Creature of Unknown Origin

28

own paranoia, because the invading forces stalking closer proved the hours of hard labor were

well- worth it now. Whoever Dr. Richards really was certainly didn’t want me to make it through

this fight alive. She’d definitely sent more than enough people to get the job done, and complete

their task they would. There was no way the two of us could pick them off, not with the snipers

who pinned us and the foot team that drew closer.

“No need to be testy,” Delia huffed, her hands busy applying a tourniquet to her leg. “Those

better not be your last words, and these had better not be mine.”

“I think we have company.” Howie’s voice broke through the static on our radios.

Delia and I shared dark looks. She pursed her lips. Eerie silence exploded in my ears.

Then it was chaos. The once quiet team erupted in panic, shouting and screaming at each

other. Delia’s eyes went wide.

“What kind?” I asked Howie.

“The kind you ought to be grateful for… I think. It’s like a nightmare.” Nightmare or no,

it hadn’t stopped the awe that had slipped into Howie’s voice.

With another look over at Delia, I cautiously peeked around the barrier pressed against my

back. There was only carnage. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the lawn, with another one

dropping in the far corner of my vision.

I felt the color drain from my face as I whirled back behind safety, sinking down into a

squat. The thing I used to call a stomach was only a pit of fear, knotted with dread.

“What is it?” Delia asked through a contorted grimace as she straightened out her leg.

Sweat rolled down her cheeks, her hair falling into her eyes in a mess like I’d ne ver seen it before.

“I don’t know. Some sort of animal,” I murmured, my voice barely audible over the gunfire

that had since resumed. At least their weapons weren’t trained on us anymore. An unshakeable

chill crept into my veins.

“An animal? What, is it rabid or something?” Delia twisted herself around until she could

poke her head around the side of the cement block barricade. Delia inhaled sharply, plastering

herself back against the cement blocks at our backs. “ What is that thing? ”

“I don’t know.” I swallowed my fear. This was an opportunity to live. “You’ll be okay?”

“Oh, I’m scarred for life, but yeah, go for it,” Delia said. It’s like she’d read my mind.

With one last inhale to steady myself, I went into the unknown, back into the fray of the

blood bath while the tides had turned in our favor.