The Corrupted Soul

Chapter 24

I snarled at the top of my lungs as I pounced forward. Cap spun around at the sudden alert to my presence, but didn't have a second to realize what was truly happening. I bit onto her Crawler leg with full force of my jaws, feeling the sturdy carapace crunch in my teeth. Her Crawler legs were armored, unlike mine, but I was still able to break through easier than I should have.

She screamed in pain and rage, trying to spin around to grab at me. I latched onto Jack and yanked him free from her broken grasp, kicking her to the floor like a piece of trash. Somewhat roughly, I tossed Jack away from the fight, lest he get caught in the crossfire. Looking him in the eyes, I snarled out, "Run! Get back home, tell Clem! Tell Olive! Run, I'll hold her off!"

He nodded firmly and jumped to his feet, one thing was certain, that guy knew how to run.

Cap managed to gain some footing, and kicked off hard against the ground, jumping backwards into a sturdy tree. With me still latched to her back, I took the blunt of the impact and felt my ribcage crunch. Blood spurted up from my mouth, Cap dug her nails into my arm and threw me down onto the ground. She grinned down at me, "You seriously think a child can beat several adults that spent years as Crawlers? You've only got a few years under your belt, we each have three times your experience!"

I coughed, painfully feeling broken bones shifting, "You seem to be excluding some details."

"Oh? And what would those be?"

I grinned, "You all lived fighting off bears and cougars," I slowly extended a Crawler leg across the ground towards her, she was watching my face and arms instead, unaware, "Unlike you, I lived fighting off other Crawlers."

My claws wrapped around her ankle. She barely had time to jump before I had pulled her leg out from under her, forcing her to smash into the ground on her back, shoving the knife deeper into her muscles. I jumped up and on top of her, digging my nails into her throat, "I know from past experience that that hurt."

Clenching my fist around her neck, I yanked my arm back, tearing a bloody chunk of flesh back with it. A spray of blood followed suit, soaking my sleeve and part of my chest. A strangled screech tried to force it's way from her mouth, but it was blocked by the flood of crimson. Crawlers were much stronger than that though, she wasn't anywhere near going down.

She lunged at me, her Crawler legs wrapped around me and her claws dug into my spine, as she swiped at my face with her extremely sharp nails. I didn't even feel the wound at first, I didn't know she had sliced my face open until I saw blood on her hand and felt it rolling down my face. I actually managed a laugh, "If I had a nickel."

She had actually cut through the faded scars left by Raven, shoving my sunglasses up sideways. She jumped backward in terror, seeing my glowing red eyes. I bared my teeth as I simply took the glasses off, feeling the stabbing pains in my retinas barely bothered me at the moment. She had been so confident she could take me down purely by assumptions, now she saw what she was really fighting, she was rightfully afraid.

I punched her square in the face, cracking her glasses down the center, she gargled out a snarl of pain at the sunlight, and her grip around me loosened. I shoved her into a tree, smashing the back of her skull against the rough bark, "Worm."

Snarls and roars sounded behind me, but I didn't turn around. I smelled them several minutes ago, my senses were heightened by the resurfacing Lurker traits. The other three members of her pack were unaware of just what they were facing too, they knew it was me and Cap fighting, but they had no idea just how badly she was loosing, and just how easy I would crush them too.

Startled gasps and growls from behind signified their entrance to the clearing. I maintained my hold on Cap, as I slowly turned my head to look at the frightened creatures. Sketch looked like he was about to vomit at the ammount of blood spattered around the grass and snow, Voctor and Tank were trying to look threatening, though only Tank was successful. Even so, I had the upper hand against the muscular Crawler.

I couldn't help but grin, "Isn't this funny? Four wolf spiders challenging a black widow."

Victor, in his infinite stupidity, thought he could defend himself with the truth, "What are you doing, kid?! We just wanted you to join our pack, for you to be with your own kind!"

This struck me as hilarious. I couldn't hold back my laughter and had to stand on my Crawler legs to keep from falling over. In a split second, my humor eroded, and I stared Victor down with a piercing red gaze and a growl that made him stumble backwards, "If you're trying to call yourself peaceful, you wouldn't have tried to kidnap Jack and nearly kill Martian."

Sketch looked at Victor and Tank, confused, but hesitantly asked, "Who's Jack?"

They weren't even coordinating their plans with eachother! Just going at it individually in hopes someone could draw me in, this pissed me off more than I already was. In a swift motion, I snapped Cap's neck, with a loud crunch as she collapsed to the forest floor in a pool of her own blood. I stared down at her for a moment. She's going to wake up, and when she does, I hope she hurts for weeks.

The sound of someone puking made me lift my head, I scoffed somewhat at Sketch who was hunched over and throwing up onto the ground. This kid eats whole animals and sees bones weekly, yet this is enough to make this lightweight keel over?

I rolled my eyes, he wouldn't be difficult to deal with on the off chance he attacked. Tank snarled before lunging at me, I questioned how I had been so afraid of him before, when only an idiot would give away their position to a distracted target. He likely relied on his sheer strength to win fights, all brawn and no brain.

Jumping to the side was all it took to make him smash into the ground, by the time he had turned around, I was already behind him in the tree above. I dug the claws of two Crawler legs deep into his back, latching onto his ribcage. I pulled myself down and landed hard in the center of his spine, feeling it snap beneath my weight and making his torso bend in an unnatural way, his Crawler legs went limp and he collapsed, though everything above his waist was still intact.

From where I was, he was unable to reach around to grab me. I must have started by attack mere seconds ago as only now did Victor attempt to assist his packmate. He jumped at me and bit hard into my shoulder. Hissing out, I pushed off the tree to my side and rolled across the ground, dislodging him and forcing him to take the blunt of the impact. We both stood up immediately.

I could see the venom dripping off his Claws, a flicker of worry entered my mind, remembering just how much more potent their venom was than mine. The yellow-green translucent fluid could normally kill a human in an hour, but with this enhanced version I doubt they would last ten minutes. I was unsure how I would react to the venom, but I didn't plan on finding out.

He swiped his claws at me, I dodged easily with my own snarling swipe. My vision was slightly blurred from the burning sunlight, but not nearly as much as it should. I had almost forgotten about Tank, until a fist sized stone was lobbed at my head, causing me to stumble backwards with my ears ringing. I whipped my head towards him on the ground with a hiss, he grinned.

Victor jumped from the ground and pounced on me, digging his venom coated claws into my ribs and stomach, while he slashed at my face with his nails. The heat built at the back of my throat, wanting to be released, and this time I didn't try to hold it back.

I screeched at the Crawler attacking me, simultaneously spitting out a burst of fire directly into his face. He screamed in pain as he jumped backwards, tearing chunks of my flesh out with his still clenched claws. I had no doubt blinded him with both the bright light and the flames themself, but my own temper flared brighter than the fire.

These insects are so confident they can take me down, when I've already subdued two of them? How weak do they think I am? I've changed my mind, they won't survive to regret this day.