Who's the real Monster?

Time stopped as all eyes came back to me.

"The missiles will be here soon than expected. Josh is inside trying to disarm them as we speak. If you fear for you lives run to the ship and fight your way to get on. Ashe, Mark, and myself are the only ones who can keep this island intact. If we fail at least the rest of you will have a chance to survive."

"It doesn't matter", Anderson spoke up.

"Why is that?"

"The soldiers are trained to kill detainees. Non of you are bullet proof. We are all going to die here."

Slowly walking to her everyone nearby gave me a wide berth. I seethed "I did not run for a decade only to be caught and now die by yours or anyone else's hands. The missiles will be disarmed or we will find a way to keep them from landing. The only people here who should be dead is you and Edgar."

Looking to Matt and Ed I signed "I'm sorry for everything." Turning to Mark and Ashe "I'll need both of you to help if you want to survive." They looked to each other before the shorter one spoke with a voice full of bass "I guess I'm game if you are". The taller one replied with only a nod. When they both looked back to me I nodded my own head.

Before I could take a step away from everyone there was a gentle tug at my shirt. Turning my head to see that it was Ed trying to tell me something Eric spoke for him "They say 'Because of you for an instant I didn't live in fear'. Thank you Z." Feeling the corners of my mouth begin to rise I reached my hand out "Can I pet you?" Ed began to purr before I even had a chance to place my hand of his head. Ruffling the fur in between his ears gently I felt a light rumble as he continued to purr.

We don't have time for this the Thing told me. If I don't do this now I'll never be able to I replied.

A loud gasp rippled though the air. It felt like my body had been dropped in ice with the chill that gripped my spine. I had only felt this way just once a couple of days ago. "Josh is still trying to disarm the missiles we have less than 10 minutes now", Nurse Ratchet said.

On it's own a shadow tendril took a hold of her. "I should rip you to shreds here and now", both the Thing and I said turning to her. Every fiber in my being urged me 'do it...kill her'. The tendril quickly tightened on her "I can help" she said with a strained tone.

"How?" I asked loosening just enough.

"I'm an RN, I can feed off pain and inflict it onto others, plus I know of every way to interrogate whoever you need me to."

"You're like us?" I asked. All this time I had an inkling that she wasn't human.

My head began to swim. Too much the Thing told me. Slowly letting her go I ordered, "Go inside and keep an eye on Edgar. Don't do anything to Josh and stay out of my sight or I'll turn you into compost." Nurse Ratchet stumbled slightly as I let her go. She ran into the building, our prison without another word.

"Mark, Ashe use these" I tossed both of them an epi pen. "Everyone else either start praying or run to the ship."

A whirling sound ripped through the air.

I know how to help the Thing told me.

How?

You and the other two are going to need to trust me.

Why? How? Do we have any other choice?

No.

What do you need?

I need you to take that pen then let me take full control.

Fine I replied reluctantly.

Already knowing the instructions I injected the needle into what little thigh meat I had. Mark and Ashe followed my lead. Giving my body over to the Thing felt like ants crawling under my skin. Slowly watching my hands turn to the claws, my veins turned black under my skin, my teeth took on a sharp edge, I felt the corners of my mouth grow longer to touch my cheekbones, and then my shadow split off into tendrils again.

"Watch the horizon. When you see the missiles give it everything you've got", the Thing talked through me with a bass baritone voice.

Before another breathe could be drawn the missiles were visible. Using my shadows to encompass and hold the missiles at bay I saw that both Mark and Ashe were struggling with their own powers much less struggling to stand in general. Beginning to feel push back I knew what needed to be done. "Hannah shoot me up with the last pen", I yelled.

In a flash she was there plunging the needle into me. With another shot of adrenaline I reached out to Ashe and Mark. Both of their powers surged into my body.

Syphoning their powers I felt my tendrils turn into whirlwinds surrounding the missiles. Using Mark's magnetism to dismantle the and then send them off in the opposite direction. I let both Mark and Ashe go. They collapsed from exhaustion.

As the sound barrier broke all of us watched the missiles explode into black smoke. Exhaling a heavy sigh of relief I let my body and mind relax for the first time in a decade.

~ Ashe's POV

What the hell just happened? Holy cow am I alive?

Patting my body to seeing if that tentacle thing was still on me. Nope. Something loud woke me up. Was that an explosion?

Looking around to see Mark and what was her or their name again, Z? Right. Z did something to me and Mark? Yeah that's the other guy's name. He was still asleep. Making my body stand was hard with that epi pen and whatever this person just did to me. I still feel dizzy and need to take it slow.

Finally on my feet walking over to Mark's side. Thank the almighty that he's still breathing. Turning my head to see everyone else just standing there watching us.

Z is just standing there with her shoulders slumped and knees bent I took a few steps closer. My instincts screamed at me to run or at least not get too close. My Pa made sure that I knew what to do with a dangerous animal. Growing up on a cattle farm will teach ya some good instincts.

Z is like us and yet not entirely. There's a predator in her. And the last thing you do with one is run. Predators of all sizes like to chase and all thrive on fear. I'm nobody's prey.

Staying an arm's length away I kept all my attention on them as I calmly called out her name, "Z, Z can you hear me?" With a twitch of the arm I saw that their hands looked more like claws stained in black ink. Big palms, long fingers, and even longer nails. Are those black veins?

Unsure if they were breathing I took a small step forward. With a sharp inhale their eyes flew open. I froze in pure shock with my jaw to the ground. I couldn't even make a sound. Staring into this thing's black eyes the only color that could be seen is a red slit down the middle like a snake's eyes.

Are they even one of us? Or are they a real monster?

Unable to move or say a word as it looked me up and down carefully my skin began to crawl. "Ashe?", they used that same deep voice from before. Having no idea who I was talking to I asked in return, "Z? Or whoever the hell you actually are?" It straighten It's shoulders while saying, "Not exactly" with a tilt of the head it finished with "Call me Nightmare."