Horror Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Shadowlander's Dream: Book 1 - A Tale of Shadows ❯ Part 11 Chapter 52 ( Chapter 52 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Shinigami_Shimai 
Miscellaneous: Horror Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Shoujo-ai | Uploaded On: 11.12.2005 | Updated On: 08.29.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 209 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Horror Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural / Romance | Type: Shoujo-ai | Uploaded On: 11.12.2005 | Updated On: 08.29.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 209 | Status: Completed
A Shadowlander's Dream - Book One: A Tale of Shadows
By Kathryn K Williams
Part Eleven: Lost and Found
Chapter Fifty-Two - Grievous Revelations
"How stupid of me." Kris said as she crossed a field, approaching a large tree. She set her hand upon the trunk of the tree then placed her forehead upon its bark and closed her eyes.
"What is it?" Jessica asked still bewildered by her surroundings. They had searched the entire park and had not found a trace of any of the other girls. She was starting to really become concerned when Kris started walking towards the tree they now stood before and would not stop staring at it. The tree appeared to be nothing special to Jessica. Sure it was big and old, one of those trees that she would have climbed as a child and sit within its branches until the sun disappeared and she had to return home. However, she could tell that this tree held some kind of significance to Kris.
"I was afraid of this." Kris said without removing her forehead from the tree’s trunk.
"Afraid of what?" Jessica inquired, "Do you know where we are?"
"I used to sit in this tree and watch over her." Kris muttered, "Day after day." She lifted her head to gaze up at the tree's massive branches, "Gwen..."
"Who is Gwen?" Jessica asked, trying to coax some kind of answer out of the girl.
"My older sister." Kris answered with a sad sigh, "Remember when I asked you what you would do if you could return your loved ones memories after they had forgotten about you?" She asked.
"Yeah," Jessica cocked her head, "What does that have to do with this?"
"My sister gave me Jenn's fragmented memories." Kris finally admitted.
"What?!?" Jessica was more appalled then astonished, "She had no right doing that. It is up to Jenn when she will remember." She fumed.
"I think her heart was in the right place." Kris said turning to face the girl. Jessica's anger melted away at the sight of Kris's tired sad eyes, "I think we are in one of those memories. I just don't know which one."
"You said you remember this tree. Do you remember what happened around here?" Jessica asked.
Kris shook her head, "So much happened that I don't know which memory this could be. This might be here just because it is what I remember the most. Which might explain why you are here too. You were not part of Jenn's past so would not have a place here."
"Well that helps." Jessica shoved her hands in her pockets and scanned around more, "What is over there?" She asked nodding behind Kris.
Kris turned to follow her friends gaze to see a long road in the distance, "I don't kno-" Suddenly the air filled with the sound of a car racing down the road. Kris stumbled forward, "No..." She searched the road and spotted the lights of a small car racing along towards a group of small houses, "No, it can't be..." Fear filled the girl's voice, "Don't let it be that. Anything but that." Kris suddenly burst into a run towards the houses.
"Wait!" Jessica called out, "What is the rush!" She hurried to catch up to her friend.
"Jenn," Kris answered, the fear had been replaced by panic, "She is about the remember the worst possible thing."
"What is that?" Jessica asked.
"You'll see soon enough. I just hope we get there on time." Kris left the question unanswered. Jessica could tell by the worried look on her friends face that it might not be something she wanted answered.
******
"Is she really the girl we first kissed?" Kim asked in a daze, lightly touching her lips, remembering the moment, "I mean... I don't remember her face clearly and still..." she said dreamily.
"Neither can I." Kima rubbed her head in frustration, "Why can't we remember? What happened to us?"
"Her mother's death was caused by your actions." A voice bluntly stated from behind the girls.
"Wha?" Kima and Kim both glanced up to find Gwen staring down at them, there was a look of sadness upon the girl's face, "You!!!" Kim cried out, pointing at the angel, the girl's wings were missing but Kim was certain that this was the same girl she met when she faced May.
"Hello again." Gwen said with a weak smile.
