Chapter Three
Ary walks into her room and grabs her helmet, vox, and sword. She buckles the four-foot-long sword's strap around her waist before effortlessly jumping off her balcony from two stories up. Ary pulls her hair into her helmet and lands next to her motorcycle. She bends her knees and tumbles to reduce the momentum from her fall. Ary swings her right leg over the bike and places her right hand onto the bike's tank. "System override accepted." Ana's voice echoes through the screen. She grips the gas and revs the motorcycle, launching her through the yard and onto the dirt road. In the rearview mirror, she sees her Reme running onto the path with two other men. Ary quickly speeds over a hundred miles an hour, weaving through vehicles and overtaking buses.
Dust clouds forming behind her as she speeds to town. Ana is projecting speed warnings on the inner visor of Ary's helmet. Ignoring them, she commands Ana to call Celine. She picks up after two rings.
"Ary, what the hell – "
"Celine, grab the truck and meet me at the central bus stop ten minutes." Ary cuts her off, Celine's face hardens.
"What happened?"
"Matilda, Jon, and William are under attack."
"Make it five." Celine hangs up as Ary revs the motorcycle past a hundred fifty miles and counting. She slows down as she approaches the town. Ary sees multiple teams fighting off two other mutated Tatio's near the entrance. She speeds past them as she makes her way towards the town's center.
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Matilda and Jon fidget as they wait for the bus when they suddenly heard screams. A few blocks away, a group of people began running into nearby buildings or hiding behind parked cars. Jon swiftly removes his taser gun and tells Matilda to get behind him. The ground around them begins to tremble as a colossal dog-like creature tumbles into view. The beast screamed in pain, and the sound rattled windows. Jon looked up and fixed his taser gun on the beast.
"It stands on all fours and is about twelve feet tall," Jon whispered to Matilda as he studied the creature.
"There is no canine that size on the island. It must be a mutated Tatio." Matilda quietly responded.
"It was already battling William too, but i don't see any sign of him," Jon nodded towards the creature, in its' back were four arrows. "Matilda, my taser gun is not high powered enough to stop it-" Before Jon could finish his sentence the creature jerked its head and locked eyes with him.
"Shit, stay behind me," Jon activates the taser gun and points it at the creature. Its head jerked from side to side as it takes a step towards their direction. Where's William! Jon thinks to himself, trying to sort out his next move. The creature stood its ground, roughly forty feet away from the siblings. From behind them, a door slam shut and spooks the beast. It lurched with a crazed look in its eyes towards them. Jon waits until it gets close enough before firing his taser gun towards its' eyes and nose. It stopped mere feet in front of them and pawed at its face. Jon takes the chance and breaks a car window nearby and unlocks the door to throw Matilda inside. He runs behind the beast and hurls insults at it. The creature turns towards Jon and overlooks Matilda in the car.
Jon tries to egg the creature towards him, but it doesn't move. He noticed that a section of its' chest was shaved and had recent healing from a wound. It had surgery? So this thing isn't an accident. The more he examined it, the more the creature reminded him of a spooked animal, not a wild beast. It was a dog more than twelve times its average-sized. The breathing was labored, and it looked like it was in shock. There was a metal glinting around its neck, but it was too far for Jon to see what it was. A breeze blew between them, and the creature lifted his nose. Jon smelled blood reeking from the beast when he suddenly froze. Matilda's perfume! He fired another shot at the animal to distract it, but it was too late. It turned around and faced the car Matilda was hiding in. In seconds, it closed in. Jon screamed as he ran towards the creature while it tore through the vehicle.
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Ary walks into her room and grabs her helmet, vox, and sword. She buckles the four-foot-long sword's strap around her waist before effortlessly jumping off her balcony from two stories up. Ary pulls her hair into her helmet and lands next to her motorcycle. She bends her knees and tumbles to reduce the momentum from her fall. Ary swings her right leg over the bike and places her right hand onto the bike's tank. "System override accepted." Ana's voice echoes through the screen. She grips the gas and revs the motorcycle, launching her through the yard and onto the dirt road. In the rearview mirror, she sees her Reme running onto the path with two other men. Ary quickly speeds over a hundred miles an hour, weaving through vehicles and overtaking buses.
Dust clouds forming behind her as she speeds to town. Ana is projecting speed warnings on the inner visor of Ary's helmet. Ignoring them, she commands Ana to call Celine. She picks up after two rings.
"Ary, what the hell – "
"Celine, grab the truck and meet me at the central bus stop ten minutes." Ary cuts her off, Celine's face hardens.
"What happened?"
"Matilda, Jon, and William are under attack."
"Make it five." Celine hangs up as Ary revs the motorcycle past a hundred fifty miles and counting. She slows down as she approaches the town. Ary sees multiple teams fighting off two other mutated Tatio's near the entrance. She speeds past them as she makes her way towards the town's center.
