20 Facing the giant

Not daring to move, Finn waited until the eyes had passed over him. The creature had noticed movement, but when he froze it failed to pinpoint his location. Its eyesight seemed to be weak.

Making use of the brief moment when it was looking elsewhere, Finn slowly inched his crossbow upwards. His crossbow ready, Finn watched as the creature slowly dragged its body out from behind the crates.

The huge rat that came into view was larger than any of the previous ones Finn had dealt with. The other rats had been about the same size as a large dog, this one was twice that.

It sniffed around near where Finn had retrieved his bolt. When it paused, Finn knew it had caught his sent. That meant it would follow him upstairs so his hit and run tactics wouldn't work.

The rat pushed its body up to stand on its back feet as it focused on sniffing. When standing up the rat was about the same hight as Finn, but a lot more muscular.

Although it was the perfect opportunity to take a shot, Finn didn't really know where to aim. The rat was moving it's head too much for him to hit it, and he wasn't sure where its heart would be.

Hoping for the best, Finn held his breath and released the bolt. Not even waiting to see where it hit, he immediately ran up the stairs. When he heard the roars of the beast, he knew that it must have been hurt.

Finn dashed into the office as soon as he reached the top. He caught a glimpse of the beast running towards the stairs as he closed the door behind him.

Finn knew he didn't have much time before the rat would arrive, so he quickly shoved the desk over to barricade the door. It wouldn't stop the rat for long, but Finn needed time to prepare another shot, so it would have to do.

Winding as fast as he could, Finn could hear the beast climbing the stairs. The stairs creaked under the enormous weight of the beast. Some of the boards even broke, giving Finn an extra second or two as the rat dislodged it's paw.

When the beast started to pound against the door, Finn had just finished winding. Selecting a broadhead this time, he readied it quickly and stood right at the window.

The door didn't last long, the screws holding the door's hinges attached were soon ripped out of their thread. The desk didn't really help either, both were knocked down by the beast.

As the giant rat caught sight of Finn through the open doorway, it was met with a well aimed broadhead crossbow bolt. The force of the bolt staggered the rat for a second before it roared and charged at Finn and the window.

At that point, Finn was already halfway out the window and poised to jump. When the rat smashed full force into the window frame a couple seconds later, Finn had already jumped and was halfway across the gap.

The momentum of the rat with its running start was huge, and the wall wasn't strong enough to withstand it. The rat smashed right through the wall, sending pieces of broken glass of wood showering outwards.

Surprised, Finn was hit from behind by a piece of the window frame. It messed up his landing and he slipped, sending him tumbling along the roof of the shed.

The rat didn't have time to react before it fell one floor down into the narrow alley. The combination of two bolts, smashing into the wall, and falling had seriously injured the giant beast.

Finn, still sore from his sloppy landing, picked himself up and moved towards the edge of the shed's roof. He had to kill this thing soon, or the city guards would show up and that would mean trouble. He would probably be responsible for all the damage the rat might cause because he 'released it'.

Picking up his crossbow again, Finn started winding again. Peeking over the edge to check on the rat, he saw that it was dazed from the fall. His action startled the rat and it seemed to remember its enemy. Sniffing to make sure, it located him and turned to face him.

Finn could now see where his two bolts had hit. The bodkin was almost buried completely into one side of the rat's chest, while the broadhead had caused a large bleeding wound in its neck. The rat's fur near the wounds had been dyed red.

Feeling confident again, Finn quickly loaded up another broadhead. This time he had a clear shot and time to aim. Standing near the edge, he aimed down at the rat's neck again and loosed the bolt.

Thinking it was over now, Finn wasn't prepared for the rat's tail that came swinging around towards him. The tail was five feet of muscle and fat and although the shed's roof was higher than that, the rat had spun its body to get the extra speed and distance.

The tail clipped the edge of the roof, right near Finn. It sent him, along with the roof tiles flying into the alleyway.

'Crack'

Finn heard something break, the pain from his chest made him think that he had probably broken several ribs. Struggling to get up, he propped himself against the nearby wall and pulled out a dagger.

Just as Finn was getting ready for a last desperate fight, the beast slumped down and stopped moving.

Not daring to assume it was dead, Finn approached it slowly. As he got closer he could see the giant red eyes still following his movement, but the rat seemed too weak to move.

When Finn got closer it tried to pick itself up, but fell down again. Seeing his chance Finn ignored the pain and charged forward, stabbing the dagger into the beast's neck.

At the same time the rat's final claw swipe sent Finn staggering backwards. After using the last of its energy, the beast gave in to its wounds and died. This last ditch strike resulted in three cuts along Finn's left arm and some of his chest. He had tried to block the strike with his free hand, which probably saved his life. The rat's claws had even cut through his leather arm guards.

Blood seeped out of his wounds into his shirt as Finn sat down to clean his wounds with water from his waterskin. The cuts were deeps, so Finn chewed on two leaves of the special herbs before spitting them out and spreading them along the worst parts.

After wrapping the wounds up tightly with the leather book covers, Finn hobbled over to check on the rat. Looking once more at its red eyes reminded him of what he had read earlier in the office.

That thought sparked another idea, if this rat was large and red eyed like the test subjects mentioned in the report, what if it also has a magic core?

Finn's dagger was still stuck in the rat so he pulled it out and began using it to cut into the rat near where its heart would be. Sure enough, after a little searching and cutting Finn managed to removed what looked like a fist-sized bloody marble

After cleaning it with water, the beast core was semi translucent. It had a cloudy mix of black and red color inside it and reminded Finn of jade.

Not knowing what any of that might signify, or even how much it was worth, Finn placed it in his spare pouch before checking on the bolts he had fired.

The three bolts had pierced deep, so Finn couldn't get them out.

It was at this point Finn realized that it was weird that nobody had be attracted by all the noise the rat made. Looking around, He walked around to the front of the warehouse again.