Revenge

The Revenge

David...

I cried hoarsely into the wind.
I was a rat! A rat! I was stuck as a rat! I was to never be human again! A RAT!

That was all I could say. No one knew I was here. Except the Animorphs.
I couldn't believe that I would live the rest of my life as a rodent. A rat!

Suddenly I stopped crying out. I laughed insanely to myself.
I knew that I was no longer sane. I didn't care. I revelled in my insanity.
Insanity and revenge. The two things I knew.
Insanity of what I was.
And revenge to the Animorphs.
I laughed to myself. An insane, evil laugh. I loved it!

I would one day kill the Animorphs.
I grinned inside my head.
To see the Animorphs, bloody heaps all around me. All of them still, not breathing, no heartbeat.
Death to the Animorphs!

I lived as a rat. I don't know how long. A rat doesn't care about the days.
All the rat knew was fear and hunger. Maybe meager curiosity now and then, but mostly fear and hunger.

Even while I ate, I cried out that word. I cried out that word when I fought other rats. I cried out that word when I was attacked by hungry seagulls or anything else looking to make a meal out of me.

I was munching on a small seed when I looked at the other rats. None of them were moving.
That's when I realized that I was human.

Human! I was human! Fingers! Toes! I was human!
I looked around. I was still on the island, but nothing was moving. The waves weren't moving, neither was the grass. No wind blew. It was deathly quiet.
Suddenly an image formed in front of me.
It was an eye. A machine. It was part eye, part machine.
it said.
"W-who are you? What are you?" I looked at it fearfully.

Crayak. What the hell was that?
"What do you want?" I asked. I was scared enough to pee my pants, but at least I sounded brave.

I grinned wickedly. "The death of the Animorphs. That and being human." I could feel the insanity boiling inside me. I began to laugh.
I stopped laughing. I still had the grin on my face.
The thing looked and felt so evil. I liked it. "Yes," I hissed. "Yes!" I thought a second. Or sort of thought. "You want something in return. Things like this are never free."
The eye pierced my gaze.
"And what are they?"

I frowned. "I can't kill Rachel? Maaan." I frowned, then smiled. "But at least I can kill Jake." I began to laugh again.
The eye seemed to blink. But it didn't. It was like a darkening over the eye.
Suddenly I found myself on the mainland. Then, just as suddenly as the Crayak came, it disappeared. Time resumed.
It was time to kill the Animorphs.

Jake...

I was a tiger. I was in the woods. In the forest, thick with leaves. Humid. Warm.
Suddenly I was no longer in the woods. I was on a plain. A savanna. Africa.
I sniffed. Prey animals nearby. Predators.
I looked. I could see zebra, giraffes. Wildebeests. Different prey animals than what I knew.
Then I sniffed something that made my hackled rise.
It was a lion.
I growled deep in my throat. I bared my teeth.
The lion showed himself. It was a large male. It's mane was full and a dark brown.
I was a Siberian tiger. Bigger. Heavier.
I knew I was going to lose.
RRROOOAAAAAARRRRRR!! I roared at him. The prey animals fled in fear.
The lion stood there.
He drew back his own muzzle, showing his long canines.
I took a step towards him. He growled deep in his throat. Then he jumped at me.
He was quick. Cat quick. But I too, was a cat. I jumped at him, trying to get to his throat.
He jumped at me, trying to reach my own exposed throat.
He swiped his clawed, drawing long gashes down my muzzle. I return the wound with four deep lines down his flank.
He pushed at me, and I fell to my back.
I couldn't move. I was frozen.
He dove for my throat.
The blood gushed...

I woke up suddenly. A dream.
I blinked my eyes, and rolled over.
My clock said three-thirty. I sighed softly and rolled onto my back.
I looked around my room.
I hadn't had that intense of a dream for quite some time. I was slightly scared. I knew that the lion in my dream was David.
A slight noise!
I sat up in my bed. I could still hear the noise. It was a low rumbling.
Something detached itself from the shadows of my room.
A lion!
I shook my head. Was I still dreaming?
The lion showed his teeth. The growl deepened.
"David!" I whispered.
The lion jumped at me!
Roaring pain on my side! On my arm! On my leg!

I cried out in pain, then darkness surrounded me.

Marco...

