Worlds of Waves and Shadows

Thirty Four

For a second, nobody moved a muscle, wide eyes trained on the mutant and her father, wrestling to free himself from its weight.

Then as if the spell had been broken, Asher sprinted with a wickedly curved blade in his hand, raising it over his head as it began to whir before plunging it into the creature's neck.

They watched, shock fading into alert panic as the dagger began to twist within the flesh, eliciting an ear-splitting scream from the monster, who fell to the 78 was Kaenisa's answer, smirking as she turned to face Zaic, who was looking at her with a devilish grin.

Damn, he knew exactly how to turn her on.

Their attention shifted to Sarina who was currently in the process of eradicating one of the many monstrosities tumbling forth from the dense tree line.

"Take some of that, you filthy beasts!" Sarina yelled, shooting at one.

It shrieked, louder than a foghorn, already beginning to regenerate. She ducked as it slashed at her, landing a back kick on the creature's back. Unfortunately for her, all it did was enrage the mutant's fury, making it lash out at her again.

Its once human nails had decayed into rotten talons that were perfectly capable of shredding away the petite blonde's skin. And presently, they were barely a heartbeat away from doing just that.

But before the towering behemoth could tear Sarina to pieces, three consecutive shots echoed through the woods.

The mutant roared, a sound that sent spiders crawling over her skin, falling to the ground. In front of the Platinum Blonde stood Zaira, holding a sleek firearm. They watched as The Princess pulled her away from the tree.

"Thanks." Sarina said, to which Zaira replied with a wink.

But before they could let out a breath of relief, another one of those salivating monsters lunged towards Rolan.

Without wasting a second, he pushed the gun into its stomach, pulling the trigger without an ounce of hesitation or whatsoever.

Kaenisa saw it then. As moonlight glinted off his features. For a second, she did not recognize him or the cold expression his face was set in. His once soft, seafoam eyes were utterly devoid of emotions.

They were ruthless.

And so were his actions. Because after pulling the trigger once, The Russian kicked the staggering monster down and planted not one but three bullets in its skull, without even batting an eyelid.

But what had her highly disturbed was how steady his hand remained. It was hard, no, impossible to believe that he was the same boy who had comforted her not too long back.

And it absolutely shocked her, the blank look set in his eyes. They were two black-holes of viridian and sage, staring back at her.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so dreadfully terrifying if she did not see a glimpse of herself in them.

Because no matter how much she wished to deny it, deep down, in the forbidden tenebrosity of her soul that Kaenisa kept locked away from the world, she was the same. Maybe even worse.

There was a rotten, twisted part of her, a profound darkness, which kept trying to break free.

And she dreaded the day when it finally would, from within the wicked crevices of her soul.

"Hey." Zaic began, jostling Kaenisa out of her thoughts, "You good?"

"I...um....yeah. I'm good." She nodded, looking away.

"Okay then, let's take these motherfuckers down!"

"About time." Zaira smirked, panting.

Kaenisa's focus sharpened with every breath she took, every move she made and honed it onto the eight feet tall mass of fury, claws and teeth rushing towards her and aimed her firearm right in the centre of its chest.

She could hear the blood rushing through her ears, feel the warm summer air on her skin, exhaling steadily before pulling the trigger, right as the behemoth's talons reached for the tip of her nose.

The bullet pierced its flesh, lodging itself straight into the heart.

In a matter of seconds, the creature let out a stifled shriek, clawing at its chest before literally melting into a puddle of black slime and evaporating right in front of her. Kaenisa noticed it then, the reduction in their number, realizing, with immense joy, that there were only three of them remaining. One of which Zaira was wrestling.

But she shouldn't have looked around like that. Because as soon as she let her guard down, a mutant that she had missed leapt onto her, taking them to the ground, trying to taste her flesh. She remembered well, Sarina had told her that if the monsters managed to sink their teeth in you, it was game over. She even had dropped the gun away when the creature pounced.

You would definitely turn into one of them. It spread through that venomous saliva of theirs. And Kaenisa wasn't about to let that happen any time soon.

She struggled to keep its snapping Jaws away from herself, grunting as it came at her with doubled force, its razor-sharp fangs an inch away from her face.

But just as Kaenisa thought all was lost. She heard a few gunshots and the mutant stiffened and went blank.

She pushed its lifeless body off of her just as it began to decompose into a fuming puddle of black goo.

"Are you hurt?" The General asked as he stood over Kaenisa, his eyes scanning her from head to toe.

Kaenisa couldn't help the warmth that spread through her chest at the sight of frantic concern within his anxious amber stare and the lines of worry on his forehead. She had always protected herself, had never needed anyone else to do so.

But now, standing there, face to face with the man Kaenisa had wished to meet ever since she had been old enough to understand what dad meant.

She couldn't help but want his protection. His approval and, most of all, his love.

And it seemed actually attainable, for once.

"No, I don't think so..." She finally replied, watching relief take over his body.

But their problems were far from over.

A petrified scream drew their attention to its source, who turned out to be a cornered Sarina, pinned to a tree with one of the beasts looming over her, talons ready to decapitate her.

On the opposite side stood Asher, frantically trying to keep the other creature's maws away from him.

Cold fear gripped her as Rolan yelled for the Platinum Blonde. But he was too far to make it to her in time.

Dread roiled through her stomach as she grabbed the gun out of her father's hands.

There was a choice to make, a decision that would end in blood, tears and death.

For the first time, her hands trembled, the crushing weight of incipient reality suffocating her.

"Asher!" Zaic yelled, running towards him.

Relief flooded her so strongly that she could have sunken to the ground and cried but, there wasn't even a second to waste.

Zaic aimed towards the snarling mutant towering over The Lieutenant and Kaenisa lunged, shooting the salivating monster that loomed over Sarina, midair, as it brought down its claws onto the terrified petite blonde.

Multiple shots echoed through the forest, fading into a heavy silence that settled over the woods.

An eerie grim breeze began to whisper through the tree-line as the beast screeched in pain. It fell down but along with it, so did the severed head of the platinum blonde.