343 On The Other Side

With one swipe of its tail, the creature damaged the side of a building, causing it to crumble and fall. 

"Get out of there!" Maribelle screamed at the people who had previously run into the building to hide. 

Only a few made it back out alive, it was too late for the rest. Dust clouds billowed and covered the entire area around them, obscuring their vision. 

"Everyone, huddle close!" Boss shouted out to all the children. 

Everyone who could hear him did as he instructed. They clutched their weapons tightly as they waited patiently for the dust clouds to clear. 

"Everyone, be on your guard," Boss whispered to them. 

In the distance, they could hear screams, followed by the clash of metal. But they could not see anything. As the dust clouds began to clear a little, Boss noticed a large shadow in the distance. 

He gulped. 

"Do we have the large shooter?" Boss whispered to the rest. 

"Yes we do!" Jos replied as the children brought forth the large padded box.

Not wasting time, they opened it swiftly. The children quickly loaded the weapon before positioning. It took a few of them to hold up the weapon. Following the movement of the shadows, Boss and the children aimed the weapon towards it. 

"Hold," he whispered. 

Sweat trickled down his forehead as he tracked the movement of the shadow. Just then, he noticed a small shadow running towards their direction. From the dust clouds, a human appeared, running towards them. 

Behind him was a huge shadow, coming towards them. They could feel the ground verberating beneath their feet. The rumble grew louder and louder, until they could see it's snout through the dust clouds. 

"Fire!" Boss shouted as he pulled the trigger. 

A blast shot out of the shooter weapon, with a single bullet flying through the air. At top speed, it hit the creature right in its mouth, exploding upon impact. Blood, sinew and tissue splattered in all directions. 

The ricochet of the shooter weapon caused Boss to lose his balance for a bit. But he quickly regained his footing, eager to see the damage the weapon had caused. . A pool of blood formed around its jaw. 

But there was no time to celebrate. 

The creature was still alive! 

As its body spasmed and legs twitched, Boss realised their battle was not over. He quickly rallied the rest of the children as they reloaded the weapon and took aim once more. 

It narrowly missed the creature by an inch. 

"Shit! Load the weapon!" Boss shouted as the creature got back up on its feet.

Its jaw hung loose, with blood dripping from the wound as it lumbered towards them. 

The children quickly loaded the weapon. 

"This is our last one!" Jos shouted as they finished reloading it. Boss nodded, he cannot miss.

They quickly took aim at the creature that was only metres from where they were. He fired the shot straight towards the creature, it was a bullseye! All of them anticipated the impact of the shot. 

But the creature saw it coming. It raised its front paw and swiped the bullet down. Despite the explosion upon impact, the creature was not damaged. It's toughened scales were not even scratched by the attack.

"No…" Maribelle gasped in shock as she covered her mouth with her hands. 

"Fallback!" Boss exclaimed. 

All the children tried to move, but they were rooted to the ground. The creature was just a few metres away from them and they were paralyzed in fear. 

Was this how it was going to end?

They have not even tasted the fruits of freedom! Is this how their story was going to end, mauled by the reptilian creature?

A howl was heard in the distance. 

As all the children closed their eyes, waiting for death to collect them, Boss kept his eyes open. If he was going to die now, he wanted to meet it face to face. In the blink of an eye, the reptilian creature's shadow loomed over them, casting them in darkness. 

But before it could swipe its claw at them, something came towards it at top speed. In the next second, all Boss could see was the reptilian creature being flung. Its body flew through the air and hit a nearby building. 

The building began to crumble and bury the creature. When Boss turned back to see what it was, he realised another shadow loomed over them. He had never seen anything like it before.

The aura the creature emanated was intense, but never oppressive or overpowering. It had fur as white as snow, with nine tails on its back. The tips of its tail were black and so was its paws. 

It resembled a wolf, with glowing red eyes. It was slightly smaller in size compared to the reptilian creature. All the children waited to be eaten, but nothing happened. 

When they were finally brave enough to open their eyes, they were met with the majestic white nine-tailed beast. The beast was staring intently at Boss, but he did not know why. 

Though Boss could not quite understand why it was looking at him, his gut told him that he knew this beast. 

Just then, the rubble that had collapsed on the reptilian beast began to rumble. The nine-tailed beast switched focus towards the rubble. It took on an offensive post, ready to pounce and attack. 

The rest of the survivors had remained hidden in different areas, carefully assessing the situation from where they were hidden. El was worried about the children but Mara and the rest dragged her away to safety in a nearby building. 

Sorren had separated from them, hiding behind part of a torn-down wall. 

The hybrids were hiding further away with their weapons drawn, ready to shoot anything that got near to them. The spider beasts were clustered in a corner, while Queen Willow continued to tend to Red Silk.