The Beasts We Are

The Beasts We Are Part 8

Doc POV

"Can't we go five minutes without being attacked by anything?" Wither sighed. We'd just filled him and X in on what had happened.

"Apparently not." Impulse sighed. His new arm guard had protected him well, but it was a bit dented. He tapped it at the wrist twice, and it shrunk back down to a bracelet.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. The others shrugged.

"Go after Mumbo?" Iskall suggested.

I slapped him on the shoulder. "We couldn't pin a wolf to the ground. How exactly are we supposed to capture a mad vampire?"

Tango mumbled something under his breath. We all looked at him.

"What did you say Tango?" Impulse asked.

The demon shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, vampires and werewolves are enemies right? If we could get the two of them together..."

"This just sounds like the end of Hermitcraft." Iskall muttered, but Xisuma's head shot up.

"He might be onto something." The admin said. "The virus will be cleared at dawn, If we can distract them for that long-"

"But how would we get them both in the same place?" I asked. "If they hate each other, wouldn't they be avoiding each other?"

Wither smiled, a wicked grin that reminded me of Grian before he blew something up. "I have that figured out."

He turned to Tango. "So Mr. Herondale, do werewolves attack normal wolves?"

Tango thought for a minute. "No, they only attack humans and vampires. Why?"

Wither turned back to X. "Come on." he led the admin into the bush.

"Where are we going?" Xisuma asked.

The halfhel grinned. "We're going after Ren."

X looked nervously at the forest. "But he'll attack us!" he protested.

"And you are a shapeshifter, yes?"

Oh X mouthed. The pair turned into wolves.

"What do we do?" I called after them.

Two wolf heads poked out of the bushes, one with purple eyes the same colour as Xisuma's helmet visor. The other had Wither's heterochromia.

Find Mumbo, bring him here. Xisuma's voice echoed in my mind.

And don't die. Wither's voice added. The wolves ran into the forest, leaving us alone to track down Mumbo.

-----

Xisuma POV

We followed Ren's trail through the bush. Had we been human, the path would have taken all night to follow. Being wolves, it took us roughly five minutes.

I ran ahead of Wither, twisting and turning around trees until I ended up in a small clearing and stopped. Wither broke through the bushes and almost ran into me.

"Sorry." He mumbled, still in wolf shape. It was important to stay wolves, or Ren would attack us.

"It's fine." I muttered. We padded around the clearing, looking for him. It didn't take long.

Wither found him, curled up in a ball underneath a tree. I walked over and prodded him in the shoulder with my paw.

The brown wolf's head rose and he glared at us with baleful, yellow, eyes. He growled a but, then relaxed.

"Ren, it's me, Xisuma." Hopefully talking to him would help.

The werewolf kept eye contact, not reacting to my name.

Wither stepped forward. "Ren, come with us. Doc and the others need you."

At Doc's name, a flicker of blue passed through his eyes. The same blue as Ren's normal eyes. He sat up.

"Keep going." I whispered to Wither as Ren stood up. He was bigger than us, and stronger too. If anything were to go wrong...

But Wither knew what he was doing. "Come back Ren." he whispered softly, as blue pulsed stronger in Ren's eyes. "Doc needs you."

Ren blinked a few times, and his eyes turned back to normal.

"Guys?.." His voice was shaky. "What happened?"

I sighed in relief. Wither had done it.

He sat down heavily. "I tried to kill you guys." His voice was laced with guilt.

"It's not your fault." I sat beside him, hoping to make him feel better.

Ren's head shot up. "Mumbo got out!" he remembered. Wither and I nodded.

"The others went after him." I said

Ren pawed the ground in anticipation. "Who are the others?" he growled.

I swallowed nervously. "Iskall, Tango, Impulse, and Doc."

Ren paced nervously. "He'll kill them." He mumbled. "We've got to help them."

Wither moved aside, letting Ren walk beside him. "Yes we do. But you've got to be careful around the others."

"I know, I know." Ren's eyes shone in the darkness. "Let's go kick some virus butt."

-----

Impulse POV

"We've already been here!"

"No, that branch is different from the other's we've seen."

"Admit it Iskall, we're lost."

"No we're not!"

I sighed, listening to Doc and Iskall arguing. Of all the people in the group who could have guided us, we chose Iskall.

And now we were lost.

"I can assure you we are not lost, and if we were I would get us out." Iskall declared.

"I think you've said that before." Doc noted. "And we're still lost."

"WE ARE NOT LOST!"

A branch snapped a few meters out into the forest, and I turned around. I couldn't see anything.

"Guys?" I tried to get their attention, but they ignored me. Tango glanced back at me, then joined me in the back of the group.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I think we're being followed." I whispered.

"Maybe if you paid more attention, then we wouldn't be stuck in the middle of the forest, at three in the morning, lost." Doc remarked.

"WE ARE NOT LOST-"

"Guys!" I cut off Iskall. "Somebody's following us."

We all drew our weapons.

"I really hope it isn't a sneak attack, 'cause I'm done with jumpscares." Iskall muttered.

Mumbo walked out of the woods, eyes dark with malice. 

"Hermits..." The voice wasn't Mumbo's anymore. It was cold and dark, as though evil had been given a voice. "Your stupidity astounds me."

"Thanks." Tango said, baring his sword. "Now get the hell out of Mumbo."

Mumbo- no, the vampire laughed, a cold piercing sound that cut through the night. 

"Leave?" He asked. "I don't think so. I like it in here. My host is perfect."

He drew out the trident that Grian had given Mumbo all those months ago. "So I'm afraid it's you who must leave."

Iskall stepped foreward. "Mumbo, snap out of it dude. We're your friends."

The vampire hesitated for a moment, and the strangled voice of Mumbo came out of his throat. "Guys... Run."

We didn't need to be told twice. The four of us turned around and ran, with the vampire chasing us.