Jessica's heart pounded as she and Salina raced toward the administration building, the unconscious girl's weight heavy between them. The moon hung low and bloated in the sky, tugging at something primal inside her. She shoved the feeling down. Not now.

As they cleared the treeline, Jessica skidded to a halt. Salina nearly crashed into her back.

"What the hell?" Salina hissed.

Jessica didn't answer. She couldn't. Her brain struggled to process the scene before her.

Something massive and grotesque crouched by the administration building. In the moonlight, Jessica could make out purple scales glinting alongside metal plating. Mechanical whirs and clicks mixed with wet, meaty sounds as the thing moved. One glowing yellow eye swiveled toward them.

A scream pierced the air. "Help! Somebody help us!"

Tiffany's voice. Coming from inside the building.

The creature's head snapped around. With terrifying speed, it began scrabbling at the walls, searching for a way in.

"Looks like we got ourselves a wannabe Creature from the Black Lagoon," Salina whispered. “Any plans?”

Jessica nodded, her mind racing. "Take her," she said, shifting the unconscious girl fully into Salina's arms. "Get to the building. I'll distract that... whatever it is."

Salina nodded. “Okay, but you know what you are doing?”

"Just trust me." Jessica flashed what she hoped was a confident grin. "I'm sure wolves do eat fish in the wild.”

She darted forward, leaving Salina with the girl. She scooped up a rock and hurled it at the creature. It pinged off metal plating.

"Hey, Robocarp! Over here!"

The creature's head swung toward her. Both eyes locked on—both glowing yellow like lanterns. A growl rumbled from somewhere deep in its chest.

Jessica's bravado faltered. Okay, it got my attention now.

She turned and ran.

Heavy footfalls thundered behind her as the creature gave chase. Jessica pumped her arms, willing herself to go faster. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Salina sprinting for the building, the unconscious girl bouncing in her arms.

Good. Now she just had to survive long enough for them to get inside.

Jessica veered toward the woods, hoping to lose the creature in the trees. Branches whipped her face as she plunged into the forest. The sounds of pursuit grew louder.

A root caught her foot. Jessica went down hard, skidding across the leaf-strewn ground. Pain lanced through her palms and knees.

She scrambled to her feet, but it was too late. The creature burst into the small clearing, its massive bulk blocking out the moonlight. Up close, Jessica could see where metal fused with flesh, circuitry weaving through scales. One a serrated metal blade had replaced entirely fin.

It opened its mouth, revealing row upon row of razor-sharp teeth. A distorted roar blasted from speakers embedded in its throat.

Jessica's blood ran cold. But beneath the fear, she felt something else stirring. The pull of the moon, the pounding of her heart, the adrenaline coursing through her veins—it all combined, stoking the fire inside her.

She clenched her fists. No choice now.

Jessica let the change take her.

Bones cracked and reshaped. Muscles bulged and stretched. White fur sprouted across her body as her face elongated into a muzzle. In moments, where a teenage girl had stood, a massive wolf now crouched in two bare feet.

The creature paused, yellow eyes whirring as it recalculated. Jessica didn't give it time to adjust.

She launched herself at the monster, claws extended. They went down in a tangle of fur, scales, and metal. Jessica snapped and clawed, searching for vulnerable spots amidst the creature's armored hide.

Pain exploded across her side as the creature's blade-fin sliced through fur and flesh. Jessica yelped and disengaged, putting some distance between them.

The two circled each other, neither willing to make the next move. Jessica's side burned where she'd been cut, but already she could feel the wound closing. One perk of being a werewolf—accelerated healing.

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

Unfortunately, it looked like her opponent had some enhancements of its own. Where Jessica's claws had penetrated its organic parts, she could see the wounds knitting closed almost as quickly as her own.

This wasn't a fight she could win through brute force. She needed a plan.

Jessica's eyes darted around the clearing, searching for anything she could use. Her gaze landed on a ramshackle structure barely visible through the trees. The old storage shed. Perfect.

