Never let your guard down

From a house at the western end of the plaza, Surgit heard women laughing hysterically. People usually closed their doors and hid inside their homes during the hunt. Laughter would only lead unwanted attention towards them. The feeling of being watched didn't subside and he approached the house cautiously.

He wondered if the women he heard weren't losing their sanity. The sound got louder and louder as he approached. From the corner of the door a small red lantern hung. It emanated a sweet scent. It reminded him of the one that hung next to Gilbert's window. Perhaps the women were the ones watching him from a distance, in the safety of their house.

As soon as he got closer to the door a woman addressed him from behind the door, barely repressing her frenzied laugh. "I don't reckon you're from 'round here! Well, pffft, stuck outside on a night of the hunt! Ahh you poor, poor thing…" The laughter continued stronger and louder. Surgit sighed and decided to get back to the bridge. As the women realized that he'd lost interest in their taunts; they fell silent and tended to whichever affairs they had to tend to. Another sound reached his ears as silence fell upon the fountain plaza. Growling, dogs or some other beast was growling next to those women's house.

He was sure that he had cleared this area of every living being that roamed outside. He followed the source of the sound and found stacked boxes at the west corner of the plaza. The growling sound emanated from behind the wooden boxes. He climbed up and saw another backstreet where multiple cages held dogs, uneasy and ready to bark at any passerby. The street led to a small bridge which seemed to lead into an old warehouse. He jumped down and as soon as he landed, all dogs started barking in unison.

Afraid of what their barking could attract, Surgit swung at them all with his cleaver. As he killed the dogs, one after the other, he couldn't help but notice their deformed nature. Their fur was decaying and patches of pink rotten flesh were seen on their bodies. Their heads were also deformed and only their fangs had retained their menacing aspect. They looked disgusting. They had long lost the look of the loyal hound. Instead, they looked like rotten animals miraculously sticking to dear life. Looking at them filled Surgit with revulsion. He no longer felt fear at the sight of monsters. After fighting that hulking beast and coming out on top, what could scare him anymore?

As he crossed the small bridge, he saw another dead dog. That wasn't his doing. Someone else had been through this area.' He stood on the bridge to examine his surroundings. Beneath him, he could see faint reflection of the setting sunlight on the water. That was clearly the aqueduct. Behind him he could see another highway that went through a bridge. The bridge seemed to connect to the lower parts of the Cathedral Ward. That was the road he had spotted from the fountain plaza.

He was heading towards the old warehouse when he heard a cough. He looked to his left and saw a small house in the corner. A faint light could be seen inside and another red lamp at the door, with sweet scent coming from it, hung outside. He knocked at the door and heard an old woman's voice:

- "You! You're a hunter, and an outsider at that. Well then, do you know of any safe places?"

- "No not really mam." Surgit felt sympathy for the old woman, trapped in this horrible city.

- "I heard I have, shutting up indoors isn't always enough. If you hunters got off your arses we wouldn't be in this mess. You're obligated to help me, you hear?" Her voice was getting louder and she seemed angry. "So, what'll it be? Are you going to help me or not?"

- "I assure you mam, I don't know of any safe places."

She started ranting again and shouting all possible insults at Surgit. He couldn't help but feel bad for the woman. But he couldn't help her so he walked away and left her, screaming and raving.

He got inside the old warehouse. He saw a lying corpse of a hideous creature in front of him. Someone had cut its head off. Surgit inspected the body to get a better idea of what he was about to face. The beast was at least twice his height and it wore a long coat. The sleeves of the coat could barely reach its elbows and what used to be a coat looked like a small unfitting jacket. Its spine was showing against the coat and he could feel the long sharp extremities of the bones with his hands. They were sticking against the beast's hide, almost coming out of it. Its legs were long and it had claws on its hands and feet.

He wondered if that thing was actually like the man-beasts he had fought earlier. Perhaps that was how they looked like after their bodies went through a complete transformation. 'What would make a man transform into such a hideous creature?' he wondered. He heard a rasping breathing noise in the distance as he walked away from the dead beast. He was on his toes, ready for any surprise encounter.

Surgit inspected the place where he stood. This was obviously an old warehouse as wooden boxes and barrels were stacked against the walls. In front of him, he saw stairs leading down, illuminated by a large window on top. On his right, the boxes and barrels concealed a door that used to lead to the upper part of the warehouse. Surgit ignored it and took the stairs. As he descended, heavy breathing in the distance was getting louder. That sound was a bad premonition. As he reached the last flight of stairs, the source of the sound gave him Goosebumps. A beast resembling the dead one he had seen earlier stood with its back to him.

It stood among stacked boxes in a place that resembled an old marketplace. Pillars separated different stalls and stacked old merchandise was everywhere. In the middle, there was a square gap which led to the canals. In the zone at the bottom, Surgit saw small boats that used to transport merchandize through the canals and the area where he was. The place served as a warehouse for delivered goods. Surgit could hear the sprinkles of water down below along with the constant heavy breathing of the beast around him.

The stacked merchandise offered a good hiding spot for Surgit in order to look around and scope the area out. He looked up and saw that indeed, the door upstairs led to dingy wooden platforms on top. Maybe this place used to be a two story market place. By now, the only sound he could hear in the area was that of hoarse breathing. Small windows on top of the building provided a semblance of light. The gap created by the canal between the platforms provided a significant distance between Surgit and the beast. He was glad the beast hadn't spotted him yet.

He heard the breathing again, but louder this time around. It was coming from his left. He turned just in time to see another beast running towards him, holding a torch on one hand and a crosscut saw on the other. Surgit had enough time to dodge back as the saw hit the ground. Sparkles came out of the cobbled floor and as he was absorbed by looking at them, the saw had hit him straight in the chest.

He was sent flying back on the stairs. His back hit the stairs and he heard bones cracking. Extreme pain shot through his entire body and he let out a painful scream. He saw the beast standing tall in front of him. Holding the saw with two hands and hacking at him. He tried to move but his body wouldn't listen. He broke his back and he was paralyzed. He felt the saw's teeth cut through his flesh. And the pain… the pain was unbearable. The beast held the saw high again and brought it down on his body.