Chapter 51 - 50

Is not difficult for a creature such as myself to find him; especially him; among this chaos, his smell overflowing my senses and standing out like a red rose among the pure white snow.

Focusing I claw my way towards him, crushing stupid newly made ghouls along the path that walk around like stone stiff creatures and attack by mere reflex, imposing as much trouble as a light pole in the middle of the road: annoying, but easily avoided, or in my case easily wrecked along the way.

I'm alert for another thing too, the creature that keeps proving to be quite the sneaky eyesore, that fox-snake being that only appears to cause trouble and when wounded runs away with its tail between the legs, figuratively speaking.

I growl at the thought, next time I have to make sure that it doesn't survive after causing me so much trouble.

After a few moments I finally reach the soldiers but end up stopping to look from afar, not only out of curiosity but to know what the hell they are up to because, to my surprise, instead of hiding, crawling inside the darkest buried places they could find, of went to beg for mercy at the gates, they simply chose the tallest and most eye-catching building of the place to enter, right in the middle of this part of town.

I crook my head to the side as my tail whips in the air and hits a sneaky Moth Ghoul square in the face right behind me, crushing it down on the floor and giving it another slap just to be sure as it stops moving, and as I depleted the ghouls from their air force, which had not been much to begin with, I watch as, with flashing lights and shooting sounds the soldiers make their way up the building, the two other with the motorcycle waiting down below.

What are they thinking? And do I really want to know? Or rather, this is actually good, I can wait for the opportunity and grab him in the middle of the chaos, the only troublesome humans beyond the cold man staying far from him.

My tail gives one last swing in the air from excitement when, with a gurgling low grow deep in my throat I anticipate the chase, black scales, curved body waiting attentively for a good angle to launch myself in and grab him.

They clean a path upwards, and finally reaching the rooftop the troop slows down for a breather, the cold captain seemly not even breaking a sweat as he looks around and, satisfied with what he sees, goes back to instruct the others.

Such fine worked-out body, usually I go for the fat meaty ones but in his case something tells me that the well define muscles will only improve the quality of this delicacy even further. 

I start drooling, cleaning up my chin with the back of my hand when, suddenly, the soldiers around him point some small weapon to the sky, pulling the trigger only for a bright red light to blindly illuminate the night, not only one, but two or three, been shot more than once along the minutes that follow, serving as a gigantic beacon among the grey graveyard below.

And of course it causes a turmoil along the horde of ghouls aimlessly walking around the city, and when that bright light hits their lifeless eyes a glint of something flashes inside, something that guides the horde to the point in question.

And soon after the building the soldiers are at is surronded, and stupid as the ghouls are many only smash their heads against the walls or keep looking up above while being pushed back and forth by the others.

Until, there is, the responsibles for such mess surge among the stupid ones, and I can smell them even before they reach eye distance from the building, their cracking slow bodies swinging along towards the ablaze target, their joints difficult to move as the fungus and puss make it stiff and with little area to bend and move, but still they make their way forward.

However the troublesome ones that reach first reek of damp water and soil, the survivers of the tunnel excavating plan, Swamp Ghouls, unhealthy and thin but still fast enough to see juicy prey and chase after them with a crazy hungry need, so while all the others try to make their way inside the building, these ones craw up from outside, claws sinking in along the wall.

The advance is slow for most, but still steadily they overcome the building, making me frown and look up, wondering what the hell are these humans thinking? Not only did they call the unwanted attention of all the deadly creatures inside this part of the city, but locked themselves up there without any means of escape!

Mass suicide? Self-sacrifice for the greater good to take the monsters away from the poor civils that may be alive and bring them to one place? You know, I was joking when I thought him crazy enough to not care about his life, but this… Or is he waiting for me to do something? No, I don't think a man like him would depend on others like this, especially me…

I soon learn why he did that, however, when I hear a fan shushing sound coming from outside these walls, and when I look over I see something that resembles a fat black bird making its way over, strangely flying with a circular moving thing on top of it, approaching the building and hovering on top, throwing some kind of stairs for the soldiers down below.

Only a few chosen, however, board the small thing, and when it fills up it hovers back where it came from.

A few minutes pass, creepy moments filled with growls and clawing figures, and as I wait to see that thing back to get the others I soon realize that it may not be coming back, especially when enough time has passed for the Swamp Ghouls to reach the roof and demand a line of defense from those above, the building almost full of ghouls pushing each other forward.

