The Amalgamation Of Two Worlds

Audrey’s POV

Sounds slammed into me, making me cringe. Lights shone brightly, hurting my already strained eyes. The sounds all mixed together, swirling, making my head pound. Voices sounded next to me yet not. Footsteps. Cars? Alarms.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block it all, trying to block out the turmoil, the pain. I had no such luck. It just all swam. Then the faces came. Damon’s. Caleb’s. Hayden’s... even Austin’s. They swam in front of my face, making me want to scream in frustration, hit whatever was close... and mainly, just curl up and make it go away.

I was a coward. I ran. I got away. I got safe. And the others? They were probably dead. Probably scattering what remained of our campsite. They didn’t stand a chance. I always thought of myself as strong, as brave. But when push came to shove? I ran. I left them to die. I left my comrades to die.

Comrades? Was that what they were? Was that all? If so, what the hell had I been doing with Damon earlier? Why did I even...

I shook my head, a small sound leaving me. I didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t proud of it. I could still feel Damon’s lips on mine, his hands on my body and feel his hard body against...

I shook my head violently again and opened my eyes. The lights of the city blinded me, but I pushed it aside. I couldn’t be weak now.

Gabriel and Brian stood a few paces away from me, watching. Waiting. They were waiting for me to direct them, for me to take lead. And I had to. Did I want to? No. Did I have the heart to? No. But I would. For Damon. And the others. Yes, not just for Damon, but everyone else too. They all mattered, whether I was ready to admit it or not.

“We need supplies.” I finally said, my voice scratchy, as if I had been screaming my lungs out. “Matches. A lot. Gasoline, bottles and rags. Also some type of quad.” I hesitated. “And some bottle water and to-go food. Gabriel? You find the vehicle, I’ll get the rest. Meet back here in an hour?”

“Audre-“

”What?” It came out harsher than it should have, and I added a small smile to compensate.

“Things are fucked up. Agreed. But he said to stay put, so we should damn we-“

”And let them die?” I asked, my voice quiet. “They never left us behind. We’re alive because of them.” He hesitated.

“They might be-“

”Dead. Already. I know. Which is why we won’t rush head into it. We’ll go as far as we can on the quad’s, after that? Foot. If they’re still alive, we’ll go back for supplies. I’m not going to get us killed Gabriel. Nor am I going to leave them behind. If you and Brian want to stay, go ahead.”

“Caleb.” I glanced at Brian, who was staring up at me, his eyes large. I gave a small nod.

“We’ll get Caleb back.” Gabriel seemed to hesitate, but in the end nodded.

“Fine. This is messed. But hey? I have nothing better to do on a Friday night. Damn.”

~~

Damon’s POV

Pain. Hard to describe. It’s a screaming of the senses, of the tissue on your body. So I suppose when it covered you head to toe, that would be agony. But agony is a rolling on the ground, screaming your lungs out, type of thing. Me? I couldn’t do that. If I did that I would no longer be in agony. Some may argue that’s a good point, I wouldn’t. For I would be dead. Rather be alive in agony, than dead. Dead is dead. No coming back. So why did I want to be agony? Why was I fighting so hard to stay alive?

I pushed the sentimental thoughts out of my head. I didn’t have time for crap like that. I had to stay alive. And keep everyone else alive. And kills these things. And find Audrey... and... and... the list kept going. I cut it off. One thing at a time. Or, one battle at a time.

I dodged out of the way as teeth aimed my way, but got a chunk of skin tore out. Well, another chunk of skin ripped out. I needed blood. Badly. Too bad. I had to wait. As did everyone else, well, those left living. The ground was scattered with corpses. There weren’t many of us left. Maybe twenty. Hard to say. Didn’t matter at the moment.

The few fires remaining were dwindling down to nothing, making our defense go to ashes. The air was too cold to keep the fires going, and the clouds were threatening to pour down on us. It just wasn’t our night. Or maybe our last night. Did it even matter? I would fight until I had no blood left, no energy. Judging by the way things were going, that was going to be soon. But I wasn’t about to stop and take it. No. I would go out fighting.

