The last straw

Uriel was already taking aim to the creature's head, thanks to his vantage position he was certain he wouldn't miss.

"No, wait a second..." Luna said in between jumps as she struggled to see the creature. "I want to see what it looks like before you shoot it down."

"Is it curiosity or do you think it might be on our side?" Uriel made his revolver disappear to keep himself from shooting accidentally.

"Who do you take me for? I'm not like that idiot, I know that cryptids aren't on our side." She pointed towards Sam who was still cowering in fear, trying to gather his thoughts. "But anything we find out could be useful to other people."

*Humph*

Uriel lifted the short girl in the air to let her have a clear sight. If she was embarrassed, no one would have known by the expression of her face. Or they wouldn't have, if not for the subtle change in the tone of her pale skin that became pink.

"That's a... Huh... I don't recognize it, I mean... It's obviously a lizardman but, I don't know, it looks and moves weird like..." Luna was cut short when the creature that was engaged in a brawl against what looked like a giant centipede noticed their presence and Uriel let go of the tiny student to take out his gun.

The reptilish creature made quick work of the centipede and jumped to the nearest wall, sinking its claws on the concrete and cracking it, crawling across the walls like, well, like a lizard.

"It's coming towards us, Luna protect Medusa." Uriel shouted, his revolver already cocked and ready to fire.

A loud banging sound broke the silence, echoing in the long forsaken streets of the lost city. The bullet traversed from the chamber to the barrel after the short explosion, then it made its way at an incredible speed ending its journey after hitting a wall.

"Why did you do that!?" Uriel scolded Luna, there was little to no time until the creature reached their position and he didn't know if he would have another chance to take a shot.

"Because..." Luna stuttered showing how nervous she was. Uriel turned back to try again, but the creature was already poking its head over the wall. "That's miss Dragonfang!" Luna continued.

"Hello kidsss, I sssee you made it" The creature hissed, it's viperine tongue sticking out.

"Miss Dragonfang!?" uriel couldn't believe his eyes, there wasn't a single trace of their team leader. What stood in front of him wasn't the young woman he knew, there was nothing alluring about her and not a single drop of her charming personality leaked out of the unsightly lizard in front of him.

"Yesss, Itsss me." The lizard shrugged.

"Uhm... I mean no offense but, can you turn back into a human please? You're kind of scary right now."

"Ah, Sssage, sssomehow I knew you would try sssomething to sssee me naked, but I didn't know you'd be ssso sstraighforward." Miss Dragonfang in her full lizard form replied.

"I don't mean it that way, but we already dealt with a shapeshifting creature and none of us want to risk it." Uriel insisted, but Luna glared at him as if saying 'you're scum'.

"You're scum." She finally said, triggering the lizzardly figure of Miss Dragonfang's laughter. The raspy laugh was anything but human giving the chills to the tired and scared students.

Noticing the mental state of Sam and the physical condition of Medusa, Miss Dragonfang's vertical pupils widened for a split second. She didn't ask about Atomic maybe thanks to her enhanced senses that allowed her to figure out more or less what had happened to him despite the distance.

Without any meddling words, she darted inside the building and within a couple of minutes she came back dressed in old clothes she salvaged from the abandoned stores in the shopping mall. Her figure was now that of a human and, although her fashion sense demanded better clothes, she settled with denim pants and a hoodie much like Luna's.

"You guys really made it, I'm so glad." Her pearly white smile shone under the dim daylight. "This eclipse was particularly powerful, it was able to last way longer than I thought."

"Did you kill it?" Luna asked trying to hide her disappointment. A creature like that was an incredible study subject for her.

"Kill it!? Of course not you silly, those things are impossible to kill because they don't have a physical form. They feed on... I don't know what they feed on, all I know is they can withstand daylight for a short duration."

"A short duration!? it was more than a day!" Uriel gasped.

"Well, most cryptids don't like the sun, so a full day is nothing to scoff at... but there are far more powerful creatures out there." Miss Dragonfang said, her words seemed more like a memory than a warning.

The group, now finally reunited with their leader, waited patiently for the sun to rise in the sky. Once the light became brighter, they walked down the stairs and out the building carrying as much loot as they could, except for Miss Dragonfang who took it upon herself to lift Medusa and carry her in a princess carry.

For a strong ascended like the former lieutenant, lifting a wounded person was not even enough to make her break a sweat. Still, now that she looked human again it was an odd view watching her carry a person without trouble.

Hungry, starved and deprived of sleep, the students were eager to leave the city behind but there were many small cryptids on their way out. They even found some essence orbs that were lying around in the ground, since during the eclipse Miss Dragonfang was unable to retrieve most of them.

The roaring engine of the armored transport vehicle made the hearts of everyone race in joy. They were also relieved to see that Phlox was doing fine and that the reason she didn't go to meet them along with Miss Dragonfang was because she was tasked to bring the vehicle as near as possible.

They ran inside the vehicle and grabbed whatever drink and food was waiting for them. They still needed to go back to their camp to retrieve some of their belongings, but that was just a short stop and most of it was done in silence.

It was only when the last building was nothing but a dot in the distance that Miss Dragonfang allowed her emotions to sink in.

A silent tear ran down her cheek and she was shivering, but not in cold. The feeling of helplessness overwhelmed her and her mental state was almost like that of Sam's.

"Why does this sort of thing always happen to me? I can't do anything right." Another tear trickled down, threatening to break a dam of tears that would leave her dry.

"It's not your fault Miss Dragonfang... Atomic, he..." Uriel wanted to say that his late companion made a poor decision by following the cryptid into the dark, but he didn't want to speak ill of the death. At least not after so little time had passed.

"What he wants to say is that, we survived, it was hard, painful and exhausting, but it was our call. You didn't force any of us to come." Medusa said.

"That's not it... You guys were my responsibility, I think I'm just not cut to be a leader. At least when I was in the army I could put the blame on my superiors, but now I know, I really know what its like. What am I going to say to his family? They had all their hopes on that kid, he was from a poor family. They couldn't believe their luck when Atomic received his trait, it was so incredible and strong, he had all the future ahead of him and now..."

Nothing any of them could do or say would have been enough to comfort the heartbroken team leader. Her sorrow was honest and she deeply regretted going out there with untrained students.

She didn't know, though, that those students had managed to kill a cryptid so strong, so vicious, that not even the army was able to. The skinwalker had been the bane of many soldiers and hunters alike, and it was nothing but a bunch of kids with traits unsuited for battle the ones who finally killed it.