My boots and socks were still damp, but not sopping, and I didn’t plan on walking around for long. That didn’t mean I wanted to freeze my ass off. With nothing else for my torso, I donned my vest, feeling like one of those actors in those Vietnam movies—any movie will have one guy rocking a vest without a shirt underneath. Maybe they were more comfortable back then because my vest didn’t feel very pleasant on bare skin. Then again, flak jackets from way back when was one of those life preserver jackets. Kind of like what Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future. After adjusting a little, I holstered my Beretta and slung the M4 over my shoulder.
“Al-Leever,” Meriel called.
I turned, and she held out my canteen. It felt full of water when I took it. As I was hooking the canteen to my belt, she reached out to cup my cheek.
“Pelush govect,” she said in a faint, but sweet tone.
I pulled her hand away and gave it an affirming squeeze. Mustering a small smile, I nodded. And with that, I set out.
For the first ten minutes, I racked my brain on that foreign phrase as my boots squelched and snapped sticks and crushed leaves. The words may be gibberish, but there was always something beneath everything said, the real truth in ourselves that we either don’t want to vocalize or are just not aware of it. After having to rely on gauging her face for reactions, I could make out some of the feelings. There was a small quaver in her voice when she saw me off, almost like fear.
I stopped racking my brain over the phrase and marched on north-west.
Since we came from the west, I wasn’t too worried about anything coming from behind us. After a half-hour of nothing to note, I started to move east, planning on crossing the river and getting a mild feel for the land at the foot of the mountain. Again, I wasn’t too worried about anything coming at us from the east because of the mountains. Unless this world had monster mountain goats with a hankering for flesh.
While crossing a shallow portion of the river, I realized how deathly quiet the forest was. Aside from the wind and the sound of my own feet, I didn’t hear any birds, see any vermin, or even hear a cricket or a cicada. An ecosystem has layers of life that depended and influenced one another. The forest felt fake with the lack of wildlife.
I kept an ear out as I continued east, but, unsurprisingly, heard nothing. Once it felt like another half hour passed, I stopped and checked my bearing before heading back. Frowning, I gave the compass a shake, but the needle kept spinning. The terrain across the river had become more uneven and rocky. Maybe some of these rocks are… C’mon geology… Magnetite?
The immediate impulse was to check my phone, then I realized I had lost it at some point. Not like there was wifi out here, either.
Giving the spinning compass one last look, I closed it with a click and pocketed the tool. Finding my way back won’t be an issue; go back the way I came and follow the river to the bank. There was nothing in this region to warrant immediate concern.
An echoing crack in the distance changed that.
The following sound what my fire selector clicking, going from safe to auto. Thinking about the bear thing, I switched to semi-auto.
Another crack sounded somewhere off to my left. It didn’t sound like old branches snapping from trees. It sounded like something was coming.
Swallowing hard, I gave the area a quick look and then saw a tree growing beside a bolder, giving me a covenant nook to take point. The area in front of me is relatively level for thirty yards, but it rose into a hill.
Turning back crossed my mind, but if it were another nasty predator, then it would be better to deal with it now than later. And if it is another animal, then I might be bringing back dinner. I’ve only ever skinned a deer, but it shouldn’t be that different; separate the meat from the guts.
Quieting my mind at the sound of snapping twigs approaching from the hill, I aimed and feathered the trigger.
What came into view stunned me.
Tumbling down the slope was one of the monsters from home. Gangly limbs, bare and bound with sickly greyish skin, and hissing like a rabid animal. And it was racing right towards me.
Snapping from my shock, I got on target and popped off two rounds. As the last concussive crack echoed, the monster dropped abruptly and skidded across the leaves a few feet before coming to a stop. Still sighted on the body, I rose from my spot and approached slowly.
I pulled off target once I heard something else approaching from the hill. I only caught a glimpse before it descended and weaved behind the trees, only giving me flashes of grey and black. Whatever it was, it was fast.
