"Look out!" Noah screamed but it was much too late for that. Before any of them could react, the creature fell right on top of them causing the Bridgeton's to be dashed down onto the ground. "Crap! How the hell is it still alive? It was ripped to pieces. Literally!" Noah thought as he whirled around intending to shoot the creature looming over all of them but his gun was gone! "Where the hell did my gun go!?" Noah thought as he stared up at the creature in horror.
"Ow," Liam groaned, rubbing the back of his head. William was also groaning clutching his left arm to his chest and looked to be in real pain.
"What the hell was that?" Fred asked but was immediately distracted by William, reaching out a hand to check on William.
"It's the creature!" Issac cried out and whipped out one of his hand guns but the magazine was empty. "Damn it!"
"Get a safe distance away!" Jonathan called out, attempting to kick the creatures legs out from under him but it was like kicking at a brick wall.
Everything appeared to be moving in slow motion for Noah. Jonathan attempted to kick at the creature's legs again, Issac scrambled back while fumbling for a magazine clip in his pocket, Fred helped William army crawl a little attempting to get away from the creature, and Liam was still complaining about his head. That left the creature in plain view who stared down at Jonathan almost curiously. The creature really did look young which was a little surprising. He didn't look that much older than Noah! Brown hair, green eyes, tan skin. If it wasn't for the fact that blood and guts were caked on the young man's chin, he'd look perfectly normal.
"What are you?" Noah thought to himself, staring up in awe. Horrified awe. Especially when the creature suddenly turned toward Noah. "Oh crap!"
"Noah!" Jonathan bellowed and just like that, time seemed to resume.
Jonathan suddenly jumped up onto his feet swinging a massive branch he'd picked up from the ground to whack the creature right in the face. Fred managed to get William up onto his feet nursing his left arm as they headed toward the truck. Liam, who'd only been whining about his head to be bait for the werewolf or vampire he'd assumed had come after them, turned around and practically screamed like a little girl when he saw the creature and scuttled away like a cockroach. Issac, using his father's attack as a perfect diversion, lunged on top of Noah rolling them away from the creature before they managed to get on their feet.
"Get to the truck!" Issac barked as he pushed Noah after William and Fred, pointing at the truck before turned to shoot at the creature.
Noah backed away, his breathing becoming ragged as he watched his father swing at the creature with the tree branch before it easily yanked it out of his grip. It even snapped it in half with one hand but Jonathan wasn't out of the fight quite yet as he pulled out his machetes again. Liam also got out his gun but neither Liam or Issac took a shot for fear that they might hit their father.
"Come at me!" Jonathan bellowed, machetes at the ready.
"Dad, no! You can't beat that thing!" Noah blurted out, panic rising in his chest at the thought of that creature ripping his father apart. Noah couldn't even bare to imagine him being eaten like the werewolves and vampires from before.
"Noah, get back to the truck. Now!" Jonathan called out, not taking his eyes off the creature for one moment who stared blankly at Jonathan. His arm made swiping motions at Jonathan but they were slow and it almost looked... confused?
"Fine! As long as you three come with me. Knock his legs out and lets go before that zombie mutant eats you!" Noah practically screamed, glancing around to make sure there weren't any others wandering around through the forest but the creature seemed to be all on it's own.
"I said get back to the truck!" Jonathan shouted before quickly lunging out of the way when the creature struck at him again. To Noah's horror, Jonathan and the others were heading away from the truck as they fought against the creature. Issac and Liam emptied their gun clips to no avail before pulling out knives and a sword.
"You heard dad," a voice spoke up, Fred coming up behind Noah holding something in his hand. "Get inside the truck and cover your eyes," Fred said with a grin.
"Um, why?" Noah asked, glancing between Fred and the battle before them when Noah took note of the area his family was leading the creature. "Will that work?" Noah asked sounding more than nervous.
"It's worth a try, right? We've been dying to use these," Fred said and actually sounded excited about something for once. "Besides, couldn't hurt to try. Nothing else seems to be working," Fred said with a shrug, back to his normal somber attitude.
