Toka-Ace #1: The Re-Emergence
Chapter 20

On one side of the clearing was me, Eugene, and Ivan. One the other side stood three members of Tovlin. In the middle stood some innocent bystanders. They collected their unconscious friend.

I knew the bystanders wouldn’t matter to Tovlin. That meant that I would have to take the fight away from here.

“Listen to me, Eugene, Ivan,” I said. “The two of you need to get back to your aunt’s house and you need to get going right now. If anyone follows you run. She’ll explain everything to you, but things here are about to get real ugly.”

Eugene and Ivan looked at each other hesitant to trust me.

“Go now!” I snapped.

One of the men drew a gun and aimed it at Ivan. Faster than he could aim, I fired a bolt of electricity that hit his hand. He dropped the gun. It went off when it hit the ground and there was a scream. The bystanders ran and shoved to get away from the clearing.

The Tovlin members were fixated on me, Eugene, and Ivan.

“Hurry up and go to your aunt’s house,” I ordered.

The trees stretched above us and the campfire crackled between us.

The three men spread out inching apart to flank me. I raised my guard and lowered into a fighting stance.

“Find your way to your aunt’s house.” I said. “I’ll hold these three off.” Eugene and Ivan didn’t wait a moment longer. They took the path behind me and made their escape.

They dropped their holograms. Instead of androids, there was something quite different standing before me.

They had heads like wolves and eagles’ wings. Their muzzles were drawn back in a snarl revealing sharp teeth glistening with saliva. Their ears were triangular and swept back and they stood on two legs that had the knee-joint bent backwards. Short, rough, gray fur covered their entire bodies. The worst part-though it was all pretty horrific- was that they had four arms that ended with sharp talon-like claws, and legs that ended in talons.

“What kind of androids are you?” I wondered. I was not supplied with an answer.

Clearly Tovlin was getting more serious about collecting what they saw as theirs. They were going to completely forego subtlety and come full force at us. Whoever got in their way, well that was just going to be unfortunate for them.

The three predators had me surrounded and were snarling and flexing their claws. It was like an old gunslinger movie.

Sparks of electricity jumped off my body as I waited for the first move.

We all unfroze at once.

I was charged from my right. I turned and let a blast of electricity loose. It hit its target dead center. It fell back and knocked over the grill.

The other two charged. I turned to fire at them, or tried to…

I was tackled. I fell to the ground and hit my head hard. One of them pinned my arms down. The other stood over me and drew two killing claws back.

The razor sharp claws cracked the air coming at my throat for the kill. I jerked to one side as hard as I could to avoid the blow. The claws just missed the back of my head.

The one that was holding me used its second pair of hands to pin my shoulders to hold me still, claws digging in to me and drawing blood.

The claws drew back again. I drew back my feet and aimed them carefully.

Faster than the claws could come back, I fired a shockwave from my feet. My attacker let out a howl as he went falling backwards.

I concentrated and grabbed the wrist of the one still holding me. Sparks crackled around my hand and I gave as big of an electric shock as I could muster.

There was another howl and its body twitched and jerked violently.

It released its hold on me. It was barely standing. Before it could fall, I grabbed it by the arm. I swung and threw it at the companion that I hit with a shock wave.

I willed a sword into my hand.

The three had regrouped. They stood glaring at me, the fur on their backs stood on end and they flared the feathers on their wings. They looked at one another.

“Come on!” I said raising my sword. “You’re not so tough! Come on!”

The one in the center charged at me. The two other shot up into the trees. It swung its claws at me. I blocked with my sword.

The blows were so forceful that I almost lost my grip on the weapon. I blocked an attack that came for my throat. It quickly hopped to my left to seize an opening.

Razor sharp nails aimed at my stomach, my eyes, and my throat. I blocked them. The creature would attack and then immediately try to replace a new angle to attack from. The battle became a frenzy heat of slashing claws clanging and ringing out against the steel of my sword.

I parried an attack that was aimed at my throat. My attacker’s momentum carried him past me. I used the momentary opening to kick him in the back. The kick planted him face down in the dirt.

I raised my sword to finish the thing off, and at that moment felt something hit me hard in the back. Then I hit the ground hard.

The other two had being waiting, watching and sizing me up. They waited until I was off guard and then swooped in.

I turned over and swung my sword. My two attackers jumped back.

The fire had spread and I realized that I had lost track of the third. A surprise attack could come at any time from any angle.

The trees that surrounded us had become a wall of flames. Fire crackled around us, mercilessly consuming, flaring up and growing more, the air around us becoming hotter and hotter.

I began to sweat and my vision blurred. My body began to hurt. A stinging sensation made all the muscles in my body ache and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to hold up much longer. My two opponents became black blobs against a bright orange flare.

One of them charged me. It hit me with a hammer blow; the shot caught me in my head and chest knocking the wind out of me. I was unconscious for a moment unable to feel a thing before the pain of hitting the ground registered. The black blob was over me again and reflexively I raised my sword.

One slow moment passed, then another. I felt the heaviness on the end of my blade.

My vision became clear for a moment and then I realized what happened. The creature‘s face was only inches from mine. I was able to see the eyes go dull as the life drained out of it. I felt the muscles slacken and the body grew heavy on my blade.

I let go of the sword and used my sleeve to quickly rub my eyes as I got to my feet.

I saw clearly now what had happened. The blade of my sword was stuck in the creature’s throat. Blood gushed from the wound. With a few last pathetic gasps for breath it was gone. The kill had been a lucky one.

I willed for my wings to appear. Two gigantic crow-like wings sprouted from my back. I flapped and one wing beat lifted me into the air. I needed fresh air, so that the heat and smoke wouldn’t kill me. I flapped again and rose higher. My opponent snarled and bent its legs; he spread his wings as though he was going to come after me.

I readied myself for the attack.

Suddenly, I felt something heavy on my back. Jaws began to close on my neck. Wildly, I thrashed trying to throw the off wolf-like creature before the killing bite.

I fell from the sky, but it still held on to me. The ground rushed up. At the last moment, I twisted my body using the wolf-like alien to break my fall.

We hit the ground together and hard. I landed on top of the thing. It let out a whimpering howl as my weight forced the wind from its lungs.

The remaining one leapt at me. “RRrrwwwaaarrr!!!”

I threw out a desperate shockwave from my hand and knocked it back.

It hit the trunk of a burning tree hard and a branch fell on it, lighting its fur and feathers on fire. The creature stopped moving.

I rose to my feet. The last remaining were-wolf alien rose to his feet.

Its orange eye, accentuated by the fire, stared at me with a furious intensity. He hungered for revenge for his fallen comrades. He wanted my blood. He flexed his four razor-sharp claws and bared his fangs at me. The bloodlust on his face was apparent.

My body began to sting again. I had scored two lucky kills against these things.

I stared down my enemy.

Only one of us is going to walk out of this alive, I thought, which means it sucks to be you.

Then his ears twitched. His muzzle lowered and he looked away and seemed to be listening to something.

Seconds later, I heard sirens.

The wolf creature moved quickly, but it wasn’t an attack. He picked up his dead brother, and then moved the burning branch off the head of his other dead brother. He gathered their bodies up and flew away. He disappeared into the thick smoke.

Did I just win? I wondered. Then I quickly realized, no, he just didn’t want to be around when the fire department showed up.

I needed to get out of here too before the effects of the fire completely overtook me. I willed for my wings to appear and I flew away.