Tracking the form as it neared, I pushed the fearful thoughts aside and waited for a clear shot. The longer I waited, the closer it got. Once it was within fifteen feet, I aimed ahead of the tree in its path fired four rounds in rapid succession. Bullets on target, the spry creature dropped.
With the barrel fixed to the thing’s head, I approached. Then stopped dead in my tracks once I got a good view.
Before me in a collecting pool of black blood was some sort of humanoid serpent. The lower half of the body was all snake, bearing an arrangement of grey and black reptilian scales. From the waist up, it was a lot like the other one: barely human, grey skin with a nasty network of black and purple veins, and have gangly arms ending in hands with vicious claws. The only difference was that the serpent monster looked sort of female. From head to… tail, the thing was about thirteen feet.
I whirled away from the sight, trying to keep my breakfast down.
Why the hell would they be here?
The grass and leaves around the stirred. Shouldering my weapon, I aimed ahead, but the sounds came from all over.
And then they stopped. The only sound in the little clearing was my own gulp.
There was a snap to my left, a crackle to my right, and then a shuffling up ahead.
All this movement and no sign of anything. I felt underequipped for this new enemy. Or enemies.
A snap to the left earned my undivided attention, as well as my rifle’s. My heart kicked with the same force as a mule’s buck, but my hands stayed steady, ready to drop whatever hid behind the tree.
Wrapping around the bark of the tree wee slender fingers. Not gangly fingers with claws, just regular fingers.
Breathing out slowly, my muscles relaxed, but my trigger finger kept its tension. The sign of other life was almost enough to celebrate over. The girls could get proper help. If they were friendly.
“Hello?” I called out. The hand retracted around the tree. “I won't cause any trouble if you don’t.”
What peered around the tree was a blood-red face with an impossibly wide grin bearing tightly-spaced teeth. For the sheer absurdity of the sight, I went still and just stared, almost forgetting the lethal hardware in my hands. Shock turned to confusion as more of the figure leaned away from the tree, revealing a very human form in a simple piece of chest armor of rough leather and a dark cloak. The face was just a mask
Another person?
Lowering my rifle and taking a more relaxed posture, I went to call out again. The words came to a screeching halt in my throat once the form stepped—slithered from behind the tree. Like the serpent monster near my feet, the creature had a long, sinuous lower body of rolling scales.
Breath rushing out in a gasp, I swung my rifle up and fired two rounds before the sights were level. The first round kicked up dirt near the slithering mass, but the second nailed the left arm with a mist of blood.
The screech of pain the snake thing bellowed was shrill and high-pitched, almost like a woman’s. Just have to put it out of its misery, then.
Twisted mask in my sights, I went to fire when something rammed square into my chest, making the shot go wide. It felt like someone threw a softball at me. Looking down, I saw what bounced off my vest: an arrow.
Wha—
That thought ended as soon as a searing pain manifested from my leg. Thinking fast, I choked the pain down with a grunt and threw myself behind the near
est tree. No sooner than when I acquired cover did more arrows whizzed past, several sinking into the trunk with a hard knock.
After a moment to catch my breath and work up the nerve, I checked my leg. There was a decent four-inch gash along the side of my right thigh. There was blood, just not an alarming amount.
My back dragging against the tree, I got into a low squat, winching as the gash flexed with my legs. A peek around the trunk showed the thing I shot was gone. Dread compounded once it became obvious that there had to be more of those things. From the three arrows embedded in the bark, and the one lodged into the ground a few feet away, I had to guess three of those things. Maybe more, maybe less.
Monsters that know how to use ranged weapons. Fun. Real fucking fun.
Searching the foliage for a target, I saw a blur of black navigating behind some trees dead ahead.
I snapped towards crunching leaves to the left and saw a serpent creature facing me, arrow knocked and drawn, this creature wearing a mask that resembled a certain character famous for slashing teenagers at camp. The arrow flew, and I threw myself back. The shot was so close that the fletching brushed my cheek.
There was movement on the right side now. Not wanting to get rushed, I fired a round near the tree the slithering creature might be hiding behind.
