Shifters | Teen Ink

Shifters

August 12, 2014
By Anonymous

It’s evening, and I was just outside with Nathan and Ashton coming outside of the grocery store. We were restoring our food supplies before we head out on the road again. We were just loading the items in the trunk in the parking lot when Ashton quickly pulled me and Nathan behind the car and whispered, “Look.”
Crouching, I follow Ashton’s gaze, and my eyes rest upon a heap of dragon demons, the
worst kind of demons you will ever encounter. They have shiny red scales that cover their bodies, even their face and neck. They have enormous feet with claws sharp as a razor. They waddle on short legs which gives us an advantage, considering they can’t move very fast. Their arms are small, however, still vicious with tiny claws. They have long tails swishing on the ground. They have long necks and red beady eyes. As they open their mouth, I take notice of enormous and sharp teeth. One of them roars, and green smoke billows from its mouth. Poison. The demons are poisonous. Oh man we are so screwed.

“We have to take them out if we want to leave the parking lot. If we drive by them, they’re going to notice us.” Ashton whispers behind me and Nathan.

“Yeah, but how? There are like fifteen of them, we will never be able to take them out with only three of us.” Nathan hisses.

“Don’t forget that their poisonous too.” I remind them.

“Dude, we’re going to die if we rush them.” Nathan whispers. “Face it.”

“We’re gonna have to rush them no matter what.” Ashton argues.

“Guys, shut it.” I hiss. “Their going to hear us, you know.”

“We have to think of a pla-” Nathan steps back, and a tree branch snaps, its sound ringing loud and clear in the darkness.

Instantly, the demons stop, and they turn their heads in our direction. Shoot. One of them snarls, and roars. They charge, their feet loud and thunderous against the pavement as they dash toward us.

“Scatter!” I yell.

I run towards another car to the left and duck down, Ashton runs to the side of the parking lot, and Nathan jumps on top of our car.

The demons take their eyes off of me and and Ashton and set their eyes on Nathan, who yells. When they reach our car, a demon snaps toward Nathan, but Nathan quickly jumps out of the way and lands on the balls of his feet. The demon who snapped at Nathan ended up with a chunk of metal in his mouth. The demon took a chunk of our car. It chews on the metal, and swallows. Its saliva drips from its mouth and lands on the ground. The ground starts to sizzle. Nathan quickly races across the parking lot, with his arms up in the air, leading them away from me and Ashton. With the monsters chasing him, they stomp over our car, bringing their foot on the hood and the vehicle crumpled like an aluminum can.

“Try and catch me you idiots!” Nathan bellows.

Immediately, I rise and I pull my dagger from my boot. I unsheath the dagger and in the corner of my right eye, I see Ashton unsheathing his sword.

