Chapter 3 – Death
"What is up with this place?" Terrance asked as he used his scope to look around. The scope of his lobster shelled sniper rifle was layered just like a lobster's tail, colored the same shade of green as the dark needles of a pine tree. At certain places, a lighter green could be seen, almost as if the shell were trying to mimic a camouflage pattern. "It looks like it's a ghost town!" Tasha said as she let him rest the bottom of the gun on her leather armored back. She had what looked to be a camouflaged cheetah vest with ammunition pockets and a leather back plate, like a kind of saddle. "Yah, I never thought I'd see a major city in this kind of state!" Terrance said and he pulled his eye away from the scope. One of the eagles came swooping in, a nervous look in his eyes. "Sorry!" he said, his voice high and jittery, "I couldn't see him!" Tasha scoffed and turned around, "Where's your partner?" she asked, and heard the distinct sound of wings, flapping hard. She turned around, and reached her paw out, snagging the other eagle as it flew by. "I…I found Nightmare!" she said, her voice high and shocked as she took deep breaths. "Where?" Tasha asked as she let her voice turn dark, "Over there! He's a large pile of that bone muck we found!" the eagle said. Tasha set the bird down, and lifted up, "I think he also saw me!" the eagle said quickly. "WHAT?" Tasha asked as she turned back to the eagle. A large shadow lifted up, covering them from the sun's light. Tasha, Terrance and the two eagles turned to find what it was, a large wave of the white goop and the skull face of Nightmare. "RUN!" Terrance called out, and the four of them turned, the two birds taking flight, with Terrance and Tasha running to the far end of the building. "JUMP!" he called out as they neared the edge of the building. The two of them leapt from the building as the wave came down, Terrance grabbing Tasha's vest as they both left the building. "Tuck and Roll!" he shouted as they saw the edge of the next building almost ten feed below them. Nightmare tucked his head back in to the muck he was made from, and popped it out of the back, pulling it from back to front as he crawled around like nothing anyone had ever seen. Tasha tucked her head down as she landed on her front paws, curling her tail and back legs over herself to roll while Terrance landed on his feet to do the same thing. The roll saved them as they landed, taking very little damage to their bodies.
"GET THAT ESCAPE LINE DEPLOLOYED!" Tasha shouted. Terrance knelt down, sliding to the edge of the building on his knees while spinning the barrel of his gun around. He quickly brought the scope to his eye and pulled the trigger, launching a thin line of what looked to be spider web out towards a building almost a block away. "Time to hook up!" he said as he pressed the end of the barrel to the edge of the building he was on. He grabbed Tasha and reached under her belly, revealing four large straps with three clasps and a ring on them. He quickly snapped all three clasps to the ring, and hooked the ring to the line. He pushed Tasha off of the roof, sending her down the line first as he revealed his own straps. Nightmare lifted up, finding the second roof quickly and reaching his body for the human. Terrance lunged forward and slid down the line, just as the goop reached for where he once was. Nightmare once again pulled his head back in before bringing it back out at the rear, and folding himself over to advance. "Son of a bitch!" Terrance shouted as he reached the roof of the building he shot. He quickly unclasped Tasha, leaving the straps together as he reached up to unclasp himself. He and Tasha both looked up as they watched Nightmare continue his journey, "Holy shit!" Tasha said. "You said it Tash!" was all he said as the two of them turned to run.
Nightmare let off a loud screech of a roar as he folded himself over the building, following them at alarming speeds, "Damn!" Terrance said and lifted his watch, "Hey we need an evac right away!" he shouted. "The closest evac point is about three blocks west of your position! Rhino's still working on more satellites to launch but until then we only have the three to work with!" he heard a female voice say from the other end. "Great! Tell me if it gets closer!" he said. "Roger that!" the Senshol said. Again, Terrance made a beeline for the edge, turning to his watch for a direction. He lifted his rifle again, pointing it towards the building he needed, aiming near the bottom. When he fired it off, a string of the steel like thread shot out, sticking to the base near the first floor window. He then turned around, finding a roof access door, and firing again, sticking the string above it. "Here we go again Tasha!" he said as he grabbed the ring and hooked it back up to the line. With a small push, he sent her down to the ground as she said, "I hate doing thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…" Terrance quickly grabbed his own clip, and heard over his watch, "I…I can't get a reading in him!" the Senshol said, "It's like his energy signature is everywhere!"
