Help (2)

An agonised yell from one of the men, accompanied by a sickening tearing and crunching sound ripped through the night. Unable to keep her eyes closed any longer, Emma opened them again doing her best to focus on the fight.

The black-furred creature had clamped its jaws down on one of the men's arms, apparently crushing the bones. She watched in horrified fascination as the creature twisted and ripped the man's underarm clean off his body. The man screamed in agony and horror, accompanied by a shocked yell of the other man.

The creature let the severed arm fall to the ground with a pathetic flop, and the first man staggered backwards cradling his bloodied remains of his left arm.

Still feeling to weak and dizzy to do more than half sit up, Emma watched from the ground as the creature turned its attention to the other man.

To his credit, the other man, though obviously shaken by the injury to his partner, stood his ground, coldly collecting himself. Slowly, he reached into his jacket and pulled out two daggers. Twisting them expertly in his hands he went into a fighting stance.

Emma watched enthralled, as the black dog moved with deadly grace dodging the daggers effortlessly, before darting in closer to the man, biting and tearing apart flesh with his claws. Despite the gore, Emma could help thinking how swift and precise it's movements were. There was no frenzy about it, everything movement was executed with poise and precision. She didn't know it was possible for any living being to move like that, let alone this large black beast.

As the battle raged on, Emma got shakily to her feet. She staggered for a second as a new wave of dizziness hit her. She clutched the nearby wall for support. When she felt less dizzy, she focused on the fight again. The man seemed to be tiring, or possibly the many wounds on his body were starting to take its toll.

Focusing her attention on the creature, Emma anxiously looked for any injuries it might have sustained. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she thought, because she could have sworn that the creature was surrounded by a faint, green-glowing aurora, which shifted and shimmered around it as moved. But the rain was pouring down so thick that it was difficult to see clearly.

As she stood transfixed by the deadly beauty of the black furred creature, Emma suddenly became aware of a movement on the periphery of her vision. She saw the first man, still cradling his bloody stump to his chest, getting to his feet again and reaching his remaining hand under the back of his jacket. When his hand emerged, it was clutching a gun, which he aimed straight at the creature now gripping his partner by the throat.