Fire meets Fire

Sark reached for his shotgun and repeated his question, this time more aggressively:
‘Madam, were you bitten?’ Jessie’s eyes wandered to the people still fighting the ghouls. Her jaw clenched. (Jessie: I can’t help them now!)

‘No, I wasn’t bitten! But I need to know—where are you heading?’

Sark's grip on his gun relaxed. ‘We’re heading to Behills Hospital. We figured taking the motorway might save us trouble with… them.’ He jerked his head toward the ghouls.

‘Whatever they’re called.’

‘I see. I was heading there too. Mind giving me a ride?’ Before Sark could answer, they all suddenly felt something. A heavy, suppressing presence—something invisible, pressing down on them. Jessie knew this sensation far too well—and who it came from. Her eyes locked onto a figure in the distance: Nighyel. She skipped toward the intersection, swinging her arms and grinning wide.

‘Who is that?’ Dean asked, wiping sweat from his brow. ‘She looks human, but my instinct tells me she’s dangerous.’ Sark and Larah nodded silently. Jessie, however, was lost in the memory of the police station. Her veins were bulging, her face reddening, and her grip on her bag tightened. Her whole body vibrated with hatred, and that hatred crept into her voice as she began to speak:

‘I don’t know about these monsters, but I can tell you one thing—that woman is far more dangerous. And she killed—’ For a moment, the hatred in her voice was overtaken by sorrow. ‘—someone dear to me. But today… today is not the day for revenge.’ Nighyel waved at her.

‘We meet again! Oh, John was such a fine man! If you stay, you might get to see him again. Don’t you want—’

‘Fuck you!’ Jessie roared. She climbed into the car. ‘Drive if you want to live!’ Right after, Nighyel raised one arm, forming a small fireball in her hand. It rapidly grew in size, and the heat from it was so intense even Dean and the others felt it from inside the car. Sark chuckled.

‘We had our hands full with monsters, and now this? It’s getting interesting.’ He hit the gas. Just as they sped off, Nighyel launched the fireball into the sky. It exploded overhead, raining down countless smaller fireballs indiscriminately—ghouls and humans alike were engulfed. Some targeted the car, but Sark, thankfully, was behind the wheel and swerved expertly to avoid each one. He couldn’t avoid the shockwaves of the blasts, though. The car rocked violently. However, Nighyel was far from over. Flames engulfed her entire body and as it grew it rose up into the air. The flames twisted forming to a flame tornado. And when Nighyel pointed her hand at the car, the flame tornado shot at the car.

‘You better prepare for the worst!’, Sark uttered Larah held Hope tighter and Dean could only see. But Jessie – she had her own plan.

‘What’s your name, the one who is driving?’

‘Sark, why?’

‘Sark, I need you to slow down a bit!’

‘Slow down? Wait you do know that a tornado made out of flames is heading our way, right?’

‘Yes and what I do also know is that the battle against Joe must have injured her. Back then she moved with such a speed and ripped off the head of a colleague!’

‘Excuse me!’

‘Yeah, that woman is bad news. In addition, I think she played with us back then, so why did she not do it again? Why launch such a big attack at us? I think because she does not has the strength to catch up with us! My guess tells me that if we survive this attack, she won’t follow us!’

‘You gut tells you?’ He gazed over to Dean who shrugged his shoulder.

‘She knows her best and if that woman is really as strong as she says and still by full power, then one way or the other she will catch us! We might as well try our luck!’ And thus Sark slowed down. The tornada was close, the flames bathing the car in light. Out of the bag Jessie removed some grenades. Then she lowered her windows and left the car, moving over to the roof.

‘I am sorry Joe, for running away again! Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but one day I will avenge you!’ The she hurled both grenade at the tornado. The grenades exploded. They were not enough to stop the tornado but to change its direction. It crashed into a building and extinguished. Sweating Jessie went back inside the car.

‘Don’t tell me… you faced her and survived?’, Larah demanded.

‘I didn’t face her. John did—he sacrificed himself. That’s the only reason I’m still alive. But one day… one day I’ll rip that smile off her face, even if it kills me.’ The motorway was finally in sight. They had put enough distance between themselves, Nighyel, and the ghouls.