“Hey, you! Get out of here!” the voice of the child calls out, louder and full of panic.
Chains rattle, and suddenly, I can feel the movement of half a dozen creatures rushing towards me. With a burst of speed, I dodge, jump, duck, and twist. One move flows into another, keeping me out of the snapping jaws that try to rip me to shreds.
The growling is fierce.
“Dad!” the kid cries, and I’m distracted.
That sound hits something inside me. I want to fix it, creep over and help until the sound stops.
The distraction costs me. Dearly.
A bark right beside my ear goes off like a cannon. I jerk at the sound, then scream in rage and defiance when the animals rush me. Their snarls are loud and determined. I could fight them off easily, but they are a pack and are moving around; the rain is distorting the origins of their sounds.
Maybe Earth was an awful choice, I think as I whirl in circles, lashing out with my claws. A creature yelps and suddenly, something flat and hard crashes into my back, sending me into the mud. I spring up before those teeth can snap me.
“Don’t hurt them!” The cry comes, and I find myself retracting my claws, unwillingly stepping back from the fight.
“Get out of here, monster!”
I stumble back, hearing more and more humans coming, drawn to the rage that is pouring off these adults.
“Get her,” he commands, and the animals spring at me.
I bolt, racing for my life. It feels like forever, but it could be just heartbeats. The sound of pursuit has stopped. I’m alone inthis noisy world. I may as well be back in the ocean, unable to tell which way is up.
It’s only been two days of being in this world. I’m hungry, I’m cold, in a way I’ve never been, I’m-
A mechanical sound screams, and a horn booms into the night. I’m struck by something really hard. Enough that it sends me flying, tumbling easily down the wet rock beneath me. I land hard, lying there while I try to ignore the pain and get up, except my body is hurt badly.
The runes flare on their own, and my energy levels deplete as my body repairs itself.
The pain is intense. It’s in every breath, every part of my poor, abused body.
“Fuck, I think I hit something, Grace. It came out of nowhere.”
Grace. A name. I am…Mei.
I let out a sob and push myself up. My body is healing itself, knitting the broken bones back together, fusing the torn skin. The pain eases, but exhaustion throbs behind my skull, beating in my brain, begging me to lie down and sleep for a week.
A shrill female squeal pulls me up. I stop moving.
“Kenneth! Look, get away from us. Go. Shoo!” The shrill panic sets off mine until I realise she’s talking about me. Then it gets worse. I try to scramble up to my feet, but I’m still healing, and I can’t move easily.
I tilt my head to the side, but I am braced to run. As soon as I can, I’ll be gone.
“We don’t want no trouble. Be on your way, monster. Honey, call that Diablos character, you know the one on the adverts.”
“Oh, but-”
“Call him. This creature shouldn’t be out roaming around. Look at it; it’s confused, and confused is dangerous. She’ll kill lots of people.”
Kill?
I blow out my cheeks, frustrated. At least the shock of pain has stolen my ability to notice the cold.
With a whine, I jump backwards when something loud explodes, stone flicking up into my ankle.
“Get going!”
