Honor Bound | (On-going)

Cost of Friendship

Amber, in her wolf form, soared through the air as far as her much shorter wolf-legs were able to propel her, and caught the dangling Mark as he slipped. Her momentum fell short, as Mark's entire limp body weight crushed her into the ground. The worm-thing turned, following... something.

It had no eyes, no obvious nose, and no ears. How it was able to track anything was beyond Roland. It also smelled of rotten flesh, dead animals left too long in the sun, and rotten, infected blood. Bile rose in Roland's throat. 

 Amber, now tangled up in Mark's limp limbs, struggled to free herself.  The thrashing drew its attention almost immediately. It shifted its weight, and a large section of its body curved towards them. Vibrations!

"Hold still," Roland yarked in the Ulf'el language.

Amber stopped thrashing and stared at the massive, circular maw that swiveled back and forth just a few feet away from her. Lynda dumped the incapacitated Rogue's form where she stood and launched herself at the worm-thing. Roland held back a second longer, then gathered himself to leap on the thing's back.

 At least that was the plan.

A low hum vibrated the air around them, and every hair on everyone's bodies stood up on end. Roland froze in place and his heart sunk as the beast rose up, high above their heads and bellowed. Lynda, caught off guard, landed poorly and slid down the worm-thing's side. Her claws scrabbled for purchase and met nothing as if the thing wasn't really there. Roughly, with a bone-jarring thud, she landed on the beast's other side, nearer now to Amber and Mark. The beast turned towards her, it's massive bulk over her head, and fled out from under its shadow.

It landed hard where Lynda had been, dirt and leaves swirled into the air as the vibration from the impact of its bulk vibrated up Roland's legs. This this was massive and heavy! Roland's wolf whined inside his head, something was strange about the beast - too strange. Beware.

All the while, Fey continued to drive round after round into the thing's body. Yet, strangely after the hits drew blood, they sealed. Fey frowned, turned her gaze slightly to one side briefly before sending another volley of metal death into the thing. Roland's gaze met hers in that moment, confusion in both of their eyes and faces.

"Roland!" Fey yelled between rounds of blazing death. "I'm not running out!"

"What?" He yarked, as he trotted up beside her. The worm thing's side slithered in their direction and they both jumped back.

"As long as I shoot it," she demonstrated this with another series of gun chatter, "my magazine doesn't run empty! I have 30 rounds, and I've gone through twice that already!"

The worm rose again, and swung its bulbous "head" around toward them, seeking another target. Both Roland and Fey backed up several more steps and jumped in opposite directions as it's maw came crashing down at them.

When he struggled to his feet, Roland hesitated. Amber reached for Lynda who stood on wobbly legs, balanced precariously on all fours. Lynda raised a single paw raised to touch her head gingerly, and it came back with a bright splotch of red. 

Suddenly, Amber gasped, moaned, and passed out. Lynda staggered over to her and Mark. Slowly, carefully, she disentangled her two pack-mates, then ran her claw-tipped paw-hand carefully down his neck to his pulse point. Roland watched the scene play out as if from a movie theater seat while more gunfire erupted behind him. 

She tried again, then put her nose tip near his mouth, sniffing. Her ears slicked back, then she shape-shifted to human. It was a fast shift, one of the fastest ever. One moment she was a hybrid beast and the next she was human. Her face pinched, she wavered, and a powerful shudder wracked her body. Something was terribly wrong, Lynda only sped-shifted in combat. Roland whined and started towards them, but the beast sensed his motion and swung back his way. He froze, captured between two forms of pending death.