The air reeked of death tonight.
Crimson embers tumbled across the stars like scuttled leaves in an autumn breeze. The pines shivered to their touch, some swift to go ablaze, others engulfed in the radiant displays of the dead. All the while a soulless moon watched from above, inspecting the fallen few and wavering under its smoky perfume to peek on the few souls that remained. The few who were still alive.
Those few who still believed in a chance.
I've sensed wrong more times than I can count, but never like this. In the air, in the ground, from within; the feeling was mutual no matter where I looked. Each pearly scale of mine would tremble in the chills of the ancient night, and my broken tail would bobble against the broken asphalt, too worn to stand on itself. My pale snout, smeared with the blood of my enemy and my inners, weakly grazed over the asphalt to sample what little scents were left, and to leave a trail from my frothing muzzle. As splintered skin and exposed flesh grinded and squeezed into each other, I could feel my senses slowly beginning to dim. It's a sensation I've felt before.
And it terrified me.
I growled aloud; I couldn't let it take me. Not now. Not so soon. The crave to live was still there, dragging my little body through the ruins of Clearlake. Nevertheless, failure continued to nick at my scales and tug at my heartstrings, whispering truths that I didn't want to hear. I tried to block it, sealing my dilated eyes away from the crusted burnt vehicles, the splattered shades of human blood and glass, and the crackling brick walls that once held this town together. I thought of my friends, the ones who stayed behind to give us time, the places I've been that've changed me for better and for worse. But Death still found ways to haunt me, to scare me... to break me. To tell me that my time was near.
He wasn't going to give up this easy picking.
I nearly stumbled mid-step; a quick readjustment helped align Click back to my spine to carry. My poor friend was hurt, too, wheezing for air and clamping his claws around my spine (like a vice) just to hold onto his reality. There was a weakness growing inside him, something that I feared more than the monster hunting us. His eyes would move slowly, blinking as if trying to make sense of his surroundings and himself. I could hear his lungs straining for oxygen, and see his teeth clench again and again; the pain was striking in waves, now. But as I looked around, I couldn't see anyone that could help us. It was quiet, here, in Clearlake. It was empty. We were all that remained.
And nobody was coming back.
"Mrrr..." I faltered again, ceasing my trek just to pant. My vision was beginning to blur, and my tongue was lolled out, fighting the anguish. Stress turned to strain. Hope turned to force. Briefly, I looked ahead; Biosyn's glimmering building was still several miles ahead of us. Too far...
Too far away...
I groaned, taking one more step and stopping. My body shook -- harder, faster, rattling about like a rock in an earthquake. I snarled to myself, trying to fight fate with one more step-
The ground suddenly rushed to me. A hard punch struck my lower belly, forcing a pained gasp, and a whimper. I couldn't go any further. Click slumped off my back, coughing hard from the wounds plaguing his chest. He looked at me and pressed a bloodied hand against my neck, stroking it over and over again.
"S-Seven..."
Click... I squeezed my eyes shut, breaking into a sob. He tried to ease me with a few comforting whispers and a nuzzle. but it never got to me. Nothing would, now. I just didn't have the strength to get him out of here. To get any of us out. I failed-
THUMP.
My eyes opened.
THUMP.
Now the ground was shaking. Hissing aloud, I tilted my skull sideways and squinted, straining to peer into the smoke clouds polluting Clearlake's frozen emptiness.
THUMP.
It caught Click's attention, too. The two of us looked up from the bulking earth, watching the clouds roll across the blistering heat until a shape broke through the smoke. A shadow, larger than the buildings themselves, smothered in blood, and spiked from head to tail. A creature we both recognized. Once it cleared the fogging region, snarling aloud for the world to hear, our hearts sank into oblivion.
It's still alive.
"SEVEN!" The Ultimasaurus screamed, rattling the ground and shattering any lone window that had survived the earlier nightmare. I whined quietly; submitting to the wrathful outburst of the monster towering the broken city, and looked away. My instincts begged me to fight him, to challenge him as I had done before. But I didn't even have the strength to try. And seeing him wander freely without Blink, Ripper, or Rexy at his tail...
My eyes began to water. We were never going to win.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," the blinded Ultimasaurus growled, tilting his torn head to the flaming city. His broken jaw hung at a slant, giving an eerie appearance for the beast, along with the two lines of red oozing down his empty eye sockets. "There's no point... in h-hiding... from me, pet!"
Click exhaled, turning over to me. Already, I had buried my face into my claws, accepting what was yet to happen to us. It saddened Click even further, and his eyes started to wetten in knowing what I was afraid of. Because now, more than ever, death felt more real, and more present, than the lives we cradled .
THUMP!
