CHAPTER 4: TORN OPEN

Theas's warning rolled over the five of us, and we all watched him incredulously. Gibbs was the first one to react. "We need to get ready."

We all started moving, checking our weapons and preparing ourselves. "You got anything for us?" Gibbs asked impatiently to Theas.

"I do," Theas said with a nod. We all stopped what we were doing to look at him hopefully. Theas reached into the air, closing his hand as though grabbing a handle, and a large, metal case materialized into his grasp.

We all watched with open mouths, and Theas put the case down on our table. The effort this took caused him to grunt in pain as he put a hand to one of the various injuries located at his ribs. The case opened, but we couldn't see what was inside as Theas went searching. After a moment, he pulled out two large, silver pistols that resembled the rifle Sarah had acquired. He handed a pistol to Sloane, who took it with a nod, and another to Luca, who looked at it as though it were a heinous atrocity.

"You good?" Theas asked Sarah. Sarah nodded while holding up her Keeper rifle.

Theas then reached back into the case, and he pulled out a long, slender contraption. The barrel extended while the scope formed itself, and when the transformation was complete, Theas handed the sniper rifle to Gibbs. Gibbs took the rifle, looking it over with an approving smile, and he nodded in gratitude to Theas. Theas grabbed one final weapon out of the case. The arms extended outward while the sight set in place, and the string installed itself around the axles. Theas held a quiver of twenty arrows to my chest, and the straps automatically fastened themselves around my body so that the arrows sat comfortably at my shoulder.

Theas held the bow out to me, and I took it with my mouth open in awe. The frame was purple while the heavier pieces were gray. It had a glass screen where the sight was, which blinked red to confirm the computer was functioning. The shafts of the arrows were made of metal, with the tips appearing sharp enough to penetrate titanium.

"Target practice is gonna need a little more than some bales of hay," Theas told me with a smile. He then looked around at us all and said, "Alright, there are six of us in total. That may be enough."

"May be?" I repeated. "Who's coming? Algaltha?"

Theas shook his head. "Two Hunters who work for him. They're, ah...unpleasant."

"Well, let's get going," Sloane said. "I'd sure hate for them to destroy this beautiful home." We all agreed, and we filed out the front door onto the street.

We all held our weapons ready, and Gibbs walked up to me. "Need to use your ladder," he informed me.

"You know where it is," I told him.

Gibbs walked off towards the garage, his rifle in tow, and the rest of us looked around for signs of whatever was coming.

"Uh, hey, listen," Luca said to us all. "I know you all are really brave and valiant and all that, but I'm not." Theas and I looked at him, and Sloane sighed in understanding. "I...I don't know if I can do this," he admitted.

"Hey, listen," Sloane said as she walked up to him, placing a consoling hand on his shoulder. "We're all behind you. I'll even stay with you to make sure you're safe. Okay?"

Luca considered this for a moment, looking her in the eyes, and he finally gave a tentative nod. Sloane smiled reassuringly, and at that moment, the wind blowing made us all look around. The air was condensing, forming a compaction of energy that warped the space around it.

"Gibbs!" I called out.

"In position!" Gibbs responded from my roof. He was standing, looking upon the energy with his rifle held at his side. He then lowered himself, laying on the roof while he placed the rifle with a clear view of the whole street.

The energy field dissipated, and standing in its wake were two people. They both had gray skin, the same color as Algaltha's. One was the same size as a normal human, and she had long, dark gray hair down to the small of her back. She wore tight clothes interwoven with armored plating, and she had a gun in each hand. She had piercing orange eyes, and she sized us all up while resting her fingers on her gun triggers. The other Hunter was larger, although not quite the same size as Algaltha. He had the rough shape of a human, with long, shaggy hair that spread out around him as it fell to his shoulder blades. He also had large, reptilian wings that beat the air around them, and we could feel the wind with each movement. He had a spear in his hands, and he pressed a button on it that caused the blade to glow red with pulsating energy.

"Theas," the woman addressed with a cold sneer. "We assumed you had gone running back home. How interesting that you're here now."

"I'm not going to let you kill these people, Chala," Theas told her.

"Then you will die with them," advised the winged Hunter.

I heard Sarah let out a deep, shuddering breath, and I looked over at her. She was trembling slightly, but she kept her grip on her rifle firm. She looked over at me, silently conveying her fear. I nodded at her reassuringly, and I nocked an arrow in my bow.

