Chad stood at one end of the long hallway, his posture tense. To his left, Rick and three other men wielding firearms – rifles and Chad's spare shotgun – mirrored his bearing. Behind them, Johnny the Repairman trembled, his gaze flicking to the roof above their heads as though it might crumble at any moment. To be fair, he had good reason to be afraid. The top floor of the hotel was as close as they could get to the Ghoultures without going outside. The monsters were probable mere feet from their heads.

Rick stern gaze met Chad's own."Ready?"

"Ready," he confirmed. Chad turned to the bird on his shoulder. "Squawk?"

"Ready!" The bird cawed in reply. His voice sounded a little more high-pitched than usual.

"You might want to get behind me, buddy. I'm not sure that my shoulder's the best place to be for this."

"Ah. Good point." The bird fluttered back as Chad returned his gaze to the far end of the corridor. There, the window set into its wall glowed with bright sunlight. The blue sky and puffy clouds filled the pane with a picturesque scene of a spring morning. From their top-floor vantage point, they could see the city below sprawling into the distance,

"Alright. Here we go."

"Remember," Rick reminded everyone, "hold your fire until they get halfway. Save your bullets as long as you can. And whatever you do, don't get in front of Chadwick."

At the round of nods that followed his statement, Chad reached behind him and picked up a small rock about the size of a tangerine. It looked about half that size in his palm. It didn't have a lot of heft to it – but then, it didn't have to. Not for this

"We're going live in three… two… one…"

After the countdown, Chad pulled his arm back and tossed the rock with an almost casual motion. It sailed across the long hallway with the speed of a professional baseball player's throw, careening toward the window.

For a long moment, the world seemed to slow down. The group held their breath as the rock flew, its grey surface twisting and turning in midair. An oppressive silence settled over them like a pillow.

Then, it shattered.

The rock crashed through the window, the glass exploding outward. Immediately the sound was met with an answering shriek from above their heads. Within moments, the sky outside the shattered windowpane disappeared behind a veil of midnight wings and oily feathers as more voices added to the cacophony. The Ghoultures swirled outside in a frenzied whirlwind.

It only took a second for the things to identify the source of the noise. The mass of bodies banked toward the window with laser focus as the first heads darted into the new opening. Beady red eyes lit up as they spotted the group and a toothy beak screeched in horrifying delight.

"Steady…" The forced calm of Rick's tone was just audible above the racket. Someone gulped. Sounds of scratching and cracking plaster echoed down the hall as the birds tried to force their way through the too-small window. The first bird managed to wiggle a wing through the opening, sending a fresh cascade of glass to the floor as another head poked in.

"Steady…"

Chad didn't take his eyes off the creatures as they struggled. He held fast to the item in his hand, making a conscious effort not to grip too hard.

"Steady…"

The first Ghoulture popped through the opening with a triumphant screech. Its fat body brought with it the remainder of the window, its rectangular frame swinging from the long neck like a particularly unfashionable necklace. The monster flapped its wings to propel itself forward, only to bang them against the sides of the narrow hall. Still, it didn't give up. Turning toward its prey, it started forward in an awkward flapping hobble.

"Steady…"

Pieces of the wall crumbled inward as the birds outside jostled and scratched at the ragged hole. A pair of smaller birds managed to dart inside after the first. One bustled forward and bumped impatiently into its fellow, while the other had just enough room to fly above their heads. It darted ahead with rasping shrieks, beaks wide and claws extended as the hall continued to fill.

A squawk sounded from behind Chad's group. "Now, Chad! Go!"

Not needing to be told twice, Chad hefted the item in his hand – a twenty-pound medicine ball.

The biggest issue with facing the Ghoultures was simple - their numbers. There were far too many of them. Even though the hotel guests outnumbered the birds – at least, initially – their lack of weaponry made the advantage all but moot. That was where the hallways came into play. Even the smallest of the birds had no choice but to go more or less single-file through the corridors, a fact that the humans could use to their tactical advantage.

However, even with a building full of readily defensible chokepoints, that wasn't enough. Once the issue of being swarmed by birds from all sides was solved, there was still the second problem to deal with – namely, their bulk. Even as a single-file line, the things were sturdy. They could easily absorb enough bullets to overwhelm their attackers and tear them into bloody pieces without some way to slow them down. Even worse, Rick had already pointed out that they'd still need to keep some supply of bullets to protect themselves and the other survivors from the monsters outside if they did escape. All of this meant that the hotel guests and employees really had no choice but to shelter in place until something changed.

