Lost {Ongoing:In Editing}

Nokida

Chapter XIII

JOEY SLOWLY RAISED HER right arm to allow the orange glow to fill the dark surrounding. Cautiously backing up, she tried to avoid startling the creature that stared back at her; the size of its eyes gave her the notion that it was big, much bigger than she could probably handle alone. She gulped, her eyes widening, as her head followed the pair of eyes that rose from the bushes to the treetops now towering above her.

Quickly conjuring her left dagger, she gripped them both tightly and gritted her teeth. "Get out of here!" she screamed, hoping it would frighten the creature off, and maybe it would have any normal animal like she'd read about in books, but her aggression only seemed to stir it into motion.

A creature with black fur, pointed ears, and massive paws leaped out of the shadows and into what little moonlight there was. It reared up on its back legs and growled loudly, its claws glowing an odd green. Whatever this thing was, it was either too big to be a wolf or this was the mutations Michelle had been talking about.

She aimed her daggers up at its face. "I'm warning you!" She intended to sound menacing, but the quiver in her voice betrayed her.

Another loud squall came, and her hands flew to her ears—losing her daggers in the process—to try and block out the piercing shriek. She looked up and gasped before ducking out of the way with a screech as the beasts paw came pounding down. She landed in the snow and skidded on her side, but didn't delay to jump back up and re-summon her daggers. With a shout, she lunged a dagger towards the creature, but the blade barely nicked the creatures front limb and appeared to have left zero affect.

The monster turned her way, a low rumbling growl brewing in its belly. Again, it reared back, this time smacking Joey with the backside of its paw, and the blow was so forceful it hurdled her through the air. Her back collided with a nearby tree, her head whammed against the bark, and her daggers disappeared engulfing her in the shallow moonlight.

She landed on the ground on her stomach, and cringed as she pushed herself up on her elbows. Her vision zoomed in and out of focus through strands of brown hair that had fallen over her eyes. She shook her head and her arms quaked under her weight as she tried to force herself to stand.

Turning her head towards the beast, she found it slowly stalking her way, and the world around her spun as she struggled to push herself into a sitting position. As much as she tried to encourage herself to move and save herself, she found it too difficult from the pain that rippled down her spine and the cold air chilling her bones. She had to fight against the urge to want to collapse on the ground and welcome death because the cold made her too exhausted and weak to attack. She had mistaken just how cold it was out here. Her little rain jacket wasn't enough to keep a small rodent warm. She was afraid she wasn't going to be able to regain her strength quickly enough to fight off the monster before it finished her off. Staring up at the beast, her blurring eyes barely allowed her to see it ready to strike its final blow. "Get up!" her conscious screamed at her.

She flipped the hair from her face as she finally hoisted herself into a seated position, and she thrusted a hand out to the side, trying to find the energy she needed to form a dagger. Panicking, she glanced from her hand to the beast and noticed that she didn't have the strength she needed to conjure another blade. She lowered her hand, and sank back against the bark.

The beasts paw swung upward, and she gasped, fearing there wouldn't be enough time to react. She clambered to her hands and knees to roll out of the way, but stopped and stared at the trick her mind was playing on her.

David stood in front of her in his ice form, his hand outstretched towards the beast and a forceful stream of ice flowed from his hand. The creature lowered itself, giving off a painful cry, as it backed away from the cold shards that pummeled its face.