Two hands suddenly sought my cheekbone, lifting me from my cowardice to gaze into his eyes. There were tears living there, too. Specks of glistening pain and fear spilled down his swollen face and mine as we looked at one another, just sharing one last intimate moment of peace. He rubbed my snout again and again, breathing deep to push his panic away, and nodded.
"No m-matter what happens," Click whimpered, resting his skull against mine. "I'm p-proud of you."
A tear finally rolled down my face. I drew toward Click to nuzzle him, digging my talons into the ground as the vibrations grew closer. Another hard tremor shook us both, and our heartbeats quickened in reflex. We didn't have a lot of time left. Click inhaled, planting a firm kiss between my eyes, and shuddered in his exhale.
"But I'd be damned... if it ends... like this," he panted, realigning his eyes to mine. "Our ancestors... were better than that... and so are we."
I sniveled shakily, blinking in agreement as a fifth tremor shook the road. Click looked to the advancing Ultimasaurus in the distance, reconfirming the scars of red where his eyes used to be. His head swiveled about the region: tree to tree, building to building, vehicle to vehicle, until he struck a point; a yellow construction crane stood tall amidst the flames and embers of Clearlake, like a beacon of hope in the darkest night. At its tip was a pointed spire, with two jagged spears pointing to the east. I followed his gaze further, noticing an abandoned firefighter station hiding beneath it. Within two seconds, our eyes lit up with realization.
Maybe there still is a way.
"It doesn't hurt... to try," Click grunted, followed by a playful click. "Ready for one more mission, girl?"
I parted my maw to suck in one accepting breath, raised my head, erected my quills, and growled.
Born ready...
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"I'm going out there," Henry hissed, gathering his things in front of a laid out Dodgeson. "I'm not watching her die again, not like this."
Dodgson smirked, shaking his head. "So you can be a hero?"
"None of them are going to survive this."
"That's the point," Dodgson grunted, turning to him. "Nothing's going to kill it, not them, not me, and not you. Don't be stupid."
Henry hissed, throwing the car keys to himself. "I think stupid is the smartest thing I can do now."
"Hmph," Dodgson chuckled, watching Henry start to walk out. "Just know that I warned you this way. In case you come back whimpering like broken dog again."
Henry paused. He tilted his head just an inch, staring at the shadow of his boss for a moment's time.
"This is how things end," he finished softly. "If you want to keep yourself alive, you best let it settle. Let it die. Biosyn will start over, you'll see soon enough. So will you. And you'll have me to thank for it."
The male exhaled a long withheld breath. After a second to process, he bowed his head, shoved through the door, and vanished into the night.
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It wasn't a thorough plan by any means.
Feeding off what little faith still blossomed in our spirits, we tried our hardest to prepare for the inevitable. It wasn't perfect; our injuries served to slow us down and lose time to set up, but it was better than limping into the woods with a bloodthirsty monster hunting us down.
Fighting back was the only option we had left.
We struggled to the station in hopes of any materials to salvage; weapons, tools, armor (if necessary). There were a few civilian vehicles we noticed perfectly set up beneath the spire of the crane, their wrinkled metal hoods and sunken chassis giving enough room to bother a few exposed fuel tanks.
THUMP!
But there wasn't enough time to check it's viability. I hurried my broken body to the vehicles in question, stabbing a talon into each of the fuel tanks to let the oil run free. Smelling it, and seeing it roll around my talons and downhill made my stomach sink in memory. My nostrils twitched and my quills raised in fear; I've had this happen to me before. It was how this whole nightmare started: in a moonlit desert standing between a monster and death.
THUMP!
Shaking out of my stare, I limped to the next vehicle, extended a talon, and stabbed another tank. All the while, Click stumbled around the trembling compound, ripping open closets, drawers, and locked baskets for something useful. He'd pause from time to time, groaning as his broken rib cage shifted like snakes beneath his chest. But his luck wasn't all awful; Click found one flare hidden in one of the station's rooms' trash bins, seemingly untouched and unused, much to his surprise.
Yes!
Click huffed with relief, tucking the flare in his back pocket. As an added measure, he gathered an abandoned pen and a hammer heavy enough to swing around. He started toward the outside door, groaning and growling, his legs shifting erratically across the ruined pavement until he sided a nearby vehicle. Click spat a glob out of his maw, panting for air. The pain was getting worse.
"Mmph," Click muffled his whine, clutching his chest as fresh blood morphed upon his tongue again. "C'mon T-Tom, c'mon..." He lifted the hammer just a foot outside the base of the nearest vehicle, and swung down. The instant the windows shattered, its alarms ignited, and a siren burst freely into the air, muting the hissing flames around the region.