Ironically, despite being armed with an assault rifle, the creatures had fire superiority with their bows since they knew my position, and I didn’t know theirs. Now I’m presented with two choices: hold my position and pick them off, or retreat.
Hearing movement from the left, I held out the rifle and fired a blind shot. At the same time, another arrow clipped the tree’s bark and veered off course. Had the angle been better, that would’ve been in my neck.
Getting flanked on either side became an imminent threat. That really narrows down my choice down.
Summoning a deep breath, I held it in, letting my lungs getting a nice stretch. A course through the trees was marked, the path should give me adequate protection so long as I keep to a zigzag. Once I’m out of the trees and near the river, where the land opens up, I’ll have the advantage. A bullet travels thirteen times faster than an arrow.
Exhaling, I exploded forth and ran.
Bows twanged as arrows whizzed by, my pursuers disrupting leaves and grass as they chased after my ass. Without an overloaded rucksack weighing me down, I felt faster than Usain Bolt, even with a bleeding leg.
The trees became less dense, and then the river came into view. The section I crossed was fairly shallow, the water maybe halfway to my shins; it shouldn’t slow me down too much. Once across, I’ll take point behind the nearest tree and see if I can’t nail a few more of them.
I made it halfway through the river before sheer agony lanced my shoulder. I arrested my stumble, preventing a face-first stumble into frigid water. Burying the pain, I made it the rest of the way out of the river and hunkered down behind a nice, wide tree. The pain reached a new level, and I had to grit my teeth to choke back a scream. Looking over to my arm, I jumped and gasped.
Two arrowheads were sticking out of me. Shafts painted crimson with dollops of blood dripping off. One was sticking through my chest near my armpit; the other went through my bicep. I hastily averted my eyes, looked back to be sure I was still impaled, then looked away again.
Must move; otherwise, it’ll be back to where I started. Shock and adrenaline dampening the pain, I shouldered my weapon and stepped out from the tree. Sure enough, two serpent-like monsters were waiting on the other side of the river near the trees. Shuffling sideways at a brisk pace, I fired off a couple rounds at each of them. I don’t think I hit them, but they took cover, giving me the chance to get the hell out of Dodge.
While sprinting, my left arm started to feel like it had pins and needles in it. My arm still worked, so I may have partial nerve damage. No idea how to fix that. Way beyond basic field aid. Regardless, once I get back to camp, I’m going to grab the first aid kits and the girls, then we’re going to work from there. And then… we’ll work it out.
The terrain started looking more familiar, and soon I saw the eroded nook where we made camp. Urged on by the finish line, I gave a little extra gas to my legs. Or planned to.
The next step I took ended with my leg locking up in agony, then me crashing into the dirt. I tried to hold back my yell, but my pain threshold spilled over. Letting out a guttural yell, I looked down and cursed through my teeth.
Lodged in my left calf was another arrow, the head deep in the muscle, making my entire leg burn as if it had an acid bath.
Abandoning the plan of conserving ammo, I switched to full-auto while rolling onto my side and sprayed the area behind me, hoping to nail one of those damned things. The rifle clicked the same time something rustled from the right.
I fucked up when I rolled to my side; that was the side I kept my sidearm. By the time I got my pistol out from worming around, the serpent creature charged with a spear of all things.
Fuck it. We’ll both go.
Before either of us could kill each other, Meriel stormed in from the blindside. The petite woman must’ve been booking it for her to t-bone the creature like that. Wanting to make good on her aid, I aimed at the creature’s head while it wrestled the elf. Something seized my hand and the shot went into the sky. I was about to draw my knife only to stop when I saw Fell fighting with my arm.
Gasping and sweating like she had just gotten out of the water, Fell shook her head, and said talked fast but calmly.
Her fever must’ve returned for her to be acting irrationally, but then I realized that the elf and snake thing weren’t fighting anymore. They were… talking?
Meriel went on a long rant for some time, and it ended with a gesture to me. Breathing heavily from the speech and run, Meriel climbed off of the half-snake thing and came to me. She brought a hand to her mouth to mute her gasp, her eyes glued to the bloodied arrows.