It was mid-morning. I was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels.
It was a Saturday, so I didn't have to worry about school.
I stopped on the news. I shrugged my shoulders. Nothing else was on.
The newsman was on location at someone's house. One of the windows was broken out.
That looks like Jake's house, I thought to myself.
I listened to what the anchorman had to say.
"There seems to be some sort of large cat on the loose. It attacked a young man last night, leaving him in shreds. The boy is alive and at Hackly Hospital. They do not know if he will live." The anchorman turned to a woman standing beside him. It was Jake's mother.
"This is the mother of the young boy. Tell us of what you saw ma'am."
"Well," Jake's mom wrung her fingers on her shirt. "Well I heard a scream from my son's room, and naturally I went to look. I walk in to find what looked like, I swear, a lion standing over him. My boy was in tatters!" She began to cry. "Then he jumped out the window, breaking it as it were nothing."
"Oh my God," I said softly to myself. I kept watching.
"The boys name was Jake ______. Again, they do not know if he will live. Be wary people. There is a cat, a rather large cat, on the loose in our city. This is Henry Johnson signing off."
I turned off the T.V. I could barely believe what I had heard.
Jake was lying near death in the hospital with wounds from a large cat. A lion Jake's mother had said. I knew only one lion that could or would do that to Jake. And it wasn't even a true lion.
It was David.
"But it can't be David," I said to myself. "He is stuck in morph on a island as a rat. Unless.." I really didn't want to think of how he could have gotten out of morph.
My dad walked in. "Hiya Dad. I am going over to Jake's okay?"
"Sure, sure. Be home before it gets dark though." He looked at me with mock seriousness. I smiled.
"See you later." I ran out the door.
I wasn't really going over to Jake's. I was going over to Cassie's. See if she knew about it yet.
Probably not, I reasoned. She would have called me. She would have told me as soon as she found out.
I raced on my bike over to Cassie's.

Cassie...

I was mucking out the stables. Not exactly the funnest thing to do. But I could have been doing worse. I think.
I was shovelling manure when I heard a bike screech to a halt outside the barn. I smiled, thinking it was Jake.
It wasn't. It was Marco.
He had a panicked look on his face. His eyes were wide, and his face was pale. I looked at him.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Jake's in the hospital," he gasped. He leaned against a bale of hay, trying to catch his breath.
"What? What do you mean Jake's in the hospital?"
"He was attacked last night by a lion. In his bed." He looked at me. He stood up straight. "The lion tore him apart. He's alive. Barely. I saw it on the news this morning." He sighed. There were tears in his eyes. "I think we both know who that lion was."
"Who?" I asked. Then it struck me. My eyes narrowed. "David? But how?"
Marco shrugged. "All I know is that he made hamburger out of Jake. He is on the loose. In fact, he is probably here right now, listening to us." He glanced around. "And if he is here right now, I have this to say. I will kill you David. No nice Animorphs this time. This time we go for the kill."
I shuddered at the rage in Marco's eyes. I sighed, and realized that there were tears in my eyes too. "We can't just kill him," I said softly.
"Oh yes we can. If we trap him in morph, he will just get out again. I think I know how he got out this time. Do you?"
I shook my head. "No." I put down the shovel.
"Crayak. That or the Ellimist. And I really don't think that it would be the Ellimist. It's not his style. And I don't think he would want to be rid of us just like that. At least I don't hope so." He shook his head.
"Does Rachel know?" I asked.
Marco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He sat down on the bale of hay. "You do realize that he going to try to kill us all?"
I nodded my head slowly. "This is going to be hard. We don't know where, or what he is right now. For all we know he is a flea on my head. Or a fly, or even one of our horses." I sighed again. "This isn't fair," I muttered.
Marco stood up again. "Well I suppose we had better find out if Rachel knows," he said softly. "Because she is the leader now."
I sighed. "Okay. I'll call her. I think she will know though, since they are cousins. I just hope that Jake is going to be okay."
I walked out of the barn, to my house to call Rachel.

Rachel...

