Rosin

7- A Little Bit

She found Mike outside.

The human stood in his towering way slightly to the right of the tent's opening, facing out into the thickets of the woodlands, the direction Lyn had emerged from. Immediately the girl ran to the giant person, "Mike!"
Her voice was loud enough to be heard despite the staggering size difference between them. He turned and found her as she sprinted across the still-damp dirt. For once, the cool glare to his ice blue eyes was a relief— she needed someone who wasn't as hot-headed as Lucius and Aspen. Mike was supposedly an adult, he would know what to do about this. Whatever this was.
"Mike- carry me, we have to find her! I can't get a word out of Lyn, we-"

Sam.

Rosin froze. Her every sense flickered off. There was a sudden stoppage in the rhythmic beating of her heart. The creature was so still and soaked in shadow he almost merged into the backdrop of the forest. His hair was the same muddied brown as wet bark, his eyes didn't reflect the sunlight. A throb of recognition seemed to pulse through Rosin when she caught that first glimpse of him. Like seeing a shadow move in the corner of your eye she jerked to face him, and in that second it felt as though she flashed through the events of the Hollow, the city, a cage in the grass and a smashed window, every moment that linked up to his ghoulish face came rushing to the centre point. Him. Sam. Right there. Standing over her like a phantom taken form out of the shadows. More of a monster than even her secret nightmares had conjured up.

"Rosin! Would you come back?" The sound made her jump. Lucius' voice strained through the open tent. His call wasn't loud enough to echo in the vast spread of the forest, but the air hummed for a moment after. Human loudness. He was obviously regretting their stand-off, calling her back to him.
"She's with me," Mike's voice split like a snapping branch above her, "Don't worry. Keep talking to Lyn."
A low swear was the only response. The funny thing was, Rosin still hadn't taken her eyes off of Sam. Even as the voices throbbed and the air stirred, she couldn't move. Him being here broke her sense of reality. He didn't fit in this forest... and to see him, actually see him, physical and not a memory in discussion, it shattered her fragile sense of safety. How could he be here?

The flick of his eyes made her heart stop. He had been watching her since the first second she came running from the tent, but now he glanced to the right, to his friend, and with one look knew that he wasn't paying attention to him. Or Rosin. Mike was too concerned over the three people in the tent and the fact Sam was now aware they were here. What Mike was failing to notice is that Sam couldn't care less about Lucius. Not when he had Rosin suddenly standing below him.

The snake eyes clicked back to her. By reaction she was squeezing Mike's loose shoelace, trying to tug on it, as if doing so would draw his attention. Her wings clenched against her back even before the human broke into a hateful, vicious smile. Rosin thought of the snake in the rainstorm, the ivory fangs, sickly yellowed eyes. She felt a cry webbing in her throat, felt a scream trying to escape— she could see the violence in his grin. She was already turning to run by the time the giant person knelt.
Lucius- It was too late. Of course it was, Rosin had finally accepted she didn't stand a chance against humans, and she never would. She could only scream as she felt the air rushing around her, she screamed in a pathetic, terrified way, a sound she had never made before, she was still screaming when her ribs were suddenly crushed down against her lungs. Her eyes bulged as his hand squeezed the life from her body. The grip was excruciating. She could feel Sam's murderous intent, the brutality in the way he snatched her off the floor. No- she scrabbled for an escape that was impossible. How had Azure and Aspen survived days of this savage strength? Lucius- she was doing the thing she had sworn she would never do and trying to scream for help, help from her human, because he was the only one who was strong enough to protect them from this monster. But she couldn't talk. Only choke out a strangled scream as Sam's clenched fingers wrung the feeling from her legs.
Through her bleary eyes, the boy that was maybe an angel in disguise came stumbling out of the tent, slipping in the damp dirt a step later. Lucius!