The Animal

“Stop shouting at me, that doesn’t help, I am trying to remember...”

Lenna didn’t pay attention to the fight; she even was too busy thinking to react normally in her case to the entire room shooting. Which would be whining like a little girl, covering her ears and hiding in a corner . Now that her team was complete again, she was sure they would make certain that their geek wouldn’t get shot.

The other the one that looked like a thing that comes out when you put a bear, mountain lion, deer and some other animals in a pot mix them all together must be the...

“The skin walker, but what does this? Kill it....”

That is killing me to know I know the answer but I can’t find it in my head. There is a arrow and this symbol... what does this all mean?

Suddenly Lenna dropped to her knees and holding her head; it looked as she was hurt.

Jeez, that hell of a skin walker is tough...
Georgina pointed the gun at the skin walker and shot, but the silver bullets would just not kill this creature, although she was taught that it normally would. She had to be careful because the cave was not very large and it was easy to accidently shot at one of the others. She quickly looked around and saw Elenna kneeling down as if she was hurt. Something wasn't right, she could tell from the expression on Elenna's face. Georgina focused on the skin walker again, shooting a second time. There was smoke rising from the skin walker, but it did not react.
Next time I'm going to fight a skin walker I shouldn't wear a mini skirt and high heels. That's definitely not the best outfit for a shooting. Well, for a photo shooting perhaps...
Georgina took a quick look at Elenna again, checking if she was okay. She was still kneeling on the floor.

The fight was intense. And they seemed to be losing it.

Danila was tired of this close-range fighting. The sword was apparently useless (or so he assumed, since no other silver was working... why the hell did he bring that thing, anyways?!), the pistols were useless, and range was too close for a rifle.

So he did the only logical thing: he dropped back and took careful aim. One shot. All he needed was one shot. The head always worked, right? Of course, it seemed you couldn't be sure of anything now. . .

He brought the crosshairs across the creature's skull. Damn, this thing was hard to follow. . . did it have to move so fast?

Finally. It stood still for a couple seconds. Danila quickly lined up the shot, pulled the trigger, and. . .

BAM! The recoil knocked him backwards slightly. Served him right for shoulder-firing a .50-cal rifle. Not only was he knocked backwards, but the echo of the large rifle firing in such a small space was deafening.

As soon as Danila had recovered his balance (and some of his hearing), he looked up to see what damage he had done. What he saw was shocking and morbid. The bullet had passed clean through the Skin Walker's skull but hadn't killed it. The skin around the hole was sizzling, but it also seemed to be. . . closing back up?

The wound healed. A shot that would split most human's torsos in half had no frakking effect on this monster.

It looked up at him, a malevolent, vicious grin spread across its face. It snarled something, but Danila didn't have time to make out the wording. He was too busy trying to dodge.

Not that dodging helped. Danila found himself pressed against the wall by his throat, unable to breathe. "I ztruck a nerve, eh?" he rasped, using what little air he could force through his windpipe to taunt the monster.

Okay, maybe taunting wasn't such a good idea in this situation. The Skin Walker grinned maliciously. Wordlessly, it twisted his neck at an unnatural angle, smashed his head into the wall, and threw him aside like a bag of potatoes.

Danila lay unconscious on the floor, blood dripping from the back of his skull. After shooting the monster in the head. How could anyone expect to kill this thing?

Rawson carefully steadied himself on his feet, blinking a few times in an effort to make the world stay still for a minute. The gun was loaded, safety off. He was going all the way up the torso if he could- gut shot, neck shot, head shot.

The first shot went off as planned. As did the second. And the skinwalker looked decidedly unimpressed with his latest ritual-victim-gone-wild. Neck wounds bled. A lot. Even if they quickly sealed up and healed. Okay. One more, and, yes! A palpable hit. Rawson looked up to see a furious skin walker looking like it was ready to chew him up and wear his skin. Ugh. And it looked dazed for a moment, but clearly wasn't particularly fazed by the blows. And he felt his knees threatening to buckle. Which was just his luck today.

Lenna stood up, realizing that it wasn’t safe to kneel on the floor. She turned around and saw Raws shooting at the walker, without really affecting it.

Well at least he is shooting, but damnit why can’t I remember what this drawing means? Danila is bleeding, that doesn’t look to good here. They are all waiting for me. All they need to know where and how to hit it. Gosh is that possible I am a walking encyclopedia of weirdness but I can’t remember this one lore?

Lenna walked slowly, so that she didn’t attract any attention, backwards. She was still pale and scared and giving herself a hard time not knowing the answer of a question.

Oh my God I am Hermione Granger.

Rawson was busy trying to aim at it in the shadows. And berating the rest of the Scooby Gang of Supernatural Sleuths. Seriously. He brought good aim and muscle and guns. Someone else was supposed to know how to kill it!

