Of Gears and Humanity

| 14.2

[DAMIEN]

"Woah!"

The creature came at us with such force, I could barely react. With my arms tight around Elena, I pulled her against me and turned. The monster slid past us with just an inch to spare. Yet, when it came closer, the louder it screamed.

Carmine reacted to it. He cried as he turned back towards the direction of the gorilla. His front legs lifted, ready to attack. I braced myself for a fight between the two animals, but the monster didn't turn towards the horse.

Instead, it slid back. Towards us.

I pushed Elena to the ground before it could hit us.

"Why does it keep coming?" Elena cried as she rolled away from the flames on the ground. The grass was too close to the water for the fire to stick, but the heat was there. Her arms were tinged pink.

I extended a hand to help her stand, but when she took it, she held the rock at her side again. I eyed it as it trembled. And she said, "Damien, what is this?"

The beast's hands gripped a tree as it cried. I pushed Elena behind me to keep her out of the way in case it came back, but in her hand, that stone, I heard it vibrate. It hummed. A calling. Shifting my head back, I glanced at it as she held it close to her chest.

"The kings of old never spoke of this," she whispered, her eyes wide as she watched the space in front of us. "There are no beasts here, no machines. And that's, that's—"

I glanced back at the gorilla. Its feet struggled to stay in one place. Its face, skin hanging from the metal of its skull, seemed to pull in our direction. Just like its body. Its legs.

Without saying a word, I took the stone from Elena's hand. "Hey!" she cried, but I knew the rock she so desperately needed was the issue. Once my fingers were around it, I felt it; a power, a pull, a tingling burn against my skin. I turned the stone once in my face before I chucked it in the water she found it in.

"No!" Elena screamed. But it was done.

The moment the stone dropped beneath the lake, the gorilla stopped its struggle. I looked at it, just as it dropped to its knees. It took in quick, pained breaths before lifting its head to look at us with its menacing eyes.

Elena grabbed my arm; her body tensed with fear. To give her the protection she needed, I spread my arms open. I would be her defense if the beast came back for us.

But it didn't. It stood instead, it retreated. It took slow, aching steps into the trees. The bile from its mouth and wounds fell to the earth, creating more small fires. Yet, after minutes and it was gone, so were the flames.

A trembling cry left Elena's lips as she dropped to her knees beside me. I looked down at her, but before she could say a word, I eyed the burnt grass next to her leg. The tar that fell from the beast. I reached down to touch it, and Elena shifted back.

"What are you doing?" Her legs pulled close to her chest before she shook her head. Standing, she brushed dirt off of her wet clothes. "And, never mind what you're doing. I need to know, how did you know?"

Crouched down beside the spot, I slid my fingers over the burnt soil. The bile, tar, blood—whatever it was that fell out of the beast—didn't belong to the creature at all. At least, not in the way blood would be with an animal.

Then again, it wasn't an animal, was it?

"Damien?" Elena hissed my name. "Do you mind telling me what you're doing?"