"What are you doing here?" Kima asked standing to her feet.
"I felt a strange presence in the forest and came to find out what happened. I got pulled in here along with the rest of you it would seem." She walked past the girls and glanced down the street.
Kim followed the girl, "What do you mean by us causing Jenn's mother's death?" Kim asked warily, "What is going on here?"
"We are reliving your friends memories." Gwen nodded down the road as a car was speeding towards them, "Take a look."
*****
Jenn's mother pressed hard on the accelerator as she searched her purse for her keys, "God dammitt!" She cursed as the purse fell off the passenger’s seat to the ground, "First that stupid kid makes me late and then I forget to bring my business cards with me. That girl is in a heap of trouble when I get home." She found her keys and sat up in time to see her daughter run out onto the street with tears in her eyes. Jenn didn't see her mother’s car speeding towards her until it was nearly upon her, stopping dead in her track like a deer in headlights. Her mother wrenched the steering wheel to the left skidding off the road. Just as she was about to crash head long into her own house a giant flaming wolf leapt out from under the house, crashing it's way through the front of the car causing the car to burst into flames. The car continued on its death course finally slamming into the cement pylons that held her house off the ground. Now with the supports loosened the living room fell onto the roof of the car crushing the hood of the car flat and portions of the house fell upon the roof killing all within.
*****
"Mom???" Jenn stared at the flaming car. She was in too much shock to realize what had just happened and simply stood on the street with a blank stare upon her face.
"Jenn!!!" Kima ran towards the girl with Kim in tow, "Jenn, are you alright?" She asked realizing far to well how stupid that question was seeing as the girl was nearly run over by her own mother. She took one glace at the car and turned away from the flaming wreckage quickly. In that short moment she was sure she could still see the arm of the woman still burning up inside the car.
"Oh my..." Kim dropped to the road, "This can't be happening... not again..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled the entire events that lead up to that moment.
"Snap out of it." Kima demanded, "We need to be here for Jenn." She turned to the girl to see that Jenn was finally coming to.
"Mom..." Jenn started to move. One foot lifted slightly off the ground and slid forward, followed by the other, then they quickened in pace as she stumbled towards the burning wreck. Kima reached out to stop Jenn only to find the girl was to fast for her. Jenn reached the lawn when the car door fell off and for a moment Jenn could see her burnt mother still sitting at the wheel. Her upper body crushed under a portion of the house, "Mom!!!" She cried out when Kris suddenly appeared out of nowhere and wrapped an arm around the girl's face, concealing the nightmarish image from her.
"It's okay." Kris cooed, "It's only a nightmare."
Jenn blinked then gazed up at Kris, "Kris???" She asked bewildered, she went to rub her eyes with her hands when she noticed the cuts on her arms begin to reopen and bleed slightly, "What is happening to me?" She started to tremble then sink to the ground and fainted away.
"Nothing is wrong." Kris soothed holding the girl in her arms. She glanced up to see her sister approaching, "You..." She snarled at the angel, "What do you think you are doing here? Have you not caused enough damage already?"
Gwen ignored Kris's pained remarks, "I go where I'm needed." She turned to face the wreck, "And I am needed here."
"No, you are not!" Kris exclaimed hatred could be seen in the girl's eyes, "Why couldn't you let her be? Why couldn't you have just let her forget?"
"I'm not the one you should be yelling at." Gwen calmly stated, "Your answers lay there." She nodded towards the car. The corpse's arm began to twitch and move as it pulled off its seatbelt and began to struggle to free its body from the car, still partially burning. There was a sicken sound of bones cracking and flesh peeling as the body forced itself free of the car and turn to face the girls. It was now a rotting corpse with its head tilted to one side and the right portion of her head missing. The undead woman smiled at the girls as it started to slowly stagger towards them only to find its leg was still stuck in the car frame.
"This can't be real." Jessica stated, not believing what she was seeing before her, "Tell me this isn't real."
"It is." Natalie approached the girls from behind them; "Something tried to get me earlier." She explained still trembling from the encounter, "I was hoping to find you all before anything else happened. I only heard the crash a moment ago."
