The Changes

Part 12

   I shrieked as Marissa pushed me out of the way, getting knocked back in the process.
"Marissa! You okay?" I asked. I was really grateful. She saved my life. "Thanks."

    "No problem," she said weakly as I held my hand out for her to pull her up. She got back onto her feet and got into a fighting stance.
   
    I grinned weakly at my friends. "I'm fine." They all wore concerned looks on their faces.

    I picked up my rod. I had a split second to analyze the monster's features before it attacked. It was black and slimy, with big, blank white eyes and a giant mouth with fangs and large slimy tongue protruding from it. It kind of reminded me of Carnage from the Spider- Man comics.

    I got into a comfortable position, yelled in defiance, and charged.The creature dodged, and I rolled onto the carpeted floor. Before the mutant could turn around, Amber and Barry both kicked it square in its ugly face. They both looked at each other in surprise and ducked as the monster swiped its claws above their heads. It hissed at us and bared its sharp fangs, revealing a thick fall of saliva.
   
    I gagged. Ethan pulled out an especially large knife from his overcoat and raked it over the creature's chest. The monster was quick and grabbed Ethan's hand. I yelled and nailed it in the back with my rod. It lurched forward, dropped Ethan's hand, and turned its attention towards me. Suddenly, long spindly legs expanded from its back.

     "Ewwwww," Barry gagged.

   "This thing is uuugly," agreed Ashton.

    "No kidding," snorted Leyna.
 
    " I wonder what it's mom looked like," I said, watching the legs grow.
 
    "Don't just stand there!" yelled Marissa, obviously outraged. A burst of frost burst from her right hand and slowed the spindly legs from growing. I counted eight legs in all. This guy was ruining Spider Man for me.

   "If ya say so," shrugged Barry. A burst of lightning came through the roof, breaking it the ceiling and shocking the mutant in the process.
 
     "AARGH" it roared. It's legs shot from its back and it would've grabbed Marissa if i hadn't whacked it with my rod.

    Ashton unsheathed his karambit from his black leather sheath that he had in his backpack. He advanced on the mutant and swiped off one of its spidery tendrils. It wiggled around a bit on the ground, and then disintegrated.
 
    Amber pretended to throw up. Leyna threw some fire at the Carnage look- a - like. That only made it angrier. It looked like a burnt red pickle with arms and legs. People were starting to stick their heads out their doors to check out all the ruckus. I saw looks of stricken horror upon their faces. Most of them closed their doors in fear, but some of them stayed behind to watch.
  
    "Marissa, get them to safety!" Amber and I yelled in sync. It was weird, but we did that once in a while.
 
     Marissa nodded, and started herding the people back into their rooms. Bernard poked his head out from behind the bend that lead to the stairs.

   "Is everythi-" he started. He stared in horror, then turned around and walked stiffly down the stairs.

    The monster reacher out with its seven arms and tried to grab each of us just as Marissa turned around.

    We all countered its attack, but not Marissa.

    "Watch out!" warned Ethan.

     But Marissa wasn't quick enough. It wrapped its tentacles around Marissa's waist and picked her up.

    "Put me down!" she protested. She kicked and yelled, but it wouldn't budge. The arm clutching Marissa made its way towards the creature's large and wet mouth. It's breath must've stunk too, because she wrinkled her nose. I saw deadly rage burn in her eyes. "I'm sick of you!" she snarled. She thrust out both arms, and closed her eyes. Ice spread from Marissa throughout the mutant's body. I saw it struggle, but it just froze.

   Leyna gently placed her hand on the tentacle holding Marissa, and she slipped out. She smiled weakly at us, before falling to the ground with a slight thump.

   "Marissa!" Ethan cried, his voice cracking. "Wake up!"

   Amber placed a finger beneath Marissa's nose. "Her breathing is slowing down," Amber mumbled, her face pale with shock.

    "No, no, no." Barry fretted rubbing his hand on his forehead.

    "Marissa, get up!" I yelled, shaking her. We couldn't lose her now. She had sacrificed herself to help us.

    "No!" cried Leyna gripping Marissa's arms.

    Marissa laid limp and lifeless as a puppet. Tears stung my eyes. "She can't go yet!" shouted Ethan suddenly. He looked on the verge of tears. "No." he mumbled.

    A tear dropped from his cheek onto Marissa's chest. I placed his head in his hands. I put my hand on his shoulder, silently crying along with him.

    Even Ashton looked crestfallen. He knelt by Marissa, his head down. He was still clutching his karambit. His body violently shook. "There is no way, that she's dead," he said thickly. "Marissa will make it."

    Suddenly, the part on Marissa's chest where Ethan's tear had touched started to faintly glow. The light golden light started to make it's way throughout Marissa's body, engulfing all of us in a blinding light. I covered my tearstained eyes in an attempt to be blinded and suddenly it stopped. Leyna lifted her head out of her hands. Amber's sad expression turned to somewhat confused. Ethan looked up, also confused.

    Marissa started to cough. Not 'excuse me, I have a cold' coughs. Violent, hacking coughs. Amber pulled Marissa up in a sitting position and rubbed her back. Then, her eyes flitted. "Oh, hey guys." she smiled. She looked exhausted and her eyes were only half open. "What happened?"

    We all glanced at Ethan, whose cheeks were so red, he looked like he might explode. He mouthed, 'please don't'.

   I nodded, and opened my mouth, but Ashton was first to respond. "You saved us all! You saved us from Carnage's evil twin and you just fainted for a bit." He smiled sadly and gestured towards all of us. "Thank you."

    Marissa returned his smile, but asked, "Who's Carnage?"

    "Nevermind," I smiled.

    "We're just glad you're here with us," Leyna added with a small grin.

    "We still have a rented room, yeah?" Amber reminded us with a mock cowboy accent. "I'd hate to have my money go to waste."

    "Assuming our room survived," murmured Barry.

    "What was that?" challenged Amber.

    Barry gulped. "Nothing."
 
    "That's what I thought," said Amber brightly.

    I would love to say that it all ended happily ever after, seven kids enjoying their lives in Texas, blah, blah, blah, but that's not at all what happened.