He wasn't wrong. None of the bullets they'd shot at the creature seemed to do any damage. Slow him down a little but it was still moving around even with a bullet to the ribcage. Their knives and swords weren't having much luck either. They couldn't even scratch the thing just like the werewolf and vampire claws. Not only that but the creature was slowly gaining speed, even dodging their bullets and it started to use it's arms like a shield.
"It's almost like it's... learning," Noah thought as he observed the creatures behavior. It still looked a little confused like it wasn't sure what Jonathan was exactly. "Has it never seen hunters before? It's acting strangely slow for something that could easily kill a vampire and werewolf," Noah thought as he watched the creature reach a hand out to grab at Liam but he easily rolled away giving Jonathan a chance to strike at the creature's back leaving parallel slash marks though that hardly fazed the creature since the blades couldn't go that deep. They were only making surface level scratches which were healing incredibly fast.
"Fire in the hole!" Fred suddenly bellowed, curling an arm around Noah's head to cover his eyes before he pressed the trigger on the remote he was holding. All the Bridgetons closed their eyes just as all the metal rods they'd brought lit up the forest. The light was so bright and blinding that Noah could see it peeking between Fred's fingers over his eyes. The creature let out a horrific scream that seemed to shake the very Earth, especially as the lights started blinking and making an irritating screeching sound that got quieter for human ears until it was at a pitch only dogs could hear. So could the creature apparently because it's screaming became more frantic until it suddenly cut off and there was this gurgling sound followed by a thud. The lights dimmed to nothing and Fred finally lowered his hand from Noah's eyes who blinked rapidly trying to focus his eyes to see if any of his family was hurt.
Jonathan Bridgeton was standing over the creature holding both of his machete's which had managed to cut the creature's throat, almost severing it's head off and cutting off it's earlier scream. Blood had spattered on his chest and he was breathing heavily, but he had done it. He managed to take down a creature strong enough to go head to head with the Alpha werewolf and the Head of the vampire clan.
"Wow," Fred whistled looking genuinely surprised. Noah felt that too, staring in awe at his father.
"How the hell did you manage to do that?" Liam asked who was sitting on the ground catching his breath, Issac kneeling on the ground not too far from him with a broken sword in hand.
"It wasn't easy," Issac said with a chuckle. It was a little hysterical but he was genuinely pleased.
"Our weapons didn't seem to be making a dent but we were able to chip away at it's skin. It seems to have a strange protective coating under it's skin that makes it nearly impossible to cut him. Thankfully though, when I hit it with the branch, it caused the coating to crack so we were able to break it apart little by little until I was able to cut it's throat like so," Jonathan explained with a sigh, eyeing the creature carefully gesturing at it's severed neck with one of his machete's. It had gotten up once before even after being ripped apart by the Alpha werewolf and vampire Clan leader. There was nothing stopping it from getting up again. It'd be even more surprising if it didn't get up.
"So you guys were chipping away at it's armor?" Liam asked as he watched Issac run back to the truck to grab some chains per Jonathan's request. "Wow! I completely missed that," Liam said with a chuckle as Jonathan helped him up to his feet, everyone keeping an eye on the creatures body.
"Not surprising," Fred deadpanned, rolling his eyes as Liam glared at him.
"What is that thing? Came out of nowhere," William asked as he followed Issac from the truck to where Fred and Noah were standing, Issac heading towards the creature with the chains in hand. He and Jonathan started wrapping the creatures body from head to toe hoping it could contain the creature, or at least slow it down.
"You ever seen anything like that dad?" Fred asked, all of them looking at Jonathan for answers.