"Nat???? Were have you been?" Kima asked in a worried tone. Nat was covered in dirt and appeared like she had been running through a war zone to get there, "What happened to you?"
"Who is she?" Nat asked, ignoring Kima's questions and nodding towards Gwen.
"I'm just here to help." Gwen turned to face the zombie like corpse, "Time to clean up this mess." She cracked her knuckles and neared the creature. Wings spread out behind the girl causing the corpse to stagger backwards in confusion and fear of their brilliance, "You have no power over me, Ghoul." She said with a playful smile.
"A death angel..." Jessica said in awe at the sight of such beautiful wings and she felt a strange calm come over her by just looking at them.
Gwen reached out towards the creature when it suddenly regained it's composure and snatched out at Gwen, grabbing the angel by the arm, then hurling the girl over it's shoulder and sent her flying into the already destroyed mobile home. It then turned its attention back on the girls, more specifically, Jenn. It opened its decaying mouth and spoke, "Jeennniiffeerrr..." The words were choked and crackled. It freed its foot and started moving towards the girl again.
"I'll never let you have her." Kris hissed at the creature while cradling Jenn in her arms, "Leave her alone."
Gwen burst out of the roof of the house, "I've had enough of this." She said as she flew upon the wind. She turned through the air then dove straight down on the creature when something hit her broadside and she came crashing down to the ground causing a long crater in the next door lawn. She could feel a heavy weight upon her chest and when she opened her eyes she found Akaime on top of her.
"Well hello there." He said with a sinister smile, "What do we have here?"
Gwen shoved Akaime off with such force that he flew backwards and crashed into a wooden fence, "So you finally show yourself." Gwen got to her feet and brushed herself off, "You really thought you could escape death did you?" She jumped at the man, crossed her arms in front of herself, and shoved him through a wall.
"This is insane!" Jessica stated, watching the two fight, "I vote we get out of here."
"What about that?" Kima asked not being able to take her eyes off Jenn's mother.
"It's a zombie." Jessica said, "Zombies are slow." She patted Kris on the back, "Let's go!" She started to run down the street with the other following.
"Alright." Kris lifted Jenn off the ground and chased after the group.
Suddenly, Jenn's mother appeared in front of Jessica and knocked her to the side with one swift stroke of it's frail arms, causing the girl to skid across the road and roll onto a lawn.
Kim skid to a stop, "I thought she said they were slow?" She asked worriedly.
"This is a nightmare." Natalie said rushing over to Jessica's side to see if she was all right. Her arm was scrapped up badly and she was bleeding slightly.
"No kidding." Kima agreed.
"That is not what I mean." Natalie shook her head while helping Jessica to her feet, "It is Jenn's nightmare and we are reliving it. That thing has all the power of Jenn's fears behind it."
"Then how to we stop it." Jessica asked through the pain while cradling her arm close to her body.
"I could stall it if we had my knives." Natalie said in frustration.
"I'd wish for a large gun." Jessica chuckled.
"We have to get Jenn to face it." Kris stated with a sorrowful sigh and glanced down at the sleeping child in her arms, "Or she will be haunted by this image till the end of her days."
Kima backed up as the zombie moved closer. She then abruptly stopped, "I'll hold it off." She said faking every amount of bravery that she could muster.
"Are you insane?" Natalie exclaimed, "That thing-"
"Is only after Jenn." Kima noted, "I know how these creatures of dream work. I'm part dream myself, am I not?" She inquired, not getting an answer, "Look it simply pushed Jessica and yet it didn't kill her so it is only after Jenn. It won’t kill me, I'll meet up with you at the school."
"But?" Kim started to protest.
"Go!" Kima commanded then threw herself at the creature tackling it to the ground.
"Come on!" Jessica ordered, running off towards the school.
