Time of Crisis

Chapter 20

I didn't want to respond over the radio as I knew the enemy was listening in. But I had no choice whether to attack or not as if we didn't they for sure would. And as I about to gather the others to attack, Kevin walked out of the big tent quickly with the other two following close behind him clearly angered now having heard what was said over the radio. Kevin seem to yell something and everyone dropped whatever they were doing rushing over, including the Minotaur. If we didn't strike first they'd surely find and capture us. We had no choice. Not even seconds later they started to spread out their forces getting prepared for an ambush. As I watched there was someone new that I hadn't noticed before. A lamia which is a half human and half snake creature. The top half is that of a person from like the belly button up. And below that is all snake. It was a female so they're called a lamia I think. But if it was a dude then I would've called them a naga. Anyways, the lamia seemed to wrap herself around Kevin but not didn't restrict his movement. I heard Riley growl to herself. Just by that, I could tell Riley didn't like her at all. I stopped wasting time and ran over to the fire escape. I swung myself over the ledge and I climbed down as fast as I could. I had to warn Jennifer and Michael it was time to begin the assault but they had already figured out.
Michael looked at me a giant grin growing on his face, "Time to fight finally?" I nodded and Jennifer seemed stoked but tried to hide that she was worried but I could read her like a book by now. She was absolutely terrible at hiding her feelings. I opened the trunk of my car and tossed my rifle into it as the sniper rifle would weigh me down and guns clearly wouldn't be effective against these guys.
I looked up to the roof where Cornelius was and he seemed to be waiting for something. So logically, I figured that when he would see that the had fighting started that he would follow our lead. I got my sword out gripping it tightly, ready for anything they could throw at me. "Let's move out!" Within seconds, as a team we all walked into the forcefield in unison. To no ones surprise, we were spotted instantly. I noticed that Jennifer hadn't gone into her giantess form yet. And I remembered that not to long ago, she had told me that she gets exhausted quickly when she's in that form and needs to eat a lot more. Our first opponents approached ready for a brawl with death. At first there was only about six of them. One of them being the orc who had come out out from hiding. It locked eyes with me and let out a fierce battle cry before I could react. The battle cry was so loud it prompted all their forces to come to us except Kevin, the lamia, Hunter, and Toby. Now, there was roughly two hundred of them including the Minotaur behind all of them like a mini boss. We all stood back to back almost except that Riley's rinkukas we were in the way of me and her. Then the orc spoke in a deep voice, "ATTACK!"
We got absolutely stormed form all sides. They surrounded us attacking in various ways; some using abilities they had like magical weapons and some used normal weapons like swords and stuff. I swung my sword as fast I could but I hadn't been in a fight for so long. I was constantly tripping up over myself with every swing. To my right, Riley just kept stabbing dudes clean through the heart or other vital organs with her tentacle things that must've been pretty sharp to do that. To my left, Michael was plowing through guys punching them with red energy coming out of his hands. Michael was killing them off faster than I could which made sense because he was some sort of lab rat. And soon there was almost a path to the orc that had formed. A few feet behind him stood the Minotaur. "Michael make me a path to the Minotaur!" He turned to face me for a second after sending a dude flying into a building. Bodies were starting to pile up around the group but we needed back up.
     He responded like I knew he would, "On it!" I switched positions with him. Michael just started messing people up with unrelenting punches. By doing so he was moving everyone out of the way. Doing my part, I followed covering his back making sure he didn't get attacked from behind. The orc stood in front of Michael and without warning he swung and astonishingly he knocked Michael down, feet away on the ground. This left me to deal with this pesky orc. I got my sword ready as the battle occurred all around us with a massive amount of casualties on the enemy side. The orc let out a fierce battle cry again and advanced forward towards me by circling me like I was prey. I stood my ground in a defensive position constantly keeping my eyes on him. He lunged forward striking fast and multiple times even though he had a massive battle axe that was almost bigger than him. Most people with an axe that size wouldn't be able to a swing it, much less efficiently fast. I somehow managed by some chance to block every single slash except one which grazed my arm cutting through my clothes and into my skin, but not deeply. He smirked smelling my freshly spilled blood. The pain was bad but it wouldn't be enough to cripple me. I had survived worse. It was now my turn to show this fool how I roll. I advanced fast and stepped from side to side constantly forcing him to face me. I lunged to the left and he was too slow. I got a good hit on him and sliced a hand clean off. This caused him to drop the axe and blood to pour out from the fresh wound. He fell to his knees in agonizing pain. Now, blood lust rushed through my veins and I couldn't restrain myself from ending him with a brutal beheading. The body fell to the ground a blood pile forming in a pool around it. When I had realized what I'd done Michael had disappeared and I figured he'd gone to fight someone else. I looked back to the body and out of nowhere the Minotaur slapped me in the chest sending me flying backwards on my butt into a building but thankfully it wasn't enough to make the building fall. The slap by the Minotaur hurt a hell of a lot. The Minotaur was easily over eight feet tall towering even over Michael in height. I had no clue if minotaurs even had a normal weakness as I'd never faced one in person. I saw the forge on fire to my left. And like saviors I saw Cornelius, Lukas, and Thickle approaching quickly.