And alerting the blinded Ultimasaurus to where we were hiding.
Red's skull whipped to the noise. A devilish grin starting to curl across his snout, and a purr deep in tone and pride. He walked toward the siren, taking slow, melodious steps to rattle the ground beneath us. I was careful enough to stumble away from his line of direction, seizing my breaths as I finished breaking the last of the fuel tanks.
"Seeeevennn...."
THUMP!
"Agh!"
My stomach lurched to a new sound. I whirled around, gasping to a cry of pain and struggled back toward the station. Just as I feared, I found him on the ground; Click was wheezing aloud, grasping his broken chest helplessly as the pain manifested to its extreme. His shirt was painted red, as was his chin, which trembled in fear for what was becoming of him.
"Click?"
THUMP!
"It's okay, it-" He paused, making soft child-like noises that made my blood run cold. He even sounded worse than before, and I didn't need to sniff him to know the signs. This was too much for him to keep going.
THUMP!
I quickly snagged his shirt between my fangs and hauled us both into the fireman's station, collapsing to my belly with a weakened growl. Click, now on his back, dragged himself over to a space behind an opened window, where we could both hide. He grimaced again; a hand reached down to his pant pocket, where he lifted the flare to my nostrils. But I wasn't focused on it anymore.
"W-When he takes the bait..." he waved the flare, trying to gather my eyes to it. "I'll go... and light the c-candle."
What? My eyes narrowed and I hissed, wrinkling my snout to show my fangs. Click immediately understood my response and drew the flare to his chest protectively.
"No!" He growled, clenching his teeth together to force a say. "I'm d-doing this! I have to..." He swallowed mid-statement, noticing the terror growing in my eyes. His voice began to crack. "I have to... because I need you... to be okay. M-More than me. I'm already b-broken, Seven. I can't... keep running-"
THUMP!
I snarled through my coming tears, struggling to retort his judgment call. The male closed his eyes to think, then squeezed the flare.
"I don't... have much left... but you," He croaked, reopening his eyes. "Y-You're my purpose, girl. You're... why I do this, you r-remind me... of t-them, that's why I need you to live, but..."
He started to shift upright, staring into my saddened eyes as tears broke free. Click smiled sadly, breaking into a sob. "I... I just want t-to see my Janet again..."
THUMP!
"It's okay," he finished, slowly pushing up to his knees. "I'm a Marine. It's about time... I do s-something heroic. Even... if the g-girls aren't there to... see it."
I swallowed hard, afraid to even respond. But I never looked away, not even as the shadow of hell started to cast over us all. We let time freeze for the two of us, listening to the earth-shattering quakes of the approaching hybrid syncing to our trembling hearts, before sighing in agreement.
"It's going to all be okay," he whispered. But, as my eyes leveled to the flare, my heart growled in frustration.
No...
No its not.
THUMP! THUMP!
I could feel the whole building shaking. My talons curled into the tile floor, flinching between tremors, and watching the fireman station supplies jump in place. I squeezed my eyes and whimpered; Click's ragged breath grew hoarse and uneven as he eyed the flowing fuel near the vehicles. Just as Click raised a finger to his lips, a massive red foot slammed into the ground outside the window, nearly frightening the two of us. We both ducked, clamping our jaws shut as the hideous snarl of the hybrid broke into the night. Red's nostrils sought the earth of our scents, trying to make sense of where we were hiding. His tail bumped against the ground, tapping buildings and raking the ground with a sound worthy enough to make us writhe. But we stayed quiet. We couldn't risk anything, not after losing so much.
"You two... are the product of what should never be," called the hybrid, adjusting his hanging jaws as blood spilled out. "An arrogant hybrid... intertwined with a spiteful human. One dies. Another leaves. The story never changes."
Click inhaled quietly. He noticed my terrified eyes looking between him and the vehicle Red was wandering toward, wondering if where we hid was too far away to make this work. Click's eyes answered me: It'll work.
And I believed him.
Alas, Red was coming close to the crane... a few more steps should suffice for this intricate design to do its part. I just hoped he was delirious enough to fall for it.
I quickly looked between Click's focused eyes and the flare at his pocket. My jaws twitched, heart pounding faster and faster as I feared for what may end this story. Something had to happen, something had to change the tide of this.
"Hrrr..." the blinded Ultimasaurus hissed, raising a foot and pressing down against the wailing car. The poor machine squealed in anguish as it was crushed, before a final crunch ended its cry. Red's teeth tightened. "I know you're still alive..." He crooned.
Click exhaled his long withheld breath, drawing the pen he grabbed earlier to his right hand. He slowly started to raise, moving to the broken window's edge, each step more cautious than the last. A quick breath faltered in his throat as he drew the arm back, aimed ahead of the hybrid's nose, and threw.