I was in the hospital. I had found out earlier that Jake was in the hospital. I found out that he had been attacked by a large cat. A lion it was said.
David. Or at least I thought it was David. It was the only explanation. Though how he had gotten out of being a nothlit I didn't know.
I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. I would be able to go see Jake in a few minutes.
I didn't know if I wanted to.
I was worried about him. They didn't know if he was going to live. They said that his injuries were very severe. Deadly.
I looked up to the sound of footsteps.
The doctor was walking towards me. He had that solemn doctors' look on his face.
He stopped in front of me.
"Are you Rachel ______?"
"Yeah."
"Come with me please." He helped me out of the seat, and I followed him into Jake's hospital room
I nearly broke out in tears.
He was connected to various tubes, and other things. His whole body was swabbed and wrapped in bandages. He was lying very still, his face very pale. Too pale. He barely seemed to breath. He had a respirator in there in case. The heart monitor was making beeping sounds to his heart beat. They seemed so slow.
"Oh my God," I said softly. I walked up to his bedside, and knelt before it.
His parents were in the room. His mother was in tears, and my uncle was holding her. Tom wasn't in there, but I wasn't surprised about that. He's one of them.
My mom wasn't in there either. She had dropped me off, saying that she didn't want to see Jake like that. Now I agreed with her.
I almost cried. I mean, my cousin was in the hospital, near death. He looked horrible. Not like the leader of the Animorphs. He looked frail.
I didn't know what to do. I knew that while Jake was like this, I would be the leader of the Animorphs.
But what I was afraid of it being permanent.
I took Jake's hand. I held it, holding back my tears.
I heard the doctor stand beside me.
"As I said earlier, we must keep him under close observation. We do not know if he will pull through or not. He sustained critical lacerations on his arms, legs, and torso. Also, he may have internal bleeding. He is in a state of minor shock. Only he can pull himself out of this," said the doctor.
He patted me on the shoulder, and walked out of the room
I felt a boiling anger inside me. Seeing Jake like this, helpless, frail.
I kept the anger at bay for the moment.
I would need it when I went to kill David.

David...

I was having a ball. I was a bit unhappy that I hadn't been able to kill Jake outright, but that was okay. He would probably die in the hospital.
If only his mother hadn't of interrupted. I knew that I should have probably killed her, but the Crayak never said anything about killing his family, so I wasn't going to take the chance.
I was so fun hearing Jake's screams.
I could picture him trying to beat me off him, then fall limp. It felt so good.
I laughed evilly, and ignored the people staring at me as I walked down the street.
I thought about who I was going to try and kill next. Marco? Cassie? Ax? Tobias?
I grinned insanely to myself. Who should I kill?
Which Animorph would be the first to die?

Marco...

It was evening. Me, Cassie, Tobias, and Ax had gone to see Jake. We had stayed for awhile, crying, raging, and making threats. Then we had left.
I felt helpless. Nothing seemed funny at the moment. My best friend was in the hospital.
There was one good thing. Jake was still alive. Still fighting. The doctors had said that if he had made it this far, the more of a chance he would have of surviving.
I was sitting at my house, staring at a blank TV screen. My dad was gone, out on a date. He wouldn't be back for quite some time.
I just sat there. Thinking of what I was going to do to David.
I sat there, staring into space.
I must have spaced out, because the next thing I knew it was almost nine o'clock.
I shook my head, and closed my eyes. I opened them.
And jumped.
There, standing in front of me, was David.
David with a baseball bat. David, looking about eighteen years old.
"Man, this is so deja vu," I sneered. "You are dead." I began to stand up.
David grinned insanely. "You are so not funny Marco."
He swung the bat, hitting me in the head. I had no time to duck.
I was unconscious before I hit the ground.

Rachel...

I was at home. I was sitting on my bed, thinking of Jake.
Suddenly the phone rang. I picked it up.
"Rachel?" Marco's voice.
"What do you want Marco?" I asked, my voice tense.
"Come over. We need to talk."
"Why?" For some reason I felt suspicious.
"About Jake. About what we are going to do." He sounded so truthful. So Marco. But I found it funny, no jokes. No glibs.
I sighed. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Oh, and Rachel, walk. My dad might be home anytime from his date."
"Okay." I hung up the phone before either of us could say goodbye.
For some reason it sounded so final.
So deadly.

I was at Marco's doorstep. Not in morph mind you.
I knocked on the door. Marco opened it, smiling.
"Come on in," he said. It sounded sinister.
I walked in.
That's when I heard from the kitchen, "Rachel run! It's David!"
Marco/David frowned. "Shit. Should have gagged him," he muttered. "Oh well," he said.
He grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the house.
I didn't see his fist until he hit me in the face.
Blackness...

