Chapter 4

I whirled, spinning the arm, ready to snap it, as I swung my leg out low, knocking my aggressor down to the ground. Using the arm, I spun them over, face to the ground while everyone stared. "What the heck are you doing?" said a high voice from underneath me. Wait, high voice? Oh crap…

I was holding a girl. Erasers weren't girls. I let her up, smiling apologetically. "Sorry… I thought you were…somebody else!" I yelled over the music.

She got to her feet and glared me down. "I was trying to tell you that 'guitar-guy' has a name! His name is Derek and his tattoos aren't weird! His skin is a work of art! You've got some nerve, coming to one of his concerts without even knowing his name, and then pinning his future-wife to the ground. I should totally kick you out of this place! You don't deserve to witness his art! Derek is a music GOD!"

I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing, doubled over. What made it even funnier was, she was serious! Said it with a straight face and everything! Ahahahaha oh gosh, she literally worshipped a guitar player. I turned back to the stage and yelled, trying to keep a straight face, "Go guitar-God-guy Derek whose skin is a work of art and has an overly-obsessive fan club!"

Again, I felt a hand on my shoulder, trying to turn me around. "Excuse me?" cried Obsessed-Fan-Girl. "We are his best friends, always there for Derek! He and I are going to get married, and I've already picked out everything from the ring to the cake and the dress and the venue!"

"Obsessed much?" I said turning away. Once again, her hand appeared on my shoulder. Okay, as entertaining as crazed fan girls are, it was kind of getting annoying.

"I'm not done talking to you! We are his support! We are his family! Not that you'd know anything about that! You're just a dirty nobody!" she yelled, her face turning as pink as her shirt. Please. C'mon, was she serious? Yep. Oh come on. "You don't even know me! Stay away from me, you freak!" I walked forward a bit, shoving to stand next to Tara and Sara, who were still having a wonderful time, completely unaware of how crazy the people around them were. I smiled a bit. At least they were enjoying themselves. They deserved to have some fun.

I rolled my eyes as I felt a hand on my shoulder again. I whirled, beyond exasperated by this point. "What part of 'Stay away from me' is so hard to-" I stopped midsentence. All my muscles locked down. Instead of the annoying fan girl looking back at me, a hulking guy with yellowish eyes grinned at me. "Tag," he growled. "You're it."

I whirled to run, but he caught my arm and slung me to the ground. "SARA! TARA! RUN!" I screamed to them as the concert played out around us. Their acute hearing was probably the only thing that allowed them to hear me over the music. They whirled to face me as other Erasers began to emerge from the crowd. I picked myself up as fast as I could and disappeared into the crowd, shoving people out of the way. A quick glance behind me revealed both twins right with me, agilely weaving their way through the maze of people. Behind us, people screamed as the Erasers threw them out of the way, snarling but not morphing as they chased us. Must not have wanted to make any more of a scene than they already had.

My heart raced, and I found myself gasping for breath, trying desperately to escape the never-ending sea of people. My wings ached to stretch and fly, but there were just too many people around. They all blurred together as we fought our way through the crowd. My long hair whipped behind me, and almost blocked my view as I glanced back behind me, the Erasers shoving their way through the crowd. Suddenly I burst out of the crowd and broke away in a headlong sprint, giving every ounce of adrenaline over to my feet, my speed pouring into the pavement beneath me as we fled to the city walkways. "Let's lose them!" I cried, ducking quickly behind a corner into an alleyway between two tall buildings.

It was dark in the building's shadows, but there were puddles of god-knows-what on the concrete and we made noise sloshing through them. "Left!" I yelled as we came to a fork in the alley, the right side with water, the left without. I could no longer hear the snarls behind us, but that only set me more on edge. They could be anywhere.

We rounded another corner, my pulse pounding in my ears, jittery with adrenaline. Suddenly I realized the alley was getting wider. Wide enough for our wingspan actually…. Rounding one more corner, I almost stopped in my tracks. There was a building in the way, and we couldn't turn around. I could hear the Eraser's snarls, see their morphed wolfy shadows around the corner. Making a snap decision, I raced for the door to the building, praying for an escape. "Dang!" I cried as the knob refused to move; it was locked. Now what, Jay? Think fast! The Erasers were already racing down the alley towards me!

"Up!" I screamed, snapping out my wings and racing towards the giant monsters, growling and hungry for us. I leaped up before their long jaws could reach me, pumping hard with my wings, feeling air rush around me, feeling freedom-

Before I could blink something wrapped around my foot and threw me into a wall, my head cracking first against the cement wall, and then again on the pavement as I plummeted towards, it. Pain seared from my head and I couldn't see momentarily. I groaned, color blurring together as I tried to feel my wings and get to my feet. Out of nowhere something hit my chest like a wrecking ball, slamming me against the wall and knocking away all of my breath in one large gust. I collapsed on the ground, coughing and gasping for breath, every action sending pain into my core. "Jay!" I heard a voice scream. I blinked, but everything was still blurry, slowly getting better though.

I heard a gun cock and I was able to get a general feel of where my attacker was. I swept my feet low, pulling his feet out from under him, scrambling to my feet while keeping one hand on the wall for support. I could now make out the general outlines, including that of the enormous wolf getting up from the ground, his gun in his right hand. At least, I thought it was his right hand…

Whirling, I chopped the gun out of his hand, hearing it skid across the pavement. Too bad I couldn't see the Eraser's foot though, as it smashed into my side and threw me against the wall again. I couldn't help screaming as my head felt like it was being sliced open with an ax and my chest had acid dumped into it. I dropped down to the pavement, gasping and coughing, every vibration in my body setting my brain on fire. I looked up, and thought for sure my vision was forever gone when a fifteen-foot literally golden eagle dropped off of the building above us, plummeting a downward strike right at the unsuspecting Eraser that was attacking me. Both of its feet connected with the Eraser's head and neck, twisting it the wrong way and sending a sickening snap… wait….its feet? Eagles don't have feet… ugh my vision was so messed up. I saw the… sigh…the I guess it was an eagle bigger than one of us, lean over it and say "That's who we do it in the south!" I was clearly insane. I clambered to my feet, making out either Sara or Tara (I couldn't really tell) fighting two Erasers at once, moving quickly to dodge all blows and still trying to land some. I staggered over, blinking rapidly to try and clear my vision, but it wasn't helping much.

I whipped out a kick at one of the wolf's sides, sending him face-first into the wall. I caught his arm as he tried to punch me and twisted it back behind him, sending my knee into his back to get him down on the ground. Unfortunately, he outweighed me by about two hundred pounds, and when he rolled over to throw me off, I got pinned to the ground beneath him. He grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the pavement, right in the same place as before. Not once but over and over, pain overriding everything else, searing into my skull. I groaned as my vision clouded with black, and I heard Tara and Sara's voices in the same scared tone yell "JAY!"