It struck the crane perfectly.
Red's attention locked to the sound. The carnivore bellowed with interest, stomping toward the noise, leaving more tremors to ride as he left our position. Click exhaled.
"Okay," he reached for his back pocket. "Now, stay here as I—"
Click stiffened up. The flare wasn't there.
The male whirled toward the door just as my tail flickered out of sight, a gasp of horror leaving his maw. But I didn't listen. I didn't stop to look upon it. Hissing quietly, I slowly stumbled outside, flare tucked firmly between my fangs, and eyes hyper focused on the hybrid. I could smell the oily trail of fuel still flowing down the road, slowly beginning to align to the doorway of the station.
"No, no, no...." I heard Click cry out, forcing himself to the doorway. "Seven!"
Upon lowering the flare, I positioned my claws around the spacer at its base and nibbled the cap, ready to pull. It was all about patience now. As I waited, Red continued to sniff the air, taking one false step closer to the dredged cars. He was just starting to take another--
Then froze.
Click parted his maw. I froze as well, still a few inches away from the coming oil trail. Neither one of us had made a sound yet...
"Rrr..." Red's lips wrinkled. He lowered his massive snout to the ground, and took a deep, sharp inhale. Both nostrils quaked, sucking in the rich flavor of spilled diesel and oil. And beyond that, something metallic. Something fresh. Something that seemed to draw away from where the noise came from. And in that one instant, the hybrid knew.
We all knew.
Red's eyeless head tilted toward the stench of raptor blood, and his lips wrinkled upward with a snarl of hate.
"You..."
"No-" Click and I gasped in unison. The second I ripped the cap off, igniting a molten red spark to drown out the night, Red's spiked tail whipped toward me. It all happened so fast, too fast to do anything more than to drop the flare and scramble. I couldn't duck. I couldn't run. Just a tail sweep cut off every chance I had to escape. And Click realized that. Using his last bit of energy, the Marine shoved off the entrance doors, and raced forward in a mad dash to save me.
"SEVEN!"
And there was nothing I could do to stop him.
"CLICK!"
The hybrid's tail ruthlessly swept through the town. A bone-shattering crunch suddenly echoed across the valley, then a deathly thud. The flare rolled to a stop.
...
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Henry felt something in his soul suddenly disappear. He gasped, slowing his vehicle down, claws tightening to the wheel as if it was the last thing he could hold onto. The poor scientist's eyes bulged, searching the car for a reason to what stopped him. Whatever it was hurt more than the pain in his body. More than the fear leveling his heart, or the anxiety in his spirits. Tears burst in Wu's eyes, and his flesh started to tremble in terror.
Something just happened. Something terrible.
Oh no...
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Red growled softly. He couldn't tell if his work was complete. The aggravated Ultimasaurus did feel something living strike his tail... but he couldn't tell what. Or who. But he took it as a sign of success, and, in licking his chops, started making his way to the dead.
But then he heard something. A noise. A whimper. A sob. Something so primal, so animalistic, it nearly caught him off guard. Red snarled in response, wandering toward the sound, already prepared to finish off his second victim. He had to adjust himself a few times to try and predict where the human, or raptor, was moving. And it didn't take long; a wailing cry suddenly ricochet beneath him, forcing his head to look down. Red's mouth started to drool, and a hiss of delight echoed from his throat.
"Any last words?" He snarled to the survivor. There was a groan, then a whimper.
Then nothing. For a while that is.
Red waited patiently, ready to lunge down when the creature made another cry. But he wasn't expecting a response to follow.
"S-Screw BIOSYN," the figure suddenly spat, kicking the flare onto the oil. The fire smeared outward, rounding the feet of the confused theropod, and striking the overturned vehicles. A massive explosion of flame and smoke ruptured the air behind Red, who casually spun around in confusion.
CREAK...
The blurry crane above him was starting to bend into the heated region, its frames slowly collapsing inward and hindering its fall. It wasn't until the soft groans of metal and splintering wood that Red stiffened up, turning his attention toward the noise. He couldn't sense what was above him, and blindly turned downward to end his hunt.
And then the structure fell.
The cranes curled into the Ultimasaurus, before its upper spire violently stabbed into his back and through his chest. Bursts of flesh and organs splattered the streets of Clearlake, decorating the walls red, and the embers black. The monster only managed a gurgle of shock before collapsing forward into a building. Death was inevitable now. With one, sorrowful groan, Red coughed blood upon the roof of the rafters, slumped his head against the concrete, and folded the rest of himself to the earth with a ground-rattling thud. He tried to speak, to say something. But all that came was a whimper. A groan.
Then there was nothing.
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