Cornelius offered me a hand and helped me up onto my feet handing me my sword, "You go find Kevin, we'll take care of this bastard. We have an angel waiting to assist you in the take down." I nodded thanking him and they sprinted towards the Minotaur beginning their assault. The casualties of this battle were going to be heavy. This was my first experience of a battle in the over-world at this scale and I definitely wouldn't ever forget it. Then I saw him, the angel, he was as angelic looking as I'd expected, dressed in all white with large white wings with feathers that gleamed in the moonlight. His brown hair perfect in all ways and his eyes just as perfect. He was pinned down by Hunter. This wasn't going to be a fun fight as a few feet away Jennifer was fighting Toby. I had to help the angel first then Jennifer even though I'd rather help my love first but he was vital to the current mission. Hunter didn't see me coming so I spartan kicked him off the angel and helped him up. Hunter yelled to Toby getting back onto his feet, "Crosby's here! Let's kick his ass!" The angel started to catch his breath as I think Hunter was choking him, "Thanks Crosby. I'm Tommy the angel prince." I groaned as this was not the time nor the place for this and kind of lost my cool on him, "Shut up prick, we have a battle to win." He gave me a look like I was crazy as Hunter was approaching rapidly. I grabbed his arm forcing him to follow me about to go over to Jennifer but Toby teleported in front of me which was new.
     Tommy tapped me on the shoulder, "The Hunter dude is back." I was wedged between Hunter and Toby with a high value target just to my luck. Furiously, I got myself ready for another fight. But as Toby swung his sword at me that he usually carried around a giant female hand reached down and snatched him up. Behind me I heard Hunter scream too and I assumed he had been snatched up too. I looked up and it was Jennifer. To my horror, I could see her drop them into her mouth due to the outline of the moon that was behind her. I wanted to thank her but I didn't have time. The angel guy screamed in complete horror as he clearly was battle hardened yet. I ran by her and I saw Kevin walk into what looked like a hangar or something. And then I noticed that he had Riley in a headlock dragging her with him. He was being followed by the lamia. I knew exactly what must've happened. Riley must've tried to attack the lamia or Kevin, and gotten overwhelmed in a fight by the two of them. It was my duty to save her and kill Kevin. I ran after him dragging the slow angel behind me. When I got over to the entrance of the hangar he was about halfway through it. And I noticed there was cages lining the walls filled with people all way up to the ceiling. I screamed our, "Hey! Stop!"
     Kevin and the lamia turned around facing me. Suddenly, Kevin got a manic grin on his face, "Hello Crosby."
     Everyone else who joined me in the assault arrived at the hanger. They lined up on either side of me blocking the way out of the hangar. Not to my surprised Jennifer and Michael were closest to me. Obviously, besides the stupid angel. I yelled, "Let her go!"
     He looked down at her and shook his head still smiling, "I have a better idea." He let her out of the head lock and grabbed her by the body and the head. He then proceeded to snap her neck and toss her lifeless body towards us. I heard the stupid prince gasp followed by Jennifer doing the same. Rage boiled within me. This was the last straw.
     Tommy spoke without reason, "You heartless bastard!"
      Kevin shook his head still smiling like a psycho, "I'll show you a heartless bastard." He snapped his fingers and screaming in pain from everyone around me except the angel, the lamia, and I ensued as everyone fell to their knees. All the humans souls (which were like white glowing orbs) seemed to leave the bodies of the humans. Somehow, he seemed to absorb all of them including Riley's. His eyes glowed more and more as he collected more of them. I had to stop him now before he got too powerful. I got ready for the final fight. Even though I was already exhausted but also fueled by the adrenaline pumping through my veins viciously; like a starving predator hunting prey.
     I began to walk closer but Kevin started to speak, "I'm tired of being a pawn for the gods! We're more than that! It's time we take control of our life and our fate!" He was growing more powerful as the seconds continued to pass, dark energy swirling around his feet and rising upwards.
      The lamia slithered closer to me blocking my way, "I'll take care of him honey." I was fueled with a raging fire of adrenaline. I readied my sword to finish her quickly but was interrupted abruptly. As out of nowhere somebody tackled the lamia onto the ground a few feet away. I looked a bit shocked and it was the Ben dude Riley had told me about. But I had to focus on the main objective, Kevin. I approached for the kill as I heard the ear piercing screaming of my struggling friends in pain as he tried to tear their souls from their bodies. It was time to finish this.
    Kevin manically laughed, "You moron! You can't defeat me!" I wasn't going to lose to him again this time. It was my time to shine, my destiny.
