Something was up with Sun. She was pretty quiet for most of the trip and kept walking up and down the aisle of the plane. Eventually, she got asked to sit down, but she kept looking around as if she were trying to find someone. Now that they were an hour into their road trip she seemed even more on edge than ever.

“What’s wrong?”

That was the fourth time he’d had to ask, but he was answered by a panicked set of eyes and a quick shake of the head.

“Nothing.”

“Sure doesn’t seem like nothing.”

She went silent for a bit, tossing a few ideas around in her head.

“You’re in danger,” she finally said, the words lingering in the air. “Someone is out to kill you.”

Roger’s eyes went wide. What? What did she know that he didn’t? Could she tell the future?

“How do you know someone’s out to get me?”

“Um, it’s a secret.”

That didn’t provide any sort of reassurement to Roger. If someone was out to get him, then Sun was in danger too by default. He regretted bringing her on the trip and wondered if it was too late to turn back.

“You need to tell me otherwise I’m just going to turn this car around and we’re going back home. There’s no way I’m risking your life to get some intel.” He pulled over suddenly on the road, receiving a well-deserved honk behind him. “Who told you my life's in danger?”

“Can’t you just believe me? I promised them I wouldn’t tell.”

Roger thought for a minute.

“Was it Red?”

“I still don’t know who Red is you know.”

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?” He angrily said, already back on the highway looking for an exit ramp so he could turn around.

“I just...” she fiddled with her seat belt buckle. “I don’t know.”

Her voice was remorseful and she tried to sink into her seat. She didn’t know he would get so mad at her. Leslie had told her not to tell Roger but she thought that if Roger knew, then he would just play it safe until they got to Asheville. Sun should have just followed Leslie’s instructions and stayed quiet, but then Roger wouldn’t know someone was after him and all the weight fall would have fallen onto Sun’s shoulders. She didn’t know what to do anymore.

He was fuming when he found an off-ramp. Sun had kept the slight detail of someone wanting his life hidden from him for god-knows-how-long and didn’t bother sharing the information with him until they were an hour away from his destination. What really flared up his temper was that he should have pushed her to explain why she was acting so dodgy and not just wait until she felt the need to share voluntarily. He really needed to listen to his gut more. The fact that someone had told Sun that he was in danger piqued his interest since he was sure it was related to Red somehow, but if he pushed that topic she would just seal up. His grip on the steering wheel turned his knuckles white. How long had she known and why did she choose to come with him if his life was in danger? He wouldn’t ask the question because something in the middle of the road required his full attention.

About five hundred feet ahead of him in the road a person was walking down the road towards the moving car. Snow coated the heavy coat they wore and Roger couldn’t make out a face from so far away. Roger honked the horn lightly to get them off the road. The honk drew Sun’s attention away from her pity party and to the person in the road. She immediately recognized the person; he sat a few rows behind them on the airplane. He was one of the people that gave her a little smile before looking away.

“Back up! Back up!” Sun screamed at Roger.

He put the car in reverse and did as she said.

Sun watched as the man shook off his coat and removed a large black crystal from an interior coat pocket. The crystal suddenly grew and enveloped the man whole. Bubbles appeared on the surface of the man, elongating his features and body. Horrifyingly long claws formed at the ends of his arms and legs and a long black tail protruded from his backside. His eyes were sunken in but were still human. As if knowing Sun’s eyes were on him, his face split in a smile that revealed dozens of sharp teeth.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“What the fuck is that thing!” Roger yelled when he turned around for a moment from his reverse driving.

Sun was reminded of the creature Alter had transformed into. It was similar, but Alter’s was much more frightening and larger; this one was about eight feet long. Still incredibly frightening, but seeing Alter’s monster first had taken an edge off seeing this one. She crawled into the back seat and shoved down one of the seats to gain access to the trunk. Acting quickly she dumped out the contents of her suitcase in the back and ripped open the interior lining of the case, grabbing one short sword with a black blade and a hand crossbow with 20 arrows. Roger’s mouth hung open.

“You had those in there all this time?”

He didn’t know if he should be angry or surprised. At the moment he felt pretty afraid of that creature in the road.

