by Tom Harem
I grabbed Maggie's hand one more time, and this time she didn't let go. She followed me until we got back to the rest of the team. The beast's body was falling apart, smoke emerging from all the breaches, different sounds, from things disintegrating, to splitting or being plucked from elsewhere. The body was being destroyed from the inside and before it was totally erased it was going to launch a last attack. Those missiles could kill us and take half the city with them. There'd only be one empty camp left on one side of town if that were the case.
"Does anyone have any ideas?" Vic asked, "It's the right time for that."
"I have one, but I don't know if it'll work." I said, "You have to trust me. If it doesn't work, I'm glad I could meet you."
Vic and Elisa smiled, and Maggie folded the corners of her lips. She was not yet completely back to her normal self but was slowly coming to her senses. The missiles were seconds away from being launched. The cracks had increased. There was no one on the street except for us. I had noticed that some people watched in the building windows behind us and recorded what they could.
"Vic, use your bow as a shield. It still creates a half-violet transparent barrier, right?"
"Yes, but it won't be strong enough to stop the missiles... Unless..." she said and looked at Elisa, "that's it! I see what you mean. It'll work."
"What are you talking about?" Elisa asked.
"As soon as my barrier comes up, you'll have to create a thick ice barrier behind it. Something that will cause the missiles to lose some of their power if they can't get through the barrier. Maybe then we can stop them. It's our only chance." Vic told her and looked at me, "You keep thinking outside the box." She told me.
"Come on, quick, we don't have much time." I told them, the missiles making a sound similar to an engine being launched.
Victoria put her bow on the floor and pressed a button on the dark yellow part that held the ropes together and a barrier appeared before us. It was pink at the beginning and as it expanded to both sides, the tips curved inward, the color darkened. Elisa touched it and beams of different kinds of purple traveled across the entire barrier. It was like pressing a finger against a computer screen and seeing the imprint take shape in other colors around it. Elisa put her palm near the barrier and closed her eyes. I assumed that doing something like that required excessive energy from her and that it wasn't something she was used to using even though I had no doubt that she could do it. Ice began to emerge from her fingers, clinging and sticking to the barrier, melting and spreading throughout the barrier until a pale stained white curtain obscured the violet.
"Now we wait." I told them.
The missiles were launched, such a catapult aimed at the wall that defended the city and crashed against it. The color changed from light purple to a faint violet, color rays traversing the entire barrier, before minor fissures began to arise in it.
The missiles didn't stop. All the flames in the tail had diminished but the barrier was starting to crack.
"Hold on!" I said to her, "you can do it."
Elisa raised her hand again and did what she could to freeze the barrier, to keep it stable for as long as possible. She ended up falling on one knee, her hand trembling, her screams flooding the whole street with chills as the hail that was now coming out of her hands, slithered across the wall and tried to mend the holes.
It was a constant struggle trying to repair some cracks while others opened besides, and Elisa was almost exhausted. The glove itself was failing and the ice was taking over. A trail of skin-colored ice began to climb up her arm and the more she used it, the thicker the layer became. Vic knelt down and put her hands on opposite sides of the bow, making sure that it did not leave its spot. Maggie watched as everything unfold, her eyes still lifeless, not seeming to fear the death that was one step away from us.
I approached Elisa and held her hand, the one that was still warm, caressing her and repeating that it would only take a few more seconds and everything would be fine.
"If something happens to me, I hope you know that you alone have helped me rediscover my love for doing good," she said, "I've never come this far. I know the glove can explode or consume my body but, well, one day it would have to be." She said and sketched a last smile before, between a scream, throwing ice rocks at the wall, gluing them together until there was a second-thick ice layer capable of stopping the missiles.
The minutes dragged on and the missile flames began to disperse. They were about to stop, the front-end losing strength and impact, until, after a few seconds of Elisa shaking my hand, both missiles fell to the ground.
"We did it!" I said, and felt her fingers drifting away from mine. She fell to the ground; the strands of reddish hair scattered across the tarmac and didn't move anymore. Vic was sitting on the floor, with her bow lying down in front of her, her Adam's apple bulging as she breathed deeply, trying not to lose control of her breathing. Only Maggie was standing, looking at their bodies, and finally at me. She uttered a voiceless "I'm sorry" and then ran to the jeep and didn't leave there. I knew she probably felt guilty, that it was the time when she needed to expel all the anger she felt outside, but it wasn't the right time. I sat down next to Elisa and listened to her heart beating as low as a clockbeat and her tenuous breath. The flames on both sides of the sidewalk were still rebelling and rising up to our height before they calmed down with every wind blast. There was no sign of the police. There were only a few people at the building’s door behind us, many of them having come down the stairs as soon as the fight was over to see up close what was going to happen.
I slapped Elisa's face lightly, but it didn't even awaken her. I tried to remove the glove from her hand, but it was stuck, the wrist area filled with ice pebbles with blue scrapings serving as a blockage. Oh, shit. No. I knew I shouldn't have convinced her to do it, but, at the same time, it was our only chance. We'd have to deal with the consequences once she woke up.
