EQAO

Chapter 28 - An Epic Battle

As Collin turned around, Kat punched him in the face, Sameera kicked him in the gut, and Anika hit him on the head with her nunchucks. He fell to the ground, unconscious. I didn't know whether to thank them, or to yell at them for hurting Collin. Before I had a chance to say anything, Michelle rushed over to me.

"Are you okay?" she exclaimed, surveying me.

"How did you guys find me?" was the first question that came to mind.

"We were all terribly lost, but then we spotted a tiny chipmunk, and it sort of beckoned us to follow it..."

"A chipmunk?"

I thought back to the chipmunk on the bridge.

"But that doesn't matter." she continued, "Why the heck was Collin attacking you? Isn't he your boyfriend or something?"

I blushed, and said quickly,

"We just met a day ago!"

Had it only been that long? We only got to sleep once, but who really knows how much time has passed?

"Whatever." she shrugged, "He still shouldn't have pinned you down like that."

I cautiously prodded the unconscious figure.

"His skin is cold." I said, shivering, "Is he dead?"

Sameera knelt down to check his pulse.

"There's no heartbeat..."

Anika gasped, and put her hands over her mouth.

"I-I killed him..."

But right that moment, Collin's eyes fluttered open. For about a minute, no one moved. Collin never blinked, but his right eye twitched occasionally. Suddenly, he stood up.

"But-but..." I stammered, half relieved, half afraid, "You were dead!"

Collin raised an eyebrow,

"Dead?"

"You had no pulse." Sameera said, amazed.

"And your skin was cold." Michelle added.

Collin suddenly seemed uneasy.

"You're-you're not human." Kat whispered, "You can't die."

"Shut up!" Collin growled suddenly, "You weren't supposed to be involved!"

"Don't you tell my friend to shut up!" Anika yelled at him.

I looked into his eyes,

"What are you, Collin?"

He took a breath,

"If I have to fight all five of you, fine. Jessica will still die."

In a flash, he pulled out a long spear that had multiple spikes on it. He swung it in a wide circle, and we all had to jump back to avoid it. Then, he ran at me. I was too shocked to do anything, but Sameera was in front of me, blocking Collin's spear with her own two swords.

"Can't... hold him... much... longer..."

"R-right."

I gathered my senses, and ran around Sameera towards Collin. I kicked him in the stomach, and he stumbled backwards, but recovered quickly. Too quickly.

He stabbed at me, and I managed to dodge just in time. Before I could strike back, he stabbed again, and ripped flesh off of my right thigh. I fell over, and landed hard on my already-damaged arm. I was still weak from my previous battle with Mia. There was no way I could beat Collin. Not alone...

Kat and Anika had rushed to my aid, and together, they managed to keep Collin far away from me, and I saw that his right arm was now limp, so he had switched his spear to his other one. That's when I realized that I wasn't alone. I had my four best friends with me, and we were going to make it out of there, or die trying. But no matter what, we were going to do it together.

I got up, ignoring the pain in my legs, ankles, and arms. I saw now that Michelle had managed to pierce Collin's leg with one of her arrows, and was continuing to fire. Sameera was protecting everyone else by keeping his spear occupied. While Kat and Anika were using fists, feet, elbows and weapons in every possible way they could. I realized that Collin could not take us all on. He was getting weaker. A sudden thought occurred to me.

It was him. He sabotaged my pack, and killed that boy, and brainwashed my friends.

I knew in my heart that I was right, and I hated him for it. I charged in to fight alongside my friends.