On the Run

“Maraqak Ranch.”

Mink rolled her eyes. “Washu let her Ivy, Kaya, and Delta out last
night. Well Ceres let Delta out.”

“I don’t bloody believe this.”

“Sooo…..,” Harley started to ask.

“So what,” Nikolas groaned.

“Are you my…”

Nikolas’ hand snapped up across her mouth and held tight. “So help me,
if you say puddin’,” he hissed and then released his hand.

“…master?”

“Eventually.”

Harley giggled, “Yay!” and started to grab at Nikolas’ boxers.

Nikolas tried to push Harley off him, “Back off!pan>pan>

Mink tried to help, “He’s hurt.” With two people fighting her Harley
gave up. “Why don’t you go get Ivy, Delta, and Kaya up so Nikolas can meet
them?”

When Harley looked back down at Nikolas expectantly he nodded in
agreement. “Ok, I’ll go get ‘em up for ya Mr. N,” she said as she hopped up and
darted out of the tent.

Nikolas flopped back into Mink’s lap. “Four more? God help me.”

n stn style='font-family:
Arial'>Mink laughed, “Well, I know Kaya will be happy to help.”

“I don’t wanna know, I just don’t wanna know.”

“Well we should get up.”

Nikolas smiled up at her upside down face, “Five more minutes mom?” Off
to his left Mihoshi let out a little snort, rolled over, and started to search
around for Nikolas with her left arm. When she found his arm she latched on and
pulled herself up to him. “So you wanna wake her up or should I?”

“It’s pointless, just let the smell of food wake her up.”

Nikolas agreed and with a little help from Mink he was able to extract
his arm from Mihoshi’s grasp and head out for breakfast leaving the snoring
Bunnygirl to wake up on her own. His tent was facing towards the fire pit that
one of the girls had dug after he fell asleep and he immediately saw that
Harley was no where to be seen and neither were any of the new girls that Mink
had named. As he scanned the faces more closely he noted that Ceres seemed to
be absent as well. “What’s for breakfast?” he asked.

Edora looked up from the pan she was stirring. “MRE guts.”

Lana lightly rapped the back of her daughter’s head with the spoon she
had been using. “Ham, eggs, and hash browns, how are you feeling?”

“Like a Snorlass sat on me.”

“From a stand point of momentum that’s not far off,” Washu quipped,
“Though jumped on might be more appropriate.”

“That was a pretty stupid thing to do,” Gally said offhandedly.

“Well it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“We let out the stronger girls for a reason,” Nina said quietly.

“I got it, I’m an idiot, I almost died.” Nikolas accepted the plate that
Isabella handed him. “What happened to that Naga and the other girl anyway?”

“Well, once Sango and Gally dodged your flying carcass they subdued the
Naga and I captured her. Nina got the Billie,” Washu told him.

As Washu finished Harley came prancing up with Kaya and Ivy in tow,
Ceres and Delta followed shortly after. “I got ‘em for ya Mr. N.”

Nikolas looked up and saw his new girls, the pale green skinned girl
with long red hair was obviously a plant type, if the skin wasn’t enough of a
confirmation then the flower bud in the small of her back and it’s associated
vines wrapped over her shoulders settled it. Nikolas wasn’t sure whether the
skintight green suit covering her like a swimsuit was clothing or some type of
leaf. The copious size of her chest had him leaning towards thinking she might
be a Boobisaur and as Harley stopped bobbing up and down on the balls of her
feet he realized that she was a bit shorter then the Catgirl. ‘Definitely Ivy,’
the thought. On the other side of Harley was another cat type pokegirl.

Unlike Harley and Nina this girl’s ears were long and pointed and came
directly out of the side of her head where a human girl’s ears would be. A
light coating of white fur started just below her throat and disappeared
underneath the collar of the dress she was wearing. Her arms and the portion of
her legs that were visible were covered in a dark tan fur with black spots and
her raggedly cut hair matched her fur right down to the spots. Her upper
portion of her dark blue dress emulated a sweater in its high collar and long
sleeves that she had pushed up her arms, the area over her breasts was nearly
transparent. The bottom half of the dress consisted of two long panels of
fabric barely fifteen centimeters wide in front and back that reached half way
down her shins. Her legs were encased in pair of black thigh high fish net
stockings held up by garters attached directly to her dress and her right ear
had a thick golden hoop through it. Behind her a long bushy tail with a white
tip slowly swayed back and forth. ‘Kaya.’

