Odin looked behind, knitting his eyebrows at the ugly sight. Anise followed his lead and only ended up running faster, 'That guy is seriously not human!'
'Of course. Our business never had anything to do with humans but, instead, target non-humans.' Ran smiled, explaining as he stride forward. Comparing to his smooth and elegant steps, his companions' running looked childish and funny.
However, this was not the time to teach teenagers how to run. Their pursuer, a motorcycle rider was pulling closer and still closer yet.
The rider was changing. His hands bent in terrifying angles, twisting and growing like the branches of a gnarled thorn tree. As the trio watched, the whiteness and smoothness disappeared from its skin, weathering dry grey. The face was nothing more than dry grey skin over its skull, with glaring holes as eyes. Its gaping mouth twisted into a grin, 'Run, run away, while you still can but I'll catch you soon!'
Its distorted voice rang through the clearing, sending chills up Anise's spine. 'What is that thing?' her voice sounded hoarse. 'Varuga.' Odin cursed. 'And what is that?' Anise glared at him. This time, Ran answered her, 'Varuga are a specimen developed by mankind. They were originally humans, as you can see, but was turned into this form under the effects of a certain medication, no, drug to be precise.'
'What? I still don't get it!' Anise gritted her teeth. Odin shot her a glare, 'Of course, someone as stupid as you won't understand even with the best explanation.' Anise glared back and Ran could actually sense a electric current pass between them. 'Now, now, we didn't tell Anise much after all. We'll give you a more detailed explanation later, alright?' Ran smiled faintly, these two were still children after all, 'Actually, we should worry about the Varuga at the moment.'
As if on cue, the Varuga ripped the wall that was hiding them apart. 'Ha ha! Found you!' It crackled. 'You're disgusting!' Anise made a face before running off, Odin following her. The Varuga followed them, its arms reaching out.
At that moment, a second man appeared at the entrance. 'Hank? Are you here?' He called out. Anise bit her lip, this man, was he a Varuga too? Apparently, he was not because he simply stood there, waiting. 'Run!' Anise yelled as she barreled towards him. 'Huh?' the man stared.
At the very last moment, Anise and Odin split ways and turned right and left respectively. The Varuga's arms shot forward and missed them, catching the man instead. It smiled again, 'Caught one!'
'AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' The man screamed as the hands ripped him apart. Anise looked back, and felt reasonably nauseous. Being ripped apart, the man's organs spilled all over the floor, covering the ground in blood and all kinds of disgusting liquids. 'EWWW! Why do things always end up so disgusting?' she resisted the urge to throw up and complained.
Odin, at the same time, did not look back. A few months more of experience taught him better than to watch a Varuga hunt, since they always end up extremely gruesome.
On the other hand, Ran who was watching them on a mountain of crates was hidden from view. He watched as the Varuga picked up the remains of the man and brought it to its mouth. He sighed, covering his eyes for a moment until the sounds of tearing stopped. Sure enough, there was no sign of the upper body that was left when the man was killed.
The Varuga, now with a blood-stained mouth, grinned. 'Eating is good. Eating gives me strength!' As soon as it said that, its arms grew even longer. Reaching out at opposite directions, it grinned after the pair of fleeing children.
Anise could sense the Varuga's arms chasing after them. She did not remember them for being so long. 'What's wrong with this monster!' She looked back and nearly screamed. A bloodied hand was chasing after her, growing longer each second. 'Why me?' She yelled miserably, 'Ran! Just kill it already!'
Odin was in a completely same situation. He ran through the warehouse, dodging obstacles and leaping over random crates. This time, he looked back, only to find himself even more desperate. A single hand was chasing after him, and it was clearly growing longer.
Ran watched. He considered the option of killing the Varuga now but decided against it. What good could it do if he killed it now? He won't be able to gather any information about the company controlling the increased-number Varuga. However, waiting any longer may cause the deaths of his companions. He considered the fact and shrugged. He probably won't get any information from that killing machine, even if he waited longer.
Sighing, Ran pulled a device from the pocket of his extremely clean and elegant suit. It looked like a small piece of twisted twine but as soon as Ran switch on some unknown button, it unfolded as if it was made of paper. In a matter of seconds, it became a bow. Wait, a bow?
'What are you doing? Ran!' Anise, who caught a glimpse of what Ran was doing, shrieked.
Ran shrugged, holding the bow in front of him, posed. The Varuga caught sight of him, which was hard not to, since he was standing up. Pulling his empty hand back, an arrow of light appeared in his hand, ready to shoot.
The Varuga withdraw one of its arms and shot towards Ran, who seemed to be a more dangerous prey. Ran let go of the arrow.
It flew free, pulling ahead with a tail of blinding light. The arrow caught the Varuga in the palm and tore it off its feet, nailing the Varuga's hand as the arrow tip buried itself on the ground.
Growling furiously, the Varuga tugged its hand in an attempt to release it from the arrow's imprisonment. Of course, Ran wouldn't let that happen. Fast as possible, he notched another arrow, this time aiming for kill.
With a 'thud', the second arrow buried its tip into the ground. At the same time, the Varuga went limp. Blood poured from the wound on its chest a second late.
'Oh dear...mustn't get the arrows dirty...' Ran jumped from the top of the crates and landed neatly on the ground. He pulled out the arrow that the Varuga couldn't rid off and the second one that killed its prey.
As he did so, Odin and Anise reached him.
'That was...' Anise was still breathing hard from the run just now, 'crazy.'
Odin couldn't agree more. Although he was much more experienced, he still get nightmares about those malicious Varugas.
'Now that it's finished, how about we rest ourselves for now?' Ran suggested. Both Anise and Odin cheered.
Ha ha, I had a lot of fun writing this one. It was crazy and quite new for me to write violence since I am actually quite young in age. Well, I guess people do get use to it after reading and watching a lot of that category.
If you're asking is there any more chapters afterwards...I don't know. Maybe or maybe not. Well, if I have more ideas for different ways to cut into the next chapter then, yeah, you'll see a continuation of this group of three.
-Li