Surviving the S.T.R.I.P. (ON HOLD)

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Micah

 “Told ya,” I grunted. I huffed and reached for my sword from the ground where it lay next to the fire. I saw Drew whip out a dagger from his pocket and push Gwen behind him.

I wrapped my hand around the hilt of the sword, but I threw the weapon just as quickly as I had grabbed it. “Ow!” The sword was much hotter than I expected it to be. So hot, in fact, that I could practically feel my hand blistering from the heat. Thankfully, Drew smarted up and fought the small band of four that emerged from the trees around us.

Everyone started screaming, which just made me even madder. As if burning my hand off wasn’t bad enough. Partially in annoyance of people attacking us, and partially in desperation, I lifted one of the logs from the fire and threw it at the kids approaching, making sure not to grab the hot part.

It seemed like a good idea at first. If there’s any one thing people would run as far away as they could from, it would be a fire, and even more so, a wildfire. Which was exactly what it turned into. Almost.

Okay, so the fire didn’t so much engulf the earth itself, but rather the kids it landed on top of. One boy’s pants caught and the fire spread without any signs of stopping. He screamed possibly the girliest scream I’ve ever heard.

By far the worst was the girl the log actually hit. I saw it fly straight into the girl’s chest and knock her down, the burning log landing on top of her. Her t-shirt caught fire, and it didn’t take long for the rest of her to ignite. She rolled in the mud in a vain attempt to stop the flames. Though the fire went out, the sight of her bloody burns made even me avert my eyes.

I watched Drew fighting boy his height, but probably double his weight. Gwen fought beside him, successfully fighting back a second boy, just about the same size as the first. I almost laughed, but a girl flung herself at me before I could go help. I dodged her and spun back around to face her. She only held a long knife for a weapon, but if I wasn’t careful, some serious damage could be dealt.

I swung the blade with me and momentum carried it in a long slash across her body. She jumped back just in time, but never stopped moving. She bolted to the side of me, but I bent my arm so that the sword blocked her, the tip pointing at the ground. I realized that the only way to win this was to do exactly as she did: keep on moving.

From my current position, I lifted the blade in an upward swipe at her, but kept the movement going into a defensive sidestep. That flowed into a quick twist around, which successfully sliced open the girl’s torso from right armpit to left hip.

She screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. She coughed a few times, taking in ragged breaths between, and then died about thirty seconds later. Kinda gross, but hey, what should I have expected?

I jogged over to where Drew fought the kid twice his size. Gwen had already pinned her opponent and was holding his own dagger barely an inch from his throat. I joined Drew from his opponent’s backside. I sliced a long cut across his back and continued the movement to a rounded chop at his neck. The boy died as quick as that, his whole head nearly coming off. I watched the boy fall, and then looked back up at Drew to see a horrified expression on his face. He looked like he was going to barf.

Beside us, Gwen drove the boy’s knife into his neck with a raged grunt. With a satisfied huff, she pulled the blade out and threw it by his head.

“Nice,” I said with a nod. She bobbed her head in reply. She brushed herself off and I turned back to Drew. “Man up, dude. And take that look off your face; it just makes you look stupid.” At this, Drew frowned, which made me laugh. I stepped in front and led the group back towards the tree house.