The girl holding Ceres’ hand wouldn’t have seemed normal no matter how
much you dressed her up. Coming out of the sea of teal hair piled up on top of
her head were a pair of small purple wings that matched the purple boned and
maroon covered wings coming out her back. Her ears were long and pointed back
and the only spot on her pale and flawless skin was a red symbol in the center
of her forehead. Her feet were reptilian claws and her fingers were capped by
three centimeter nails that looked more suited to killing then painting. The
loincloth and bikini top she wore look liked they’d been ripped from whatever
had made up the rest of the bottom of Kaya’s dress. ‘And that would be De’

Even as Nikolas was appraising the girl’s they were looking him over
with equal interest. While Ivy’s green eyes and Delta’s red simply roamed over
Nikolas with simply casual interest Kaya’s burned with a luhat hat was
blatantly obvious.

“Thanks Harley. I assume that since Washu seems to be paying as much
attention to me as she usually does that she’s already told you what’s going
on, welcome to the group.”

Ivy stately raised one of her hands and began to say, “Than…”

“When do we get tamed,” Kaya said as she cut Ivy off.

Nikolas gave her a questioning look before answering, “We’ll make it to
Cordale by tonight, and Tigit tomorrow or the day after. When we get to Tigit
we’re going to find a motel and hole up for a day. I’ll deal with the Naga and
the Billie then too.”

Kaya was greatly perturbed, “That’s not soon enough.”

Nikolas’ eyes narrowed slightly, “It’ll have to be, we’re kind of busy
at the moment. Just what breed are you?”

“Wildcat,” she said defiantly.

Nikolas sighed and rubbed the bridge of his now. “And the rest of you?”

“Boobisaur,” Ivy said.

“Ocelolita,” Harley chirped.

“Youma,” Delta hissed.

Nikolas nodded. “Alright, grab some breakfast, we’re getting out of here
in short order.”

“I wanna be tamed now,” Kaya stated.

“Tough, you’re going to have to wait.”

“Now!”

“No and that’s final. Now get something to eat and make yourself useful
helping pack up.”

The hair on Kaya’s ears started to stand on end and the corner of mouth
pulled back to expose one of her over sized incisors but before she could say
anything Yerella stuck a plate of food into her hand’s and quietly returned to
her seat where she served Lana and then herself.

When Nina glanced back from Kaya to Nikolas she saw a quickly fading
smile from his lips. As the smile disappeared she unconsciously rubbed the
collar around her neck. When everyone was done eating they quickly began to
pack up and get ready to leave. Nikolas went back into his tent and started to
get dressed, his pants and boots went on with little problem but when he tried
to pull on a t-shirt he couldn’t, as soon as his arm went above shoulder level
the pain went from a dull ache to a screaming roar. The second time he tried
the result was no better and he sat down hard with a grunt. A rustle at the
tent opening got his attention. “Cry baby,” his youngest sister said.

“Gimme a break fuzz ball,” he said as he got ready to try again.

Isabella snatched the shirt from his hands. “You’re just gonna hurt
yourself.”

“I’ll be fine, just hold it for me so I can ge on. on.” Nikolas noticed
Isabella’s ear pivoting to the rear before he heard the tent flap again.

“What are you two doing in here?” Edora asked suspiciously.

“Nothing to get excited about,” Nikolas told her.

Isabella frowned, “Unfortunately.”

“Just hold the shirt,” He growled. Isabella did as she was told and when
Nikolas jammed his arms and head through the holes and promptly fell over
holding his shoulder she just smirked at him. “Don’t say anything,” he hissed.

Edora shook her head and grabbed Nikolas’ pack as she left.

