Tisis

Bringing the lightning (N)

I run back towards the camp site, where our fire is still crackling in the slight breeze as if nothing was amiss whatsoever.

Has the path always been this long?
It sure feels longer right now.

By the time I reach the fire, my implants warn me of a low oxygen saturation in my bloodstream.

But I don't care, I cannot care, I need to hurry, before the door breaks down and Sirus needs to fight whatever is smashing against it in the narrow hallway in the half-dark.

Just after grabbing the torch, a distant rumbling makes me raise me head.
Dark and heavy clouds are starting to roll in.

The rain will start to come down heavy in a few minutes, meaning I have to hurry even more if this torch is supposed to make it to the entrance.

By the time I'm halfway there, I hear the crashing of wood getting broken down, loud barking and yelling, while the alert falls silent, as the makeshift wires we had used fall to the ground.
The predator broke through.

I reinforce my run, despite every fiber in my body telling me that I need to stop and catch my breath. Or, even better, flee and seek safety.

However misery loves company as the proverb goes and in my hurry, I fail to notice a small root sticking out from the ground in time.
Even more unfortunately, my foot seems to have no trouble whatsoever finding it and I fall flat on my face, the torch slipping from my hand in a wide arc, ending up in a small puddle.

I stare at the extinguished torch for seemingly endless seconds, when a pained scream from the entrance rips me from my shock.

I scramble to my feet and continue my way back to the entrance.
Torch or not, I won't let Sirus die because I was a fool!

A large predator is approaching Sirus, who is backed against a wall.

I can see blood flowing from his left shoulder, but he still holds his spear in front of him, while Zero stands between the two of them, barking and growling at the large creature with the gray fur, longish snout and way too big teeth.

Despite better knowledge and every inch of my mind yelling at me to just run away, I find myself yelling, "Hey you! Ugly! I'm over here!"

Sirus' eyes grow wide as he sees me standing there, unarmed, without a torch and by now soaked from the pouring rain that had started coming down into the cone.

A strike of lightning paints the world around us in a surreal light, shortly followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
I can hear the blood flow through my head and my gut turns and toils around, while my body urges me to flee.

But I cannot flee.
Sirus can't fend off this thing any more, not with that wound and Zero is far too small to make a difference here.

A thought pops into my head and I reach for my waist, where my gun is hanging, almost forgotten and barely more than a reminder of who I was.

I yank it out of its holster as the predator apparently considers me more tasty than Sirus and starts approaching me.

"Oh Garkla, by your grace and mercy, let my aim be true...and this thing still be operational..." I murmur, as I put the thing into my crosshair, as it seems to be preparing for a lunge.

With my thumb, I set the discharge to maximum value...and pull the trigger.
Then everything disappears in a brilliant flash of white, as the air explodes straight in front of my face.

When I come to again, the rain has stopped.
No...no, that's wrong. I can still hear it.
But I also hear the crackling of fire...

I open my eyes and turn my head to see that we're back at the campsite.
Sirus is sitting there, exhaling deeply when he notices that I woke up.

"What...happened?" I croak, while trying to get up, but my body fails me.
"The craziest thing...when you fired the stun gun, a strike of lightning came down on the creature and fried it in a split second...exploded into a thousand burning pieces. Honestly, when I found you lying there, I feared that the lightning had gotten you too, but you were still breathing, so I brought you here."
"Th...the door?"
"Already patched up, thanks to the foresight of a certain someone, who insisted that we needed some spare barricades."
"S...Sera?"
"Alive and well. She was smart enough to run away when that thing came through...oh and...I'm sorry. I messed up."
"Wha...how did you mess up?"
"Well, I'm supposed to protect you, being the guy and all...and now you ended up saving me. Again."
"D...don't make me kick your butt...for having such a silly stereotype..."

Sirus mildly smiles at me, tousles through my hair and says, "Get some rest. There's plenty of butt left to kick tomorrow. Thanks to you...though, do me a favor please...never fire that gun again, okay? Cause that was way too close for comfort."

I nod as a deep sense of fatigue spreads inside of me and everything goes back to black, bringing a welcome silence from all the alerts my implants have been feeding to my brain.