"Can you get up?" I asked Vic, who was now lying on the floor, her arms stretched out above her head, her sweat acting as a natural highlighter, "I need help to get her into the jeep. Then I'll call the pickup. The fire department should be here soon. I'm sure someone's already called them."
"Yeah, just give me a few seconds." Victoria said to me, "I think this is the first time I've been forced to use the full potential of the bow. I don't think my parents would want to offer me another one, not after what happened," she added as she got up. Then she stretched out and cracked her fingers.
"They still haven't forgiven you for really choosing to be a Hunter, have they?"
"Not really. They let me go to the academy and even gave me the bow, always with the thought that it was just another one of my phases. Surprise for them, it was my dream since I was little, since I saw the old Hunters on TV. But you know this, let's get down to business," she said and stood up, "you've got a good group here."
I grabbed Elisa's legs and she carried her arms and together we took her to the jeep. Maggie was leaning against the opposite window, the glove on top of the dress and her hand reddish and bubbly. She had blisters all over her hand, white, pus-filled and nearly bursting.
We put Elisa in the seat next to her and buckled her up. Vic took her place in her front seat while I leaned on the door next to me to call the pickup. I was still in the middle of the call when two men started walking towards me.
"You are fucking Hunters. Get the hell out of here. Look what you've done to our city," they said, screaming, being applauded by the people on the windows and at the building's door.
"Boys, we just beat the beast. We saved you."
"This is all your fault. What about the buildings that were destroyed? Are you the ones who are going to pay?" One of them repeated. He had a wart on his left cheek and small eyes for someone with such a snarly eyebrow.
"We better get the hell out of here. Forget the experience points. It’s not worth it" Vic said, "I don't think they want to talk."
"I hate this but you're righ
t." I said, as I opened the jeep door. I gave the address to the pickup and got us out of there.
Chapter VI
We were already on the road, on our way back to the secret base, when Maggie said, "Let's go to the main building."
"What? To do what?" I asked her, checking her through the mirror.
"Don't we have to take on new missions? Let's do it."
"Maggie, what's on your mind? Your hand's a mess, you won't be able to wear the glove and Elisa much less. We wouldn't even stand a chance against a level D beast at this rate," I replied, "let's go to the base and then we'll see. We've got time. I don't think the impact we had yesterday will have such rapid repercussions."
"But only one beast a day? I thought you wanted to be the best," she replied, appealing to my desire to be recognised, "Don't you think that having so many problems with a rank C beast when we're all at the same level is a sign that we have to train more?"
"You're right about that. But does it look like we're in the best condition?"
"I can do it on my own. They're normal monsters. They're stupid. You know that." She said, blowing all over her hand.
"And will you fight with what gun? You can't even put the glove on."
"I can. It hurts a little, but I'll survive. I'm not like Kendra or Ashen, you know? We must avenge them."
"And we will. But right now, we have to take a break. And that's it, Maggie. Enough of this." I told her, raising my voice for the first time.
"Okay, then." She answered, bit her lower lip and leaned her pink cheek against the fogged window.
The weather outside had gotten worse. If hours ago, the sun rays slipped through the clouds, now they were hiding behind them, the wind shrieking like a furious lion about to strike loudly. Although the fight lasted more than we expected, only 20 minutes had passed. The weather was always different when our heads were focused on the fight, when even the breeze was just whistling, and the vivid colors were nothing more than flashes in the background.
"What a headache" Elisa muttered, "My hand is freezing, and I can't move it."
"You should get some rest." Vic told her, "Someone must know how to heal that on the secret base. Maybe Tom?"
"I hope so. Shit, at least it worked," she said.
"James has good ideas once in a while," Vic told me, looking at me and winking, "I'm about to rise in rank."
"We climbed up fast, didn't we?" I answered her, while I was driving, the tiny rain now tapping on the front glass, "I heard that some of our colleagues haven't even left rank D."
"No wonder. Some of them have always been idiots. I heard your brother had been following your legacy."
"Victoria, you barely like anyone." I told her and she laughed, 'Yes, he is, but you know how much he hates being compared to me. We haven't spoken since I became a Hunter. I left him a message, but he never answered."
"James, he didn't even talk to you in the academy hallways." Vic said to me, "I think you need to give him some space. Maturity is not gained out of thin air."
"I know, but we didn't stop being brothers because of that." I told her, reminding myself of a time when we could both be at the table, together, with my mother, the two front teeth popping out forward, without almost ending up in a fight, "I was a little bit prideful, too."
"Don't you guys get tired of being stuck in the past?" Elisa asked us, "I still can't feel my hand. Looks like she was under anesthesia. Oh, shit. No. This is all your fault," she said, addressing Maggie.
"Maybe this isn't the best time for this..." Vic started but was quickly interrupted.
"It's the truth. You just don't have the guts to tell her. She gambled our whole lives because she lost control."
"You know why she did it." I answered her, trying to calm down the heated tempers.
We were already back on the normal highway. Time was shaping to our emotions. The rain dropped heavily, rattling against the jeep, obscuring the cloudy view in front of us. The warmth was pleasant, but the awkward silence left us all tearing the skin off our lips and biting them. Elisa hadn't answered me. She punched herself in the leg with her free hand, and before she spoke, she sneezed.