“Hey, bring that back!” he snapped. Isabella reached over and pressed
down on his shoulder hard. For a moment he tried not to react but after a few
seconds of resistance his stoney face disintegrated into a pained grimace and
he grabbed her hand and snatched it away. “Alright, you proved your point.”

“Well duh,” Isabella said as she rolled her eyes and left the tent.

Even as he rubbed his shoulder in an effort to silence the painful
impulses radiating from it Nikolas smiled and grabbed his rifle before he
followed them out of the tent.

In a few minutes camp had been packed up and they started to move off
through the woods. Even though the going was tough they still moved quickly no
one was interested in staying in the forest longer then they had too. Even as
the day grew longer it never grew significantly brighter then it had been in
the morning and the longer they walked in this semi-darkness the more nervous
Nikolas became. Before long he started to think he saw things moving in the
distance.

“Come on, we’ve been walking for hours, is it time to eat yet?” Isabella
whined.

Nikolas glanced at his watch. “Believe it or not it is.” Nikolas thought
he saw a flash of blue but when he turned he saw nothing besides the twisted
trees and general gloom that had surrounded them the last two days.

“What is it Nikolas?” His mother asked.

Nikolas continued to stare out into the darkness for another second
before answering, “Nothing, it’s nothing. Let’s eat fast alright?” He quickly
picked out a tall tree root on the side of the group nearest to where he had
thought he’d seen something and pulled out an MRE.

“You saw something didn’t you?” Gally asked as she sat down next to him.
“Are you going to eat that chocolate?”

“Yeah I saw something,” he replied as he handed over the candy.

“Sango and I saw something as well, but we haven’t gotten a good look at
it.”

“Was it blue?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said before taking a bite out of the chocolate bar.

“You want something more to eat then that?” Nikolas asked. When Gally
shook her head no he continued, “I thought it might have been my imagination.”

“It’s not, there’s something out there,” Sango said. “They’ve been
following us for the last hour.”

“They?” Nikolas and Gally asked at the same time as she finished walking
up to them

The Kunochi nodded. “I’ve heard movement on several sides at the same
time.

Nikolas looked up at Sango. “Has anyone else seen anything?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t want to alarm anyone without reason.”

“Well there’s a reason,” he replied as his eyes scanned the trees around
them. “Start asking, maybe somebody got a better look them we have but try not
to scare anyone.”

While Sango turned to leave Gally popped the rest of the chocolate in
her mouth and hopped up after her. Nikolas finished off the MRE and tossed the
brown plastic wrapper in a recess of the tree root and used his boot to cover
it over with leaves and dirt. While he waited on the girls he started to check
his pistols and rifle.

When Sango and Gally returned Washu was following them. “What’s going
on,” she demanded with her hands on her hips.

“Just a second,” Nikolas told her, “So?” he asked turning to Sango and
Gally.

“A few of them saw something, but nobody saw anything more then we did,”
Sango reported.

Washu ground her teeth, “Saw what?”

“We don’t know,” Nikolas said. “We’ve caught glimpses of something out
in the woods, none of us saw anything more then that whatever it is is blu…” A
sharp crack out in the darkness caught everyone’s attention.

For a moment silence reigned heavy on the little group until Gally
declared quietly and far calmer then anyone else would have managed, “We’re
being hunted.”

Nikolas slowly brought his rifle up in the direction of the sound and
sighted down the barrel. When a second noise came from off to their right he
looked over his shoulder before he snapped, “Everybody up, now!”

“Nikolas, what’s going on?” Lana asked with her ears flattened against
the top of her head.

“I don’t know but let’s get moving. “

“Nikolas,” his mother said as a warning.

“Just go.”

The group quickly set off through the woods and Nikolas pulled out his
pokedex to check their progress. “Six more hours,” he muttered under his
breath, “five if we hurry.”

“What was that?” Washu asked.

“We’ve got five or six more hours until we’re out of Murkwood, another
two after that and we’ll be on the edge of Cordale and we can set up camp.”

