EVERMORE ─ marvel ⁷

VIII. The Horrors Of War

Chapter Eight
Steve

I hear Mom and Uncle Sam tell us to attack, and I see the Kree soldiers running towards us, then in a blink of an eye, everything erupts into chaos. There are humans and Kree whizzing past me at different speeds, the sounds of guns, bombs, and clanging swords filling the air, drowning out the sounds of people's screams. Dust, dirt, and blood are already covering the ground. The skies are filled with Kree ships fighting off fighter jets and Wakandan ships, causing the skies to look like blurred flashes of light and color.

I can hardly see the ground anymore, the sun, the blue sky, I can't even see any of my family, I can't see anything. There's too much going on, too much, it's all too much. The only thing keeping me from having a full blown panic attack is Lee, who hasn't left my side for a single moment.

He's been using the vines imbedded in his suit to disarm Kree soldiers, knock them against each other, and beat them up. I've mostly stayed in the form of a wolf, biting into the arms, legs, and other body parts of Kree soldiers, sending them falling to the ground in screams of agony. Their blood is blue, and it tastes different than human blood. Human blood tastes coppery, like metal, but Kree blood tastes how a fire smells. It's like I've dipped my tongue in ash and soot. I don't like it.

Out of the corner of my eye I think I see Dad shooting down a Kree soldier, Uncle Alex fighting off another soldier in tiger form beside him. Uncle Khari must be close by as well. I pounce on another soldier, this time aiming for the neck, catching the woman off guard. She tries to fight me off but my teeth are too clamped in her skin, digging deeper and deeper, until finally I let go, letting her drop to the ground, her hands grasping at her neck in fear and pain. I don't waste time staring down at her, I focus my attention on another soldier. This one has a pretty big gun, and thankfully one of Lee's vines wraps around it and pulls it from his grasp, just as my claws sink into his back. The soldier lets out a yell, his knees giving out and his body falling to the ground, withering in pain.

When I jump off of him and turn around, I catch sight of the female Kree soldier I fought before, finding her hands still wrapped around her neck, but she's no longer moving. Her amethyst eyes are staring up blankly at the dark sky around us, her body still. She's dead.

I feel the air leave my body as I stare at those blank eyes, those lifeless eyes. She's dead. She's dead because of me. I killed her. I didn't mean to, or maybe I did. I just saw her and attacked, I didn't think. I killed her. I murdered her. She spent her last moments gasping for air because I nearly ripped her throat out. I killed her.

I feel firm hands wrap around my neck, sending a jolt of fear through me, but I relax upon seeing that it's Liam. He's holding me tightly, pressing his head against mine.

"I killed her." I whisper.

"I know, I know, we can deal with that later. Right now we have to keep fighting. You can't just stand here, you have to move or else you'll die."

I killed her. I mean I knew I would have to kill people today, and as an Avenger, but I didn't think it would be so hard. I thought knowing someone was a bad guy would make it easy to kill. It isn't. I can't get the image of her blank stare out of my mind, it's like they're permanently branded in my memory now.

Lee leans his forehead against mine, his grip tightening on me. "Stay with me, Babe."

I nod, taking in some deep breaths to keep my head from spinning. Instead of shifting again, I pull out the gun Dad gave me from my holster, turning the safety off.

"I'm with you." I tell him, before aiming the gun, and firing at another Kree soldier, his body falling to the ground with a thud.

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