Jonathan, for his part, silently secured the chains around the creature. He even stood up and went to the truck without saying a word as he looked for something to stuff in the creature's mouth. The Bridgeton boys were used to this kind of silence which told them everything they needed to know; their father wasn't too sure what this creature was either. Issac followed their father to the truck and grabbed a tackle box from the truck bed but it didn't have worms or fish hooks inside. Instead it had a silver knife, some holy oil, and a few other trinkets meant for killing or slowing down monsters who could only be killed by specific weapons or certain ingredients to exercise it. Jonathan and Issac were intent on using everything in the tackle box to see what could harm, or even better yet kill, the creature.
"How's your arm?" Liam asked William gaining Fred's attention.
"It'll be alright. Nothing a goodnights sleep won't fix," William said with a smile, ruffling Noah's hair who was looking up at him worriedly.
"Says the man with a dislocated shoulder," Fred said flately and started to lecture William about taking injuries seriously in case they got worse. Liam started complainging about the vampire girl he had been fighting earlier while Noah watched quietly for a moment before glancing back towards Jonathan and Issac. They all noticed just in time as one of the creatures arms shot out slapping a hand onto Issac's chest sending the burly young man flying fifty feet through the air. "Dad!" Fred called out in warning as the creature easily broke the chains wrapped around it's body like it was mere toilet paper wrapped around it's body and made a swipe right at Jonathan's neck but he managed to barely dodge by leaning ever so slightly backward.
"Can't that thing just stay dead for five minutes! I hardly caught my breath," Liam cried out but he was taking this seriously as he pulled out a handgun from inside his jacket. The others pulled out weapons too, even William had a knife even though he had only one good arm to fight with. "Take it down! Maybe if we chop it into pieces, it'll stay down longer!" Liam shouted at the others as they charged at the thing.
"Wait! We can't beat that thing. We don't even know what it is!" Noah called out after them, reaching out a hand to stop William from charging forward but they were all out of his reach before he could even graze William's coat flapping in the wind behind him. Issac was soon back on his feet too and jumping into the fray as well leaving Noah alone on the sidelines looking around desperately for something or someone that might help them. Anything! All he could think to do is run back towards the truck and grab his dad's ledger passed down the Bridgeton generations detailing every type of monster they've hunted over the past century that was tucked into the glove compartment, quickly skimming through the pages trying to find any information on the creature. "What the hell are you, damnit!" Noah cursed as he flipped page after page from the front to the back cover but there wasn't anything like this creature in the entire book. Something that could keep on living even after having it's throat slashed, head ripped apart, and even torn to pieces only for it to appear, alive and well again, a moment later? Unheard of! "What are we supposed to do?" Noah asked as he tossed the book back in the truck, watching anxiously over his family as the creature fought against them.
To Noah's horror, it was getting bolder.
Where it had been holding back, by a lot Noah imagined, with slowly attacks as if gaugeing the humans capabilities, now the creature was speeding up and attacking them even harder. It even broke William's silver knife into a million pieces like it was nothing! No matter what any of them did, the creature just would not go down. Instead, the Bridgeton boys started dropping one by one. William was the first out of commision which wasn't too surprising with his injury. Then it was Liam who got hit in the head for real and crumpled to the ground like a marionette doll whose strings had been cut. Issac gave out a sharp cry as the creature grabbed his leg when he went for a roundhouse kick as a distraction for Jonathan to cut off the creatures head but it easily caught Jonathan's machette while squeezing Issac's leg until they all heard a crack. Issac went down clutching at his leg but Jonathan wasn't out of the race as he yanked his machette out of the creature's grip slicing open it's palm and even cutting off it's fingers. Fred found himself being thrown across the field with a startled yelp and wound up in a tree, groaning in pain as everything was suddenly very sore and there were branches poking at him. That left Jonathan alone against the creature who fought the best he could but the creature was just that much stronger. To the horror of every since Bridgeton boy, the creature grabbed their father by the neck hoisting him up in the air after easily knocking away his machette's like they were children's toys.
