Creatures (girlxgirl)

Chapter One: Saving Sophie

The creatures were on us. Closing in. I could smell their breath. It stank of rotted meat and blood. The closest creature to me, a female type, took its chance and lunged. I quickly blocked myself with my shotgun. My team was trapped; this wasn't going well. The creature pushed heavily against my gun, causing my arms to shake with the effort of trying to keep the creature away from me. I boldly locked eyes with its pleading, crying human eyes. This female's eyes are a deep blue and has tufts of remaining blonde hair. She has large, scaly ears. Scales surprise me, those are usually only on male types. Her body was normal and cat-like, but she had two tails, each tail with a mace at the tip. That meant she was a rare specimen. That also meant she was extra strong. Great.

With a grunt, I force the barrel of the gun to her chin and pull the trigger. The human life fades and soon after her body crumples to the muddy ground. My teammates had only two left to kill so I ran to help out. After many more minutes of battle we had nearly ten beast bodies at our feet.

"Did anyone see rare types?" Greg asks. Greg is the leader of our group. He's in charge of everything.

"I did, sir," I report.

"What'd that be, Tara?" Mitch asks. Mitch was a regular redneck. He was tall and lanky with messy brown hair and a scraggly beard. I usually got along pretty well with him, but he's stuck in the past.

"Over against that brick wall. Female type with scaly ears and two tails ending in maces," I say, pointing to her body.

"That's unusual. Boys, load her up!" Greg demands. I watch with Greg as the men load the beast into our truck. That's unfortunate for those sitting in the bed of the truck. I tug my ponytail to the front of my shoulder and stare at the blood encrusted matter brown and sigh.

"Greg? Do you ever get tired of it all?" He looks down at me. I stare back into his deep brown eyes.

"Not thinking of killing yourself, are you?" He asks, biting his cheek.

"Nah, just wondering," I reply truthfully. The older man thinks for a minute before simply nodding and hopping into the vehicle. Despite being scrawny, I push my way to shotgun. Off we drive into the burning shell of what used to be St. Louis.

Beep! The gate that lead into our hideout said. We drive through, making sure the gate closes behind us. The only reason this is here is because Greg was one of those weird apocalypse dudes, but it paid off. There's over fifty people living here now. Greg pulls into the science labs parking lot and stops the truck. The men pile out of the back and pull the carcass of the monster I killed into the building.

I pluck my hat off the dashboard and pull my ponytail through it. It was a Colt's hat, but that didn't mean anything now. I run to the shower house and scrub all the blood and guts off me as quickly as possible. Hot water was nonexistent. After drying and dressing in clean clothes, I begin to walk to the science lab, but am stopped by a commotion near the gate. I jog over to where a group is huddled around our singular radio. We were picking up a signal. At first it just sounded like gibberish, but as I listened I made out words.

"Help us. Help us. Help us. Below The Arch. Help us, please. Anyone, help..."

The call for help goes on for a bit longer before I call out, "prepare a search and rescue party!"

The truck once more bounces into the burning city. This time we have a trailer attached in anticipation of survivors. The towering Arch comes into view and I shift my gun for better access. Greg hits the gas, he's as excited as the rest of us. I'll be in charge of taking care of the survivors back in the trailer since no one else is exactly friendly and inviting. Greg parks right beneath the Arch. All of us look around, silently. Now we just have to find them. My foots pats the ground impatiently. We need to get to them quickly. My eyes scan the river, hoping to see a boat or something. That's when I realize the ground beneath me is hollow. I drop to my knees and pull up a grass mat. Sneaky. Underneath the mat I find a wooden trap door. I flip that up and shine my flashlight down. Many pairs of scared eyes look up at me.