Logan
Five minutes earlier
'FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUUUUUUUUCK!' I thought as I ran down the dirt road towards the harbor.
I had more than two hundred soldiers under my personal command when we confronted Chase. It seemed like we were actually going to win once Simon Caldifax joined with his own small army of splicers and Chase changed back to normal. Everything changed when we killed that evo of his.
I should have known not to taunt him, to put a bullet in his head the moment we had the chance. Instead I let Ziana's father have his little moment and give Chase the time to regroup and go into that 'Absolute Badass' mode of his. Now Simon Caldifax was dead, along with all the splicers that were with him and more than eighty percent of my fellow American soldiers. To make matters worse almost all of the island was covered in this rainbow energy that projected Chase's singing into my head constantly.
Now I was running for my life like a coward with what remains of my forces behind me. Being hunted by the same thrads that Caldifax had brought to distract Chase's evos.
"Lieutenant!" I heard a voice yell for me from behind and looked over my shoulder.
It was private Oliver. He was at the front of the group of soldiers following me down the path. Tyme was nowhere to be found and I knew that Alex was dead. The ascended thrad had crushed him first when Chase gave that order.
"Keep running! Thrads are sluggish at night normally but its pretty warm so they might catch up!" I warned him.
"One of Chase's evo is gaining on us!" Oliver yelled.
It felt like ice had flooded my veins and gripped my heart at Oliver's news. No sooner had he said that did I hear a thunderous roar shake the ground under me and nearly made me trip and fall. A shadow fell over everything and blanketed everything and everyone. The source of the shadow was the evo Chase used in that fight last night, the Ancient Liger shark abomination he called Bahamut.
The massive dragon flew overhead before diving and landing about a half mile ahead in a crouched position. The sheer weight of the evo caused tremors. As it lifted its head up my mind flashed to the fight yesterday and the destruction it caused to the mountain.
"GET OFF THE ROAD! RUN INTO THE FOREST!" I bellowed to the soldiers behind as I followed my own advice, cutting right and dashing between trees and over shrubs and rocks. I heard rapid footsteps along with branches snapping behind me, telling me that someone had listened to my orders.
I had ran about fifty yards when I saw a flash of pale light out the corner of my eye in the same direction Bahamut had landed. I resisted the urge to look and kept running, fear and realization spurring me to go faster. I heard another deafening roar followed by the rumbling hiss of flames. I felt the heat licking at my back as I ran, the flames giving off an unnatural light that illuminated the forest ij front of me.
When the flames died down and the light faded I dove into a bush and laid as flat as I could. I didn't move a single muscle as I hid, not wanting Chase's dragon evo to target me. Time seemed to move at a crawl, seconds lasting for hours. The only sounds to be heard were the crackling of burning wood and Chase's singing, ever present thanks to the rainbow waves that were blanketing the island.
I nearly had started to think I was safe and hidden when I heard footsteps. They were slowly and heavy, too heavy to belong to anyone under my command or any human. I reached for my side arm and quietly drew it, ready to fire at a moments notice. The footsteps approached the bush I was hiding in, my breath hitched in my throat as the footsteps slowed before stopping directly in front of it.
"There is no point in hiding. I can smell your fear!" A deep voice growled. I suddenly was grabbed by my shirt, yanked out of cover, and flung around like a rag doll before getting slammed into a tree.
It felt like my spine would shatter from the impact, pain shot through my body like a bullet and spread like wildfire. It made me lose my grip on my gun and drop it somewhere. Before I could fall to the ground a large hand grabbed my upper torso and pinned me against the tree.
I looked up and saw two glowing golden eyes staring down at me. They belonged to the evo that Chase ordered to kill Anders and Reagan. Its long tusks and horn, the tips of which were crystal, pointed right at my head.
"The brother of the Star Shaper…" The evo sneered. His grip on my body tightened until I screamed. My ribs felt like they were about to snap under the pressure. "…I should kill you for what you did to fours!"
"Y-you killed my men…we're e-e-even!" I hissed through gritted teeth despite my situation. The evo's grip tightened even further and I screamed as I felt a rib break.
"Jiggles don't kill him…" Bahamut's deep voice rumbled through the forest. The evo that held me stilled at the sound "…Star Shaper holds that honor…"
Jiggles let out a deep and short trumpet noise and relaxed some of the pressure on my chest but didn't let me go completely. Its gold glowing eyes burned with a deep hatred as it glared at me.
