Auria

Chapter 13 - Fight or Flight

Auria sat and stared at the bird-man standing all alone by a tall tree.  He refused to come near and she refused to leave the nestled brush-pile on the side of a hill.

“Can you understand me?” she asked.

The bird stared for a moment, held its beak high into the air and flapped both massive wings in a show of size and strength, and mouthed a single word.

“No.”
“Good.” said Auria.  “I want you to be my eyes up there in the sky, and I'll help you by letting both of us distract and attack someone else.  Can you trust me?”
“No.” it mouthed again, still holding its beak high.

The alien flapped both wings and dove off down the hill in a flurry of whooshing leaves and dust.  Very few leaves covered the trees, making it easy for Auria to see the bird-man's ascent, though she soon became distracted and lost track of his where-abouts.

'That was not what I would have done.' thought 238.
'But, he's gone.  That's all that matters.'
'He's circling, tracking your location right now.'
'I'm going to trust him.  He won't bother me and I'll leave this scraggly pile behind.' she thought.
'He never agreed to help.'
'Neither did I, but he seemed pretty shaky about the situation.'
'The only reason I would have been so nervous, is if someone else was there, watching.'

At that moment, something large pounced atop her brush pile, rolling it and Auria down the hillside.  The creature shown black as night, almost purple in the sharp sunlight, holding itself aloft on four muscular legs, sporting a long tail.  Four fangs extended the length of a hand from its mouth.  It roared a trembling shriek as Auria tried to stop herself from sliding farther down the hill.  She felt the roar penetrating her bones.  A nervous condition took over the girl's thoughts and she lost control for a moment.

'Run!' thought 238.
'I'm trying.  My leg is caught.'

The monster lept, smashing the remaining brush-pile, sliding it farther down the hill.  Suddenly, large, gray wings swept around the black beast, forcing it to jostle over and over to remove the burdensome attacker.  Auria crawled from beneath the limbs covered in blood.  She made for the two and jumped, planting both feet into the black creature's head, while it continued to fight off the bird-man's stabbing beak.

Regrouping to collect her wits, she grabbed a large branch and clubbed the beast, just between the stabbing attacks of the sharp beak.  The bird flinched, releasing its wings from around the unconscious beast's body.

'He's down.' she thought.
'Kill them both.' thought 238.
'No.'
'Thank him, then.'
“Thank you.” she said.  “High five?”

She held up an open hand.  The bird-man held up four fingers attached to long wings and looked to her open hand.  It dabbled its own fingers, working them up and down, incapable of returning the gesture.  The bird flapped twice and flew, trailing a gusting torrent of leaves and dust.

'You're going to have to kill him,' thought 238, 'or they will kill you both.'
'I'll cross that bridge when I get there.' she thought.
'What bridge?'
'It's a saying.'
'Oh.  Like not putting your eggs in one basket.'
'What's an egg?'
'I don't know.  Maybe it's like a double tap, hitting that creature again to make sure it stays down.'
'Too late.'

The dusty, dark creature rolled, clawed Auria's leg and knocked her down, then snapped jaws.  She kicked eyes repeatedly until it stood and pounced on top, pinning her down.

She reached around its throat, pulling herself closer into its body, trying to avoid massive jaws and teeth.  The front claws continued to paw and drag against ribs, though it couldn't quite latch onto her skinny frame.  She held taut around its neck until she felt one of the slick, piercing holes left by the bird-man's beak.  Auria slipped a hand inside.  The creature freaked, shook drastically and flopped farther down the hillside, almost ditching her.

'I'm back.'
'Who is this?' asked 238.
'Master Gen.'
'Help,' thought Auria, 'this thing is hurting me.'
'Keep working the cut on its neck.' thought Gen.  'He won't like it and will go absolutely berserk.'
'What's berserk?' thought 238 and Auria, simultaneously.

She squeezed tighter, working a hand deeper into the wound.  She found another opening with the other hand and reached in there as well.  Auria flailed and pounded against the ground as the creature rammed and jumped up and down, smashing against her with its own heavy skull.

Her right arm loosened, though the left pulled deeper into the second hole, then slid beneath the creature's chin from inside the dark fur.  She felt a long, slender object and wrapped fingers, just before flying through the air and back-slapping a tree.  The creature limped slowly after, then slumped head-first into leaves.

'I'm holding something.  I'm still holding something.' she thought.
'It's a main artery.  You did good.' thought Gen.
'She was amazing.' thought 238.
'Stay out of this.' thought Gen.
'I'm bleeding, everywhere.'
'Find a spear, then tell me how much you're bleeding.' thought Gen.

Auria stood and wiped she walked away.  Dark mud and wet, dirty skin soon gave way to stripes outlined in red.  Gouges and congealing blood covered most of her almost-nude body.

'Does blood have an odor?' she thought.
'Yes.' thought 238 and Master Gen.
'Spear, make a spear.  It's your only hope of winning.' thought Gen.  'Find a small tree and break it off, then make another.'
'OK.  Let me know when you see one.' she thought.

The forest consisted of mostly large, barren trees growing in groups some distance apart.  A rolling creek below felt inviting to her sore wounds, so, to the bottom of the hill she traipsed.