Taking a second to breathe, I ran around the corner, allowing three soldiers to follow. I had an idea to lead them into a trap, having a bottle of bile on my belt for the set up. Running into the open area just outside the heart of the factory, I smirked as I clipped it off and leaped straight into the air with a powerful bound, throwing it down on top of them. The glass shattered, spilling the vile contain on them from head to toe, earning a chorus of retches and curses.
Landing on the trailer, I smirked with serial killer delight, seeing Commons suddenly swarming the three soldiers, ripping them apart with their strong fingers and teeth. Their screams sounded like music to my ears, but when nothing but bloody shreds of them remained, I hopped down and was suddenly scratched behind the neck. With a pained yowl, I hopped away, doing a barrel roll in the air to see who the hell attacked me.
"You…" I hissed, placing my claw on my injury, which started to heal.
Nick rushed over to me, "Are you ok?"
"I'm going to tear your heart out of your chest and make Scar choke on it!" my attacker hissed.
Stepping from the shadows was none other than Melissa, claws bloody and eyes glowing with lethal intent. Nick gasped when she spoke, "I've heard that voice before…"
"Long time no see, Nicolas!" she hissed, looming closer and closer to us, forcing us to take a step back with every step she advanced. "I'm surprised that you still remember me! After all of those years!"
"Melissa…" he suddenly paled worse than his regular Common complexion. "Shit…"
"Wait, you knew each other before the Infection, Nick?" I faced him with a waiting look on my mug, eyes wide.
"Chris…Melissa was…my ex-wife," Nick frowned, shame etched into his features as if he started World War Three for pissing off the wrong person.
I blinked, oddly not very surprised by his confession. "You know what? That explains why she attacked you the first time."
"You're not pissed off? That's not the Chris I know," he was quick to point out.
I shrugged, "I mellowed out."
"She slept with that monster!" Melissa snarled, making Nick's eyes widen with a gasp.
"He's not a monster!" I howled as I finally attacked, a sharp slash across her face, making her screech, shoving me away. "Take it back!"
Nick stood there, his heart snapped in half. The woman he fell in love with no longer loved him. All of those sweet memories of fighting together and watching each other's backs turned sour as his eyes began to sting. "Why…? CHRIS! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!? I LOVE YOU!"
I bounced back and turned to Nick, "Pull yourself together, Nick!" I grabbed his shoulders and shook him out of his heartache stupor, "Now's not the time to be upset! We'll talk about this later, but now, you need to shoot yourself in the heart and do whatever it takes to survive!"
My war-like actions and strong words made Nick stare at me with his weak, but calculating eyes. I have changed, while Nick remained the same. He was still the cocky, snarky con artist, while I became a war hardened Hunter with a horrific memory to shame any zombie movie.
Nick stared me down for a moment, before finally nodding, "Ok, Chris. I'm sorry for losing my head."
"We'll talk later. But for now…" I let go of him and crouched low, twisting my body like a tiger towards Melissa, snarling, "I have a Witch to kill!"
Our eyes locked onto each other, sheer rage and bloodlust pumping through our veins. A bright flash of lightning blinded us as we both rushed in, screaming and roaring at the same time.
Our claws clashed as the first move, but I swung a kick into her head as a counter, making her screech when my boot made contact with her cranium.
Her second claw slashed my left arm, making me growl as her claw pulled the bloody fabric of my hoodie to shreds off my arm. I front flipped over her and delivered a very strong donkey kick into her back, launching her forward, crashing into the gravelly mud that began to form from the rain.
She growled as she stood up, her torso and legs covered in mud and blood, staring me down with vicious red eyes. Within them was literally a void. Nothing but the red color of blood shined in those orbs.
I stared back, my teeth baring like a rabid wolf. My blood boiled as I stared at her. She's been my worst nightmare since Day One and she was the one I will gladly kill without remorse. Time to harness my inner zombie and let nothing in my way.
At the same time, we both began to "show down", strife around each other, while Melissa hissed, "You're tougher than you look."
Looking down at my arm, which the wounds slowly began to heal. I made a note of this; a witch's claws are far more deadly than a Hunter's. A major attack like that would've killed me…again!
"I learned from the best," I concluded, answering her bitter compliment.
Cracking her claws, she growled, "Next time, I'll be sure to make you bleed out!"
I growled; the way my body is healing slowly in response to her blows, I'm in real trouble of blood loss. I feel like I've seen this movie before…Freddy vs. Jason! The bulky zombie man versus the limber clawed dream demon. However, unlike Jason, I can't take a lot of punishment from those claws, but it did give me an idea.
When Melissa rushed to attack me, I hissed as I countered her claws with the closest melee weapon I saw on the ground: a machete. I grinned; I know my game plan now.
She hissed at me, "Cheater!"
"Just resourceful," I boasted with pride as I punched her square in the nose, making her shriek away.
While she was recovering from her broken nose, I grabbed her left arm and used the machete to slice through her wrists, deep enough to cut the tendons. She screamed into the storm; she's officially crippled to one arm now.
Blood was washed away from the storm, my injuries finally sealing up once more. I ripped off the shreds that remained of my hoodie sleeve and gripped the machete with my right claw, my strong claw. "YOU'RE DEAD, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Melissa screamed as all thought has been abandoned to sheer blind rage.
I slashed at her with the machete, but she dodged at the last moment and nearly clipped me at the neck with her claw, but I quickly blocked with my left arm at the wrist, avoiding her claws at all cost. Her cut wrist made her claw flop like a fish out of water, blood splashing me in the face when it was close enough. Seeing an opening, I grabbed her neck and squeezed, the tip of the machete pressing against her lips, "This is for killing me…"
When she opened her mouth to most likely scream at me, the tip of the machete sliced into her mouth, but it didn't stab her into the head. I growled and twisted the rusty blade and yanking hard, gashing through her mouth and across her face. While she screamed, my ears rang as if a gunshot was placed next to my head. Seeing how unsymmetrical the giant gash was, I gashed the other side of her face, making her whole mouth and jaw flop down like a snake's mouth about to swallow a boar.
Nick, who was still watching the fight, gasped at the brutal display of his ex-wife's face.
"Time to end this!" I announced as I raised my machete to finish her.
Within inches away from my feet, a steel javelin embedded itself into the muddy and bloody ground.
I gasped in shock, earning Melissa a counter attack, slicing her claw into my jugular vein.
Nick yelled, "NO!"
I hissed and forced to take the defense, pressing my left claw against the gushing vein, twisting my machete to counter her next attack. Feeling my energy leaving me and feeling dizzy, I had to end this fight quickly. And that javelin is very bad news.
Melissa shrieked at me, ready to finish me off, so with a burst of energy, I slashed blindly hoping to hit something.
A flash of lightning.
Red blood.
Slit neck.
A silenced and gurgling choking sound.
I grinned weakly; game over.
Suddenly, my vision went monotone after a very strong force into my right side knocked me down into the ground onto my left side. Twisting my neck enough to see what hit me, my eyes widened to see a rusty and jagged javelin poking from my right side.
"CHRIS!"
I heard my name called but the voice was too distant to understand who it was from. All I remember before I blacked out was my vision blurring and someone running towards me.
Ellis: How anti-climactic.
Shelia: Better than nothing, that's for sure. Hell, this fight could end several ways, but Dragon stated this would be not only better (for the feels), but it also helps along with the plot later.
Ellis: Oh yeah, the next chappie will be all about Nick and Spectre, wouldn't it?
Shelia: Oh yeah! Drama, drama, and more drama!
Ellis: Spectre belongs to Awkward Headshot, as always!
Sheila: Sorry for the wait. The Navy kills our time.
November 2014