"Just great!" he said, and found himself covered in shadows. Terrance turned, finding himself underneath the massive Nightmare as the beast towered over him, a smile stretching from ear to ear. He turned away and ran forward as quickly as he could, leaping off of the edge of the building just as Nightmare splashed down over the side. He quickly felt the line get tugged, "Oh snap!" Terrance said, just as the line snapped, sending him down with it. "TERRANCE!" Tasha shouted, as the human feel. With quick thinking, Terrance pointed his gun again, and fired, letting the line hit the top of the building and tighten in the barrel. "OH CRAAAAAAAAAAAA…" he called out as he almost hit the ground. Tasha raced to be in front of him, and jumped up, grabbing him in her front paws before he could hit the ground. The two of them toppled over, Tasha hitting her back on the ground as Terrance quickly rolled off of her. "You ok Tash?" he asked as she rolled back onto her four paws. "Yah!" she said as she shook off the pain. Terrance looked back up, spying Nightmare as the beast poured himself down the building, "Damnit!" the human said and knelt down, "Tasha I need to steady!" he told her, and again turned the barrel of his gun. She gulped, and came in close, letting him set the rifle on her back, "I hope you know what you're doing!" she said. "So do I!" he responded. He waited, watching as Nightmare let himself collect at the ground of the building, and melt back into the back of his blob. "Come on!" he whispered to himself as he waited. Nightmare lifted up again, curling himself over his liquid body as he left a bit of it behind, "Come on!" Terrance said again. Tasha turned to him with a nervous look as he waited, aiming carefully. Nightmare towered as high as he could screaming out like a banshee as he came to the crest. "Pow!" Terrance said, and pulled the trigger. The bone shard sailed through the air, punching right through the neck of Nightmare, causing it to explode and send the skull sailing through the air to who knows where.
The muck that made up his body came spilling down, covering them in a thick black shadow. Terrance grabbed Tasha by her vest, "RUN DAMNIT!" he said and hopped up on her back. Tasha took off as quickly as she could, Terrance using his feet to press against the pockets and lift himself up, keeping himself off of her back. The muck came down again, spilling to the ground just as Tasha exited the range. She came to a skidding stop as she turned around, letting Terrance quickly get off of her back. They watched the muck, waiting for Nightmare to spring to life out of the muck again. He never did. The two of them relaxed after a while, breathing that sigh of relief they needed so desperately. "He certainly lived up to his name!" Tasha said. "How's that?" Terrance asked. "He's now the greatest nightmare any living thing has, he's become a living death."
Terrance nodded, turning back to the muck he knew was human bone, watching it as it simply sat there. "YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" they heard two voices said. They both turned up, looking to the two eagles as they soared down to meet them. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO DOING WHILE TERRANCE AND I RAN FOR OUR LIVES?" Tasha screamed as she pressed her nose to the boy's beak, anger in her eyes as she glared at them both. The two eagles gulped in nervousness, and were quickly saved by Terrance, "Remember Tasha, they're trainees, and Penenia to boot. What more could they have done?" he asked. Tasha backed away from them, sniffing in anger before making her way to the teleportation point. Terrance knelt down, glaring at the two eagles in anger. "Listen you two, I don't want Tasha to kill you, but if you ever leave your team and hide again, I'll let her eat you for dinner." he growled. The two of them gulped and looked to him in fear, "Your team is your family, and you do everything you can for your family. Next time someone needs help that you can't give, go get someone who can give it!" he told them and stood up, letting them follow behind slowly. "What was that about?" Tasha asked. "Nothing, just giving them a few pointers!" Terrance said as he patted her on the head, "Let's get going!"
"Um, shouldn't we look for Nightmare's head?" the girl eagle asked. "You two can stay, or we can get a cleanup team to do it! Me, I'm not touching that thing with a ten foot pole!" Terrance told her. "After seeing what happened to my brother at the zoo, I'd rather not go near him while he's dormant either!" Tasha said, and the four of them vanished, traveling back to Tarnildra.
Deep in the city, the human skull mask of Nightmare lay on the ground surrounded by trash and insects. The bugs wouldn't go near it, staying as far away as they could after it landed. A single rat scampered into the alley, unaware of the danger until he made his way to the top of a large black bag. The mask jumped off of the skull, wrapping itself around the rat and choking it to death, merging to its body around its face before causing the rat to grow in size and darken to midnight black. The eyes opened, shining as a bright red light emanating from behind the mask. "That was unexpected!" Nightmare said, "Luckily I know exactly what I want to do with all of this wonderful energy!"
End Chapter 3