"Any of you so called 'Hunters' wanna act like a frackin' professional here? 'Oh, it's a skinwalker!' 'Oh, it's an evil thing that does x, y, and z.' What would really help is if you could figure out how to kill it! Gods, did you people all show up here with no intel?"

This is insane!

Allison moved from her spot on the floor to check out the Russian. He was unconscious and bleeding, but his breathing was steady. She didn't have a chance to check any deeper. The creature pinned her to the ground so every time she inhaled she received a mouthful of dirt. Aly coughed and struggled. Its breath was on her neck, then its blade. Was it going to skin her right there?

She managed to move just enough so she could shake it off her, but not before her already torn shirt had more blood added to it. It had been white--now it was white striped with brown and crimson.

It slashed at her leg, tearing her pants to ribbons. Another deeper slash to her stomach--not deep enough though.

Again the need to flee entered her mind. A wind from outside stirred up the dust as if to cover her escape, but she refused. Aly landed a few good blows to his face with her fists, but it did no good--not that she expected it to--but it gave her a chance to back away before being clobbered again, this time against the wall of the cave.

The Skin Walker hoped that by crushing the head of the biggest threat they offered at the moment was indication enough that it was entirely done playing games. They had walked in on its ritual, freed the alpha twin, and were making its day out to be a very bad one indeed with how much silver was flying through the air. Yes. He was done.

Shrugging off a silver bullet to its head, while strenuous, was another indication that it was ready to squash these proto-Hunters like the rats they were.

After slamming the tall male's head against the cavern wall, making the entire structure shake ominously, the Skin Walker turned on the small pink female with a roar. Its hand sprouted claws and a great bulk before knocking her to the other end of the room, where she lay like a dead rabbit. The taller, darker female had already been dealt with.

That left the Remington twins and the smaller dark one, which they seemed to be protecting. This last one was the one it had encountered today at the library. Honest, highly intelligent, but with a naivety and timidity that was a shockingly dangerous combination. Clearly, she had been sheltered by these two for far too long. She would prove an excellent persuasion, then, to get the others to stand down.

After all, it wanted these twins alive. Preferably.

So the Skin Walker swept them aside with brute strength instead of killing strength, and took the shrieking girl up by the front of her clothes. She wriggled and twisted in his grasp, but helplessly, and it stopped to enjoy the despair coming off the tiny creature in waves. It smelled delicious.

"Lay down your weapons," it growled, low, but easily understood by any who were left conscious. "Or the girl dies."

"You frakking son of a bitch! Let go of her!" Rome cried, raising his gun, before the ultimatum registered.

Okay, bad idea. He lowered the weapon quickly, as if trying to hide it. The Skinjob turned an evil glare on him, and smiled. The I've won smile that Rome hated enough when Rawson flashed it at him, much more so from an evil frakker that was going to kill Elenna!

Rawson had raised his rifle up, taking aim, ignoring the warning, but Rome put his hand on it. "No, don't! It's gonna kill her!"

Rawson raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes on the monster and the girl.

"And your point is?" People really needed to remember to remain calm in the middle of a job. "Though I suppose if we can't kill it there's no reason for her to die. Can anyone tell me where to shoot yet? And don't look at me like that. I get the shot, I'm taking it, before any more of us end up like she will."

Honestly. Goody-two-shoes really shouldn't be in a firefight. And what was it with Rome and damsels in distress? Is it an unfortunate result of my brother's over-developed sex drive?

“Let me go! They won’t listen to your threats. They know as well as I know what it means to be a hunter, I rather die than let you get away. Rome, Raws when you dare to listen to it I swear you will have a major pissed off spirit haunting you FOREVER!” Coughed Lenna. She was for the first time she looked really at the skin walker. His eyes where shiny and in a weird way pretty.

So this was what her father censored as a "Charlie fox". Allison slowly raised her hands, leaving the gun in the back of her pants.

"You don't want to kill her...she's weak...the brain of the operation sure, but she would make really bad...ah, corpse powder. You want someone strong, right? KGB is out for the count, so's Barbie--take us three--Rome, Raws and I. Let the others go. They really serve no purpose to you."

She moved slowly toward the skin walker just like she would an armed suspect. She didn't think this would really work, but maybe it would see her as a more profitable hostage. She was within reaching distance.

"Com'on--take me instead."

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Rome breathed, and then threw his gun down and stepped forward. "Look, Dog Breath. It's me you want. I'm a twin, right? I'll work for your little ritual."

"Rome!"

"Shut up, Raws! And you get back, Allison. Look, ugly, it's me you want, right? I guarantee all these people will leave quietly if you just put the girl down and give them time to go."

Rome was dangerously close to the thing now, which cocked its head at him, like he was amused. Wow, now would be a great time to shoot it. It's like it doesn't believe its luck. Or how retarded I am.

