I rushed at the creature, dodging under a swipe from one of its claws, I turned back towards it and aimed to stab it in the heart, immediately and faster than I could see, one of the tendrils bashed my blade aside, the electricity arcing across the blade, shocking me in the instant it made contact with the metal, making me drop my first sword!

  The ONLY reason I was able to avoid getting skewered was my enhanced reflexes, and that was barely getting me by.

  I dodged a few other tendrils and ducked, narrowly avoiding a multi-round blast from Wolf's bullpup, filling the creature with Riven bullets, "GREEN, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

  I dodged a few more tendrils and a swipe of claws, rolling behind my line of friends as they unloaded their Riven bullets into the thing, picking it apart as if it was made of wet cardboard, filling it full of holes, causing the thing to topple backward on to the bridge!

  I want to emphasize that this was "the creature", a fictional monster created online, scary stories for middle and high school kids to scare themselves. That made this thing terrifying in its implications.

  The Shadowyn were dealing in literal nightmares.

  As I straightened up, I saw Charley and Party 4th rushing past me armed with baseball bats, I grabbed Charley but Party 4th was too far out of reach by the time I had finished moving Charley out of the way, he had waited for the group to reload, rushing in to whack this thing with a baseball bat while we were all busy, but as he closed in, I yelled as I saw one single tendril arc through the air from under the collapsed creature and plunge directly through Party 4th's forehead and into his brain!

  "NO!" Shouted Hunter

  "MARK!!" Shouted Robyn

  "FUCK!!" Shouted Wolf as The creature began to regenerate, not just its body but also its robes, lifting Party 4th who I had just figured out was named Mark off the ground as it stood back up, its tendrils spread wide, pulsing with electricity and Mark's body jerked around in unsettling ways, his eyes moving, wide and unblinking, dead, but finding Robyn all the same as the creature took steps towards us, "R-robyn...Robyn, I'm sorry..."

  Sigma opened fire on the creature once again but the bullets seemed to pass straight through now it had a physical body attached to it like an anchor, the bullets only hitting Mark's legs and body as he hung there in the air, suspended by the tendril embedded in his skull.

  Robyn, who had hidden her face in Hunter's chest, was crying as I immediately rushed over to them, dragging Charley behind me, "Get in the van, go, do NOT look back."

  Hunter immediately unlocked the car door and ushered Charley and Robyn inside, starting the car.

  "Robyn I wanted to fuck you so bad...I wasted my life chasing after you, and now I'm dead!"

  Everyone stops, I turn back towards the creature, Mark's now ragged body was shaking from exaggerated laughter as black fluid gushed out of the corpse's mouth as his arms clutched to his chest, fingers jerking, clawing at nothing as neural signals ran rampant, "that's the whole reason I was even here, I fucking hate Hunter, and I fucking hate Charley, they're losers, you should have been with me...I died for you, Robyn"

  I turn around and squint back at the thing, not with fear but out of disgust.

  This was as basic as it got for a situation like this, standard corpse puppet guilt trip, this shit happens every time some otherworldly entity has any mastery over the human brain and wants to scare or demoralize its enemies, it was something so wonderbread from my training, I never thought it would happen in real life, it's like you met a guy named steven who had 32 apples and wanted to divide them up evenly amongst his 6 friends in real life, it just didn't happen.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Knowing, therefore, that this was not the titular Steven from math class, I decided to follow through on my training and yell common sense back at it, so that the normal, more gullible people could understand what was happening.

  "That guilt trip only works if you hadn't been an IDIOT when nobody told you to lay it on the line, that was on YOU! not HER! Even if you WERE Mark which you're not!"

  The corpse puppet didn't waver from where it was looking, but Mark's mouth said, "Shut up, insect." And I knew I'd gotten my point across, even if I hadn't broken whatever guilty sway this now dead puppet had over Hunter and his remaining friends, at least the entity knew I didn't buy it.

  It was after The creature's half-assed attempt to shut me up that I realized that it hadn't left the edge of the bridge even though it would have had every incentive to advance, members of my squad were now fending off the tendrils, dodging around quick swipes and lunges, trying to do more damage but also trying to avoid the claws, "Guys!! Back up, it can't leave the bridge!!"

  Immediately they gave back and it was evident that this thing was trapped, its tendrils desperately thrusting towards their heads as they moved away, but stopping short.

  "Seriously Robyn you can cry all you like but I've fantasized for years about the feeling of being inside you, of owning you. Violating that perfect pink mound."

  The creature's puppet Mark chuckles at Robyn recoiling, his arms and legs wiggling some more as the black goo continues to seep out of his mouth.

  "You're not even worth it, your sister was better AND easier, but then the Shadowyn took her, and once again I was wasting my time chasing you, you anorexic, gold-digging whore."

  "Ok asshole, that's enough." I aimed with my revolver and put 2 in Mark's head, blasting his braincase open, silencing him, or at least his corpse.

  In direct response the entity flares up with more tendrils, swiping at us with his claws as he attempts to scare us, but once again does not leave the small wall of flashlights at the end of the Lizard Bridge.

  After several seconds of us just standing there, the creature finally realized that we knew he couldn't get us and he recedes with Mark's body still attached to his tendril, beyond the invisible gate, vanishing from sight.

  The drive back to town was quiet, punctuated only by Robyn's sobs as she sat next to Hunter in the passenger seat.

  I still couldn't get ahold of Green.

  It felt so strange to be without my "copilot" for once. In Lieu of his usual shitheadery, I spoke and broke the silence, "So the Creature looked like someone before it got all...Creature-y...he came out to play and the first word out of your mouth was Papa, what's that about?"

  I looked up to see her glaring at me through smudged and runny makeup, her face twisted into a look of pure disdain, "My father...the Shadowyn took him when I was 11, I guess I know where those bastards get their monsters now..."

  I sigh and shake my head, these guys had helped us so much but Party 4th, Mark, was a shining example of why this had been a bad idea in the first place, this could not continue, "No, no, we know...you know nothing, under the radar, remember?"

  Charley is drawing again, tears in his eyes, Edge is writing in his Handbook, something he planned on publishing for Houska employees at a later date, and Love is staring out the window with my hand held in hers.

  Hunter stops the van after I spoke to Robyn, "The fuck you say?"

  Wolf nods approvingly at me, "For the first time since this started, you're talking sense, Green." She turned to look at Hunter, "You guys are out."

  Hunter swelled up, "You don't get to tell us that, Anna, It's OUR fight!!"

  Wolf left her seat and hunch-walked to the front of the van because of the low roof of the car, "And your fight took one of your friends, scary how that happens, huh? Drop us back off at our house, we'll be on our way, and you can be on yours."

  Hunter got out of the van and rushed around to pull the door open, immediately, Wolf kicked him in his chest, laying him out on the street, "You're done, Hunter, that's enough!"

  Hunter tried to get up but Wolf stepped on his chest, "I said that's enough." Her forceful but calm tone did in fact eventually pacify Hunter, "Ok..let me up, I give."

  She did and let him back in the van, "You're right...the toll is officially too high...but do me a favor..."

  Wolf looks skeptically at Hunter, "Depends on the favor."

  "Hunter starts driving us home, "Clue us in once you get to them, I want to see them suffer."

  She nods, "You've got a deal."