Death's Hunt

Chapter 13

As we emerged from the fog, I took a quick look around the landscape. Judging from the blazing sun, mountainous terrain, and semi-arid environment, I guessed we were somewhere on the south-western side of the United States.
“Of course, this would be where we start,” I mumbled under my breath. I quickly looked around the area to see if I could spot any of the other teams. However, it was for the white team that I was particularly keeping an eye out. We had to put as much distance between them and us as we could.
I looked over at a small patch of dead trees. “All right Anga, you and the others go over there and start that fire. I’ll make sure no one else bothers us.”
“Aye Aye Captain,” she sarcastically stated while mock saluting me.
“You’re the one who put your own bar on the line! Now, do you want my help or not!”
Anga simply rolled her eyes before running off. Vlagor and Chiyoko soon followed. I opened my wings and flew directly into the sun, at least it would make it harder for any other deaths to see me. As I looked down from my vantage point, I noted the locations of most of the teams, but still no sign of Sheri.
“Come on… Where are you?”
My search was suddenly interrupted by an explosion. I looked back to where my team was to see that they had apparently turned the entire area into a raging fireball. I stared at the inferno as it ripped through the trees. The blaze incinerated anything caught in its path. Smoke bellowed into the air acting as a beacon for anyone or anything.
“How much CO2 did they use?” I mumbled as I flew down to join them. As I approached, I could see that my plan had worked. Multiple life forms lay dead or dying in the flames while the rest fled for their lives. As I circled the area like a giant vulture, I sent my monster friends to collect the souls of the casualties that had gotten caught in the blast. I quickly took one last look around for any rival teams and dove into the flames.
This whole scenario made me remember when I had been alive. Sometimes when droughts occurred, there was a chance of a wildfire breaking out. I remember that I used to be scared of them, fleeing at the first signs of danger. But after seeing how it would leave food behind, well, that’s when I enjoyed the flames. I would wait at a safe distance as the blaze burnt and finally, when the ashes fell and the amber glow ceased to be, I would come down to the decimated land and feast upon those who had not been so lucky. Large, small… it didn’t matter; as long as it was food, I was happy. But since most of the lifeforms would escape, I would soon be forced to go back to my old ways.
“Are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to help us?” Anga’s scream derailed my train of thought as I was brought back to reality. She was currently hauling a decently large load of souls. “What, are you daydreaming?”
“Sorry… just…”
“Just get the souls so we can win this thing and I can rub it in Sheri’s dumb face!” I saw Anga physically tense up as she thought of her rival.
“Listen Anga. This fire will probably attract every single death in a hundred-mile radius. We have to work as fast as we can.”
“That’s exactly what I just said!! And you’re still standing here doing nothing!!”
“My monster birds are collecting souls as we speak.” As if on cue, one of them flew back carrying a light orb. I tossed it to Anga. “Does Vlagor have the other bag?”
“Yah, yah, he’s got the bag.”
“Good. I’ll keep flying around the region. If I see any other deaths, I’ll try to distract them.” As I got ready to fly away, I heard a distinct voice yelling.
“Incoming!!!” Vlagor crashed out of the bush, the soul bag under one arm, Chiyoko in the other. He was so distracted he nearly ran over us.
“Woah! Hey! Vlagor, what is going on?” I exclaimed barely jumping out of his path.
“Just keep running!!” he yelled as he continued sprinting past us. Suddenly, both Anga and I were knocked over by a tremendous force. As I got back on my feet, I saw a blur speed away from us laughing.
“Pennu,” I growled.
As Anga stood up, she started shouting, “Sheri! You worthless…”
“You know that was Pennu, not Sheri, right?” I enquired.
“Of course I do, but who do you think sent her? Hein?”
I grabbed Anga’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes, “Listen to me Anga. Pennu was going after Vlagor and Chiyoko. That means that the white team is gunning for our souls. You getting angry is exactly what Sheri wants. She wants you to be so angry that you can’t think straight and make a ton of mistakes. She may be predictable, but I will give her this, she can be crafty at times.” As Anga tore herself from my grip, she huffed in frustration.
“How is Vlagor supposed to hold off something that is so fast that he can only see a blur?” Anga demanded.
“I don’t know but considering how big he is and the extra weight he was carrying, he couldn’t have gone too far. Hopefully, he’ll be able to hold her off until we get there.” I quickly grabbed Anga’s CO2 pack and took to the air with her dangling beneath me.
