Achi tilted his head, his ears cocked, hoping not to hear what came next. Sure enough the mournful wail of the Skelskir was returned by a low growl, one so low it made his teeth chatter. Achi inhaled sharply, paralysed with fear. He was not even in a condition to brush off the insects that had alighted upon him much less fight a skelskir. His head still felt like a firecracker and the stabbing pain in his chest had only gotten worse. The rummaging at the tail of the plane grew louder, the sound of metal shearing disharmonious against the symphony of Ehlathini. Once again the melancholy howl ripped through the air. Achi, frightened into action began to think of a plan. He could not try to escape for he knew he would not survive outside in his condition so he resolved to fight knowing surely he would die. Looking around he spotted the medkit, opening it again he saw various bandages, the scissors he used, some safety pins, alcohol and medical tape. This was all he had to work with. First, he unrolled the longest bandage and tied it to the handle of the scissors so he could swing it around like a shinobi hopefully keeping the skelskirs at bay.
KKKRRRRRTTTTSSSSS. The sound of ripping cloth confirmed that at least one skelskir was mauling the pilot's corpse. Achi had involuntarily swung his head in that direction, listening to the sounds of his impending death. Now newly motivated to finish his weaponry, he turned his head back to the front...and looked straight into the eyes of a demon. The monster stared back, its glowing blue eyes burning into his soul, it stood still, so still he thought for a moment it had not seen him. But with the cockpit bright as day from the insects there was little to no doubt this was his end. Achi froze, his heart pounding in his chest, his stomach churning, the uncomfortable feeling of vomit rising to his throat. The only thing separating him from this nightmare of a being was the fractured glass of the windshield. It opened it's mouth to reveal a mess of pearly white teeth. Tangled upon each other like a thorn bush, five rows of serrated knives lining the insides of it's maw. Bright turquoise drool slowly oozed from its mouth, thick like molasses sizzling where it splashed the ground. It opened it's mouth wider, Achi realised it must be roaring but he could not hear anything but blood rushing in his ears. He could do nothing but watch, the blood draining from his face as the beast charged the cockpit, smashing into it with such a loud crash that Achi swore the glass had broken. He looked up, to his relief it had held, though there was a definite increase in the spiderwebbing of the windshield. The skelskir had taken to gnawing on the glass its acid drool burning tiny holes in it. The monster paused, cocked his head and Achi saw in it's eyes a glint of recognition. He had already begun to back away into the corridor when the skelskir reared back it's head and spit directly unto the biggest crack on the glass, it watched it for a while before swinging a huge paw clattering through the windshield like nothing was there, showering Achi with glass.
The toxic smell of burning glass and the stench of acid drool stung his nose and made his eyes water. The tears welling in his eyes blurred his vision as one shaggy, pitch black leg entered through the now gaping hole. He frantically scooted backwards into the corridor until the monster was out of his sight ignoring the flares of pain each movement caused, the scissors in his hand clanging against the ground. The sounds of the skelskir only served to amplify the dread Achi felt. The slow crunching of glass as the monster tread methodically, ambling nonchalantly towards him with a swagger that indicated it's knowledge of Achi's condition. It was more intelligent than the textbooks gave it credit for that's for sure. Achi nonetheless was desperate in his thrashing, constantly backing up....until he felt something. He whipped around finding himself face to face with another skelskir, the one that had previously been ripping apart his pilot. It's face was contorted into what could only be described as a grin, it's teeth blood red, dripping acid. It stretched out it's tongue laced with tiny teeth along the edge and growled at Achi, it's mouth stinking of death. It was not as big as the first one, standing about 5 and a half feet tall and about 7 feet long. Along it's legs were glowing horizontal red stripes peeping through from under it's matted fur. It stared at Achi, not entirely out of malice, but also with the curiosity of a child, this was a cub. Achi was staring back unsure what to do when it bared it's fangs and growled. The boy who had by now been wound tighter than a rope startled by the noise, and noticing the beast's face proximity to his screamed and bringing down the scissors with all his might stabbed it in the eye. Blue liquid squirted unto his hand, he howled in pain, turns out the eye juice was acidic also. The young skelskir gave an anguished yelp and smashed a humongous paw into Achi sending him skidding into the back of the cabin. He took a look at his handiwork, the beast was now hobbling on three legs, using the fourth to cover it's face. Blue gunk slowly dripped down from under the leg it's other eye flashing with murderous intent.
He was so transfixed he did not notice the elder skelskir barreling towards him. An ear splitting roar brought it to his attention. Everything turned slow mo....he could see everything in the sharpest of details, how the insects scattered wherever a paw landed like if it was running in a lake of fireworks, how it's drool ran off of it's fur like water off a duck's back. The way it's muscles bulged under the skin. The glowing man flying through the air.....huh? The man hit the monster like a bullet. Clattering into it with such force it's feet left the ground and they both flew into the wall, he instantly sprang up and slung a rifle from off of his back. Swinging with as much ferocity as the skelskir itself he savagely brought the butt of the rifle unto it's head. The monster swiped blindly, dazed and confused but caught nothing but air as the man nimbly danced out of the way. The second skelskir roared and charged, the man whirled quickly, his face set, jumped into the air, and brought the rifle down on the crown of it's head. It's pained yelp reinvigorated the mother who had been tracking the man in the air swung with the anger only a spurned mother can muster. The man easily whirled to avoid this but in doing so turned smack into the young ones arc, it swung swiftly it's claws blazing blue and connected. The man crumpled in the air all sense of grace knocked out of him. He hit the floor with a thud the gun flying from his hand and lay there, unmoving. The skelskirs circled the body anxiously unsure of their success, slowly, the adult skelskir approached the man and prodded it with a paw, gently first and then with more force. Satisfied when the man made no attempts to save himself, it lowered it's head to finish him. That was when he struck. Quick as lightning he pulled a knife from his waist and slashed at the beast all in one motion. It grunted in pain and lept back, a bloody line now marking it's face.
He reached down and picked up his gun, bleeding excessively from the scratch on his chest. He had covered in strange markings that glowed dimly, lines that meandered down his arm, and unto his torso, words and symbols from a language he didn't understand on his chest and the unblinking eyes of a cat on his neck. They began to grow brighter and brighter as he aimed his rifle at the oncoming monsters. CTHOOM!!! the noise rang throughout the jungle and all other noise ceased, frightened into silence. Achi had never heard a noise like that before and he had been around guns since he was 7. The skelskirs lay in a heap, their fur burned off in patches and skin charred, he had only hit one (the mother) who lay in two but the explosion had killed the other. He stood over them muttering, his markings glowing softly and smoking.
"Tathastu" he whispered, then he turned and smiled at me "Welcome to Ehlathini"
