Chapter 18

I could have killed them all if I wanted to, just so you know. I know this scenario may portray me as a helpless little girl, but I wasn't. More like a tiger being subdued with yarn. But I decided I had to try tone it down this time, resort to talking it out. I was among my own kind, humans! No, that's wrong. I wasn't human anymore, I was something else. But that didn't mean I couldn't make some friends. Mike loosened his grip on my neck and I breathed deeply, relief sinking into my lungs. "Now answer me. What the hell is all of this?"

"You think I caused all of this?" I croaked. I was damn well surprised. "What makes you think that?" Mike glared at me, then motioned to another guy in the back. He was a wiry, dark-skinned fellow, with a clean-shaven face and short hair. He stood up and pulled a radio with him. He turned it on, and after tuning into the local station, revealed to me the cause of my situation.

"Attention locals, this is the U.S. National Guard. We are searching for one Jess Grayson. If you know where she is, please, turn her in. She is armed and dangerous. If you have any information, please respond. Attention locals, this is the-" he cut it off at that point, staring me down with a snarl of disgust. I narrowed my eyes and turned to Mike, his eyebrow raised in expectancy.

"Well I didn't do this," I muttered, glaring back at him. He clenched his teeth and shook his head. I sighed, turning my head to everyone. Besides Joseph and the other man, there was Flo and a red-haired girl with a face dotted by freckles. "Look, if I wanted to kill you, don't you think I could have done that already?" The girl narrowed her eyes and looked at Mike.

"She does have a point," she said. Mike tilted his head, releasing his grip on my neck. I stood up and stretched my back, then turned to face everyone.

"Well now that that little fiasco is over, why don't we get you all out of here before those things come back? There will be more, I assure you that." Flo pursed her lips and disappeared into the kitchen. The red-haired girl followed her. The man in the back walked up to me and spat on the floor in front of me.

"You are filth," he whispered to me, taking a seat in a booth at the front of the diner. I growled at him, baring my teeth. He chuckled and looked at Mike. "You should have killed her, you know. She'll be a much bigger pain in the ass later, I can already tell." I took a step towards him, but Mike put a hand on my shoulder, and glanced at me. He gave me a look, and I sighed and stepped back.

"She can't possibly be as much a pain in my ass as you already are," he said, folding his arms. Flo and the girl came out of the diner carrying sacks of food and such things. I licked my lips, my mouth watering at the thought of wolfing down some of Flo's cooking. She looked at me and smiled.

"If I didn't just see you rip apart all those things, I'd say you weren't half bad," she tied her hair into a bun and hefted a frying pan in her hand. I raised my eyebrow and she shrugged. "We don't got knives coming out of us like you, girly."

"Joseph, carry the bags of food, we'll watch your back. Jess, how are we getting out of here?" Mike stepped to me, and we locked eyes for a moment. I could tell he still didn't believe me fully, and that from now we would have some trust issues. Well that street was definitely a two-way. We had to talk in private at some point, but now wasn't the time. I pointed to the APC, which was about two blocks down the road. The man stood up and shook his head.

"I don't like it, I think she's just tricking-"

"Samuel, shut up. You complain too damn much," the red-head said, jabbing a finger at him. I crossed my arms and walked towards the door.

"So are we doing this or what?" Everyone turned me, then to Mike. He glanced back at me before turning around, facing his friends.

"I've known this girl my entire life, basically. We can trust her. But if she tries anything-" he looked over his shoulder, looking me in the face before continuing –"I'll deal with her. Personally. That having been said, lead the way, Jess." He turned to me, and everyone gathered around behind him. Joseph hefted the bags over his shoulders, his chiseled facial features arranged in a kind of grim expression of determination. I squared my shoulders and opened the door, welcoming everyone to the fresh hell of the outside world.

We began walking down the road, with me leading our little troop. Mike followed just behind, with the two girls in the middle. Joseph and Samuel took the rear. We progressed slowly, in a tight line, making sure we weren't being followed, and ready to fight off any ambushes from those things. Of course, as soon as we were a block away from being home free, all hell broke loose.

Remember that worm-thing that took out that guy from Riggs's squad? Well I don't know if it was the same one, but it tore through the tar and concrete of the street and let out a screech that made us all drop to the ground, clutching our ears. I could feel blood trickling down my earlobe. After it realized we were subdued, it struck out for the nearest person. Somehow, Mike was over-looked, and Flo was snatched into its pincer-like jaws. I could barely hear her screaming over the ringing in my ears. She was swatting at it with her frying pan, but it didn't do anything. It ignored her pathetic blows, and snapped its mouth shut, cutting her in half. Her legs fell to ground in front of me, and her torso landed off to the side. The red-head started crying and Mike growled in anger.

I forced myself to stand up, ignoring the ringing and the pain it was causing me. I forced those blades from my forearms and smaller claws to form. The worm turned its massive body towards me and chittered, rearing for another stab at us. Before it could thrust its head down, I ran towards it, jumping straight for its head. It definitely wasn't used to combat like this, and it had no way of getting me off once I started slicing into its underbelly. It bucked and wriggled, screeching and whining, but I continued ripping through its flesh. Green blood began spurting out through each gash I made, and by the time I got to the insides, it was laying on the ground, barely alive. I continued clawing through it, unleashing my anger at Flo's death, and the fact that I had done nothing to stop it. It made me feel like a monster. But monsters don't kill other monsters, right?

I finally stopped and sighed, standing up. I had crouched over it, and continued to stab at it until I realized I was being watched. Slowly, I turned to face everyone. They all had a haunted look in their eyes, and Mike looked at with something new. It was fear. Genuine fear.