Time seemed to slow all around them. Images of the creature biting into their fathers neck just like that vampire girl from earlier plauged their minds as they watched Joanthan kick and struggle against the creature in vain as it stared up at their father in what almost looked like serinity. It was like a fat happy house cat who'd just caught a pesky mouse in the house. At least, that's how it looked to Noah before he pulled the trigger of his shotgun and watched a hole appear in the inner elbow of the creature's arm. It howled into the air as it's arm jerked back, dropping Jonathan who managed to land on his feet before stumbling back away from the enraged creature.
"Noah, get back!" Jonathan creid out almost desperately, all his brothers horrified stares turning onto their baby brother as they imagined him being ripped apart in place of their father. Despite their worries and their plaintive cries, Noah appeared calm as he pulled back the forearm for a second shot.
--------------------
Noah's whole world was quiet. It was a strange thing when he got in the zone on a hunt, when all your senses are so amped up that the world seems to slow down around you and you have all the time in the world to choose what to do next. It wasn't easy getting in the zone of course. Plenty of athlete's experience this all the time in competitive sports and, if they're lucky, they can use that momentary time in the zone to make a move that can win them the game. For Noah, the "game" was saving his family from an unbeatable creature. The funny thing is...
Noah's never lost in the zone.
The creature whirled around as it looked for it's attacker, blood oozing down it's arm dripping on the grass at it's feet. It finally zeroed in on Noah standing thirty feet away who was aiming his shotgun he'd managed to find on the ground right at the creature's head. It let out an earth shattering roar, one that had all his brothers covering their ears, but Noah didn't even flinch. He merely aimed his gun accordingly as the creature charged at him and pulled the trigger at the opportune moment. The bullet went flying through the air right into the creature's left eye. It penetrated even further than it would have from where the creature had been standing before but the creature had crossed the thirty feet between them so quickly that it wasn't even a foot away when Noah pulled the trigger causing the bullet to blow it's brains out. The moon was so big and bright that Noah could see the chunks of it's head flying through the hair but he didn't let his guard down. Noah dropped down into a crouch and rolled out of the way immediately after pulling the trigger as the creature's momentum almost had it crashing into Noah but he didn't stop there. He tossed his shotgun away immediately after rolling out of the creature's way and pulled out two handguns from where they were tucked into the back of his pants and whirled around to face the creature that was still on it's feet even with a third of it's head blow away. The creature let out a gurgling growl and lunged at Noah but he didn't even pause after retreiving the guns, pointing one right at it's other eye and pulling the trigger. The creature let out another ungodly wail, scrabbling at it's eyes that were now gone leaving two bloody holes.
"Don't even give it a second to breathe," Noah thought as he took a large step toward the creature ramming one of his guns under the creature's chin, forcing it to look up at the starry night sky above their heads, and pulled the trigger further damaging it's brains. It's head was practically a mishapen blob of flesh oozing blood that further stained it's formerly white shirt but Noah could see it's muscles flexing as it was preparing to attack Noah. "Wow! I don't think I've ever been this far into the zone," Noah thought as he watched with full clarity as the creature's right bicep flexed. It swung out it's arm wildly to swipe in Noah's general direction but, having seen it coming, Noah easily ducked and dodged under it's arm slipping behind the creature so he could shoot behind both kneecaps at the same time. Once again, the creature let out out a scream of pain, crumlping down onto it's hands and knees. It was in that moment Jonathan appeared out of thin air with one of his machette's and, like an executioner, lopped off the creature's head in one fell swoop with more force he'd ever put into a swing. The creature's head went rolling for a little bit, or what was left of it, while it's body flopped lifelessly onto the ground. "For now that is," Noah said as he slowly came out the zone, his breathing sounding incredibly loud in his ears. Noah's legs shook before his knees buckled out from underneath him, Noah plopping onto the ground with his hands lying limply in his lap, one of his handguns slipping out of his shaking hand. "That was scary," Noah breathed while his brothers converged on their location.
"Damn, dude! That gave me chills," Liam said who'd managed to wake up in the nick of time to watch Noah's fight with the creature, Issac hurrying over to help Fred out of the tree while William checked out Liam to make sure he didn't have a concusion. "I'm fine, Billy. Tip top shape!" Liam said with a smile as Jonathan kneeled by Noah's side, rubbing his back as he took in deep breaths.