Strike that. How retarded we all are.

His brother and the girl were idiots. Genuine idiots. Honestly! One girl was already going to die. And now two more were in clawing range trying to play hero?

"Romulus!" He was nearly growling. "Basic training- you do not negotiate with terrorists." Then, more to himself, "though I think they meant more Middle East problems, not creatures from folklore with no value for human or other creature life."

He was strongly tempted to roll his eyes as he kept his gun aimed at the creature's head and took a couple of slow steps forward. If he could push it back with a head shot long enough for them to get away... that could work. They knew it wasn't faster than a bullet. That would minimize the potential casualties to one.

"Rome. Lenna." He drew out the words as a warning.

The book. Hahahahaha that is too easy. I saw it in the book in the car. Hold on I turned the page when Rome had his vision thingy and the book slipped from my lap but I saw the picture of the drawing. But what does it say, the symbol, the arrow...

And suddenly Elenna started smiling at the skin walker; she looked a little bit as if she had the best day in her live or just lost her mind.

... The eye in the drawing was read, the right eye. That’s it. It’s weak spot is the right eye and it is silver that kills is. How stupid can I be?

Lenna couldn't really see where Raws hit the skin walker but he did. It winced in pain of the silver that burned a hole in it. And suddenly he felt the same burning pain when something touched his arm.

I knew the bracelet would help me one day.

Lenna’s bracelet left a brand mark on the skin walker, but he had dropped her. She was still madly grinning when she crawled to Aly.

“Aim for the right eye, just do what I say, don’t ask why!” Shouted Lenna to her friends.

That actually worked better than expected.

Rawson was concentrating on continuing to hit it. Center of mass worked best, but he was alternating between trying to slow it down with chest shots, and taking head shots. Make sure that only one person's reloading at a time. And decidedly not letting himself worry about where Rome had run off to.

"You couldn't have given us a larger target?" Rawson yelled over the sounds of gunshots. "I mean, really? One friggin' eye? Why not the foot, or the hand or a foot? At least the hairline or the mouth- this one's got a huge mouth, let me tell you!"

Gun down, reload, bring it back up. He was getting dizzyer and hadn't quite stopped bleeding. This had to end soon or it wasn't going to end well for him.

Aly was more concerned with Elenna. She put herself in front of the girl just in case the walker tried anything again. Then she trained her gun on it and opened fire--but the damn thing moved so fast.

"Damn--I must have put a whole round into it earlier!" Now it knew they knew how to kill it and it did not wish to give them the chance.

The Skin Walker did not know fear. He was Nathaniel Roarke, Diné Witch, The Shadow That Walks. He feared no man.

But that these runts now knew his weakness was...unsettling. It was only a legend. It need not be true. And in it's current form it could outrun any arrow or bullet. The few hits it had thus far taken were because of the sheer volume of the stuff flying through the air, or close proximity, or when the cowards shot him from behind.

So the Skin Walker ducked back into a side-passage. It knew these caves, and they did not, and could easily lose them and surprise them.

But it would return. And it would taste blood before they knew to scream.

It was getting smarter. Or, more likely, it was no longer toying with them. It didn't want to get hit. Joy. Note the sarcasm.

There was no way they were going to get out of the caves- they were in the creature's lair. But they could mount a decent defensive stance. If they planned it right.

"Get behind the altar thing." He shouted to the room in general- or, rather, the two girls who were still up and at it. "It gives better visibility and some cover. Elenna, FBI lets move!"

Rawson took the initiative, picking up Rome's gun for safekeeping on his way back to the altar.

In the time it took Allison to blink it had left. She stood stunned for a moment then grabbed Elenna pulling her behind the altar. She used the time to reload her gun too.

"You alright?" She looked at Lenna. The girl could only nod.

She rested her head on the cold stone and sighed.

"We need some way of slowing it down."

Rawson glanced at her. "No shit Sherlock!"

Roarke ran into the tunnels.

He ran from the threat. From his death. From the Hunters.

Ah, pathetic hunters. The kind that went down easy. Sure, they all fought, but they had all died eventually. They had all come to their own demises, gutted and worn as battle trophies. Just like these would be.

Then again, something was. . . different with these Hunters. They weren't like the others. They had put up a good fight. Hell, they had forced him to run - nobody had ever forced him to run before. At least, not like this.

Running. Running. He thought about it. This was new. This was different. He felt an instinctual fear of these people, something that said he couldn't beat them. Something that said to get away while he still could. Something he should have listened to.

But wait, what was this? Afraid of mere humans? No, no, this was all wrong. They were weaklings. He was power incarnate. A true wielder of pure darkness. They would pay, just like the other hunters. In fact, they would pay more simply because they had hurt him more. Nobody hurts a Skin Walker and lives. Not this Skin Walker. Not this time. These sons and daughters of bitches were going down like clay pigeons.