********
The air cracked with the sounds of commotion and battle. Alyson's ears perked up at the noise, she favoured anything then this inane silence. She found herself more and more overcome with worry since her encounter with Akaime and the longer she searched the more anxious she found herself becoming. She thought nothing could be worse then the silence until she heard the first crash followed closely by many others. These new sounds made her even tenser as she rushed down the street in the direction of the disturbance. Wishing with every step that her friends were unharmed. Then she saw some figures appear from down a side street and turn down the street away from her and continue to run away. She was about to call out to them when she saw another set of figures stumble after them and fall to the ground. As she got closer she realize that it was one of the twins struggling with someone or something. Sensing the urgency in the girl's movements Alyson quickened her pace as the two tumbled across the road. The red head grabbed the creature tightly as it tried with all its might to toss the girl off. Alyson noted evidently that the girl had to be the reflection and hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should bother to help or just continue on after the others, however something inside of her would not allow her to just run away like that. She let out a frustrated sigh and unsheathed her sword.
"Do you need some help there?" Alyson asked as she approached the struggle.
"A... Alyson..." Kima panted as she rolled on top of the creature and pinned it to the ground, "Please..."
Alyson casually walked around the girl and twirled the sword around then brought the tip straight down on the creatures, piercing the head and nailing it to the ground. The creature twitched a few times then stopped moving. Kima let it go and squirmed away from the thing while wiping her hands on her pants.
"That was nasty." Kima stated with a bad taste in her mouth, "Is it dead?"
Alyson shrugged, "I don't know." She made no attempt to remove the sword from the monster's head, "What is going on here?" Alyson asked.
"That is Jenn's mother." Kima explained while standing to her feet, "It’s after Jenn and there is this other guy with some kind of mask fighting an angel over there." She pointed over her shoulder where the sounds of the battle could still be heard, "I stayed behind to stall that thing." She said with disgust.
"The masked man would be Akaime." Alyson replied scanning the battle scene as tree fell in the distance, "We'd better find the girls. That man is more of a monster then this thing." She nodded towards the corpse.
"Then what do we do?" Kima anxiously asked.
Alyson finally freed her sword from the creature’s head, wiped it off with a rag she produced from her back pocket and tossed the rag upon the corpse, "We find the others and get out of here." She stated, sheathing her sword and starting in the direction she saw the girl's running.
*****
To be Continued...
*****
Note: The world of the Shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams.
This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts page at: <a href="http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/ " target="_blank">http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/ </a>
For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts page at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159
Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com
By Kathryn K Williams
Part Eleven: Lost and Found
Chapter Fifty-Two - Grievous Revelations
"How stupid of me." Kris said as she crossed a field, approaching a large tree. She set her hand upon the trunk of the tree then placed her forehead upon its bark and closed her eyes.
"What is it?" Jessica asked still bewildered by her surroundings. They had searched the entire park and had not found a trace of any of the other girls. She was starting to really become concerned when Kris started walking towards the tree they now stood before and would not stop staring at it. The tree appeared to be nothing special to Jessica. Sure it was big and old, one of those trees that she would have climbed as a child and sit within its branches until the sun disappeared and she had to return home. However, she could tell that this tree held some kind of significance to Kris.
"I was afraid of this." Kris said without removing her forehead from the tree’s trunk.
"Afraid of what?" Jessica inquired, "Do you know where we are?"
"I used to sit in this tree and watch over her." Kris muttered, "Day after day." She lifted her head to gaze up at the tree's massive branches, "Gwen..."
"Who is Gwen?" Jessica asked, trying to coax some kind of answer out of the girl.
"My older sister." Kris answered with a sad sigh, "Remember when I asked you what you would do if you could return your loved ones memories after they had forgotten about you?" She asked.
"Yeah," Jessica cocked her head, "What does that have to do with this?"
"My sister gave me Jenn's fragmented memories." Kris finally admitted.
"What?!?" Jessica was more appalled then astonished, "She had no right doing that. It is up to Jenn when she will remember." She fumed.
"I think her heart was in the right place." Kris said turning to face the girl. Jessica's anger melted away at the sight of Kris's tired sad eyes, "I think we are in one of those memories. I just don't know which one."
"You said you remember this tree. Do you remember what happened around here?" Jessica asked.
