CHAPTER V

       Rain came down in sheets, the cold downpour only conflicted by the small warmth from inside the wrecked Tuscon. Rowan came to consciousness, his brain trying to put things together as he pushed up from the steering wheel. Glass crackled in his lap as he moved. The stuff had shredded his body on impact. His bandages from before had sopped blood that had reopened and the rainwater falling on him. His eyes finally opened, the blur of yellow headlamps bending around a thick tree that had caught them right in the middle of the car. Rowan's mind picked up the pace, running everything from as early as he could remember; the fight at college, the argument with Zane, the call to Fuyuko- Oh no.

        She groaned beside him, pulling at her seatbelt and coughing. "R-Rowan?"

        "Are you okay?" He gasped as he fumbled with his seatbelt, trying to unbuckle himself.

        "No... No, this hurts..." she said. Fuyuko flexed her fingers, toes, tensed her legs and arms, all part of the mental checklist of all limbs function. "Nothing feels broken..."

        "We should try to-" a loud screech that made both their blood run cold cut Rowan off. He wrenched at the seatbelt. "We have to go! Hurry!"

        Fuyuko reached for her own restraints, pushing at the button. She pressed the button again and again, only for nothing to happen. It must have gotten jammed during the wreck! "Rowan! I need help!" she screamed as the lightning lit the night for a split second.

        "I can't get out either!" He called to her. The roll of thunder nearly drowned him out. The storm was coming closer. Another flash from the sky illuminated the monster ahead of them and, for the instant the lightning had flashed, Rowan saw it in slow motion.

        It was a bipedal creature that stood like a large bird, though, now that they were not racing down the road, he could see the plume of green feathers that ran down the top of its head and down its back, its long, tucked arms that ended in three razor claws. Its amber eyes glowed without benefit of the storm, though it only added to the strangeness of its being. When the lightning finally ended in Rowan's eyes, the slow motion of light that shown him and her what this thing was, it dawned on Rowan as he whispered; "the Georgian Raptor..."

        Its claws rose to the sides of its head, splayed apart as it roared at the two, and took a step, only to stop at the sounds of something distant. Amid the pouring rain, Rowan and Fuyuko could hear it as well and they turned in its direction. The beams of headlights from around the corner said that there was a car coming. That meant there was someone who could help them. Fuyuko began screaming for help as Rowan turned back to the Georgian Raptor.

        It was gone.

        He stared at the spot it stood as Fuyuko waved her arms, trying to be more visible in this hell of falling water. That monster, the Georgian Raptor, it would have ripped them to shreds, Rowan thought. It would have eaten them with no thought of their personal goals and dreams. Would it have even supplied it with energy or was it killing for the hell of it? Why was it out here near Foster Lake? But the most important question to Rowan; if the Georgian Raptor was just a creature like the owls, deer and bears, then why did it chase this car down? There had been no records of this happening, so why start now?

        The sounds of the rain washed out many other sounds, save for the loud 'thunk' of a car door. "Are you two alright?" A feminine baritone voice called out to them.

        Rowan's chest welled at the sound, and he heard Fuyuko call frantically. "Over here! We're over here! Please help!"

        "We're okay as far as we can tell!" Rowan called back, "But we're stuck in the seatbelts!"

        He only caught her for a moment as she came around to Fuyuko's side of the wreck and pried the door open. Shattered glass fell away as the hunk of metal and fiberglass hung useless in the rain. The woman had a large knife in her hands that sent Fuyuko into fits of panicked pants. "Be still now. I've got you," she said as she slipped the knife under the belt and, with one hard yank, sliced clean through. Then the woman helped Fuyuko out of the car.

        Rowan watched until he couldn't follow anymore, mostly because of the newfound whiplash, but he was not mistaken it; This was the same woman that stopped the fight at college earlier today. But now, as long as he could remember to do it, he could get some answers. This saved him time in hunting her down.

        "Can you give me a push here?" He snapped out of his thoughts and saw midnight hair spilling out from under a concealing hood as the headlamps of the car illuminated her behind them. She looked more like a serial killer than their savior. He threw his shoulder into the door, pulling the handle out of habit. When it didn't budge, he tried twice more, with gusto, before looking up at her.

        "I don't think I can... I'm exhausted..."

        "Or it's stuck. Hold on." And she vanished behind him. A moment later, she was crawling through the passenger side. As she got closer, he could hear her grunting with effort, slipping the knife under his belt like before and yanking it through, the belt flying up and slapping Rowan in the face. "Sorry. But you're free. Come on and-"

        "I can't..." Rowan sighed. He looked down to his leg, trapped in a curl of wreckage. "I can move my toes, there is no tearing, but I'm caught... So-"

        The woman crawled in closer to him. She reached down, touching the curl of metal, then looked up at him, pulling her hood off to reveal her steel-blue eyes. Somehow, they caught the light and gave a cold glow. "This is going to hurt..." she said, then turned back to the problem, closing her eyes.

        He listened to her for a moment as she muttered something under her breath. She put both hands on the gnarled mass around his leg as she continued talking to herself quietly. His heart stopped when he heard her sigh at the word, "amen". "That was a prayer-?"

        Pain flooded up his leg as he watched for a split second; it was almost like she moved cardboard with how fast she uncoiled the metal, and his leg was free. He gave a loud yell as he tried to coil back, his brain taking stock of the situation; this obstruction, whatever the shape of the crumpled mess around his leg, was no way a flesh wound from how badly it was hurting. This must have pierced skin, torn through muscle, and gripped him like some creature toying with its prey. It could even touch bone, he wasn't sure, then he noticed the blood oozing from his leg. The pain, along with the sight of it, the little imp called anxiety in his brain that mocked him even now about how sure he was that he wasn't hurt, now made his head lighter. The inside of the car spun as he heard her disoriented voice ask if he was alright. His head drooped, and he was gone.