The Monster I Prefer

An Avengers Fanfiction by

Pheather McKelle

I do not own the Avengers characters, I'm just a girl with a dream. :3

The sky had been perpetually overcast for most of the day. Any sunlight that managed to filter through the almost impenetrable mass of clouds was quickly extinguished by the dense forest below, made up of mostly pines with a few deciduous trees interspersed. A slight drizzle, which started early that morning, had turned into a thick fog at the bottom of the valley, obscuring all but the most defined of objects. The trees here were ancient: trunks thicker than cars, gnarled roots that entwined in themselves and their neighbors, leaves that encompassed a whole ecosystem by themselves, towering branches that scraped the horizon with their wooden fingers. It was a wonder they even got enough sunlight to live, since the general area didn't see the warm kiss of the sun often in the course of the year, though it always remained relatively warm and moist due to it being a coastal valley. Though uninhabited, a small, winding dirt road meandered through the time-worn trees, leading to a small settlement about fifty miles from the northern border. An occasional car, returning from a campsite or driving to the nearest town, would sometimes use the road as a short-cut of sorts; the highway that went around the mountains was lengthy despite the additional speed and taking the back-route cut down at least twenty minutes of driving.

It was through this wet, muddy terrain that Nala Monroe found herself driving in. The rain from this morning had soaked the already damp ground, turning normally innocuous ruts in the road into olympic swimming pool-sized puddles, painting the underside of her pickup truck with the characteristic reddish-brown soil common to the region.

Nala usually took the highway despite the accumulated driving time, as the road she was currently on was treacherous at best. However, coming back from her friend's house, she discovered the highway was in need of repair. Normally she wouldn't have questioned road work since they seemed qualified enough, but government-looking men were in the mix as well, and Nala suspected there was more to their "road work" than she initially thought.

Government had always been a touchy subject with Nala. Four times they tried to get her to sell her farm and drill for oil or natural gas or whatever their excuse was to take away her land, and each time they had been turned away empty-handed, with not much more than a steely glare at their backs. Nala hated people who tried to take what was rightfully hers. She especially hated it when they tried multiple times.

The sky had grown progressively darker as she drove, the undersides of the dark, ominous clouds certainly heralded rain. She hated getting caught in storms. Since this part of the road was relatively straight, and the storm hadn't quite started yet, Nala allowed herself to think a bit. She'd be damned if those government prats were back at her farm, seizing up her barn, eying her horses as no more than pieces of meat; livestock to be sold at auction when their reluctant owner surrendered them to their greedy hands. She remembered, too, that her two dogs would probably keep them at bay, though they would rather have licked their faces instead of biting them off. It seemed as if they knew about her debt. Any minute they could crash through, but because of a quirk in the system, they didn't know.

So absorbed were her thoughts that she didn't notice the man stumble into her path. Suddenly her eyes snapped back to the road, and, yelping, she lurched the car over to one side. It was too late, and the edge of the car caught him in the midsection. Nala could hear an oof as her car collided with the man. She slammed on the brakes and sidled over to the shoulder of the road, scrambling out the door, and jogging to where the man, obviously in pain, was dragging himself into the woods. A sickening trail of blood followed.

"Sir!" she called, jogging over and kneeling down. "Sir, are you okay?" she asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"I don't need your help, mortal!" the man yelled throatily, his face contorting from the strain and he rolled over onto his back, showing that his nose was broken and blood flowing freely. Even worse was the trickle from his mouth. He snarled, twisting his pale face, a film of blood coating his teeth. Initially stymied by the use of the term 'mortal,' Nala nonetheless grasped his arm, hauling him to his feet.

"Go away!" he growled, trying to wrench his arm out of her iron grasp. Suddenly, his face flooded with fear. He tried again, but Nala held fast. "What's happening?" he spoke in almost a whimper, tinged with worry and desperation. He slumped to his knees, gazing horror struck at his bloodstained hands, his mouth half-open with disbelief. He tilted his head upward to the heavens, tears leaking out the corner of his emerald eyes. There was a deep roll of thunder and one raindrop became two. Two morphed into a steady downpour, the droplets landing on the man's refined face, rolling down his jaw.

Hello all, as usual, I'm looking for an editor, so if you'd like the job, please message me!

Thanks for reading, make sure you drop and favorite or a review!