When He Calls (Moons of Nibiru - Book #1)

chpt - 15: he knows about them

THINKING FAST, JAVIER TOLD ELLE, SKIPPER and Cole to hide when they could all hear the Snarlers howling coldly down the corridor.

"What about you?" Elle asked, quivering.

"I'll be fine!" Javier yelled at them. "Just go!" He was still standing by the door as if his weight and strength alone could keep the Snarlers out.

Skipper grabbed Cole by his arm and pulled him to the other exit across from the one Javier was blocking. When Skipper and Cole were out through the doors, the Snarlers came banging against the door Javier stood against. Although he could keep one Snarler out, Javier couldn't keep two of them out indefinitely.

"GO!" he growled at his companions. Elle had tears in her eyes, fearing for Javier's life but admiring his bravery. But he was sacrificing himself for their safety and survival. Standing there and waiting for the Snarlers to come breaking down the doors would be an insult to his sacrifice, so Elle clenched her teeth, clenched her hands, and turned to run after Skipper and Cole.

Javier bit his bottom-lip and pinched his eyes shut as he waited for the monsters to come crashing through the doors, dig their blade-sharp fangs into his limbs and drag him to the tent.

He waited for death, even counted down his final seconds, but his eyes shot open when he realized everything had gone quiet. He looked down at himself to see if maybe the Snarlers ate him without him noticing. There were no Snarlers. Everything was silent, until he realized what had happened.

"Oh God," he muttered, stepping away from the doors. Then, he ran from his spot and hurried down the hallway Skipper, Elle and Cole escaped. He hoped he wasn't too late. As he entered the hallway, he saw the others hadn't run very far, so he cuffed his hands around his mouth and called at them to stop running.

Elle heard him first and stopped, but Skipper and Cole were far in front of her so they didn't have time to stop and turn around. Suddenly everything happened in slow-motion. Elle spun around towards Skipper and Cole, her hair swaying slowly behind her.

"S-T-O-P!" she yelled, her words long and echoing, but it was too late.

Before Javier or Elle could do anything, one of the two Snarlers jumped from the opposite hallway and reached out for Cole and Skipper. They were lion-sized monsters with skin as dark as tar and as slick as frog skin. The skin on their heads was pale and transparent. It was thin and slimy and shred open as their massive jaws came out. They had swollen and rotten gums where long and crooked and sharp teeth shot out from. Their legs were skinless, their claws long and sharp.

Skipper was faster than Cole, so when she caught sight of the monstrous creature she shoved Cole in front of her and watched him run a good ten feet and then fall down to the floor, crying out in pain.

Elle screamed in horror and Javier ran past her to save the poor paralyzed Cole that was on the floor, frozen in shock as he witnessed the whole scene.

Skipper was crying out and fighting back, but the Snarler was on top of her, biting at her wrists and hands, pulling off the skin with its razor-sharp fangs. Blood squirted from her veins and soaked the creature's muzzle.

Its black tongue licked the red blood from its lips and then it continued by biting into Skipper's chest. After seven bites to her chest, Skipper was choking on her own blood. It bubbled from her mouth and trailed down her cheeks in streams of the brightest red any of them had ever seen.

While the monster bit into Skipper's chest, crunching on her ribs until it came to her lungs, Javier raced past it seeing as Elle was frozen in horror. Javier made sure to avoid the Snarler. If there was one good thing about them it was when they had hold of their prey they'd incapacitate them first before doing anything else.