The Puppet Master

*Emilie's POV*
The low growl came from behind me again, then another to my left, and another 2 to the right, one more behind me and another one to the left. Then I saw them, two behind Jenny approaching with a low growl.
Eight in total. Four each. They were all over 6 ft tall on all fours, bear like, short legs and massive bulky bodies with tight black leathery skin pulled tight over the corded muscles. They had flat, pug-like faces, but they were in no way cute. They had long tails ending in a pike. Their tails appeared to be directly connected to their spinal coulombs which stuck out of their backs. They appeared to be a strange combination of the aliens (from Alien (Vs Predator)- awesome film series) and bears. BIG bears, like 'lets make Canada jealous', kind of bears. F***ing hell!
Jenny glanced at me. "Sh*t !" She yelped. Then they began to run directly towards us.
"Jenny! Get under the table!" I screamed.
As I thought, Their short legs made them rather slow runners. Ashley had made this difficult for us, yes, but he hadn't made it impossible.
I ducked under the table as the creatures dived . The table was low to the floor and their faces couldn't fit under there.
I grabbed on to Jenny. Her face was right next to mine. She looked scared, I could only imagine how awful I must look. She squealed as one of he things growled right behind her. I pulled her up close to me so she was away from them.
"Jen, we need weapons. Hopefully, if I can get my triangle in the slot on the other side then all these things will go away."
She nodded. "What should I use to fight?"
"Spears are probably best. They're slow and lumbering, if we keep our distance then we have an advantage." the creatures tried to get under the table again, I jumped and Jenny let out a slight squeal. "Jenny, look at me!" I snapped, trying to be calm "when you get past them, I want you to head to the nearest tree and climb as high as you can. I need you to direct me Jenny, tell me where they are. I can't fight if I'm worried about you."
She glared at me. "Fist of all, I'm scared of heights, and second, I'm GOING to fight too!"
The look of conviction in her eyes swayed me. "Okay."
I thought up a metal spear. Hollow inside so it would be easy to carry. I also thought up a gun too. I wasn't sure what sort, but it looked like what they use on NCIS. I din't want to have to use it because I wasn't comfortable with killing them.
"Jenny, try not to kill them" I asked, handing a gun over.
"Why?" she questioned, accepting it.
"Because I'm vegetarian."
She rolled her eyes. "Now is not the time for ethics Emilie!"
"Okay, on 3. 1, 2, 3!" we rolled out from under the table.
One of them was right up close to me and i stabbed it's paw. The blood came out blue. My spear was covered in it and began to erode slowly. Acid blood!? Damn it Ashley Purdy, you think of everything!
"JEN! THE BLOOD MELTS STUFF!" I yelled.
"WHAT! I HATE YOU ASHLEY!" She screamed, unloading her gun into one of their legs.
One of them dived on me from the table and I rolled to the floor, letting a bullet lose on it's knee. It yelped and backed off but some of it's blood got on my skin. I wiped it off my face with my hand. Big mistake. My right hand, my dominant hand, burned too. The skin began to bubble and blister slowly as the acid did it's trick. It'd have to wait till later to get fixed because 5 of them were moving in my direction. No way could I do this, not injured and not with Jenny fighting 3 alone. Only one thing to do. End it.
I ducked under the one blocking my way to the table, sticking a bullet in it's hind legs as i passed. The creature yelped and my heart twinged. "I'm sorry." I whispered to myself as I aimed between it's eyes and pulled the trigger, immediately feeling guilty as it's blue blood sprayed across it's companions whose skin began sizzling. It appears even they are affected slightly by the acidic quality of their blood.
I turned my back on the creatures and ignored the sounds of Jenny fighting as I fumbled with the knot. The string was becoming bloodstained and I refused to look at the condition of my palm. Finally I got the prism loose and slid it into the slot, then something grabbed my leg.
One of those things had grabbed my ankle between its teeth and i could feel them ripping into the muscle, pulling through the skin of my leg.
The prism was only half in.
"JENNY!" I screamed. "THE PRISM!"
She looked around in shock and ran towards me, shooting the one she was fighting through the bottom of it's mouth. As she ran she unloaded her gun into the head of the one dragging me away, splattering me in more gore. Jenny rolled over the table and leaned over the side, pushing my prism in.
The dead weight on my leg vanished, but the pain didn't.
Jenny ran over to me. her skin was blistering in places, and the bone was visible on her leg.
"oh my goodness! Emilie, your face!" she exclaimed.
"How bad is it?" i reached up to touch it, feeling moisture and roughness before my fingers hit smooth bone. The acid had made a hole in my face. "Eww!" I squeaked. I gathered the nerve to check my hand too. same story. The bones were entirely visible from the base of my thumb down into my wrist. As the adrenaline faded the pain took over.
The boys all came in through the gate at the far end. Jinxx bee lined towards Jenny and took care of her leg.
CC took my leg, Jake took my hand, and Andy took my face. I didn't even protest, I just stayed there in agony until they were done. Ashley was hanging back for some reason. Examining the remains of the area, asking Jinxx about Jenny and yet he totally ignored me. What did I do? HE kissed ME, not the other way around, so why wasn't he even looking at me? I know I sound self centered, but honestly, at this point I am borderline giving up on boys. Perhaps I can adopt some cats. CC and Jake finished om my limbs and Andy was almost done on my face.
"You can handle this one, right Andy?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, sure."
"Cool, I'm going to go check on Jinxx and Jenny. By the Way, Emilie, your test scores were astounding." he whispered conspiratorially. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't move my head.
"Thanks, Jake." Andy said for me. I found myself warming up to him a bit again. I was still mad at him over the Juliet thing, but he was kindhearted. He kept my head in his lap even when he was done healing my face. He thought I might be feeling dizzy, and I was a bit.
"Okay, you wanna hear your results girls?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah." we chimed together. Andy helped me up and once again I found myself looking into those eyes and melting like chocolate in a microwave.
"Thanks." i whispered, all of a sudden shy.
"No problem." he whispered back.
"Why are we whispering!?" CC hissed at us.
"So you can ask us why we are whispering!" I sassed him back.
The two of them laughed.
"Okay, Emilie" Ashley began. His voice hitched slightly when he said my name. "You had really low scores, Your total was 20 minutes and 1 second. You would have had a lower score, but you received a 10 minute penalty on task 4. I gave you both full marks on task 5." he finished.
Jinxx stepped up. "Jenny, you had pretty good scores too. You weren't as quick as Emilie but you were still below the average time we got. Your total was 15 minutes 37 seconds. You did task 4 in under a minute, you're very good at accessing other people's minds. The fastest time we had was 2 minutes and that was Andy, so you basically halved the time and I think that's awesome!" he said.
CC rushed over to Jenny and hugged her whilst jumping and yelling "Well done!"