She turned and bolted, making sure the creature was following. It charged after her, crashing through the underbrush.

Jessica reached the shed and circled around behind it. The creature rounded the corner a moment later. Jessica braced herself, then launched forward with all her strength.

She slammed into the creature's side, driving it through the rotting wood of the shed wall. Splinters and debris exploded around them as they crashed inside.

Before the creature could recover, Jessica darted back out through the hole they'd made. She grabbed the edge of the damaged wall in her powerful jaws and pulled.

With a groan, the entire wall collapsed inward. Then the roof followed, burying the creature under a pile of moldy wood and rusted sheet metal.

Jessica didn't stick around to see if it would stay down. She turned and ran, not slowing until she reached the edge of the woods near the administration building. Only then did she shift back to human form.

She grimaced as bones and muscles rearranged themselves once more. The process was never pleasant, but she'd gotten used to it over the past year. At least her clothes were still intact this time except for her shoes. She'd learned to wear stretchy fabrics on full moon nights, just in case.

Jessica jogged the rest of the way to the building. She could see frightened faces peering out through the windows. As she approached, the front door flew open. Salina stood there, relief clear on her face.

"Jessica! Thank god you're okay. What happened? Where's the monster?"

"Trapped it in the old storage shed," Jessica said as she stepped inside. It wasn't exactly a lie. "Not sure how long that'll hold it though."

Tiffany, Camella, Mia, and Amber swarmed around her, peppering her with questions. All of them were wet while wearing bikinis, no doubt they took a swim at the lake before the creature attacked them.

Jessica held up her hands.

"Guys, I promise I'll explain everything. But first, how's our mystery girl?"

Salina jerked her head toward a door down the hall. "Still unconscious. I put her in the infirmary."

As if on cue, a crash echoed from that direction. The girls exchanged worried glances before rushing toward the sound.

They burst into the infirmary to find the strange girl sitting up in bed, puffing. Her strange purple eyes darted around the room before landing on the group in the doorway.

"Where am I? What year is it?" She paused, taking in their outfits. "Wait, are those swimsuits?”

Jessica stepped forward. "Um, hi. I'm Jessica. This is Salina, Tiffany, Camella, Mia, and Amber. We found you unconscious in the woods. You're at Camp Cheer Rock. And it's 2024."

The girl's eyes widened. "It worked," she breathed. Then louder, "Okay! My name is Nikki Nova. I'm from the year 2350."

A stunned silence fell over the room. Amber broke it with a snort of laughter.

"Yeah, right. And I'm totally Santa Claus."

Nikki's eyes narrowed. "You think I'm lying? How else do you explain my clothes? My hair?" She held up her arm, tapping at a sleek metal band around her wrist. A holographic display sprang to life above it.

The cheerleaders gasped and stumbled back.

"Okay," Tiffany said slowly. "Let's say we believe you're from the future. Why are you here?"

“And why are you barefoot?” Mia asked. “They don't wear shoes anymore in the future?”

Nikki's expression turned grim while she rubbed her bare feet together on the floor. "That's not important, but I am here to stop a monster. A cyborg fish creature that escaped from my time. It's incredibly dangerous and if we don't catch it soon, it could alter the course of history."

Jessica and Salina exchanged knowing looks. Well, that explained the thing in the woods.

"Uh, about that," Jessica said. "I think we've already met your fish monster. It attacked us earlier."

Nikki cursed, jumping off the bed. "Then we have little time. Where is it now?"

"Trapped in a storage shed in the woods. But I don't think that'll hold it for long."

Nikki nodded, her expression determined. "You're right, it won't. We need to come up with a plan to capture or kill it, fast."

"Whoa, hold up," Mia interjected. "You still haven't explained where this thing came from or why it's here."

