Ghouls'n Guns

by Jared Mandani

  At first, he thought they were overgrown, humanoid bats. Nothing would surprise him about this game, not anymore, and the idea of giant man bats flying around attacking people by night would fit right in with the rest of the insanity. However, they dove down a second time and he got a second better look. They were ghouls, four or five in total, all of them constantly flitting about. Each one was slightly shorter than an average man and gaunt to the point of looking starved. But where their arms should have been, strong pinions flapped away instead.

  Like bats’ wings, Davidoff thought to himself.

  The wings were leathery and made great cracking, slapping motions as the ghouls flapped them. They could turn quickly, darting down from midair to attack before rising up again with almost impossible agility. Their feet were talons and they had sharp claws at the ends of their pinions. One of them had taken a slice out of Mara’s head, though she had dropped in time to mitigate most of the damage. As she joined them, jogging over with her eyes on the sky and the muzzle of her assault rifle pointed upwards, Davidoff saw that it was a shallow enough cut.

  Two dove at once, next, both aiming for Zeke. Davidoff’s friend was dazed and tired, and his reactions were slow. He raised his rifle but got nowhere; one of the ghouls grabbed it and disappeared with it as the other kicked him fully in the chest, flooring him. Zeke fell backwards and the ghoul landed, standing on his torso. It bent down and slashed Zeke across the face as Davidoff whirled around to face it. However, by the time he had his Uzi trained on where it had been standing, it was gone, launching itself back up into the air.

  Meanwhile, as Mara turned to check the commotion around Zeke, another of the ghouls swooped down and grabbed her arm. It shot back up to the sky, lifting her four feet into the air, painfully gripping her wrist. With a rending snap, her arm popped out of its shoulder socket at the same time as the elbow seemed to break. The ghoul dropped her and she cried out, falling down to huddle in the grass, barely conscious.

  Another couple made for Davidoff straight away. He was the only one left standing and he felt vulnerable, like he was fish and they were cormorants. However, skillful as Zeke and Mara might be in their own specialties, they were not quick fighters. Though Davidoff could not mend equipment or track routes, though he could not snipe at enemies or blow buildings up, he was ready for this.

  As the first one came down, he sensed it more than saw it, and his avatar moved almost faster than he could keep up with. He sidestepped his attacker. It landed and launched itself upwards again as the second one came in. However, as he had turned, stepping out of harm’s way, Davidoff had raised his Uzi. Now he let loose, spraying bullets upwards with rapid fire. He caught the first one in the back, pulping its flesh and sending it tumbling to the ground. The second one, coming in towards him, was primed for the slaughter. Davidoff riddled its chest with bullets, blowing it backwards out of the sky.

  Three more shadows danced above, circling them. He finished the two on the ground quickly as Zeke sat up, gasping for air. A couple of Davidoff’s shots missed in the dark, but he moved in closer and managed a kill shot to the head for each of them, filling his XP total a little more.

  Something moved on his peripheral vision and he turned, his gun raised, his reflexes sharp. He fired as a couple of the shadows came down. They reversed their charge, flapping up and away, though Davidoff thought he had only managed to hit one with a stray bullet.

  Noises surrounded them in the woods and Davidoff bit his lip. They needed to get away, fast. The forest would be crawling with ghouls and zombies soon enough. The army was out there, and no doubt these bat-like ghouls were scouts. There would be other scouts besides, he thought, and they would kill them easily enough if this went on for much longer.

  He had to act, and he had to do so drastically and quickly. The three shadows were together, about a hundred or so feet above him. They were nearly invisible in the darkness, but he could hear them well enough, their leathery wings snapping back and forth. They will attack soon, Davidoff thought. They will come to finish the job.

  He slung his Uzi over his back and brought out his last grenade, ready. He was right: they came for him soon enough. One split off from the other two. He just about saw it as it wheeled around behind him. The other two dropped out of the air in front, coming at him in a pincer motion.

  When they were perhaps fifty feet up, Davidoff pulled the pin from his grenade. He threw it directly upwards with all his strength, and flattened himself against the ground.

  The explosion was massive. Light and sound blew outwards for a split second, buffeting his ears. Immediately, as soon as the bang had occurred, Davidoff jumped up, pulling his Uzi back into position. Zeke was still sitting in a daze on the floor and Mara was still huddled in a ball. However, he would finish the job and then bring them back to the compound.

  Before he could raise his gun, however, a couple of things happened all at once. He saw the three ghouls in the middle of the clearing, a little way off. They were stunned, dragging themselves away from their attacker. They could not take off just yet, and Davidoff suspected that he had broken a couple of wings. However, up above, more screeches rang out and he understood that there were more of these bat-like ghouls coming.

  As he realized this, though, the treeline farthest from them lit up, down to where the road to the compound was joined. A great beam of light shone out, as did half a dozen lesser ones, and rifle fire began to crackle. The three ghouls fell down, pierced with bullets and breathing their last breath. The great beam pointed upwards and a dozen more ghouls were lit up, skimming in and out of its glow. More rifle fire erupted upwards, as did the unmistakable bark of a hunting shotgun. Two or three ghouls fell, then a couple more, all wounded just enough to fall to the earth. Two landed in the open glade, their bodies crunching from the impact. More fell into the forests and another spray of rifle fire opened up.

  The remaining ghouls fled in panic, spooked for the moment by this sudden arrival. Davidoff slowly grasped what was happening and he dropped to his knees, tears of relief in his eyes as a group of people emerged from the treeline, running towards them.

  There were seven in all, with Dr. Finkelstein leading them. Two player-led characters whom Davidoff had never met were there, as was Blight. The rest were lab technicians, though they looked a lot less like the nerdy scientists they had been before. The whole group was armed to the teeth from the compound’s reserves, rifles and shotguns and pistols everywhere. One of the technicians was carrying a portable spotlight and everyone else had torches either in their hands, attached to helmets, or on their guns.

  They ran up to Davidoff, Zeke and Mara.

  “Doctor… doctor… Finkelstein,” Davidoff gasped as the older man knelt down before him. The others all busied themselves with Zeke and Mara, bringing out medical kits and beginning to patch up the worst of their wounds. “There is a whole damned army out there,” Davidoff said. “Hundreds, maybe more. All zombies and mutants, all led by the ghouls. Doctor,” he continued, meeting Dr. Finkelstein’s eyes. “They’re coming straight for us. I think they are planning to lay siege to the compound.”

  “Very well,” the doctor said kindly. “We will return at once and prepare. Though, I assure you, my dear boy, this is not unexpected. And we have been busy since you went away. We should be ready for whatever comes to us.”

  Dr. Finkelstein helped Davidoff to his feet, lending him some support. Davidoff was beyond exhaustion now, injured and broken and limping badly as every wound he had taken caught up with him. Zeke could only walk along with the help of two others, whilst Mara was put on a makeshift stretcher. Blight and one of the technicians carried her away.

  “We have been sending out regular patrols,” the doctor told Davidoff as they limped across the glade, past the broken bodies of the fallen ghouls. “And when we saw the lights from your bikes, and heard your rifle fire, we all jumped into a couple of jeeps and sped over here. They are a couple of minutes away,�
�� he finished. “We’ll have you back at the compound soon enough. Come on, now, there we go… come on, my dear boy.”