The car came to a halt as the creature closed the distance between them and plunged its clawed hand into the engine. It removed its arm and lunged at Roger, the windshield shattering into pieces. Sun brought the sword down on its arm, sinking it to the bone before it got caught in its hard flesh. It screamed in pain and drew back the bleeding limb, sending Sun flying through the air as she still clung on to the lodged sword. With its other arm, it swatted Sun away onto the snowy concrete road. Sun quickly rose to her feet, her right arm coated in protective black crystals from the impact. She wasn’t quick enough as the creature’s tail hit her full-force and knocked her against one of the trees that lined the road.

Struggling for breath, she lifted herself up and fired a shot from her hand crossbow, landing it on the side of the creature’s face. She found that the black crystals that had helped aid her before were inhibiting her movement and reloading was more of a struggle. The creature leaped towards her. Gripping the sword with her left hand, she lept towards the being and dove under it, swiping at its belly with all her might. She felt splatters of warm blood hit her face, but she paid no attention to it. The tail once again posed a problem and she felt it catch the side of her right leg as she tried to steady herself from her tuck-and-roll. The creature leaped on top of her, pinning her to the ground. It’s face lowered and a smile reappeared in its sickly features.

“We will have you. So much power…”

Its breath was atrocious! A tongue flitted behind its serrated teeth as it looked at her like it was about to consume the first meal in ages. She kicked at its open wound on its abdomen and it hissed at her but didn’t let her go.

A sudden succession of gunfire came from the direction of the car and the creature backed away, clutching its face and reeling. Sun took the opportunity to fire a shot at one of its eyes, and swung her sword at its ankles, almost leaping for joy when she heard the satisfying sound of the creature’s screaming in pain as it ran away. Sinking to the ground, she breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the distorted creature fade away into the snowfall. If she really wanted to end it, she could follow the trail of black blood that spotted the road, but she needed to make sure Roger was safe.

Roger was safe, but most definitely not okay. What was that thing? Why did it try to kill him? Did this still pertain to his family’s murder, or was he in deeper than he thought? Was the creature really after him or Sun? Hands shaking, he opened the driver’s side of the car in the hopes of sitting down, but glass was scattered everywhere. He dropped his gun on the seat and moved to the back. Almost hyperventilating, he laid down on the seats to calm his breathing. What exactly had he just witnessed?

“Are you okay?” He heard Sun’s soft voice ask him.

Roger looked up to see a blood-soaked Sun standing in the sun with ‘worried’ written all over her face. Her clothes were ripped and he could see black crystals coating her arms and back, taking their time to fade away. She literally looked like she had been to hell and back while he was having a panic attack from even seeing the creature. How was she so calm?

“I’m not okay, honestly,” Roger said while sitting up. “But I’ll manage. Did you know this was going to happen?”

“Not exactly. I was expecting someone coming at you with a gun or something, but now I know why Le---um, why I’m glad I over prepared and packed this stuff.” She motioned to the sword and crossbow.

Over-prepared his ass! Over preparing was packing too many underwears or packing something ‘just in case’ even though it would never be used, not just happening to pack a sword and crossbow! And he didn’t miss the fact that she wasn’t the one who packed the equipment--she was about to let a name slip. His eyes narrowed; what else did she know that he didn’t?

A moment of dead air passed between them before Roger spoke up.

“So how did you know how to fight that thing?”

“I told, you I knew that something was coming for you but didn’t know what.”

“I mean, how did you fight like that in general? I sure as hell don’t remember signing you up for kung-fu. Did you remember that from your past world?”

“Uh, yup. I must have been a karate master or something. Or maybe a knight?”

He could tell from her expression she was bullshitting him, but let it slide; she did save his life after all.

“We’ll talk later. Let’s just get all this cleaned up and see if we can hitch a ride to town.”

Sun cleaned up her clothes and stuck them back in her suitcase while Roger carefully wiped the glass from the interior of the car. He hoped the rental agency’s insurance covered this, whatever this was. He couldn’t wait to have that conversation.

Once satisfied with their job cleaning the car, Roger and Sun started trudging towards the highway. Sun noticed Roger’s hand was trembling, remembering the first time she had seen that creature in her dreams. Roger had been there for her and she wanted to be there for him. Cautiously, she put her hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze as if to say ‘it’ll be alright,’ even though she knew it may not be. They walked hand-in-hand through the snow together, a fresh coat of snow already beginning to hide the evidence of what they had experienced.