Chapter 20

{{ Leeroah's POV 🌙 }}
The change was so subtle that Leeroah barely noticed it. Her vision was impeccable even though she could still see the moon behind the trees. It was nighttime, yet she could see just as well as if it was broad daylight. It was as if she had night vision goggles built into her eyes, but it hadn't always been like that. What had changed? She couldn't recall anything particularly strange happening to her in the past twenty-four hours, yet here she was.
Then her absurd, blissful night ended. A monster, the size of a bear standing on its hind legs slashes through the trees directly in front of her. The bald, slimy creature stood only feet away from where Leeroah sat in a tree. She could see every horrifying detail of the monster thanks to her newfound night vision. She could tell that it had spotted her, even though it didn't have eyes.
It started toward her, using its long legs to close the distance between them quickly. Before she had time to react, it had snatched her off the tree branch. Leeroah let out a scream as the beast squeezed her small body, crushing several ribs and other bones in its strong grip. She tried to breathe but couldn't, instead feeling an unbearable pain in her chest. She wanted to squirm and try to rid herself of the pain but couldn't move. She felt like every bone in her body had been broken or shattered.
The monster released a deafening scream, shrill and angry. Leeroah realized that she was going to die and squeezed her eyes shut. She heard the chaotic scream of the monster one last time before everything dissolved into nothing.

{{ Mackenzie's POV ⚡ }}
At first, Mackenzie couldn't tell if she was the one that was screaming. Some kind of hideous creature was running toward her if you could really call it running. The thing's long legs were pure bone, the slimy skin stretched tightly over its leg. And it was screaming. Its scream was the most horrid thing she had ever heard in her entire life. The noise made her want to scream until her throat bled from exertion. It made her want to cry and curl up and die all at the same time but instead, she just sat there, paralyzed. It was only a few feet away, and she thought that surely she was going to die.
Then a box flew through the air and collided with the beast. It shrieked and stumbled backward, but the force wasn't enough to knock it over completely. Mackenzie turned to look where the flying object had come from and her eyes landed on Carrie. Carrie's usually soft brown eyes were now glowing a dark amber. Her hands were balled into fists that were practically glued to her sides.
I have to do something, but how am I supposed to help against that thing? I don't have time to think about this, she decided, hauling herself into her feet. I have these powers I suppose, but I don't know how to use them yet.
Mackenzie squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated. She felt the wind start to blow through her hair and heard the pelt of rain as it started assaulting her bare arms. She opened her eyes and saw that K.C. and Andrew were now standing next to Ash and Carrie.
Andrew had both arms extended, supporting the six-foot stone wall that was shielding the contestants from the monster. K.C. had somehow gotten herself on top of the wall and was blasting the beast with jets of air that came out of her hands. Mackenzie could hear the monster screaming but the wall was blocking her view. She was contemplating running around the wall and trying to strike it with lightning when another horrid scream echoed behind her.
She spun around to see a girl with black hair running down the hill into the valley. The girl was at least a few hundred feet away but she was covering the ground quickly. Mackenzie squinted to see where the other source of screaming was and she quickly found it. Another monster.
It was chasing the girl and was catching up with her at a startling pace. Its long, skeletal legs covered long stretches of land and at the pace it was going, it would soon reach their camp.
But then the girl was gone, a cloud of black smoke that seemed to shimmer with blue hovered where she once stood. Mackenzie blinked, waiting for her brain to catch up with her eyes. Then it clicked. Why would her group be the only contestants with powers? Now that she was actually thinking about it, the idea made sense.
A loud crack from behind made Mackenzie jump. There stood the girl, bent over and panting from her sprint. Now that the girl was closer, she could see a vibrant blue streak through her bangs. She could also tell that the girl was a solid four inches taller than her and much more athletic-looking, with broad shoulders and muscular arms. And much more intimidating.