That something happened to be Chad.

With a grunt of effort, Chad thrust his palm out. The medicine ball shot forward as though fired from a cannon. With a thunderous crack, it turned the first bird into a cloud of feathers and paste without even slowing. The second and third followed suit before they could even react or cry out in panic. At the fourth impact, the ball no longer blew a crater through its victim, but still impacted with a satisfying crunch and forced it back into the mass of birds crowding the opening. Judging by its squawk of confusion and pain, it wasn't quite dead. Not yet.

You have defeated a Ghoulture (Lvl 3)! +3 Exp.

You have defeated a Ghoulture (Lvl 5)! +10 Exp.

You have defeated a Ghoulture (Lvl 4)! +6 Exp.

Before the notifications even appeared, Chad was already picking up his next projectile – a dumbbell this time. Behind him sprawled a pile of odds and ends they'd collected from around the hotel, from weights to alarm clocks to cleaning supplies and even a few planters. He didn't risk looking behind at what he grabbed, though. He had to trust that Johnny would push things forward and keep him topped up.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

They held their breaths. Everything had gone according to plan so far. However, what the birds did now could make or break their strategy. If they decided to retreat…

Luckily, the birds weren't that smart. Despite three of their number going down in the blink of an eye, they continued pushing forward into the opening. If anything, the carnage just sent them into a further frenzy. The dark feathered beasts continued to swarm the gaping hole, all gnashing teeth and sharp talons.

"It's working!" Squawkers gasped from behind. "My plan is actually working!"

"We're not out of the woods yet!" Rick called. "Stay alert!"

Another four birds wriggled their way forward in a macabre conga line. They were rewarded for their efforts with a dumbbell to the face. Purplish blood and feathers exploded out in a shower of gore that Chad was becoming oddly desensitized to. It had taken a bit of testing to figure out how he should throw for this strategy. They had initially assumed he'd be throwing baseball style, just as he'd done for the rock outside the hotel. However, it had one issue – pain. Even miming the motion sent a tearing sensation through Chad's already aggravated shoulder and back. Even if he held back on the power, he knew enough to understand that throwing over and over again could really mess him up. And the last thing he wanted was for his group to be left defenseless after he dislocated his shoulder.

Even with that, Chad would've been willing to give it a try. However, Squawkers had a better idea. The shotput method.

Well, calling it the "shotput method" is pretty generous, Chad admitted. I'm not doing all the windup and whole-body stuff. I'm pretty much just shoving the thing forward as hard as I can.

Still, it worked. It was hard to argue with the results. His strength was high enough that even a method like this was completely overkill. Sure, maybe he could have pierced through even more birds with another throwing style, but the tradeoff was worth it. Each throw only sent an extra twinge of pain through his pulled muscles rather than setting them freshly ablaze. His arm still hurt, but it was manageable.

The birds fell in droves as the corridor's yellow-painted walls darkened with blood and feathers like some demented child's kindergarten art project. Near the back, a Ghoulture's head snapped backward loudly as it tumbled through the opening and to the city below. Chad saw a few Ghoultures break off from the pack to dive for its corpse. More charged through the opening with angry screeches, only to be met with projectiles to the face and body.

One of his throws – a particularly irregularly-shaped lamp – tumbled through the air off-course. It struck the first bird at an odd angle, missing the next one and crashing through the hotel wall instead. Seeing an opening, the Ghoulture hurried forward to close the distance.

"Fire!"

The familiar sharp cracks of rifle fire sounded as Rick and his group filled the bird with lead. It screamed as its advance was slowed by the sheer impact of the bullets. Within a few moments, the bird collapsed forward into a heap, marking it as possibly the most intact corpse yet.

"Thanks!" Chad called over as he threw another weight. "Nice save!"

"No problem. Keep it up, friend!"

A few minutes into the fight, Chad heard a ding sound from the elevator behind, followed by clicking heels. A woman's gasp of horror cut through the noise of battle.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

Donna's scream didn't betray terror or even a hint of fear – just rage. Rage and a kind of wrath that was usually reserved for the most damning of offenses. In fact, it quite reminded him of how Paw paw had sounded that time when he'd used his gramma's favorite dinner plates for target practice.