     The shadow hands began coming out of the ground rapidly getting closer to me lining the floor. I stored my energy while squeezing my sword tightly.  For a few seconds getting mentally prepared, now it was time. With a burst of new found energy, I ran as fast as I could getting super close to Kevin letting loose a fury of built up rage in a barrage of swings and slices. It took me a minute to notice but my sword was covered in black flames. I looked at my arm which now had the black gauntlet from the underworld covering it. My father had given me his blessing. I sheathed my sword quickly. And the shadow hands got hold of my legs as Kevin opened his eyes having mostly devoured almost all the souls in the room excepted those of my friends who were still clearly resisting. I wound up a powerful punch with the gauntlet and the red gem glowed brighter then ever. The punch I unleashed upon him caused a shock wave sending Kevin flying into a bunch of cages and some fell on him and setting me free from the shadow hands as they recoiled with him. I walked over knowing it wouldn't be that easy. My shadow being cast on the floor from the moon's light. I was a few yards away now and the cages that had landed on him went flying into random directions landing a few mere feet away from us. He was bleeding from his forehead black ooze. The purple glow in his eyes was fading. He was getting weaker. This was my chance, I ran at him full speed my hand behind my head building up momentum and I felt a tingle in my hand but ignored it. I let out a cry of rage as I plunged the gauntlet squarely into the center of his face and I heard what sounded like something impaling him. I looked at my arm again instinctively. The gauntlet was glowing white like angelic magic had been used on it. I pulled the gauntlet away and there was a spike made of angelic energy which was covered in the black ooze. And the spike was attached onto the knuckles of the gauntlet. I looked back and Kevin's face was impaled straight through to the other side of his head. His body slumped over. His life clearly lost for a ridiculous cause. I turned around my arm by my side and Tommy was vomiting but all my friends were getting up now, shaky but okay. I felt relieved that it was over but also sickened for the amount of people I'd murdered. I wasn't any better than him as I'd just went on a murder spree to get what I desired, exactly like he had. But I tried not to think about it as I walked over to Tommy, "Thanks. I couldn't have done it without the assist." I think he said in between fits of puking, "Your welcome."
    I walked over to my group, "Everyone okay?" They all nodded quietly exhausted and out of breath. I looked outside the hanger. Thankfully the barrier and forcefield had fallen with Kevin's demise. As I looked around there was fire everywhere and piles of corpses remained scattered all over the battlefield. Behind me laid Riley's lifeless corpse along with Kevin's. The sun started to rise casting a beautiful light ironically over the battlefield.
     All of the sudden a tank came crashing through the camp site crushing all the tents and was followed by US government soldiers. I knew they were here to help us even though it was a bit late so I walked over to grab Riley's body and saw the Ben dude kneeling down next to her body closing her eyes.
      I decided to ask what was up with him, "Why'd you help me?"
      He turned around and stared at me, "I don't know who you are but you seemed like a good person trying to help the humans. I hated being forced around by him." I nodded picking up Riley's corpse in arms walking over to the military. The soldiers were aiding to the wounds of my crew.
     This was my new family. The foster family was over and my mother would never return. My real family was my friends now. It forever will be.
     A clearly labeled medic ran over to me, "One casualty on our end?" I shook my head telling him the grim news about the humans by pointing to the cages with all the lifeless bodies. He just murmured under his breath something taking the corpse from me and walking towards the tank. I walked over to my crew who were all gathered in a circle now staring at me like I was some sort of hero which I'm not. I'm not any better than Kevin for what I'd just done. Anyways, when I got over to the group the general climbed out of the tank. Two others climbed out of the tank after the general. They weren't dressed at all like government officials or military personal. They were all dudes, one was dressed like a wizard and the other one one had hair that was on fire somehow.
     The general approached the group, "Good work everyone. But I have some good news for you all. You're all part of the newly founded U.C.C.U. Which stands for the unidentifiable creature containment unit. You're now all known together as alpha squad and will be sent on missions to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again. These will be the newest members." She pointed to the dude who's hair was on fire, "Cole." Then the wizard dude, "Benji." I proceeded to shake hands with all of them. She looked at all of us. "Crosby, you'll be the leader of the unit. But now I'll leave you all to get to know each other and decide your next move." She saluted and then walked by us into the hanger followed by other soldiers. And soon after more tanks and other military vehicles arrived investigating the area and condemning it. I looked to Jennifer and she looked at me and walked over smiling happily, "Can we go talk in private?" I nodded and we walked over to a nearby building and we climbed onto the roof by using a ladder. When we got onto the roof she grabbed hold of my hand and held it. We walked over to the ledge sitting down on it with our feet hanging off. She sat with her legs crossed tightly for some reason but I had no clue why. The sunrise was out front of us now. As I sat next to her, I decided I'd ask what she wanted, "What's up?"
     She looked down and twiddled her thumbs slowly, the sunlight making her more beautiful than ever, "Well... if you want to know...." She looked at me in the eyes and I had no clue what she was thinking. Then out of nowhere with no warning, she tackled me onto my back. She landed on top of me and without any signs she pulled me into a full on kiss. We full on made out for the first time ever. I mean tongue on tongue action made out. And after a hot minute she drew back.
      When she did, she giggled a bit, "God, you suck at kissing." I smiled nervously probably blushing a ton as it was my first kiss like that.
     She was going to say something when I heard Michael out of nowhere say jokingly, "Stop making out you two!" He laughed along with the others. They had all followed us like wolves follow their pack leader. Jennifer and I just looked at each other blushing a bit embarrassed as we'd been caught by the entire group making out. After that we all climbed down and went on to receive medals for bravery. And ever since then nothing bad has happened. And while I'm around... nothing will.