"My name is Will," William said, arching a brow at Liam who stared up at him with a blank look on his face.
"Who?" Liam asked and was soon getting checked on by Fred who grumbled the whole time about how his everything hurt and how their were splinters poking his butt, using rather colorful language in the process.
While Noah's brothers checked on each other, and used this moment of peace to reload their weapons with what they had left on them, Jonathan stared down at Noah with a peculiar look on his face which was a little worrying since he'd normally be asking Noah a million questions to make sure he was fine. "You lied about how bad your shoulder is, didn't you?" Jonathan asked quietly though he already seemed to know the answer as he had a ruethful smirk on his face while Noah slowly smiled up at him trying to hide his guilt.
"Maybe," Noah said, making it sound like a question, before he grew serious. "We should get out of here before that thing revives itself. I doubt we have a lot of time," Noah said and stood up quickly causing his brothers to quickly flock towards them.
"No," Jonathan said firmly to Noah's shock.
"Dad, we can't beat that thing. We barely took it down and it wasn't even fighting us that seriously. We should go hame and regroup," Noah said seriously but Jonathan wasn't moving. Noah looked around for support but to his anguish none of his brothers looked like they would fight him on it.
"We're not going anywhere until we put that thing down for good," Jonathan said to Noah's alarm.
"What's your plan then?" Noah snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. Jonathan said nothing, staring down at the blonde who glared up at him. "You've cut off his head, one and a half times already, and yet it keeps waking up and trying to kill us. Bullets barely put a dent in it, you have to chip away at it's skin just to properly cut it, and you've already tested it's body. I'm betting silver, gold, holy water, and everything else we have in that tacklebox didn't do anything to it. Did it?" Noah challenged, turning his chin up as the silence continued. "So? What's your plan, dad? You have one, right? You're not just going to keep fighting that thing and hope for the best, are you?" Noah asked and seemed to be channeling their father as he dared any of them to try to go through with that.
None of his brothers, or even their father, could meet Noah's eyes.
"We can't just leave that thing here. It could head towards the town and slaughter people," Jonathan said, attempting to come up for a good reason to go through with his plan to strike at the creature until it stayed dead, but Noah's glare only intensified.
"So you'd rather die first and leave the people without a fighting chance? Sounds like a great idea. Love it, in fact!" Noah said sarcastically before turning away towards the truck knowing full well that his family would follow. They wouldn't want to leave him all by himself, the creature could target him as an easy straggler, so he headed for the truck and couldn't help but feeling pleased as he heard footsteps trailing behind him. "Let's go home and come up with a plan. We should also call for backup if it really does end up attacking the town," Noah said as he picked up his pace.
"Ah crap!" Liam suddenly cried out causing all of them but Noah to turn around. "The creature's body is already gone. Where'd he go now?" Liam asked as they all searched around in a panic, Issac and Jonathan looking up towards the trees in case the creature tried to drop down on them again.
"Unless you have a plan how to kill it and keep it dead, get in the truck," Noah ground out through his teeth.
"Noah, we-" Jonathan began, jogging to catch up with the blonde but Noah had enough of all this.
"Do you have a plan?" Noah challenged again, glancing over his shoulder at his father while heading directly for the truck. He was fully prepared to drive the damn thing home himself if he had to since Jonathan still seemed reluctant even though he still had no plan. "We're going home and that's final," Noah said just as he reached the drivers side door.
Noah had just barely wrapped his hand around the handle of the door when two hands reached out from under the truck wrapping around his ankles. Noah's blood ran cold, staring down at those pale hands before letting out a loud cry as those same hands yanked his feet right out from under him. Noah fell heavily onto his back, wincing as the back of his head hit the ground pretty hard, before the pale hands of the creature, and it was the creature hidden underneath the truck, attempted to drag Noah underneath the vehicle with it. It all happened so quickly, Noah had hardly any time to react!