I woke up. I realized four things.
One, I was tied up. Hand to hand, foot to foot. I was tied to spread out, so that I couldn't double up. I couldn't move.
Second, I was mainly naked. I had only on my bra and underwear.
Third, I was in the kitchen.
Fourth, David was standing over me, grinning evilly.
I sneered at him.
"Having fun Rachel?" he asked. He laughed insanely.
I looked around.
I saw Marco, hanging by his arms from the ceiling. He was wide awake. His eyes were narrowed in rage. He was gagged. He was also only in his underwear. I felt embarrassed for a moment.
David walked over to Marco, and pulled off his gag. Marco said nothing, just glared at him. Then he looked at me.
"No matter what he does Rachel, do not give him what he wants!" David whirled around and punched him in the stomach. I could hear the air rush from his lungs, and see him trying to double up.
"Shut up!" he yelled. He punched Marco again.
He smiled at me, then began to go through the kitchen drawers. Then he stopped, and pulled out a long knife. He looked at me.
"I will get whatever I want," he said. "Anything I want. You know, I wasn't going to demand anything, but then I thought of something." He bent down in front of me, knife caressing my cheek. "I want the blue box. I want it, or you get to see not-so-funny Marco get cut to ribbons." He grinned.
"Don't do it Rachel!" He screamed. "No matter what he does!"
David grimaced, and stood up and walked to Marco. "I told you to shut up!" He brought the knife up and sliced Marco's side.
Marco straightened in pain, but didn't yell.
"Leave him alone!" I yelled. He just grinned, and cut Marco again. This time on the chest.
Marco looked at David, sucking in breath between his teeth with pain. "Is that the best you can do, Rat-boy?" he sneered. He looked at me, and shook his head. "Don't give him the blue box Rachel. Xena, Warrior-Princess. Let him do whatever he is going to do. Just don't give him the blue box." He said it so calmly. Almost like he wasn't in pain.
I winced. I knew that I couldn't give him the blue box. But Marco was going to hang there, and get sliced by David. But I couldn't. I wouldn't.
I sighed, and tried to keep from crying. I looked at Marco. I saw the pleading look in his eyes. Not to free him, but to not give him the blue box. Not to give him anything he wanted. I nodded slightly.
Marco smiled. Actually smiled. He looked at David. "You know, hanging like this is so going to help my biceps."
David growl. "Make jokes while you can Marco." Then he began to torture Marco.
He cut Marco again and again.
I couldn't watch. I screwed my eyes shut. I couldn't watch as one of my friends was tortured.
Marco only screamed when the slice was especially painful, or deep. In a way, I was proud of him. I sort of looked at Marco in a new light.
Even while he was being cut up, he was making jokes. Provoking David. Even making me smile weakly a couple of times.
Every once in a while, David would walk over, and force my eyes open. Make me see Marco, raw wounds all over him. Bleeding cuts, and gashes.
The floor was puddled with blood. Marco had lost a lot of blood. He was beginning to look pale. He was talking less and less.
He was dying. Slowly, but surely, he was dying.
David forced my eyes opened again.
"Look Rachel. Marco isn't so glib any more. Isn't he better this way?" David grinned. I shuddered slightly.
Marco was very pale. His breathing was ragged. He shuddered slightly, and his face scrunched up in pain. His body was one massive wound. He was cut so many times I couldn't count them all. He was almost literally running blood. The pool of blood on the floor was so large that it was almost touching me.
Marco looked at me. He smiled faintly. His eyes were bright, surprisingly. But were the bright from pain, or what? I didn't know. He mouthed, "Thanks."
I nodded my head. Not that I would give David anything he wanted anyway.
Marco smiled again. I was surprise that he wasn't unconscious. Or screaming and yelling for mercy. Or just screaming for that matter.
I smiled faintly back at him. Then I sneered at David.
"Oooh, scary Rachel. Not. You know, you are so much more fun when you are tied up. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll find out." He grinned.
He was insane. I had known that earlier, but it sunk in now. Insane enough to do just about anything.
"Why don't you untie me then," I said sweetly. "Maybe you'll find out just how fun I am." I batted my eyes.
David laughed. "Nice try. Maybe later Rachel. Right now, little Marco needs my help." He laughed. "Hee-hee-hee! Hahahahaha! I should have done this the first time I met you guys!"
I rolled my eyes. "You weren't smart enough then. Of course you aren't now. Now you are insane."
David eyes widened. "Yep! And I LOVE it!" He laughed again.
I looked at Marco. "Morph," I mouthed.
I saw the doubt in his eyes. "What?" he mouthed back.
I thought a moment. I glanced at David. He was still laughed. I shook my head slightly. "Fly," I mouthed.
Marco nodded his head.
David stopped laughing. He walked over to Marco, bloody knife in front of him. "Time to die little Marco." He grinned maliciously, and drove the knife into Marco's stomach.
"Aaaaaaaah!" Marco screamed. He doubled up as best he could.
David twisted the knife, making Marco scream more.
I screwed my eyes shut. But I couldn't close my ears. I couldn't do anything.
But I could do something.
I could morph.