The situation doesn't look favorable, and their chances decrease by the second, and when the ghouls finally start hammering the door that leads to the rooftop I can smell where I stand the increasing fear coming from the soldiers. 

"They are not coming back, why are they not back yet?" "Maybe something happened, a crash, a monster…!" "I-I don't want to die here, not now, I-!" "Don't be stupid, they won't come back, they already took the rich Wilraine guys, why do you think they had a helicopter prepared on such short notice? They did not come for us, but for those soon to be commanders, we are lowly soldiers, we are not even humans in their eyes! Wake up already! We are alone!"

"No, that cannot be!" We are doomed! Doomed!"

I did not fully understand their words but is easy to guess what they are thinking in such situation, and as my eyes land on the cold captain, wishing to see his despaired face as the cold mask crumbles, I'm left disappointed by it as he seems to be untouched by mortal affairs, his face clean of any wrinkles as we shoots at the upcoming ghouls.

"What are we going to do? What now? C-Captain save us!" After this one screams, however, all the other soldiers attentions turn towards the cold captain, some aggressive, some pleading, and I bet a riot would be up if they did not have to keep their focus on the creatures trying to kill them.

"Clean up the eastern part of the building, we are to leave, now!"

"But the door is on the other si-"

"Now!" With that said in such confident manner that does not give space for complaints the soldiers do as told, most turning their attentions towards the east part of the building and, as they lose space on the rooftop, the west area begins to be overtaken by ghouls, especially when with a bang the door crashes open to a nightmare of dull teeth clacking in the air in search for prey, boxing the soldiers up on the east side of the roof as they reach the edge while the ghouls gain terrain, step by step.

"Cover me." At that point, at the pinnacle of despair, the cold man stops shooting and does not stay idle as he takes something out from his back and arms it behind them, aiming for the rooftop of the building next to them, and shooting some sort of cable out that fixes itself on the other building.

"One at a time, move it!" The cold man says once he is done, sounding surprisingly clear over the growls and gunshots, and as the most despaired one of the soldiers takes a device from one of many of his pockets and fix it on the line, he jumps over the edge of the roof and descends towards the other building, arms up above holding all the weight of his body until his feet hit the ground again.

"Secure the other rooftop, move!" The cold captain says again, shooting at the ghouls with precision, making my anxiety go up by the second as the soldiers use the device, one by one reaching the other rooftop and safety, and one by one leaving to defend the other building, too far to give him support as the last one standing alone, surrounded, waiting for the last soldier to reach safety.

Oi oi oi what are you going? Is not only your life at stake now you crazy bastard! Go already!

When the line is finally free he is surrounded, at arm's reach, and the one turn he needs to reach the device will be enough to be giving the ghouls his back and his life.

I clench my teeth, rasping my fangs against each other in anxiety, already bending my hind legs and filling my lungs with air for the mad dash I was about to do, only for the cold man to take the pin out of something and hold it in his hand, closing his eyes with his arm and pressing the button on top of it.

And then there is only light, a bright white blinding light that hurts the eyes and takes the vision away, away for long enough that, when I'm blinking my vision back he is already at the other rooftop, soldiers cheering his safe return as he says on the black device.

"Light it up."

With that the two below appear once more, and with the flamethrower and some sort of grenade they set the place on fire from the base up, and as the building starts burning up, a lit torch shining ablaze in the dark city, the creatures inside are left to burn and die in the pyre, some Swamp Ghouls even try to jump back to safety, but not only they break their bones in the attempt but are burned down by the two motorcycle guys who circle around in search for prey.

At that point, however, not only I have no plans left as I have no time to implement it for the once obsidian black sky starts turning purple, then orange and white, the ball of fire giving its first sights of raising as it chases the dark away.

Then it downs me, I realize, not only had the cold man bought time with this strategy but took them to safety and took the ghouls away from the other areas, not only protecting those under his command but doing the upmost of the situation he could by starting the cleanup process by themselves.

And as our eyes meet one last time I understand the predicament that I am, truly understand, for the first time.

For the human I have myself attacked to is not as a simple person as I thought him to be at first.

Someone that is intelligent and brave, bold enough to take the necessary risks and have things done.

The most dangerous type of human there is.

A true warrior.