Nikki sighed. "It's a long story, but I'll give you the short version. In my time, the military was experimenting with combining biological and mechanical components to create the ultimate weapon. But something went wrong. The fish monster—they call it Subject X-154—broke free and went on a rampage.

"I heard about it from the news and tracked it to a lab where a scientist was testing an experimental time machine. X-154 somehow activated the device and got sent back in time by accident. The scientist in charge asked me to follow it and stop it from changing the past."

She looked at each of them her gaze intense. "You have to understand—this creature isn't like your typical forest critters at your camp. It's incredibly strong, nearly indestructible, and it kills without mercy. If we don't stop it, countless people will die here.”

A heavy silence fell over the room as the girls absorbed this information.

Tiffany was the first to speak. "Okay, so how do we stop it?"

Nikki grimaced. "That's the tricky part. In my time, we have weapons designed to take down cybernetic organisms. But here?" She shook her head. "We'll have to get creative."

"Um, guys?" Amber's voice quavered as she pointed toward the window. "I think we have a problem."

They rushed to look outside. In the distance, a shape was emerging from the woods. Even from here, they could see the glint of metal mixed with scales.

The fish monster had escaped.

"Crap," Jessica muttered. "Now what?"

Nikki's expression hardened. "Now we fight. But first, there's something else you need to know." She glanced at a display on her wrist device. "We only have about ten hours before the time machine pulls me—and the monster—back to the future."

"Wait, what?" Salina exclaimed. "Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"Because I hoped we'd have dealt with X-154 by now," Nikki said. "The scientist who sent me warned the prototype time machine wasn't powerful enough to keep travelers in the past for long. After 12 hours, it snaps us back to our original time."

"So if we don't stop this thing in the next ten hours..." Tiffany trailed off.

Nikki nodded grimly. "Then it goes back to the future with me, free to continue its rampage. But if I can kill it or contain it, it won't harm anyone.”

“Why can't we just hide until you and the creature return to the future, anyway?” Camilla asked. “We're not soldiers.”

Nikki glared at her. “Because I can't risk it changing the timeline. If it kills more people or destroys a city within the limited time, the consequences could be catastrophic. Subject X-154 must not leave this area. If we do nothing, it will leave and hunt at a populated location. Do you want to be responsible for more lives lost and doom the future?”

The girls exchanged worried glances. The situation had just gotten a lot more complicated.

"Okay," Jessica said, taking charge. "First things first. We need to get out of here before that monster reaches the building. Any ideas?"

Mia raised her hand tentatively. "There are some old golf carts out back that the staff use. Maybe we could take those?"

Nikki shook her head. "X-154 is faster than you'd think. It will catch up to us in no time."

"What about calling for help?" Amber suggested. "There has to be a phone around here somewhere."

Camella was already shaking her head as she held up her cell phone. "No signal. And the landlines are dead."

A mechanical gargling roar split the air, closer this time. They could hear heavy footsteps approaching.

RWlRWIRWIRWIRWIRWIRWI!!!

"We're out of time," Nikki said. "We need to move. Now."

They hurried out of the infirmary and down the hall toward the back of the building. Jessica's mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. They found themselves isolated, with no vehicles and unable to call for help. How were they supposed to stop an indestructible monster from the future?

Just then, the building rocked. A bone-chilling growl vibrated through the walls.

The monster had found them.

"In here!" Tiffany hissed, yanking open a supply closet door.

They piled inside, squeezing together among mops and cleaning supplies. Jessica ended up pressed against Nikki, close enough to catch a whiff of her scent. She frowned. There was something oddly familiar about it, but she couldn't quite place it.

Another crash echoed through the building, followed by the sound of splintering wood. Amber whimpered softly. Mia reached out and squeezed her hand.

"What do we do now?" Salina whispered.

All eyes turned to Nikki. The girl from the future closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she opened them again, there was steel in her gaze.

"Now," she said, "we make a plan. And then we take the monster down."

As if in answer, another roar shook the building. The hunt was on. And they were racing out of time.