"Don't think you…" Jiggles started only to get interrupted by the sound of a loud gunshot. The evo's head jerked to the side as blood splashed across my face. Several more gunshots rang out and bullets struck the evos head in rapid succession. It stumbled backwards, unsteady and moving blindly.
More gunshots, this time striking the arm that was holding me. The arm was covered in crystal bracers so the bullets bounced off harmlessly. I was suddenly thrown and sent flying towards a bush. As I passed through it I slammed into someone and the both of us tumbled across the ground. A loud explosion rang behind us and I heard a something land in front of us. I was once again grabbed and held several feet off the ground along with my attempted savior.
"Got the little rat!" Jiggles exclaimed proudly. My face twisted into horror as I saw the flesh and muscle fibers of the evo's face began to grow back. Healing over its exposed skull right before my very eyes.
"Fucking monster!" My 'savior' spat. I inwardly groaned as I recognized the voice. Turning to see Cross in the other hand of Jiggles.
"Cross!"
"Shut up Kingston! I know I fucked up!" Cross growled.
Cross and I both stilled as we heard Chase's voice whisper in our heads. I frantically looked around and noticed that gold waves of energy were now flowing past Jiggles feet and bathing the area in golden light. In that same moment that I realized I was no longer hearing Chase's singing inside my head but behind me. I tried to turn my head enough to look but I couldn't thanks to the evo holding me.
"Star Shaper…" Jiggles said softly, his voice sounding almost reverent.
"CHASE KINGSTON!" Cross bellowed and struggled against Jiggles grip but it wasn't budging.
"CHASE KINGSTON! DON'T YOU FUCKING IGNORE ME YOU MURDERER!" Cross shouted. I couldn't see Chase so I had no idea if he acknowledged Cross or not.
Chase whispered in Cross and mine's minds. Jiggles turned Cross and I so we could look at Chase and I saw that he was still singing but his eyes were glowing the same golden color as his evo's eyes.
"I'LL KILL YOU! IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO KINGSTON!" Cross roared while still struggling to get out of Jiggles grip. It was futile though.
"So now you're gloating before you kill us?" I balked. Chase shook his head.
"Why the fuck would you let us live? We killed your evo and tried to kill you!" I demanded.
"You bastard…!" I growled.
"You think I'll leave here without getting you Kingsston! When I head home it'll be with your head on a spike!" Cross growled. Chase stilled then slowly, finally glanced in Cross direction. The look he gave the hardened border guard member made the air freeze around us. Cross shivered involuntarily but shot a glare back at Chase regardless.
I watched as he started to fall towards the ground then something felt wrong just as Cross was about to crash to the ground. One second he was falling and flailing his arms and legs and the next second Chase was standing a few feet past him, his sword bloody and resting on his shoulder. Cross hit the ground and screamed bloody murder.
My eyes widened in horror as I saw Cross' left arm and rights hand fall off and roll away from his body. They were cleanly cut off with blood spurting from his wounds.
"CROSS!" I screamed. Chase pointed his sword at Cross' wounds and a stream of fire shot from the tip, cauterizing both wounds.
<…without any arms to do it.> Chase finished softly.
"CHASE YOU BASTARD!" I snapped.
Chase glanced in my direction, his expression tired then suddenly his head jerked up to the sky. I looked where he was looking and saw one of those magic spell circles floating above the island, only it was enormous and spanned the whole island.
The moment the wave touched the circle parts of it vanished, like chalk getting wiped from a chalk board. After a second however the erased parts started to reappear. Chase cocked his head to the side then narrowed his eyes.
Jiggles let go of me and I fell flat on my face. I quickly scrambled to my feet. My eyes darting between Cross' now unconscious form and Jiggles, standing slightly behind me. His eyes bore into me with barely contained fury and vastly restrained bloodlust. He'd strike me down in an instant if I showed any aggression towards Chase.
Without any other option I walked over and grabbed Cross' remaining arm and used it as leverage to help hoist him on my back and carry him. I started running through the woods towards the docks, not easy with Cross' dead weight on my back. I could also feel the eyes of Chase's evos boring holes into my back.