'That's the gateway,' Vere said. 'Beyond it is the haven of the inhumans.'
Run with your mom and don't look back. The sentinels will help you. Don't stop until you're certain of your safety.'
'No, not without you.'
Vere eye's were fierecer than I haf ever seen them. 'I am your guardian sprite. It's my job to excort you to the sanctuary. I dont need to return with you to do that.'
'No!' I shouted. 'Im not leaving you. Shut up and help me carry her.'
Without waiting for him I trudged through the muddy grass and he was forced to I follow.
While we argued, the monster hunting us had drawn nearer, grunting murderously with each heavy step.
'I told you we wont –'
'And I told you to shut up. Well, make it. All of us!'
I took a reluctance glance at the monster, getting my first clear look at it.
It was too large, nearly six meters in height. A mass of rippling muscle. For its massive size, it had very short arms, eaching ending in two clawed fingers.
It had powerful jaws filled with rows of large, serrated teeth designed for crushing bone and tearing through sinew.
I understood how it had kept up with the Cadillac when I saw its giant hind limbs.
The ceatures's tail, long and muscular, balanced its enormous form.
It was covered with black scales and what looked like hardened plates of dark bone that ran along its spine to its tail.
And finally, golden quills erupted through its scales like a porcupine.
Yes my dear readers, you guessed right. I was looking at a giant T-Rex/ golden porcupine hybrid.
The T- Rex's eyes glowed crimson and its metallic gold spine bristled menacingly in the cild flashes of lightning.
I was very tempted to rub my eyes right then and there. 'That's –'
'The Burronjor, its relentless, a demon of the highest caliber,' Vere said with horror. 'No wonder no other demons attacked us.
They were all scared away!!'
We had already climbed back onto the asphalt and were only a few minutes away from the entrance of the sanctuary, but vere sounded like he has already given up.
'Vere–'
'It has never been defeated by any hero,' he warned. 'Those golden quills protect it from both mortal and divine weapons.'
We weren't close enough to the entrance, it was still roughly fifty yards away.
I glanced behind me again.
The beast was prowling about the wreckage of our car, looking for us.
Under tha darkness and heavy barrage of rain, it must not have been able to see very well.
I just about almost took a breath of relief when Vere said gravely. 'It relies on scent much more than its othere senses. He will find us!'
As if on cue, the T - Rex roared and chomped ay the cars wreckage.
The steel alloy of the cars body creaked and
groaned before ultimately giving in hunder the pressure of the creatures jaws.
Then it's glowing red eyes found us. The desire for senseless carnage burned fiercely within them.
'Abel,' Vere said slowly. 'It has seen us and it is going to charge.
Wait until it's close enough, then jump out of its way. It wont able to change his direction immediately. You can leave your mom to me, I want let her get hurt. Do you understand?'
'What if it comes after you?'
'It wont, you are the one it wants, not us.'
The creature let out another furious roar, and its hind legs started pounding the ground, propelling it towards us at surprising speed.
It had reached us.
The entrance embedded in the rock was only a few meters way. Not enough time for us to make a break for it.
The T- Rex closed in. In mere moments, it would be top of us.
I could see the strain on Vere's face as I left him to shoulder my mothers weight, but he didn't flinch. 'Go, Abel! Remember what I said.'
I didn't want to leave either my mom of Vere, but I had no choice. I dashed to the right the sane time Vere rolled over to his left.
When I lifted my head I saw the creature bearing down on me. Its read eyes glowing with bloodlust. Its canines dripped with blood, like it had gorged on something else before hunting us down.
The creature barrelled past like a runaway train, but instead of speeding into the distance, it roared with frustration and turned, then using its momentum, it swung its giant tail, striking Vere squarely in the chest with it.
I could here the crisp sounds of bones snapping and flesh tearing.
I wanted to scream, but no sound came out of my lips.
Vere coughed out a mouthful of blood before falling onto his knees.
His arms were empty, he had somehow laid my mother on the ground before the monster's tail struck him.
I saw the rampant bloodlust int the creatures eyes when it faced him, and in that moment I understood that he had lied about the creature wanting only me.
This had been his plan. To use himself as bait.
But he had miscalculated. A sadistic glint appeared in the creature's eyes. It had seen how Vere had tried to protect my mother with his life, and so it turned it's voracious gaze towards her.
Vere's eyes widened with terror, and as did mine.
But monster didn't stop. It's jaws opened, casting a long shadow on my mom.
My pale, bleeding, motionless mother.
Just like that, my fear evaporated into futy and my limbs moved on their own.
I didn't know how, bit in those few brief moments I sped to the space in-between the creature and its victim to be.
And through the deluge of rain, my arms arose, clamping onto both the creatures deadly jaws.
It roared in outrage and tried to snap me in half. I yelled in pain, feeling the flesh of my palms being ruined by its deadly rows of teeth, but still held on tenaciously.
I turned to make eye contact with Vere who had been frightened still. And his bit of his fear was directed at my sudden display on impossible strength.
How I was doing this, not even I knew.
I roared out a single word:
'Leave….I'
Vere opened his mouth but said nothing in the end. He woodenly gathered my mom into his arms and staggered towards the entrance of the sanctuary.
Almost immediately the T-Rex released a maddened roar that caused the ground to faintly tremble, and then it's hind legs dug deep grooves into the earth beneath it.
It was exerting every single but of force it could muster against me, and somehow I was resisting it. But not for long.
The bands of muscle under my skin strained beneath the force of creatures jaws.
Somehow I had forcefully held my ground, but I could feel my muscles tiring, whatever magical strength I had called upon was fading fast.
I realized that If this continued I would lose. Under the extreme circumstances I actually got a relatively bad idea.
I fell onto my back, collapsing the sum of our weights downward. The T- Rex grunted uncertainly as its forward momentum was overturned. It flailed helplessly as it's its feet left the ground.
For a moment, I bore the entirety of its weight as I reverse barrel rolled.
Its massive 6 meter tall body sumersaulted through the air and it fell on it's back.
Then with a final push my body erupted with one last explosion of power.
My grip on the creatures jaws hardened as I began to pry them apart. The T-Rex thrashed ands it lashed at the ground with its tail, but I didnt let go.
For the first time, it's eyes grew wide with surprise as my's arms pushed its jaws wider and wider apart.
A frightened shudder phased through its core, as with one final, desperate pull, I wrenched the creature's jaws apart. I could fell its bones shift and crack beneath the pressure of my palms as its body went limp, the light within its eyes fading.
It was over now, and the strange creature was dead.
But I didn't have it in me to feel relieved. I fell onto my kness and roughly gasped for air as my vision blurred.
I heard a sorrowful cry.
'Abel!'
It was Vere, hunched over my mom who wasn't breathing anymore.
He hadn't taken her into the entrance because it wouldn't do anything to help her anymore.
It was no longer raining. The storm had passed, rumbling only in the distance.
I was covered in mud and my head felt like it was splitting open. I was so fatigued It took all my effort and concentration to stand and I was crying like a child.
In just the space of a few hours, my mom was gone. I wanted to cry and break down, but neither I nor Vere was safe yet, so I supported him as we both carried my mother into the the crack in the mountain.
My tears didnt stop, and my nose was running, but I staggered forward – I
wasn't going to fall here.
I could feel the air shifting around us in an odd way as we carried each other into the moutain. The last thing I saw through my blurred vision were a set of golden light glowing in a distance. I could faintly hear Vere's alarmed voice as my eyes rolled up my head and I fell unconscious.