~~
Hayden’s POV

Bliss. Drink it in, revel in it... I shoved the voice aside, or tried to. It had been taunting me for the last... how long had it been? Who knew anymore. Feel that warmth? The essence of life? Blood? Smell it, revel in it, feel it.

My body shuddered, and I curled in on myself automatically. This time, the voice in my head belonged to my dad. “Hayden, there will be times when you can’t take it. Whether it’s pain, impatience, anger or any emotion, there will be times your resolve is tested. When this occurs, do you know what to do? Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and count. Count until it’s under control. Counting is a menial task. It lets your body calm down, and soothes your mind. So count.” So simple, yet to hard.

One. Smell that?

Two. It’s death. Taste that?

Three. Fear. Sweet fear, oh how swe-

Four! So easy to take, to kill...

Five. Take it!

Six. They’re weak. Pathetic. Kill th-

Seven. Don’t deserve to live, deserve to rot.

Eight. End them!

I struggled, but finally managed a weak gasp, and the opening of my eyes. I wish I hadn’t. My vision was red. Not literally but... so much blood. Everywhere. The ground. The trees. The leaves. Everywhere. This time, the voice stayed away, and I staggered to my feet.

Two of the creatures, whatever they were, lay dead on the ground. Now they only resembled burnt husks. The smell... well, it wasn’t pleasant. What little fire was left was slowly dwindling, and the few remaining were falling. Except Damon. He took on more hits than I cared to count, yet would not go down. I suppose that’s why the two remaining creatures were now targeting him. And what did the others do? Did they leap up to his defense? Did they defend the man who had saved their hides countless times? No. They turned tail and ran. Most didn’t make it far, but that was besides the point.

Damon may act like he cares about nothing and no one, but it was a lie. I could feel it. I shouldn’t have been able to, but I could. And I knew he would die tonight. Unless something, or someone intervened to save him. But who? I could barely stand, and everyone else was retreating as fast as they could.

Release me. The voice came back, along with my father’s. “Nothing is uncontrollable, Hayden. It’s only uncontrollable if you can’t control it, but you can control anything that you set your mind to, as long as you’re in control of your mind.” I dropped down to my knees, squeezing my eyes shut. I didn’t have control of mind, that was the problem. But I had to get it under control, and quick. Damon was the only chance to beating the Demonio, and if he died, we were all as good as dead. So I closed my eyes, shut out the sounds and scents, and worked as hard as I could to shove that voice out of my head. I didn’t want it to shut up, I wanted it gone.

Sweat beaded my forehead. My limbs trembled and my breathing became erratic. Sounds left me. Gasps. Shudders. The works. The darkness laughed at me, toyed with me, swirling inside my head and through my deepest thoughts. It pushed all my horrors over me, making me relive them and relive them. And in the end, I couldn’t do anything but take it. There was nothing to be done. Nothing I could do. I was just too weak.

I opened my eyes in time to see Damon fall. His left leg barely clung to him. Just a few threads of flesh kept it connected, the bone being severed. His right arms was bent in too many angles, and he was red. He was skinned. He was just flesh bleeding, and still, as he fell, his eyes held strength.

He may be on the ground, with only one working leg and one working arm, and he may be so torn up he shouldn’t even be conscious, but there he was, still standing, and still fighting. He wasn’t letting anything stop him, or deter him from his goal.

Yet here I was, on my knees, dwelling in my pains and problems and whining about why I can’t do it. Who said I couldn’t? If Damon can still fight, still stay strong in his condition, who’s to say I can’t do it too?

I glanced at Damon once more, watching as the creature reared. Yet he still showed no fear. I knew what I had to do.

My eyes shut, my breath left in a gasp, and I grabbed control over the darkness. And once I had a firm grip on it, once I had every last wisp, I let it, and my inner demon, out.