Sound Waves

A Dangerous World

Everything is in slow motion. Everything nearly stops, it's that slow. I look around at this battlefield to see my friends, my foes and myself. I'm floating upwards, out of my body, until I reach the roof the trees provide us with. I can see the Hunters annihilating us. Slamming Raven against a tree, slicing Alex's animal limbs, kicking him in the face. And with every hit they take, the stronger they seem to get. Temporarily. I am the only one who looks bad, the one who is only looking around, cowering when something flies at me. Whether it be a fist, a body or a leaf blowing down from one of the trees. I am a coward, weaker then a piece of paper and a let down to the group. I am the reason why we are having to spit blood and have blurred vision from hits to the face. All because I don't want to use what I have. I watch as a fist pummels into Alex's lion-head and I hear a slow crushing sound of a broken bone, I snap my head away from the sight, further into the trees where I can see a faint purple-blue light in a circle around a tree not too far from where my almost stationary body stands. I see a pair of feet floating above the ground in the middle of the circle. My eyes follow the feet, to the ankles, up the legs, to the hips, the stomach, and then finally, the face. Even though it is dark, I can still make out features of the face and I finally realise that I have found Janice. The reason we are here in the first place. I am filled with hope and purpose. I know what I have to do. And as soon as I realise this, everything goes back to normal speed and I fall right back into my own body and I take off to where I remember Janice being held. I see a fist flying at me and I slide without thinking and easily miss the punch. I grin and increase my pace, I can see the faint purple-blue glow. Raven sees me and looks to where I am headed and she yells out a warning.

"Watch out! Supernatural Beings can't go through barriers like that! It's Mountain Ash, Celeste, you'll have to find another way through." I ignore her, not wanting to turn my hope into false hope. I brace myself for impact as I near the circle and I count in my head the seconds until I hit it. Three..... Two..... One. I slam right into where a barrier should've been but instead, go right through it, not feeling anything. Until I run into the hanging body. I stumble backwards after running into Janice's hip and after a few moments, recover and start undoing Janice's shackles. When they are undone, her body falls and in an attempt to save her from collapsing, I try and catch her but end up on the ground instead. She's heavier then she looks. I clamber to my feet and pick Janice up, supporting the both of us with my shoulders and knees. I take a few steps, dragging Janice's feet along the ground, testing my strength. I could make it safely away while the others keep the Hunter's distracted. I glance around, making sure that my friends aren't in any immediate danger, well, in more danger, and I gently drag Janice away as fast as I could go, stopping for a few seconds every now and again, allowing myself to adjust my grip on her. I don't get very far until I hear a gasp from Janice. She lashes out with her feet and hands, hitting me in the sides and tripping me over, taking us both to the ground. She jumps back up and after realising what she has done, she gets down to her knees and apologises madly.

"Oh dear, I am so sorry! The last thing I remember is being tortured so- Oh dear, I am really sorry- Please forgive me, dear."

"It's alright, I understand, Janice. You don't have to worry." She relaxes and then stiffens within moments.

"Did you rescue me by yourself? Where's Raven?"

"No, I didn't, Raven and Alex are back at the Hunter's Camp fighting."

"Alex?"

"Long story short, new friend. It's alright. Are we going somewhere safe or going back to help?" I ask Janice, and she doesn't even think before answering.

"We go back."  So we head backwards with me in the lead. I tell Janice that I refuse to use my abilities and she tells me she understands and that I won't have to. I'm confused but I decide not to ask. It takes a few seconds until we hear the sounds of battle- groans and yells, and yelps from all sorts of different animals. Janice starts a steady jog and I speed walk behind her, not really wanting to see anything else. As we neared closer and closer I hear Janice mumbling something under her breath, most likely a spell and I was right. She starts directing her hands towards Hunter's and bolts of lightning strike down on them, sending them flying and it is so intense that the bodies are left with electricity running through them visibly. I flinch whenever I see it happen. But it also makes me think about the reason why I don't use my Scream. Janice strikes devilishly at them with no regret and so why do I feel so terrible after I hurt them with my Scream. I now think it's odd so I do something about it. I will no longer feel guilty about my actions, I will protect my friends with my life. And so without a second thought, I charge into battle, jump and as I land I direct my Scream at the ground, sending a shockwave through the Earth, making trees fall and people fall over, but only the Hunter's. I send another scream through the air at three Hunters, who recognise me as a larger threat then the others but they can't get very far before my Scream hits them. They fall lifelessly to the ground. Before long, all of the Hunters are on the ground, losing blood rapidly or already dead. We go for a group hug but I catch another Hunter through the thick trees so I chase after him. It's a wild goose chase for minutes, until he throws a jar of black powder stuff in the air and it leaves a purple-blue glow in a tidy circle. Mountain Ash. In the circle is him and another person, hanging in a tree. There is a voice in my mind that keeps repeating the word 'Banshee' but I don't know why. I take a step forward but the Hunter wriggles his pointer finger at me as if saying 'I wouldn't do that if I were you'. He takes a silver knife from his pocket and dips it in a container that is labelled 'Molten Salt' and when the blade comes out, it glistens a deep red, like blood.

"Salt, one of the only ways to kill a Banshee, painful, yet instant. Say bye bye to your friend here." A grin of mischievousness and callousness spreads across his face and I already know what he is about to do. I jump forward, into the Mountain Ash circle.

"ZARA!" I screamed as the Hunter went to plunge the blade through the girl's chest. I don't know where I got the name from but as I screamed it, the girl's head whipped up and a scream similar to mine burst out of her mouth but it doesn't last long before the blade plunges into her chest, her movement making a deep cut through her side. Her flesh sizzles and she screams again. She screams non-stop for a few seconds and then with her last breath she breathes my name and a 'thank you'. I kick the man's arm and it snaps but I don't care, I punch him in the nose and then grab the blade from Zara's chest and plummet the tip of it down on his face, the blade cuts deep, slides down but hitches on his collarbone, and the way he was moving makes the blade jerk upward, coming out the other side of his throat. He pauses and plummets to the ground, holding his neck. Then he blinks once and is gone.

I weep silently over Zara, somehow feeling a deep connection with her even though we never met. But I eventually go back to my friends.

"Let's go back to the Sewers," I say, but Alex disagrees.

"We can go there to get your stuff, but I know where we can g afterwards. You guys'll like it. Trust me." He says, with a wide smile. We turn as a group and walk back towards the Sewers like a pack of wolves. It feels nice. It feels like a family.

We get out of the small forest and an arrow whistles into the back of Janice's head and I scream as blood splashes across my face and I turn and scream again at whoever flung the arrow. A womanly body falls from the trees and then we run. Lifting Janice up and run to the Sewers. Not wanting to look back to see if we were being chased.