Reversal (Camren/Norminah)

Chapter 39: The Invasion Part II

"Stay here." I turned around and addressed both Lauren, and the rest of my party. "None of you move."

Receiving a number of satisfying nods, including a small one from my girlfriend, I took off further into the chaos, seeking out a single mangled attacker and catching it's attention. A sealed screech touched my ears, and I whipped around to see the figure's arms outstretched, reaching for me. It would have taken no more than a swing of a blade to disarm and bisect him, but rather than doing so I proceeded to do some expert recon. Left arm sizzling, I used the web of lightning to keep him at a fair distance, studying his appearance.

Ally had been spot on with her overly cryptic description. The individual was clearly male, hunched over with a manic hunger in his eyes. He looked far from battle ready, wearing a tattered beige short sleeved shirt that exposed his pale, sickly coloured arms streaked with dirt and blood. On his legs were a matching pair of pants that had been cut off above the ankles. His face, despite being nearly masked in the deep red light of the moon, was all kinds of bone chilling. Eyes black and inhuman, jawline sharp, cheekbones high, and mouth nonexistent.

Or so I thought.

Striking him hard with my left hand, lighting coated and filled his body, sending his frame into an unnatural round of tremors. His torso shook, and I looked up just in time to see black fluid start dripping down his chin as a break in the skin appeared just where his mouth would have been. The sealed scream from before occurred again, but this time it was very much unsealed.

"Holy fucking—" I muttered into the earpiece, jumping back in shock. The break on his face became larger, as did the wail that erupted from what was surely a functional voice box. It was only for a moment, but I managed to catch a number of laced black lines connecting one side of the break to the other as if someone had applied stitches to the bottom half of his face, and they were finally breaking.

As he crumpled to the ground and shrivelled into a mess of limbs and black liquid, I turned around to see another individual was lumbering my way. This one however, had long black hair that cascaded in a pin straight manner down their shoulders, and was clearly female.

"Bitch no." I muttered, jumping forward and bringing my knife down upon her body. More of the messy substance exploded around me, covering the cold ground before up and vanishing. "I'm not dealing with any goddamn grudge bullshit. You stay in the movie theatre where you fucking belong."

"Camila!" Lauren's voice echoed through my ears. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I replied, avoiding any more conflict as I returned to them. "But there's something very wrong here. Ally?" I looked up at the trees, unable to find the brunette. "Whatever they are, they're too stupid to be doing this on their own will. There's someone controlling them; is there anything you can tell me about any potential sources? Can you see any proper humans further into the forest?"

Ally was quiet for a moment, before releasing a sharp gasp. "Yes!" She replied. "There's someone with a heat map out there, I just saw them move through the trees!"

"Can you tell us anything about them?" Lauren asked, gripping my wrist. "Gender? Age? What they're wearing?"

"It's a girl with long, light brown hair. She seems just about your age, maybe a year or two older." Ally responded to Lauren. "She's not moving, but she's alone, and covered in some kind of dust that makes her kinda hard to see. From where you are, head to about three o'clock and you'll run into her through the trees."

"Got it." Lauren pulled a single iron rod from the sash at her back and gripped it tight. "I'm going in."

"Wait." I turned around and addressed my team. "Where are the twins?"