Halloween Event (Pt. 5): A Battle Between Beasts

--- Jon ---

A growl tore its way out of his throat as the chimera continued to dig its fangs into his arm, the only thing keeping it from being ripped off the jacket his mother had given him before the night had truly begun.

Without a blade in hand he made due with his (claws) and dug them into the Creep’s eye as he stomped on its leg, driving it to its knees as its focus was split between two different agonies.

Now standing over the wretch he gripped the top of its maw and pushed away the bottom with his trapped arm, before ripping his arm free and shoving it down the beast’s throat.

The chimera struggled against him, once more clamping its fangs into his arm before using its own to try and claw away at him.

But he kicked back against the chimera’s limb, using his whole body to keep it away as held onto the Creep’s skull, all the while using the bloodsoaked hand inside of the monster’s gullet to rip away at the beast’s innards.

Seeing that this was failing, the Creep reared back before slamming him into one of the desks forcing him to release his grip as the Chimera spat out his hand and backed away from him.

Ignoring the pain in his back, he rolled to his feet and stared the beast down as blood dripped from its maw and a snarl escaped his own.

Not willing to give it the chance, he rushed forward, ducking beneath its swinging claws as he tackled the beast into a desk before climbing atop both, pinning the monster beneath him as he drew his knife before driving it into the chimera’s neck and tearing it out, over and over as the Creep’s struggling grew ever weaker beneath him until finally its struggling stopped.

Ripping his blade free once more, he stood before stomping the Creep’s head and breaking its neck (just in case).

With that settled he turned back to the younglings and gave them both a once over to make sure they were both uninjured as he climbed off of the desk and the dead Creep atop it.

“Are you two…” He shook his head upon hearing the growl to his voice, knowing that that was the last thing these two needed as he reeled the Beast back in (for now.) “Are you two, okay?”

The two girls watched him each with their own odd mix of wariness, awe, and relief in differing amounts.

Of the two the one dressed up as a witch was the first to react before nodding. “Y-yeah, we’re okay…”

“Good, then we need to get you two back to everyone else.” He told them, still able to feel that something in the air that said the darker side of things was still prowling about rather than lurking back into the shadows.

“Do you, do you know the way?” The other girl asked, clearly trying to put on a brave front rather than admitting just how scared she was.

“Yeah, I’ll be able to find our way back.” He assured them, because even with the changes he knew the layout of the building well enough to find his way back to where the Halloween party should be. “That said, I will need you two to stick close to me with everything going on, alright?”

Both girls gave him a shaky affirmative, before he ushered them out of the room and away from the dead chimera creep.

“I don’t… I didn’t think we got this far from everyone…” One of the girls told him after a few minutes.

“It’s Madness.” He explained, more than used to how the ambient energy could twist and turn the world around them whenever something drew its attention. Never breaking too far from reality, but distorting things just enough to make everything seem a little too far, a little too cramped, a little too off. And sadly, after his last few run-ins with them he was beginning to suspect that Madness found Creeps very interesting in numbers.

“Yeah…” The other girl chuckled wearily, probably thinking it was some kind of joke. “Probably just ran in the wrong direction when we ran into that… that monster.”

He decided that if she didn’t know about Madness that it was probably better to let her keep that assumption. (After all, enlightenment can drive you mad.)

His face scrunched up as he felt his own insanity twitch beneath the surface, the beast within his head more than a little irritated knowing that there was prey lurking about predating on the people in the station.

But he shook that away, once more reminding himself that that side of him was not something he wanted any kids to see more than they had to.

“Are… you okay?” One of the girls asked him cautiously.

“Yeah, just… a stressful night…” He admitted, knowing that was far more palatable than his actual issues. “But don’t worry we’ll get you two back to your parents soon enough.”

“I hope so…” The witch girl shivered. “This place looks a lot creepier in the dark.”

“Anywhere looks creepier without the light.” He pointed out. (Unless you’re not of the light yourself.) (In which case you’re what makes it creepy.) He thought with a touch of mad amusement. “But no need for fright, you’ve a monster on your side tonight.”

“Uh… right… heh…” The girl nodded, looking a little confused but not particularly afraid anymore. “Um, how much further until we get back to everyone?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt something throb inside his head. “Um, it should be right around the corner here…”

As they lapped the corner he saw a pair of officers guarding one of the entrances to a room, both turning their guns on him and the children…

“Careful now…” He warned them as he stepped in front of the younglings.

“It’s, it’s Whitaker’s kid.” One of the officers noted, recognizing him from his visits with his Ma. “Fuck you gave me a scare kid.”

“Language there’s children present.” He growled.

“Wait, are you two Izzy and Autumn?” The officer asked upon noticing the kids behind him.

“Y-yeah.” One of the girls nodded.

“Your parents have been looking all over for you two.” The officer continued, before turning into the room and calling out. “We’ve found the girls!”

As the officers escorted the girls to their parents, a trio of men and a woman carrying a toddler, he found himself hanging back knowing that whatever was agitating the beast in his head would not make him very personable at the moment. And so while he did enter the room, he stayed near the entrance hoping to have a word with the officers about the situation once they resumed their guard.

Only after a minute or two of watching the parents tearfully pull their children into hugs, with a mild scolding for running off and worrying them… he heard a scratching coming from the ceiling above him.

His eyes drifted up to where he saw a flying Creep (just out of reach) getting ready to lunge forward at the toddler that had wandered away from the mother hugging her missing daughter.

And as panic flooded his being, he watched the Creep kick off the ceiling its flight path clearly aimed for the child separated from its guardians, he lunged forward and dug his fangs into the Creep’s throat as he met it mid-air and tackled it to the ground.

Pushing aside its batting claws with his own as he held the beast down and dug his fangs ever deeper into its neck, before rearing back with the taste of copper in his mouth as he ripped out its throat.

Spitting the (rotten) meat from his mouth he flipped the still struggling beast over before holding its head down, placing his knee on its back and ripping its wing from its screaming corpse. A scream that grew ever weaker as he tossed the limb aside and removed the other before standing and stomping the wretch dead beneath his boot.

Panting he watched the Creep, long since trained to know that just because he had killed it didn’t mean it wouldn’t get back up to try and kill him.

A whimper and a cry of “Seamus!” drew his attention to the crowd behind him, more specifically the woman who had stepped forward reaching for the child that had walked up behind him.

He tilted his head curiously as he crouched down to the little one’s eye level, before watching as the child held out a candy to him.

With a huff of amusement Jon accepted the candy before ruffling the little one’s hair and turning him back to his worried mother with a pat on the back.

Feeling the blood beginning to dry, he moved away from the warily watching crowd, knowing that this night wasn’t over yet as he brought his hand to his mouth.

(Mmm, blood and chocolate…)