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Matilda screamed as the creature tore a hole in the ceiling above her. It stuck its claws in the car and clawed at her. She cried out in agony as the claws ripped through her hands as she was trying to defend herself. Jon jumped onto the creature's back and bashed its head with the butt of the taser gun. It stood up on its hind legs and shook violently. The sudden movement dislodged Jon and sent him flying. He slammed into the building across the street, and he slumped to the ground. Blood dripped from his mouth, and he struggled to get back up. Jon cringes in pain as he looks up to see an arrow fly past him and hit the creature. It howled in agony and looked around vigorously.
William stood behind the creature a block away. He kneeled to stabilize himself and shot off two more arrows. The beast fell to the ground and rolled, trying to get the arrowheads off. William ran over to Jon's side and kneeled to surveyed his wounds. Jon had a massive gash across his chest, and it was starting to bruise. His clothes were covered in dirt and torn in some places.
"You look like shit." William half-heartedly jokes as he steadies Jon on his feet.
"I feel like shit," Jon mutters as he coughs up more blood.
"What the hell is that thing, Jon?"
"It looks like a mutated Tatio."
"There's no -"
"William..." Jon's voice came out choked up, "my sister is in that car..."
William's face drops as the realization of what Jon said hit him like a train. He looks over towards the car and sees Matilda's bloody body. They stand next to each other as they watch the creature stand back up. It turns towards the boys and growls.
"Still got some left, bro?" William elbows Jons.
"Yeah, man." Jon sighs as he realizes William suffered some injuries to his arms and legs, "remember that pincer move we tried on Ary?"
"Yeah..."
"This thing has nothing on her. So it might just work this time."
The two men nodded and straightened themselves up, no trace of pain left on their faces. Their eyes were bright as they took in the creature in front of them. William collapses his bow gun and grips it like a bat. Jon rips out the rebar that was sticking out of the wall. They both start walking in opposite directions keeping in the peripheral vision of the creature. Its eyes begin to move independently. It kept its right eye on Jon and its left on William. All three of them stood silently, sizing each other up for a few minutes.
Jon launches first, then William, closing the distance in mere seconds. The creature lunges right, and Jon simultaneously slides under the beast. He stabs the rebar straight into its stomach. It howls as it tries to get to Jon. He manages to stay under the creature and out of reach from its deadly claws. William jumped from a roof of a nearby building and landed on top of the beast. He stabbed the barrel of the bow gun directly into its head and screams, "RELEASE!"
The bow gun unfurled with power and velocity. The impact of the weapon sent both William and the beast flying in opposite directions. Jon reacts and cushions William's fall, and they both tumble through the dirt road.
When Jon gets up, he realizes they were knocked back against the car Matilda hid in. He looked inside, and Matilda was unconscious. Jon stuck his body through the back window, ignoring the pain from the broken windows piercing through him.
"Matilda," he tenderly whispers as cups his hands around her face. Matilda's eyes barely open. She tries to speak but is quickly hushed by Jon.
"We're almost done, we're almost done." He reassures her, and her eyes shut again.
Matilda's body is covered in deep gashes, and she suffered a few bites on her arms. The interior of the car is covered in blood. At this rate, she'll bleed out. Jon contemplated as tears fall from eyes. The creature whines as it tried to claw the rebar out of its stomach. The hit from William seems like it disoriented the creature. The damage to it left a massive crater in its head along with a miss right eye. The best contorts its body and bites the rebar to pull it out. The creature shakes its head and stares at the two men, its mouth agape and lips curling into a grotesque smile.
"It just looks pissed now." William sarcastically announces as he collapses his bow gun again.
"Man, this one needs at least four of us. Where is everyone?" Jon asks as he places his hands on his head to control his breathing.
William activates his vox, and it brings up a map with a schematic of the city. After a few touches, four big red dots glowed ominously throughout the city. He looks at Jon and tries to smile, "We got one of four."
The creature steadies itself and growls even louder. Jon looks to his left and sees Matilda fading fast. The beast starts running towards them. The men get into a fighting position when a motorcycle flies into view. The vehicle slams straight into the creature sending it flying down the road. Ary seemingly fell from the sky and landed in front of William and Jon as the scene unfurls before them. She removes her black helmet, and long black hair falls gently. Strapped around her waist is a long slender sword. The sword is black, with electrical currents leaping from the blade once she grips it.
As quickly as she arrived, a truck pulls up with Celine in the driver's seat. She's yelling for them to get in. Jon snaps back to reality and rips the door open to reach Matilda. He gently lifts Matilda out of the car and steadily walks towards the truck. William follows and looks back at Ary before jumping into the truck bed.
"Be careful, Ary," Jon whispers to his sister as he shakily cradles Matilda in his arms.