Chala spotted this, and she looked over at me. "You don't need to be involved in this. We have no quarrel with you."

"You want to come for them, you're gonna have to deal with us," I told her. I aimed my arrow directly at her, and her eyes narrowed in anger.

"Then your blood will spill for them," she assured me.

Gibbs took a shot, letting loose a concentrated blast of blue energy. The shot narrowly missed Chala, who looked around as the energy blasted out a chunk of the ground behind her. She growled while looking up at where Gibbs fired from, and I let my arrow fly. The arrow hit Chala in the chest, and it let out a powerful burst of purple energy that knocked her back. The winged Hunter growled, and he took to the air as Sloane and Sarah took aim at him.

"I've got the sniper," he said as he glared up at our roof.

Sarah and Sloane opened fire, unleashing a barrage of blasts that hit the Hunter, but he disregarded them altogether as he flew up at Gibbs. Gibbs saw him coming and fired a shot, but the Hunter flew out of the way of it, closing in on Gibbs and swinging his spear. Gibbs rolled out of the way, allowing the energized blase to cleave through our roof shingles. Gibbs backed off, and he drew his Colt and fired on the Hunter.

The Hunter walked slowly towards Gibbs, leering as the pistol shots bounced off him.

"Geez, what are you made of?" Gibbs asked as he holstered his empty gun.

"Stronger material than you," the Hunter replied. He shot forward at breathtaking speed, and Gibbs could only narrowly duck down to evade the Hunter's spear blade. Gibbs tried to aim his rifle, but the Hunter kicked him, knocking him clear off the roof and sending him plummeting down. Gibbs crashed into the ground, groaning in pain as the Hunter dropped down after him.

Gibbs rolled out of the way just before the Hunter embedded the blade of his spear in the ground where Gibbs's head had been. Gibbs tried to scramble away from the Hunter, who was undeterred as he continued his pursuit. Gibbs fired a shot from his rifle, but the Hunter effortlessly evaded this. The Hunter swung his spear, but Gibbs ducked to avoid this. The Hunter aimed a powerful kick, but Gibbs rolled out of the way.

"So," Gibbs said conversationally through a strained voice, "what do they call you?"

"I am Salagath," he answered. Salagath aimed the tip of his spear at Gibbs, whose mouth lowered as he watched. The ground at Gibbs's feet erupted in a powerful blast of red energy.

Gibbs tumbled through the air, rolling across the ground with blood spattering out from injuries across his body. Salagath marched towards him, steadily yet casually, tightening the grip on his spear.

A powerful bombardment of blasts assaulted Salagath, causing him to put his arm and wing out to defend himself. He took several bloody injuries, and he looked around to see Sarah closing in on him, taking aim with her gun. Salagath turned to face her, and he swung his wings, creating a powerful gust of wind that buffeted Sarah. Gibbs took a shot, hitting Salagath in the back and causing him to fall forward. The Hunter grunted while blood spattered out from his injury, and Gibbs said in a hoarse voice, "I've already been blown up enough in this lifetime."

Sloane laid down heavy fire with her pistol against Chala, but Chala weaved in and out of the shots with astounding speed. Sloane held her fire, watching the Hunter with gritted teeth, and the second she saw her opportunity, Chala aimed her guns. She pulled both triggers, unleashing concentrated beams of purple energy at Sloane. Sloane's eyes widened, and she threw herself out of the way as the energy beams collided into the ground where she had been. The impact generated a powerful explosion, blasting fire and debris in all directions, and Sloane was knocked over by the shockwave. Sloane looked around, and Chala took aim with her guns again.

I fired an arrow at Chala, and she was caught off guard as the projectile made a direct hit against her shoulder. The arrow emitted a powerful burst of purple energy, knocking her back and sending her tumbling across the ground. I jogged over and held out a hand, assisting Sloane to her feet.

"That's not bad," she panted to me. "Where did you serve?"

"Paulson's Pizza," I answered with a straight face.

She stared at me with half of a baffled smile, not sure what to make of this proclamation, but before any further investigation could be performed, an angry growl announced Chala's return to her feet. Sloane and I both raised our weapons, and Chala braced herself. As soon as the Hunter prepared to fire her weapon, she was hit from the flank with gunfire. Only about a third of the shots made contact, but it was enough to make her look around. Luca was there, holding his gun, trembling violently while his teeth chattered. Chala stared him down, her eyes narrowing, unsure of what to make of this specimen.