Marco...

The pain was unbearable! The gashes, and cuts that David had done were nothing compared to this!
"Aaaaaah!" I screamed.
David pulled out the knife. "Poor little Marco. Not making stupid jokes now are we?" He grinned again.
I scrunched my eyes closed from the pain. Then I opened them.
I could see something out of the corner of my eye.
Rachel! She was growing!
Could David see?
No, his back was turned. He couldn't see Rachel.
The pain! I had to keep David's attention.
"You wuss," I said, gritting my teeth from the pain. I would much rather have been screaming from the pain than talking. "Is that the best you can do? Can't even hit a vital organ."
Had to keep him busy. Even if I died, Rachel could take him down. Then it would be worth it.
"Or, I don't want to kill you yet Marco. It's no fun that way. Jake passed way to early. I should have dragged him out the window with me. Killed him slowly. But no, now he is on the hospital. He'll probably die anyway, but where is the fun in watching him die in the hospital." His eyes brightened.
I smiled very faintly. Good, I had David's attention. He was busy talking.
"I know. I'll go to the hospital after I am done with you. And Rachel. Kill him there. Not as fun, but hey, at least I'll finish the job!" He laughed. His eyes narrowed, and glittered dangerously. "But first I have to get the blue box."
I could see Rachel. She was grey, and still growing. Elephant.
SNAP! The ropes holding Rachel snapped.
David glanced behind him. "Shit!" His eyes narrowed, and he looked at the knife. He looked at me. "Die!" he screamed at me.
He plunged the knife into my chest.

Rachel...

I saw him plunge the knife into Marco's chest. Saw Marco stiffen. Saw him sag limply.
Probably dead.
I yelled. I was mostly African elephant. The largest land animal.
The room was to small for me. My head was scraping the ceiling. I could reach out my truck a ways and touch the other wall.
I screamed at David. I picked him up in my trunk.
He yelled, and slashed my trunk with the knife. It hurt, but I didn't care. I began to squeeze.
I looked at Marco. My elephant eyes widened. He was breathing. Slowly, and weakly. He wasn't dead!
I yelled at him. He was unconscious. He didn't even twitch.
I threw David into the wall. He slammed against it, and fell limply to the ground. I could only hope that he landed on the knife.
I reached out my trunk, and snapped the rope holding Marco. Then I carefully held him, and demorphed slowly.
I shook him gently.
He was breathing so slowly. So raggedly. So weakly. I could feel his heart beating. Very faintly beating. And slowing.
I realized I was crying. I set him gently on the ground, and demorphed the rest of the way.
I had never gotten along with Marco. He was my friend, but not as close as say Cassie and Tobias. In fact, I realized, that he was about as close in friendship as Ax. Maybe farther.
I felt like dirt.
And now here he was, dying. In front of me.
He had perhaps given his life for me. So that I could morph. So that I could get David.
I kneeled down in front of Marco. He was cut up so badly that there didn't seem to be a part of him that wasn't. He was still bleeding.
"Marco. Please wake up. Don't die on me!" I looked at David. He was moving. Waking up.
Suddenly he stood up. He was shaking with fury. He still had the knife. He was holding his stomach.
So he had landed on the knife. Point up. But it hadn't killed him.
Damn.
"I am going to get you. But not now. Later. Yes, later!" He laughed insanely. Then he ran past me, through the living room and out the door. Still laughing.
I was shaking with rage, and fear.
I looked back at Marco. His eyes flickered open. He smiled. Actually smiled!
"Remind me not to make you mad, Xena," he said so faintly I barely heard him.
"Marco, you have to morph! Now!"
His smiled faded and then was gone. "I don't know if I can." He closed his eyes.
"You have to," I said urgently.
"I'll try," he said. I couldn't hear him, but saw his shape the words.
He slowly, so slowly, began to change. His skin became black, and grew shaggy fur. Muscles began to grow, and grow. His face puffed out, and grew rubbery. So did his chest. His stomach bulged out.
He became a gorilla.
When he was finished, he opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, and sighed.
he said. He looked at the blood on the floor and shuddered.
"Yea." I wiped away the tears on my face. "I am so sorry," I said. I had reason to be.
He asked. He looked at me, and began to demorph.
"Because. You had to go through all that. All I did was sit there, with my eyes closed." I sighed.
I swear he smiled. He changed from thought-speak to normal speech. He sighed, and rubbed his stomach. "That hurt." He shrugged, and looked around the room. "Man we need to clean this up. Now. Before my dad gets home."
I nodded my head. There was blood all over the floor. "Where are the mops?" I asked.
"Over there," he pointed vaguely at a closet.
I walked over to the closet, and took out two mops. And a bucket. I filled the bucket with water, and soap.
We began to mop up the blood. Marco's blood. Every few minutes we had to change the water.
Suddenly Marco stood up straight. "Someone has to get to the hospital! David said that he was going to go kill Jake!"
I ran over to his phone. "I'll call Cassie. She will be able to for a little while. Tobias and Ax will have to do it most of the time," I said as I dialled Cassie.

