It took less than a minute for over a hundred bruisers to surround me. I had run around a thousand feet into the city before settling down to wait at an intersection. I’m pretty sure that Tuobella’s council chamber is close by but it’s a bit hard to tell.

  The hundred bruisers around me looked frightened, and for good reason. I was covered in both dry and wet blood. I also looked like a reptilian gorilla on steroids with giant jaws and spiked tails.

  I was sitting on my butt in the dirt road, my tails lashing around me as I took deep breaths. The next few moments were important. I needed to maintain the cities attention and kill as many of their soldiers as possible

  We needed time. And I would make sure my kids had ample amounts of it. Even if it means death. That's if these assholes manage to kill me. Speaking of, it’s about time I move on to the next stage of my plan.

  I stood up and said. “Alright everyone, Maximum effort.” I lunged forward, my tails shooting out and slamming into the nearby bruisers. I jumped and landed in front of a bruiser. I quickly grabbed the top of his head and slammed it into the ground.

  I grabbed the base of his neck and ripped it off. I grabbed the head by the face and began beating the nearby bruisers with it. Once it had been reduced to a paste along with a few bruisers I grabbed a torn off leg and repeated the process.

  This body has an interesting style of combat. I’ve found that it’s best to stay mobile and make them focus on my arms while my tails do most of the actual killing. I keep their attention by being as brutal as possible. It works pretty damn well.

  I chomped down on a bruiser's throat while choking another out. I threw the one I was choking at out at a group of them. More bruisers kept flooding in and I was slowly beginning to accumulate more and more wounds.

  My new scales were thick but were unable to resist the jaws and claws of the nearby skinks effectively. I’m pretty sure they can’t tell that I’m injured. I’m covered in so much blood I’ve turned red. I wonder if this means my scales will stain?

  I shrugged and grabbed a nearby bruiser, snapping his neck before tossing the corpse away. I had quite the throwing arm in this body. Just as I was about to resume my butchering of the hundreds of skinks I heard a familiar voice.

  “I see you’ve returned, queen Aya. I’m disappointed. I can’t believe you’d show your face after abandoning these lovely hatchlings.” I turned towards Queen Tuobella and felt my blood go cold. She was as fat as ever, and she had the same sneer on her face. The only change was the necklace she was wearing. String went through the ear of Chester and out the other into Charlie's ear.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  She was using my children's corpses as a necklace. She smiled at me and said. “Where did your children go, Aya? Oh wait, they’re right here. Around my neck. I found them! Don’t worry, I’ll keep them safe. I wouldn’t want to damage my trophies after all.”

  The giant bruiser walked up from behind her and said. “Time to die, traitor.” I grabbed a nearby bruiser and ripped it in half. I tossed the corpse at Tuobella and screamed. “I’m gonna murder you, bitch! I’m gonna turn your skull into a toilet! I’m gonna rip your eyes out and shove them up your ass so you can see what everyone else sees when they look at you! Die!”

  She frowned and said. “That's a bit crude, kill her Rook, make it hurt.” The large bruiser named Rook leaped forward, his tails darting out towards me. I dodged to the side and even slashed at one with my claws. I missed it as Rook smiled and said. "You're still young, queen Aya.”

  I squinted at him, wondering what he meant. I quickly found out when three of his tails burst out of the ground in my stomach. I jumped back, wincing as blood began to pour out of underbelly.

  I grabbed a bruiser corpse and hurled it at Rook. He caught it in his mouth and swallowed it whole. I frowned as he continued confidently walking towards me. I leaped backwards, trying to create some distance so I could think.

  How can I counter his tails? If they can go under me in the ground there's not much I can do about it. Hmm, gotta think outside the box. Catch him off guard. I dived out of the way as seven tails jetted towards me and one came out of the ground.

  How can I catch him off guard? Running won’t work. Should I just charge him? Sure, good enough. Better to show initiative than do nothing. I smiled and made a few rude gestures before sprinting at him.

  Just as I was getting near him I jumped as high as I could, pushing off the ground with my tails as well as my legs. I sailed through the air on a direct collision course with his face. He looked confused for a second before smiling and opening his mouth as wide as he could.

  I began to rethink my plan but shrugged and yelled. “It’s worked before!” I shot my tails out and stabbed into his mouth. I slingshotted myself into his mouth, narrowly dodging his snapping teeth.

  He made a strange gurgling noise as I sent my tails to work, stabbing into every fleshy thing near me. Which was everything, because I was currently travelling down his gullet. I slashed and bit the entire time I was travelling down his gullet. Which was surprisingly a long time. For some reason there was a noise like frying meat and a weird pain all over my body but I ignored it. Just as I saw the tube I was in was about to open up I sank my tails into the sides to stabilize myself. I then tore a large hole and dove through it.

  For ten minutes I tore through his body, my limited knowledge of biology making my search difficult. Until finally I found it, his heart and lungs. Although there seemed to be more than one heart. Is that something we all have? I didn’t feel any new organs when I evolved?

  I’ll ask someone later. I don’t really know who would have the knowledge on that topic but I still think it’s worth asking. I ripped through the flesh around me and stabbed my tails into the ginormous hearts. This bruiser was fucking huge. I wonder how much he had to eat.

  I shrugged and began digging myself out. I was a bit rattled when Rook collapsed to the ground but pushed on. After a total of fifteen minutes of in depth surgery I exited his body. I walked out covered in blood, smiling and holding a large fragment of bone in one hand. It had looked sharp so I grabbed it. I waved at Tuobella and said. “I’m gonna kill you now!” I smiled and gave her a thumbs up, blood pouring out of the new hole I had made in Rook’s corpse.