Chad hurled another projectile forward, not particularly inclined to look back at the woman. It punched a hole through a few monsters, then the wall next to the already large opening. The damage was met with another enraged cry. "WHAT are you doing to my hotel?!"

"Trying to save us all!" Rick grunted he fired on another bird getting too close for comfort. "You shouldn't be here, Donna!"

"I'll be wherever I damn well please, Rick! Especially when you're destroying my hotel!"

Chad kept his focus forward. Rick and Squawkers had agreed that Donna wouldn't go along with this plan. Hence why they'd kept her in the dark and climbed all the way up here to carry it out. It also had the benefit of making sure that the people below were kept safe. If they succeeded, then great. If they failed… then at least they wouldn't be bringing down the birds on anyone else's heads. Chad thought it was a good idea, anyway.

Evidently, Donna didn't share their optimism.

"Incoming!"

One of the men shouted the warning just as the wall – which had been barely holding together until now – finally collapsed inward. The size of the opening immediately tripled, allowing even more birds to swarm through. The hall filled with writhing birds in an instant.

"Shit – Johnny, get Donna downstairs!" He raised his rifle and braced. "Chad, we're gonna need you to pull overtime!"

Johnny was all too willing to comply. The teen lifted the woman up bodily and all but fled from the scene as she continued to howl obscenities and threats at the group. As the pair retreated, Chad redoubled his efforts. He began hurling projectiles down the hall even faster. Ghoultures exploded like gory fireworks, only to be replaced by more as the writhing mass of feathers and talons surged forward. Gunfire and screeches mingled in a deafening cacophony that filled the entire floor. Notifications began flooding across Chad's vision fast enough that he had to disable them to see.

Chad threw and threw as fast as he could. His arm was strong, but not invincible. Fatigue began to creep in, slowing him down bit by bit. He was getting tired. Not to mention the pain in his shoulder. All of this movement and effort was starting to take its toll as the pain started to intensify with every throw. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and push through. There was no backing down now. Backing down meant death.

Eventually, the swarm of birds began to thin and slow. The hallway became less and less dense with flapping bodies until, eventually, only a few Ghoultures remained. Then one. With a grunt of effort, Chad threw his last alarm clock and nailed – or rather, clocked – one in the head.

You have defeated a Ghoulture (Lvl 3)! +3 Exp.

The group panted, breathing heavily. At the other end of the hallway, pieces of crumbling floor and ceiling framed the destroyed wall with ragged edges. The gaping hole gave a much clearer view of the sky and city beyond than the window before it. Adrenaline coursed through Chad's system as he stayed on alert, watching for more birds to appear at any moment.

After a few seconds, Squawkers broke the silence. "Did... did we do it?"

"I… think so." Chad panted out the response.

Rick nodded toward the hole. "Do you want to check? To make sure."

"Fuck no."

They stood there for a moment longer, recovering from the battle. Then they heard a screech.

"Oh, fuck me." Chad grumbled. "There's always one, isn't there…"

"I don't hear any others answering though…" Squawkers cocked his head. "It might actually be the last one."

"It better be." The arm wrestler finally allowed himself a glance behind. "I'm out of ammo. Unless someone's got something else I can throw?"

Rick hefted his rifle. "No need for that. If it's just one, we can take care of it."

The screech sounded again, longer this time.

"I think it's down below," Squawkers offered. "At least, that's what it sounds like."

"Ok." Rick nodded, straightening. "Should we head back then and finish the job? We'll have to deal with Donna, but—"

Before Rick could finish, the screech sounded once more. A light silver mist began to rise up from the hallway before them.

"Uuuuuh…" Chad backed up a step. "What the fuck is that?"

"Erm… wait!" Squawkers went silent for a moment. "Uh… Identify says this is a skill! It says… Soul Siphon…?"

The mist continued to rise up, not just from the bodies of the birds, but also the gore that painted the entire hallway. Then, it rushed down and out of the hole as if sucked by a vaccuum. The screech continued, growing louder and deeper.

"What does that mean, Squawk?"

"I don't know! How should I—"

A massive black shape soared upward, blotting out the sky with its bulk.