I took the opportunity to fire another arrow, and she looked around, ducking down to allow it to fly overhead. Sloane fired her pistol, but Chala rolled out of the way, evading the shots while she braced herself to fire her pistols. I was loading another arrow, but I was also somewhat perplexed as to how we were having such a difficult time. There were only two Spatial Hunters, and there were six of us. How was it that we were struggling so much? Then it struck me that Theas had not contributed much to the battle. He was staying back, watching, analyzing the fight as it progressed. I would have anticipated him to be studying the two Hunters, but instead he was paying more attention to us.

I looked back at Chala just in time to see her fire her guns at me, and they hit the ground at my feet. The explosion that resulted threw me off my feet, knocking me senseless as I crashed back into the ground. Sloane moved in and fired her pistol, but she was again unsuccessful as Chala moved in on her. Sloane braced herself for Chala, prepared to fight hand to hand, but Chala quickly got around her guard, beating her back and kicking her away. Luca aimed his gun, but he froze. He was trembling violently, yet he couldn't bring himself to fire his weapon as Chala faced him. Chala fired one gun at him, and Luca yelped as the energy beam hit him in the shoulder. Blood spattered out from the injury, and Luca collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily and trying to beat down his panic.

Chala aimed both of her weapons down at him, but before she could fire, Theas came at her. He wielded twin swords with narrow blades, silver outlined in blue and pulsing with blue electrical energy. Chala ducked his initial strike, and she backed away as he assaulted her furiously. He swung his swords at her over and over, and while Chala was able to avoid getting hit, she was having a difficult time. Chala fired one of her guns, but Theas sidestepped the attack and swung a sword. The energy around the blade tore through Chala's side, spattering blood across the area while she stumbled back.

Theas charged in, continuing his assault, but Chala managed to dive out of the way and put some distance between them. As she came to one knee, Theas aimed the tip of one sword at her and ran the blade of the second across it. This generated a burst of energy shots that assaulted Chala, knocking her back down with several injuries across her body. Theas walked over to her, and he aimed his sword down at her throat, keeping her pinned while observing her with a calm demeanor. Chala's teeth were gritted, and she regarded Theas with malice.

Chala then looked around at Salagath, who was on one knee, cradling his injury from Gibbs while he looked around. Gibbs and Sarah both had their guns on him, and I aimed an arrow at him while Sloane and Luca aimed their pistols down at Chala. Both of the Spatial Hunters looked around at us, and after assessing their situations, they both disintegrated into ash, identically to Algaltha, before fading to nothing. We all lowered our weapons, but it was several seconds before we looked at each other.

I immediately looked around to find Sarah, and I took a breath of relief to see that she wasn't injured. She walked up to me, and we held each other while she buried her face in my shoulder. I kissed her head. "We're okay," I said to her softly. "We're okay."

Sloane and Gibbs met up, and Gibbs put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. They held eye contact, and it looked like Sloane was holding in a lot of emotion. They shared a silent exchange, and they both nodded in mutual understanding. Luca and Theas both stood around awkwardly, equally unsure of what to do.

Gibbs let out a breath, and he grunted in pain, holding one of his various injuries. He looked around at Theas and said, "Hey, how many Spatial Hunters are there?"

Theas shrugged. "We don't really have an exact number. A few million, at least."

"And how many Universal Keepers?" Sarah asked.

"Uh," Theas said, making a mental tally. "Ten thousand three hundred fifty-two."

We all gawked at him as this rolled over us. "Seriously?" Sloane said in awestruck horror.

"You see why we've had so much trouble with them," Theas stated. "Algaltha's one of the stronger ones, but there are Hunters who are a lot stronger than he is."

"Who's in charge of them?" I asked.

"That's a question I can't answer," Theas replied. "We've tried to figure it out. We have several of their generals and higher level assassins, but not the one in charge of their whole race."

Several of us let out deep sighs. A beeping sound emitted from Sarah's pocket, and she pulled out the Keeper tablet to see that there was a red dot situated in Bloomington, Indiana.

"Go," Theas advised. "Once you get back, there's some more I want to talk to you all about."

I nodded, and I looked around at the rest of them. Gibbs and Sarah walked over to me, and we all prepared to head out.