Washu nodded at this and stayed walking beside Nikolas. For several
hours they trudged through the forest trying to move as quickly as possible. It
started to become obvious to Washu that the part of the group that didn’t know
the whole story was starting to catch on to the rest of their nervousness. When
she stole a glance at Nikolas she saw him watching Mihoshi and his sisters.
Mihoshi’s ears had fallen until they were hanging behind her head and she
glanced around nervously with every step. The twins were shaking constantly and
jumping with every step. “Mihoshi,” Nikolas said as he motioned her over. When
she arrived he asked her, “Mihoshi, I think my sisters are a little scared
right now, why don’t you walk with them and keep them company. It’ll probably
make them feel safer to have you walking with them.”

“But…,” she said cautiously, her big blue eyes starting to glimmer with
a hint of moisture.

“They could really use you,” Nikolas said with a reassuring smile.

Mihoshi glanced back and forth between her tamer and Washu before
whispering “Ok,” and joining the twins. Within minutes they had started to talk
and their mood lightened.

When the three girls actually broke down and laughed about something
Mihoshi had said Washu leaned over towards Nikolas and said, “How did you
know?”

“Know what?” he whispered back.

“To do that,” she said as she gestured towards Mihoshi, Edora, and
Isabella.

“I just figured that Mihoshi could use something to take her mind off
the forest and that she’d get the twins’ minds off it too,” he humbly
explained.

For several minutes they kept walking along with Washu paying attention
to Nikolas’ constant scanning of woods around them. “What’s happening? First
Gally comes around asking if I’ve been seeing anything and then Sango’s
prowling around asking everyone else, then you tell us to pack up and go.
What’s out there?”

“I don’t know. We’ve been seeing something, blue, and Gally’s pretty
sure we’re being hunted. I think we may have found the reason those scientists
never made it out.” As Washu’s face fell Nikolas resettled the rifle strap on
his shoulder. “Are you going to be ok?”

“Yes…I just wasn’t expecting this,” Washu stammered.

“Just keep moving, a feral girl isn’t likely to attack a group this
large so as long as we keep moving we aren’t likely to be bothered.”

Something large moved through the bushes to the group’s right and
Nikolas caught sight of a pale blue tail disappearing into the brush. Beside
him Washu stared wide eyed at the spot the tail had disappeared into.
“Cocooner’s lost her mind,” she whispered.

“What did you see Washu?”

“It’s…,” she shuddered, “we have to go, we have to hurry.” The
diminutive pokegirl pushed towards the front of the group with her bright red
hair bobbing behind her. Washu’s rapid pace quickly forced everyone to increase
their own in order to keep up.

As Faye hustled past Nikolas to regain her position near the front she
said, “I’ve never seen her this worked up.” Then her tone grew suspicious, “I
wonder what’s her problem?”

“I dunno but I’m going to find out.”

“Then let’s go,” she offered.

Nikolas almost told her to stay back but as he looked into her green
eyes he paused. “Faye just stay….,” Nikolas shook his head a moment in an
effort to clear it, he could have sworn he had just heard hear say ‘trust me,’
but he hadn’t seen her lips move. “Come on, let’s see what shorty’s up too.” They
sped up and after hopping over a few roots and ducking under a limb that Washu
walked under easily and quickly caught up with her.

Arial'> 

“Washu,” Faye murmured, “what did you see?”

Washu didn’t even acknowledge their presence and increased her speed
slightly.

“Come on Washu tell us, this is important,” Nikolas pleaded.

“Gally’s right,” she said, “those things out there, they’re hunting us.”

Faye’s ears perked up, “What are they?”

“They’re not pokegirls.” Her eyes unfocused as she concentrated on
remembering what she’d saw and Nikolas had to guide her around a half meter
high rock. “It had four legs, like a Purrsian but it was walking on all four.
It had large claws and three tails. It looked reptilian and had pale blue skin
and dark gray stripes like a Tigress. It was probably a hundred and twenty
centimeters at the shoulder I didn’t see its head.”

“How do you know it wasn’t a pokegirl?” Nikolas demanded.

