammed into him.

BOOOMMMM!!!