1 The Middle

A loud girlish shriek sounded to my right. Daring to take my eyes off the creature in front of me, I looked to see the cause of that horrible noise. There he was. His shirt ripped across the front, revealing his broad, tan chest. The muscles in his arms rippled as he swung his sword, striking down yet another shrieking creature. He was covered in a think layer of red and black blood. His dark, short-cropped hair soaked, and hanging in his face, clearly an annoyance. Smiling, I quickly turned back to the thing in front of me, narrowly missing being split from nose to navel, by throwing up my twin blades, and blocking the attack. I twisted, and drove one blade into it's throat, and the other into it's gut. It's pitch black, tar-like blood spraying across my face and body.

"Eugh. Gross. It's so...sticky. Thank the Gods that was the last one." I complained.

Erik replied, "Try having it on your bare skin. It burns like hell at first, but after a while you get used to it."

"Yeah. I got some on my face... Ooo. It's a slow burn. Oh I don't like that at all."

"Now you know how I feel."

I paused, searching the silence.

"What?" he asked, walking closer to me.

"Hush."

"What, I'm just-"

I clapped my hand over his mouth. I put my finger on my lips to signal 'Silence' and listened. I heard the calming sounds of the wind rustling the trees in the forest surrounding the clearing. I heard the birds flitting from tree to tree. I heard the buzzing of flies over the carcasses around us. Slowly I removed my hand from my confused partner's mouth. Then, I heard exactly what I was listening for. A crow. I whirled towards the sound, holding my blades tightly, getting into a fighting stance. Erik sensing the same as I did, took up a position beside me.

A small scouting troop of those 'things' came creeping out of the forest. Their beady eyes scanned the area, eventually settling on us. Their long, pointed snouts full of rows of sharp, jagged teeth. Their long, slimy purple tongues hanging out of their mouth as if they smelled their next meal. Black claws clicking together, they rose up on their hind legs, hunched over, with backs like Quasimodo's, covered with dark fur. They came towards us at nearly a crawl. We lowered into a defense stance and waited. Once they were within striking distance, they finally made a move. The creatures lunged for us, using their long, spindly, but powerful tails to try and gain the upper hand. Erik and I jumped too, blades glowing in the sunlight as we reeled back for a powerful strike.

What am I saying. You'd probably like to start at the beginning. Let's go back. Way back, to when Erik and I were still in training.