Kris shook her head, "So much happened that I don't know which memory this could be. This might be here just because it is what I remember the most. Which might explain why you are here too. You were not part of Jenn's past so would not have a place here."
"Well that helps." Jessica shoved her hands in her pockets and scanned around more, "What is over there?" She asked nodding behind Kris.
Kris turned to follow her friends gaze to see a long road in the distance, "I don't kno-" Suddenly the air filled with the sound of a car racing down the road. Kris stumbled forward, "No..." She searched the road and spotted the lights of a small car racing along towards a group of small houses, "No, it can't be..." Fear filled the girl's voice, "Don't let it be that. Anything but that." Kris suddenly burst into a run towards the houses.
"Wait!" Jessica called out, "What is the rush!" She hurried to catch up to her friend.
"Jenn," Kris answered, the fear had been replaced by panic, "She is about the remember the worst possible thing."
"What is that?" Jessica asked.
"You'll see soon enough. I just hope we get there on time." Kris left the question unanswered. Jessica could tell by the worried look on her friends face that it might not be something she wanted answered.
******
"Is she really the girl we first kissed?" Kim asked in a daze, lightly touching her lips, remembering the moment, "I mean... I don't remember her face clearly and still..." she said dreamily.
"Neither can I." Kima rubbed her head in frustration, "Why can't we remember? What happened to us?"
"Her mother's death was caused by your actions." A voice bluntly stated from behind the girls.
"Wha?" Kima and Kim both glanced up to find Gwen staring down at them, there was a look of sadness upon the girl's face, "You!!!" Kim cried out, pointing at the angel, the girl's wings were missing but Kim was certain that this was the same girl she met when she faced May.
"Hello again." Gwen said with a weak smile.
"What are you doing here?" Kima asked standing to her feet.
"I felt a strange presence in the forest and came to find out what happened. I got pulled in here along with the rest of you it would seem." She walked past the girls and glanced down the street.
Kim followed the girl, "What do you mean by us causing Jenn's mother's death?" Kim asked warily, "What is going on here?"
"We are reliving your friends memories." Gwen nodded down the road as a car was speeding towards them, "Take a look."
*****
Jenn's mother pressed hard on the accelerator as she searched her purse for her keys, "God dammitt!" She cursed as the purse fell off the passenger’s seat to the ground, "First that stupid kid makes me late and then I forget to bring my business cards with me. That girl is in a heap of trouble when I get home." She found her keys and sat up in time to see her daughter run out onto the street with tears in her eyes. Jenn didn't see her mother’s car speeding towards her until it was nearly upon her, stopping dead in her track like a deer in headlights. Her mother wrenched the steering wheel to the left skidding off the road. Just as she was about to crash head long into her own house a giant flaming wolf leapt out from under the house, crashing it's way through the front of the car causing the car to burst into flames. The car continued on its death course finally slamming into the cement pylons that held her house off the ground. Now with the supports loosened the living room fell onto the roof of the car crushing the hood of the car flat and portions of the house fell upon the roof killing all within.
*****
"Mom???" Jenn stared at the flaming car. She was in too much shock to realize what had just happened and simply stood on the street with a blank stare upon her face.
"Jenn!!!" Kima ran towards the girl with Kim in tow, "Jenn, are you alright?" She asked realizing far to well how stupid that question was seeing as the girl was nearly run over by her own mother. She took one glace at the car and turned away from the flaming wreckage quickly. In that short moment she was sure she could still see the arm of the woman still burning up inside the car.
"Oh my..." Kim dropped to the road, "This can't be happening... not again..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled the entire events that lead up to that moment.
"Snap out of it." Kima demanded, "We need to be here for Jenn." She turned to the girl to see that Jenn was finally coming to.
"Mom..." Jenn started to move. One foot lifted slightly off the ground and slid forward, followed by the other, then they quickened in pace as she stumbled towards the burning wreck. Kima reached out to stop Jenn only to find the girl was to fast for her. Jenn reached the lawn when the car door fell off and for a moment Jenn could see her burnt mother still sitting at the wheel. Her upper body crushed under a portion of the house, "Mom!!!" She cried out when Kris suddenly appeared out of nowhere and wrapped an arm around the girl's face, concealing the nightmarish image from her.
