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Chapter 36: Skinwalker

"What is the meaning of this?" Atomic asked, now standing in front of the group rubbing his jaw. Medusa\'s kick turned out to be a lot stronger than he wanted to admit.

"The meaning of this is..." Uriel lingered for a few seconds, causing everyone to hold their breath. "The one I shot was definitely the shapeshifter, but it isn\'t dead."

"I saw it myself, its skull was cracked open and there was nothing inside, how can it survive something like that?" Sam wasn\'t yet convinced.

"Maybe..." Luna lingered. "Maybe it\'s not a shapeshifter, but a skinwalker."

"A what now!?" Asked Sam in annoyance when he realized that she wasn\'t speaking anymore.

"There\'s a subtle difference between shapeshifters and skinwalkers, at least according to lore. A shapeshifter can morph its appearance to resemble any kind of creature it sees, it can even mimic objects... I think. Skinwalkers, instead, undergo a complete transformation. It\'s not just the appearance but also their victim\'s memories and experience." Luna explained.

"I\'ve actually heard this before... well something of the sorts. The Navajos believed there were evil sorcerers capable of transforming into all sorts of creatures, all they needed was a piece of skin from their victim." Uriel said, thinking on all the times he read about the native American and their customs. Although the presence of supernatural creatures was widespread on anthropology related books, he always deemed that kind of information to be useless superstition.

"Wait, that thing was human once!?" Sam asked in hopes that maybe, the thing he made out with wasn\'t really a monster.

"You\'re missing the point, the only thing that matters is how do we kill it?" Medusa said right after Sam.

"I can\'t be sure... but maybe..." Uriel pondered for a few seconds, not knowing if something like old tales were a reliable source of information, especially with their lives depending on it. "I think, silver can kill it." He said hesitantly after making up his mind.

"Not bad... Not bad at all kid" A loud whisper resounded in the darkness. "I didn\'t think someone would remember... I wonder what kind of sweet knowledge can get from your delicious little head." the shapeshifter said mockingly.

"Where are you!? show yourself!" Sam shouted, highly strung by the fact he couldn\'t see the creature despite his trait that allowed him to see in the dark.

"I don\'t want to. Where would be the fun in that?" The last part was heard from right behind Sam, but no matter how swiftly he turned, he couldn\'t spot the creature.

"Ha, ha, ha, you\'re funny... and you\'re pretty tasty too." The licking of lips resounded in the darkness. Heavy footsteps could be heard, sometimes in the distance, sometimes right behind them, it was as if the creature was taking laps around them but no one was able to see a thing.

"This cryptid, whatever it is, must have the ability to somehow mess with our minds." Luna theorized, but Uriel had something different in mind. There was something strange about the sounds, something no one else noticed but himself. Trying to explain it would take longer than simply letting them hear it themselves.

"Close your eyes everyone!" He shouted.

"What? Why?" Medusa asked.

"There\'s no time, just do as I say." Uriel too closed his eyes and focused fully on the sound of the footsteps.

The strongest human sense, or at least the one they rely on the most, is sight. Once the young hunters deprived themselves of that sense they were finally able to fully focus on their hearing. It didn\'t take them long to notice something weird about the sounds but Sam was the first to speak.

"It\'s not footsteps! It\'s like a recording!"

The creature wasn\'t there, it simply mimicked sounds that made it seem like it was still nearby, but the sounds actually came from downstairs.

"Let\'s go!" Atomic shouted as he dashed forward, leaving behind the room and the rest of the group, paper sheets and furniture flying in the air as he darted across the building to reach the stairs as soon as possible.

"Don\'t go you idiot! It can impersonate you!" Sam shouted, but it was already too late, Atomic was out of sight even for the Lightbringer, he could see far and wide but seeing through walls was beyond his ability.

"We need to stick together, even if we walk slower, we can\'t get separated." Medusa commanded, taking once again the position of leadership in the absence of Miss Dragonfang.

"Sage, what happened to the gun you were holding? did you lose it?" Sam asked curiously. "I would feel a lot safer if I knew you still had it, but I don\'t see it."

"It\'s something related to my trait, I hope you don\'t mind if I keep it a secret by the time being." Uriel replied.

"Wow, so mysterious... It\'s not like you\'re a heavenly rank or something." He scoffed.

"Anyway, we need you to find things made of silver." Uriel said.

"Why me?" Sam the Lightbringer, the only one who could see in the dark, asked triggering the glares of everyone else in the group.

But seeing in the dark was not the same as being good at finding stuff. This building was raided several times, once by themselves and in much safer and better conditions. Silver was a valuable material, and not without reason, because ever since the cryptids appeared all mines were now infested by all sorts of creatures making mining one of the most hazardous jobs. The safest way to get silver was to salvage it from lost cities, but that also meant it was increasingly difficult to find as time passed.

Everyone in the group knew they couldn\'t separate from each other and that only made their task of finding something made of silver even more difficult. They searched room after room, finding nothing but scrap metal, plastic trash and wooden furniture. Sam had it even worse than the rest, because everyone expected him to use his trait to easily find something but the pressure started weighing heavy on his shoulders.

"There\'s nothing in here." Sam said after discarding the last room in the whole floor.

"Should we go downstairs?" Asked Medusa. She could have simply issued a command, but she knew better than to simply boss people around, she needed to listen to what the others were thinking if she wanted to survive.

That was precisely why Miss Dragonfang chose her to take on command, despite her not being the strongest like Atomic or the smartest like Sage. She was calm and collected most of the time, allowing her to think clearly instead of simply shouting orders and expecting people to do the impossible.

"I don\'t think that will be necessary, we can use this." Said Uriel after noticing a small glint on Medusa\'s ear.

"What? My piercings?" She gasped. "But they are so small and... we can\'t use them as weapons." She said as she handed them to Uriel.

"What did you expect? That we would find a silver sword waiting for us somewhere in this abandoned shopping mall?" Uriel sarcastically replied.

"So we\'ve been wasting just wasting our time!?" Sam complained as he sat on a chair, with such bad luck that the chair broke causing him to fall on his butt.

"Quit playing around, we\'re in a serious situation." Medusa scolded Sam, making him feel even more worthless.

"So, what are we supposed to do with just a pair of earrings? I don\'t think you mean to throw them at the skinwalker." Sam said in an attempt to redirect Medusa\'s attention from him.

"If we had means to melt them things would be a lot easier, we could have made a silver tipped knife or something, but complaining is of no use now. The only other choice we have is... well, you\'re not going to like it." Uriel lingered. "According to the old tales, skinwalkers are sort of allergic to silver. Our only chance at killing it would be to feed the earrings to the creature."

Luna, Medusa and Sam were flabbergasted to say the least. Something like that would have never crossed their minds.

"Are you insane!?" Said Sam.

"Hey, I\'m not the one who made out with that thing." Uriel scoffed.

"Will you never let me forget it? Why do you guys keep bringing that up?"

"Because if it weren\'t for you, I would have never thought of something like this. Think about it, when we found out its real identity that thing grinned with a wide maw, if we somehow manage to taunt it into doing the same it will make things easier."

Sam couldn\'t help but shudder at the memory, but he had to agree that it did seem possible. Not safe, not easy, but possible.