A Beast with a Smile
Chapter 16 (Scarlett): Welcome to the Jungle

Elly landed on the ground with me in her arms. For the second time in the same week she had saved me from a deadly fall by carrying me like a newlywed.

She set me down in the darkness; I could barely see her until her armor began to glow a bright yellow tint. Archy’s armor also began to illuminate further in the distance; it was a bronze tint that made everything look like the color of a brand-new penny. He had already walked a far distance from us and was pushing some trees out of the way. Yes, trees. Full grown ones at that. And thick trunked. This fifteen-year-old was pushing them out of the way like they were twigs in mud.

At a closer glance, the part of the trees where Archy touched had begun to disintegrate into pieces of sparkling white light that flowed toward Archy.

“Is this what he meant by spare light?” I asked Elly.

“Yeah, that’s what he calls it. It’s what gives him the ability to create stuff out of thin air.”

“It’s called the conservation of mass. Matter cannot be created nor destroyed, only remastered,” Archy stated in a flat voice.

“Rearranged.” Elly chimed in.

Archy gave her an annoyed look, then continued, “I absorb particles from the things I destroy and recreate them as new objects. However, I can only create as much as I take. When I run out of light, I run out of my abilities.”

“How do you know when you’re out? It’s not like you can count every little particle that enters your body.”

“I just kind of feel it.”

“Really? That’s it? A feeling?” I asked astonished,

“Well you feel hunger when you don’t consume food. You feel thirsty when you need water. You feel tired when you lack rest. I feel empty without light.”

Archy had created a path of broken trees that could’ve been made by an elephant stampede. The small snowflakes of light that flowed all around Archy like tentacles had latched onto his arms and legs. He walked towards the middle of the sea of lights and the tentacles wrapped tighter around his penny like body. The light was bright enough for me to see in the pitch black and I noticed Elly’s annoyed countenance. She held one hand on her side while rolling her eyes at Archy. Her eyes met mine and her expression faded at an instant.

“You ever see Star Wars?” she asked.

I raised an eyebrow in response to her odd question. She raised her hands mimicking a T-Rex and shot an arc of lightning right at Archy.

He screeched in pain and fell to the illuminated floor, “ELLY! What did you do that for?”

“You were showing off”

“No, I wasn’t,” he argued back.

“Uh-huh.”

“Nun-huh,” they bickered.

Archy jumped to his feet and braced for Elly’s charge. I grabbed her by the waist seconds before the two clashed. I held one hand on Archy’s head. He wasn’t much smaller than me, but I was still able to hold back his fury of claws that he swung at Elly while she attempted to do the same.

“Let me go,” they both said, struggling to get out of my grasp.

“When you start acting like adults. Come on, you have abilities that people can’t even dream of, yet you’re bickering like children.”

They were children… children doomed by a disease named Atom. They will never get a normal childhood. Never had or will ever get the love and care from their mother’s embrace. Instead they were turned into something outside the grace of reality and told to fight for Atoms sick twisted gain.

I picked up Archy and pulled them in as tight as possible.

“Suffocating… me…help,” Elly squeezed out of her crushed lungs.

Realizing my mistake, I released them, and both gasped for air.

“No more group hugs for a while. My ribs can’t take the punishment,” Elly cried out, crawling away on the ground.

“Agreed. How did you pick us up? These are super suits. They aren’t supposed to be tossed around like oversized rag dolls.”

“She’s got abilities too, Archy.”

“What?” I inquired, astonished.

“Yeah, you’re strong like Scavenger. Didn’t you see what you did to Tyler? You should, because you know you did slap him across a room and rip his arm off,” Elly said with excitement.

I could see blue sparks in her eyes.

“I was just upset that he hurt you. I didn’t mean to….”

“It was self-defense. He slapped you. What were you supposed to do? Sit there and apologize for hurting his hand on your skull?”

“Scarlett, right? Thank you,” Archy said, reforming the group, “You saved my sister and I can’t thank you enough.”

“Oh, you’re well...”

“Although, you still crashed my car, so you owe me a new one,” he said, cutting me off.

Elly closed my dropped jaw, then tapped it to make sure it was secure.

“Don’t worry about him, that’s the closest I’ve ever seen him get to gratitude. But thank you for getting us out of there. I’m not sure I would be, well, un-dead if you weren’t there,” she said smiling.

“I just can’t seem to get a word out today. Everyone’s just cutting me off,” I said, smiling back at her.

A twig snapped in the distance and both Archy and Elly suited up instantly. They both turned towards the source of the sound, then at each other. Archy signaled with some hand gestures to get down. I laid belly first on the damp ground where Archy’s light was still flowing towards him. The trees began to sway in the distance and birds flocked to the sky.

“What is it?” I asked.

They both held turned to me and pressed a finger on their lips. Twigs began to snap all around us.

“I didn’t think that they would replace us this fast,” Archy whispered.

“We both know what’s in this forest and so do they,” Elly responded.

They both turned to me. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to understand they meant me. Tyler was coming for his prized trophy, me.

The trees rattled from the mysterious movement. I saw no lights and couldn’t hear anything but the crunch of trees with each pounding shake. I was able to ride the shock wave with my bouncing body.

The crash would come, and I could feel the ground rubber band into my gut. I was getting sick from the fluid-like movement and grew closer to adding fluid to that environment. A massive oak forgot to shout timber as it fell ungracefully back to the soil. The tree landed near Archy’s laser light show and kicked up some blinding dirt. When I regained my stolen sight both Archy and Elly had reattached their glowing helmets.

“How many are there?” I whispered.

She held her finger out for the number one. More twigs snapped in the trees directly in front of us. Through the darkness I could see the outline of a massive creature. The smell of blood engulfed the air; the creature’s head extended through the tree’s, sniffing, searching for his next snack. Its scaly black skin shined in the moonlight; the bright red eyes gleamed in the darkness scanning the area for its prey.

The creature took another step out of the shadows and shook the earth. The monster was one straight out of a museum. It shouldn’t exist, and it definitely shouldn’t be in New Mexico.

It took deep and heavy breaths and growled as his head swayed back and forth. He sniffed the air, looking for fresh meat, and walked fully out of the shadow. He walked slowly towards our position.

I looked at my two companions who had abandoned me. His massive foot crushed the crumbled oak and sent paper airplane size splinters directly at my head. I threw my head down and couldn’t force back the screamed. His head snapped onto my bitesize body. He let out a menacing roar and charged right for me.

I did what any sane person would do, I ran away.

The pursuit had only just begun.