Ruins

Chapter 1

We are surrounded; I know for a fact that we were more screwed than I had thought, but I can't say anything, I can't freak out the others. I had wanted to come here alone, it was only supposed to be a pack of about 20-30 Terainians, the whole gang didn't need to tag along, but they insisted, they always did. My sensors had picked up the small pack in the woods on the outskirts of Washington, about a 20 minute drive from where the hover craft was presently situated.

We ditched the cars where the road ended and the forest began. We've been walking silently through the dense woods for a while now, everyone followed me closely so they wouldn't get lost. I could find Terainians in the woods the same way a normal person could see a black sheep in a field of white ones.

None of the others can quite figure out how I do it, which is a relief. My siblings know, and I'm pretty sure they're jealous of how naturally it comes to me. 

I stop walking at the edge of a clearing and try to seem like I'm looking around and thinking while I'm actually sniffing the air, trying to figure out where the nearest Terainian is. It's easy to fool people if you know what they would expect. Carter is the first to catch up to me.

"CeCe, babe, what is it?" He whispers to me. What is it? Really? What do you think it is? We're hunting Terainians, obviously I'm trying to pretend to look for signs of them. Sometimes I just wish he'd leave me alone, or at least use my full name. 

"We're close." Is all I bother to say before walking out into the clearing.

After a moment I stop walking and pull my backpack off of my shoulders and drop it on the ground at my feet while everyone else gathers at the edge of the clearing where I had come out of the woods; they know better than to walk into a clearing without my say so. I kneel down to take something out of the bag but never get the chance, the Terainians are so close that I won't have time to do what I had planned on doing, so I simply sigh and stand up.

Let's get this over with then. 'Mason,' I project my normally unreadable thoughts over to the telepathist of the group. 'Tell the others that none of you are to move until I instruct you otherwise, okay?'

'Sure thing boss, are they here?' He responded.

'Any second now.'

'Are you ready?' I set my jaw and fight a snarl. I clench then unclench the fist that was not visible to the others before replying.

'Always.'

I re-block my thoughts from him, there's no reason for him to hear anything else, and rest my hands on my hips, something I apparently do quite frequently. I tend to do it to show that I'm calm and in control, so that's how everyone will see it, but right now I'm checking to make sure that I had remembered to put my damn guns in the holsters on my thighs when I got out of the car. I'd been so distracted, making sure everyone else had what they needed that I had forgotten to double check my own damn stuff. With my new plan, I, theoretically, wouldn't even need my guns. Unfortunately, I don't have time, the first will be here any second. To my relief, they are both exactly where they should be.

At the same moment I confirm they are where they are supposed to be, a giant green-grey wolf sprinted out of the woods to my left and body checked me before I even had a chance to blink. The poison Terainian bit into my left shoulder, causing a deep burning pain to spread through my left arm, and sliced my right arm open and the entire way across my stomach and ribs with its massive, poisonous paw.

I grind my teeth as I twist slightly so that my shoulder isn't in the beast's mouth anymore and so I can land on my back as the monster's weight sweeps me off of my feet. I bend my knees, so they are almost against my chest and put me feet in the air so when the Terainian falls, it'll land on the balls of my feet. As the Terainian lands on my feet, I grunt, even though I try not to; the beast is at least 400 lbs, it's almost impossible not to strain at least a little bit. I force my legs straight, launching the beast up with so much force, it must have flown at least 10 feet in the air and 20 feet back. As I sit up, I pull one of my guns from its holster and shoot the Terainian, once in the head, once in the heart; it's dead before it hits the ground.