Author Games: The Final War

Task Four: Males

Fire Strong: Epping Collin

I was surrounded by a lake of water, my body appearing in goosebumps from the chilling water. I was standing on a clear platform, lowered just beneath the water. Only water surrounded me. If I stepped even a centre metre ahead, I would end up falling.

Water suddenly splashed against my face, sending a shiver through my body. What was that? When I looked over to see what it was, I couldn't believe what I saw. You'd think after not being able to speak and surviving the bloodbath, that nothing would surprise me, but what my eyes saw now. How could anybody not be?

It was a type of mutt splashing about in the water. It was midnight black in colour with silver, beady eyes that stared straight at me. Its teeth were bared out of its mouth. They were pristine white in colour. They were also incredibly sharp and small. The kind used for tearing flesh. Its feet were webbed so that it could swim in the water. Its flesh was not like flesh at all, but merely a skeleton that looked severally burnt with its melted black bits of 'bone'. The mutts ears were hanging in a droop. The only innocent feature on the mutt.

It launched its webbed feet towards my stomach. I noticed in that moment that its claws were incredibly sharp for something that could swim. Most water creatures used their teeth to take out their prey. That made this mutt even more dangerous. It could use both.

Thinking as quickly as I could, I thought of the possible ways to get away from at least it's paws. I thought of one a second later. Without wasting anymore time, I launched my body onto the back of the beast. It let out a sound of anger as it splashed and jumped, trying to throw me off. My hands were gripped onto its bone flesh. It didn't feel like bone. It was soft and sticky, reminding me of honey, but a horribly out of date one.

It soon figured out a way to get me off. The mutt decided to do a backflip which caused my body to hit the water with force. My grip on it loosening until I couldn't hold on any longer. Because of the force, my back ached and I could feel myself falling deeper into the water. My eyes grew foggy, my head pounded and there was no hearing left in my ears but despite all of this, I mustered up the strength to re-surface.

I took in a thankful breath of air, swimming my way over to the platform so I could grab the sword I left there. It didn't take long after I grabbed the sword for the mutt to wrap its webbed feet around my stomach. It's claws ripped through my clothes and dug into my flesh. I couldn't tell how deep the cuts were, but blood trickled out of each.

I took a sharp breath of pain, and tried to manoeuvre my sword so I could stab the mutt. The tip of the sword dug into the surface skin, the mutt roared. The wound wasn't much. Only about an inch deep, and no blood. Could the beast even bleed?

It's webbed feet loosened their hold against my stomach as I wriggled in its grip. I used this as an opportunity to slip out. From underneath the water, I raised my sword in hopes that it went deep into the mutts flesh. I couldn't see what I was doing as I had my eyes closed, but what I did know was that I heard the mutt roar in protest. The water around me tinted red.

I re-surfaced from beneath the water to see the mutt flapping its way towards me. I began to swim backwards, my back hit the clear platform that I was standing on earlier. "Ouch," I muttered.

The mutt swam towards me, it's webbed feet splashing in the water. I pulled myself up on the platform in an attempt to get away from it. I was now elevated out of the water somewhat. It wouldn't be long before the mutt reached me. In the few seconds I had, I lifted up my wet shirt that clung to my body. There were three claw marks in either side of my stomach and they were still leaking blood. I winced, then continued to ignore the stinging pain, pulling my shirt back down. I ran a hand through my soaking hair before diving into the water on the other side of the platform.