The village was burning. A host of mismatched, malformed monstrosities descended upon the place that Annie called home. The village was supposed to be protected, but earlier this morning, thirty Wolfkins, along with a wolf hag, left after something snatched a few cubs from cusacks' pastures. It was an unexpected situation; very few beings in the Wastes were so bold to attack during the day, and against the Wolf Tribe's village no less. Yet like a gigantic vulture, something swooped from the skies, spread massive leather wings, and grabbed three cubs with clawed legs. Cusacks nearby had large torn wounds on their hides; when the guards arrived, they saw that these wounds had become rotten. Nobody expected to find the cubs alive, as Mommy explained to Annie, when the wolf hag left to enact vengeance. Annie herself heard the terrible screams of the cubs. The unknown attacker purposely flew over the village, slowly breaking the bones of young cubs one after another and screeching mocking laughter which could be heard in every tent.
The warriors left. And soon, mines that were laid across the edge of the village came to life, exploding as true horror charged in. Some of the attackers had elongated heads, their arms were replaced with numerous whip-like appendages. These weird arms easily tore through the skin of the remaining wolfkins, grabbing and strangling defenders. Others had drill-like hands that were made of pristine white bone. Even though these arms were organic in nature, they buzzed with a loud noise, turning around and tearing the flesh of anyone they hit. Other creatures bore signs of less mutation; their eyes were on different levels, or their mouths were missing. Some had bones that covered them from head to toe, serving as armor. And others looked like normies. Naked men and women, looking just like normies travelers on the road, safe for lack of clothes, charged at Wolfkins with mad howls and with a desire to kill in their eyes.
Countless monsters perished in the explosion of mines, their bodies torn asunder when shards hidden in mines came free. Some lost limbs and bled out as they tried to reach the village in a maddening charge. The Wolf Tribe was never weak. They might have lived in crude tents, but that was because they had to travel a lot, finding new pasture sites for cusacks. No food, no life. No water, no life. Outside assistance to the villages is strictly forbidden by the shamans. The weak were meant to perish. And the strong were always wary, ready for any attack from the Wastes. Each time the village was relocated, all traps were carefully collected and taken with them, ready to be deployed in other places.
But today they were found lacking. The enemies simply pushed through minefields, oblivious to their deaths. Annie saw how one monster snared Old Johatan, one of the shepherds who was always willing to share stories around the campfire. Appendages wrapped around the male’s neck, forming a noose, biting deep into his fur and skin. The eyes of Johatan widened, and the creature laughed with a bleating voice as it strangled the life from the Wolfkin. Annie tried to help her friend, but only received a kick in the stomach from Johatan, sending her aside and causing blood to appear in her mouth. Sveta ran to her sister, helping Annie stand up.
"They are hurting us!" Sveta screamed in panic, seeing blood on the mouth of her sister. "Why are they hurting us? Why?! We just live here, we…"
With a twisted "crack" sound, the creature broke Johatan's neck. Still laughing, the creature carried the dead body to its mouth. The mouth became a rounded hole, and something looking like a gray tube slithered out of the open mouth, a slug of tongue filled with countless fangs. The tongue wrapped around the dead carcass of an old wolfkin, tearing pieces of meat away from Johatan's body. In a burst of movement and with a horrible tearing, wet sound, the tongue moved back into the mouth, carrying flesh with it. Such a weird movement splashed blood across the snouts of the sisters, and Sveta screamed again.
"They are eating us?! It makes no sense; we are not cusacks! People don’t eat people! Eat a hamburger, baddy, don’t eat peop…" Sveta bleated mindlessly, her eyes appearing to be about to fall out of their sockets from the terror that the cub was experiencing. Annie grabbed her sister, dragging her away from the murderer.
The creature smiled with twisted glee and made a step forward with malformed legs, one shorter than the other. It threw away the dead body and moved appendages toward the cubs.
"I live exquisite meals…" The creature spoke, its mouth opening vertically with the wet sound of slapping lips.
"Choke on this cuisine," a stern voice said, and the creature’s lead exploded in a shower of flesh and brains as shards slashed across it. Gilho, dressed only in pants, stepped closer, a smoking shardgun, the iconic armor-piercing weapon of the tribe, was in his paws. He spat on the dead body, turning toward his daughters.
"Annie, take Svetlana and run! You are responsible for her!" He shouted as the tent behind him fell apart. A roaring bestial maw, accompanied by two long arms with bone claws, crashed through the tent. The head of a dead wolfkin was in the gaping maw.
"Daddy!" Sveta screamed as Annie dragged her sisters away. Sveta was always the smartest of them all. But right now, she was just a scared cub, unable to act.