Washu looked up and locked eyes with Nikolas. “ style='font-family:Arial'>I. Know,” she
declared slowly and forcefully.

“How much longer till we’re out of here,” Faye asked Nikolas nervously.

Nikolas glanced at his watch. “An hour, tops.”

“Good….” Faye started to say before being interrupted by a blood
curdling scream from Harley. As he spun left towards the sound Nikolas brought
his rifle to his shoulder, grunting as he pulled the butt of it tight into his
shoulder.

Standing ten meters from Harley directly between a pair of trees was the
creature that Washu had described and immediately Nikolas realized that Washu
was right, whatever this thing was it wasn’t a pokegirl. The creature had a
long narrow but deep snout with its eyes set well forward of the hinge of its
jaw and they were protected by a pair of bone ridges above them. The front of
its maw was guarded by two huge twenty five centimeter fangs that emerged from
its upper jaw and another pair of fifteen centimeter fangs that came of from
its lower jaw. Behind these incisors its mouth actually started and was filled
with dozens of razor sharp teeth. A long narrow frill emerged from the back of
its skull and covered its neck. The skin covering its head was pulled so taunt
and was gaunt enough that the animal’s skull almost seemed bare.

For several moments everyone froze and stared at the creature while its
pitch black eyes bored back at them. The only sign that the thing was alive was
the slow expansion and contraction of it skeletal ribcage.

A bright flash to his right caught Nikolas’ eye as he heard Gally yell,
“Watch out!” From the corner of his eye Nikolas watched Gally shove her glowing
fist through a charging creature’s mouth and out the back of its head. His
attention went immediately back to the creature that had been in front of
Harley, and he saw it in midair only a few meters from the cringing Ocelolita.
A quick tug on the trigger of his rifle and five rounds caught it in neck and
chest, it landed on the ground in a heap only centimeters from Harley and
didn’t move.

In an instant the forest erupted as a dozen of the creatures attacked
them. Nikolas was only vaguely aware of Mihoshi shoving his sisters into a
hollow between some roots before diving in herself while his mother did the
same with Lana and Washu before morphing into her battle form and backing up to
defend the hiding place. As he opened fire on another of the creatures he felt
the pistols being removed from his holsters and almost immediately he heard
them open fire. A quick check revealed Faye and Ceres with their backs to him
and a pistol in either of their hands.

His recollection of the fight was spotty at best. He saw Gally use her
glaive to literally cut the legs out from under a charging creature before
finishing it off by stabbing it through the back of its head. Sango threw her
boomerang cutting one creature in half before drawing her short sword and
thrusting it into the throat of another one that was charging her. Kaya was
knocked to the ground with her arms covered in cuts as one of the things struck
her a glancing blow but before it could turn back to attack her Mink
incinerated it in a ball of flame from her mouth. His mother was holding back
one of them by its jaws until its chest was shredded by dozens of Ivy’s razor
leaves. Nina helped the prone Kaya up a half second before a creature dropped
out of the tree overhead and landed where she had been. As it’s azure skin
rippled over its muscles its claws ripped meter long furrows in the ground but
before it could turn on the Catgirls Sango’s boomerang bisected it.

Nikolas spun and saw one of the things about attack Harley but before it
could she brought her hands up in front of her and uttered something
unintelligible. The creature froze where it was as if paralyzed and a second
later it collapsed to the ground. Not knowing whether it was dead or alive
Nikolas put five rounds into it and made sure it was the former. However while
he was distracted he stepped away from Faye and Ceres exposing their backs.
Sensing an opening one of the creatures charged.