We all gathered our wits and Ashley vanished back to the home dimension first. Andy took my hand and we entered the darkness together. I still didn't really know how to find the home dimension and my head ached.
By the time me and Andy got there, Ashley had gone off somewhere.
CC promptly started playing music and organised a party, offering me and Jenny beer. Jenny refused all alcohol but I took Jake up on vodka shots. I took a Martini out of the dining room with me, claiming I wished to explore a bit. Andy offered a guided tour but I said I'd rather go alone.

I found Ashley sat where the alter should have been in this church-like room. It was beautiful, no religious imagery aside from the simple font at the door carved with a Latin inscription. I vowed to translate it later using the Latin I learned at Catholic school.
"Hi." I said.
"Hey." he muttered, looking in to his wine glass. I sat by him and he shuffled away slightly.
"Oh my God, Ashley, what are you? years old? For Christ's sake, if you're mad at me why cant you just act like a bloody adult and tell me!?" I snapped.
He looked directly at me. His eyes were so different to Andy's yet they left my stomach lurching in the same way. "I'm not mad at you." he whispered honestly whilst brushing my fringe out of my eyes. His hand rested on my now healed jaw. "I'm mad at myself."
"Why?" I asked, searching his face.
He smiled sadly and shook his head. "Because you're 16, and i feel so strongly about you, and I can't. I can't ever be with you except here anyway."
"Ashley..."
"I DISGUST MYSELF!" He screamed, throwing his glass on the floor. I flinched and put my own glass down, taking his shoulders.
"Ash, you're drunk."
"actually that's impossible here because you haven't actually physically consumed any alcohol." he shrugged. He looked at me and brushed my face. "God, you're so beautiful." he murmured before leaning in. I stayed still this time. I rushed it with Stuart and look where that got me. He was so close to me. His lips brushed mime momentarily the he hug his head.
"I really like you, Lee." It took a moment before I understood that Lee was me. "It's just that I'm too old for you."
He stood up and glanced at the shattered wine glass, cleaning it up with a thought, then left the room.
I sat alone for a few seconds before my brother's alarm woke me up in the other room.

I rolled out of bed groggily, wishing for 5 more minutes. It was 6 am. Jenny would probably wake up soon too. I checked my calendar, 6 weeks until I was back at that hell hole of a school for 6th form.
I stumbled downstairs, a note was on the mat by the front door and was addressed to me. I picked it up.

I'm sorry, please meet me at the King's Head pub on the 21 st at 8:00 pm. The band is playing there and I need to talk to you.
- Eternally yours, and all my love, Stuart. XX

I considered the note for a moment. I would go, even if it was just a good excuse to kick him between the legs with a group of drunken Scottish bikers to back me up.
I folded the note and wandered into the lounge where my brother sat watching T.V. looking dumbfounded by the headline.
"Clar?" I asked. He pointed to the T.V. and it clicked.
A serious looking news reader said;
"Today's latest development; North Korea have declared war on the USA. The British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron has agreed to fight on America's behalf and all current British troops are to be deployed there within the week."

Notes

-TheBunnyRegimeQueen.
I started this chapter at 11 am and I'm finishing it at 3:30 pm. Proof of my ability to procrastinate.
^.^