David...

Damn! Damn, damn, and damn again!
I was sitting a nearby fringe of woods. I had morphed, then demorphed. Whole once again.
Damn!
I didn't know if Marco was dead. Probably. But I hadn't hit his heart. I had missed.
Rachel!
Oh, I wished I could kill her. It would be so fun. So deadly.
But the Crayak said that I couldn't kill her. But he never said that I couldn't hurt her.
I grinned to myself, them my grin faded.
Who should I go after?
Jake? I didn't know if he was dead either. Maybe. In a way, I hoped he wasn't. That way I could kill him. Yes!
But he was in the hospital. And I had told Marco, and surely Rachel had heard me, that I was going there to kill him. To finish him off.
Maybe I should.
They would send someone to watch him. Make sure that I didn't kill him.
Yeees!
But who would they send? Ax? Cassie? Tobias? Perhaps Rachel or Marco would go. Marco, that is, if he was still alive.
Hide, then kill.
Kill!

Tobias...

I was asleep in my tree. Dreaming.

I started awake.


I said, stretching my wings and fluffing my feathers.
Suddenly an owl landed next to me.
I jumped. I said. Owls are perfect night hunters. Silent, and deadly. And they sometimes eat falcons and small hawks.
I jumped off my tree, and flapped into the air. It's kinda far to the hospital. A hard flight for me.
Ax followed me.
I sighed.
Ax didn't sound happy. Not that I was either.
In fact I was afraid. David could be anywhere. Anything.
We didn't say a word the rest of the way to the hospital.
Jake had a room about mid way up the building. Trees were scattered around, along with bushes. A small cluster of trees were near Jake's room.
I said. I scanned the skies for him. Not that I could see really.
Night in not made for hawks.
said Ax. He could see like it was day. See just about anything that moved.
I looked cautiously at the small grove of trees. I had a bad feeling about it.
I flew through the space between the trees and building.
A movement.
A golden eagle! Flying at me!
To late to dodge. To fast!
He struck, talons out. My wing crumpled, broken.

I could feel deadly talons pierce my bird body.
Suddenly I was slammed against the building.
I fell to the ground, into darkness.

Ax...

I yelled. He was falling to the ground. There was no answer.
David yelled.
I had one advantage over David. My sight. He was bigger and faster than me, but I could see.
I looked up at the sky. I could see Cassie's owl form easily.
I smiled in my head. David did not have a chance. Prince Jake could be avenged.
I watched as Cassie dive, and hit David in his back.
David yelled.
said Cassie calmly.
He screamed. He tried to turn around to get at Cassie.
I came up beneath him and struck him hard.
He flew towards the building, and slammed me against it.
I fluttered weakly, and regained some height. I dove at David again, going for his head.
I missed! He turned just as I was going to strike!
Cassie yelled. Her talons were coming loose. Suddenly she broke off, and fell towards the ground. She quickly flapped her wings, and soared and landed in a nearby tree.
David seemed to shake in mid air. he said. He turned away from the hospital, and Prince Jake, and flew into the darkness.
Me and Cassie could both see him clearly. Easily. We watched him until we could no longer see him.
Cassie yelled suddenly. She dove at the ground an immediately began to demorph.
I could see her clearly, but I had to watch for David. I couldn't go down and see if my shorm was alive.