The animal was only a few meters from Faye when Nikolas saw it. He
realized that he had no chance of getting his rifle around in time and even
though he knew it was pointless he yelled, “Faye. Ceres. Look out!” Nikolas
lunged towards the charging predator and used his left arm to push against its
head until the rest of his body slammed into it. When he collided with the
creature he spun to the ground with it and found himself directly beneath its
chest. The animal realized their positions almost as quickly as Nikolas had and
tried to bring its nightmarish head down to crush Nikolas’ skull in its jaws.
As he watched the maw of the beast rushing down towards him Nikolas was sure
that he was dead and even as its jaws snapped closed millimeters from his face
he was still sure it’s festering mouth and putrid yellow teeth would be the
last thing he’d ever see. When it recoiled its head it started to shuffle its
feet back to let it get to its prey the next time it attacked but even as it
reared back to strike Nikolas heard a half dozen pops as Ceres and Faye opened
fire on it.

The creature staggered as oozing green wounds erupted along its side but
it didn’t stop in its attempt to kill Nikolas until Delta swooped down and her
momentum knocked it off him. The pokegirl and the predator went down in a pile
but instantly the creature was back on its feet and pivoting towards the Youma.
“Delta get out of the way!” Faye yelled as Delta was blocking her and Ceres’
shot at the thing. Nikolas scrambled for his rifle as Delta tried to get out of
the way but they were both too slow. The look on Delta’s face was one of pure
horror as she tried to get moving but her hands and feet kept slipping on the
decaying leaves of the forest floor.

The creature appeared above Delta’s left shoulder, its jaws opened more
then ninety degrees and its neck pulled back into a tight S curve. For an
instant time seemed to freeze with everyone staring at the spectacle before
them before the creatures head snapped down and it’s jaws slammed shut on
Delta’s shoulder amid a spray of dark red blood. As Nikolas brought his rifle
around he watched as the thing reared back dragging Delta along with it. When
its mouth relaxed momentarily he hoped it was letting her go, instead it was
securing its grip and with a crackle of disintegrating bone it bit down again
even harder covering its jaws in blood. As he lined his rifle up with the
visible part of the creatures skull it began to pivot to run away.

It didn’t make it very far as Gally’s glowing hand came down on the base
of its neck and ripped the creatures head and neck from its body.

With Delta’s attacker down Nikolas spun in a crouch to scan for targets
and found none. “Any more? Does anyone see any more of those things?”

A few “No”s answered him before Gally declared, “That was the last of
them, all clear.”

“Delta!” Ceres yelled as she crouched next to her and started to pry at
the animal’s jaws. With Faye’s help she managed to get the head of the beast
off of Delta’s shoulder and rolled it to the side. Washu ran up and dropped
down beside them and started to inspect Delta’s wounds as the Youma fainted.

“Keep watch,” Nikolas told Gally.

“Somebody get me the med kit,” she ordered them.

“Here,” Nina said as she handed the small knapsack sized medical kit to
Washu. “How bad is she?”

Washu pulled out several pads and started to clean the blood off of
Delta’s shoulder before rolling her over and starting on the matching set on
her back. “I don’t know yet give her an injection of morphine, another of
antibiotic, and one of the general purpose stuff.” While Nina went about giving
Delta the injections Washu began to inspect the wounds. A moment later she
removed a cotton swab from one of the wounds that was covered in a black
sludge.

“What is that,” Nina asked.

“Very very bad.” Washu said a little distractedly before tossing the
swab on the ground and moving over to examine the mouth of the creature that
had bit her. “Clean out those wounds and douse them in disinfectant.”

“What’s going on?” Nikolas asked as he crouched down beside the little
Supe-Bra Genius.

Washu stuck one of her finger into the mouth of the beast and ran it
along the back of one of its large front fangs. The finger she brought back was
covered in the same black sludge that she had pulled out of Delta’s shoulder.
Washu brought the finger up to her nose and sniffed the sludge before screwing
up her nose and wiping her finger off on the creature’s skin. “Did you see
that?” she asked as she pointed at the disembodied head on the ground.

“Yeah, what was it?”

“Rotting flesh, fecal matter, and a bunch of other things I can’t
identify without a lab. The back edges of its teeth are serrated and this stuff
is crammed into all the little crevasses. It bit Delta and jammed all this into
the wound. Nina?”

Nina looked up from cleaning Delta’s wounds and handed the disinfectant
to Ceres who took over. “Yes?”