"It's okay." Kris cooed, "It's only a nightmare."
Jenn blinked then gazed up at Kris, "Kris???" She asked bewildered, she went to rub her eyes with her hands when she noticed the cuts on her arms begin to reopen and bleed slightly, "What is happening to me?" She started to tremble then sink to the ground and fainted away.
"Nothing is wrong." Kris soothed holding the girl in her arms. She glanced up to see her sister approaching, "You..." She snarled at the angel, "What do you think you are doing here? Have you not caused enough damage already?"
Gwen ignored Kris's pained remarks, "I go where I'm needed." She turned to face the wreck, "And I am needed here."
"No, you are not!" Kris exclaimed hatred could be seen in the girl's eyes, "Why couldn't you let her be? Why couldn't you have just let her forget?"
"I'm not the one you should be yelling at." Gwen calmly stated, "Your answers lay there." She nodded towards the car. The corpse's arm began to twitch and move as it pulled off its seatbelt and began to struggle to free its body from the car, still partially burning. There was a sicken sound of bones cracking and flesh peeling as the body forced itself free of the car and turn to face the girls. It was now a rotting corpse with its head tilted to one side and the right portion of her head missing. The undead woman smiled at the girls as it started to slowly stagger towards them only to find its leg was still stuck in the car frame.
"This can't be real." Jessica stated, not believing what she was seeing before her, "Tell me this isn't real."
"It is." Natalie approached the girls from behind them; "Something tried to get me earlier." She explained still trembling from the encounter, "I was hoping to find you all before anything else happened. I only heard the crash a moment ago."
"Nat???? Were have you been?" Kima asked in a worried tone. Nat was covered in dirt and appeared like she had been running through a war zone to get there, "What happened to you?"
"Who is she?" Nat asked, ignoring Kima's questions and nodding towards Gwen.
"I'm just here to help." Gwen turned to face the zombie like corpse, "Time to clean up this mess." She cracked her knuckles and neared the creature. Wings spread out behind the girl causing the corpse to stagger backwards in confusion and fear of their brilliance, "You have no power over me, Ghoul." She said with a playful smile.
"A death angel..." Jessica said in awe at the sight of such beautiful wings and she felt a strange calm come over her by just looking at them.
Gwen reached out towards the creature when it suddenly regained it's composure and snatched out at Gwen, grabbing the angel by the arm, then hurling the girl over it's shoulder and sent her flying into the already destroyed mobile home. It then turned its attention back on the girls, more specifically, Jenn. It opened its decaying mouth and spoke, "Jeennniiffeerrr..." The words were choked and crackled. It freed its foot and started moving towards the girl again.
"I'll never let you have her." Kris hissed at the creature while cradling Jenn in her arms, "Leave her alone."
Gwen burst out of the roof of the house, "I've had enough of this." She said as she flew upon the wind. She turned through the air then dove straight down on the creature when something hit her broadside and she came crashing down to the ground causing a long crater in the next door lawn. She could feel a heavy weight upon her chest and when she opened her eyes she found Akaime on top of her.
"Well hello there." He said with a sinister smile, "What do we have here?"
Gwen shoved Akaime off with such force that he flew backwards and crashed into a wooden fence, "So you finally show yourself." Gwen got to her feet and brushed herself off, "You really thought you could escape death did you?" She jumped at the man, crossed her arms in front of herself, and shoved him through a wall.
"This is insane!" Jessica stated, watching the two fight, "I vote we get out of here."
"What about that?" Kima asked not being able to take her eyes off Jenn's mother.
"It's a zombie." Jessica said, "Zombies are slow." She patted Kris on the back, "Let's go!" She started to run down the street with the other following.
"Alright." Kris lifted Jenn off the ground and chased after the group.
