Chapter 4: The Crawler

Whity barks at the trees. Curious. I readed my shotgun just in case. I proceeded to walk forward but I noticed that my dog was still glaring at the them.

"Hrreee"

I suddenly heard a noise and tried to find out where it came from.

"Arf! Arf!"

Whity seems to stare at a certain tree amongst its group. Might be where that thing hides. I held my shotgun tightly, ready to shoot at anything that may came out. A few moments later, something came down. I braced myself for any possible worse scenario that may happen but I just waited for a few more minutes. Soon, what seems to be a...child? It was a girl, about 4 feet in height. Wears a tattered dress and has visible stains of blood on her clothes. She moves very slowly as she tries to come down safely. When her feet touch the ground, she remained standing there. Her back is turned to me so I couldn't conclude if she's a zombie or not.

The atmosphere is starting to feel tense. I take a look at Whity and saw him growling at the girl. Ok, that's my first clue. But just in case...

"Hrrreey! Who arre yoo?"

I really need to learn how to speak again. It's hard to say something when you can't feel your mouth. My tongue just feels like a worm at this point.

I don't know the girl heard or not but her back is still turned to me.

...

...

Finally, I saw movements from her body. Her feet slowly taking steps towards my direction. Her face now facing mine. Any hope of encountering a possible human was thrown out the window when I saw her lifeless eyes and rotting flesh. I aimed the shotgun at her head and pulled the trigger. Her head scattered through the grass and soon her body dropped to the ground. I felt myself getting relaxed for a bit. Though I can't help but felt pity for the child. She didn't deserve what happened to her.

"Arf! Arf! Arf!"

Whity's barking snapped me out of my thoughts when I saw the body of the child is shaking. What's going on? She's suppose to stay down after I blowed her brains out.

"Hree"

The noise startled me. I saw insect-like claws coming out of her body. 3 on each side, making her look like a spider. Inside her headless stump, something is trying to get out. A few moments later, a head of something came out. It's face is ugly as heck. It has 4 read eyes, it's mouth is shaped like a mouth of a worm and I could see multiple rows of teeth on the inside. What the hell is this thing?

"Hreeee!!"

It run towards me and I barely got out of the way. It crashed roughly to a certain tree, ripping its roots from the ground.

This is a strong one.

"Arf! Arf!"

Whity growled menacingly and ran towards it. Buddy, what are you doing?! I quickly ran after him to get him away from the...ok, what do I call this thing?...crawler? Ok, that works. The crawler swiped its claws at Whity but he avoided it and bite one of its legs. OK, little doggy seems to know how to fight. With that, I can rest easy. I turned my focus to the crawler again and narrowly dodged its attack towards me. I aimed my shotgun at its face face and fired. The crawler tilted its head till the neck of time. It only grazed a small portion of its face. Damn it, I have to get it next time. I reloaded my shotgun and aimed right at its head again but one of its legs hit right at my midsection. I was launched uphigh and crashed through two branches of trees before I went to the ground with a big thud. I got up and saw a huge tear on my vest. That crawler sure hits hard. I saw my shotgun right below the crawler. I must have dropped it when it hit me.

Now, the crawler is busy trying to kill Whity who's moving at a quick pace. Though it's impressive but I could see that he's slowly losing stamina fast. I have to end this quick. I pulled out my axes and charged straight at the crawler. It noticed me and swung one of its legs towards me. I rolled to side, avoiding the strike. I readed my axes and swung at the leg. The axes was buried deep but not enough to cut through it. It's tough. It howled in pain and wiggled its leg. With me being attached to it, I was swung to ground again and again until my axes are removed from its leg.

"Hreeee!"

It barge towards me, sending us both to the giant tree. I rapidly swung my axes at its head but it managed to avoid all my strikes. This is getting frustrating. Finally, I manage to hit the side its head. The two eyes that are aligned vertically are sliced up by my ax. It howled in pain and went a few distance from me but not before hitting me again with its leg, sending me to the ground like a ragdoll.

I slowly look up, seeing it still howling. Whity went towards me and lick my face. Heh, if we both survive this, I'm gonna treat this guy with lots of junk food.

"Hreee!!"

We both turned our focus towards our enemy and saw it charging at us again. Its steps leaves a deep mark on the ground as it ran towards us like a raging bull. I readed my axes again and ran towards it in return. Whity moved to the side to avoid getting skewered by one of its pointy legs.

As I got close to it. I slide downwards, narrowly missing a strike to my torso. Once I got under its belly, I slice my axes from bellow. The body of the young girl is slowly getting unrecognizable until I saw inside its original body. Before I could swung up again, It leaped high up in the air. I moved to the side to avoid getting crushed from its impact before I swung my axes again. It tried to block me but this time, I successfully cut off one of its legs. Whity came from behind and bit its head. The fangs of the dog buried deep to one of its eyes. Seeing it distracted, I quickly swung my ax to deliver a finishing blow but it hit us with a spin, sending us away from it. I can still fight but I could see Whity whimpering due to his injured leg.

That's it. That bitch is gonna die today.

I ran at it like a madman and sliced its two legs.

"Hreeee!!"

It howled in pain but I don't care about right at the moment. All I care about now is making it pay for what it did to my dog.

Slash!

"Hreeee!!"

Slash!

"Hreee!!"

"Shath! Aaap!"

I yelled at it. Until all it's left is a torso and its head looking at me in fear.

Good.

I swung at its neck, make it fly up away from the body before it dropped to the ground. Finally, it's dead. I went towards my dog who's still whimpering from the pain. This guy is one tough son of a gun. Taking on a crawler despite its size. Everything is alright now, buddy. You did a great job.

"Goood broy"

"Arf!"

It wiggled its tail and look at me with what seems to me is an expression of pride? Yeah. Hehe. I'm starting to really like this guy.

I pulled a short clothing from my tattered clothes and gently rapped around his injured leg. I moved to nearby tree and cut a few of its branches. Good thing I learned a few bit about woodwork or I may be in trouble in this kind of situation. After a few minutes, I finally made a little wood bag. Big enough to carry my little friend. With this, I gently placed him on the bag, moved my axes to my waist and my shotgun at my hands. My other bag is now in front of me. Alright, we are ready but first...

I went to the enemy corpse. I grabbed one of its sliced leg and took a bite. I felt myself getting stronger again but not that much. Hmm...

"Hreeeee!!"

What the?

I look up the trees and saw dozens of crawlers starring right at me. Crap, one is hard enough to kill. I have no change against a dozen. I quickly dashed away through the forest.

"Hreeeeeee!!"

I could hear them rapidly coming down from the trees and starts chasing us.

"Arf! Arf!"

Whity must have been terrified right now. Well, can't blame when I feel the same but still I continued to run. Trying my best to outrun a hive of crawlers.

Dozens upon dozens of crawlers are now howling in hunger. The longer they run, the more of its companion decided to join the hunt. What do I do now?