I quickly scan the area. Street lights surround the perimeter of the field, and wooden fences line the edge of the border. There are too many vehicles in the parking lot, and I feel a pang of sympathy. They’re going to be destroyed in less than a minute. But I need to find water. My heart pounds in my ear as I whip my head, searching the place. Water, water, water… my eyes rest upon a fire hydrant. It’s good enough. I spin my body around, and I see Nathan fending off a demon with his scythe. Ashton slowly walks in a circular motion around a demon, his eyes soaking in every detail of the monster before the dragon lunge for him.
Taking a deep breath, I charge into the battle, my feet loud against the pavement. I skitter to a stop when I’m twenty feet away from them.
“Hey!” I yell. “Come and get me!”
One of them turns and snarls at me, and just like I hoped, it breaks into a run, its feet cracking the pavement. I turn and race towards the fire hydrant. I whip my head, checking to see how far the demon was. It was still running, about fifty feet away. Perfect. I slowly back up, so I’m behind the hydrant. When it edges closer, I yell again.
“Take your best shot!”
The demon wastes no time. It opens its mouth, and a ball of fire rushes towards me. I quickly roll out of the way, and curl into the armadillo. Next to me, the fire hydrant explodes, sending dirt up into the air and cement into the air. The tree that was next to the hydrant goes up in flames. I scramble up and I squint my eyes through the smoke. It was just what I had hoped for. The explosion damaged the fire hydrant, and water leaks through the brass, and sprays up high into the air. I feel a grin spread across my face. It’s game time.
The demon that attacked me was confused, wondering if I was dead or alive. With the dagger in my hand, I rush towards the demon, and I bring my dagger down, on its head. The demon roars, but not from pain, but from surprise. My dagger had hit its armor, causing no damage. It stumbles back, and I quickly dart away and near the water. I examine the demon. Its red scales defend its body, so how do I kill it? My heart beats faster as the demon starts to gain consciousness. It huffs, and green smoke wafts into the air. Wait, its mouth. I have to aim for its mouth. Adrenaline courses through my veins. I take a deep breath as the demon whips its head towards me and breaks into a run. I whip my hand out towards the demon, and concentrating, the water behind me explodes, and fulfilling my command, it shifts into a rope and lunges for the dragon. It loops around it, its legs, its body, and its neck. The demon screeches in surprise, and I will the the water to tighten. The dragon squeals in pain as the water continues to tighten and coil around it. Finally, when it opens its mouth to scream again, I throw my dagger, and it spins towards the demon’s mouth. When it lands inside, the monster chokes and explodes into ash. I rapidly dash towards the pile of ash, and I grab my knife, laying on the ground. I turn and I stare at the water. With my eyes closed, I command the water to be bigger, enormous, big enough to fill the entire parking lo-
BAM
The water erupts, and it transforms into a big geyser. It sprays half of the parking lot. Good enough. Panting, I look for Nathan and Ashton. Nathan had turned into his true form, light. He zips through the monsters, and he shoots lasers at them, but it bounces off their armor.
“The mouth Nathan! Aim for their mouth!” I yell at him.
I rush towards Ashton, who still hasn’t changed into his true form yet. He’s still fighting a group of monsters, and continues to slash at them, his sword bouncing off their armor.
“Change Ashton!” I shriek.
“I can’t!” He yells back. “There’s no fire!”
I transform into my true form, water, and with my hands, I lift the car in front of me, and I throw it at another group of vehicles. The car slam into the others, and it it lays in a crumpled heap among the other cars. Gas leaks out from the damaged tanks and spill onto the floor.
“Ashton!” I yell.
He whips to the sound of my voice, and his eyes lay upon the leaking gas. He gives another striking blow to the monster and he runs over to the gas. The demon blows fire towards him, and the fire hits the cars and the gas. The gas goes up in flames, and it swallows up the cars, trucks, motorcycles. Heat rolls from the flame and starts to melt the paint off the vehicles. I return my gaze to Ashton, who switched into his true form, fire.
I look to my right. A woman walking her dog looks curiously at us. It doesn’t matter, because we’re cloaked in glamour. The woman breaks her gaze away and continues to walk her dog down the street.
In the corner of my eye, I see three demons rushing towards me. I race towards them, and I slam into one of them, driving my dagger in its throat. With a wail, it bursts into dust. Turning my gaze to the other two, I form the water next to me into daggers, and I wave my hand. The daggers surges towards them, and buries itself into their throats. They both erupt into ash. I turn and I count how many demons are left. Three, three more t-
A scream shatters the night. I whip my head towards the noise. Nathan. No longer able to
take hold of his form, he lays on the ground, in human form. I immediately rush towards him. With a yell, I punch the monster rising above him in the chest, and it bellows, slamming into the flaming cars. I command the water to rise, and attack. The water obeys to my anger, and it forms into a small hurricane and it spins towards the monster. It shreds the demon, leaving a howl behind. I look up. Ashton is still fighting the two remaining demons, blasting fire from his hands. I crouch and look at Nathan. Oh man, he looked awful. He must have taken a blow to his head. Blood matted his hair and streamed down his face and onto his collarbone. His leg appeared to be broken, which means he wouldn’t be able to run. I bit my lip, trying to think.

“Ashton!”

With a gasp, he yells back. “Yeah?”

“Look after Nathan and grab a car I’ll take care of the demons for you!”

“‘Kay!”

I whisk to his side, and gripping on to my dagger, I slash at a demon. “Go!” I yell. Ashton nods, and he rushes to Nathan, shifting back into human form. I focus on the monsters, who snarls at me. I whip out my hand, and the water coils around one of the demon, and lifts it into the air. It screams and wails, thrashing to get free of my hold. The other demon in front of me snaps at me, and breaths poison. I quickly dart out of the way, and the poison hits a car instead. It melts the paint and metal. I spin the dagger in my hand, and I leap up and stab it in the corner of its neck. Clink. My knife bounces back, and I land on the balls of my feet, panting. Taking a death breath, I concentrate, and the water behind me reacts. It streams to the monster and as it reaches the demon, it quickly licks up its feet, legs, body, neck, and head. I will the water to freeze, and turn to ice. The monster is now a statue. I race towards it and give it another slash. The statue breaks in two, and crumples. As it topples onto the ground, it sizzles and melts, leaving a pile of water and goo. I turn to the last monster. With hatred in my eyes, I throw my knife, and it embeds in the demon’s throat. With a shriek, it explodes into dust. Exhausted, I was about to collapse onto the ground when I hear someone call my name.

“Cecily! Come over quick! The store owners are coming out!” He yells.

I shift back into human form, and I run towards Ashton and Nathan. Ashton managed to hack into a truck, and I leap onto the back with a loud thud.

“Quick! Start the truck!” I scream.

With a rumble, the truck roars to life. Ashton quickly drives off into the night, leaving the crime scene behind us.



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