Suddenly, Jenn's mother appeared in front of Jessica and knocked her to the side with one swift stroke of it's frail arms, causing the girl to skid across the road and roll onto a lawn.
Kim skid to a stop, "I thought she said they were slow?" She asked worriedly.
"This is a nightmare." Natalie said rushing over to Jessica's side to see if she was all right. Her arm was scrapped up badly and she was bleeding slightly.
"No kidding." Kima agreed.
"That is not what I mean." Natalie shook her head while helping Jessica to her feet, "It is Jenn's nightmare and we are reliving it. That thing has all the power of Jenn's fears behind it."
"Then how to we stop it." Jessica asked through the pain while cradling her arm close to her body.
"I could stall it if we had my knives." Natalie said in frustration.
"I'd wish for a large gun." Jessica chuckled.
"We have to get Jenn to face it." Kris stated with a sorrowful sigh and glanced down at the sleeping child in her arms, "Or she will be haunted by this image till the end of her days."
Kima backed up as the zombie moved closer. She then abruptly stopped, "I'll hold it off." She said faking every amount of bravery that she could muster.
"Are you insane?" Natalie exclaimed, "That thing-"
"Is only after Jenn." Kima noted, "I know how these creatures of dream work. I'm part dream myself, am I not?" She inquired, not getting an answer, "Look it simply pushed Jessica and yet it didn't kill her so it is only after Jenn. It won’t kill me, I'll meet up with you at the school."
"But?" Kim started to protest.
"Go!" Kima commanded then threw herself at the creature tackling it to the ground.
"Come on!" Jessica ordered, running off towards the school.
********
The air cracked with the sounds of commotion and battle. Alyson's ears perked up at the noise, she favoured anything then this inane silence. She found herself more and more overcome with worry since her encounter with Akaime and the longer she searched the more anxious she found herself becoming. She thought nothing could be worse then the silence until she heard the first crash followed closely by many others. These new sounds made her even tenser as she rushed down the street in the direction of the disturbance. Wishing with every step that her friends were unharmed. Then she saw some figures appear from down a side street and turn down the street away from her and continue to run away. She was about to call out to them when she saw another set of figures stumble after them and fall to the ground. As she got closer she realize that it was one of the twins struggling with someone or something. Sensing the urgency in the girl's movements Alyson quickened her pace as the two tumbled across the road. The red head grabbed the creature tightly as it tried with all its might to toss the girl off. Alyson noted evidently that the girl had to be the reflection and hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should bother to help or just continue on after the others, however something inside of her would not allow her to just run away like that. She let out a frustrated sigh and unsheathed her sword.
"Do you need some help there?" Alyson asked as she approached the struggle.
"A... Alyson..." Kima panted as she rolled on top of the creature and pinned it to the ground, "Please..."
Alyson casually walked around the girl and twirled the sword around then brought the tip straight down on the creatures, piercing the head and nailing it to the ground. The creature twitched a few times then stopped moving. Kima let it go and squirmed away from the thing while wiping her hands on her pants.
"That was nasty." Kima stated with a bad taste in her mouth, "Is it dead?"
Alyson shrugged, "I don't know." She made no attempt to remove the sword from the monster's head, "What is going on here?" Alyson asked.
"That is Jenn's mother." Kima explained while standing to her feet, "It’s after Jenn and there is this other guy with some kind of mask fighting an angel over there." She pointed over her shoulder where the sounds of the battle could still be heard, "I stayed behind to stall that thing." She said with disgust.
"The masked man would be Akaime." Alyson replied scanning the battle scene as tree fell in the distance, "We'd better find the girls. That man is more of a monster then this thing." She nodded towards the corpse.
"Then what do we do?" Kima anxiously asked.
Alyson finally freed her sword from the creature’s head, wiped it off with a rag she produced from her back pocket and tossed the rag upon the corpse, "We find the others and get out of here." She stated, sheathing her sword and starting in the direction she saw the girl's running.
*****
To be Continued...
*****
Note: The world of the Shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams.
This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts page at: <a href="http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/ " target="_blank">http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/ </a>
For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts page at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159
Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com