8

(Adam Jensen- Street Fight)

Adam

Walking through the woods reminded me of being in school together, or when we would shoot the shit on a car ride somewhere. It wasn’t serious or stupid, just us being us. I had a lingering fear that it might change given the new circumstances, but it seemed we’d be able to stay the same for at least the time being.

Ahead of us was a cliff which opened up to the sky above. The stunning sky that we’d been searching for this whole time.

Brenden mindlessly walked forward while reading straight toward the edge of the cliff without a care to glance up. I lunged out and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back to reality. He looked up at me and then off the cliff, then back up to me like a deer in headlights.

“Um, th-thanks.” The red glow on his index finger dissipated.

“How about we save that for later.” I pushed the book closed in his hands.

The u-shaped cliff descended straight down into a lake. The water was clear and vibrant. The lake dazzled in the sunlight, surrounded by swaying trees that were just as big as the ones deep in the forest. A sandy beach ran along the far side of the lake in front of what looked like dozens of spread out wooden cabins with tall gray chimneys. Several row boats with fishing nets gently bobbed in the water below. A river flowed into the lake from down by the beach, the left side of town from where we were. We weren't that far from it, maybe only a few miles.

As I was enjoying the view, Desmond screamed out “Ay, ay, stop! Get your asses off the edge! Behind us!”

I turned around in time to feel a sharp pain behind my left knee shot all the way up and down my leg. What caught my gaze were three green insects, each the size of a person, one yanking its talon-like pincer out of my leg, ripping my tendons out with it. A guttural roar escaped my throat as my knee buckled and my hands fumbled to grab the sword on my belt.

“Fucking shit!” Fear welled up in me as I fell to eye-level with this thing. Its massive black eyes stared straight into mine with bloodthirsty intent. I froze in shock at the sight of the giant locust standing on two legs, snipping its four pincered arms at me like it was searching for an opening. Its arms were thin, but armored by a jagged exoskeleton that extended into crablike pincers.

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What do I do?! What do I do?! I have to do something, but what?!

It reared back its pincers to slash into my throat, but no part of me could unfreeze. As much as I wanted to move and act, my arms and legs could only shake. A cold sweat ran down my forehead.

I’m gonna die here without even fighting back, aren’t I?

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past my head and crashed into the creature’s exoskeleton, shattering. Desmond yelled out to me. “Adam! Get your shit together!”

The creature tilted its head to the side and hesitated. Without a second thought, I was sent into survival mode. I sloppily drew my longsword and wildly swung toward its neck. The insect lunged at me, grabbing my sword with its two upper arms and it began slicing into my gut with its lower arms while it held my blade. My skin tore and ripped as its arms ceaselessly eviscerated my abdomen. My skin was thicker than when I was human, but that didn’t stop it from digging away at my core. I gritted my teeth through the excruciating pain and pushed down on my sword. My arms, my chest, my neck all flexed aggressively as I poured every ounce of strength into pressing the sword forward. Its upper pincers cracked and snapped as my blade slowly carved toward its neck.

It suddenly screeched like a cicada. Yellow ichor spilled out of the gashes and down my sword. I yanked the blade back and used my whole body to swing straight down at it, lodging my sword where its neck met its torso. I pressed down, lifting myself onto one leg and leveraging my height, but the locust met me with equal bloodlust. Its lower arms ravaged my stomach, grabbing my flesh and organs and tearing them out, shredding them more with every snip. Darkness creeped into my vision in blotches. My world spun and the taste of iron permeated my mouth. Its jagged mandibles shook and chittered in rage, in a brutal resolve to kill me.

I won’t die! I can’t die! I won’t let you kill me, not until I kill you!

Something warm and wet slapped against my thighs, but I was too scared to lower my head and look down at the intestines hanging out of my body, on the ground, torn to pieces as this bug and I were racing to see who could kill the other first. All I did was scream as my vision slowly faded. I raged and yelled and frothed at the mouth, growling like a rabid animal trying to cut the bug’s head off. The sickly yellow paste slopped out of its wound, coalescing into the pool of my blood and organs on the ground.

Crack! Snap! I finally felt some give. With the last of my consciousness, I pressed the sword through, tearing its head from its body. The chittering cranium clacked as it dangled against its body, hanging by only a shred of sinew. I yelled as loud as I could, fighting to keep myself awake, but that wouldn’t last long.

I can’t feel it, my stomach-

The world suddenly went quiet and my upper body lost all of its strength. My torso folded in on itself from losing so much of its structure and I collapsed on the ground, into the sickly pool of my eviscerated organs and yellow gore.