Cassie stood up. In her arms was a limp body. Tobias's body.
She paused. I could see her smile weakly. "Yes! He's alive!"
I yelled at Tobias's unconscious form.
Then, as if on cue, he opened his eyes. He immediately puffed up his feathers. Then he relaxed and groaned in pain.
he grumbled. He began to morph to human. He morphed his human form. He looked at Cassie. "Thanks," he said. "Geez, that guy is nuts." He shook his head.
I was happy that Tobias was okay. David was a formidable opponent. Even more so sense he was obviously insane.

She nodded her head, looking thoughtful. "Yeah. I went over there to get the story. I guess David came over, knocked Marco unconscious, morphed him, and called Rachel. Then he took Rachel, and tied both of them up. I guess he tortured Marco, trying to get Rachel to give him the blue box. Marco told not to, and let him do whatever to him. David did. Eventually David got tired of it, and Rachel morphed elephant. Basically, David stabbed Marco, and Rachel threw him into a wall. He woke up, and ran out of there. He told Marco that he was going to go after Jake and finish the job."
I sighed. I asked.
Cassie nodded her head. "Yeah. Marco was nearly killed, but he's okay. David did absolutely nothing to Rachel."
"Good," said Tobias. "This is pathetic," he said angrily. "We are being beaten by some puny kid that was a rat that I could have eaten." He shook his head.
"He isn't so puny any more, at least that's what Marco told me," said Cassie, shaking her head.
"What?"
"Marco said that he looked older. About eighteen. And most definitely insane."
I was unsure. I had gone over this. The only thing that I could think of was the Ellimist. Or the Crayak. I didn't think it was the Ellimist.
"Well Marco says in was probably the Crayak. Why, we don't know. Probably revenge." Cassie was now pacing back and forth. "We have to find a way to deal with him."
I said.

Cassie...

I was watching Jake's room. He was still in a coma. But he hadn't died yet. The doctors thought he would live. We all hoped so.
David. That was the key to all this.
He had tried to kill three of us now. Each time had been unsuccessful. So far.
It was only so long we could hold out. Only so long before one of us was killed.
We needed Jake.
I sighed. I had been watching Jake's room for over an hour. Tobias was outside, keeping watch. Ax was in the woods, feeding.
Two of us at a time were keeping watch over Jake. We couldn't let David kill him.
We couldn't let him kill any of us.
How much longer would we have to worry? How much longer would we have to worry about David? How much longer? How much longer before one of us was killed? How much longer until David was killed? That is, if we could kill him at all.
Each time he had been able to squirm out of our grasp. Each time he left alive.
We had to keep fighting. We couldn't worry about the Yeerks right now. David was a bigger problem.
What would it take to kill David?
To keep us alive?

Jake...

I was gone. There was no me. Nothing.
I was in a shrouded mist. Nothing to tell me that I was me. That I was living.
There were no dreams. No memories. Nothing.
My world was made of nothing.
Then, it was as if some light was peeking through.
A thought.
David.
I had to be alive. Had to be alive to kill him. Before he killed me.
Or the others.
I had to wake up...

Ax...

I was feeding. It was a nice place. Plenty of green grass. Even a small stream.
I dipped my hoof into the stream.
I laid down. I closed my main eyes, and let my eye stalks watch out for any danger.
I was worried for the others. Not so much for myself. I could easily take care of David.
Prince Jake was alive. That was a plus. A small plus.
Everyone so far was alive. For how long that would last, I didn't know.
David was a problem that needed to be corrected.
I stood up.
Suddenly I had a bad feeling. Some sixth sense.
My stalk eyes waved wildly, looking for danger. From the woods.
My main eyes was scanning the grass. My tail was cocked and ready, arched high over my back.
I called out. I really didn't know if he was here. It was a guess.
No answer. Perhaps I was wrong. I did not know. I still had the bad feeling.
I had a sudden urge to look down at my feet.