My eyes snapped towards the other approaching snake monsters. Four of them: the one I shot in the arm with the red mask, the one with a mask resembling an iconic hockey mask, and two others I never got the chance to see. They moved slowly, three of the four with bows that had arrows knocked.
I turned my attention back to the one that almost skewered me when it slithered closer. The serpent portion decked out in midnight scales. The human portion was covered with a poncho camouflaged with mud to match the whites and browns of the forest. My heart raced as it neared, the thing wearing a carbon-black mask with painted-on fangs of white. It reminded me of the bear thing, and I wanted to shoot it even more. Everything was telling me to break free from Fell’s grip and unload into that thing.
The thing reached up and pulled the mask over its head.
Over her head.
She brushed the black bangs of her short-cropped hair aside. Large, vivid eyes of amethyst set in the face of mocha-colored skin bored into mine. The sight had to be a result of blood loss; no way a snake monster could have such an elegant diamond-shaped faced with intoxicatingly sweet eyes. However, when she turned her head to regard her friends, they too pulled off their masks. All four had heavenly levels of beauty. Even the scowl on the one I shot was still so charming that I could stare at her all day.
It has to be blood loss. No. It is blood loss. A good amount was spilling out of my shoulder and leg. A person can lose about forty percent of their blood volume before they slip into blood shock. Hypo-something, which has symptoms of shivering, cold or clammy skin, dizziness, and nausea.
Check, check, check, and check.
I didn't even get hurt that much. Then again, I have an arrow sticking out of my chest. There’s a lot of important stuff in there.
My thoughts continued to grow more discordant and unfocused. My vision fluttered, and the last thing I saw before it went black was the purple-eyed snake-lady reaching for me.
Chapter 9
One moment I was in the forest, and after blinking, I was… somewhere else. Some dark place that smel
led like incense. There was a vague sense of motion, and there was a lot of noise—talking. Maybe. It all sounded like a bunch of people speaking different languages in a subway. I caught small glimpses of light in the ceiling, like I was being rushed down the hallway of a decrepit hospital. I caught glimpses of faces, too, but I couldn’t focus for long.
Things grew hazy, and the world spun in a dizzying whirl. Once my eyes refocused, I realized I was sitting up on something. There wasn’t a whole lot to notice before I pitched forward. Hands arrested my fall, and then I was faced with another beauty who had eyes like rose quartz and raven hair, the bangs of which were clipped to her hair messily with a clip of some kind. She tilted my head this way and that then pried my eyelids apart. She said a bunch of gibberish off to the side, and someone replied.
The world came into crystal focus when my pain went from five to eleven. I roared and thrashed against the many hands holding me down. Just as I was about to start swinging, Meriel came into view and cupped either side of my face. She made soft shushing sounds and tenderly stroked my hair, the hand holding my arms and shoulders easing their hold.
It took a few minutes, but my breathing calmed. The lady with the rosy eyes was behind and just off to Meriel’s left. On either side of me were women with their hands held out, looking ready to catch me if I swayed again. Asides Meriel, all three of the women were part snake from the waist down.
The woman with the pink eyes set a hand on Meriel’s shoulder and spoke. Still brushing her thumbs along my cheek, the elf nodded. At the confirmation, the snake-woman looked off somewhere behind me and said one word with a wave of her hand. Pain became fresh, and I almost started thrashing when Meriel brought my face into her neck and continued shushing me gently.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the arrow in my left bicep wiggling. Then I heard, and felt, wood snapping. The snake-woman got a firm hold on my arm, and then pulled the arrowhead and the rest of the shaft out. Her gaze flickered to me, and then she got her hand ready on the other arrow. I wrapped my right arm around Meriel’s waist and groaned into her neck, every twist and wiggle sending a radiating wave of agony across my chest. Slowly, the shaft was pulled out, all eight inches of it.
Heart of the Resonant- the Soldier's Tale Page 11
