What could it be?

'What could it be?' Kellogg was lost in thought.

He was thinking about what in the world was fooling around with them?

'What could hide inside another thing and give of its presence only when required?'

The punches didn't leave a scratch on his face and he barely felt the kick. This was the result of having a carbon-fiber skeleton and enhanced healing.

Edwin started to slow down. He became tired as he lost a lot of stamina maintaining formation, now these punches became softer.

Finally he stood up, took a few steps and fell face first into the sand.

The other members were playing tic tac toe to decide who should drag Edwin back. Ethan lost, as usual.

Being the unluckiest when it came to certain things and by certain things, I mean most of the things including a 50,000 dollar bet on a coin toss.

He stood up and stretched, to go drag Edwin back.

And then, the entire desert was illuminated for a moment when a bolt of lightning came from the clear starry sky.

***

As he gazed into the starry sky and wondered about what could it be, a red light blinked on Edwin's gear indicating that he is fatigued.

That was when he realized what it was. Without wasting a second he jumped up and effortlessly lifted Edwin who had passed out onto his shoulder.

It was a beacon. Something that could serve as a guide for something else.

Suddenly the lightning struck the corpse a little distance away from them and everyone was blinded for a moment.

A large creature twice as tall as tall as Yuri (who was the tallest in the team) and looked like a tiger appeared at the place where where the lightning struck.

It gave off a frighting monstrous aura. It had stripes like a tiger too but with red and black stripes glowing in the darkness.(So naturally, it is easier for us to call it a tiger rather than The Great Big Monstrosity or Tiger Lord Eduardo the Third.)

"RUN!" Kellogg shouted at the top of his lungs. The reaming members were already dumbstruck when the creature appeared. Now hearing the word 'RUN' from their captain made them think if they were asleep in a coma.

The first squad was at the top and no other team or individual rivaled them. People boasted that their strength could be compared to one of the Great Eight . Though it was an exaggeration they were pretty strong.

But they never heard the word 'Run' or even 'Retreat'. They never faced an enemy they couldn't deal with. Hearing such a word that too from the captain who was the strongest, sent shivers down their spine. How strong could the monster to even make our captain run away?

Kellogg leaped across the sand dunes carrying Edwin and reached the others.

"Get up. We can't face this enemy." his words made their fears worse, "Retreat. I shall distract it."

"Huh?" the team members began to question reality now. For the first time, their team leader who never helped them directly was saying that he would distract the enemy to help them escape!

"None of you are in the condition to fight. Here take Edwin and escape. Don't look back. This is an order." Kellogg shouted to release the others from their trance.

At same time a loud roar began to lift the silence of the night.

Yuri was the first one to snap out of the confusion. "You heard our captain." her words were filled with respect. Edwin piggybacked Yuri. "If you try something funny, you die." her words to Edwin who was unconscious, were filled with hostility.

After seeing Yuri, the others came back to reality. "Yes Sir!" they shouted in unison.

By that time Kellogg had made his way toward the tiger.

***