“Are you crazy?” Anga shouted while swinging her legs back and forth, clearly not enjoying this trip. “You couldn’t have at least grabbed me under the arms like the last time?”
“There’s no time for that. Now keep looking for Vlagor and Chiyoko,” I shouted back at her. I let out a whistle to call back my monster birds. As they flew back towards me, each holding a soul in its beak, I yelled, “Anga! Quickly open your bag!”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Just trust me!”
As she produced her sack, my friends dropped their cargo into it. At the same time, I spotted something in a clearing. “Hold on Anga!” I roared as we dove towards the commotion. As we got close to the ground, I let go of Anga, dropping her right on top of an oncoming Urgaz, causing him to topple over and crash face first into the ground.
“Now that’s a save!” Vlagor shouted as he held the large pouch of souls over his head. Meanwhile, Pennu was jumping up and down trying to reach it with little success.
“Vlagor! Get ready to throw me the bag!”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? It’s very heavy. I don’t know if you’d be able to…”
“Just do it!!”
He then tossed the sack towards me. But as I grabbed it, I felt something bite my tail, pulling me towards the ground. Looking back, I saw Wik weighing me down.
“You aren’t getting away that easily!” he kackled through his teeth.
“Kakrix!” Chiyoko shouted from the ground.
I knew that I had to figure something out quickly. If Wik managed to force me to land, then Pennu could easily steal our prize from us. I desperately thrashed my tail around trying everything I could to throw off the spider-croc death. Suddenly, I was ripped out of the sky. As I crashed into the ground, still holding the souls, I saw Urgaz holding Wik in one of his gargantuan arms.
“Not so tough when you can’t fly, hein?” I heard Pennu giggle as she sprinted towards me. Just as she was about to rip the bag from my hand, the loudest scream I have ever heard threw the trio away from me. I looked to my side to see Chiyoko standing there, panting and trembling, clearly on the verge of tears.
Suddenly, Alger’s voice echoed throughout the surrounding area, “Time’s up! All deaths bring your bags back to me so they can be counted.” Looking in the direction of the noisy announcement, we all noticed Alger flown around by a large death as he shouted in his megaphone.
I sighed in relief as I realized the first event was over. Just then Anga ran, or rather stumbled, out of the trees, holding Sheri in a headlock.
“Look who I found hiding under a rock.”
“Please, you didn’t do a single thing either.”
“I blew up an entire forest!”
“As if that’s an accomplishment.”
“That’s it!! I’m going to…”
“You can do whatever you want with her in the next round Anga. This one’s over, so let her go,” I sternly told her.
Frustrated, Anga dropped Sheri like a sack of potatoes. I noticed that the rival team leader was still in possession of their own bag. And unfortunately, it was also quite full. I should have known we wouldn’t be able to get rid of them that easily.
“This isn’t over,” Anga growled at Sheri.
“That’s if you get to the next round,” Sheri scoffed, dusting herself off. “Come on. Let’s leave these sorry excuses for deaths,” she said to her team.
“The only sorry excuse for a death is you!” Anga blared through her mask.
As the four of us began to walk back towards the mist, I noticed that Chiyoko seemed to be bothered by something.
“Is everything all right?” I asked worriedly.
“Huh? Yes… yes everything is fine,” she stammered while giving me a forced smile.
I stopped and kneeled towards her. “Come on. What is it?”
All of a sudden, she ran into me, bursting into tears. “I’m a failure! I’m dead weight to you!”
“Oh! Chiyoko! What are you…”
“I didn’t do anything! You made the plan, Anga made the fire, Vlagor kept the souls away. All I did was stand around, and do nothing. I didn’t even kill a single thing.” As she continued crying, I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me.
“Chiyoko, you did not fail. If it wasn’t for you and that scream, we almost certainly would have lost. So you listen to me and listen to me very carefully, you are NOT useless. You are NOT dead weight. You ARE an important part of this team. And that is what matters.”
As she continued crying, I gently picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. Eventually, she ran out of tears and just let out some small and fast breaths. When she stopped, I put her down and asked, “Do you feel better now?”
“A little.”
“Don’t worry Chiyoko. If you ever need to cry again, I’ll be here for you,” I said as we entered the mist heading back toward our dimension.