"Noah!" several of his brothers called out as the blonde nearly disappeared under the truck but he slapped his hands against the side of truck just barely managing to stop himself from going any further even as the creature started pulling harder and harder.
"When the hell did it get under the truck!?" Noah thought as he struggled against the creature's strength but he was no match for it. Noah had his arms fully extended, pushing against the side truck while attempting to kick his legs free of the creatures grasp, but Noah was yanked further underneath with another loud cry just barely holding onto the edge of the truck. "Get off me!" Noah shouted, glaring down at the creature.
Now that he was almost fully underneath the truck, he could see the creature more clearly. Again, it looked unharmed even though he'd practically blown it's head off and it was gripping his ankles so strongly he was afraid they'd snap under it's monstrous strength. The creature was slowly crawling backwards, trying to drag Noah with it to the other side of the truck who was slowly losing his grip. Thankfully, he wasn't alone because he suddenly felt a pair of hands wrapping around his wrists, but this pair was far more welcome as Jonathan started pulling Noah in the opposite direction.
"Not today, you bastard!" Jonathan raged, planting his foot against the side of the truck and pulling with all his might.
"Dad!" Noah called out, trying to wrench his legs out of the creatures grip while grasping at Jonathan's wrists. Issac also appeared, wrapping his arms around their father's chest and adding his strength as they pulled.
"Grab him!" Liam shouted grabbing Noah's right arm while William grabbed his left, both boys pulling with all their strength. With their help, they were able to pull Noah a little towards them so his head was peeking out. "Put some muscle into it!" Liam called out to the others, planting his foot against the side of the truck too pulling with all his might. He sounded rather constipated which would be funny in any other scenario.
"God damnit!" Fred's voice rose up who had taken the initiative to run around the truck where the creature was now squatting on the other side pulling on Noah's legs. Fred attempted to shoot at it but that strange coating under it's skin seemed to have hardened even more than before as Fred's bullets bounced off it's head ineffectively. "What's it gonna take to kill this thing!?" Fred raged as he pulled out his hair.
"Let go of me!" Noah called out, almost begging as the creature put in a new burst of strength almost dragging him and his family under the truck with him. However, so did Jonathan as he placed both feet against the side of the truck. Issac was practically holding him up as Jonathan put all his energy into pulling Noah towards them who let out a groan. "These guys are gonna rip me apart!" Noah thought, whimpering as his arms felt like they were going to be pulled out of their sockets.
"Don't give up!" Liam said, all of them straining greatly. Even Fred who had come back around and was pulling William from behind just like Issac was doing for their father.
Despite all their efforts, and how desperate they were, Noah could feel just as sweaty his own hands were as his arms slipped from his father's grip. "NOAH!" Jonathan shouted as he and all his sons crashed to the ground as their littlest brother was ripped from their grasp, disappearing into the dark shadows underneath the truck.
Noah's heart leapt up into his throat, imagining the creature ripping him apart and devouring his organs under the truck before any of his family could do anything about it. To Noah's surprise, he slid from one side of the truck to the other laying in the grass staring up at the sky. The creature finally let go of his ankles, much to Noah's relief, before grabbing the front of his coat and lifted Noah up off the ground so he was almost hanging from the creature's hands. He was set on his feet, Noah blinking in confusion feeling a little discombobulated, when the creature wrapped an arm around Noah's waist pulling him close.
"Wow, buddy! Personal space," Noah snapped, pressing his hands against the creature's chest and tried to push away from him but it was obviously stronger than him.
"Noah!" the Bridgeton boys called out as they raced around the truck to come to his aide.
"Kill it!" Jonathan barked, pulling a handgun out from somewhere but none of them could do anything.
The creature wrapped it's other arm around Noah's back, pulling the blonde even closer before crouching ever so slightly. Then it jumped impossibly high into the air disappearing into the starry night sky with it's prize screaming the whole way in fright.
"Holy shit!" Noah wailed.