Chapter Nine

"Who is there?" The soldier suddenly shouts beside me for some reason and, before I can call him stupid, I figure out why he does such thing; not that knowing why made his action less dumb; it was to verify if the one approaching is human or not so he wouldn't mistakenly shoot someone out of nowhere.

And well… if you really think about it there is no point in hiding, ghouls senses are far better than humans and they would have caught our smells a long time ago, even with the rain since there was a fresh smear of blood right outside our door, calling to any sharks lurking around.

After Bennett shout only silence responds, an answer on his own since the ghouls start to contain their hisses, attentive after the prey, quieting down in an ambush attempt that was bound to failure since there was only one clear and illuminated entrance after all.

So we wait, the seconds passing like minutes as Bennett holds his breath, gaze fixed at the entrance, a firm grip on his weapon and an increasing tension making his heart accelerate.

At the first sight of movement the weapon fires and a projectile blasted out, too quick for the eye, making the stones on the gunfire come to life and shine like a crystal made of solidified magma, kicking with the force of a wild beast as the ghoul, before even coming to view properly, was obliterated into a bag of scattered meat.

However, observing such powerful deadly weapon, I could identify some problems that I'm sure the soldier knows about too; first that, even if the shot is very powerful, the backslash is as strong, making that Bennett had to use both hands to steady it and still not have a precise aim, which was, of course, compensated by the wide range of the blast.

However that was exactly the second problem the weapon had.

Cursing under his breath at the force that is exerted on his muscles to keep the gun steady Bennett soon sees that blasting the entrance with such radius force is not a good idea, so while further of those creatures approaches he messes with the gun a little, my eyes going from him to the entrance.

That's why I see that, at the same time that a strange mechanism is rotated on the weapon, moving the nuzzle around and making it smaller, but longer, the now long tube making it hard to maneuver around for it needed one hand on the trigger and the other on the muzzle to stabilize, that these mere seconds it took for him to change to what seemed to be a more precise form of the weapon have been enough for a shadow to crawl its way into the cave, the long wrinkle thin limbs grabbing the rock and walking like a spider, the first one approaching from the ceiling, then another from the opposite side where the first now dead ghoul tried to enter from.

We can only hear growling and hissing around us, but with no source of light darkness worked in their favor as they used the uneven ceiling and walls to hide their crooked forms.

I narrow my eyes, their growls sounding loud in my ears, almost as if they were calling me to then, but even though I could easily identify where they were over the echoing cave I do nothing beyond turning my vision towards Bennett's back.

Let's see what this little human is capable of…

He, amidst the confusion and threatening situation, takes a deep breath, cold sweat running on his forehead and streaming close to his eyes, threatening his steady gaze as he swallows dry and tries to contain all the adrenaline in to keep himself in place and alert.

And as a grenade seconds before exploding, this calmness ends when he takes the pin out and shoots the first target that appears.

Like a spider with nimble limbs the creature moves forward so fast and dexterous that it did not appear to be upside-down and gripping at the ceiling as it moves at all, tuffs of hair dripping of midair with some algae, creating a creepy afterimage as the creature moved forward fast.

The shot makes a hole on the ceiling, but even if it went deeper rather than to the sides like before, this form seems to be more difficult to aim with, even more as the kick was still there, pushing against his grip.

The ghoul, of course, didn't help him out and stood still, but rather moved faster, more eager at each shot missed, which ignites the others to approach too, creating the illusion that the shadows had come to life and were nibbling their way closer.

Bennett starts to move back, slow steps that did nothing to increase the shrinking distance between the ghouls and him, but to my surprise he does not give way to despair and finally hits the closest one, the blast not hitting dead center but brushing past, still the bullet manages to rip the arm of the creature out and make its blood fly out together with a shrieking scream.

The others crawl over their defeated brother, ignoring well he falls face down with a satisfying crack, staying limp, but Bennett has no time to celebrate for the others give him no space to recover, taking the given opportunity, even if at the cost of one of their kin.

With barely time to try another shot he cannot even afford to holster his gun, having to take his sword out with only one hand as he held the gun with the other.

I could see better this time when he takes the blade out and how the handle had a pressing button too, like the trigger on the gun but longer, which made the stone along the blade to shine too as symbols appeared and shimmered along the silver metal, some being only lines but other being complex patterns that created some sort of character or drawing, far from me to make sense of it though.

Using the angle to his favor he attacks right out off the bat, taking the blade off quickly and turning the sharp edge towards the creature that launched itself at him, making a clear upwards arc that made a long slash split blood from the daring ghoul, using the memento of its jump to cut even deeper.

Falling on its back the ghouls crawls away hissing like a cockroach, trying to find it's balance, the long fingers scratching the stone floor and breaking the clawed nails along the way, adding to the blood and pain.

With the gun still secured on his left hand Bennett takes aim and fire, the target, so up close and down on the floor, is obliterated by the blast, but I can see that his left arm is push back hard from firing the gun with only one arm, making so that he clenches his teeth and resists the pain, for there was still one ghoul left to take care off.

The other one, not having time to hesitate, uses the death of its fellow monsters to its advance and attacks from the side the moment the gun gives the fatal shot to the second ghoul, using its crawling position and the shadows to hide until it was upon Bennett's legs, using its own body as a projectile and launching the soldier out of balance.

Hitting his head twice on the same day the unlucky Bennett uses the weapon as a shield to keep the creature far from his neck as it snapped his teeth midair in a savage attack, saliva flying all over the place, red eyes flashing amidst all the chaotic movements.

Hm… seems like things are looking rather bad for you Bennett… I think as I watch him struggle against the full weight of the ghoul on top of him and the constant mad attacks that gave him no space to free himself.

It would be so easy for me to simply help him out… one kick and that creature is gone… but why should I? I have been in that kind of situation before, but not as the one with their back on the floor…

And yet Bennett, even while facing death, fighting for his life, somehow manages to look me in the eye and there is no fear in them, only… worry, but not for himself, I realize, but for me.

"Kid, go! Run from here, now! I'll hold him off, just go! Get away from here and don't look back!" The words were unknown, but not the intention. Did he really think he was in any position to worry about others right now?

See! I think as the ghoul finally manages to bite his shoulder, the stubborn man only giving a hoarse grunt as he clenched his teeth and tries to free himself, only for the ghoul to take a piece of meat out and let the blood flow freely out, increasing the damage done.

The smell of blood fills the air mixing with his struggles, having me flaring my nostrils and making me annoyed.

Why nothing is going as planned today? You were supposed to survive and guide me to other humans you dumb kind soldier, not die to another ghoul too!

My patience hits its limit when my eyes meet with the ghoul's eyes, two red orbs looking at me filled with joy and eagerness, tongue out and brushing against its red lips, tasting deeply the blood of-my-prey!

I grit my teeth at that, and I can feel a vein pulsating harder against my temper from the increasing anger and annoyance. As I look over, crossing my arms and deciding on what to do to get rid of those pests, the excessive enjoyment of such creature fueling my bad mood and making me easily decide upon getting rid of it, makes me look to the side and have an idea.

At that I do something… unexpected.

I decide to help out a little... Even if for my own reasons.