Page 103 of Mud

Did she even understand what the hell I was saying?

Doubtful, and she hardly gave my guns pointed at her face a second glance. In fact, she kept her eyes on me, waiting patiently, never moving a single inch while I slowly backed away.

“So just…just stay there, okay? Just stay there and I’m going to leave you alone. You won’t ever have to see me again. You can just go back to…wherever it is you came from.”

I had barely taken the fourth step back when she realized I didn’t plan on showing her my magic.

She stood up.

No, damn it, stay!

That growl again that vibrated on my skin and I felt it all the way to my marrow. It came from deep in her throat, and she slowly lowered her head as if preparing to attack.

Death had never been closer.

“No, don’t!”

She jumped.

I fired both my guns.

It was incredible how she moved, like her body was made out of liquid. She twisted to the sides and my bullets missed her by inches, but to get away from them she had tomove to the left, so she didn’t fall on top of me. Instead, her front paw only slammed against my shoulder and pushed me to the side so hard I couldn’t keep my balance.

My feet slipped and suddenly I was falling again—only for a second. I hit wood with the side of my face, and I could have sworn my skull cracked on impact, but somehow, I was still conscious. Somehow, I was already moving, motivated by sheer terror and my survival instincts. I pushed myself up, ignoring the warmth that was dripping down my cheek. My guns were raised, and I looked up just in time to see the vulcera jumping at me from the same spot I’d just been standing on.

Again, I shot my guns, knowing that I’d miss, and I moved back at the same time. All those countless hours of my training kicked in, and suddenly I wasnotthe weakest player thrust into this deadly game, but I was an IDD agent sent on a mission to save lives.

This vulcera was coming for my head, and I was to stop her by any means necessary.

Still, the way she moved was incredible. The instinct to drop a gun and reach for my magic was strong. I even started whispering the words of a spell that would have raised magic as thick as a brick wall to distract her before I attacked again. Very standard strategy, one that never let me down—except I had no magic to use, so I didn’t feel the pull and tug inside me at all. My finger was empty, too. My father’s ring was gone, Iris knew where.

And these guns were no good against this creature because she saw the bullets coming and moved away far too quickly.

Definitely much faster than me.

It sucked to have to put my guns away, and I barely had time to grab two daggers from their sheathsunderneath my jacket before the vulcera fell on top of me with a growl that would have you thinking she was a damn lioness.

I moved without having to think about it. The branch I’d landed on wasn’t thick and for once that was a good thing. All it took was for me to put my forearm underneath her jaws to stop her from biting off my face and stab her right on the base of where her leg connected with her torso—on skin, not scale, where my knife could slide in easily and cause some damage.

At the same second, I tipped myself over with all my strength, meaning to fall off the branch together with her.

It worked. She howled in pain, raising her head, giving me enough space to throw her off balance and launch myself off the branch, but the tip of her tail had been wrapped around my ankle without my even noticing it, so she came down with me.

The fall hurt, but I was back on my feet before she was on hers. I didn’t wait, just jumped off again and went lower still, as a couple of players who still hadn’t found their familiar watched me curiously.

Behind me, the vulcera roared—now pissed off.

I knew I couldn’t outrun her, but I did have a plan, believe it or not. Now that the thought ofI’m going to die any second nowwasn’t plaguing me, my body had taken over and my mind followed. Ahead of me was exactly what I needed—those ropes that came down branches everywhere, but these were close to one another and thick enough that I didn’t think they’d snap so easily.

The vulcera roared again—so close to me I could feel the heat of her body against my back. I didn’t dare turn to see her face for fear it would slow me down. I just put my daggers back in their holsters and jumped when I was stilltwo feet away from the branch curving upward, on the sides of which were those ropes.

I grabbed the one on the right and prayed with all my being that it was strong enough to carry my weight.

It was.

It spun me all around the thick branch and I came flying from the other side. The vulcera jumped to catch me at the perfect time. I raised my legs and kicked her on the side of her head and neck with the tips of my boots hard.

The cries of pain she let out when she slammed against the tree would have been heartbreaking if I’d stopped to think. As it was, I let go of the rope and landed just a couple of feet away, as the vulcera shook her head to clear it, still not on her feet all the way.

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