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Not Annie, no. Annie was a quiet one, a survivor. She will take them away…
Scary, so scary. Mommy, Daddy, I am scared. I can’t do it, I can’t, I…
… She will save them both. Annie growled, throwing thoughts of a coward out of her mind. She was a hero! A warrior! Leaving her father battling a horrible monster, she dragged half-mad Sveta to the village center. A single wooden bridge was leading out of the village, toward the only direction from which attackers had not come. It was hastily thrown over the ravine, and on the other side of the ravine was a trade road. Sveta and Annie often ran there with other cubs to gossip with passing travelers and hear about the wonders of the outside world. Surely someone will help them there, right? People help people; Mommy always says so. Anyway, it was the only possible safe route for retreat, and besides mines, there were still in place…
Both cubs screamed in terror as the dead body fell from the nearby tent, leaving a gaping hole in its chest. Inside the tent was a small cub, sitting on his ass. He was younger than either Svetlana or Annie, less than a year old. One finger of his paw was in his maw, and with his curious amber eyes, he looked at the massive, thin creature with bone claws that stood above him.
"Cub," Sveta said, shaking the fear, "We have to help… it will hurt him!"
"Yeah, but…" Annie said in despair, looking around for anything of use. The creature took a step forward, claws outstretched toward the cub's body.
A warrior does not think; a warrior acts! These were the warriors that Annie heard about when one of the travelers showed her an old comic about some ancient hero. She charged inside, slashing the leg of the weird monster with her claws and spilling blood. Her tiny claws barely pierced skin, and the creature turned to her, more surprised than hurt. It turned its strangely elongated head to the right, looking at the cub with a round, opaque black eye. The gaze of the murderer seemingly pierced the very soul of a girl; a long, beak-like mouth was reaching almost to the creature’s shoulder. At the edge of the mouth of the creature, right through its lips, sharp bone shards were coming out. The creature’s skin was pale, filled with countless purple veins that ran underneath it, twisting with each moment like a fist of worms. The large sack of flesh was behind the shoulders of the monster, flapping with each nimble step that it took toward the girl.
The Creature extended his left arm toward the cub, deliberately slowly, as if tasting Annie's fear. She growled, the supposedly fearless noise came more like the whimper of a beaten dog, rather than a sign of stubborn indomitance she intended it to be. Against her will, she backed down, and the creature followed after her, keeping the exact same distance between them.
One step separated a being's torso from Annie. And the left arm of the creature was coming out, and something that looked like seeping pus was falling down the being's c;awsg. Annie darted to the right, and the creature reappeared before her, keeping the same distance as before. The black eye was looking into her eyes as her hand was closing ever so slowly but surely. Annie charged to the left, jumping over the makeshift chair, and yet again, the creature was moving alongside her, not lifting its gaze away from her, not even for a second, still slowly moving its hand toward her. She grabbed a chair and hurled it at the being, but the creature tore the chair apart with its right hand, shattering it into countless pieces. The left hand was approaching, now but a breath away from Annie’s body. Incapable of keeping her fear down, the cub screamed out loud, jumping toward the chest with various kitchenware in it. She grabbed a pair of knives and threw them at the monster with all her might. With a wicked smirk on its turned head, the creature caught both knives with its right hand and reinserted them into the chest as Annie backed down. As it closed the chest, the demon raised his right hand and shook his long, clawed finger in mocked reapproach at the girl’s efforts, all the while following her at exactly the same distance as before, while his left hand was creeping ever closer to Annie.
It is toying with me! Annie understood with horror. It could kill her at any moment. But no, it was stretching the moment, beating down the sense of inevitability into her mind. And there was something else in the black eye of the beast, hiding behind malice. Excitement. Something fell on the floor from the claw—some liquid that burned through the cloth of the floor.
"Leave my sister alone!" Sveta screamed, throwing something at the being before Annie. The monster turned its beaked head and was greeted with blinding light when a flashbang exploded into the monster's black eyes, blinding it temporarily.
Without hesitating, Annie grabbed the cub in her paw and charged away from the tent, while the being screeched in pure rage behind her. It was a guttural sound, but it was deafening enough to make Annie's eardrums hurt as if a mine had exploded near her. The cub in her paw started crying, saying the word "Momma" over and over.
"You are the best, Svet!" Annie kissed her sister on the cheek. "Where did you find the flashbang?"
"It was on the dead mister's belt." Sveta answered, and Annie shut up, afraid that it could have been the father of the cub in her arms.
They stopped as more and more malformed creatures charged from the tents, surrounding the kids. Blood was dripping from saw-like hands, and wicked mouths smiled, showing needle-like teeth inside their mouths. Smiling like dolls, the creatures advanced on the kids.
And then they stopped, as another roar came from the tent behind the cubs—terrible screeching that caused even monsters to back off.
The sound of tearing fabric caused her to look back. The walls of the tent were torn, when massive leather wings came free from the walls of the tent. With a massive flap, the being lifted itself into the air, and its shadow made both girls scream in terror. The head turned to the left, allowing the black eye to look at them with boredom, as if their lives were but a pair of candles to be extinguished. It shifted its gaze to other creatures, and they ran deeper into the village in search of other prey. Demon or monster, this being claimed Sveta and Annie for himself. Wings hit the air once more, and the being smiled.