Beauty and The Beasley

Chapter 19

I can't black out.

Bree tried to chide herself into remaining conscious but the pain was dulling her senses fast. She groaned and turned, then began to crawl on her belly.

The hit had knocked her bow out of her hands and her backpack off her back. Only her quiver was still with her. Angry growling filled her ears as she approached the bow. Immediately her hand touched it, she felt the room turning upside down.

She was being carried by her foot. She hung loosely and struggled to reach for the snow as if it were some sort of anchor. She flailed and kicked but her captor did not care.

ROARRRRR.

"Put me down you big ugly." Bree muttered but her voice came out as a bare whisper. Suddenly, she dropped headlong to the ground.

"Ow!" She groaned again. Her headache was now twice the size it had been before and she was sure a fist sized lump had grown on it.

Bree turned and found the creature stomping its fists and growling. It was incredibly huge and looked like a bear on steroids. Its face was void of eyes but Bree knew they were there.

She crawled toward the bow and grabbed it then quickly nocked an arrow. This angered the monster and it smashed the ground, roaring and growling and pacing up and down.

"How dare you flip me across the room?" She said in between gritted teeth.

The monster opened its mouth wide and roared at her. The wind nearly pushed her down and her hair violently blew about her face. When it finally stopped, Bree let the first arrow fly.

It pierced the creature's shoulder and it bellowed in rage rather than in pain. It lunged at Bree but she managed to swerve out of the way. It was fast and whatever it came in contact with broke to pieces. Bree scurried over to the billboard and hid behind it. It was pinned to the ground like a mini gate and shielded her long enough to nock another arrow.

This wasn't the plan. Her voice screamed in her head but she was too busy to notice. She only followed her instincts. The monster kept growling and looking for her with the arrow buried in its body like a single cufflink.

It was bleeding but only in droplets.

"We're gonna have to do more than one arrow." Bree muttered and as if it overheard her, the creature bounded toward the billboard, smashing it so the frame bent under its weight. Bree flinched and ran over to the roller coaster seats. It smashed that too.

Whenever she came out of her hiding place, she fired an arrow. Some missed and some found a place in the monster's body but it barely noticed and only seemed to grow angrier.

Bree checked her quiver and realized in dismay that she had only three arrows left. The creature wasn't even hurt by metal. To it, they were probably tiny office pins. She pulled one arrow out and crawled toward the next boulder. The creature huffed and puffed like a car running out of gas.

Bree's eyes lit up. It was getting tired.

How does that help you exactly?  The reasonable voice in her head asked.

She came out of her hiding spot and climbed to the top of the boulder then fired the arrow. It pierced the monster in the back. It turned to face her and roared but Bree did not run. She pulled out the next arrow, nocked and fired. It pierced its left shoulder. It bellowed and roared but it was too weak to charge.

She took out the last arrow and nocked it, aiming for its head.

She was about to let go when her eye caught something on the ground. She gently dropped the arrow. There were lines everywhere on the ground, connecting to one another to form a massive drawing. Bree studied the patterns. She did not understand them at first but she had a vague idea of what it was.