Chapter Text
< GET OUT NOW! > Prince Jake screamed loudly, his tiger body jumping to the right from a Hork-Bajir trying to slice into his back. He growled and spun around, biting the forearm and ripping it to shreds. My tail snapped and cracked in the air, ending lives and injuring those who wished to injure me. I could feel sweat dripping down my body along with blood from the gash in my upper chest region. The small house in the middle of nowhere had became very hot with so many bodies within its walls, Dracon beams flashing wielded by human Controllers making the air stink of singed flesh.
The others, which was the other five Animorphs, started to retreat, myself backing towards the front door with my main eyes set on the big Hork-Bajir in front of me and my stalk eyes on the door behind me. I whipped my tail twice, the Hork-Bajir groaning as I left a good, deep gap in his neck, not enough to kill but enough to let Taxxons find him. I reached back with one hand and twisted the brass knob, backing out and running down the hill. The others barreled out behind me, all of them running for the woods that surrounded the home. I stood guard, hidden by trees, as the others demorphed and remorphed into birds. Controllers began to comb through the trees as I morphed Northern Harrier, taking flight and going home after Prince Jake announced for us to get some sleep.
That was two days ago in human time, and we were still feeling the after effects of the fight. We may have morphed and gone home to sleep, but it never removed the nightmares in our heads. Three-fourths of the Animorphs decided to rest in the mall, relax a bit and grab some coffee before going home to sleep and relax there. Marco let loose a loud, obnoxious yawn, scratching his head then taking another sip of his Starbucks coffee. Prince Jake slurped down his coffee quickly and had a small conversation with Marco in between yawns. I wasn't letting my lethargic body show how tired I was, but my eyes closed halfway and I had no feeling in my fingers whatsoever, so I let my coffee cool and leaned back in my chair. Cassie seemed to have a better time wrestling the fatigue than the rest of us, drinking her coffee as she wrote on a pad of paper what to do when she got home.
It was a calm Monday in the mall, summer heat ignoring the building as cool air filled the food court. I expected nothing to happen at all, finally having the power to pick up my drink and take a swallow. I didn't have to power to amaze myself over the wonderful use of a cup, so I ignored the wondering words in my mind. I could not believe a fight like that could take this much out of the team, but I fought my suspicion and continued to drink. I gulped the mouthful of coffee and raised the cup to my lips to take another mouthful, but was startled by a thunderous sound that rattled the whole mall.
It was a loud bang, like glass being shattered with a gunshot. We all jumped, Marco and Prince Jake cursing as Cassie gasped and looked around. I tipped my head forward and spat my coffee back inside the cup; looking towards the culprit of the noise with the most energy I had all week. It came from the mall entrance, one of the glass doors slammed against its hinges. The glass part of the door unlocked from its place in the doorframe and broke on the hard mall floor. A female stumbled through the mall door, clearly in agony and distress.
She was doubled over, one hand on the empty doorframe and another clutching whatever she had close to her middle. She screamed loudly, and then continued with her message. She spoke in an odd tongue, but I understood the babble no human could as my eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat. Andalite language, flowing from the woman's mouth like liquid metal. " Help please! They are after us, both of us, PLEASE! "