Then again, he wasn't going back in without a plan. Without some unexpected advantage. Luckily, the tunnel system around here gave him the perfect advantage - a half dozen ways to get in and out of the cave. He smirked again, this time they'd all die. Painfully.

He worked his way through the tunnels. Quickly. There was no way they could even know there were other tunnels in the cave yet. He entered the cave swiftly but noiselessy.

The brunette was looking at him. His "partner" from the FBI. Perfect.

Roarke was upon her before she could even utter a squeak. His talons ripped into her stomach-flesh, piercing clean through as he held her by the neck. He let go, pulling back and throwing her across the room. She shrieked at an ear-shattering pitch. . . just before her body slammed into the wall. You could actually hear cracking sounds as her body fell limp to the floor. The Skin Walker beamed - it almost seemed like there was actually darkness shining out of his very presence. Like the room was darker with him there.

Suddenly, he sniffed. Something in here smelled terrible, and it wasn't just the humans. What was that. . . oh no. Oh fucking spirit of darkness, NO. The smell was gasoline. And suddenly his back felt very, very wet.

Rome had, by luck or fate, found a pretty solid enclave to hide in, and there he was going to stay until that damn thing was dead. It wasn't like he was going to get much done after he clicked empty.

Then things had gone silent for a second, and Rome decided taking a peek outside was worth the risk. Nothing. Well, no, not nothing. Something. His backpack, abandoned by the altar, which was only a few feet away.

He grabbed it without considering whether it was a bad idea or not, and dodged back to his hiding place. He didn't see the others, or the Skin Walker. Time then, good. Because he distinctly remembered Elenna saying something about Wendigos--he was pretty sure that was what this guy was wearing now--being vulnerable to fire. It was a pretty good bet it would do something, anyway.

Rome quietly and slowly twisted the lid off the canister of gasoline and doused his backpack with it after removing everything else. Then he readied his lighter and waited, hoping the smell wasn't as obvious and vomit-inducing as it was in his small hidden corner.

And then--this had to be luck--the Skin Walker literally walked right out in front of him. Perhaps the gasoline masked his own smell? Maybe it really was a big dumb animal. Maybe throwing Allison into a wall had something to do with it. Either way. Score.

The flaming backpack collided with the creature like something out of the movies. It shrieked and arched its back, but was burning quickly, like it was made out of old leaves.

"Wrong dress to wear to the prom, Dog Breath!" Rome shouted triumphantly. And then he ducked, because Rawson was opening fire.

The altar was a good idea. Unfortunately, the skinwalker was now moving faster than sight, rather than just too fast to fight easily. One moment they were behind the altar, and the next FBI was bleeding all over the ground. And then Rome was there, spewing insults with glee. There was fire with Rome and the cave smelled like burning flesh and Rawson tried to breath through his mouth.

It was disgusting, but it provided a great opportunity. Raising his gun and squinting through the smoke, he tried to get a clear shot at the b******* face. One shot, and another, and a few more. And they were all hitting. He realized that the skinwalker was definitely slowing down for the moment. While it was burning, he might actually be able to make the Hail Mary kill shot. They could finish this.

She sneered at Rawson just like a little girl to an ornery boy. He didn't trust her or want her there--that was obvious.

Aly got up after checking again on Elenna and paced the room. There was nothing there that could help them, even upon closer inspection. She blinked--one harmless blink--and it came from no where. Claws slashed across her back turning her around to face it. She raised her gun only to have it swiped from her hand. Aly could taste blood as the claws sliced into her flesh.

It swung with the other hand smacking her against the wall.

Aly couldn't breathe, couldn't move--all she could do was watch as the creature moved to disembowel her.

Then Rome reappeared and the creature was engulfed in flames. She wanted to point out that flames in such close quarters was a very bad idea, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. Through the smoke she could make out Raws with the gun. He had a chance...and then everything went black, or tried to. She could no longer understand what was going on. She was more focused on staying alive now anyway.

Please, if there's a god--don't let me wake up with my skin being pealed away

Roarke screeched in fury. The runt of a man had lit him on fire. What was this?! How had he let him. . .

He could barely see. Something about this particular torture fille dhim with an animal rage. An inability to think clearly. He tore the clothing from his body, but somehow his flesh was burning.

Gasoline. Godsdamnit.

He turned to the runt viciously. He would rip him limb-from-limb. The pitiful human would pay for this. He would pay like no man had ever paid before.

He growled at the man but said very clearly, "You are going to p--"

He was cut off by a bullet. A bullet ripping through his throat and coming out in his mouth.

Well, This was new. And it would end.

"You're next," he snarled at Rome before turning. The other runt was aiming a rifle at him. A few rounds went through his head dangerously close to spot on. He couldn't even see clearly now through the rage.

No, this was wrong. This was all wrong. . .