"That's all I needed. Now I'm sick."
"She's right." Maggie said, scratching the bubbles in her hand until she got bruised, "I've lost control. I put us in danger just to show that I could handle everything on my own. I'm sorry." She said and leaned against the soft textile seats. She had her eyes on the ceiling. She seemed to be avoiding looking us in the eye, as if facing us made everything too real, as if seeing us worried or disappointed would leave her desolated.
"It's all right." I said, "You're right about one thing. We need to train more. It doesn't matter how long it will take, other human beasts will appear, and I don't know if we'll be as lucky as we were last time. We will get back on our feet first and then we will do a few normal quests." I told them and the conversation died there.
The rest of the journey was made in silence, to the sound of the rising storm, the grey clouds and the yellow sparks that pierced them.
As soon as we got to the secret base, we went straight to the room where Tom was that morning. We left the jeep in the garage, exactly in the same place, behind the blue car that was no longer there, and I saved the keys in my pocket. The room was empty except for the doughnut box he had placed in the other room hours ago. There was also a white sheet of paper on the floor, marked with his shoe sole and a couple of sentences with a black line on them. I picked up the paper and put it on the metal table covered in deep-rooted scribbles. The page referred to an incident in which some group had been involved and that was related to Maggie's father. I told them that it was a piece of paper that didn't contain anything important and that I had saved it in my pocket to throw away later on. It was a conversation I wanted to have alone with Tom in order to avoid Maggie's complete collapse. After all, it was my duty as head of the group to protect them.
"What are you doing here?" An adult voice said. One of those voices that we know will have a lot of wisdom, that the years have passed upon him and with them the teachings.
It was Aldrin and he looked at us as if we were ants near his huge legs, slightly deformed due to his age and still stable as much as they could.
"We were looking for Tom." I said, "We've had some trouble with the beast." And I pointed to Maggie's hand and Elisa's glove, which still had some crystals preventing her from taking it off.
"I see. Don't worry. Don't worry. I don't think it's anything serious."
"No?" Elisa asked him, "You must not be senile anymore."
"Elisa!" I warned her before we got kicked out of there.
"Don't worry. I know how she is. Come with me," the man said in response to Elisa's murmurs.
"I think that's the line I've heard most throughout the year." I said, low, to Victoria.
The man took us into a room that was in a narrow, dark corridor, given the spider's webs in the corners and the wall plate already scraped off in several parts. We were greeted by a white-coated lady in her 50s, her green eyes almost colorless, her wrinkled hands and her backboned cheeks, that asked Maggie and Elisa to sit down while she ran some tests.
"You two can go. Come back in a few hours." She told me and Vic, wrapping up with a contagious smile, "I'll take care of them."
"Yes, Dr. Lena is one of the best we have." The old Aldrin said.
"I don't know if it's the best thing to do. To leave them alone." I told him.
"They're not kids anymore, are they? I'm sure they'll be fine." Aldris said as he dragged me and Vic out, "Get some rest." He put his finger on the DNA ID and opened the door for us.
We ended up going upstairs, just the two of us, to my room, and we sat back on my bed. It was as if she and I had never left and it was still morning except for the rain that was bumping on the rotten tiles of the disguised floors above.
She leaned her head against my chest, one leg rubbing against one of mine, the blue hair blending with mine. Despite t
he tiredness, it was difficult to resist her hot, panting breath sweeping across my neck. Her lips pressed against my neck, gluing and detaching themselves, while her tongue glided from one side to the other. I raised my head and leaned it against the wall. Vic took the opportunity to put herself on top of me, her hips almost bursting the skirt lining, and the top not hiding the tits that were wagging now that she was bending toward me. I lowered her top. She didn't have a bra underneath, and her nipples were erect in the middle of the medium-sized areolas. I bit them until she released a long-lasting moan and threw her head back, biting her lower lip.
"I missed this already" she unleashed, not without moaning louder than before.
She'd always been a touch-sensitive girl. Her body squirmed at the slightest pinch and pressure. We threw the clothes to the floor and she lay on top of me. We kissed dozens of times, until the sound of the kisses eclipsed the storm that had begun outside.
"It wasn't just you." I answered her as I turned her over so she could stay underneath.
The moisture between her legs stuck them together and as soon as I strayed them, she dripped on the bed. The pink color shone, standing out from the skin color of her legs and crotch, as she stroked my hair and begged me to descend.
I kissed her from her neck to her navel, and then I grasped her hips and ventured into her sweet sea. I didn't even stop when she pulled my hair or when she told me to slow down because she was close to coming.
Her hands tangled up in the sheets as her back curled and the moans flooded the room. It was almost like a symphonic orchestra reaching its climax.
"You haven't lost your touch," she said, as soon as her body fell to the ground in a state of trance.
"We're not done yet," I told her and turned her over.
She had her breasts pressed against the mattress, her hands stretched above her head, and her ass slightly raised. My dick slipped easily into her. I had absolutely no mercy on her. The warmth of our bodies and the splash that echoed across the four walls whenever our bodies slammed into each other were the only thing that mattered there.