“Give her another shot of that antibiotic and start taking her
temperature.”

“What about her wounds?” Nikolas asked as Washu turned back to Delta and
started to wrap her shoulder with pressure bandages.

“They’re not good but if we wrap them up and put her in her ball for a
while she’ll be fine. Her bones will heal quickly and so will the wounds. She
probably won’t be able to move her arm or her wing for a while though.”

Washu nodded, “The wounds on her back went right through the muscles she
uses to move her left wing. Until they heal she’s grounded but I’m not worried
about her wounds, it’s that sludge I’m worried about, even though Nina cleaned
her wounds out some of that stuff is bound to be in there and if the antibiotic
doesn’t fight it off she could get a massive infection.”

“Can we move her?”

Something roared in the distance.

Washu glanced up. “I think we can chance it.”

Arial'> 

“Alright, Ceres can you carry her?” Nikolas asked.

“Yes.”

“Then let’s get out of here.” Nobody disagreed and after Ceres had
picked up Delta they moved out as quickly as possible. Nikolas stayed in the
rear while Gally took the lead. Every unexpected noise made everyone jump as
though they were expecting a pale blizalizard to attack them. Ceres spent most
of her time trying to carry Delta as gently as possible.

Fifteen minutes later Mink spotted a follower. “Nikolas there are more
of those things out there.”

“Oh hell,” Nikolas muttered, in the distance the edge of the forest was
visible. He spun and walked backwards for a moment noting several areas where
things were moving that shouldn’t be before turning back around. “Keep going,
hurry,” he told the girls deciding to press his luck a little more. ‘If we can
just get a little farther we can sprint out of here and those damn things won’t
stand a chance of catching us before we’re out. We’ll butcher them in the
open.’

Unfortunately the creatures seemed to know this as well and began to
close the gap between the group and them. With two hundred meters to go Nikolas
spotted a cerulean body disappearing behind a tree not twenty meters to their
left. “Girls,” he said nervously, “RUN!”

As soon as the group broke from its routine the creatures sprang from
hiding and attacked. The first two that attacked were quickly dispatched by
Gally and Mink but the third nearly made it to Nina but as it ran by Nikolas he
was able to nearly press the muzzle of his rifle into its hide and every round
that he fired tore through the creature and killed it. The forth made to Kaya
and knocked her into a tree but before it could finish the job Harley again
pointed her hands at the creature but this time it burst into flames. Nikolas
dropped a fifth one with a burst to its head and the one that had attacked with
it was dropped by Faye.

Ivy was busy dragging one of the creatures to the ground with her vine
whips when another leapt onto her back and drove her into the ground. In
desperation Ivy released her vine whips around the first creature’s legs and
used them to hold the one on her back at bay as it began to claw at her. The
creature began to snap at the whips holding its neck and was able to bite one
off. Its jaws came down around her head but the creature never finished
decapitating her as the slugs from Nikolas’ rifle ripped its heart out.

While he ran to Ivy’s side Nikolas watched Mink burn another of the
animals before running for the edge of the forest. When he got next to her Ivy
staggered to her feet. “You ok to run?” he asked in a hurry.

“Yes,” she hissed as the amputated vine whip curled over her shoulder.

Arial'> 

“Then do it!” he snapped as he pulled her left arm over his shoulder and
headed after the rest of the group with his mother’s right in front of him.

They had almost made it out of the forest when a creature dropped out of
the trees and slammed Lana to the ground with its paws on her chest. Before
anyone else in the group could so much as twitch in her direction Yerella in
her battle form had grabbed the creature by its head and thrown it to the
ground off of her partner. Never letting go of her prey Yerella snarled as she
violently ripped the creature’s head around snapping its neck with a sickening
crunch. A second creature swatted her on the chest and tore three crimson lines
through her fur but the enraged Lupina gave no indication that she felt it as
she gripped the thing’s upper and lower jaws in opposite hands and tore them
apart. Belying her ferocious dispatching of her two opponents Yerella showed
remarkable gentleness as she scooped up the dazed Titmouse and carried her
along to safety.