REBIRTH: SEVEN DAYS BEFORE DOOMSDAY

THE CORE

I tensed up, my muscles flaring as the creature's red eyes remained fixed on me.

I was still so lost in my thoughts, and it wasn’t until I noticed Harris beginning to move from the corner of my eyes that I snapped to attention.

My brows furrowed as I immediately noticed that Harris’ hands were slowly moving towards his waist. I blinked, confused about why he would reach for his waist.

It took another second for me to realize what he was doing. Harris had brought a gun with him, and not once during the past few hours that we had spent together had I realized that.

I almost chuckled. Of course he had. How long would it take me to realize that I shouldn’t trust everyone with everything I had? Apparently, my billionaire business partner had not seen it fit to inform me that he had been carrying a firearm this entire time.

Now that I was thinking about it, he must have brought it into my apartment too, and I had let him walk in without checking.

My thoughts were racing, but before I could do or say anything, the creature’s body grew tense.

Its eyes darted towards the small metal form that Harris was now struggling to lift. Somehow, the ratjaw could recognize the threat for what it was.

So, the creature lowered his body, exposed his long teeth, and lunged… right at me.

Even though the creature thought Harris was more dangerous, it still lunged at me first. Maybe he thought I would be far easier to handle first.

I wasn’t going to go down without a fight, so I reached for the only weapon I had brought with me – a knife. I held the knife and threw it towards the creature.

As the knife flew through the air, I used my powers to wrap around it, and spurred it on with far more force than what I could have been able to throw with just my strength.

The creature’s eyes widened in shock, and at the last second, it twisted its massive fur body out of the way. The knife missed its head by inches, but slicked right through the body, cutting a two-inch wound.

The creature howled out in pain, then, took a couple of feet back with fear in its eyes.

By this time, Harris had already brought out his gun, but it was pretty clear to me that it had been a long time since he had fired his weapon, because he was actually taking a long time to aim.

Before Harris could pull the trigger. The ratjaw bared his teeth at me, and lunged at me again. And this time, it was much faster than before. The creature was clearly attacking me with everything it had.

I stepped aside, barely having time to respond. I took control of the knife again, and this time, I poured all my focus into ending this fight as quickly as possible.

The blade flew through the air and cut straight across the ratjaw’s shoulder. Once again, the creature yelped in pain, but this time, the pain was also filled with confusion as it got attacked by a flying knife.

“Down!” Harris yelled.

I responded instantly. The moment I heard his shout, I dropped to the floor, and a second after I did, I heard a loud bang.

Harris had fired his weapon.

The creature jerked back as a bullet struck its skull. But the bullet didn’t penetrate. So, Harris kept on firing.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

It took until the fourth bullet until the creature finally fell on the ground.

“Are you alright, Kara?” Harris asked, his tone filled with a note of unease as he began to walk towards the down creature.

I nodded, and began to catch my breath.

I looked up just in time to catch Harris about to get into a meter’s range of the creature.

“STOP!” I called out,

Harris blinked, but stopped.

“Why?” he asked, “The creature’s d-”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence, because the moment he stopped, the heavily injured ratjaw immediately lunged right at Harris.

He scrambled back in shock, but he was far too close. I knew a couple of mutant animals were smart enough to play dead, and I had watched many people die from underestimating the creatures. That was why I had tried to stop him.

The moment I spotted the creature twitching, I had already flown my knife over.

So, before the creature could reach Harris’ side, the blade drove right into the creature’s chest and it pierced its heart. I pulled out the knife again, and yanked it right back in…

This time, the creature fell and began to spasm. It didn’t take long before it grew still, and now, I am sure that it was dead.

“Thank you,” Harris whispered, as he stared intently at the creature’s body.

I waited for an extra minute before I slowly began to walk towards the still body.

"Kara, what are you doing?" He called out, “It could still be playing dead,”

“No,” I shook my head, “It’s dead now.”

He tried to say something, but before he could, I had already reached the creature’s side. Up close, the rat monster looked far more terrifying. From its red eyes, to its large teeth and claws.

This thing shouldn’t exist, at least not till next week.

I had not heard of any mutant creatures appearing in the world before the apocalypse, but now that I was thinking about it, that could just be because I had not searched for them.

I stretched out my hand and the knife flew right into my grip. Then, slowly, I began to cut into the skull of the creature.

Harris stared at me with a blank gaze, he was looking at me as though I’d lost my mind.

"What are you doing?" he asked,

I ignored him, there was no time to explain. If there was a ratjaw here, that meant there were a lot of other mutant creatures around the world now that had not been discovered.

At least, not by private individuals yet.

I dug deeper and only stopped when I felt my knife struck something very hard. I stopped, inside its skull was something that shone out.

The core.

It was a small white sphere that looked almost like a pearl.

I slowly pulled out the core, and the moment it touched the air, it began to pulse faintly.

"What the hell is that?" Harris asked.

“The core,” I answered, “I believe absorbing it increases your strength. Though I don’t know if it's true.”

I stretched out my hand towards it, and the moment my bare fingers touched the core, it melted right into my hand.

My eyes widened as I felt a stream of heat rush through my entire body.

When I opened my eyes, it was with a wide smile on my face.